《Doomsday Pillars》


 Chapter 1 - A Second Chance

    ''The human race fell in 2030. That''s a fact.


    ''We thought that we couldst longer, but we didn''t. 11 years was all it took. In the year 2020, Doomsday suddenly dropped upon us. We weren''t ready nor aware at all.


    ''The old Mayans had once predicted that the end of the world would be in the year 2012. Many religions and cultures believed in it, but they got it wrong. Judgment day began in the new year of 2020.


    ''During the first week, more than 80% of the world''s poption died. It all started with a gue then it brought death and sorrow, but it also gave us, the survivors, special abilities.


    ''Afterwards, the dead rose and more than half of the human survivors died in the second week, less than 10% of the original human poption was left to walk the earth.


    ''When we thought that there was no more hope they came, 1008 Pirs descended from the sky and nted itself across more than 100 countries. These Pirs became our home. It gave humanity a safe haven. It gave us a chance to resist. We started to fight back.


    ''But we were fools. We thought we could actually win, but we onlysted 10 years. All big nations; America, China, Europe were obliterated in 5 years.


    ''After 10 years of constant struggling. We''re now standing in one of thest Pirs in a small country at the corner of the worldˇ­


    ''My name is Alex, and this is my final note. They''re already here. They''reing closer. The screaming, the heavy trembling steps. Those things took everything from me! All myrades, my friends, my family... they''re all gone!


    ''This mysterious ball is the switch to self-destruct this pir. At the very least, I will bring down all of those bastards with me!''


    Alex hastily wrote on a crumpled old paper when the door tremored. He looked at the glowing ball behind him, and within it, saw his reflection, a weary face. Looking through it, memories from the distant past resurfaced. "In the end, there are only regrets. If we only knew what wasing. If we only prepared. If we onlyˇ­ there really is no point when it already came to this."


    Alex took out a piece of a picture from his pocket. He smiled at it warmly. He held it close to his heart and tears began to fall from his weary face. It''s a picture of the past; his family where they were all smiling. "Goodbyeˇ­"


    The mysterious ball shone blindingly and everything it touched slowly turned to ash.


    Everything was white, but then, a figure floated in front of Alex.


    He squinted and tried to recognize the person in front of him, but it was just a blurry grey figure.


    Alex, the human race has failed. You are given onest chance. Don''t waste it.


    Alex roared as if he was being crushed by a 100-meter waterfall bearing down on him trying to tten him but then the pressure disappeared, and everything became ck.


    Talking,ughing, the smell of a long-missed delicacy, he slowly opened his eyes and the big rectangr box with moving pictures yed an oldedy movie he had used to watch a lot. Looking down, the white mug filled with brown liquid on top of the table formed a vapor rising into the air.


    He dumbfoundedly stared at the TV, it had been years since the Doomsday started and after it began, all electronic devices weren''t working.


    Alex looked around and saw the bookshelves towering in the corner and theputer sitting on top of a desk beside the shelf. The TV on the wall, the ss table in front of him, the couch he was sitting on.


    Everything felt familiar as if these were things he had in the past, he then came to a realization. "How do you like your coffee this time? Does it have enough milk in it?"


    He was startled and blinked several times at the woman from his distant past smiling at him. He couldn''t believe what he was seeing.


    Then, high-pitched giggling sounded as the wooden floors thudded because of the two little kids running around.


    "Mommy! We are gonna bete for school!"


    "Ok, let''s go! Daddy, we are going first!" The woman chuckled and left with the two little girls.


    Alex''s words were stuck in his throat, he tried to remember the memories stored away in the far corners of his mind, but before he even got to say a word, his wife and 2 daughters already rushed out of the house. He wanted to speak, but no words came out, he couldn''t even move his body. Everything, all of this, felt like a dream to him.


    He stared nkly at the TV screen for what seemed an eternity and finally calmed down. He switched to a news channel with a newscaster reporting about the weather.


    On the lower corner of the screen, it showed the date. December 1, 2019. It was 30 days before the end of days started.


    He tried to make sense of what just happened before everything went dark. He recalled the st, the grey figure, and the message. Alex finally realized that he just got reincarnated and now he got a second chance.


    With eyes full of determination, he stood up and clenched his fist. "This time, things will be different."

 Chapter 2 - Where To Start

    Alex counted the remaining days, "30 days left before society copses."


    Looking around, the house was still and everything felt surreal to him. Thest 11 years had changed him a lot.


    The news channel took a break and changed into amercial. A beautiful celebrity appeared advertising her beauty products.


    He had met this woman a few years after the Doomsday and she was nothingpared to what she is now. Later on, she had be one of the leading figures in the fight against the monsters, but just like everyone else, it didn''t end well for her.


    The 30 days he has doesn''t seem to be enough, but it''s all the time he has.


    He sat on the couch and held his head. He tried to calm down and remember all the things he had experienced.. Thest 11 years, until the life he had before the gue.


    Alex, 36 years old, an Indonesian citizen living in a beautiful country consisted of hundreds of inds. He wasn''t born into a rich family, but his childhood was quite decent.


    His parents worked hard to have him finish his more than 10 years of study in Australia. When he returned to Indonesia, he met his wife Devita and got married.


    He started his own architecture firm andter turned into a real estate developer. Hispany employed more than 300 workers. However, in Indonesia, it still counted as a small-sizedpany. Nevertheless, in his age, he could be considered a sessful entrepreneur.


    He was quiet, smart and a hard worker. He has two daughters, 12-year-old Tiffany, and 7-year-old Tiarra, both of whom were still in primary school. They''re the joys of his life.


    As he tried to remember the beginning, his heartbeat raced at what had urred to his family.


    When the gue started, his older daughter Tiffany caught the disease. They went to the nearest hospital; she was given antibiotics, but nothing worked. The doctors had never faced this type of disease before, even the whole world. Hence, a day after the gue, he lost Tiffany.


    There was no time for a proper funeral and then the world began to descend in chaos.


    A few dayster, the dead rose up and started attacking the living. He lost his wife and his other daughter.


    He failed to keep his duty as the pir of the family. Madness took over him and began to ughter those abominations! He kept getting stronger and stronger until one day, he found a new purpose. His life turned its wheels as he became one of themanders of the Alliance.


    Now, his top priority is to save his eldest daughter. He had heard in his previous life that there might be a way to save his daughter. This was actually the one and only way but even though it wasn''t conclusive, he would take the risk to retrieve it. No matter the cost.


    When the Doomsday started, the survivors exhibited an increase in their physical prowess. As days passed, the continuous struggle with the undead made some survivors lift vehicles, run zingly fast, and even resist bullets with just their bodies! There were also some lucky individuals, around 1 in every 10,000 survivors, that received a unique special ability.


    Unfortunately, he was not one of these lucky individuals. So, Alex was inclined to believe that the same thing would happen this time.


    As he looked into the mirror, his appearance, his face, everything was the same 11 years ago, but even though his body''s the same, his mentality and experience were vastly different.


    Although all of his previous abilities have disappeared, a smile still showed on Alex''s face. He knew a way from his past on how to get himself a special ability and there was one particr ability that he definitely must have.


    Alex grabbed a notebook and a pen. He started to n the best way to spend the next 30 days before the end of days starts. Resources, equipment, men and of course, a location for a survival base.


    The first few weeks, after the gue started, would be the hardest. The Doomsday Pirs, a total of 1008 Pirs, would note down until the 100th day.


    Although he knew the locations of over a hundred different Pirs, he had already decided which one would be his first base. One of the 5 Pirs that would descend in Indonesia. The one where he had stayed the most in his previous life. The Doomsday Pir that showed up in one of the most famous inds in the world.


    The Ind of Gods, Bali.

 Chapter 3 - The Land Of God

    The Ind of Gods, Bali. Located in the east of Java Ind, 5,400 square kilometers big, around 10 times the size of Singapore.


    In the holiday seasons, such as this December, the poption would reach up to 5 million people. Bali was famous worldwide for the spectacrndscape of the ind, the beaches and the hospitality of the inhabitants. The well-known title of the Ind of Gods was not just for tourist promotion. The history of the ind still had a lot of mysteries left unsolved. The hundreds of relics and temples left throughout history made this ind also known as the Ind of Hundred Temples.


    One of the reasons Alex decided to once again use this ind as his base was because of these relics and temples. Once after the Earth''s top scientists researched the markings and technology of the Pirs, they would soon find lots of simrities to the markings and engravings of the Earth''s oldest relics. Simr to the underground cities found in Turkey, the Labyrinth in Egypt, Underwater Ruins in Japan, Stonehenge in Ennd and many more.


    After the appearance of the Doomsday Pirs, all of these relics and ruins would start to activate. In his past life''s experiences, the survivors in Bali found and acquired relics from 3 locations throughout Bali.. This time Alex nned to acquire them.


    Another reason that he chose this ind was because of its size, not too small and not too big. Its natural resources such as the forests, mountains and the sea made it a perfect ind. Also, its poption was only one-tenth of the poption of Jakarta, Indonesia''s capital city.


    Once the Doomsday starts, the more people there are during the outbreak, the more chaotic it will be. When the dead rise, there will be more undead to fight.


    In the end, this is his home country and it''s easier to work together with the people and there will be lessnguage and cultural barriers.


    Actually, in his past life, Alex and his family had gone to Bali for the new year''s holiday. That was the reason how he ended up there. He had spent many years fighting here and understood its people and geography.


    As he organized his thoughts and ns, the sun stood high. It''s already noon. The car parking in front of the house broke his thoughts. The car door opening; the giggling of little kids. His heart raced as he walked to their front door.


    With shaking hands, he grabbed the doorknob still hoping that everything isn''t a dream. He closed his eyes and slowly opened the door. Theughter of his daughters and wife were getting stronger. He opened his eyes and their bright smiling faces weed him. It isn''t a dream. Everything is real.


    His eyes welled up and walked towards them with shaking steps. He hugged the three of them. "I really missed you."


    "..."


    "Daddy, you''re so weird today."


    Alex cherished this moment. He tried to hold up his tears as he enjoyed their warmth, smell, everything.


    He stopped what he was doing and spent time with his family tillte in the night. After dinner, he informed them the family vacation this year would be starting early. He also decided to bring the whole big family together to Bali.


    He had already bought the tickets and the whole family would go in 3 days.


    That night after reading books to his daughters and tugged them in bed, he walked into his room. His wife was sitting on the bed while checking emails. He stared at her wanting to tell everything he knew, but he knew he shouldn''t. He must keep this secret, at least for now.


    As heid next to her, his wife said, "What''s wrong, ? I''m worried. Did something bad happened?"


    "In the next few days, I will be doing some strange things. I hope you can listen and believe in me. Everything''s going to be fine. It has to be. I''ll make sure of it."


    Devita simply smiled and talked about her day.


    As time passed, Alex began to feel drowsy. His mind felt at ease. It was like he never really slept in thest 10 years. All the worries of tomorrow, he said in his heart, "Not tonight".

 Chapter 4 - Money Money Money

    The next day, Alex checked his to-do list, it did look like a shopping list: 100 hectares ofnd in Bali, building materials, equipment, vehicles, medical supplies, lots of food and weapons. Thest one would be tricky since weapons were very hard to find in Indonesia.


    To prepare all these things he needed arge amount of money and he needed it fast. Because even if he had the money ready, he needed time to prepare.


    Today, Alex went to his office. He needed lots of people to build his base. Fortunately, he owned a developmentpany and where else could he find better people than in his ownpany? His own people. He actually knew most of them really well and some had worked with him for more than 10 years, some from the very start.


    Alex called all of his managers; finance managers, construction managers, project managers, and human resource managers. Honestly, hisst 10 years doomsday experience somehow made him barely remember who all these people are. But currently, these people are all he had. He told them his decision to start a new development project in Bali..


    He gathered all his other employees and made the announcement. With the new development project in Bali, he would stop all projects and gave them two choices. The first choice was to join the Bali project and immediately move there with their family or to resign and receive 2 years of sry in advance. All employees needed to make a decision by tomorrow and prepare to move in 5 days. With these choices, it would somehow separate the employees who only worked for the money and the ones who trusted him.


    His next agenda was to sell all of his assets, so he called Nina, his finance manager. Nina was his most trusted manager ever since the first year of thepany. In fact, he had known her for a few years before that.


    All of hispany''s assets could be counted at 120 billion Rupiah(Indonesian currency), around $10 million US dor. He worked tears and sweat to get thepany to its current stage, but in the end, he decisively sold all of thepany''s assets right away. With its abrupt selling, he would get at most $6 million, but the $1 million was something he could take right away. As for the rest, it would take a week or two any longer than that would be pointless. After all, when the end of dayses, this money would be just a paper. So in a way, he still would get a bargain.


    However, one million dors was not enough for his shopping list. He needed to take a risk.


    In his previous life, he remembered a particr survivor in Bali. He had said the reason he had gone to Bali was that he won a lucky sports bet with 50:1 odds. He took the vacation of his life in a 5-star luxury treatment for 1-month. However, he swore how unlucky he was if because he got stranded by himself in Bali. The guy wouldn''t stop bbering about how lonesome he was and whatnot. Still, that unfortunate story might be a fortunate story for Alex.


    Alex contacted his brother Hendrik. Different from him, his brother achieved his sess from a few shady businesses, a good businessman but an awful gambler. He almost always loses most of his gained money from gambling. His brother might not be the most reliable person, but Alex trusted him. Alex told him about one particr ser match with the 50:1 odds and fortunately, the match was tomorrow. Alex gave his brother all of his money to bet.


    "What the... are you serious? I know some way to bet this kind of money without raising suspicion, but are you sure this team will win? 50:1 is not a number randomly made, it almost guarantees the opponent will lose."


    If that team did lose, then everything would go down the drain. However, in the end, Alex had to take the risk. He didn''t have the time. Alex left the money to his brother.


    The following day, he got two good news. The first was out of 300 or more employees, around 200 of them decided to go to Bali and the second good news, of course, was about the money. His brother went to his house and told the news. It really was true, his money multiplied to $50 million! Alex then purchased a ticket for his brother and told him how important it is toe to Bali.


    Now, Alex had $50 million on hand and another $5 million from hispany in a week or two. Now it''s shopping time.

 Chapter 5 - Shopping List

    The third day passed. Only 27 days left, until Doomsday.


    The gue was not the only cause of panic and chaos. On New Year, a massive storm covered the Earth. Lightning, thunders, ran wild through the skies that it created an electromaic pulse and fried all electrical equipment around the world; cars crashing unto one another, airnes falling down from the sky, TV, mobile phones, it even stopped and rendered all the satellites in the orbit useless. Allmunication was severed. These created mass panic and chaos. Only a few governments around the world managed to regain control of their country after a few weeks.


    Time was short. Tomorrow, he nned to fly to Bali, but there were still some affairs Alex needed to prepare before he left Jakarta.


    Alex called for another meeting and began giving out task..


    Rina, his Human Resource manager, had a background in psychology. Her current job was to prepare the transition of all 200 employees and their families moving to Bali. She would prepare them to be moved to a temporary lodging before the base is ready.


    Tony, his construction manager, had a background in engineering. He would be in charge in buying and delivering the list of construction materials, equipment, and tools Alex needed to build the base. This list wasparable to the project development of a small city, the tools itself were enough to keep 2,000 workers busy.


    Lastly, once everyone was gone, Alex had a private meeting with Nina. He listed the things they needed one by one and made her face pale. The first list was food, lots of foods, but all of them were oddly abination of canned goods and packages of dry food. The amount was enough for 10,000 people to consume for more than a year. This would not be hard to get, but its sheer amount was the problem. It would take 30 trucks to deliver all of it.


    The second list was medical supplies; antibiotics, antiseptics, alcohol, vitamins, and bandages.


    The third list was gardening tools and seeds, which also included a few sets of hydroponic gardens.


    The fourth list was general necessities like nkets, in clothes, camping gear, all in huge numbers.


    But on the fifth list was where it started to be moreplicated; sr panels, power generators, water purifications, gas masks, radio transmitters.


    And then, the list of weapons; knives, hatchets, axes, and even a me thrower. This list finally pushed Nina''s panic button, although shepletely trusted Alex, she had to make her objection.


    "Don''t you think this list is a bit excessive?"


    "Yes, you are right, the me thrower may be a little hard to get, but I think they sell just about anything online these days, I''m sure you can find it somewhere."


    "I don''t mean just about the methrower! I mean, are we really building a real estate project or are we preparing for World War 3?!"


    Alex just smiled, he knew it would be very hard to exin it to her, she''s not stupid of course. "I really need you to trust me on this. At the moment, I really can''t say anything about this, but I really need you to know that this is very important.


    "Actually I still have a few more things that will be more tricky to find. I need a few unique vehicles and boats."


    He realized that some of these items might not survive the electromaic pulse, but Alex knew there was a few way that could counter an EMP surge.


    "Lastly, it''s important for you to send all these items in a few batches separately. We don''t want to bring any unnecessary attention. I also need you to send them to 2 different locations."


    Nina was speechless, but she still followed Alex''s requests. She asked, "I never knew that ourpany has assets in Bali. Where should I send all of this to?"


    "About the location, I actually am just about to see and buy them when I visit Bali tomorrow. I will give you the informationter."


    "...I really am worried," Nina said as a headache was about to hit her, her boss really weird today.

 Chapter 6 - The General

    Jakarta at night, in a Luxury Suite of a 5-star hotel, a middle age man sitting half-naked on a bed, even in his forties, he has a muscr figure, and there are a few scars that can be seen all over it. There are a few bottles next to him, it seems he has been drinking. Even though there is a beautiful woman lying naked next to him, he has his attention fully on the TV.


    The news is reporting an incident that happened a few days ago. A police operation went wrong, DENSUS 88, an Indonesian police special forces simr to SWAT in the United States, right in the middle of a mission to eradicate terrorist cell, ended up killing an innocent civilian during the crossfire. Although the mission sessfully killed 11 terrorist members, there were also the casualties of 2 police member. The half-naked guy who currently watched the news knew both of the deceased police members pretty well. In fact, he was their trainer and their superior. His name is Rico, Indonesian police Brigadier General. The lowest ranking General butpared to all the other Generals, he is the youngest ever having this rank. A rising star in the police department. Although the government praised him, even the President personally gave him a reward, he never cared for them, he only thought of the lost lives and losing his subordinates.


    Recently, the terrorist/religious extremist are getting more and more daring.. In thest few months, there were 3 attempted and 1 sessful bombing. The government is currently giving a lot of heat to his department. He took another bottle, drank it and continued on with his "sessions".


    Rico dedicated all his life to the country, he''s a patriot, hence he never has time for family, his wife left him a long time ago. All his mind and energy he gave for his country, hisrade and sometimes to his "hobby". When the "session" finished. the beautiful girl left the room, obviously, this girl is one of his favorite escorts, as he calls on her when he''s down. After he went for a shower he heard a knock.


    "Did you leave something?" Rico said.


    But when he opened the door, it is not the girl, but a guy wearing ck clothes, simple clothes mask and holding a gun to his head. The guy said a word slowly to him "No sound, raise your hand and slowly get inside"


    Rico''s brain start calcting, he has been in many simr situations before, but he senses a few things missed, the first; Rico has 2 of his subordinates outside, not far from his room, it seems this guy disabled them and took their gun, the gun pointing at him is a Glock, not easily found in this country. And the second reason, obviously this guy knows him, and Rico himself is an active policeman with a ck belt in Pencak St (Indonesian martial art), but this masked guy eyes and voice is just too rxed.


    The guy sits on the chair facing him and starts talking, "Don''t you worry General Rico, I am here just to talk. Actually, I came here to help you, I want to be your friend"


    Rico said "if you really want to be my friend what is with the mask and gun"


    "I can''t be too careful these days, General, but you got a point"


    The mask guy''s response shocked him, the guy actually put down the gun on the table, and took out his mask, the guy''s face looks like an ordinary family man, but the smile he gave and his eyes scared him.. he can tell from his experience, this man is dangerous, this guy put down the gun as if there is no difference with it or without it.


    Yes, the ck-clothed man is Alex, he has 10 years of constant dangerous near-death experience in his past life. It seems Rico can feel it. Rico asked, "What is your name and what do you want?"


    Alex replied casually with a smile "At the moment I think I will keep my name secret, these few days I will be very busy, I don''t want you and your friend to annoy me. and for your second question, it''s not what I want, it''s actually what you want. In this USB I have data information of some terrorist cell base locations in Indonesia, all the ones that I know. I trust you know what to do with it"


    Rico''s brain starts calcting again. ''Who is this guy and what is that he really wants? Is he part of the terrorists? That is why he knows so much? I should try to capture him and interrogate himter.''


    Rico then suddenly picked up a bottle near him and threw it at Alex. He then quickly aimed for the gun on the table, but he was shocked to see how Alex easily crushed the bottle with a punch and took a second gun from his back and put it on Rico''s head. "He''s fast" Rico suddenly regret and felt stupid because of his action, he forgot to calcte the other gun from his second subordinate. He med it on the alcohol for his bad reasoning.


    While holding the gun Alex said "Wrong move general, if it''s other people I would already pull the trigger, but I like you general. I feel like meeting an old friend" in fact Alex knew the General in his past life. At that time the General was one of the leading figures and his friend. "Take this USB, trust me, you will be thanking me. My only wish is that you''ll be able to eradicate most of them by this month or it will be troubleter. Also, I hope you can tell me the report afterward. I will be leaving now, I guess the noise will bring more trouble."


    Alex took the gun on the table and casually walk out the room, Rico said: "How can I give you a report if I don''t know how to reach you?"


    "Don''t worry General, I will contact you" as Alex walked out of the room and stealthily avoided the hotel camera, he then took a look at his hand and it was currently bleeding...


    "Damn... currently my body is still normal, what a stupid moveˇ­ if my wife sees it how should I exin.."

 Chapter 7 - The Priest

    Alex and the family will be flying to Bali today. His mother has passed away a few years back, so the family, who wille to Bali, will be; his father, younger brother Hendrik, older brother Jimmy, wife and 2 teen kids, then Devita''s parents, her younger sister Vonny, younger brother Victor and his girlfriend Rea. A total group of 15 people. Actually, Devita has an older sister, but she and her family, after multiple persuasions, decided not toe to Bali, Alex ended up just leaving them tickets. If they,ter on, decided to change their mind, but if they refuse, Alex just can''t force them. He can''t guarantee their safety in Bali anyway.


    In the morning while everyone was still busy packing, Alex has one more visit to go, it''s only a five-minute drive from his ce, a local church that he often went to with his family before all the chaos began. But currently, he has mixed feeling abouting to this ce. In his past, when the disaster came, many survivors turned to their faith, but they were disappointed, bad turned to worst, it''s like hell on earth, death everywhere. Alex also lost his faith when his family died. Somehow this ce now feels kinda unfamiliar to him. But the reason hees to church today is actually toe to meet one of his closest friend, Theo.


    Alex has known Theo for almost 20 years, they went to college together in Australia.. Theo is one of the smartest people he knows. Top student, schrship, graduated medical school at 21, then worked as a researcher in one of the world''s top medicalpanies, but a few yearster he quits, turns to his faith and became a priest. In his past life, Alex often came to him for a council.


    The church is not big, it could house around 300 people. Alex went inside, there is a group of young kids singing in one of the rooms. Although the air is very peaceful, in his mind there is only the thought of survival, such as; if this church would be sturdy enough to hold the undead attack or thinking about how many of those kids will survive the first week.


    There, in one of the small rooms, he knocks and is weed by a friendly face, Theo the Priest. A tall, but skinny guy in his thirties. He is currently brewing hot tea.


    "Hi Alex, try one of this cup, this is a fresh tea from the mountain, it''s good for your health."


    He then just went on and on about tea and many things. Alex always admired him, Theo is the type of person who always finds joy in everything he does. It''s been 10 years since hest met him, while for Theo its onlyst week, so it feels a bit weird for Alex. Theo then notices something different with his friend;


    "What''s wrong? You seem different today"


    Alex just casually asked a question: "What does the scripture say about the end of days?"


    Alex thought if there is some connection between the world''s old relics with the Doomsday Pirs. There might be something he can rte to in the Bible.


    "Just the short version please.", Alex added.


    Theo grumbled, he already thought of a full-text scripture as reference:


    "There are a few versions from a different denomination, but in short most agree that the Day of Judgement, as we Christian call it, is the day of the seconding of God, all people will be judged, some will be punished, and some will be chosen."


    Alex tried to rte with what he experiences on his past life, he wonders between the people who died from the disease or the survivors who died from monsters, which one is the one punished, and which one is chosen.


    "What a funny joke.. he thought in his mind"... He then asked again "Does the scripture hint when this Day of Judgement will happen?"


    "The scripture said that nobody in the world will know when it wille, the Day of Judgement wille like a thief in the night, unexpected."


    Alex smiles secretly in his mind as heughed:


    ''I know exactly when it will happen, it''s in 26 days!''


    Alex stopped the discussion, normally he can argue with him for hours, but his time is short, so he gave Theo what he came here to do, a ticket to Bali dated a few days before the end of the month. Alex forced him toe, he even promised that he will do charitable work for the church if Theo came.


    Thest objective is done. Alex then took the family to the Airport to fly to Bali, in the ne he was thinking back about what Theo said. He then remembered something.


    ''But, who is the grey blur figure who talk to me during the transition, can he be God?''


    .


    .


    .


    Naaahh...

 Chapter 8 - The Bay City

    Finally, Alex and his family reached the ind of Bali. It was a short 1.5-hour flight. They checked into a hotel and visited the local special cuisine for dinner. They went to a famous seafood site near the beach, it''s the holiday season, so it''s very crowded. Alex took a beer and also tried to enjoy thest few days of peace with his family. The next day, Alex left the hotel, he took a rental car and brought his brother Hendrik with him. He went to find a ce to start his Base.


    Bali is separated into 5 sections:


    South Bali, this is the main section. 2/3 of Bali''s poption is located in this section. It''s separated into 2 main areas: The Denpasar area in the north where the main cities are, and Nusa Dua, in the south, where all the vis and 5-star hotels are. Both areas are connected through a small corridor, it''s shaped like an hourss. .


    West Bali section, bordered with east Java and separated only with a thin strait. It''s normally busy with people crossing between Java and Bali using a ferry ride.


    North Bali is the section with the least popted cities. it''s facing the Java seas.


    Central Bali has the widest area, it''s full of forest and mountain ranges.


    Lastly, the East Bali section, it''s the second most developed area. In the center is Bali''s tallest mountain, Mount Agung. It is near this mountain, that one of the Doomsday Pirs will drop. This is the section where Alex will start his first base.


    The n is to prepare two separate locations, so he ns to buy two properties. It actually seemed stupid to spend money on a property, as when the doomsdayes, nobody will care aboutnd ownership. But, because he needed to prepare the base right now, he needed to buy the property. Consider it like this, how do you feel if hundreds of people suddenly start building a base in your backyard.


    The first location he chose is at the most eastern side of Bali, it is a small city called the Padang Bay. Just like its name, it''s a bay city. The beach spread like a crescent moon, surrounded by two hills on each side. There are about 50 small and medium-sized boats in the docks. On one side of the beach, there is a huge port reaching 100m into the sea. A ferry can be seen in the port loading vehicles and supplies. The port is a hub connecting Bali with the other inds in the east. The city center has around 1000 houses, many restaurants, and cafes, and there are also quite a few inns and hotels. Port cities tend to have many visitor and workers from other cities.


    Alex already knew which properties to buy, he did his research and already made an appointment beforehand. It''s an elegant service vi on a hill facing the city and the bay. Abination of traditional and Mediterranean design. It has 40 houses and it can serve up to 300 guests. Alex nned to put all his employees and family in this vi. The deal with the owner was done pretty quick and simple as the owner was in big debt and Alex was willing to pay the market price and also settle his debt. The deal cost him $5 million dors. It included the vipound and an extrand about the size of 2 ser field. He basically now owned the whole hill.


    The vi and the bay city will function as a staging area for all survivor before being sent to the second location, the main base. Now that the first location was already settled, Alex contacted Nina and let her manage the work and some of the supplies to this ce.


    The second location will be a bit moreplicated, therefore he decided to go see the bay city mayor. It''s only been a few hours since he purchased the vi but the mayor already received the news. Alex has be some kind of a big shot in his eyes. It''s no secret that many Indonesian officials are corrupt, this mayor named Rendi was no different. Alex actually never really liked this type of person, but he needed the mayor''s help, so he got straight to the point; He opened up a bag full of money which made the mayor''s eyes shine. Alex exined the mayor 2 things. First, his intent to bring people to settle and develop a project in this city. Secondly, his n to purchase morend in the Northside of the bay city. For both requests, he required lots of helper and worker.


    While still smiling and staring at the money, the mayor said: "All is possible Sir, how many people do you need 50? 100?"


    Alex said "At first I need 2000 people"


    .


    .


    .


    awkward smile...

 Chapter 9 - Assembled

    The meeting with the mayor took a few hours. Alex had a lot of tasks prepared, the mayor was very supportive, with the right "motivation" of course. The mayor assembled some of his staff to be briefed by Alex. For the first 2000 workers, Alex nned for them to be builders so he required all to be male with a minimum age requirement of 18 years old. All will be provided with 5 times their normal sry, but the job will be massive. There will be minimum breaks and they will need to be willing to stay onsite, all food and lodgings will be provided. Alex also required a few hundred farmers to plow the field. It would be best if Alex can prepare the farm right away. Next is a group of mechanics and engineers. Alex needed at least 50 people, he offered them a year''s sry in advance, if they could start right away.


    Lastly, Alex gave the mayor a list of names, there were 50 names in this list. 10 of them were underlined as important. To find the right person, there was a simple description of each person physical characteristic. The task is to find detail information about the name in the list, their location, and current activity.. When he made this list, somehow he was lost in thought for a few seconds. This list of names was the Bali locals that he was closest with in his past life. Each of the people on the list at the end met their unfortunate demise, this time Alex ns to change their fate as well.


    Another day has passed, it''s now day 6, he only has 24 days left to prepare. This morning The Bay city suddenly became more crowded. Alex''s team of 200 workers and their 300 families, a total of 500 people already arrived in Bay City.


    Alex gathered a group of people for a breakfast meeting in the vi''s hall. The vi was currently still running as a service hotel, there were 30 workers still working here. Alex decided to keep their job, especially the kitchen staff, he nned to add many more people to the kitchen. The n was to involve the families of his work to fill the quota. This morning for breakfast, the group were having; porridge, fried rice, fried chicken, sausages, toast, and cereals. It''s actually an ordinary hotel breakfast, but he knew in a few months, people will kill each other just to sit at this kind of table.


    Currently, at this table, there were his managers and his brother Hendrik, Alex gave his brother a task to coordinate between his team and the mayor office. He then briefed the team about the development of 2 location, one in the vi an the other up north. With the data provided by the mayor''s office, Alex already found out the second location. Some of these areas were still owned by the government, so with enough "incentives", they could start moving right away.


    Alex started talking to his managers about the recruitments of 2000 plus workers, then he talked with Nina about the number of supplies ready and the one still on the way. Alex nned to move just 1/10 of the supplies to this location.. while the rest will be sent to the second location. But all of the vehicles and boats will still be sent here. When he was about to hand out more tasks, suddenly he realized the confusion on the faces of his managers.


    All the worker who already arrived here in Bali were allmitted to follow Alex in this new project. But this is the first time they learned some of the details of his n.. the massive recruitment, the choice of location, the supplies prepared.. this made them really worried.


    "I know this n might be confusing for you all, currently I can only say that this development will be the most important work we will ever do, I hope you can trust me. I will exin itter."


    Alex then continued handing out the task, Rina will be in charge of profiling all workers and their families, she will also need to note the one with supervising experience.


    Eka, one of his project managers will be in charge of renovating the vi, building parameters around the hill, setting up supply tents and turning the vi hall into amand center. Alex also handed out detail tasks for him to organize the mechanics and engineers.


    After handing out the tasks, Alex took Tony the construction manager and the two other project managers together with a few local workers for a trip up north. There were also a few government workers set up by the mayor to help him. Alex recognized one of them, his name was Benny, the mayor right-hand man, and his favorite assistant. Alex recognized him because, in his past life, he was quite known in the first year of the gue. But nothing has ever been heard from him againter, he probably died quietly early.


    It''s time to go to the next location, Alex brought with him a big bag full of diving equipment and climbing gear. He put this equipment in one of the cars. All 4 cars were driving to the designated location. It was actually only 18 km away from Bay City, but because of the rough terrain, the trip took them more than 2 hours.

 Chapter 10 - The Main Base

    Finally, they arrived. This is where everything will start. The location where one of the Pirs will drop is here.


    Alex was already familiar with the surrounding terrain, he spent many years fighting in this area during his past life.


    In his past life, he hadn''te to this ce until a few months after the Doomsday pir had dropped. By that time, the Pir had been surrounded by a lot of refugees. Many of them hade here after being chased by hordes of zombies and monsters. It was such a disaster and the people didn''t have a real leader. There were many infighting and chaos among themselves. But Alex, this time, nned to build a better safe haven for the survivors.


    Alex and the group were standing in front of an open field, he looked ahead and all he saw were tall grass and weeds without end. Although Bali was a tropical ind, where it''s normally humid and hot, but this part of the ind was in the hignds; close to the mountain where the clouds were low and the air was quite breezy..


    Its time for work, Alex brought the group to discuss his ns. As for thend acquisition, he left it to Benny. Alex didn''t necessarily have to purchase all thend, but only the area that needed to be built right away. The area where the central base will be located. After a few designs and sketches, while considering thend''s condition, Alex came up with his grand design.


    The central base will be strategically surrounded by the natural terrain. The north side will face Mount Agung, the west side will be next to a small river called the Tukad River. The east side will be the area where the Pir will drop, so the east side will be somewhat protected by the Pir in the future. Lastly, the south will be the main entry point, it''s also the one closest to the main road leading to Bay city and other Bali areas.


    Alex started sketching in front of other people. It has been more than 15 years since hest practiced architecture. He didn''t expect his degree would be needed again, especially in designing a base that could save the world. Best use of a degree ever.


    The central area would cover 100 hectares ofnd. It will have a rectangr size, 4 km in length and 2.5 km wide. The n was to build a 2yered fence around thepound. The inner fence will be a 4 meter tall prefabricated concrete wall while the outer wall will be a 2 meter high stone berm with a 2 meter deep ditches.


    For the buildings inside thepound, there will be themand center, storage supply building, the research center, the training hall, hydroponic gardens, and, of course, housing. Alex nned for the main base to house a minimum of 50,000 people. The more survivors, the better the oue for the future.


    However, there will not be enough time to build standard houses for the survivors, so the only viable solution was warehouse structures. It will be built with a prefabricated steel structure. Each warehouse buildings will have a standard size of 200 m x 20 m, which could fit around 500 people. The n was to build 100 of such structures, but that didn''t include the supplies storage, the hall, and the hydroponic gardens.


    For all of this to be possible, Alex nned to employ another batch of 2,000 workers. This batch would all be experienced steelworkers, so he also needed to set up a mini steel factory onsite.


    Just to make sure he got everything covered, he brought the design to his team and asked them for additional input and opinions. "So what do you guys think? Anything else we should add?"


    The group looked at each other confused. Then, Tony, Alex''s construction manager, said, "Actually boss, if you want us to be involved in the design, it would be better if you tell us a little bit about the purpose of the design. For example, who will use it and what will be its purpose... I''m really sorry boss, at the moment we are at a loss about what you are trying to make here."


    "ˇ­"


    Alex then slowly said, "Actually, we are preparing a doomsday shelter..."


    "ˇ­" More awkward silence.


    Alex suddenly wished his past life and reincarnation had made him more intelligent to answer a question such as this. But then, he thought of something. "Tony, how long have you been working for me?"


    "9 years, boss."


    "What have we built in the past 9 years?"


    "Houses, apartments, shopping areasˇ­ almost everything, boss."


    "And who are we building it for?"


    "For our clients, boss."


    "Exactly. This is the same thing, our client paid us a lot of money to build a doomsday shelter like this one. Do you understand?"


    This group didn''t know that their client was actually their boss.


    One of the managers then said, "Oh that''s right boss! I actually saw on youtube that doomsday shelters are very popr in the west. Although, I''ve haven''t seen anything as big as this one."


    Then, another one said, "If that''s the case, then we should add an underground tunnel for safety and an outside post."


    They actually bought it! Alex thought. Then he just needed to go along with it.


    The ideas just kept on flowing. Some ideas were actually usable. Alex then fell into contemtion about life before the Doomsday. Everything is just so peaceful; people have too much extra time for TV and fantasy novels...


    Alex then let Tony begin the construction. Some materials had already been ordered before, so he just needed to add things ording to the new design. Alex also gave him the authority to buy extra supplies and asked him to coordinate with Nina about the funds and deliveries.


    The designs were finally done, but it would take days to see some progress.


    Alex couldn''t just sit around and wait here, he still had many things to do. The next thing on his list couldn''t bepleted with just money. It will be dangerous, so to seed, he needed to retrieve one of the artifacts from a ruined temple to help him first. Alex then left alone and drove with the gears and equipment he needed on the trunk of the car.

 Chapter 11 - The Temples Relic

    Alex drove through a forested path to the west. It took him a few hours to arrive at the border between the east and central Bali. He went there to find one particr temple.


    There were hundreds of temples in Bali and the locals called them Pura. Most of the Puras was built by the locals hundreds of years ago to worship their gods but there were a few temples that had already been there for thousands of years. None of the locals knew who built them and how to differentiate these thousands of years old Puras.


    There were simr ancient temples all around the world; these ruins were studied through its marks and writings. The oldest writings found from these ruins were found to be from the 5,000-6,000 BC, that''s around 8,000 years from now.


    Even though there were many different writings from different continents and cultures, today''s schrs came to the conclusion that the patterns and astronomical equations from the oldest writings actually came from the same source. For example, the Jiahu symbol from China, Vinca sign from central Europe, Indus script from India and the most famous hieroglyphs from Egypt. The scientist theorized these writings to be the Babel text..


    There''s a story about how people all over the world once spoke only onenguage. They eventually became proud and tried to challenge God by building a tower in the city of Babel that could reach heaven. But in the end, God punished their treacherous actions and made them speak differentnguages causing them to not understand each other and split into different nations.


    All over the world, some of these ancient locations with simr writings had already been found and studied by the world''s top scientists and archeologists but most of them were still hidden. Once Doomsday Pirs drop, all of these hidden ces would be suddenly activated and make themselves known to the people of the Earth.


    Each of these ces housed different relics that humans could use to fight against monsters. Alex knew three ces in Bali with such relics, but he could only ess one of them right now.


    It''s already night and Alex finally arrived in front of an ordinary-looking temple. There were a few houses near it as well as some white-d monks chanting in front of the other temples. Since Alex knew where to go, he didn''t want to disturb them.


    Alex parked the car, took his gears and walked a few hundred meters until he reached ake. It''s such a bigke, 10 hectares square at least.


    It was already dark, but Alex didn''t want to waste any time. After all, whether its day or night, it didn''t matter to his destination.


    He walked around theke until he was sure that he found the right spot. He wore the diving gear and brought his bag of equipment with him and dove right in. As he dove deeper into theke, he kept using the shlight until he finally found a small cave with an opening about 3 meters in size. He went inside, swam through a long corridor, and went deeper once more into the earth for about 500 meters. Finally, he reached arge chamber, not flooded with water, and started crouching. The chamber was low but its quite wide.


    While traversing the chamber, Alex found some human remains. This meant that other people had explored this area before. But Alex kept walking until he arrived at a steep cliff. He opened his bag and prepared a climbing gear. He securely tied the rope on one of the big stgmites and slowly descended a few hundred meters. A pool of water showed itself and inside this pool, there should be another hidden hole. Again, he dove in and searched for a few minutes until he finally found the hidden chamber.


    In his past life, the survivors had essed this chamber directly from one of the temple''s secret passages, but that wouldn''t be essible until the temple was activated by the Pirs. After they had found this hidden ce, Alex did more exploration around the chamber and had found this alternative passage to go out of the cave, but now he was using it to get in.


    The secret chamber was very small, about the size of a basketball court. There were some markings and engravings around the area and Alex took some pictures with his phone before finally walking to the center of the room.


    In the middle of the room lied a stone coffin, Alex pushed the lid open and saw the skeletal remains lying inside. The ancient-looking skeleton had both of its hands on its chest holding an ordinary-looking ring. A bronze ring with some little engravings on it.


    Alex put on a big smile as he took the ring and washed it with the water nearby. He pulled out a knife and smeared his blood on it. He held the ring close and chanted, "Please workˇ­ Please be workingˇ­ Please... Please..."


    Alex was only half confident that this artifact would work before the temple''s activation. But then, a small light shine from the ring marking its new owner. It worked!


    Alex wore the ring and focused his mind. It''''s a dimensional storage ring, an artifact that carried a small space, around 3 cubic meter, to store an item. Although it wasn''t spacious, this artifact would be very useful. The ring itself was only a low-level artifact but what Alex needed was the item stored in it. He opened the ring and saw something covering more than half of the space.


    It''s a golem, precisely it''s a rank 2 golem, a medium level artifact, who will heed his everymand. With this, he would be able to fight people with special abilities.


    He summoned the golem and used his blood to gain ownership. Fortunately, he didn''t have to smear it with blood all over. He wouldn''t have enough, it''s too big.


    It''s a 3-meter tall humanoid shaped golem. It had a hard ck body and was rough as a rock. It had a wide upper body, a round head with two small shiny eyes. It had no mouth as it couldn''t speak, but it could receivemand telepathically. Both of its arms were muscr and very long, almost touching the ground. Its leg was very short making it look like a stunted human.


    His first artifact and for it to be a medium level artifact, a rank 2 golem, he was truly fortunate.


    He then inspected the golem using his mind and just as he expected, unfortunately, the golem''s energy was almost dead. If he doesn''t charge it, with the current energy It would only beparable to a rank 1 standard golem. It might even stop moving if he used it carelessly.


    He then continued for something else in the storage ring. There should be a box that aside from the golem. "Good, it''s here."


    The other item will be very useful for him, probably even more than this golem.


    Alex opened the box with high expectations and inside therey a couple of some small crystallize pebbles, the spirit stones.

 Chapter 12 - Power Up

    Doomsday came with a disease. Even after 11 years, humankind still had no idea why and how it happened. We only knew what the aftermath did to us. About 80% of the world''s poption died. But actually, the whole 100% of the human race and even all living things in the world got infected. The ones who died with it returned to life as the walking dead, a zombie. The ones who lived were also affected, they mutated. Humans, animals, nts, all lifeforms slowly mutated into something else. For the human survivors, everyone also slowly mutated, we became stronger and faster.


    Muscle strength, reaction speed, flesh and bone density, stamina, regeneration speed, all slowly increased. Later the Doomsday Pirs showed us that humans had the capability to break the boundaries of their bodies. It was separated into 4 realms. Each with its own 30 levels and divided into the low, middle and high stage. .


    The first is the Mortal realms, normal humans start with the low stage, level 10 to level 15 can be the difference between an unfit person and a trained soldier. The middle stage are the specially trained human, they had the running speed of gold medal sprinters like Usain Bolt, the stamina of a professional mountain climber and muscle strength of a heavyweight boxer. The high stage is the limit of the human body, that is why it''s called the Mortal Realm. They will have 3 times the strength, the speed, the endurance of the middle stage. When the body reached level 30, it turned into the peak of the Mortal Realm. It will reach a bottleneck and the only secret to upgrade the realm is within the Doomsday pirs. Hence the reasons that the pirs were the only hope of survival for humanity.


    The next Realm is the Earth Realm, The Sky Realm and the Saint Realm. In his past life, Alex was at the low stage Sky realm, at that level he was already considered a leading figure to humankind. As for the Saint rank, they were humanities'' greatest warriors. And they were very rare, Alex only knew a few of them.


    The gue naturally changed every living thing, humans and beasts were gradually transformed, but each body had different reactions, sometimes it would take more than 5 years to reach the peak of the Mortal Realm naturally, some only required 1 year, and some rare lucky individuals even received special powers. The pir named these individuals as the Evolve. They have the talent to improve not only as the body enhancers but also as spirit enhancers. Actually, spirit enhancer is not really an alien term, history has noted a few people around the world who sessfully understood the foundation of a spirit enhancer. But around the world, they were known with other names, such as; Magic, Chakra, Dao, Psychic and many more. The mutation only made their talent in spirit be many times stronger. The greatest warriors Alex ever met in his past life was the Evolve Saint who could manipte fire. But in the end, he also ended up perishing when surrounded by hundreds of mutated beast.


    There are few ways to increase a person''s level and reach their peak realm. One is by naturally with times of constant fighting, and the other was the faster way, by consuming spirit stones that sometimes could be salvaged from the bodies of mutated beasts or zombies.


    At the moment, in Alex''s hand, there were 50 pieces of white spirit stones. He''s currently thinking what the best way to use them was. One is to recharge the Golem, it will make the Golem stronger and be able to be used longer. Or to consume and make himself and some other people stronger.


    At the end of his past life, 50 pieces of white spirit stones actually were like a small change, it was the lowest grade spirit stones. In 10 years time, almost every monster already turned into a mutated beast so they were almost everywhere. But at the moment, these white spirit stones are the greatest treasure ever.


    Alex actually already decided before he even came to this ce. He already knew what he will find, and of course, he will choose the survival of his friends and family as a priority, so he already came prepared to share the spirit stones. But it was just when he saw the Golem that he got a bit swayed to give some of the stones to the Golem.


    Finally, he decided to give just a few to the golem just enough to be his life-saving artifacts. Alex decided to give 10 of the stones to the golem.


    "Damn, this is a rank 2 Golem, 10 white spirit stone only give him around 5% power."


    With that amount of power, it will still only have the power of Rank 1 golem. Rank 1 golems have the same power as a peak stage Mortal realm, so at the moment it should be sufficient.


    As for humans, one white spirit stone can elevate a person from low stage Mortal Realm into the middle stage. 5 of them to turns you into the high stage, and another 10 to the peak of the Mortal Realm.


    "There is really no point to reaching peak Mortal realm right now, as I can''t upgrade to the next realm until I have ess to the doomsday pir."


    Alex decided to consume 6 of them right now.


    The spirit stones are the essence of energy from living beings. When the living bodies mutated and consumed more energy, the spirit stones inside will also turn stronger and evolve. Alex took six of these energy essences right now. It will take a few hours for him to absorb all of them. The stones are only the size of a peanut and when they reached his stomach, they slowly dissolved into millions of particles and attached to his veins. Slowly the temperature of his body increased, sweat started running down all around his body. If observed closely, there was dark filth that could be seen pouring out together with the sweat. His body was removing all the negative essence bit by bit. After a few hours, he could feel all his muscles around his body contracting, and the warm essence slowly turned cool. He could feel the breeze until the tip of his finger. Alex opened his eyes, he felt that he could hear better and smell better. All of his 5 senses were enhanced. The feeling was exhrating.


    After a few hours Alex finally stood up, he felt so full of energy, he was now in the high stage of the Mortal Realm. From his past experience, he should be around level 25. He will not know exactly until he gets inside the Pirs. But at the moment he probably was the strongest human on earth. He tested his strength a little, he jumped up as high as he could, and he could touch the ceiling, which should be around 5 meters. He picked up a stone and pressed it hard on his arm, and "Crack" he broke it.


    Alex was full of confidence right now, he stored the golem and the stones back into the storage ring, walked and dove back out of theke. It was already noon outside, he spent more than 12 hours inside.


    Alex walked back to the temple, took the car and drove back all the way to Bali main city to meet his family in the hotel. It seemed that they were having such a nice holiday that his family didn''t really realize he had gone for 3 days.


    .


    .


    At a time like this, he wondered why did he try so hard...


    .


    .


    After dinner together, he then took a long night''s sleep.

 Chapter 13 - More Artifacts

    Bali really is the best holiday destination. The beaches, the food, the resort style hotels...


    In one part of a 5 star hotel, in the swimming area, Alex just finished ying with both his daughters and wife. It''s hard to achieve both "savior of the world" title and "the world''s greatest dad" title. Anyways, the end of days areing,ter on, he will only have less and less time for his family.


    His wife Devita noticed something looking at her husband and said:


    "When did you start working out? Since when you have a six pack?"


    Since the transformation to high stage Mortal Realm, his body changed, it became much more muscr.


    "It''s already been a while, don''t you like it? Maybe you want to feel it for a while?"


    It''s been more than a week since his reincarnation, he already started to adapt to his current situation.. These days he was already able to start teasing his wife.


    After swimming, Alex took the hotel office room and spent time on research with hisputer. Te tried to familiarize himself to the current world, and rte it to the events in his past life. This was especially important while the inte was still working.


    He studied Bali''s local information, the Indonesian government and military situation, the world organizations. It''s been a while since he typed on a keyboard and held a mouse, looking at his bronze colored ring on his finger. Suddenly, he thought of something. There were at least 1000 relics spread out around the world. Although he knew how hard it is to ess all the temples when they''re not activated, throughout history, there should probably be a few relics that had identally been found. Alex then started searching auction and museum sites.


    He found this sword that was actually famous in China. It is a thousand years old sword and never rusted and was still sharp. He recognized it as one of the low-level artifacts, it could be useful to him, but considering the travel time, and the fact that it''s the country''s national treasure, it''s probably not a good idea. It''s only a low-level artifact anyway. He kept searching, hoping to get lucky.


    "Hopefully I can find another medium grade artifact."


    "It won''t be too much to ask for just one high-grade weapon right?"


    .


    .


    "OK, just another ring will do"


    .


    .


    "Even just an empty one"


    .


    .


    Alex didn''t find anything he recognized.


    .


    .


    Maybe it was bad karma for being too greedy and ungrateful.


    .


    .


    He gave up his search and started to read some news. Then he read about how Indonesian forces just captured two terrorist cells in central Java.


    "Only two bases..? General Rico is probably still very suspicious of my intel. It''s too slow.. when doomsdayes, these terrorists will start amassing survivors with the cover of religion and make the worst situation all around Indonesia."


    "Maybe I should just give the general a hand."


    At noon, Alex got a visitor. It was Nina, she came to give him a report on the development progress. Currently, the two bases are progressing fast. There were already 2000 workers who started working on the main base. Heavy equipment and some construction material had already been delivered. Rina already started profiling the next batch of 2000 workers. The vi had currently already finished its parameters fence, the tents were already up. It had be amand center. Currently, Eka was in the progress of managing the mechanics and electricians. The n was to modify all electric equipment like sr panels and water filters to resist electromaic pulses, an EMP surge. They needed to do some modifications and were currently doing some tests.


    Next, Nina reported to Alex about the purchase of unique vehicles and boats. The vehicles and boats that Alex required were the ones built before the year 2002. The vehicles that were built before this year were still using minimum or none electrical equipment. With enough modification, these vehicles will be a useful mode of transportation for survivors.


    For the boats, Alex only purchased the ones using a steel hull, as the fiber ones will not be enough to sustain an attack from the mutated beasts. Currently, Nina already bought 50 vehicles. 30 transport trucks and 20 jeep type. For the boats, Nina bought 2rge steel transporter ships. 90-meter length, 20 meters wide. With cargo decks of maximum 3000-meter cubic tons. Nina also bought 4 smaller steel hull speed boat.


    The transport ships and boats will be docked in the Bay city port. It will take a few days for them to reach there. As for the vehicles, they will be divided among the two bases. Alex also asked Nina to recruit more mechanics and steelworkers to modify the boats and vehicles.


    In the end, Nina gave Alex the total spending cost. Bothnd purchases cost $15 million, the construction and worker sry $5 million, the food supplies $.5 million. other supplies $10 million. The vehicles and boats cost $7 million. The total spending at the moment was $42 million. With the $5 million money he received from selling his other assets added, he''s left with only $13 million. Alex told Nina to buy extra food for $5 million, another $3 million to buy 50 more vehicles and another $2 million for emergency spending. Alex was now left with only $3 million.


    "I just spend $50 million in one week." ... sigh.


    "There are still many things I need, the ships are still not enough. I still need a way to get weapons and I also need lots of ammo. It seems I really need to be more creative."


    Nina then gave Alex a note prepared by Randy, the Bay city Mayor. He already finished investigating half of the names from the list Alex gave. In the note there were 20 plus names, there was information ofst known address andst ces seen. With this information Alex nned to start inviting them to the base, some could be offered a job, but most will need a more personal touch. There was one name in particr that Alex interested to approach right now.


    The name was Jerry, a person he knew from the past life and a future Evolve. Alex knew him pretty well, he''s a trustworthy person. The ce Jerryst seen should be the ce he stays, it''s a simple hotel in one of the small parts of the beach in Bali. It also functions as a smugglers front. This could turn into an opportunity to solve some of his other problems.


    In the future Alex really needs to turn the whole Bali ind into his base, there were some organizations he needs to work with and some that he needs to eradicate.


    The terrorist cells, for now, he will leave to General Rico. As for the smugglers, he will take care of them himself.. Finally some action to test his new strength.

 Chapter 14 - The Smugglers’ Den

    It''s the same in many other countries. When many people in the government are corrupt, the national security tends to be more "flexible". Especially in a ce like Bali, it''s a heavenly destination, 2.8 million tourists a year, mostly from Australia, China, and India. Moste to have "fun", this could be tranted as, alcohol and drugs. When there is a demand, then the supplier wille. There are a few posts with a trade front all over Bali, but this was the only one Jerry is in charge of.


    It''s a small hotel next to a beach, the ce was quite far away from the busy street for obvious reasons. 5 floors high and only around 40 rooms, there really were not many customers besides the "special" ones. In the top room, Jerry was currently sitting in front of a table and was on a phone, there were a few people seen standing in front of him.


    Jerry spoke on the phone: "I understand, but I think the current market will be fine to reach this year''s target, and it will be much safer too, recently, the police are harder to bribe as well."


    Jerry continues, "Yes I understand, I will try my best.." The call ended.


    Jerry had a stiff look on his face, there were 4 men in front of him, one of them said: "What did the big boss say?"


    "The boss is really serious in expanding the market..."


    Jerry was the leader of this post. He has been a smuggler for almost 20 years, most of his crew was also the same, they were recruited since as young as 10 years old. Mostly taken from the streets, or from a very poor family. 20 years ago, he started as a simple delivery boy, walking around the streets of Bali, dodging police, and the other gangs. Some of the other boys he knew ended up in prison and got forgotten or died in a street somewhere. He was an orphan, and he worked really hard to survive for both himself and his little sister. As the market demand was huge, thepetition was just as fierce, even international syndicates were often involved. Therefore most smugglers learned basic fighting, some even learned a martial art to survive. After many years, Jerry managed to step up the food chain, he made many huge contributions and turned his gang into one of the biggest in Bali, naturally, he became one of the most respected leaders in the gang.


    But recently he has been in a dilemma, first, his sister was sent to work overseas a few months ago and he hadn''t heard from her thest few weeks. The second was the way the gang recently turned, these few years the gang chose to mainly sell drugs, which was fine for him at first, but recently the boss had been forcing him to up the market by selling it to the school kids. Jerry knew that he is not a saint but this has pushed into the boundaries of his moralpass. The adults can screw themselves for killing each other with their own money, but the kids are innocent.


    Most of his crew has been following him as a leader, and they could understand him and rte. Many of them were also the victims of an irresponsible adult. Like the saying, the man character can rte to his father. But as almost all his men had no father, they rted to him as their leader.


    Suddenly Jerry hears a hugemotion down the stairs. He led his men down to check. In the hotel lobby, there was a guy standing in the middle wearing a Bali scary mask. A weird person walking into his smuggling base, it only meant trouble.


    There were 20 of his men surrounding the weird mask guy. Jerry''s actually quite calm. He sent one of his men to check the hotel outside parameters to see if there were any other troubles.


    "What do you want?"


    "There you are, Jerry, right? I want you and your men to work for me."


    This masked guy was Alex, he bought the mask on the market on the way here. He thought it''s not yet the time for his face to be known by many of the Bali locals.


    Jerry responded: "Working for a funny weird guy? Not a chance."


    Jerry made a simple look and nodded, one of his men suddenly moved forwards to grab Alex''s shoulder, he tried to push him down but it felt so heavy it didn''t budge at all. Alex made a simple move and grabbed the guy''s hand, pulled him and punched him in the stomach. The guy suddenly passed out.


    Jerry and the gang were finally rmed, this was not a simple guy. Jerry made another gesture. 4 of them moved to surround Alex. They sent a few punches and kicks but Alex easily dodged them. A few secondster, one punch was enough for each of them to all fall down pass out.


    Jerry then yelled "ALL ATTACK!", his men already saw what Alex could do, so they took and pulled out all sort of weapons; knife, hatchets, and steel pipes. 10 plus people fiercely attacked Alex.


    Alex currently is a high stage Mortal Realm human, his speed and strength were 3 times of a professional athlete. He can run 100 meters in about 5-6 second. If he punches with a full strength he can easily break people''s bones. But his body is not invincible, those knives and hatchets could still hurt him. Time to get serious, although his opponents were not amateurs, Alex had 10 years of fighting experience, so he could easily predict their moves. Their des could not touch him. Alex used this time to measure and practice his body''s strength. 1 minute, 2 minutes still no one could touch him, suddenly there was a figure jumping fast at him with a dagger. He was almost as fast as Alex, it''s Jerry.


    "He is an Evolve indeed, even at early stage mortal realm, his speed already surpassed the middle stage."


    But Alex could still dodge him.


    Jerry looked surprised, he was very confident in his speed, but this guy could still dodge him.


    Alex then stopped his practice time, he punched and kicked a few more of Jerry''s men. Suddenly, Alex realized one of the guys on the back pulled out a gun.


    A gun could be a problem. Alex rushed up to the guy before he could aim properly, Alex took the gun from him easily and aimed the gun, pressing it on the guy''s forehead.


    Jerry order "All STOP!!"


    "Ok, you got my full attention, we definitely can''t beat you, whatever you need we can talk about it, just don''t hurt my men."


    Alex knew from his past life how Jerry felt about his men, Alex released the man, took the gun and then followed Jerry to one of the rooms to talk in private.


    "Who are you? Are you with the police? ...CIA?"


    Alex took off his mask and said "Just a normal Indonesian citizen like you."


    Jerry thought the guy in front of him didn''t look normal at all.


    "So Jerry, how can I convince you to work for me?"


    "It''s not possible, don''t you know I am part of the ck Snake Gang? The gang has hundreds of members all around Bali, we might make most of our money from drugs, but we asionally also smuggle weapons, I see you are very strong, but in our main base you will be facing guns and rifles."


    Alex smiled. "My hope exactly, the more the merrier."


    "There is no way I will help you, although we are a group of thugs and smugglers. I know some of the men pretty well, I will not help you hurt them."


    "What if I added information about your sister?"


    Jerry''s lost the calm on his face.

 Chapter 15 - Black Snake Island

    There used to be many gangs in Bali, but around 20 years ago. The ck Snake Gang slowly eliminated theirpetitors one by one. The ck Snake was currently the number one supplier for all contraband items. The secret of its sess is their influence within the Indonesian government andw enforcement, they even have some foreign influence.


    The gang currently has 4 posts all around Bali, led by 4 gang leaders such as Jerry, and each with around 50 members, while their main base is located offshore on one of the small inds named Kangeans, north of Bali ind. The ind became their centralmand and dock for all their smuggling ships who came from the other inds all across Indonesia and even from foreign countries. In his past life, this ind was Jerry''s home base.


    The ind is about the size of Bay city, but there aren''t any houses on it, it was more like a fortress. There was a boat seen sailing into the ind dock, 2 people walked out of the boat. It was Jerry and Alex. They were walking into the building in the center of the ind. The fortress was separated into 3yers, the firstyer was the courtyard. Alex could see more than 50 guards standing around outside the building.. Some of them were holding firearms. Jerry and Alex then entered the building, into the secondyer, the barracks, there were also more than 50 guards in this area. The barracks connected to the room where all the guard rest and where the weapons were kept.


    Jerry was a somehow well-known leader in the gang, many people liked him. Even though nobody recognized Alex, but as long as he''s unarmed they don''t really care about him. Jerry''s authority in this gang was not small. They checked and confiscated all belongings in this area.


    Finally, they reached the thirdyer, the hall. This was the ce where the gangs held their meetings and gathering. There were 2 separate room, the outer hall and the lounge. Alex had to stay in the outer hall while Jerry walked into the lounge. There sat the boss, Mr. ke.


    Mr ke had the cliche look of a big boss, an overweight person wearing a zer. He looks like someone who always got everyone else to do the hard work for him, sitting next to him was Jacko, one of the gang leaders like him, while at the back of the room there were 5 guards.


    "What is it that you need, that you suddenly need to drop by here?"


    "I heard the news that my sister is in Colombia, is this true? Did you know about this Mr. ke?


    shback to a few hours ago. Alex told him a piece of shocking news, he said that Jerry''s sister is not working the overseas job his boss said, but instead was being sent to Colombia as one of the drug lord''s pet girl. Alex told Jerry much detail in a hope to convince him to work with him, of course, some of the detaisl Alex heard from Jerry himself in the previous life. In the previous life since Alex met him, Jerry''s sister already died, in this life, she probably already died too. Alex was miscalcting how much Jerry''s sister means to him, normally Jerry was a very calm person, but who knew that after he heard about this, Jerry decided to rush out and walk right into the base. He wished to confront Mr. ke to see right at his eyes when he answered. He didn''t really care that Alex was following him. If Alex lied, he could take care of him better in the main base.


    Back to the question, Mr. ke was silent in thought for a while then said:


    "Who told you this?"


    From those 4 words, Jerry already knew that it is true.. his heart beat faster.


    "How is she? Is she still alive?" Jerry knew the fact of how the drug lord treats women like clothes.


    "You both are such a fool. The brother works very hard for the sister, while the sister works really hard for her brother." You both ended up bing such a fortune for me. When the drug lord came here and took fancy of your sister, I really couldn''t say no... Your sister also chose to lie for your sake.


    Jerry was trying very hard to be calm but he couldn feel his blood pumping inside...


    "So where is she now?"


    Suddenly there were 5 guards rushing inside from the back room holding rifles.


    Mr. ke continued: "Since she''s been sent to Columbia, I already prepared the worst for you, I nted some people to spy on you. But they always failed. Your men are very loyal. Instead many others like you even more. You are a natural leader and a great fighter, too bad you are too soft, our ck Snake cant improve by just doing the safe things."


    Jerry couldn''t hold it anymore, he pulled out a small hidden knife and rushed up, he dashed really fast, the guard was caught unprepared, in less than 1 second Jerry was already in front of Mr. ke. The n was to take Mr. ke as a hostage. Jerry was very confident in his speed, unfortunately, Jacko was there. He was prepared, Jacko moved forward to block him. Jerry was a better fighter than Jacko, it took him 5 moves to stab the knife into Jacko''s shoulder, making him drop to his knee and disable him.


    But Jacko already aplishes his job. Mr ke managed to run a few steps away from them. Mr. ke quickly ordered the guards to shoot. These were Mr. ke''s personal guards, these guard have done many of his dirty deeds before. With no hesitation, they were pulling the trigger... Jacko saw his boss'' decision and could only me his stupidity.


    Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang Bang


    Jerry tried to jump away, while Jacko was still on his knees just surrender to his fate.. but the gunshots followed with someone else''s scream. All 5 guards who held the rifles dropped onto the floor, dead. All shot in the head. The other 5 guards were shocked and pulled out their pistols, but before they even managed to get it out.


    Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang Bang


    5 more guard died. All headshots.


    Everyone saw a figure walk slowly into the hall. It''s Alex holding a gun, he took out the gun from his storage ring. 10 shot, 10 bullets, 10 bodies. His high stage Mortal Realm didn''t just give him strength and speed, but also higher reflexes and perception, plus he had much experience in using a gun in his previous life. Alex killed 10 people just like that, he had seen thousands of death before, he was already used to life and death fights. If you prepared to kill someone then you must be prepared to die as well.


    It all finished just like that very easily. Many other guards rushed into the room but by then Jerry already took control of the situation, Jerry said "This is a personal matter between me and Mr. ke, I don''t want to see any other dead bodies, but if any of you insist on defending him, please move forward now."


    There was no one who dared to intervene, even Jacko didn''t want to help anymore, and Mr. ke''s closest guards were allying on the floor died. All the others were either the guards who listen to Jerry, the guard who dislike Mr. ke, or all the other guards who just worked for money and didn''t care who the boss was. Even if there were a few who wanted to help Mr. ke, they either didn''t have the ability or were smart enough to understand the situation.


    Mr. ke was furious, there were many men in front of him but none were willing to defend him. Jerry walked closer to Mr. ke, he punched him down. Then he moves on top of him pulled up his sleeve and asked the same question again.


    Surprisingly Mr. ke answer was:


    "You can see her yourself in Hell."


    Alex realized something was wrong, but he was not fast enough, Mr. ke had pulled up a small pistol under his zer and shot Jerry in the stomach.


    Bang.. Bang.. two shot


    Jerry''s stomach bled...


    Alex panicked... (noooo.....my Evoooo....)

 Chapter 16 - Spirit Enhancer

    To prevent more harm to Jerry, Alex immediately shot Mr. ke in the head, for him everything else in this room was not as precious as Jerry. He then took Jerry inside of a small room; all the other guards, even Jacko was not sure what to do; they were waiting in the lounge.


    Alex looked at Jerry''s wound; the bullet passed through cleanly. Alex patched him up with a clean sheet, he was not critical but lost a lot of blood. He needed to get treated in a hospital soon, but the nearest was in Bali, a 3-hour boat ride away.


    There was one way he nned to try. .


    Alex decided to open up his storage ring and took out his spirit stones. Alex nned to give Jerry some of his spirit stones. He believed that if Jerry turned to high stage Mortal realm, his upgraded regenerative ability should be enough to save his life. Alex was reluctant to give him six stones, but the safety of his Evolve was at stake. In his previous experience, Jerry was also not supposed to die here, he felt responsible. Hence he put all 6 of them in Jerry''s mouth.


    Jerry was still in a semi-conscious state, and he realized what Alex did to him. From patching his wound to giving him strange stones.


    "This is a stone right?"


    "What are you trying to do?"


    "I should eat this?"


    "Are you fu***** crazy?"


    There''s nothing Jerry could do to stop him. He was currently in pain and had no strength to resist: 1.2...6 stones, all inside him. Alexid him on the floor.


    "Just rx, this will save your life."


    Jerry suddenly felt a weird sensation within his body, and he tried to rx and rest.


    It will take a few hours until Jerry finished his transformation. Alex didn''t want to waste any time; he walked out of the room and met Jacko. Jacko saw Alex''s abilities just now, his speed, his aim, and his brutality. Jacko was scared of him. Currently, he just lost his employer, there were few choices for him, but he wanted to make sure about Jerry''s condition first. Alex came to tell him that Jerry was fine; he is currently resting. Alex told him to spread the news of what happened and to gather all ck Snake members from all four posts to this ind tomorrow.


    After that, Alex took a walk around thepound by himself, many eyes were facing him, but they were not sure what to do so they let him be. Their reaction was entirely reasonable; they were not as trained as police or military organization. They had no chain ofmand, so when the Boss died, they were not sure what to do. Anyway, Jacko''s announcement already spread, they will know more tomorrow. They cleaned up the bodies and put them into one of the empty rooms for the moment until further order.


    Alex then walked around and checked each of the rooms; he opened each one; some of the locked rooms were no trouble for him. He started his treasure hunting, the first he found in the arsenal, they didn''t have too many of them here. Exclude the one already with some of the soldiers there were 30 pieces of the SS1 assault rifle and 20 pieces of Berretta pistols. There were only a few boxes of ammo. Barely enough for his base, but some were better than nothing at all. He did find something useful though; there was a box full of grenades, there are 8 of them inside. Alex took all the grenades, but he left the weapons in the room, his storage ring was quite limited.


    Alex then found "The Room." It was a steel door with triple locks. Alex forced entry inside the room; it''s shiny, he saw the ck Snake treasure. There were ten bags of cash and about 500 gold bars. He took some time to count them, the stock worth $10 million and the gold with the current market value should be worth $25 million. Money. Precisely what he currently needs. He took all of them in the ring, he felt like robbing a bank right now. Anyway, all of this will lose its value by next month, so to steal and spend them will be a favor to the money and gold. All the other rooms were mostly filled with contraband; alcohols and drugs. He was not sure about the value so he will leave itter to Jerry.


    Alex returned to the room where Jerry was, currently Jerry''s experiencing the same process he had in the ruins chamber. When he saw Jerry, Alex felt a little bit jealous, the guy in front of him was one of the lucky individuals who had the spirit enhancer talent. They were very rare. In his previous life, Jerry was a high wind spirit enhancer. His ability to run faster actually was noting from his muscles like any other body enhancer, but it was because of his talent in air maniption, he was unconsciously able to reduce air resistance and used pressurized air for propulsion. He was an Evolve, the term that was defined by the doomsday pirs as a person who could enhance both their body and their spirit. Alex might not be an Evolve, but he knew a way from his previous life to get an ability that could make him strong enough like an evolve.


    Alex then took a rest while waiting for Jerry. In the morning Jerry opened his eyes, there''s a lot of confusion in his face. Between the news of his sister, to the stones that changed his body. He tried not to think about his sister right now, as he knew that Mr. ke already died, he will work to investigate the truth about thister on.


    Currently, he wondered about the mysterious stones, a few hours ago he was dying, now he felt a surge of powerful energy on his body. Alex slowly exined to him about the realms of human bodies, but he didn''t tell where or how he got the stones. He also told Jerry the secret of Spirit Enhancing, at the moment within the Mortal Realm there wasn''t much different to any body-enhancer, but he should already be able to feel the wind energy around him. He should practice himself. There''s not much Alex can help, as he was not a spirit enhancer himself.


    Jerry owed Alex his lives, and he also felt a sense of admiration to this mysterious person he just met yesterday. Jerry was a simple person, Alex already told him what he wanted, as long as Alex didn''t ask him to do something that crossed his line, he was willing to work for Alex.


    "So what do you require me to do?"


    "I want you to lead the ck Snake gang."


    "What for?"


    "A huge disaster ising. I need a lot of people. I want you and them to be prepared."

 Chapter 17 - Not Enough

    The ck Snake base ind, at noon, the courtyard area was already full of people. All three gang leaders and their members, the primary base guard, plus Jerry''s men. All totaled 300 plus members had gathered. Alex and Jerry both were standing at the front. Jerry was currently addressing the members; most of them respected him, so they listened to him. Jerry told them what Mr. ke did to his sister, and about the incidentst night. Afterward, he said that for the gang to continue, the first thing they needed was to elect a new leader, he was open for anyone who wished to be the new leader.


    Jacko already knew Jerry''s strength, so he chose to stand aside, the other two leaders, Bayu was a muscr bald man, height about 1.9 meters, while thest leader was Vicky, a woman in herte twenties. Vicky had noment, she never liked Mr. ke, as for Bayu, he thought that he might not be as smart as Jerry, but he''s sure, that he was the strongest and fiercest member in this courtyard.


    He challenged Jerry to a duel; the other members thought that Jerry was still hurt because of the gunshot, but who knew that he would win easily against Bayu.. The first minute Jerry only moved around testing his speed, next, to prove his strength, he let the big guy hit him, it didn''t hurt him, Jerry felt both his speed and power were increased. It''s addicting. Seeing this scene; every gang member was surprised, but the stronger the leader, the better they would be, so they felt d. Jacko was puzzled by this,st night when he fought Jerry, Jerry was not this strong, after getting shot he didn''t seem to be hurt, but got much stronger.


    When the leadership issue was settled, Jerry started talking about the future of the ke Snake gang; he nned to stop the drug smuggling business and decided that the gang would be mercenaries, as for the client, he introduced Alex, the guy standing next to him. As most of the ck Snake members had a criminal record, it will be hard for them to live outside of the gang, so most of them agreed with the decision, about 30 of them decided to quit and retired the life of the gang, and Jerry allowed it.


    For the rest of them, a total of 300 people, Alex nned for them to be trained and prepared for the end of days, they will be his first group of fighters. Although he won''t know how many will survive the gue, he still wished for these to be ready. They will be trained in hand to handbat, axes fighting andstly shooting firearms. The firearm supplies were far from enough, so Alex gave Jerry a job to trade all the drugs with weapons, they will need as many guns and ammo as possible. Jerry provided a rough estimate; all the drug supplies were worth about $10 million, if traded with weapons it should be able to arm 2000 people. Alex added an extra $5 million to buy a few special weapons like RPGs, machine guns and extra ammunition, a lot of extras.


    The 4 ck snake posts will be emptied, all gangs will have training on the ind, Jacko and Bayu will be in charge of the training and Vicky will be in charge of tradings and smuggling it to this base, Jerry requested to visit Colombia, besides trading, his main reason was to hear news about his sister, so he asked to go there himself. Alex was worried, but considering that Jerry was already a high stage mortal realm, he let him go, but Alex gave Jerry a deadline, in one week he must be back to the gang and prepare the mobilization of the gang member to Bali main base.


    Alex realized that the gang also had a dozen ships avable to use. Alex told Jerry about Bay city and told him to coordinate with Eka about modifying the vessel. After monitoring the preparation and training, there''s nothing else Alex could do here on the ind, Alex went back to the Bali Ind.


    The Bay city was currently crowded with 100 plus mechanics, modifying vehicles and ships, Alex had a meeting with Randy, the mayor about donating a fund to built the city''s outer wall and post. Of course, he also mentioned a different kind of "donation" as well.


    Next Alex went to the main base, it''s currently busy and bustling with 5000 plus worker, fromnd clearing, building foundations, wall gates cements, and steel construction, it all progressing fast. Alex gave some feedback on the current design. Thend acquisition was already finished, so he started the second stage of the n. The wall in the north facing the mountain, the gate will be called the mountain gate, the wall on the west near the river there will be the river gate, on the east where the pir will drop be called the pir gate. Lastly, the south gate near the main road will be called the main entrance. Outside of the Mountain Gate until the River Gate, Alex will create a farm area, Alex decided to bring 1000 farmers to startnd clearing and paddy the fields. They will also connect the farms with the river. Alex also prepared a dozen three-story outpost 1 kilometer away each outside the base for a lookout. After he finished the design, he returned to the Hotel where his family was staying; both trips took him one full day.


    Tonight Alex had a lot of things on his mind; it''s already day 10, 20 days left till the end of dayse. Things seemed to go as nned; he got two bases under construction, 5000 plus worker, supplies delivered, vehicles, boats, he got an artifact, an Evolve, 300 fighters and weapons. But after seeing his bases and rte to his previous life...


    "It''s not enough."


    "5000 people, 300 fighters, how many of them would survive the first gue?"


    "It might turn to be a safe base for my family and friends."


    "But will it have any effect on the world? Did I reincarnate only to protect my family and friends? This preparation won''t bring any much different to my country, don''t bother about changes to the humankind, the earth has totaled 7.7 billion people, and currently, my action was only affecting less than 7000 people. I only have 20 days left, what else can I prepare? I need to think bigger and took higher risk, I want to start getting the item to find the cure for my daughter, but I guess it can wait for now."


    If Alex wanted to create an impact on the country, he would need government involvement, but it will be tough for the government to go on board with this, politicians will take too long to convince, the other way was either go straight to the Indonesian military or through the wealthiest and most powerful society in the country:


    The Nine Dragons of Indonesia.

 Chapter 18 - The 9 Dragons

    Indonesia is a democratic country; the people elect the President, there are also the cab''s members, also elected by the people to watch over the government. These are the politicians; they are divided into the presidential party and the opposition party; they are often in contradiction. During Alex''s previous life, the president, the vice, and most cab members all died from the gue, so the country lost its central leadership. None of the surviving cab members was eligible or given the power to lead. Democracy is the best for peacetime, but in times like this, they are the worst.


    Law enforcement took control. Indonesianw enforcement is divided into two big organization, the police force, and the army. The police force was in charge of handling domestic threat while the military handled foreign threats. There are no preparations for gue like this; finally, because ofck of centralmand andmunication, each general set up their own survival base each, they became "king" in each of their regiments.


    Last but not least were the rich and powerful nine dragons. This is the group of 9 families, who control nine big industries such as tobo, real estate, oil, bank, pharmacy, technology, media, etc. These nine corporations control 90% of the country''s economy; it could even be said that they control the government itself. Some of them also manage some part of the army and police force.. In Alex''s previous life, they spent the first many years fighting among themselves, when they finally joined forces it was already toote.


    In his previous life, Alex knew a few of the nine dragon families, and fought alongside them, but, at the moment they are strangers. Alex was currently thinking of a way to convince at least one of them to support him before the end of days.


    In the city of Surabaya, east of Java. At night in one luxury real estatepound, a figure wearing ck clothes could be seen jumping in from outside the wall. If someone could see this scene, they would be surprised as the walls are 4 meters high, and the guy seemed to jump past them quickly.


    Of course, the guy was Alex.


    "Reincarnated life, a mission to save the world, but why do I feel more like a thief each day..."


    "What a mansion, this is not a house, this is a pce."


    There were a few bodyguards all around the estate, but with his perception and agility, it''s pretty easy for Alex to dodge them undetected.


    "The dogs will be the tricky one; I should just jump up to the roof and crawl from the top."


    Alex walked inside one of the rooms from a balcony, where he saw a man sitting in a wheelchair. The man was startled when he saw Alex.


    "Mr. James, let me introduce myself. I am Alex."


    "Please don''t bother calling your guard, I don''t want another cliche of hitting your guard to get your attention."


    James Randall, the family head of Randall Family, one of the Nine Dragons. The Randall Family, like all the other families, got their fame and fortune from trading the country''s natural resources; oil, ntation, and such, but his main business is in the medical sector. The Randall Family has the most hospitals and medical research centers all over the country. It could even be considered one of the best in all over the world.


    James Randall was the most driven man he knew, in Alex''s previous life, as the Randall Family was the best in medical expertisepared to all the other Nine Dragons, they were on friendly terms with him. James had be the family head since he was only 25 years old. His father died from a bone disease ten years ago. Since then James managed to lead the family into prominence, despite the threat of many wolves inside and outside the family.


    The Randall Family were experts in medical science, but for him, it''s be such a joke, his father and his grandfather died of the same bone disease, a biologic illness that became the family curse. Currently, even with his resources of hundreds of medical experts and thousands of studies, the family was still unable to find a cure. Five years ago the disease also started to affect James. What is the use of money and power if eventually humans can''t escape death, and his death wille early. James thinks ten years at most, but there still was no breakthrough. This is his number one goal in life. And this will be Alex''s way to gain favor with the Randalls.


    James Randall thought for a little and responded.


    "You managed to enter unnoticed, passed through my guards, despite them being an ex-special force. Even in my normal condition, I doubt I can escape, never mind with this wheelchair."


    "What do you want?"


    Alex responded:


    "There is something that I need, and I am willing to trade it with something that will interest you."


    "I doubt it; there''s not much in this world that interests me anymore."


    "What about a cure for your illness.. even better.. what about the secret of eternal life..?"


    "Hahahahaha.. is this supposed to be a joke? Did my cousin send you?"


    Alex took out a polished white stone and showed it to James.


    "This is a spirit stone; you will be surprised of the wonders it could give. I will give you one to let your scientist and researchers study it.", James said.


    "Don''t y around with me."


    Alex suddenly moved close to him, with such a speed James couldn''t exin. Alex took another stone out and forced it into James'' mouth.


    "This one is for you to take this stone seriously."


    "One of these stone won''t be enough to cure your disease; I have plenty more. I believe you will be interested; I will find you again soon."


    Alex left the other spirit stone on the table next to James and jumped out of the window. Alex quickly left thepound.


    James wanted to call his guards to go after Alex, but he suddenly felt something change within his body, one spirit stone was enough to turn a low stage into a mid-stage mortal realm. It only took about 15 minutes for one spirit stone to work. An average person will suddenly have the speed and strength of an Olympic athlete. For James, he suddenly felt his body full of vigor; he could already feel both of his legs. He tried and was able to stand up for a few seconds.


    "2 more spirit stones used, 26 left, almost half are already used. I hope it''s worth it. I should give him some time to study the stone so I can exploit him betterter."


    "Although, even if he agrees to help me, I doubt it will be enough."


    "If he''s not interested, maybe I can sneak in again to take the spirit stone back."


    The next morning, in the news, Alex heard something disturbing.

 Chapter 19 - Special Forces

    .


    BANG...


    .


    The sound of a gunshot...


    "Hostile one is down.." .


    "Nice shot, Sniper Three."


    Inside of a room within a warehouse district, a group of people wearing ck uniforms was gathered. They surrounded a big table ced in the center of the room. On top of it, there was arge sized building blueprint, it''s the blueprint of the warehouse next door. There were 3 men sitting down next to the table facing a monitor, they were wearingmunication equipment. The others were standing, the person in the middle was the one takingmand, this was General Rico.


    The war against the terrorists. Since the shocking 9/11 Terrorist attack in the US, the war never stopped. Although being chased by manyw enforcement all around the world, the terrorist groups did not go down but actually became more vicious, even getting more support and funding. In Indonesia, terrorism was also already spread. There were dozens of hidden bases and hundreds man devoted to creating terror, mainly through bomb attacks.


    The police forces in Indonesia are spread out in all cities, Indonesia actually has the second most police officer in the world. A total of 430.000 men. Within this number, few elites were selected, they were named DENSUS 88. They were stationed all around the country, with a total of no more than 3000 men. 200-300 men in the big cities and only 30-40 men in the small cities They are the police special forces. Each of them got training from ex-US special forces and various intelligence agencies. They were designed to be an anti-terrorist unit that is capable of countering various terrorist threats. From bomb threats to hostage situations. It consists of investigators, explosive experts, and an attack unit that includes snipers.


    Rico was a brigadier general with a vice-chief position in the DENSUS 88 special forces. Normally, he did not personally lead an operation anymore, but currently, he was leading because this was one of the terrorists'' main bases, and also because he wanted to make sure the information that Alex gave was urate. Currently, Rico brought with him 1 toon of the special forces; one toon normally has 3 squads each with members around 8 - 12 men. Currently, this operation involved 30 men. Each squad was led by a sergeant, while each toon was led by a lieutenant. Lieutenant Leon was one of the men standing with him, and he currently was second inmand for this operation.


    The other 3 men sitting at the table was the intelligence division unit, they were in charge of gathering information and devising tactical strategies. This unit has staked out this location since yesterday. They predicted the number of hostiles insides should be around 20 men.


    Squad 1 was currently standing guard within the temporarymand center, ready as a backup. Squad 2 already prepared to enter the warehouse through the front and Squad 3 through the back. Just now a sniper from Squad 3 was just given orders to shoot the enemy lookout.


    "Breach! Breach!"


    Squad 2 going through the front door was faced with a steel door, the sergeant holding a breaching shotgun shot the door hinges and the steel door finally opened, there were 7 hostiles in the front hall waiting to shoot anything that walked through the front door, but when the door opened, the scene was not as they expected, instead of men rushing inside, it''s actually a grenade...


    "BAAMMM"


    It''s a stun grenade, thrown by Squad 2, it exploded with a bright light, disabled all eyes and senses. The grenade was then followed by 2 people walking with a ballistic shield in front.


    BANG...BANG...BANG...BANG


    All the hostiles'' shooting was useless, it was all deflected by the shield. One by one, each member of Squad 2 rushed in and opened fire to all the blinded hostiles, it was a one-sided battle, all 7 hostiles were down, none of the Squad 2 members hurt. Squad 2 continued to walk through the front hall. 3 other hostiles on the other side of the room were actually fleeing through the back room, but they didn''t expect to be weed by a bullet rain from Squad 3 who just went in through the back door.


    "Back door secured!"


    "Front door secured!"


    "Great job, now enter the 2nd floor cautiously, careful, there should be 10 other hostiles waiting."


    It was an open warehouse hall, the second-floor door could be seen from the front hall... Squad 2 stayed in the hall while taking cover behind boxes, Squad 3 walked inside the hall from the back room and walked up to the stairs.


    Squad 3 breached the 2nd-floor door and also rushed in with the ballistic shield. But, what they found puzzled them, there was only one man inside, he was kneeling on the floor, not making any sound. One by one Squad 3 men walked in to secure the room, prepared to shoot the kneeling man.


    Rico said: "Something is wrong, where are the other hostiles?"


    The kneeling men stood up slowly and said:


    "The heaven''s gate ising and all you heathens will burn, today I will go to heaven, The Lord is Great!"


    Rico screamed: "GET OUT!! ALL UNITS OUT!!"


    Less then 1 secondter, Rico''s order was followed with an extremely loud noise.


    .


    "KAAABBBBOOOOOOOOOMMMM!!"


    .


    "NOOOOO.....!!!"


    .


    An explosion blew up the warehouse. It was so big that the force broke the windows of the building that the general currently was in.


    General Rico and Lieutenant Leon rushed out of the building with Squad 1 and saw the ming warehouse. Such a horrific sight. There were some bodies of the Squad 2 that could be seen, the general could even see a few of them still twitching and gasping for help. There was nothing left of Squad 3.


    A few men from Squad 1 couldn''t stand by watching the scene. These were theirrades, their friends. They broke out the formation and tried to help the burning bodies.


    Suddenly...


    BANG...BANG...BANG...BANG


    Several figures rushed out from behind another building and started shooting...


    BANG...BANG...BANG...BANG


    .


    3 Squad and 1 man who walked out of formation got hit and dropped to the ground...dead.


    There were now only 7 members left, with Lieutenant Leon and the General a total of 9 men.


    The General gave the order: "TAKE COVER, BACK TO BACK, create a defensive formation!"


    They started to resist and shot back. These squads were the elites police forces, most of them were sharpshooters.


    BANG...BANG...BANG...BANG


    .


    10 hostiles dropped dead to the ground, but weirdly more wereing.


    General Rico could see at least 30 more figures.


    "DAMN, it''s a fxxxxxx trap!"


    "Hold the formation, keep shooting!"


    .


    BANG...BANG...BANG...BANG


    .


    .


    10 more hostile died, the squad had 1 more casualty.


    Now there were only 8 of them.


    "KEEP SHOOTING! Preserve ammo, we can win this!"


    Suddenly a van rushed in and stopped close to the group.


    A figure walked out.


    It''s a woman...


    She is crying...


    The squad stopped shooting seeing this scene.


    Suddenly the woman ran to the formation.


    General Rico SCREAMED: "FIRE AT HER, STOP HER!!"


    They were shooting at her, but she''s already too close... A brave squad member jumped out and tried to push the woman away. But he''s toote.


    Inside the woman''s jacket.. she''s wearing an explosive vest.


    .


    KAAABOOOOM!!!


    .


    .


    The formation broke.


    The brave squad member sshed into pieces. Followed with his two closest members.


    All the others got blown away, some were seriously injured, Lieutenant Leon was one of them. He''s hurting and struggling on the ground. The general was lucky to be the furthest from the bomb, but he also was on the ground, his sight and hearing were impaired.


    Suddenly, several figures walked closer.


    BANG


    BANG


    BANG


    ...All of Squad 1 died...


    General Rico was still on the ground seeing all of this, but it seemed he had no power to move.


    He heard a man talking:


    "We are lucky, God is Great, we found ourselves a General, take him, he could be worth a fortune.


    Another guy spoke to him:


    "This one is a lieutenant, what should we do with him?"


    "Naaaahh... The General is enough."


    .


    .


    BANG


    .


    .

 Chapter 20 - Breakout

    General Rico woke up in a small dark room, but the general could feel that he was in some sort of a basement. His hand was tied up to a chain hanging from the ceiling. He''s alone, he''s angry.. the scene that happened a day before was still hurting in his mind. All 30 plus special forces, his men, all died.


    The enemy was prepared, the past 10 days General Rico had managed to take out 5 hidden terrorist bases all around Java, all with zero casualties. This time it was a huge disaster. .


    "What went wrong?"


    The terrorists were particrly different this time, they were fully armed and they were organized.


    General Rico suddenly heard a footstep, a few people walked through the door. There were 5 men, the other 3 seemed like normal guards, there was one standing a little bit in the back, The general couldn''t really see his face clearly. He seemed to be a foreigner from a middle eastern country.


    The other walked closer to him.


    "Brigadier General Rico..."


    "The youngest General in Indonesian history and also vice-chief of the special forces. Impressive."


    The General could recognize the sound of this man, this was the man who ordered the death of Lieutenant Leon, and probably the leader in charge of the operation that killed all of his men. The general lost his calm, he''s enraged.


    "Calm down General, what''s with the hostile reaction, please... I know I killed many of your men yesterday, but you killed more of my men, you can''t possibly say that my men are worth less than yours? We are at war, General."


    "General I did my research, and realized you were personally in charge in destroying 5 of our base in thest few days. Where did you get your Intel?"


    The men started to torture the General, they hit him, did water torture to him and even cut one of his fingers, but the General didn''t say a word, even if he wanted to tell the truth, what should he say? "A weird ordinary looking man came in and just gave the intel to him for no reason at all?" The General had a better chance to be released by saying the government had created an intel robot or something like that.


    After a few hours, they finally left him. Probably considering a different approach. The General thought his chances to escape were very slim.


    A few hourster he heard more steps and a few more peopleing in. This time, the General was really surprised, there''s another personing to the room this time, a person in his thirties. His face looked ordinary, and this man was smiling seeing him... The general recognized him. It was that weird guy.


    The General''s first reaction was, this was the guy who gave him the intel, there''s a big chance this guy also gave intel to the terrorist, he could even be the one who set up the ambush. Athe fact this guy was here in the room proved it...


    "It''s YOUR FAULT!"... The general was enraged, but then suddenly his brain thought further, he started to notice how the guard treated Alex, and the fact Alex also had his hands in shackles. soon after they also chained Alex to the ceiling next to him.


    The terrorist said: "This is weird, it seems you recognize this man, but you don''t like him. Probably not your friend, anyway, we caught him outside this base, did the police forces find out about this base already?"


    The guy quickly rushed out of the room with all the guards. Now there were only Alex and General Rico in the room chained next to each other.


    The General said: "Tell me honestly, are you involved with the ambush that killed my men?"


    "Wow, is that the thought of the person who tries hard to find and rescue you? I thought we were friends already, General."


    "Rescue? Is the police really here already?"


    "Nope, sorry General, only me."


    "...Only you? And now you are also captured?.... How did you find this ce anyway?"


    "After hearing the news yesterday, I got worried and luckily I was in the city, took a stroll to a few bases near this city, took them out while I was at it. Then finally, I found this ce, this was the lucky ce number 4."


    .


    .


    ...Speechless..


    .


    This guy probably really had a screw loose in his head...


    "How do you n to rescue me, you can''t even rescue yourself..... What the fxxxxxx!"


    .


    .


    Alex did something.. With his high stage mortal realm it''s not hard for Alex to break the chain himself, he then walked closer and broke the General''s chain as well. The General didn''t realize it, Alex did it while he was still talking.


    The General is speechless.


    Alex said: "You are too weak to walk general, they really did a number on you. Here, take this."


    "Out of nowhere, Alex took out a white stone and suddenly forced it into the General''s mouth."


    Surprised, confused, puzzled, enraged. Mixed feelings. But he couldn''t make much noise or fight this guy. Suddenly there''s a surge of energy slowly flowing in the general body...


    "Keep calm and don''t fight it. That stone I gave you will increase your strength."


    After 15 minutes Rico felt like he''s back in his youth body, even stronger. The General now was at the middle stage of the Human Realm, even the top special forces agents were weaker than him right now.


    "Ok, General. Prepare to get out."


    The door was actually unlocked, they probably thought no ordinary human could break that chain.


    Alex and the General walked out of the basement slowly.


    With their skill, it''s pretty easy to disable a few hostiles, take their weapons and start killing them one by one. The General was still surprised by his new strength. He can run faster, jump higher, aim better.. When he saw Alex, it was even more amazing.


    .


    .


    One bullet... One shot... One kill.


    In less than 10 minutes the base was cleared by both of them. They killed at least 30 hostiles. They ended up walking into the final room. There the general saw the guy who interrogated him and killed hisrades. The guy was actually a coward, when he saw what Alex and the General did, he ran to hide in this room.


    The General said: "I need to interrogate him."


    Alex nodded.


    The guy spilled everything easily. He said that he''s just a nobody. Then he gave out the foreigner''s name.. His name was Hafiz. He is one of the top leaders of the Heaven''s Gate terrorist group. He just left thepound 15 minutes ago when he heard a suspicious man was captured. He''s very careful.


    The name surprised the General, as the name was included in one of the world''s most wanted list. Alex was even more surprised than the general... Hafiz in his previous life was an infamous spirit saint. Too bad he''s gone, it would be great if he could kill him while he''s still in the mortal realm.


    "Are you done with this guy, General?", Alex said.


    General thought and said: "I will contact headquarters to send him to prisonˇ­"


    BANG...


    A shot to the head by Alex.


    "This guy doesn''t belong in prison."


    "Who are you exactly, and why did you help me?"


    "As I said before, General, I want to be your friend, my name is Alex. And Let''s just say I hate the terrorists as much as you do, so I need you to kill as many terrorists as you can, General."


    Actually, in his previous life, General Rico once saved his life, so Alex did it to return the favor.


    "What was that stone you gave to me?"


    "Just a new medical breakthrough, don''t worry too much about it."


    Before leaving, Alex walked around and took all weapon from the bodies, he then searched for something...


    "Jackpot."


    A room full of C4 explosives... Another one of his reasons toe here...

 Chapter 21 - Free Lunch

    A person''s body contains cells, each adult bodies have around 30 to 40 trillion cells. All of these cells have specific roles for the bodies, in today''s world, the scientists called it the blood cells. The current medical technology manages to harvest the cell that was not used by the body, normally from the bone marrow, the brain or from the umbilical cords of a newborn baby. The amount that can be harvested is as many as 100-150 cells every year, although multiple harvests are very dangerous to a human body.


    Blood cells generally these days were being used to save lives by generating body tissues organ or mostmonly be separated into a small cell and sold publicly as a sure way to make skin ageless.


    The medical science did many research and tests on these cells, the best medical science has practiced in reprogramming the gic cell to create a stronger cell. Butter through the Doomsday Pir, they realized that they had not yet even touched the surface of the secret of the body cells. The Doomsday Pir called this the Body Essence.. All living things have them when the mutation affects the bodies, the higher or stronger the mutation, the more refined this essence will be. Some of this excess essence are also usually formed in the brain or bone marrow, and once this essence with enough mutation it would condense and solidify into what the Doomsday Pir defines as the spirit stone.


    In a private room of a fancy Chinese restaurant, a person sits by himself in a big table, he seems to be waiting for someone, this person has normally done lots of meetings with country leaders but the meeting this time make him a little bit nervous. This person is James Randal, he just got a call to meet by Alex this morning, James instantly clears all his business schedule and set up the meeting.


    Yesterday, he already got the research report from his scientist, his top scientist can rte this with the origin of blood cells. The small crystal stone has the potency of at least a million blood cells. The current human technology could not recreate this cell not even in the next 100 years but the stone is ancient and dated at least 10.000 years. The report has its final conclusion as "out of this world".


    Also, the fact that James ate one of them, and it wasn''t harmful to him it even made his body stronger, it made James wonder about the person he will soon meet.


    A momentter, James assistant let that person in, he then sits down in the big table facing James.


    "Hello Mr. James, I appreciate the time you have spared to meet me, I''m sure you''re a very busy man."


    "Mr Alex, thank you foring."


    Alex smiled and said, "Should we order something? This is a nice restaurant after all.."


    Alex called the waitress and ordered, Peking duck, Steamed Fish, 5 Spices Pork, Chili Crab...


    James was puzzled. Normally in Indonesia and most of Asian countries, many businesses are settled during lunch, but with today''s current agenda, James is surprised by how casual Alex looks. As for Alex, he had experienced 11 years of hunger and eating mutated animals without any spices or taste, so thinking about the future that will be repeating, he would not waste such an opportunity to a feast sumptuously.


    While waiting for food, James started the conversation.


    "Tell me, Mr. Alex, why would a family man like you suddenly sell yourpanies and move to Bali? The money you spent, the things you bought, it really puzzles me."


    "Impressive Mr. James, as one of the 9 Dragons Family it really is not just a title, only 2 days and you have already figured out my identity, you really are more resourceful than the police."


    "So please tell me, Mr. Alex, I''m not used to this, I normally can understand other people easily, it''s my gift, but I can''t understand you, and I don''t really like a mystery."


    Alex replied, "Would you believe me if I said I know the secret of the future?"


    "Please tell me you are not, I really don''t want to describe you as the delusional sort."


    "Probably you should Mr. James, else this meeting will not go smoothly without it..."


    James thinking for a while... he''s not sure what this man is nning, but thinking about the stone he''s willing to just y along with it.


    Alex continued, "I believe a huge disaster ising Mr. James. It will be the biggest the world ever had, and it wille at the end of this year."


    "You are very imaginative Mr. Alex, maybe you should write a fantasy novel instead."


    "Yes if the disaster didn''te, maybe I should. But I assure you, Mr. James, it woulde."


    "I already told you my reason, hence my move to Bali, it would be best if you believed me and start preparing as well, but if you don''t let us just talk about the stone."


    "Yes, the stone, how did you acquire it?"


    "Mr. James, I don''t really mind telling you how to get it, but again you won''t believe it. Let''s just talk about what you can believe. First, I think your scientist by now should have studied the stone and you should know and believe that it''s a precious stone. Second, since you ate the first stone you should believe by now that the stone is useful for you. Third, you believe you need more stone and I have more with me."


    Alex takes out a small bag, pull it out and there is 4 white crystal stonee out. James staring at the stone, and he wants it. If just one of the stone could make his body stronger, then what about 4 of them?


    "I have more with me, but this is all I can spare to give, do you want it, Mr. James?"


    James Randal wanted it, for him, money and power are uselesspared to his life, he really wants it. While James was lost in thought for a while, the food starteding. Alex took back all the stones he put out and started eating.


    While eating, Alex continued, "There is a famous saying, no such thing as free lunch."


    James answered, "What do you want to trade it with?"


    "I believe you will need all 6 to turn your body back into its full strength, you won''t have to be worried about being in a wheelchair or using a walking stick anymore. Each stone will make you stronger, you should consume the one that has been researched for yourself. Consider the first two as my gift of sincerity into bing your friend. Although for each extra stone I will need a favor from you, don''t you worry it won''t cost much from someone such as you."


    Alex trades the first stone for James to send a group of doctor and medical expertise to be sent to his base in Bali, They will be sent to work for quite some time so the families will being with them as well. Alex also requested for a fully functional medical research center. These requests are easy for James to fulfill as he has thousands of them, there are some who owes him a lot of favors, so it''s easy to move them right away. James epted the first trade, a group of 100 people consisting of doctors, nurses, and medical researchers along with their family totaling of 300 people will be arriving in Bali within a week.


    Alex traded the second stone for a simple letter. This letter is actually a bit harder for James to consider, but in the end, he still writes it. The letter is written for a retired Indonesian Military Army General. Alex took the letter and carefully keep it.


    For the third and the fourth stone, Alex kept it and wille back for another trade as soon as his preparation isplete. Alex then leaves the restaurant with a full stomach, but minus 2 spirit stones.

 Chapter 22 - West Regent

    Indonesia has 17,504 inds, scattered over both sides of the equator, and with about 6,000 of them inhabited. Thergest are Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Swesi, and New Guinea. Before Alex can finally think about saving the humankind, he must first make sure the people around him, his countryman can be the foundation.


    There will be 5 Doomsday Pirs drop in Indonesia, he needs to make sure that all 5 will be properly managed. The location is Central Java, West Sumatra, South Swesi, West New Guinea, and Bali. Alex will surely be taking charge of the one in Bali while for the other 4, currently, he had no idea. He needs to start contacting some of the other leading figures before the apocalypsees.


    Alex flies to the Ind of Sumatra, in the west, there is a small city called Bukittinggi. There are many big cities in Sumatra ind, 2 of them like the city of Medan in the North Sumatra is the thirdrgest popted city in Indonesia after Jakarta and Surabaya. There is also the city of Palembang it is the 7th popted city in Indonesia, it can be said that the ind of Sumatra is the second most popted ind after the ind of Java. The ce that Alex is visiting is the city of Bukittinggi. It only has a little more than 100.000 people.. It is a small city, a little part of the west Sumatra, the westernmost city in all of Indonesia.


    Alex arrived in the city, then took a drive to the hill for another one hour to the countryside. When he reached there, Alex was a bit surprised, there is nothing rural about this countryside. The ce is bustling of people not less popted than the main city of Bukittinggi. It is a simple vige in the countryside with one main point of interest, there is apound sorge that it covers almost all of the vige, it is the military academy.


    A military academy is a ce where the Indonesian military soldier trains, Alex can see many people in uniform walking around the vige, some are in a group wearing big backpack seemingly wanting to go training in the mountain. There should be more than 10.000 soldiers are being trained in here. The ce Alex is going to visit actually is not this military academy, but a vi in another corner of the vige, it is the ce where the vige leader or the Regent live.


    With a nce, ordinary people can see there is something special with this Regent''s vi. the ce is located on a small hill with a spectacr view of the mountains, there are flowers and fruit garden all around thepound, there are many gardeners that can be seen working. The mainpound is surrounded by a high stone wall. The entry door is a big double solid wood door, and there are guards outside the gate, Alex can tell the guards are highly trained, they should be from the army special forces. Alex makes an introduction, gives a letter to a guard to be shown to the Regent.


    A few minutester, Alex was weed inside thepound and directed to a lounge. The lounge is as big as a basketball court, there are at least 8 guards standing outside the lounge. Alex waited there for an hour before 2 people walk in, one is a young man who seems to be an assistant, the other is an old man in his 70''s he''s one of Indonesia top figure, the man in the future known as the West Regent.


    Alex stands up and give his respect said "Greeting to General Suryo."


    General Suryo is not amon man at all, Thest 70 years since Indonesia was established, there has only ever been 4 general ever received the highest 5-starmander in chief title. He is one of them and thest living one. He has been in the army all of his life, he was the top figure who was in charge of the national safety during the national power struggle 20 years ago, which created a mass riot. He also manages to eradicate the North Sumatra separatist movement who killed more than 15000 people. He is a National hero, 15 years ago to ensure national safety he was elected as vice president, although he has high chance to reflect as the president he chose to step down, retiring from all post and choose a small regent post near his hometown. But although he''s retiring he''s still one of the most influential figures in Indonesia, especially in the military. The military academy was established there as an excuse for many high-rank generals to visit him, although he thought of the military as his own family so he enjoys teaching now and then.


    "I am just a retired general you can just call me Regent Suryo now."


    "Please sit down." the Regent said


    The Regent continues, "This is a very interesting letter, you must be an interesting person, what''s your name?"


    "My name is Alex."


    This is the letter that Alex trade with a spirit stone from James Randall, one of the most powerful families in Indonesia. During Regent Suryo''s long career, the Regent gets acquainted with the Randall family. He and the Randalls are very close. Although their rtionship is close, they want to keep it as mutually beneficial, so they always exchange favors, and each favor is not to be trifled with. This letter Randall made means a huge favor, hence James'' hesitance to write it.


    "So, Mr. Alex what can I help you with?"


    "Mr. Regent, I have always wanted to meet the hero of the nation and have pleasurable chat, but currently my visit is to bring bad news. I have strong information to believe that the country will be faced with a huge disaster and I hope we can work together to face it."


    Protecting the country will always be the Regent first priority, but the Regent just smiled.


    "I am already a retired old man, let us just leave it to the young."


    Alex response "I''m afraid the disaster will be faced by all the nations, young or old, it is a catastrophic disaster with an expected casualty 80% of the poption."


    The Regent startled, his experience makes him a great judge of character, the man in front of him is serious and speaks honestly. At least this man believes this to be the truth. Plus the letter from the Randall, he knew who James Randall is, not just his father or grandfather, James has resources and power, he won''t be ying around with this.


    "Tell me more about it." the Regent said.


    "Please believe me that I can''t tell you much, but I need you to help me with preparing something,ter you won''t regret it."


    Alex can''t tell too much detail, as it might backfire to him and lose the Regent''s support.


    "I need a few military equipment and vehicles, I have the list ready here."


    "Also, I need soldiers, I need you to lend me a few toons of your Death Squad soldiers."


    Regent Suryo took the paper and looked at the list. The wrinkles on his face are even more showing now.


    "Just with this letter, you are asking a bit too much don''t you think?"


    "Sorry Regent, the letter was actually to receive your friendship, as for this request....."


    Alex raises his finger and touches his ring, suddenly 50 pieces of gold bars that he took from the ck snake ind appear in front of him.


    Now the Regent surprised...

 Chapter 23 - Death Squad

    500 gold bars worth at least $25 million dors. That amount could make any person spend the rest of their life and their family in luxury. But for the Regent, that money is quitemon. When he was the vice president, many politicians, and corporations were willing to pay the same kind of money to get the Regent''s favor.


    The money should be enough to get the equipment and vehicles, there is one special item on the list though that should be hard to acquire, but as the list said borrowed.. it should be fine.


    What gave the surprise to the Regent was the fact Alex could bring out all these items out of nothing.. The Regent might be old and he has lived for more than 70 years, he had seen the world change. The first vehicles that came to Indonesia, the mobile phone, the inte. All of this did make him baffled, but nothingpares to this technology. The Regent is not going to believe that the current world technology is advanced enough for this, not for the next 50 years.


    Alex can guess what the Regent is thinking, he did show his storage rings for this purpose.


    "Mr. Regent, I assure you that humankind doesn''t have the technology to create this. This is called a storage ring, this ring has a hidden space of 3 cubic meters to store items."


    Alex then pulled out an assault rifle.


    The assistant next to the Regent who had been shocked when Alex brought out the gold was suddenly startled and started calling for the guards... Suddenly 10 plus guards rush inside the lounge armed.


    "Stop!" the Regent said. "This person doesn''t mean harm, everyone out, including you too."


    "Yes, Regent."


    There are currently two people in the room, only Alex and the Regent.


    "You are very wise Regent, there is something else I want to show you."


    Alex pulls out another thing from the ring, it is the golem. Alex then starts to order the golem to move and punch a wall. Surprisingly none of the guards walks back into the room again, they were very disciplined. But Alex surprise cannot bepared to the Regent. The Regent has seen many things in his life, fighter jets, nuclear submarine, but this golem gives him a different kind of wonder.


    Alex put the golem back to the storage ring and continues.


    "The reason I have shown you this, Regent, is for you to believe that the world will soon change. I had a lucky encounter and found this thing in a ruin, the ruin has some message that told me about the uing disaster."


    This is the cover story that Alex had prepared because he''s not sure how to exin about the reincarnation, even Alex himself doesn''t have the answer.


    Alex continued and told the Regent about the expected date, the diseases, the rise of the dead and monsters that will be threatening the human race. Alex also told him about something that will arrive after 3 months in some part of the area in Sumatra. Alex did not give the Regent too much detail, he made it seem like he had read a prophecy. He only gave him bits and pieces, enough to give the Regent some leverage when the end of dayse. When the disaster struck there will be no way to contact the Regent for the first few months, even probably the first few years. Therefore to actually make a difference he needs to tell the Regent, he needs to take a risk.


    "It''s probably very hard to ept, I understand, but I remember there was a saying ''it''s better to bring an umbre and not being used, than not having it when it rains.'' I suggest that you gather all the forces and start making some preparations, weapons, and foods. Most importantly is when the people start dying from the disease I suggest to burn the bodies right away. That is the message I can give to you Regent, I hope you will understand."


    "Young man, honestly all of my logic is against it, what you said doesn''t make any sense.


    .


    .


    but


    .


    "Surprisingly, I will choose to listen to you."


    The Regent doesn''t want to admit it to Alex, but actually his whole body is currently burning with excitement, thest 15 years has been too boring for him. The reason he rejected the presidency offer was because it was not exciting for him.. he belongs to the front line.. his blood is pumping for some action.. he actually wished what Alex said to be true, then it will be a more interesting world for him, he just hope he could live long enough for it.


    The Regent continues,


    "Just buying some supplies. I call back all the troops to their designated bases and cancel all of their new year holiday leaves. Even if what you believe turns out to be false, it won''t do much harm. I might not be able to instruct all of the militaries, but there are some that should still listen."


    Alex bowed respectfully and said, "Thank you, Regent, you won''t regret it"


    "For the equipment and vehicles I will arrange it, about the troops, you should follow me."


    Alex follows the Regent outside. A few momentster, a car arrives and Alex enters the car together with the Regent.


    "Where are we going, Regent?"


    The Regent smiles at Alex.


    "We''re going to the training grounds so that you can have a look at the troops for yourself."


    In Alex''s previous life, the West Regent was the leader of the strongest survivor base in the west. When the disease came, many of the surroundings survivors went to find shelter in hispound. The secret of his sessful campaign against the undead and monsters should be the army near him. The military academy in Bukittinggi was actually not only the ce for new trainees, but it was actually a hidden base for his Death Squad.


    The car arrived at anotherpound not far from the academy, there Alex saw it, argeplex, the training ground for the special forces.


    The Indonesian military, like all military, is separated into three, The Air force, the Navy and the Army. They all totaled more than 400,000 soldiers and there is another 400,000 soldier in reserve. 70% of them are the Army. Within them, there are 5 groups of special forces each have around 5,000 men, totaled around 25,000mandos. Their units were spread out all around Indonesia and can be recognized by their red beret.


    The Death Squad is the hidden 6th group, the special forcesmandos whose training is led personally and especially by the Regent. There are 3,000 of them, most of them have no family, or have been taken from orphanage since young. These have been the Regent''s private army and have been developed for thest 30 years. Their missions are the ones that are highly ssified or the ones that are the most dangerous, like the ones in Bosnia, Cambodia, and Somalia.


    This trip to see their training ground really excites Alex. In his previous life, many of the Death Squad soldiers manage to be the top fighter of the humankind, Alex knows some of them. He was hoping to meet some of them here, and really wish that he can bring home some of them...


    In his previous life, the Regent was known to have half a dozen of spirit user soldiers.


    Alex thought It would be ideal if he can get one or two.


    .


    smile


    .


    .


    Alex remembered about a certain Spirit Enhancer named, ''The Ice Queen''.

 Chapter 24 - Ice Queen

    15 kilometers up and 15 kilometers down, every day at 4 am Milo together with his toon of 50 would do the morning spartan ritual. All the other toon would do the same. Last month, Milo just passed the special forces 8 months training. Every year, there were 10,000 of Indonesian brightest soldier applied to train in this academy. They called it training but it was actually an 8 months rigorous test. At the end of the 8 months, only 4,000 men made it. Half of them would get entry into the special forces but only the best among them could be epted to the Death Squad.


    Milo was just recently epted to the Death Squadst month, but to his surprise, the mountain spartan ritual did not stop. All the Death Squad would do this ritual every morning. 3 hours of running, 2 hours body exercise, then start with the tactical training, firing,bat exercise and they end it with another 2 hours of hand to handbat training. This is what they do on a normal day. On some other week, the whole unit would go into the mountain for survival training and full body training. Milo neverins, the harsh training only motivates him to be the best of the best. When he got epted into the Death Squad he felt like a frog at the bottom of the well who never sees outside.. There are so many other soldiers better than him.


    The Death Squad is a full regiment by itself. Totaled of 3,000 men, led by 3 colonels, 12 captains, 60 lieutenant, and 300 sergeants. Milo currently joined the Foxtrotpany, led by captain Donnie. Captain Donnie is a born leader, he understands the men and likes to give advice and encouragement, but don''t think of him as soft, he has no trouble on stringing up a soldier for 3 days for being undisciplined. Captain Donnie is probably the best trainer in this regiment.


    Captain Donnie leads 5 toons of 50 men, each toon has a lieutenant and is being helped by 5 sergeants. Milo''s squad leader, sergeant Mayhem is also an easy going person, the one Milo feels uneasy with is his toon leader named Lieutenant Aria. For thest one month he joined this toon, he never heard more than 10 words from her.


    In the Indonesian army, the number of female soldiers is only 1:1000pared to the male soldiers, but Milo thought there not one of them is as beautiful as lieutenant Aria. She has a figure of a supermodel, smart and she once won the international marksmanshippetition. But none of the men dares to woo her. Other than her cold personality, the fact was she''s also the granddaughter of the regent. Hence the troops give her the title "Ice Queen".


    This noon, the Foxtrotpany of 250 men was being called to the court to assemble. Milo saw 5 otherpany that was already there, a total of 1,500 Death squad had gathered in the field.


    Milo asked the person next to him,


    "What are we gathering for?"


    The person replied,


    "Hmmm, this is quite a rare event, probably an important general hase to visit, or probably even the president himself."


    A group of men walks up to the stage, one of them is an old man.


    "That''s the Regent! There must be some important announcement."


    On the stage, Alex and the Regent was currently reviewing the army, Alex was holding and reading a document. It has the list of names and some information about the Death Squads. Currently, there are 30 toons that Alex can choose from. The Regent agrees to lend Alex 3 toons, totaling 150 men for Alex. Therefore, Alex had already selected 3 out of 30 lieutenant from this list. Alex knew some of the names on the list.


    Lieutenant Anton, this is Anton the Destroyer. In Alex''s previous life Anton became one of the Regent''s 5 little generals, he was very strong and famous with his huge hammer. There is another name he recognizes, this one is named sergeant Rafid. This guy also was quite famous as one of the West Regent''s warrior, he was a famous Sky Realm fighter with a double sword.


    But, Alex was hoping for a Spirit Enhancer. Unfortunately, there was only one name from the list that he recognized, Lieutenant Aria, titled "Ice Queen". Alex was hoping if there were any other Spirit Enhancers, but probably they were on the otherpany that was currently outside the base. Alex knew it won''t be easy to ask for Lieutenant Aria''s toon, as he knew her background and her rtionship with the Regent.


    Aria really is the Regent''s granddaughter, but because of his career, he barely has a rtionship with his family. When Aria''s parents died, 20 years ago, the Regent became her only family, the Regent took her and tried to repent for his mistakes by giving extra attention to Aria. The Regent has no other talent other than teaching soldiers, so he gave her military training. Aria had learned shooting since she was 7 years old, she also learned all basic military training. She liked it and she was good at it. Naturally, she had joined the military academy and managed to get into the special forces without her grandfather''s connection.


    An incident happened during a mission 3 years ago, she was a sergeant leading 10 men and fell into an ambush. Although it was a highly ssified mission, the threat assessment was supposed to be low. But the intel was wrong, in result, 5 men were killed inbat, while the others were captured included Aria. When the news came out, the Regent was enraged, but because she was his only family, he took the ransom demand and Aria was released.


    .


    .


    Only Aria.. The other 4 of her men was left behind and died.


    .


    .


    She failed her mission, she left behind her unit, but the country even promoted her to a lieutenant. Since then Aria was disappointed with her grandfather, and the Regent also never let Aria out of the Academypound anymore... Currently, she has been assigned as the sniper unit''s instructor.


    Alex is currently thinking of a way to get Aria''s toon. So he told the Regent the 3 toon names. First is Lieutenant Dario''s toon from Alphapany, second is Lieutenant Rio''s toon from Charliepany, thepany where sergeant Rafid was ced. Alex thought for a while about this decision, choosing them will change their future, they might also lose their fortunate encounter. But currently, Alex thought that at least he knew for sure that they will survive the gue, and they should be talented fighters, it was good enough for Alex.


    After choosing the two-toons. Alex then mentions the third one, Lieutenant Aria''s toon.


    .


    .


    "No.," the Regent said.


    "You cannot choose that toon, choose a different one."


    .


    .


    As expected, Alex thought.


    He then thinks for a while. A Spirit Enhancer was very rare. If they will be properly trained, they will be the best fighting chance for humanity''s survival. With Alex''s knowledge, he knew for sure it would be better for Aria to follow him.


    Alex continued,


    "If you lend me Aria''s toon, I won''t ask for the other 2, only her toon."


    .


    .


    The Regent told his assistant to call Aria to the front.


    He then continued,


    "I don''t know why you have chosen her toon, but I must tell you that she''s my granddaughter. Currently, our rtionship is unique if you can convince her to follow you, I will consider it."


    Aria walks up closer to the group.


    "Greetings Regent, is anything I can help you with?"


    The Regent frowns, from her salute, he understands that even after 3 years, his granddaughter is still mad at him. He told her about the mission to go to Bali. And her toon to be guards for the person next to him, Alex.


    Aria coldly said,


    "Is this an order or a request?"


    The Regent replies,


    "Your choice."


    Aria firmly said,


    "I don''t wish to be a babysitter."


    Aria hates to work for this type of person, a civilian who thought they can ask special forces to be their guard dog. No matter how rich or famous they are, she will not ept.


    Alex slowly replied,


    "I wish you to be my personal guard, but I assure you I am not weaker than you."


    Aria chuckled.


    "I don''t believe you."


    "Then let''s have a bet! You can choose any challenge. If I win, you and your troops will follow me, if I lose I won''t bother you anymore. I won''t even bother all the other toons."


    Aria is the best shooter in this regiment, she is baffled by the stupidity of this man.


    "I ept."

 Chapter 25 - Bullseye

    As Alex and Aria were preparing for the challenge, the news spread to Aria''s toon soldiers. Milo and all of his units were startled. He thought this guy is so stupid to challenge Aria, she is the best sharpshooter in the Death Squad. Almost everyone in the regiment is a sharpshooter. So, imagine how amazing Aria is to be the best of them and even be their instructor.


    In just a half an hour, the preparation isplete. All 6panies are still waiting in the field, all are interested to see the result. The 100 mm target practices were ced 1,500 meters away. This range is considered an extremely long range rifle shooting. Both Alex and Aria chose the standard sniper rifle used by Indonesian special forces, the Arctic Warfare Magnum (AWM) 338. To increase the maximum range to 1,700 meters, they both used the 338 bullets. Both Alex and Aria will be shooting in a prone position.


    500-meter shooting is already considered a long-range shooting, all shooting above 500 meters need special skills.. To seed, one must have good shooting fundamental skill, a rifle with good precision and as consistent ammunition as possible. In addition, a variety of external factors must be taken into ount with regard to ballistics calction, it includes the wind, the air pressure, and the temperature.


    As for the internal factor, a steady hand, the breathing and the state of mind were the factors needed to be a master sharpshooter. Aria, in Alex''s previous life, was a water Spirit Enhancer, the reason she became such a talented sharpshooter was that she can easily focus her mind. She unconsciously enters the deep state like calm water, her breathing rate bes slower, her concentration is deeper, and her senses heighten. She can predict the wind and air easier. She waspletely rxed when pulling the trigger, there was almost no error in her actions.


    Bang!


    .


    .


    Bullseye...


    .


    .


    Impressive, she really is a Spirit Enhancer. Alex thought.


    Now it is Alex turn, he really wishes he can make an impression by hitting a 1,500-meter bullseye by only using an assault rifle or even a pistol. But this is not a fantasy novel.


    Using the same sniper rifle Alex took aim, concentrates and...


    Bang!


    .


    .


    Bullseye...


    .


    The only reason Alex can do the same is that Alex did have special sniper training during his 10 years of fighting. He already understands the nature of long-range shooting with a sniper rifle and of course, his High Stage Mortal Realm gives him better perception. He can see better, in his sniper cross-hair, even in a distance of 1,500 meters, a 100 mm target look 5 times bigger for him. His higher sensitivity makes it easier for him to predict the wind and he has better control of his finger when he pulls the trigger.


    Bang... Bang... Bang... Bang


    .


    .


    Bang... Bang... Bang... Bang


    20 shots... 20 Bullseye.


    It''s a draw.


    Aria is now confused, she always had full confidence in her long-range shooting, this is the first time someone can actuallypete with her to a draw. She can''t ept it... She challenges Alex to a sharpshooter stress test.


    The sharpshooter stress test is a test normally used in many sniperpetitions. It adds extra difficulty which aims to test the sniper''s abilities during harsh conditions. The challenge involves running up and down the hill for 3 kilometers while wearing a full sniperbat gear. Entering and exiting buildings, barricades and shooting multiple moving long-distance target in the process. The challenge not only tests the uracy but also speed strength and stamina.


    Aria thought that any civilian could pay money to get shooting target practice anywhere, but only a true soldier can excel in a stress test. She believes that she, as Death Squad soldier, would have a better physique than Alex. She starts the stress test first. She ran as fast as she can, fully concentrated, she really tried her best. And finally, It took Aria 19 minutes to finish it. There were 10 targets, and she got 8 Bullseye. While gasping and trying to catch her breath, she looks at her record and smiles, this is her new record.


    It is now Alex''s turn. All the 1,500 soldiers, including Aria, and the Regent are staring at him. He then starts running, he ran really fast. It seemed like 20 kilograms of equipment doesn''t slow him down at all. All the eyes were looking at him with surprise, even Aria was startled looking at the scene. Alex is currently at the High Stage Human Realm. He has twice the staminapared to a great mountain climber. 3-kilometer run might affect a Mid-Stage Human Realm, but it doesn''t affect his stamina at all. So he easily jumps through the barricades, runs through the buildings and shoots the targets easily.


    The final result.


    .


    13 minutes...


    .


    All 10 shots...


    .


    All 10 bullseye...


    .


    .


    All of the 1,500 spectators can''t believe what they are seeing. They know how hard this challenge is.


    Alex then returns to the stages with a smirk on his face. He doesn''t seem to have lost his breath at all.


    Aria lost...


    She was stunned for a while. Then she said,


    "I lost, I will ept the mission"


    The Regent finally interrupts,


    "In a normal situation, I will probably allow it, but if what you said about the disasters turns to be true, I need her to stay close to me even more. I will not allow it. I forbid her to go."


    Aria suddenly said,


    "I made a bet, I lost and I intend to keep my word."


    The Regent''s rejection actually made Aria even more interested to go the mission. Not only because she wanted to make true to her word, but when she thought about it, epting this mission meant that she can get away from this town which she had been kept prisoner for thest 3 years and hurt her grandfather by disobeying him in the process.


    Alex finally said something,


    "Mr. Regent, please trust me she will be safe with me."


    "How can she be safer with you? Can''t you see the army in front of you?


    "With all due respect Regent, how about another bet? This time it will be a strength test, you can send as many of your Death Squad soldier to face me. Same deal if I won, Lieutenant Aria''s toon wille with me. If I lose, then you don''t need to bother with me anymore, you can forget about the list and even keep the gold. You don''t have to worry about me using the golem. I won''t use it."


    After seeing Alex''s performance earlier, the Regent actually really wants to see what Alex real strength is.


    The Regent thought about it and said,


    "Agreed."


    Aria was shocked. What is the identity of this man and why does he want her to be his personal guard so badly?


    Alex walked to the middle of the field surrounded by 1,500 soldiers.


    "We can start right away Regent."


    Alex dered.


    Alex thought in his mind that most of these Death Squad soldiers are probably already in the Mid-Stage Mortal Realm. He cannot just brutishly fight them head-on.


    Alex smiles...


    "Finallyˇ­ It time to show the skill I have practiced for many years."

 Chapter 26 - Martial Art

    Today has been a surprising one. Milo has been learning martial art since he was still in primary school, it was Karate. After a few years, he finally got his ck belt, it was not easy. When he joined the army he felt confident in his hand to handbat skill.


    Most Death Squad soldier, just like Milo had already learned martial arts before they joined the military. Then the academy taught them many different kinds of martial arts; Boxing, Karate and Kung Fu, are the first must know. Learning these techniques will prepare them in handling different opponent.


    Then there is a technique called Yong Moo Doo a technique from Korea which is abination of Judo, Taekwondo, Aikido and other.. Also, the Pencak St, Indonesia''s number one martial art techniques. Both of these techniques were the one that Indonesia''s special forces focus on.


    Finally, there is a secret martial art technique called Merpati Putih or White Dove technique, previously only passed down in the royalty, this technique could only been trained by a few selected best. These techniques teach the use of the body''s inner power which actually knocks onto the hidden door of the Earth Realm.


    Milo thought that this is an interesting day for the regiment. The assembly, the 20 perfect bullseye sniping challenge, the crazy record breaking for the stress test by a mysterious guy. And now that guy is actually challenging the Death Squad regiment. He is currently standing there in the center of the field.


    "OK, sir I will challenge the guy. Wait, what?! Not me but my whole squad?"


    Milo can hear sergeant Mayhem get an order from Captain Donnie.


    "OK, my squad let us teach this guy a lesson, let us make him regret messing with our regiment."


    Sargent Mayhem then called all 9 squad members, Milo included to move into the center.


    Milo thought,


    "10 against 1 isn''t this an overkill"?


    Milo knows how good his unit is.


    "All attack!!!"


    Sergeant Mayhem ordered.


    "WUUUHAAAAA!!!"


    It is the soldiers battle cry and all 10 approaches.


    Alex needs to take this seriously, these people are the best of the best. Most of them should have reached a Mid-Stage Mortal Realm. If Alex already had the gauge counter from the Doomsday Pir, he should be able to measure their levels. The Peak Mortal Realm has a maximum of 30 levels. Most adult normal human is averaging between level 10-12. A sportsman or a soldier who trained in routine physical activity should average in level 15, while these Death Squad soldiers who trained their physique rigorously should be between level 17-20. Which reached the mid-stage of the Mortal Realm. Alex at the high stage should be in level 25. He should have about three times their speed, stamina, muscle power. Each of these death squad soldiers won''t stand a chance in a one on one duel. But if it is a group attack, then it is a different story. 10 Mid-Stage Mortal Realm against 1 high stage.


    Alex stayed calm, he seemed to be in deep concentration, he raised both his arms slowly and created a palm on one hand and a fist on another. Alex also steps one of his feet in a sweeping circr motion to the front. Alex makes some sort of a fighting stance. For a martial artist, this kind of movement gesture is quite normal, there are thousands of different martial art stance.


    Two of the closest soldiers make their move, one from the back one from the front.


    A straight punching from the front,


    SHHHUU...


    Alex''s speed is much faster. Alex easily makes a simple circr hand movement with his right hand, he parries and pulls the opponent closer with his hand and...


    BAAMMM...


    A knee kick from Alex to the face. The guy was thrown back.


    Alex felt a kicking in from the opponent behind him.


    SHHHUU...


    Alex makes a simple circr movement with his steps, suddenly he is already on the side of the person behind him. The kick missed.


    BAAAMMMM...


    An elbow hit the soldier from Alex''s right arm.


    Both soldiers were thrown back a few meters, they were both down on the floor passed out. Two simple moves, two opponents down. The other eight were startled.


    Four soldiers are advancing together from four sides, Milo and sergeant Mayhem are still circling around Alex, waiting for an opening.


    Alex returns to his stance. Making another circle sweeping step with his foot, the spectator tries to rte the techniques Alex is using, almost all of them can be considered a martial art expert so they know many techniques.


    BAAMMMM...


    This time a simple deflecting movement and a direct hit to a soldier face, right in the nose, results in blood pouring out to the ground, the soldier also drops to the ground unconscious.


    The other three have a perfect timing this time, they really were experts and they have practiced together many times.


    Three directions, two punch, and a kick.


    SHUUUUU...


    A simple circr movement,


    one right step, and then punch...


    BAAMMM...


    one left step, and then elbow...


    BAAMMM...


    Alex simply dodges the third attack and pushes the person from behind, the guy loses his bnce and falls down.


    Alex senses another movement from his back, these special forces really are fast, if Alex does not concentrate he really could get hit.


    The person attacking is Sergeant Mayhem. Milo and the other two are also advancing.


    Alex actually didn''t counter Sergeant Mayhem attacks from behind. Rather, Alex rushes forward this time not using a circr movement but a straight line steps. To the front, one step and Alex is already out of the encirclement. He closes into the soldier in front.


    BAMMMMM...


    Another one down...


    Alex turns around, now he is facing four opponents; The Sergeant, Milo the one who advanced together with him and the one Alex pushed. It''s four against one now. Milo was stunned, in just less than 10 seconds, six of his squad members, all special forces were already unconscious on the ground.


    Alex makes another circr step. It is a simple movement step, but by now the spectators have realized from the steps what techniques Alex have been using. It is the Bagua stepping techniques, part of the martial art known as the Baguazhang.


    Baguazhang is one of the three main Chinese martial arts of the Wudang school, it follows the principal of the 8 trigram symbols used in Taoist cosmology to represent the fundamental principles of reality. These moves are the best choice to use against multiple opponents, as while striking to the opponent''s body, the stance would flow to adjust the opponent''s movement. Redirecting the opponent''s power flow without interval.


    Seeing this, the Regent frowns, a squad is not enough to face Alex, he does appear to seem to have some strength. The Regent is not satisfied, he orders captain Donnie to send more people. The captain chooses Lieutenant Rangga a Chinese ethnic Indonesian who is an expert in Kung Fu. Lieutenant Ragga took three squads, 30 soldiers to join the fight.


    Aria saw her grandfather order more soldiers to attack Alex, she had mixed feeling seeing this.


    Now it is 35 death squad soldiers against one normal-looking middle-aged man. If someone didn''t know better, other people would think that this as a group of worker riot ganging up on their boss for not paying their sries.


    The fight continues,


    Continuous wave of men is advancing on Alex, but Alex is a High Stage Mortal Realm, he is physically two to three times stronger and faster. He has a better reaction and better stamina plus with an elusive technique, not one man have seeded in hurting him, they have not even able to touch him. His footwork is really impressive, with just a small step to the left, small step to the right, then a rotation, he manages to dodge and hit each opponent while also finding a way to exit their encirclement.


    5 down,


    10 down,


    15 down...


    Milo was both shocked and stirred up by what was happening. Hispetitive spirit is being aroused. Although he knows that their level is different, looking at such beautiful moves, he wishes to be part of it. Milo founds an opening, he jumps high and does a karate kick...


    SHIUUUUU...


    Half a meter till impact, he felt delighted that he might be the first soldier to be able to hit this monster.


    Alex suddenly sways back, he catches Milo''s feet, rotates in a circle and throws him away like throwing garbage.


    BRAKKKK... Milo''s down...


    After a careful study of Alex''s moves, Lieutenant Rangga came to a realization and said,


    "That is not Baguazhang."

 Chapter 27 - The Hexagram Steps

    15 men down...


    20 men down...


    25 men down...


    There are 10 Death Squad soldiers left in front of Alex. It seemed like he''s unstoppable. His movement flows continuously.. Alex seems to be moving slowly, but when he strikes, he strikes with explosive speed. Alex movements seem tobine a circle and straight line walking. Sometimes he spins inward, some other time he spins outward, sometimes he pulls, next, he pushes. There are definitely some simrities with the Baguazhang technique. But this is much moreplex than that.


    Lieutenant Rangga had studied Baguazhang, there were a few schools that modified it before, but he could not figure out the origin of these steps. He thinks that these steps are much more profound.


    This is a technique that Alex received in the Doomsday Pir, The Hexagram Steps. It''s a medium grade movement technique. Alex has been studying this technique for more than seven years. This is one of the reasons why Alex has been able to survive many battles in his previous life.


    When Alex was reincarnated, the inheritance itself also vanished, and without the real inheritance, this art technique was like an empty gun, but the movement steps itself was still engraved in Alex''s memory. Currently, Alex cannot perform the real form of Hexagram steps. But, as this is a medium grade technique, even only with its movement principle, it can already be considered a heavenly skill for a Mortal Realm human.


    When Alex received the inheritance of the Hexagram Steps, Alex learned about the technique''s origin. The Hexagram that was already written in the oldest Chinese ssics had been backdated more than 4,000 years ago. It was said to be created by Fuxi, one of the Three Sovereigns at the beginning of the Chinese dynastic period. Fuxi had the arrangement of the formation revealed to him in the markings on the back of a mythical tortoise that emerged from the Luo River.


    The Hexagram formation is a six set of 64 symbols, a total of 384 variations. While the Eight Trigram was only on the first 64 sets. It took Alex 7 years to master the first and second sets, hence the simrities with the Baguazhang. Perhaps the founder of Baguazhang on the 19th century did manage to learn the secrets of the first set by studying the Fuxi Hexagram. As for the real connection between Fuxi''s Hexagram and the Doomsday Pirs, it is as much as mystery as the secret relics that is left unanswered all around the world. The answers should be within the Doomsday Pirs.


    Alex currently only uses the Hexagram movement techniques, hebines this movement steps with basic hand to handbat techniques. In his previous life, Alex learned about the advancement secret for this Hexagram technique. This is one of the special abilities Alex ns to get.


    Currently, Alex had already defeated a total of 30 Deathsquad soldiers.


    Thest 10 men were hesitant to attack.


    As per the Regent''s order, Captain Donnie had brought out the other three lieutenants and their toons, together with the rest of Lieutenant Rangga and Lieutenant Aria''s toon all totaled 200 men.


    Right now, 200 plus men are surrounding Alex, it''s basically the whole of Captain Donnie''s Foxtrotpany.


    Aria was unable to keep her cold face anymore, she was worried, she told her grandfather to stop this madness. But the Regent only kept his quiet, silently watching the fight.


    Alex starts to take a big breath, he performs the breathing techniques thate with the Hexagram Steps inheritance. Alex felt his body much more light and his movements faster. Alex can feel the movement of every small thing within a 10-meter diameter. In this formation radius, Alex is in total control.


    BAAMM... BAAMM... BAAMM...


    BAAMM...BAAMM... BAAMM..


    All the other fourpanies were speechless while watching this scene. This was the most outrageous thing they ever saw. One man moving around inside the waves of ck-uniformed men, leaving behind bodies dropping on the ground. These are all martial art experts, it is such a chaotic situation.


    50 men down...


    100 men down...


    It has been more than 30 minutes, using such a technique has finally taken a toll on Alex. He is starting to be unable to ce a direct hit to the opponents.


    150 men down...


    Thest 50 men, this time Alex started to get a few hits back at him. As a High Stage Mortal Realm, Alex''s muscles and bone density are strong enough to receive hits, but the lieutenants start to move in as well. Foxtrot''spany Lieutenant Rangga, a kung fu specialist, Lieutenant Mike, a dark-skinned man master in Boxing, Lieutenant Budi an expert in Pencak St andstly Lieutenant Harris one of the few White Dove technique specialists. All four lieutenants of the Foxtrotpany under Captain Donnie, only missing Aria.


    BAAMM... BAAMM... BAAMM...


    Last 40 men...


    Last 30 men...


    Right now, Alex had already removed his soaking wet shirt, there seemed to be some bruises that could be seen throughout his body. His High Stage Mortal Realm body is in its full power, his muscles, his focus. Alex performs the second set of Hexagram steps techniques, the 128 variations. The remaining men of Foxtrot''spany drop to the ground one by one...


    Last 20 men...


    Deflecting while spinning, then kick,


    BAAMMM... Lieutenant Rangga is down.


    Stopping while coiling, then elbow,


    BAAMMM... Lieutenant Mike is down.


    Returning while pushing, then punch,


    BAAMMM... Lieutenant Budi is down.


    It took Alex eight moves before he finally managed to neutralize Lieutenant Harris.


    Finally, Alex is thest man standing...


    Alex took a deep breath, retracts his stance and tries to calm his mind...


    The spectators were in awe and in amazement, some have already moved in to help the injured Foxtrotpany men.


    A man walks in front of Alex, it is Captain Donnie, he gives Alex a salute, then thanks him for giving valuable lessons to his men. Alex is impressed by the captain''s attitude.


    Alex then slowly walks to the stage


    .


    Aria was having a mixed feeling about this.


    This guy wants her to be his personal guard, but he''s better than her in shooting techniques, he has incredible fighting skills, he stands fiercely facing hundreds of special forces attack, and now he''sing closer.


    .


    .


    sweating


    .


    .


    without a shirt


    .


    .


    Aria, the "Ice Queen", unconsciously blushed...


    Alex gives his respect to the Regent and waits for the Regent''s decision.


    The Regent thought for a while, he had never seen such a person in his 70 years of life.


    Then the Regent finally said,


    "I admit defeat, I will allow you to take Lieutenant Aria''s toon. In fact, I will also allow you to bring the whole Foxtrotpany with you. Consider it my appreciation for the skill that you have performed, and also their punishment for losing terribly."


    Just like that, onepany, 5 toons, 1 captain, 5 expert lieutenants, 250 Death Squad soldiers were now under him.


    Finally, Alex''s agenda on Sumatra Ind is done. Today is the 15th of December, only two weeks left before the end of days starts. There are a few more ces that Alex needs to visit, he needs to continue his travels as it is going to be very difficultter. As Alex was about to leave thepound, the Regent told him that most of the men from Foxtrotpany were injured, so the earliest time that they will be arriving in Bali will be in 4-5 days, together with the equipment and special vehicles that the Regent promised to Alex.


    But there is one particr issue that makes Alex feel uneasy. Alex is definitely happy for having another Spirit Enhancer, but Aria has decided to literally be Alex''s personal guard, she keeps herself close to him and decides to go wherever Alex goes.


    "So it seems like I won''t be traveling alone this time."


    .


    A beautiful girl, hanging around a married man...


    .


    .


    "I wonder how my wife will feel about this..."

 Chapter 28 - A Resolve

    Alex woke up from a sleep, he currentlyying in bed inside a small room. it''s a simple wooden house with a small window, Alex can see the morning light. A momentter a woman came into the room, she wears simple traditional Indonesian clothing. she smiles at Alex, starring attentively.


    "You already woke up? how do you feel? does it still hurt?"


    Alex just realizes his body quiet rigid and hard to move. He seems to have beenying in this bed for quite a while. The woman opens up his shirt, apparently, there are lots of bandages in Alex body, she tried to change it into the new one.


    Not long after, a man walks into the room, Alex recognizes him, the memory startsing back to him.. this man called Erick saved him from the zombie attack. Erick took Alex to his house, its ce in a small vige in the central section of Bali near the mountains..


    Erick then helps Alex awake and took him slowly to a dining table, there they sat together, Erick has a daughter and a son.


    "Haloo mister my name is Vina,"


    the little girl smile at him.


    She reminds Alex a lot to his family. on the first day, the disease spread and not long after his daughter Tiffany died.. his wife and his other daughter Tiarra died following the chaos from the outbreak.


    Alex turned into madness.. He pushes all the anger and sadness inside him into action.. He took any weapon he could find and start chopping down as many zombies he could find. Going around shelters to shelters with only one purpose in his mind. Kill as many zombies as possible. If he died during the process, it will be a release from his pain. Sometimeter, during a group hunt he was separated and chased into the forest. When he was surrounded he thought it finally is his end, but this guy Erick save him.


    Alex has no more meaning for his life, he no longer has a purpose, and here he was having breakfast together with people who resemble his family. Erick is a family man, he has a wonderful family, he also very lucky, none of his family members contracted the disease.


    The vige is very isted, there are only about 50 people living here, most of them are survivors from the surrounding vige. As the ce are far from the cities, they rarely got any attack from the undead. There are 10 strong men who work together to protect the vige. The vige is quite peaceful, in times Alex also join the team and protect the vige, he got nothing else to do. Alex bes very close to the family and starts caring for Eric''s children like his own, especially Vina, she has too much resemnce to Tiffany.


    "I heard from another passing survivor that many people gathering in eastern Bali, there seems to be something thates from the sky which helps the survivor," Erick said during a team meeting, they were discussing about moving the group to a bigger survivor area.


    Alex actually disagree, he believes with a bigger group, it will be harder to survive as they will have to share resources, and Alex pointed out about how a desperate human are sometimes even more dangerous than the undead. The group agree with Alex, so they decided to stay.


    Days, turns to weeks, with Alex and Erick be really close, they are the two backbone of the vige, they are the two strongest men, sometime during hunt they found mutated animals and zombie which drops some stones, but they didn''t know what to do with it.


    In times, Erick bes more restless, he thinks the undead attack be more frequent, and they have seen mutated ones more often. But some of the group still hesitate to move, so they still haven''t made a decision.


    One day, Alex and the group can feel something bad ising. The ground is shaking, the trees are falling.. it was the hordes.. the undead in such a massive scales.. there were thousands of them..


    the group suddenly feel in regret for not moving sooner.. there are women and children it will be very hard for them to outrun the zombies.


    Alex volunteer to create a distraction and dy the hordes. all the other 10 as well except Erick. Alex forbade him toe.


    How could 10 men, dy hordes of thousand undead? The group only managed to dy the hordes for 10 minutes. Alex was badly hurt and ran back to go search the vigers.. but he found the gruesome bodies and remains. Alex manages to find Ericks, the group was separated but Vina is with him.. Ericks was dying... there was no hope for him.


    .


    .


    "You must save them... Save as many as you can.."


    Ericksst word...


    Alex took Vina and search for others.. there is no one else survive...


    Erick''s wife and son, all died.


    Alex manages to save Vina and bring her to the Doomsday Pirs, only Vina he manages to save.


    This is a verymon story between the survivors... loved one, close friends each and everyone died.. if it wasn''t for Vina, Alex would already lose his sanity. It was predicted that only 1% of the world poption manage to survive the first year. Each year the monsters only getting stronger.. and after 5 years human be an endangered species. We run and we hide.


    After the incident with Erics, Alex develops a purpose.. to save as many as he can..


    people call it messiahplex or saviorplex. but Alex didn''t care. its be his resolve.


    He tries to save as many as he can.. but every time only more people died.. year 7 even Vina died. Alex probably one of thest human to die. its either he is the luckiest or the most unlucky...at the end he also died.


    .


    .


    Alex woke up from his sleep, he falls asleep inside an airne.


    .


    "The same dream again"


    for Alex thest 11 years was a real nightmare, this nightmare just ends 2 weeks ago. it still engraves to his memory. He awake reincarnated and got a second chance.


    "Save as many as you can,"


    Alex knows he definitely cannot save everyone, just increasing the survivor of the first year from 1% to 2% would already be considered a sess.


    "how do you convince 7 billion people that in 2 weeks there will be doomsday?"


    Hopefully, I will find the solution in here,


    Airne onboard announcement:


    "Please be seated, this ne will soon arrive at our destination, city of Boston, United States."


    Alex saw the woman sit next to him, its Aria,


    "You actually don''t need to follow me around"


    Aria: "Yes..."


    "do you even know what we are trying to do?"


    Aria: "No..."


    "you don''t talk much do you"


    Aria: "Yes..."

 Chapter 29 - The Professor

    Alex arrived in Boston Logan International Airport, Massachusetts, United States.


    The United States of America, its the world thirdrgest country with the thirdrgest poption. it should be considered the world top country. If there is a global threat against humanity, it wouldn''t be weird to find the United States as the leader of the world,


    Or maybe just because of the Hollywood effects.


    .


    .


    The fact is, The united states have the resources and power to create change. In Alex previous life, not many countries survive the first year, as the government lose the power to create security, hence the country lose its existence. The survivors depend on their life into the nearest Doomsday pirs for their safe haven and security. After a while, many survival shelters joined the surviving government and created their alliance geographically..


    The United States and Canada as the North American Alliance, the South American, the European, African, Middle Eastern, China, Japan and Korea, South East Asian Alliance, Russia and Australia.


    It will be ideal if Alex can influence all of this top country, but with his time strain, he had to be more creative. Today he came to the United States to meet one particr person.


    In the city of Boston, there is a world famous university, Harvard University. In a small office inside the Department of History faculty, there is currently 2 person arguing.


    "Professors the book that you publishst month will ruin the reputation of the university, I strongly suggest you make a statement that it is just a personal theory and change the genre into science fiction."


    "I can''t do that, all I write in there were all gathered from my research and findings from 6 different sites all around the world. I assure you that my theory of doomsday is urate"


    Professor John is the head of history departments, researcher and founder of the science of the human civilisation foundation. A study that focuses on the origins of humanity. His theory revolves on the period of the middle peolithic era from 70.000-80.000 years ago. He believes there was such a huge disaster during that time that actually almost wipe of the human race. The scientist and schrs believe this catastrophic disaster is the result of natural phenomenon, the most popr theory is the supereruptions from volcanoes that create 1000 years of volcanic winter.


    The professor then continued his research for thest 20 years in findings relics and sites that backdated to that particr period and study their gravings. The discovery was shocking, from the 6 relic site around the world.. he found simrity in their writings. He wonders how the people around that time period could travel between continent.


    Last few years he found enough sampling to understand the markings and found out about the theory of existence from out of this world that wille in 80.000 years. which the professor believe wille soon. It will be in his lifetime or the next. Therefore he created the book.


    Alex knows the existence of the book from his previous life. Years after the doomsday, when the survivor has start gathered. humanity have pulled out all their resources and knowledge to understand the existence of the doomsday pir. Professor John theory is the closest. At that time the professor already died so nobody can actually understand his research.


    Within the university, the men have left, and the professor left with many burdens in his mind...


    A knock on the door and a beautiful woman with short blonde hair and sses walked in. it''s his assistant, Cindy. she told him that a man and a womane to visit and ask about the book he wrote.


    "Probably another of those Annoying sci-fi novelist, they like to quote me for their bullshxxxx fantasy novel"


    "told them to leave I don''t feel really well"


    Cindy reply "Professor, you probably want to speak to this man, he handed me this photo"


    The professor took the picture and was startled. its a picture of the same graving that he studied, but this is not from any of the sites he found...


    "They still outside?? let them in"


    "How about your health Professor?" Cindy chuckled


    "Damn about my health!! let them in"


    The professor spends almost 40 years of his life following this theory. Thest 20 years he only manages to find 6 sites.. every new finding would mean a lot to his research. The photo Alex showed came from the relic site graving in Bali where he took pictures with his phone.


    "Hello Professor John, my name is Alex"


    Aria next to him nce at Alex...


    "Oh yes this is my associates Aria"


    The professor replied "is this photo real? where did you get this photo, Mr Alex?"


    "I assure you the photo is real, I found it from the relic under a temple in Bali, I will give you all the information and even show you the ce if you have the time. but actually, I came here to speak about your book"


    The professor thought this guy probably one of his devoted fans. who also searching for an answer like him.. "he probably wants my autograph" the professor thought in his mind.


    "I believe in theing doomsday are real, but you''re off with the timing professor. the doomsday wille sooner than you think. it wille in 2 weeks, at the end of the year"


    The professor stunned...


    .


    .


    "This guy really is my devoted fan. No, he probably categorised as my crazy fan.. he is crazier than me"


    Cindy his assistant was listening, also this is the first time Aria heard it...


    "What sort of mission am I getting into.." Aria thought...


    .


    .


    Cindyughed...


    "You are a funny man, Mr Alex if it''s true, probably I really should start to pack up and prepare"


    Alex answered "Yes you should"


    The professor thought for a while then said


    "You must understand I have been studying this for 40 years, there is no one more expert about this than me"


    Alex answered " I believe you didn''t seed in entering the secret chamber from the 6 relics site that you find, I did find it in mine, as a proof, I will show you what I found"


    Alex raises his finger and shows them a ring.. when the professor sees it properly, there really is some graving simr to his study.


    "Don''t be rmed, I''ll show you the function of this ring"


    Alex touch the ring and suddenly there is a small lightning spark and the chair in front of Alex is gone... Alex then reappears the chair again.


    Everyone in the room was shocked...


    "This is called the storage ring it can store item into a dimensional space"


    The professor is speechless...


    Alex continues, "if you still can''t believe me let me show you more convincing proof, give me ess to one of the sites that your foundation manage, I particrly interested with the one near the city of Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico."


    "The ruins of Teopanzolco?" the professor shocked.


    Alex replied, "I will open the secret chamber for you and show you the secret of the Aztec ruins."


    .


    .


    .


    "Cindy prepare the earliest ticket, we are going now"

 Chapter 30 - Mexico Ruins

    The group just arrived in the Mexico City International Airport. Alex, Aria, Professor James and Cindy.


    Apparently, Cindy is not just the professor assistant, but she also his top student, the professor like to bring her around to help him appraise relics and trante markings.


    Alex said "5 flights and 6 cities in less than 10 days, many more the next few days.. I guess when the doomsdayes, I will not miss airnes"


    The groups exit the airport gate and there was one person, a guy waiting for them.


    "Professor John!! Professor John"


    The professor stops and introduces the person. "Alex this is Robert, he is from the science of human civilization foundation, SOHC, this foundation is what keeps the research going when the university and the government stop our funding. Now they help me just about anything regarding the relic site. .


    "Haloo Mr. Alex, the professor has told me about you."


    Robert starring at Aria, a beautiful girl and seeing standing close to Alex.


    "This is your girlfriend Mr. Alex?"


    Aria was startled...


    "No.. no.. this is my associates, don''t joke with me, I am old enough and already have a wife and two daughters"


    Robert "Aa. I m sorry Mr. Alex, nice to meet you, Ms. Aria"


    Aria:...


    .


    .


    Alex wife and daughters.. that is new information for Aria.. she has mixed feeling about this.


    "Let''s go, it was such short notice, so I only bring a simple car, but the ruin is only 20 kilometers away from here"


    Mexico is a country in the southern portion of North America. The history of Mexico itself backdated to 8000 BC and is identified as one of five cradles of civilization. Home for many advance civilization such as Toltec, Teotihuacan, Maya, and Aztec, until being conquered and colonized by the Spanish empire in the 15th century.


    The group arrived in the ruin of teopanzolco, meaning abandoned temple, until this day no one knows why it was abandoned. The main structure is therge double pyramid. Its the ced to worship gods. The Aztecs were known to practice human sacrifice. in this ruin, a scientist has found a mass grave site of 92 mutted bodies of men, women and children.


    This site is actually one of the relic sites that was treated as special by the professor. Only one and a half year ago there was an earthquake which revealed another hidden chamber. This is what interest Alex the most. He walks down the temple into the caves with high hopes.


    Under the temple, the first they found was a simple maze, and then there was a mid-size chamber with many marking around it. This is where the Professors got the research material for his study. At one corner of the room, there were what seems to be a wall opening. There were many rubles and stones around, this is part of the ruins that was open by the earthquakes. After the opening, there was a long path down for about 500 meters In here there was arger chamber it was a big hall as big as the ser field. Professor James has mentioned this hall chamber in his book, This room has more marking then all 6 sitesbined, This chamber was identally open by the earthquake 1,5 year ago, and be The professors'' main reason to get enough samples to trante about theing doomsday.


    Alex feels much rx now, to be able to go into the room means the seal already broken. This seal was supposed to be only open up after the Doomsday pir arrived. And as expected the earthquakes manage to open up a path to the secret chamber. Alex walk around slowly checking some of the wall Alex study the wall markings, finally, Alex finds the spot he was looking for.


    "Professor this is the spot, this is the way in"


    "What do you mean? I already check all the wall using a sensor, there is nothing behind the wall."


    "Believe me, Professor, our current technology is not good enough to check what''s behind the wall"


    The professor replied, "how to get in?"


    Alex had some C4 in his storage rings, but this is too risky, as they are in the underground, if the st too high, they could be trapped or the entry be inessible. Apparently, there was no other way.


    "I have more surprises for you Professor"


    Alex took out the golem from the ring. The group of four, Aria, Cindy, Robert and the Professor were shocked.


    "This is the artifact that I got from the first relic"


    Alex orders the golem to push the door with full power. The golem currently has the strength of the peak stage mortal realm. hopefully, it will be enough to open up the door.


    BRRAAAKKKKK...!!


    Fortunately it really does enough, or Alex would need to use some explosive indeed..


    The group finally move inside the next room still in amazement looking at the golem. Alex took back the golem and finally reached the secret chamber.


    It was supposed to be a simple grab and take n. Actually, Alex already decides toe and grab this artifact from the very first day. This ruin has the artifact that Alex really needs, this will be the one that Alex hope to be the solution to save his daughter Tiffany from the gue.


    Alex already knows about the function of the artifact and where to get it. He also already knows about the earthquakes that should neutralize the seal. His initial was to just grab and take from the site, but this time he includes the professor into his n. He wanted the professor to believe him and help him to prepare for doomsday.


    The group enter the secret chamber and walking around the room, The professor found another set of writing, this is what he came looking for. As for Alex, he already knows what he aims for. The coffin in the middle of the room. Alex walks closer, and then open up the lid. This time, it''s not a ring, there was an amulet hold by the corpse. Alex took the amulet and put it into the storage ring.


    "Finally the Amulet of Sun"


    it''s a medium rank artifact.


    The professor realizes that Alex took something but he didn''t say anything.


    Alex waited for the professor to documented the writings and finally they walk out of the relics.


    "This seems pretty easy," Alex thought...


    .


    .


    but


    .


    When they were out of the temples, they were surprised to see many people standing outside the temples, holding rifles. There are around 30 of them all armed.


    The person in the middle of the group who seems to be their leader speaks


    "I really hope you guys find something interesting"


    The professor reply, "who are you guys?"


    Surprisingly Robert was the one to answer,


    .


    .


    Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein F¨ąhrer

 Chapter 31 - 1 Vs 30

    Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein F¨ąhrer


    One People, One Nation, One Leader


    It is the Nazi slogan.


    The National Socialist German Workers'' Party, ormonly referred to in English as the Nazi Party was the political party in Germany that was active between 1920 and 1945. They created and supported the ideology of a master race, in which the Nordic, a predominant race among Germans and other northern European peoples, were deemed the highest in the racial hierarchy. They believed that the Nordic people ultimately originated from the lost continent of Antis, and as they are the superior race, they are entitled to expand territorially. Hence when the party-controlled German state, they organized the systematic genocidal killing of an estimated 5.5 to 6 million Jews and millions of other targeted victims, in what has be known as the Holocaust.


    There are some who believe that part of the Nazi party is still influencing the world today in the shadows.


    Robert the small and funny guy, suddenly pulls out a gun and aims it at Aria. He has be apletely different person. This is the guy who has been helping the professor for a few years.. He helped the doctor in establishing the science of human civilization foundation. And has been actively taking part in securing all 6 relics.


    "What do you think you''re doing?!"


    Cindy is the first to actually shout, they have worked together for the past few years, but Robert this time looked like apletely different person. His smile and friendly face were now all gone... This guy Robert could really seed in Hollywood.


    "Nothing personal, I have been assigned to watch the professor, the F¨ąhrer is highly interested in the professor''s work for some time."


    Robert switches back to his smiling face. He moves closer to where Aria is standing and puts his gun on her head.


    Robert continues,


    "Carefully hand over the item that you found inside the ruins. Also don''t you dare bring out that rock monster from before or I will shoot your pretty little girlfriend in the head."


    Alex slowly said...


    "First she''s not my girlfriend, secondly, I think you are standing too close, that woman can easily grab yourˇ­"


    Aria got Alex''s hint and suddenly turned around real fast, held the gun with one arm, and punched Robert''s stomach with another. Suddenly their situation is now the opposite, Robert bes Aria''s hostage in less than 1 second.


    Cindy felt excitement while watching the scene, she thought that Aria looked so cool.


    Aria shouts,


    "NOBODY MOVE OR I WILL SPLASH THIS GUY BRAIN OUT!!!"


    There are 30 gunmen watching the scene. The guy in the front who looks like the leader, the only one wearing a white shirt, moves forward and speaks.


    "Every each one of us here is ready to die for the F¨ąhrer."


    "Just give us the artifact and also the professor, we don''t want to kill you, not just yet anyway..."


    The 30 gunmen slowly move in, it does appear that they really are not worried that Aria is gonna kill Robert. Aria is not sure what to do, the situation they are in now is very dangerous. They are about 20 meters away from the temple''s entrance, she might be able to safely run to it, but what about Cindy and the professor. She wasn''t worried about Alex''s abilities, she had already seen Alex''s skill in the academy. Now that she thought about it, Alex must have some special move to tackle all of these 30 men... If it is Alex, he probably has a way to get out of this predicament...


    Cindy getting more worried and said,


    "What should we do? Can Alex fight as you do?"


    "Don''t worry about Alex. He is much stronger than me. Just wait and you will see his skill."


    "Really? Right, he also has that rock monster..."


    The 30 men have advanced closer, they are now only 50 meters away. Alex finally makes a move, he slowly moves his hands raising it up high.


    And then he said...


    "I SURRENDER! DON''T SHOOT! PLEASE DON''T SHOOT!"


    "..."


    "..."


    "Please, I will give you the artifact just don''te any closer."


    Cindy gave a weird look to Aria...


    "..."


    Aria was also disappointed...


    "Can''t we at least negotiate? Do you want money? I have money! Or maybe we can share the item what do you think?"


    "Stop ying around, just throw me the artifact!"


    "Ok, ok."


    Alexplies, he takes out an item from the storage ring and throws it to the guy.


    SHHHHHhh....


    The guy wearing the white shirt catches the item. Upon looking at the item, he was visibly shocked...


    "Grenade!!!"


    KABBOOMMMMM!!!!


    Alex shouts,


    "RUN TO THE TEMPLE!!"


    Alex summoned the golem and ordered it to carry and protect the professor and Cindy. Aria gives Robert a hard punch, she ces him on her front to be a human shield and also runs to the temple entrance. After making sure that everyone has retreated, Alex followed them behind. A sound like rain, but instead of water falling down from the sky, raining bullets can be heard behind them. They should be safe for now.


    There are about 30 men equipped with automatic rifles. Although Alex could run fast and could probably dodge the bullets, there were 3 other people next to him. So he can''t be hasty about this. With Alex''s current strength he can''t fight 30 fully armed men from a long distance. Luckily, he remembered the grenade he got from the ck snake ind. Alex n was to make sure that they were all closer to each other so the grenade explosion would injure more of them.


    Inside the cave, Alex ns to block the enemy on the maze and in the first chamber. Aria wanted to help, but Alex disagreed and told Aria to bring Cindy and the professor to the secret chamber which was the furthest area. She will be thest defense in case the enemy manages to get past Alex. They have to stay there until Alexes and picks them up. Cindy tried to call the police but there was no signal inside the temple ruins. Alex then gave Aria a rifle, Cindy also asked for a pistol, apparently, she had shooting experience before. Alex wonders if this is considered normal for an American girl. The professor was hoping that the leader with the white shirt was sted by the grenade, hopefully, the rest of the crew will leave the site.


    Outside the cave, the group of people were also discussing their n. Robert was still alive and participating. He knows the temple''s ruins really well. Robert also told them about Alex''s golem which had amazing strength. Other than that, he thinks the girl named Aria should be Alex''s bodyguard. There should be nothing special with Alex other than his storage ring that should have many weapons inside.


    "We lost 3 of our men due to that grenade, but I don''t think they will be using any explosives while inside, it''s an underground ruin it will be suicidal."


    "As for the rock golem, I have a conjecture that if we kill the owner, the golem will stop working."


    If Alex saw the man who just spoke, he would be surprised. The person speaking was the guy wearing the white shirt who was supposed to be killed by the grenade. This guy doesn''t appear to have been injured at all, not only that, this guy seems to know much about the golem as this guy is also wearing the same ring.


    "Let''s go, the F¨ąhrer will not forgive us if we fail."

 Chapter 32 - The Amulet Of Sun

    This time, Alex believes that he has the advantage, he studies the area better, it is going to be a short distance battle. Most importantly, he does not need to worry about protecting the other three. The entry to the secret chamber is not that easy to find, also Aria is with the other two so he doesn''t need to worry too much about them.


    The ruins are separated into a few areas; first, the simple maze that ends in the first chamber, the second is the opening created by the earthquake that leads to the 500 meters long narrow path going down to the huge chamber, and thenstly, the secret chamber.


    Alex doesn''t n on letting them reach the huge chamber. He nned to settle everything on the first chamber. The tricky part is to not let any of them die and get pass him as he needs to keep as many of them alive. He is currently waiting for the enemy in the first chamber, it''s about the size of two basketball court. He stands near the opening that leads to the huge chamber. This time, he wasn''t worried at all, the golem itself could easily defeat them.


    Not long after, Alex hears the sound of footsteps. As expected, they were not going to give up that easily.. Alex truly wondered who these guys are.


    One after another they walk into the first chamber, Alex and the Nazi group can see each other, but none of them have yet to take any action. Alex just waited patiently until all of them have reached the inside of the chamber.


    First, Alex saw Robert, then surprisingly, the man with the white shirt was there, and he appeared to be uninjured. This raises suspicion in Alex and provides him more reason to capture them.


    Robert is the first to talk,


    "Mr. Alex, I have been to this ruins many times before, I assure you there is no other exit except for this one, don''t make it harder for yourself, you are trapped."


    The guy with the white shirt then added,


    "Mr. Alex, we are very much interested in you, hand over all of your items ande with us. We are also very much interested with the rock golem that you have, and also in whatever artifact you found in this ruins."


    "You mean this golem?"


    Alex summons out the golem and everyone suddenly bes tense.


    The guy in the white shirt have now finally seen the golem close up, he suddenly feels intimidated by its huge frame. Setting aside the pressure, he was really excited to see this artifact and he so much desired it.


    "Hand over that golem and I will let you leave this ce."


    "What about the others?"


    "Only just you."


    "No deal."


    Suddenly the golem sprints forward really fast towards the group. The golem has the speed of Peak Stage Mortal Realm, it moves even faster than Alex. The group, startled, quickly fires at the golem while jumping to the sides.


    CLINK. CLINK. CLINK


    The bullets just ricocheted off the golem''s body. Bullets were ineffective against it.


    BAAAAMMMMM!!!!


    The golem hits the ground in the middle, near the first chamber''s entrance. The golem crashes into Robert and he dies instantly...


    Alex hated this type of guy. So he ordered the golem to crash into him while it secured the entrance. Now none of them will be able to leave.


    The rest of the group witnessed this scene felt in despair... such speed and strength.


    "Spread out! Aim at that guy! Not the golem!"


    Alex jumps backward and retreats through the entrance into the path to the next chamber.


    The white shirt guy sends half of his men to dy the golem and sends the other half to chase down Alex.


    The situation on the first chamber had be disadvantageous to him. He''s not stupid enough to stay in the first chamber and be ughtered by the golem, he quickly follows the other group.


    Before he entered the path going down, he quickly looked back and saw several of his men whom he ordered to stay back were already down. Bullets are not enough to do any damage against the golem, it has the body of a medium grade artifact after all.


    But, when he is about to enter the entrance to the next chamber, he sees a body fall to the ground in front of him. One of his men has just dropped in front of him and groans in pain, he rushes inside and saw more of his men lying on the ground. Not long after, he senses something heading straight towards him.


    SHHHH...


    He dodges. It is a rock pebble, he looks around and sees that most of the men who entered have already dropped down on the ground. Alex picked up small rocks on the ground and threw it at them. Alex then rushes to advance for closebat, once Alex is too close, it''s going to be hard for them to use their rifles. In less than 10 seconds, all of his 12 men were lying on the ground.


    Now there are only 2 of them in that narrow path, more stones were being thrown at him.


    SHHH...SHHH...


    He dodges the stones again, but when he looks back at Alex, he sees him holding a gun and takes a shot.


    BANG...


    It is a direct hit, but it only pushes him down. He tries to stand and stares at the figure facing him, trying to think about what had just happened... Apparently, this Alex didn''t enter the path to run away but he purposely lured them in. In just a matter of few seconds, all of his men were down, he never thought that this guy named Alex is a monster as well. He suddenly felt regret in his decision to charge in rashly...


    Alex slowly walks closer to him.


    "Interesting... It seems that you have an artifact on youˇ­"


    Alex checked the guy clothes and found something. Underneath his white shirt, there is a low-grade armor artifact.


    "This artifact can only be used twice a day. I guess that''s it."


    BAMM...


    Alex hits him in the head and he passes out... Now all of them should have been neutralized.


    Alex gathers all of them in a line. The golem watched over them while he called for Aria and the others to join him. The group can''t believe that it only took Alex a few minutes to settle the situation.


    Cindy said, "Should I call the police?"


    Alex replied, "This could be an international problem, just leave this to me."


    Then he told Aria to bring the professor and Cindy back to the city. He also said that he will catch up with themter... Aria senses that Alex is trying to hide something from her, but she still follows his order.


    A few minutester inside the first chamber, there are 16 men lined up and tied up. Most of the men who faced the golem died during the fight. Slowly, one by one they all woke up. The guy with the white shirt woke upst and saw all his men were tied up next to him. The man in front of them stares at them quietly. This situation doesn''t look too good for them.


    "Good, now that everyone is awake. I need information. And I will only release the one who answers my question. Easy, right?"


    The men stared at him with defiance in their eyes, but Alex went ahead and asked,


    "First question, tell me about the organization you work for?"


    "PHHUIII...."


    One guy near Alex spits on the ground and said,


    "We are not afraid to die."


    "Wrong answer..."


    Alex took something from his storage ringˇ­ It is the new artifact, The Amulet of the Sun


    Alex puts a drop his blood into it, the amulet shines a little. After putting a drop of his blood into the amulet, he can feel the energy of the amulet in him. Just like the golem, a human can interact with an artifact telepathically, he can now understand what is the function of the amulet. The Amulet of the Sun, it is one of the unique medium grade artifacts.


    Alex can feel that the amulet is currently sealed, and to activate the amulet, it requires something... Its thirst for life force..


    "Just as I heard."


    Alex already knows the existence of this amulet in his previous life. The amulet gave out light energy once in a while. This light could then be absorbed or condensed into a crystal which could heal any disease or cure a dying man back to life.


    Alex was hoping that this amulet would be the solution to save her daughter from the disease. But there is one unique requirement before it can be activated, the amulet requires life sacrifices. Alex could feel its hunger for sacrifice. This might have something to do as for why the Aztec does many human sacrifices to worship their Sun God, Huitzilopochtli.


    Alex then brings the amulet closer. He ces it in the guy''s forehead and then suddenly, a sh of lightes out from the amulet. The guy felt his life being suck into the amulet...


    HHHHHNNNGGGHH...


    The guy didn''t even have any energy to scream. His body turned thin, his face became wrinkled, his hair turned white... All of these happened in less than three seconds.


    The guy''s drops down to the ground.


    THUD...


    Dead...


    "!!!"


    The other 15 people who were seeing this turned pale...


    "Now who has a better answer?"

 Chapter 33 - The Slaughter

    Alex can feel that they are afraid, yet no one is talking. These people are a group of highly trained soldiers, they must have been trained to resist torture before.


    Alex moves closer between two people.


    "You two, give me an answer in the count of three, the first one to talk will live, the other will die."


    "One."


    "Two."


    "Three."


    ˇ­


    No response....


    Impressive... Alex can feel the terror even in the midst of their helplessness, but still, none of them talk. Alex didn''t wait for long and active the amulet again.


    Two more sacrifices.


    Alex looks in their eyes and can see that their spirit is being shaken. He needed to give thest push... He told the group hisst resort...


    "I bet all of you wants to live and nobody wants to die, but I guess if you betray your organization, you will be hunted down by them or even worse. Your family, your friends, your loved ones, all of them might be in their control. I am sure that some of you were hoping that someone is stupid enough to talk, and then afterward I will let the other people leave once I got the information."


    "You thought wrong! I will let only ONE of you leave and all the other people will die here. Don''t waste my time! Only the first person who speaks will I let him leave! I will count to three!"


    "One!"


    "I will tell you everything..."


    Surprisingly, it is the guy with the white shirt.


    "COMMMANDERR!!!"


    The others are really angry that their leader has decided to betray them.


    "Spill it."


    "I ammander Hans, no one here knows more about our organization than I do. I am guessing from that talkative Robert, you already know part of what we are... Yes, we are built from thest remnants of the Nazi empire, we are the Iron Eagle squadron, part of the Ahnenerbe Organization, our objective is always the same which is to find our true origin."


    In 1935, The Ahnenerbe Organization was founded by the Nazi party, it was filled with many famous archeologists and schrs. Since then, they have been excavating ruins and have been collecting relics all over the world. They have found proof of the existence of an extraterrestrial entity since the findings of the first Doomsday artifacts.


    Since then, they have been in lust for power and have begun searching for other relics. Their mistake was to turn their mission into politics. They had believed that with a stronger country they could have better support in order to achieve their goal. However, they were wrong. When they lost the war, the remaining members of Nazi SS military agents joined up with the Ahnenerbe Organisation hence the establishment of Iron Eagle squadron.


    History wrote that the Ahnenerbe organization had been disbanded in 1945. But in actual truth, their organization kept on building up their forces, doing research, and kept searching for answers. They nted small cells all over the world. They have found and followed the professor for many years. When the professor lost his funding, it was they who set up the science of the human civilization foundation for the professor. They hoped to get more ess to the professor''s findings and also acquire the artifacts.


    "Interesting, how many artifacts have your organization found?"


    "I am not sure, there are at least three that I know of. I am one of the threemanders, I know all of us each got one."


    "Good now hand over your artifact and ring to me."


    "..."


    "It would be easier to just kill you and acquire it since I know that when you die it loses its master."


    The artifacts can be bound to others when the owner died, but they can also be handed over telepathically by releasing its ownership.


    Alex manages to acquire two more artifacts, a low-grade armor, and another low-grade storage ring. There are some items inside, mostly weapons, this is the reason they can bring weapons easily to other countries. The armor could protect its owner to resist any kind of impacts, from low up to medium strength. This particr type should be able to resist two impacts at most. After being used it needs a few days before it can be activated again. This type of armor is quitemonter on. But at this time, it could be a life-saving artifact.


    After Alex took ownership of the artifact, he kept his promise and released Hans. Alex next sentence surprised Hans though.


    "Tell your leader, based on all of his findings, I am sure he knows a little bit about theing end of days. Tell him that it wille in two weeks. If he is interested to know more he can contact me."


    Hans was not sure on how to react as he was not nning to return to the organization, but Alex''s message could be beneficial for him, it could be his excuse to return. Hans then wondered what Alex would do to the rest of his team. Release or kill them.


    "You can leave now."


    Alex then ignores Hans, he doesn''t n on letting him know what he''s about to do to them. It only means one thing. Hans will definitely not divulge to the leader anything about his betrayal. He could just say that he was captured and then released. Everything in between will be foggy and all the other men had died. Hans then walks away from the chamber.


    "COMMANNDERRR!!! YOU TRAITOROUS BASTARD!!!"


    Alex can see the resentful faces of these 12 angry men. They are in despair. Alex hesitated for a moment, but he still decided to sacrifice them to the Amulet. Alex ces the amulet on their foreheads one after another.


    "AAAAAGGGGGHHH!!!" "NO, NO, NO!!! PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE!!! AAAAGGGGHHH!!!"


    12 additional sacrifices...


    It''s a ughter.


    Alex truly doesn''t want to do this, he actually hates doing this. It''s a different matter between killing an enemy in battle and killing a captured enemy. But this amulet is important for his goal. This amulet could be the only thing that could cure for his daughter. His past experience of killing and seeing too much death had helped him in being decisive in choosing between saving a life or taking a life. This was the main reason he sent Aria and the others out. He knows that not many people will understand what he had done...


    After finishing the gruesome affair, Alex frowns. A total of 15 sacrifices had been made, but he could feel the energy inside was barely enough to activate the amulet, it needed more, and yet he only has less than two weeks left.


    Alex returned to Mexico City and met with the group, Alex told the professor about the Ahnenerbe organization and reminded him again about the Doomsday.


    The professor said,


    "All of these stories about the artifacts and the hidden chamber is fascinating, but it doesn''t prove the Doomsday wille at the end of this month."


    It is not that the professor doubts Alex''s words, going deeper, the professor''s unconscious mind denies it. He just cannot ept life as he knows will change soon.


    "You have been studying this for 40 years, professor. All of your efforts, research, findings is meant for the people. It has alle down to this. You have a responsibility to tell the world and your decision will save many lives."


    The professor could not find the words to refute.


    "You do what you have to do professor, do nothing or convince as many people as possible, but I really need you to be in Indonesia in the 20th. I need you to help me with a n."


    Alex then hands over the storage ring that he got from Hans and gave it to the professor. Hopefully, it will help the professor to convince more people. He had already moved every item Hans had into his first storage ring.


    Alex then told Aria to get a ticket back to Bali. Cindy suddenly called out Alex''s attention.


    "You''re going back to Bali? I have decided to go with you. I want to see the ruins in Bali and I also want to see for myself your preparation and seriousness for theing Doomsday as you say it. Don''t worry, I will not bother you much, in fact, I can help you with the engravings inside the ruins in tranting them."


    Come to think about it, in his past life, not many people understand the ruins and its engravings. The Doomsday Pirs does not have much information about the ruins, but there might be some connections. Alex wondered why the ruins had artifacts and were already here on earth in the first ce. Before taking the flight, he called James Randall.


    "The third favor can already start, the date is the 20th."

 Chapter 34 - Back Home

    December 18, Bali Airport.


    Hendrik got a call from his brother toe and pick him up at the airport.


    "This guy has been doing strange things thesest couple of weeks. He forces us to move to Bali, then he left us here. Now when I was actually having fun with those two Australian chicks, this brother of mine had to bother me with picking him up. Can''t he just take a taxi or a Grabcar?"


    "I wonder where is he now? He is soteeeee..."


    "Wow there is a beautiful blonde there, she''s really my type. Wow, the woman next to her is even better. They both look like supermodels, that guy in the middle, what a very lucky guy.."


    "Waitˇ­ That guy looks familiar..."


    "..."


    "That''s my brother!"


    "Alex! Yo! Brother over here!"


    Alex walks closer to him.


    "There you are. Ok, let''s go."


    "What do you mean let''s go? You haven''t introduced me to these two lovelydies yet."


    "Halo, my name is Hendrik, Alex''s unmarried brother."


    Alex introduced both women to him. Although Cindy looks like a book-smart person with sses and short hair, she''s actually very energetic and friendly. While Aria is the pr opposite.


    The reason why Alex called his brother was that he knows exactly how his brother would react. If his brother had the ability, he would move heaven and earth for these beautiful babes. Therefore, he asks his brother to bring Cindy and Aria for a tour around Bali. Although Alex has many things he needs to do in preparation for the uing Doomsday, today is family time. Aria and Cindy understood, Alex told them to meet again tomorrow at the Bay city vi. Meanwhile, Hendrik will be their guide today.


    After all, what would his wife think if she saw these two women with him...


    Alex went directly to the hotel, his family had been touring around different hotels in thest 2 weeks. Alex is sort of confused as to which one they are staying right now.


    Alex found them in Ritz Carlton hotel, one of the best five-star hotels in Bali. The hotel has its own private beach, the sand is white... His family is there. His wife Devita, his eldest daughter Tiffany and his little one Tiarra.


    Tiffany is a very energetic mischievous kid, she smiles a lot and likes to y pranks on people. While on the other hand, Tiarra is very strict and serious like her mother. She is very disciplined but also stubborn. At the moment, both of the girls are ying with the sand on the white beach, as for their mom, she is enjoying a fruit juice in the cabana.


    The girls saw their dad...


    "DADDDYYYYY!!!"


    "Heii girls."


    They both hugged him from both sides. This is one of the great things about having a family.


    "Daddy, you went away so longgggg."


    "I am very sorry girls."


    "Daddy, help us built sand castles."


    Alex has an architectural degree, he and the girls ended up spending a few hours on the castle and built an almost real sized one. His wife puts up a warm smile while watching them. Alex then pulled over his wife and the four of them started to create statues made of sands that resembled themselves. His wife had a ssic Proid camera, they took pictures of the four of them with the sand statues, the castle with the sunset as the background. They all hugged each other that afternoon on the white sand beach. Feeling the warm blowing breeze, the soft crashing of the waves on the shore, while looking at the horizon watching the beautiful sunset go down...


    Alex was lost in thought. Today is one of the most blissful moments of his life, he wants and will keep this memory forever. He closes his eyes, he thought of that grey figure guy. Even if this world is only a dream, he is thankful for this wonderful moment, he''s thankful for the second chance.


    The storm wille in 12 days, it''s about time to prepare his family, they should not be in the dark any longer. The family then went to a fancy Balinese restaurant for dinner. After finishing their meal, they returned back to the hotel. Alex took the little girls to their beds, read them some kids fantasy novel and tugged their nkets to sleep. He gave them hugs and kisses before turning in for the night.


    "Good night girls."


    Alex walked to the other room where his wife is, she apparently had just finished taking shower, wet hair was randomly hanging over her shoulders.


    "Thank you for taking the girls to bed tonight."


    "Your wee, I hope I can do it more often."


    They have been married for 13 years, although Alex is all smiles andughs today, she knows that there is something that has been bothering him for thest few weeks. The sudden move to Bali, the crazy work schedule, and disappearing for a week.


    "Do you want to tell me what''s going on now?"


    Alex looks at his wife, she has always been smart, but he cannot tell her yet. At least, not now...


    Alex moves closer to his wife and hugs her deeply, she was startled. Alex''s move took her by surprise. He hugs her for almost one full minute, and she slowly moves her arms and hugs back. He really needed this, the 11 years of pain seemed to gradually disappear. Alex can taste the wonderful smell of shampoo from his wife''s hair, he gently kissed her on her ear and down to her neck, she involuntarily moaned a little.


    Alex sways back a little, he looks at her eyes then slowly moves forward until feeling a pair of soft lips, they be entangled in a kiss. It was a passionate night.


    Another day has passed. In the morning while Devita is still asleep, Alex was in deep thought. Revealing about the Doomsday to his wife will be harder than anyone else. Although they just had a memorable night, he knows that in actuality, their rtionship is a bit moreplicated than before.


    It''s a very ssic marriage story, two-person was in love, but when children were moving into the picture, they were unaware that their rtionship started to move closer towards their children, and further away between each other.


    On Alex''s previous life, the death of Tiffany broke them apart. That was the main reason that Alex was unable to protect them both. So he really needs to handle this news about the end of days delicately.


    A few minutester, Devita woke up and saw Alex staring at her and then spoke,


    "It is time for you to know what I have been doing thesest few weeks."


    Alex spoke with a heavy tone, this had startled his wife.


    Alex told her that he got news about a gue that would soon spread at the end of the year. He told her that he and a few other people including the military have prepared a survival shelter here in Bali. Thest few weeks he was able to get additional support and more proof about this gue that will happen. Even an extraterrestrial existence might get involved.


    Devita was stunned, she did not know how to answer. Her husband likes to joke around. But this time, she thought that it was a bit too far...


    "I nned to take you on a trip today to see the shelter and the preparation. I will introduce you to some people and I want you to monitor the situation. I will answer any of your questionster on today."


    Alex left his two daughters to their grandparents and went together to the Bay city with his wife.

 Chapter 35 - The Navy

    Benny, the mayor''s assistant of Bay city, had been very busy in thest few weeks. But, thest few days have be weirder. Due to this, he''s umting a lot of stress. His boss the mayor, took a sudden holiday leave and could not be reached... Probably enjoying all the money he got from that new vi owner.


    Since his arrival 2 weeks ago, so many things have changed. This guy named Alex had turned the city''s best vi into some sort of a fortress. Gates and watchtower can be seen from the bay city. Benny also helped Alex in the acquisition of manynds not far from the city. He thinks given a few months, with that huge plot ofnd and workers, that ce could be its own separate city.


    After starting its construction in both of the vis and thend up north, more and more people start toe into the city.. There are thousands of them, Benny can tell that most are workers, next is a group of doctors and scientists. They came to the city with their families. Suddenly all of the hotels and inns are full. This is probably good for the city, but the locals start to be nervous.


    Lately, things took a turn for the worse, a group of thugs also came to the city. As a local government official, Benny knows some of them. They are the Bali misfits, they were known for brewing trouble in the city. It was as if these thugs aren''t troubled enough, yesterday, a group of soldiers came to the city as well. There are more than 200 of them and Benny is smart enough to see that these soldiers are not like those regr soldiers.


    Thugs and army, this could only mean trouble... Benny was worried that if he doesn''t do something, the situation might escte into a small-scale war. Benny was left in charge of the city, currently, he has 20 staff that help him, but it''s far from enough. Last week, he has to bring the local police forces to help him. It''s a small city, Benny could only pull around 50 active policemen to assist the city.


    KNOCK KNOCK !!


    Knock on the door... One of his staff came in to tell him that he received an invitation toe to the vi by Mr. Alex, ''Right about time'' he thought, he needed an exnation. These armies and thugs must have something to do with that Alex. Suddenly...


    TTTTOOOOOOOTTTT


    "..."


    The sound of a ship can be heard inside his office, this sound startled him. This is not the sound of any normal ship. Benny walks to the window of his second-floor office.


    "..."


    Last week, the port was filled with two big transport ships and half a dozen of new small ships.


    Today, there is another ship in sight, but this is not a normal ship... it''s an Indonesian Navy destroyer.


    Name: The Fatahih 361


    Type: Destroyer ss


    Launched: 19 June 1978


    Discement: 1450 tons


    Length: 84 m


    Beam: 11.10 m


    Propulsion: Diesel engine


    Speed: 30 knots (56 km/h)


    Range: 3,300 km


    Complement: 89


    Armament:


    1 ˇÁ Bofors 120 mm (4.7 in) Gun, 1 ˇÁ Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft gun, 2 ˇÁ 20 mm cannon, 1 ˇÁ Bofors 375 mm twin anti-submarine rocketuncher, 2 ˇÁ Mk 32unchers for 324 mm torpedoes


    This is an Indonesian navy warship. The Indonesian navy force has 8 frigate and 24 destroyers. Out of the 24 destroyers, only three of them are still using the old model diesel engine. All the other ships had eitherbined its engine with electric motors or were using power nt engines. When the Doomsdayes, only three of these ships will be usable. This is the special vehicle that Alex requested from the Regent.


    At this moment, the Fatahih has docked on the port of Bay city. A group of Navy marines can be seen moving out of the ship. They are standing in formation on the dock, waiting for someone. There are 80 marines and 6 officers that can be seen in this formation. A few minutester, people wearing army uniforms, came to greet them.


    "Commander Tom, wee! I am Captain Donnie, Foxtrotpany 6th division of the special forces."


    The army and the navy have a slightly different ranking, a captain in the army have the same rank with a lieutenant in the navy, so Commander Tom''s rank is one rank higher than captain Donnie. But themander knows what does the 6th division of the special forces means. They are the famous Deathsquad soldier, thus, themander doesn''t dare to be impolite.


    "Thank you for weing us captain. We are from the navy of the second fleet, we areing due to the direct order of the navy admiral of the second fleet. We are asked to support the foxtrotpany''s mission. Today, I bring my crew of 30 support marines and a toon of the Frogmando unit led by Lieutenant Russel here. My other officers that are in charge of navigation, supply, engineering andstly, my XO, Lieutenantmander Karra."


    The frogmandos are as famous as the Deathsquad, every year in the whole country, only about 30 men manage to be full member out of all the Indonesian marines. The fact that one full toon of them are here, meant the Regent really pulled out some strings for this.


    "Wee to Bay city of Bali, you came right on time, the meeting is just about to start."


    On the Bay city vi hall, tables had been set, desks and chairs were set up around the hall. It''s currently crowded with a lot of people. In one of the tables, there are the ck Snake gang representative; Jerry, Jacko, Vicky, and Bayu. On the second table, there are the representative from the Medical center; Docter Andy and Doctor Rachel. On the third table, there are the Mayor''s representative; Benny and two of his staff and the head of Bay city police Roby. The fourth table are


    Alex''s managers; Nina, Tony, Rina, and Eka. On the fifth table, there are Hendrik, Cindy, and Aria.


    Not long after, the army representative and the navy arrived. The Deathsquad captain Donnie and his 4 lieutenant; Rangga, Mike, Budi, and Harris. Following behind him ismander Tom, his Xomander Kara, Lieutenant Russel, as well as 3 other officers. There are a total of 28 people.


    The situation is actually kinda weird at the moment. All type of strangers from different backgrounds is sitting in a hall together facing each other. There is one table still empty, it''s the one at the front of the hall. Finally, the door opens, Alex and his wifees and walks into the room, they are the center of the attention of the room.


    "..."


    Devita was rmed upon looking at this scene. Scary looking thugs and military soldiers they were all packed in the same room. She thought they went into the wrong ce.


    Alex confidently said, "Don''t worry, follow me." He took her hand and walked with her to thest empty table at the front of the hall. She sits at one of the chairs. From behind, Alex holds her both shoulder for a second to calm her down. Alex slowly moves to stand in front of the group.


    "Wee everyone, I am Alex the facilitator of this gathering. Some of you I haven''t met, we can talk and get to know betterter, but first, I want to announce the reason for our gathering here today. There is evidence to believe that at the end of this month, a disaster will spread all around the world. This evidence is being backed by influential figures and even the military. We are here to set up a survival base to prepare for the worst."

 Chapter 36 - The Scenario

    Alex is trying to convince this group of strangers that a real threat ising, but not too much that would turn them into despair. Alex tells them only what is necessary. The date which is on the 31st of December, and what would they expect to happen.


    "The first scenario will be some sort of disease outbreak. It will create panic to the people, so we will need to create containment, protection and finally developing a cure."


    "Second scenario. There is evidence to believe that on the same date, a global electromaic pulse will fry out all the world''s electronic equipment. Airnes will fall, transportation will be in chaos and there will be no way tomunicate as the satellites will be down. The human civilization will regress back to the 19th century. Combine that with the first scenario, it will be the biggest catastrophe the world has ever had since the ck death outbreaks that killed more than 200 million people in the 13th century."


    "The third is the Doomsday scenario. Consider the second scenario, then multiply it by ten with the emergence of monsters! Yes monsters, we have reason to believe that the disease would create mutations to animals which would make them stronger and more aggressive.. It also would affect the people who died from disease to rise and be an undead monster. In the Doomsday scenario, the world would never return back to its original self."


    When Alex started to talk about the second scenario, the group started to tense up, but the Doomsday scenario made them stunned. This sort of scenario only shows up in fantasy novels. Massive global diseases, monsters, and zombies. Only crazy people would believe him. The group suddenly became silent. None have any response.


    Alex continues, "But of course, there is also thest scenario where it''s all just some sort of misinterpretation and nothing is going to happen and this gathering would end with Bali beach party."


    The group suddenly ease up a bit.


    "But nevertheless we are being trusted upon to prepare for the worst, that means security and supplies, before I continue for nning, please raise your hand if any of you have any questions."


    Lieutenants Russel raise his hand, "I am a soldier, we normally just follow orders and never ask questions, but seeing the nature of this mission. Can you please borate where the evidence came from?"


    Alex answered, "We found the evidence from multiple relics sites that have been hidden for more than 8000 years. Professor John, from Harvard, has the same conclusion."


    Alex then continues by showing his storage ring. He pulled out some items from his ring and pulled it back. Most of the groups in this hall has never seen such things before. Aria and Cindy were still amazed when they saw it again.


    Alex continues, "Again, we can only prepare for the worst, it''s better to be ready than sorry."


    "Do you know the nature of the disease? Do you know whether if it is airborne or by physical contact? Can''t we probably prepare lots of hazmat suits?" Doctor Andy asked.


    "Honestly, I am not sure about the nature of the disease. I only know that it will be sudden and deadly. As for the hazmat suits, it could probably be beneficial. We can prepare a few hundred of them."


    Benny, the mayor''s assistant, is probably the one most agitated right now. This is the first time he heard something as crazy as this. He was probably the only one in the hall that has no responsibility to follow Alex ns at all. Alex thought that it''s a good idea to start involving the local authority. It could be useful but it could also backfire. Nevertheless, Alex needs to take the risk.


    "Mr. Alex if this catastrophe is really true, then the people need to know. There are at least 15,000 people in this Bay city itself. What do you n to do about this?"


    "Mr. Benny, we don''t want to create panic too soon. At the moment, there are many local workers who are working day and night to create this survival base. We don''t want them to be in panic risking our preparation. I assure you, what we are preparing here, will be for the good of Bali local people. I do agree with you and in a few days we will also tell the details to the locals."


    "If there are no more questions, I will then start the meeting. I hope all of you can contribute for our preparation."


    Alex starts with coordinating with Nina, she gives a report about the total supplies that have already been stocked; food which is enough for 20,000 people for one year, the medical supplies, gardening tools and seeds, the general necessities and the weapons such as axes, knives, etc. Alex designated Nina as the supplies manager, she will coordinate with the medical team and Jerry''s team for the weapon purchase and safely stock it in one of the warehouses. Alex also tasked Nina to stock lots of fuels.


    Next, are the vehicles that have been upgraded by Eka and the mechanics. Apparently, they are quite sessful in modifying the sr panels and other small equipment to be resistant to the effects of EMP. As for the vehicles, the small cars and trucks also are manageable. But for the ships and boats, Eka and his men need help. Alex called one of the Navy officers. They were introduced to Barry, the chief in engineering, to help. But it seemed that it won''t be as easy as he thought. Alex called Rina to search and hire a few specialists for the ships immediately. Their target is the full modification to be resistant against the EMP for all of the vehicles including the ships and of course, the destroyer ship.


    Indonesia is an ind country, having reliable ships is very important for Alex. Captain Donnie added that the APC (Armoured Personnel Carrier) and the cannon that he requested from the Regent would also arrive in a few days.


    Alex asks Jerry about the weapon trade, he''s more quiet than usual. Alex guesses that either he''s ufortable on talking about weapons in front of much military personnel or there might be some news about his sister that he doesn''t want to talk about. Jerry gave Alex a list of items he got from the trade: 1500 pieces of AK47 assault rifle, 500 pieces of 9mm side arms pistol, 5 pieces of machine gun M60, 5 RPGs and about 1 million ammo. All of these firearms and bullets will be stored by Nina.


    Alex introduces Jerry''s people as the local mercenaries. Although they might not be as highly trained as the soldiers, they are the locals of Bali, so they know the terrain, the people and thenguage. Alex asked them to train together with captain Donnie, and Aria''s toon soldier for the next 10 days. As for the other four toons, they will survey around the Bali ind to understand thendscape better. Alex asks a few of Benny''s assistants to be their guide.


    Once this meeting is done, Alex ns to go to the main base. Alex orders the relocation of all the medical and research personnel to the main base. The ck snake gang will also be relocated together with Aria''s Deathsquad toon and Russel''s Frogmando toon.


    The meeting in the vi is over. The soldiers and Jerry''s team does not find it too difficult to receive the news. These people are used to getting by life through missions. The others still don''t know how to handle this. Some people are just being optimistic about it. Some are hoping that this will be the same case as the Mayan''s prophecy. Alex saw his wife next to him, she seemed to be in deep thought.


    "Halooo.. You must be Devita, I am Cindy nice to meet you."


    Alex introduces Cindy to his wife, she''s very friendly, so it''s easy for people to like her. Aria is behind her, she introduces herself as well. Alex somehow feels weird about this. He felt that Aria''s a bit too friendly than usual...

 Chapter 37 - The Plant Whisperer

    On the road from Bay city to the main base, there are a few trucks that can be seen loaded with people. The cksnake gang army led by Jerry, Aria''s toon led by Captain Donnie and the Frogmando toon led by Lieutenant Russel. Alex took one car to drive, his wife came with him, but both Cindy and Aria also entered the same car. Apparently, they had enough being the same car with Hendrik.


    Alex was trying to have a conversation with his wife but these two girls were following him. The tension inside the car seems a little bit awkward, but Cindy seems to be able to save the day...


    "Sister Devita, you already have 2 kids but you still look so beautiful and young, what''s the secret?"


    Devita just smiles at her and responds, "So how did both of you girls met Alex? What''s the story?"


    "I am the assistant of the Harvard''s professor. We met in the United States a few days ago. Alex came to convince the professor that the Doomsday ising.."


    Devita was confused, "Was it not the other way around? I thought Alex mentioned that it was the professor''s research that pushed for this project to be started."


    Alex was startled. His wife had always been smart, like the saying (behind every sessful man there is always a great woman. And in every failure of a man, it''s always their own fault.)


    Alex tries to be calm and answer the question..."The professor''s research is one of the evidence, it''s more convenient to use the professor''s name rather than my name. There is also the military backing up the evidence."


    Aria added, "I heard you also came to the army to convince them of your findings."


    Alex "..."


    "It''s actually a little bit moreplicated than that. Some of these findings are top secret, thus, not everything can be shared."


    The situation actually bes more awkward. These three women are all very smart. At the moment, they are like a pack of wolves ready to bite as to whatever exnation Alexes up with to defend himself. Better to not exin in more detail at the moment. Less talk, less mistake.


    Devita looks at Aria and asks, "So what about you Aria, what''s your story? As I have heard, you are a lieutenant in the army, right?"


    Aria: "Yes, I am. But right now, my current position is Alex''s personal bodyguard."


    "..."


    Devita gives a weird look at Alex, "How did that happen?"


    Aria said it as a matter of fact, "He won me from a bet."


    "..."


    "Hey!!! Look we are already here. we can talk againter."


    After 2 hours of driving, the group has finally reached the main base. More than 7,000 workers are currently working there. Tony has been requesting more and more people to finish his impossible deadline.


    The stone wall fences are the priority, 4 meter high, 13 kilometers length in a rectangr shape. Currently, only about 8 kilometers done. The secondyer, the stone berms is not even 50% done. But the four gates have already taken their shapes. Thend clearing with over 200 hectares ofnd is also almost done. 100 hectares inside the central base and another 100 hectares outside. Alex is not sure if the wall will be finished by the start of the Doomsday, but there is really not much point on hiring more people at this time.


    Outside the wall, on the east side to the north next to the Tukad river, 1,000 farmers are currently preparing the farm fields. From loosening the soil to seeding and adding fertilizer. The primary seed of choice is going to be mainly potatoes and sweet potatoes. First, it''s nutritious, a medium-sized potato contains about 42 grams of vitamin C. They''re also loaded with minerals, like calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium. Second, it only needs minimum irrigation. Third, is that they are easy to harvest. Andstly, it only needs 10 weeks to grow. The perfect Doomsday seeds.


    For irrigation, the farmers are still trying to slowly connect it to the rivers. Alex ordered the creation of a water tank near the farms and inside the wall to harvest rainwater. Half a dozen of the 3 storey watchtowers is also already done.


    Inside the base, it is even more crowded. The workers are currently building warehouses. Out of the 100 warehouses that they were targeting, only 40 of them have been done. Fortunately, the big sized warehouse that will be used for the indoor botanical garden, storage supplies have just been finished. Also, the one for medical research facility had just gotten finished. Just at the right time with the medics and scientists that are moving here today.


    The groups reached inside the base. Tony started to assign them the warehouses that were ready so that they could start moving in. The smaller warehouses are going to be the soldier barracks and civilian housing, each can amodate up to 500 people. So currently, only 1 warehouse is needed for the soldiers, while 15 are being used by the civilians and workers.


    Alex walks around thepound to check the surroundings and their progress. The busiest, of course, is the steel factory, as it works 24 hours to provide the materials they need for building warehouses. Next is the botanical garden. The farms outside the base are for a more long term solution, while the indoor botanical garden is the short term solution. It is also the only solution if the farms outside the wall be too dangerous to farm. This indoor garden is mainly for the hydroponic nts but there are also some nts for other purposes.


    Alex saw the people working inside the garden, he inspected some of their faces and finally found the one who he was looking for. A woman in her 40''s. Jane the nt Whisperer. She is included in one of the lists of people he asked the mayor to find. As she''s a botanist, Rina followed it up by recruiting her to be part of the project.


    A simple woman, unmarried and very passionate about nts. In Alex''s previous life, she''s one of the Bali survivor and an earth spirit enhancer. Alex doesn''t know her very well but even before the Doomsday, Jane was already known as the nt Whisperer by the Bali locals.


    There are many sessful gardeners that im to be a nt Whisperer, but only a few of them is the real deal. These type of gardeners are so in tune with the vibratory energy of their nts that they can sense when something is wrong or about to go wrong in their garden much in the same way ntsmunicate with each other. In a way, if a person is a nt Whisperer they also be a member of the nts''munity.


    Science has proven that nts live inmunities. When danger or a threat appears, a caterpir infestation, for example, a warning is sent immediately through the nt''swork of roots or underground runners to the other nts to beef up their chemical and energy production to discourage the pests. Science has also proven that while an insect is chewing on a nt leaf, the nt raises the level of the chemical in the leaf to try to ruin its taste. When given the choice, more often than not, the insect will move on to a new leaf. Jane as an earth spirit enhancer, she exhibits a higher level of sense for sensing the nts which makes her the best botanist. She might not be a fighter, but she will still be an important asset for this base.


    Alex discusses the indoor garden ns with Jane. She brought up an idea which is tobine hydroponic with aquaponics. The idea is to use the waste from fish to naturally provide nutrients to nearby water-grown nts. Which will make the base able in raising both nts and fish together.


    Another spirit enhancer is in his base, a third spirit enhancer. Alex feels much happier that all those worries about the unfinished walls are gone.


    Time to take care of the army, the navy and the gangs.

 Chapter 38 - The Duel

    Alex gathers all of Aria''s Deathsquad toon, Lieutenant Russell''s toon, and the ck Snake gang. There are now more than 400 people in the training ground. Alex can tell there is some barrier between the three of them. Between the Frogmandos and the Deathsquad, there was a long history of rivalry. As for the ck Snake gang, they are currently being ignored by both the army and navy.


    "Let us have some friendly match." Alex shows them 5 stacks of $100 bill. $50,000 will be given for the team that wins. Most soldiers never saw that kind of money before, so it piqued their interest. In actuality, Alex doesn''t need to use the money as an incentive, their eyes clearly reflect that they want topete themselves.


    Some other people came to see as spectators; Devita, Cindy, Hendrik, Tony, Doctor Rachel and some of her associates.


    The match starts with a young Deathsquad soldier against a ck Snake gang member.. Milo moves in using his karate techniques, he easily defeats his opponent. But then he lost to one of the sergeants from the Navy. The navy sergeant then easily defeats another cksnake gang. He bes arrogant and asks for 3 vs 1 fight. This action enraged the gang members. Bayu and two other walked up to fight him, but in the end, they were still defeated.


    The ck Snake gang was ashamed, they ced their hopes in Jerry to retrieve back some face for them. He''s actually not in the mood, but for his crew he epts. And the result is obvious, Jerry is a high stage Human Realm, none of the navies can defeat him. The Deathsquad sends Sergeant Mayhem and a few others, but they also can''t defeat him. Jerry then returns the mock by asking for 10 vs 1 fight. In the end, Jerry still won.


    All the spectators were in awe, Aria and the Deathsquad soldiers didn''t know that there was another monster like Alex. Cindy is really excited. She really enjoys watching a fight, Alex still wonders if this is normal for an American girl. Devita doesn''t really like violence so she has noment. This fight makes the gang now fully loyal to Jerry. It also made the army and navy acknowledge the members in the gang.


    CLAP CLAP CLAP!!


    Alex walks up to the winning team to give the prize money. After handing over the money, the gang members cheered. But Alex next words startled them. Alex asked Jerry for a duel.


    "..."


    Devita and Hendrik were shocked. They have never seen Alex fight before, as far as they know, he is just a businessman. But now he wants to challenge the leader of the thugs?


    Fighting against a high stage Realm Spirit Enhancer. This could turn into good warm-up practice for Alex before the Doomsday starts.


    "One!"


    "Two!" Devita is in despair...


    "START!"


    Jerry knows of Alex''s strength, he doesn''t dare to y around. Thest time they fought, he had not yet absorbed a spirit stone. But the situation is now different, he wants to find out if he can beat Alex this time.


    SHHHH...


    Jerry is way faster than thest time they fought. A straight punch is being delivered to Alex, a simple but effective move. The spectators gasped in seeing Jerry''s speed. "Too bad," Alex thought. Jerry''s attack is too simple. No techniques were being used, it was very predictable. Because of Jerry''s affinity with the wind element, Alex can see that Jerry moves faster than him, but with Alex''s experience, he is still able to dodge his moves.


    Fist punch... Missed


    Elbow strike... Dodged


    High Kick... Blocked


    After a few exchanges, Alex jumps back and tells Jerry to use his daggers. This way Jerry can utilize his dagger techniques.


    "..."


    Devita is speechless...


    Jerry took out his daggers, the audience started to tense up. Jerry advances even faster this time. It seems that he has practiced a little bit on manipting the air around him. In order to deal with Jerry''s speed, this time Alex uses his hexagram steps, a medium grade movement technique.


    SLASSHH.


    SWISSHH.


    SLASSHH.


    Alex and Jerry exchanges about 30 moves under one minute. The audience was stunned they have never seen this kind of spectacle before. They continued to exchange moves for 5 minutes when suddenly blood started dripping from Alex''s body. Jerry manages to give Alex some scratch, after all, Alex can''t dodge all of his moves.


    "Time to hit back."


    BAAAMMM... BAAMMM...


    Jerry got pushed back and drops to his knee. High stage Mortal Realm makes the body and bones stronger to resist impact. Alex''s punch doesn''t really do fatal damage to him, but it still hurts Jerry.


    Alex thought that if Jerry learned a medium level technique the result won''t be the same. One thing for sure right now, Jerry needs to learn a proper martial art skill, this will improve hisbat strength. Alex ns to ask Captain Donnie to teach him a few martial art moves.


    BAAMMM... BAAMMM


    Jerry received a few more hits causing him to drop his daggers. When Alex thought that Jerry would give up, he instead screamed and blindly advanced forward. Something is strange with him. Alex saw the pain in his eyes. Alex thought for a while and understood what was happening. He didn''t stop the fight, he obliged Jerry and exchanged moves for a few more minutes... Alex kept on hitting Jerry until he finally stayed on the ground without the will to stand up again.


    The spectators were all speechless watching this scene. The fight only stopped when Jerry was lying on the floor unconscious, Alex told one of the doctors to help him.


    The fight left the spectators some questions. This is not a normal fight, where did Alex and Jerry''s powerse from. This is exactly the result Alex was hoping for, other than getting the three groups to know and respect each other, the main reason is to show them this.


    Alex took out a tiny white crystal and presented it to everyone there.


    "This is called a Spirit Stone, this is the reason how Jerry and I have such strength."


    Alex called Hendrik and told him to eat it. Hendrik fully trusts and believes in his brother. Although it looked like a stone, he ate it anyway. It took 10-15 minutes for the stone to show its effect. All the spectators are waiting in silence.


    Hendrik is an ordinary guy, he is actually a little bit overweight. Alex estimates his level to be around 10 or 12. With this one stone, he should be able to reach the medium stage Mortal Realm. He would have the same physical strength as the best special forces soldier, probably even stronger.


    "WAHAHHAHA... I feel so great..."


    Hendrik can feel that his body is full of power.


    Lieutenant Russel doesn''t believe that it would be that easy. He sends in one of the Frogmandos for another match. Hendrik''s a bit nervous, but he really feels the itch to try out his new found strength. Hendrik does not have any fighting experience, so currently, he bes some sort of a punching bag. He tries to fight back but only embarrasses himself. He then starts running around, themando finds it very hard to catch him. Lieutenant Russel then sends another man to tackle him, Hendrik gets cornered and bes a punching bag again.


    "..."


    Alex felt ashamed... He was regretting that he gave his brother that one spirit stone. But the spectators were still in amazement, one direct hit from a special forces soldier normally could knock out a normal person. Instead, this guy had already taken more than 30 hits, but he still seemed fine.


    Alex stopped the fight and told them more information about the spirit stone. In the future, if these soldiers are making enough contributions they can also receive some of the stones. The prospect of getting stronger is always a soldier the main goal, they are very excited about this. Alex then gives one spirit stone to Doctor Rachel. He wanted the doctor to start doing research and testing on this stone while they were setting up theirb.


    After the match is over, Jerry has finally woken up. Alex talks to him in private. Apparently, when Jerry had reached Columbia, he only found bad news about his sister. It was a depressing story, his sister was suffering for a couple of months. She didn''t tell him as she was worried for his safety. The match brought his mind back to reality. He thanked Alex for it.


    It was alreadyte in the evening when Alex nned to go back to the city with his wife. Tomorrow is the 20th and he has an important meeting to attend in Surabaya. Before he left, Cindy asked him about the ce where he found the relics. Alex doesn''t have the time to apany her, so he asks Hendrik to do it. He agrees readily. Alex prepared a small map and a note and reminded them to be careful.


    Finally, at night, Alex got some quiet time with his wife. From the Doomsday, the army and the fight. Devita felt her husband had be a different person, a stranger. She asked to have some alone time to gather her thoughts. The next morning, Alex can''t find his wife. After seeing his daughters, Alex said his goodbyes as he will be leaving again for a few days.

 Chapter 39 - Make It Viral

    20 December 2019. 10 days left till Doomsday.


    General Rico got a message from Alex. Today, he makes the time to meet him in Surabaya.


    Something about returning the favor, the general hated owing favors, so he took a day off and came to see him. The meeting will be taking ce in one of the office buildings in the center of the city. The Randall Enterprise.


    Since his miraculous escape from the terrorist base, General Rico has managed to uproot 3 more terrorist cells in Indonesia. The President just gave him another medal yesterday. He''s probably the most famous general in Indonesia right now.


    The general feels indebted to Alex for saving him from the terrorist base.. He found him very mysterious. The stone Alex gave to him is still on the General''s mind. Ever since he consumed it, the general''s physical strength has returned to his younger self, even better.


    The Randall Enterprise, world fortune 500pany. The general arrived not wearing any uniform nor brought any of his officers. This Alex guy told him toe to this building. The general wondered about what was the rtion Alex had to this billionaire. A beautiful receptionist leads him to the waiting lounge.


    BRRR...BRRR...BRRR


    The general''s mobile phone vibrated multiple times, this normally meant something urgent came up and he got the news from multiple sources. But the general is on-off duty today and there is a beautiful girl in front of him. He will take care of itter... the general enjoys his daily flirting.


    BRRRRR?RRR...BRRRRRRRR. A phone call


    "Halo general, are you in front of the TV right now? Please check it out."


    The general walked to the living room next to the lounge and saw some people staring at the news being shown on TV. In the TV, there is a man in his 60s talking in front of a group of reporters in a press conference setting. There are also international news channels such as CNN, BBC news, etc.


    The man is apparently a well-known professor from Harvard University.


    - - - - - - - - -


    "Haloo. I am here to tell you a piece of very important information. You might think that it''s crazy, nevertheless, I hope you are still listening to it until the very end."


    "From my 40 years of research and studies of hundreds of relics. I found a very disturbing discovery. The world, as we know it, will soon be facing the biggest catastrophe ever. By the end of this year, the 31st, there will be a global electromaic pulse disaster which will affect the whole world. All electrical equipment will be fried. There will be no way tomunicate and there will be chaos."


    "And this is only the first disaster. The second one will be a global pandemic disease that will affect all living beings in this world. There will be no cure and no hope for those who will be infected by the disease. The disease will cause mutations to the animals making it stronger and aggressive and any human beings who will die from the disease will be brought back to life but they will turn into a living monster."


    "On the 31st December, I suggest to just stay at home. Do not go on any vehicles especially airnes. When your rtives or people around you caught the disease, be with them and say your final farewell. Cry for them, but, remember this is very important, do not bury them, burn them."


    "Be prepared, have a stockpile of food, weapons, and reinforce your shelter. Andstly, help each other. The relics wrote something about a massive structure that will drop from the sky a few months after the gue. Take your refuge there, do not wait around, the monsters will only get stronger. The strong monsters will drop a crystal that will help humans get stronger. Let me show what does it do."


    The video then shows a thin and sickly person being given a white crystal and suddenly be as healthy and strong as an Olympic athlete.


    "Please share this news, for those wants more answers. We will be gathering in Singapore on the 23rd of December at noon. If on the 31st the first sign shows up, do not forget my message. May God save us all."


    - - - - - - - - - -


    "..."


    General Rico takes this message seriously. First, the message was yed on all channels. It meant that it was highly funded. If it wasn''t, then it would take a lot of very skilled hackers and a lot of resources to hack the world media channels.


    Second, Rico is a cop he can read a person, he can tell the professor telling the truth or at least he believes it to be the truth. And it''s quite easy to just google and check that this person is a real Harvard University professor.


    Third, the general recognizes that white stone. That was the same stone Alex gave to him. This might be rted to Alex. At the very least, he should find and ask this professor.


    "There you are... You arete general."


    Alex walks up to the general along with three other people; a guy with a wooden stick on his hand, an old man and a woman.


    "I see that you saw the message on the video, this is going to be easier then. Let me introduce you, this is Mr. James Randall, I believe as a police officer you already know him. Next is the professor from Harvard, as you can see from the video. And this is Aria, she is from the army."


    "..."


    "Everyone, this is general Rico, the one that I talked about before."


    Alex thanks James Randall for preparing the production team and team of hackers. This is the third favor he asked of The Randalls. The fourth one will be the preparation of the gathering in Singapore on the 23rd. Alex gave him the two stones he promised. James already has a total of six stones. This should be enough for him to be high stage Human Realm, this way he will not need a walking stick anymore.


    Next, Alex tells his reason for asking the general toe here. It''s to entrust the professor under the protection of the general. Due to him helping Alex, the professor''s face was already widely known, he could be in danger. Alex asks the general to put the professor into the protective custody program and deliver him to Singapore in 3 days.


    Alex is truly grateful that the professor was willing to read the script Alex wrote. Ever since the professorunched his book, his reputation was already ruined anyway. The professor hoped that in hisst days, he would give a meaningful impact on the world.


    The general asks, "Despite it being true or fully fictional, do you think that the viewers are going believe you that easily?"


    Alex responds, "Even if I managed to only convince one person in every 100, I would already be satisfied. I have done my duty to the world. But then again, I am sure that when the first sign has started to ur, the people who had viewed this video will be inclined to believe me and will start to prepare for the next disaster."


    All over the world that day, more than 500 million people had watched this video. The hackers didn''t just y it on the TV but they also uploaded it in Youtube. The video became viral and a lot of people werementing."


    - - - - - - - - - - -


    " Another moron created a crazy weird video."


    " It will be pretty cool if it really happens though."


    " I believe him, I am going to start preparing."


    "Go get a girlfriend man, get a life."


    " I have a girlfriend."


    "I bet next that you will say that she''s really pretty."


    "...."


    " I have seen the video it''s cool."


    " I bet it''s a trailer for the next Avengers movie."


    "It''s more likely to be the next season of Game of Throne."


    "..."

 Chapter 40 - Reaction

    Alex is currently waiting in a fancy restaurant, James Randall walks inside the room. With a gleeful face, he walks up to Alex without a walking stick.


    "Thank you! Thank you, my friend, I feel really great!"


    James Randal had taken both the spirit stone. He can now walk normally again.


    SHHHHHH...


    Alex suddenly throws him one of the table knives. James was startled. He manages to dodge the knife. Somehow he saw the knife flew a bit slow for him..


    "From your dodging speed, it seems that you are still within the strength of middle-rank Mortal Realm. It seems that you are not yetpletely cured, Mr. James."


    "Mortal realm?" James was confused, but with his current condition, it already made him very happy.


    "Yes, it is your current stage of strength. Consuming more of the stones could push you even beyond the limits of the human body."


    James Randall was really excited by this news. This guy is a billionaire who can buy anything but have to live the rest of his life using a wheelchair. This news really is a beautiful song to his ear.


    Alex continues, "So, what do you think about the Doomsday message?"


    "Honestly I do not believe it, but I have seen first hand the effect on this miraculous stone, so at the moment I am keeping an open mind about this. I am a very rich man, if the Doomsday does happen, then money will have no value to the world. Men like me will lose their value. Just like any other business investment, the smart thing to do is to manage risk. I will start investing some of my money into the new currency; food, medicine, weapons, and protection."


    "You are very wise Mr. Randall."


    "When the Doomsday starts, I really hope that we can help each other. There is actually one thing that we can start preparing now."


    Alex was discussing with James Randall about creating a way tomunicate after the disaster. When the Doomsday starts, allmunication signals will be down. The only way tomunicate will be using a long-range two-way radio. The n is to prepare a ry station in every 40 - 50 kilometer between Bali and Surabaya, that is about 10 ry stations. Afterward, they decided on the frequency and time.


    "One very important point is about the base, Let me show you a very important location. The location is in central Java, it is going to be the sanctuary for all people who live in this java ind."


    After giving some information to the Randalls, Alex has 2 days before the Singapore gathering. He decided to use the little time he had to visit and try to warn some of his close friends.


    The video message bes the trending news in almost all channel, many believe that the Harvard professor has be crazy due to stress. The other possibility was that the professor was threatened. The professor is currently missing, none of his rtives is able to contact him.


    - - - - - - - - -


    Beijing, China.


    In one majestic building, there is a big meeting room with 4 sides creating a square shape facing each other. Within each corner, there are one or two people sitting in the front row. There are few other people sitting on the back. In front of each of the tables, there is a gold Chinese symbol; Yang, Liu, Zhao, and Chen. These are the big 4 families in China. The families are so old that they are able to influence much of China''s management of finance, politics, economy, andw.


    The Yang families are the descendants of the first president of China they are mainlywmakers and politicians. The Liu families have the biggest influence within the army. The Zhao families were dominated by the females family member, they owned China''s biggest bank. While the Chen families own thergest businesses.


    "Thest agenda for this gathering is about the video that went viral yesterday."


    The facilitator turns on the big TV and ys the video.


    "Why did we bring up such cheap information within this meeting?"


    "We have investigated that this was produced by the Randall family from Indonesia."


    "The Randalls? That kid inherited the family business at such a young age. Maybe he got crazy because of his illness."


    "That''s the thing, we have investigated that his sickness has been cured and it is because of the same stone. We don''t buy the Doomsday nonsense. But there is a chance that the Randalls with their profound medical research center has found a secret form to a miraculous medicine."


    Hearing about the miraculous medicine, the other families ears be focused full of interest.


    "The Randalls have sent us a message and invited all of us to meet in Singapore on the 23rd. I vote to continue this investigation and send a representative to go there."


    "Agreed."


    "I concur."


    "I also agree."


    - - - - - - - - - - -


    City of Jerusalem, Israel


    Mossad, the national intelligence agency of Israel. Mossad is responsible for intelligence collection, covert operations, and counterterrorism. In contrast to the government and military, the goals, structure, and powers of the Mossad are exempt from the constitutionalws of the State of Israel. However, its activities are subjected to secret procedures that have never been published.


    A round table with 10 people are sitting in a circle.


    "The video that went viral yesterday is quite disturbing."


    "Is there any truth in it?"


    "That talk about a Doomsday is sphemy."


    "Nevertheless, we must do what we do."


    "Jurgen, you are this year''s tenth-men. As a high ranking Mossad, you will be our representative to go to Singapore."


    - - - - - - - - - - - -


    CIA Headquarters, Langley, United States.


    Kenny, CIA Junior Analyst, received an assignment to measure and assess the threat of the video that went viral yesterday. The video managed to hack the world''s media, it was considered as a cyber global security threat. The CIA was tasked to investigate. Kenny has been a junior analyst for far too long, he has been waiting for his golden opportunity assignment. When he was given this assignment the title ''World Threat'' really got him excited, but after he studied the data and watched the video...


    "Another man going cuckoo."


    He gave the final report as the lowest rank threat. But the CIA director disagrees, this kind of threat could create panic if not handled properly. Kenny then gets his overseas assignment.


    "Holiday going early for me then, lucky me."


    - - - - - - - - - -


    Vatican City


    The Cardinal was praying when several men came into the church. The men who came in seemed to be highly trained individuals. The two men were walking in the middle of the group approached the Cardinal. One is a middle-aged man and another is a young man with a white shirt.


    The Cardinal is fully focused in his prayers, nothing seems to be able to disturb him. When the young man approached closer, he suddenly realized that there were few eyes watching him from two corners of the church. The Cardinal was actually highly guarded. This is Cardinal Strauss, in-line for the next pope of the church.


    "You dare to let me wait, Strauss?"


    Two of the Cardinal''s guards move forward, this man dares to talk to the Cardinal with such disrespect. But the Cardinal raises his hand and stops them. He slowly turns around and saw the middle age man.


    "What an honor to get a visit by the Fuhrer. It''s always amazing each time I see you, sir Heinrich you never seem to age a bit."


    This is Fuhrer Heinrich the founder of Ahnenerbe Organization, the guy next to him is Hans themander of Iron eagle squadron.


    "Cardinal Strauss, I came here because something very important had happened. Come with me to Singapore. I believe this time the Ahnenerbe and the Illuminati must work together. Bring your temr knights with you."

 Chapter 41 - Special Friend

    Before going to Singapore, Alex needed to stop by a certain ce. Perth Western Australia. Alex spent his teenage life in this country. He came here to study when he was 15 and stayed here for 10 years. This was the life he had before he met his wife, built hispany and the 11 years Doomsday.


    His memory of this ce seemed like a very long time ago. He grew up here, many of his friends still lived here and some of the people here were like family to him.


    Alex had organized a simple reunion party and 30 of them managed toe. Some hade with their families and when they saw Alex came in with Aria, the two people received weird stares. They were having fun that day, but it was really hard for him to enjoy any of it. In his previous life, he had not heard any news from Australia until a few yearster. Most of them had already died by then. However, there was one person that he knew who survived, Evan the ss president..


    Alex brought up the viral video to be a topic of the group, but almost all of them were making fun of it. It was very hard for people to believe it unless they had seen it with their own eyes. It was not ignorance, not stubbornness, nor stupidity, it was human nature.


    Alex is not truly expecting much from this group, but nevertheless, he is still hoping he can change their future and save some of them. His main agenda is actually to have someone that he knows to prepare his second phase.


    Indonesia may be important to Alex, but the Australia continent will be more important for Alex. Australia has four times the totalnd masspared to Indonesia and Australia''s poption is only one-tenth of Indonesia. There will be only 5 pirs that will be dropping in Indonesia, but Alex knew that at least 20 of them will be descending in Australia. In his previous life, some of these pirs were not able to withstand the attacks from the monsters as there were not enough survivors. A few of the pirs were also left untouched. Since Alex knew that there will be pirs that will not be upied, Alex will be including the continent''s geographic location as it will be strategically close to Indonesia.


    Alex had some private talk with Evan along with a few others that he was close to. He had convinced them to help him for the next few days. Alex nned to buy arge number of items to be stored in the city of Darwin. Australia''s city in the north and the closest to Indonesia. The amount of money and the list of items to buy shocked them. Food and supplies and the specific ce to store it. Alex told them hypothetically that this could be a great ce to hide if the Doomsday really did happen.


    Alex was hoping that they could get the hint and moved to this location when things hit the fan. But he couldn''t hope too much, he couldn''t help everyone and he couldn''t force them to move to Bali either. Either way, this location could be his starting point for his second phase.


    - - - - - - - - - -


    Singapore. 22nd of December.


    The night before the gathering, Alex had been nning to meet with someone from his past, a special friend. Christina, Alex knew her even longer than Theo. They first met at college in Australia. The college''s most beautiful student, she was idolized by many, the famous girl with big eyes. One of Alex''s closest friends. They did have something emotional that happened back then but they were never a couple. When Alex went back to Indonesia, she also returned to Singapore.


    Christina''s background is not simple. Her family is one of the most influential families in Singapore. Her family is somehow rted to both the nine dragons and China''s big four families. They own the biggest real estate in Singapore. Christina has had married a young colonel in the Singapore army, they have a young daughter and a son. But their marriage did notst long.


    Alex made sure he had the time to meet and talk to her tonight not just because of their rtionship, but also because this woman, Christina, in Alex''s previous life, survived and was also a well-known Spirit Enhancer.


    Singapore''s a very crowded city, they faced the Doomsday with a unique situation. When the disaster struck many people died but the government managed to control the situation. With many difficulties, the ind was able to manage to clean out all of the undead. The Singaporean survivors only needed to take a defensive stance at the bridge which was facing Mysia. Later on, when the mutated beast had starteding, the Singapore city was fortunate because the Doomsday pir dropped right in the middle of the city. This pir was actually one of the best options for Alex to choose from, but the Singapore ind had almost no resources. Therefore, Alex chose Bali ind instead.


    Alex meets her in one of Singapore hawker stalls, a simple street food vendor. This is one of the reasons Alex likes her friend very much. Even though shees from a prestigious background, she prefers simple living instead. She cares for others and likes to do charities.


    "Hi Alex, what a surprise!"


    She then realizes that there is a beautiful girl standing next to Alex, she is confused.


    "Hi Christina, oh right, this is Aria, she is my associate."


    Alex wonders as to why does Aria finds it so hard to understand some situations. There are some meetings which are business and some are personal. And yet, why is this girl really so serious with her mission. Does she really have to follow him all the time? Well, Alex doesn''t want to make this more awkward than it already is, so ignoring the situation is probably for the best.


    "So, what''s up? Suddenly receiving a phone call from you and sounding so serious..."


    "Have you heard about the gathering tomorrow?"


    "Are you referring about the Doomsday video? Yes, I have watched it already. Because of that video, there are groups of whacko that have started showing up here. What about it?"


    Alex points a finger into his face.


    "I am one of those whackos."


    "..."


    "Hahahahaha, you have always been funny Alex."


    She smiles at Alex, she shes back to some good times they have shared together. But then she realizes that Alex doesn''t share theughter... She is startled


    "..."


    "Are you serious?"


    "Yes, I want to make sure that you are taking the Doomsday message seriously. In fact, I am the one responsible for making the video."


    Christina bes serious now, she thinks for a while and says,


    "Are you rted to James Randal?"


    "Yes, I am."


    "Is it true that Randall''s have created a miraculous medicine?"


    Alex takes out a white crystal stone, the spirit stone.


    "You mean this one?"


    Christina looks at the stone, she gives it some thought and says,


    "What did you get yourself into, Alex? The Randalls and many others are not to be trifled with."


    Alex is happy deep down that this woman still cares about him, he replies,


    "You don''t have to worry about me. I actually came here to give you one of these stones. This stone will give you a higher chance to survive the initial disaster. I am worried that my involvement with the video will harm you somehow."


    Alex told her to be prepared and stay at home on the 31st. Most importantly, be there for her kids. Alex did not know if Christina''s children died from the disease or not. Because of her family''s background, Alex was not sure if it was a good idea to bring her to Bali either. It was really tempting to just lie and bring her to Bali, but it was not fair to her, even if it meant another spirit enhancer on his side that he could trust. Alex gave her a list of a few Singaporean names that she could depend on just as a precaution. But Alex still reminded her to not trust thempletely. A desperate situation could change people.


    All of this information is too much for her, Alex truly wishes to stay longer and have some more normal conversations, but he cannot. He''s already apletely different person now. Alex wishes her well and departs with Aria...


    Aria rarely spoke a word, but this time she said,


    "Why haven''t you give me one of the spirit stones?"


    "I don''t think one stone will have any effect on you."


    .


    .


    "Give me two or three then."

 Chapter 42 - The Doomsday Festival

    Singapore, 23 December


    Since morning, many people had been gathering. The Randalls pulled some strings and turned the streets of Singapore into some sort of Doomsday Festival. It''s very crowded... Thousands of people were walking down the streets. There were 3 main groups.


    The Doomsday Preppers, this is amunity of people who believe that the end of days is inevitable. They are preparing not for the possibility of IF the Doomsday happens, but rather WHEN it will happen. The viral video makes them feel that the time is right... These groups of people are the ones who fully believe the Doomsday video..


    The second group of people is the religiousmunity that preaches about theing of the rapture and tribtion, which is the Doomsday and tells the people to repent.


    The third group of people is the biggest amongst the three groups. Those are the cosyers, these are the people who have had gathered just for the fun of it. Most of them are wearing zombie makeup and various costumes. There are even some famous characters that can be seen in the crowds such as; the white walkers, Alice from Resident Evil, vampire costumes, up until the spiderman costumes.


    The Randalls have prepared hundreds of their people on the streets of Singapore. They are handing out flyers about tips on how to survive the Doomsday. Free food and drink stands are also giving out different kinds of merchandise. The Randalls have prepared this publicity as it is thest favor that Alex had asked. The main objective is not to turn people into believers, but rather to turn this day into another viral news that will be shown around the world so that more people will be able to hear the message. In the next few days, Alex hopes that this festival will be a new trend and many news and other local stations will start creating their own content about what to prepare if Doomsday does happen.


    The climax of the festival started when Harvard Professor walked up to the prepared stage in the garden by the bay and started to talk about his findings. Although most of them were scripted texts that had been written by Alex. The main messages were:


    1. Prepare food and supplies.


    2. Stay at home do not go out on vehicles, especially airnes.


    3. Burn the deceased.


    4. Help each other.


    5. Find refuge in a structure that would appear in a few months.


    This festival is very important for Alex. He actually also has another gathering that he and the Randalls have preparedter that night. This one is an invitation-only gathering. Most of the ones that have been invited are world leaders, organization representatives, and rich and powerful figures. More than 500 invitations had been sent, but only half of them have had sent their representatives. If it was not for Randall''s famous name or the rumor of miraculous medicine, they would be lucky if even 10% of them came.


    The venue that they will be gathering is the Esnade theater. It is a 1,950-seat theatre. It was modeled after traditional horseshoe-shaped performance arenas. It has 30 private balconies that could fit four to eight people per group. The 250 invites that were answered came in with their own entourages, assistants, and bodyguards totaling more than 1500 guests.


    Kenny, the CIA junior analyst, also came with an invite. He actually came with no expectation and thought this was just a nutjob''s prank. But his mission''s objective needed to bepleted, it was to prepare an urate threat assessment. Kenny came in the theatre with his small team of eight, half went inside as guest to scout and the other half stayed outside of the theatre inside a big van with their high tech gadgets.


    "The security of this event is top notch. The Intel said that the Randall family had organized this event. It seems they really spent a lot of effort to make this sessful. I wonder what kind of guests will show up. I will be sending you some pictures Bravo Team, tell me who they are."


    Kenny is sending pictures with his phone to the team in the van.


    "Kenji Shima, Japan''s Chairperson of the National Public Safety Commission."


    "Park Ji, North Korea''s Minister of Defense."


    "Rajesh, India''s Minister of External Affairs.",


    "General Jorge, South African National Defence Force."


    "Jurgen, Isreali high-ranking Mossad."


    "Senator Arnold from the United States."


    "Wow, there are many VIPs that have been confirmed who participated in this event."


    "Those are the Zhao sisters from the Chinese Big Four, even they also came. I think this event is more serious than it seems to be. I should recalcte the threat assessment."


    "..."


    "The Philippines President, Dominique have just entered with his entourage."


    "..."


    "Cardinal Strauss, from the Vatican, came with dozens of people. This is getting serious..."


    "Agent Kenny, the two men behind the Cardinal are on the CIA''s most wanted list."


    "..."


    "This is already beyond our capacity. We should call back up for this."


    "!!!"


    "Who are you? You cannote in here! Agent Kenny, we have beenpromised!"


    "!!!"


    "What? Bravo Team!! Halo!!"


    A momentter, a beautiful woman walks closer to agent Kenny,


    "Don''t worry about your team, agent. They are fine, we just can''t let you jeopardize our event. Pleasee with me, our leader like to see you."


    The venue is almost full. Not long after, the venue lights be dimmer and the stage light turns on. The announcement is about to start. Two people walk to the center of the stage, the Harvard professor, John, and a middle-aged normal looking guy. The professor sits on the side and instead, the normal looking guy walks to the podium.


    "Wee everyone and thank you foring to this gathering. I assure you that you will not regreting here today. My name is Alex and I am the facilitator of this gathering. I will not waste your precious time with history lessons as all of the professor''s findings will be emailed to you and can be readter. I know most of you do not believe in the Doomsday message. But I am here to ask each one of you to be a little bit more open-minded in asking what is possible and what is impossible."


    "I will start with what most people here are interested in. This little stone is called a spirit stone."


    Alex takes out a spirit stone and shows it to the audience.


    "Many of you have believed it to be a miraculous medicine and thought it was made by Randall''s medical team. The existence of such a miraculous stone, is it possible or impossible?"


    "I am going to tell you that it is possible. This stone does have miraculous power. Please let me wee Mr. James Randall to the stage."


    James walks up to the stage on his own two feet. Many people in this room know James and are aware of his sickness. Seeing him walking up all healthy, makes them a bit more curious about the stone. However, this only further makes them believe that James Randall''s team have made a breakthrough in medical science. The existence of a miraculous stone really does seems to be possible.


    "Now, what if I told you that this stone was not made by Mr. Randall''s medical team and the truth was it was not made by any scientific research norboratories. Is this possible or not possible?"


    As scripted by Alex, James walked up to the podium and told the audience that the stone was not made in hisb, but was in fact, given by Alex. The audience gasp... "It''s not possible, they thought."


    Alex takes out a few of the stones and shows it to them. Then he calls out to the people in the backstage, two guy walks to the center of the stage. One of them is a sickly person and the other one is Kenny the CIA analyst.


    "This is agent Kenny from the CIA, one of the guests that have responded to our invite."


    Alex asks Kenny to check the sickly person next to him, this guy seems to becking proper nourishment. Alex gives a stone this sickly person, now, the sickly person has the strength of a special forces soldier. This demonstration really piques the interest of the audience.


    "Let us be more open-minded and start to think of other types of possibilities and impossibilities."


    Alex calls out another person to the stage and asks him to draw his gun and aim it at him then shoot him.


    BANG


    Suddenly, a rock golem shows up in front of Alex and deflects the bullet. The people cannot hide their shock from this.


    "An item that has dimensional storage space and this golem, do you think it is possible or impossible?"


    Relics with power beyond human dreams and spirit stones that can push the boundaries of the human body. These things are impossible things that have be possible.


    "Now, will it be possible or impossible if I say that I had a fortunate encounter and managed to peek at the events of the years toe?"


    Possible or impossible?

 Chapter 43 - The Doomsday Secret

    Alex manages to get the audience attention. But Alex knows that this is not enough, he needs them to be prepared for what is about toe. Right now, there are 7 billion people in the world. 1,008 Doomsday Pirs are going to descend from the skies after a couple of months.


    In his previous life, although the human race was able to hold on for 10 years before getting wiped out. He believed that they had already lost in their very first year. With the reincarnation that had happened to him, it gave their race a tremendous advantage. With all of his knowledge, if he nned it well, he could be the leader of the human race. But that was not what he wanted, what''s the point of being the leader of a death race. These people needed to work together, they needed to look past their ethnic and national difference, they needed to unite to face amon threat.


    Alex continues speaking,


    "I will share with you the secret of the future, the professor''s studies confirm part of its truth, but it will be up to you whether to believe it or not. I''m sure all of the people in this room are resourceful and smart enough to adapt to changing situations.."


    "The first will be the global electromaic pulse, it will be the first disaster. I suggest to start collecting or modifying old non-electrical vehicles. You can forget about airnes as there will still be an EMP residue in the sky. Using older modified nes might get you off the ground, but it will be a one-way trip as the engine will stop working mid-air, it will be up to luck to survive thending."


    "The disease whiches second will be inevitable. There will be no cure for this disease. Please make peace with the people who will be dying and then burn their bodies."


    "The real threat will be the mutated undead and monsters. I will give you some ideas of their strength."


    Alex calls one person to the stage, it is Jerry. He has just arrived in Singapore today for this gathering. He demonstrates the power of a high stage Mortal Realm by bending metal rods and fighting a few of the bodyguards prepared by the Randall''s. Although the fight can be staged, Jerry''s movement speed, however, is not. The demonstration ends with Alex calling a few of the audiences to hit Jerry with a metal rod with all of their strength and yet, he manages to resist it. The audience cannot believe the strength of this man called Jerry. Jerry leaves the stage and Alex continue with his speeches.


    "That man is a person who has eaten six of these spirit stones."


    "..."


    The audience bes frantic and their desire for the stone can be seen in their eyes...


    "I was able to find a dozen of these stones from one of the relic sites."


    Alex shows them hisst dozen of spirit stones.


    "I need to tell you though that Jerry''s strength is admirable and truly astonishing. It will still be weakpared to the mutated monsters that wille. The weakest mutated monster will still be faster and stronger than him."


    "..."


    "If you do kill a mutated monster, there is a possibility that a stone will drop. I hope that by now, you should have an idea of how things will work in the future. Hunt or be hunted."


    "The next important information that I am going to share is that, as we are getting stronger, they are getting stronger too. We will start seeing various and advanced types of monsters, there will also be one that is as big as a mountain."


    "Our survival will depend on the massive structure that will drop from the sky, it will be called the Doomsday Pirs. It will drop simultaneously all over the world. The Doomsday Pirs have a function that can increase the limit of the human body. It is also a ce where you can receive different kinds of artifacts such as this golem here. I will add another very important information about the Pirs; the greater the number and the strength of the survivors residing in the Pirs, the greater the benefits the Pirs would give."


    "Through this gathering, we have managed to get your identities. We have sent you information about the Pirs, that we are aware of, that will be dropping near to your homes or bases."


    The audience starts receiving the information. Alex is silent for a while and slowly says,


    "In 7 days, when the first sign of disaster shows itself, you will know that all I have revealed here is the truth. I suggest you start making your preparation once you leave this ce. Please use this information wisely. We, humans need to work together. It will be hard for us tomunicate in the first couple of months, but the solution will be within the Doomsday Pirs. If we manage to clear the Pir''s challenge, we can getmunication ess between the Pirs. I believe that is all I can share with you for now. If you want to know more, we willmunicate again through the Pirs".


    All of the demonstrations and announcements took around one hour to finish. This was the weirdest event ever. The audience started to have mixed feelings about this. Some were cynical, while others were like the Randalls, although a nonbeliever, they had decided to be careful.


    At the corner in one of the private balconies.


    "So, what do you think, Strauss?"


    The Cardinal replies,


    "I''m not sure. This is quite disturbing. Adding to that is the fact that you are here, means you believe this to be true."


    "Yes, we did uncover some of the simr secrets in the ruins. But this Alex guy, he was able to exin it in detail, what an interesting guy. We, the Ahnenerbe organization, have started preparing thesest few days. All of our bases have started in stockpiling weapons and supplies. I suggest you do the same, Strauss. It will be sad to see the Illuminati who ims to be the guardian of mankind sitting on the sidelines, or seeing the Knight Temrs perish."


    In another balcony, the Zhao''s family booth, they were discussing the information given.


    "What do you think about this Ama (Grandma)?"


    "Little Wei, we should also start preparing. Set up a meeting with all of the four families. This will be the most important matter, the next 7 days will be crucial. It would be foolish if Yang''s, Liu''s, and Chen''s did not prepare as well.


    If Alex saw this old woman, he would be surprised. She was Zhao Fan, one of the most powerful survivors. She was a Saint Realm and a Spirit Enhancer. She had been a fortune reader ever since her youth. A real oracle with a unique ability to see fate. When she died, the world''s remaining survivors lost their hope as well.


    After the event, Alex goes to the back room. Inside the room, there are six people waiting for him. James Randall, Professor John, General Rico, Jerry, Aria, and the Regent Suryo.


    "Thank you for taking the time to gather here. I have exined everything I can. Hopefully, all of you would believe me and start making preparations. There are only 7 days left and this may be thest time we will meet."


    The professor walks up to him and says,


    "I haven''t finished reading the relics you had found. But it''s enough to tell me that the information you shared with us is not from this relic. Nevertheless, I somehow believe in you. I have a question though that bothers my mind and if you can answer it, please do so."


    "What is the casualty rate of the disease?"


    "It is 80%, professor. 8 out of 10 people will not be able to survive the gue."


    "..."


    The Regent was also shocked, Alex had told him before about the 80% casualty, but now that he knew the details of what will happen, he didn''t realize that the 80% was only the starting number. A disease with no cure and no way to resist. If Alex told this number to the world, people were inclined not to believe it. Alex only dared to say this to the people in this room.


    The professor asked another question,


    "Do you know if people in this room will survive the gue or not? If you do know, what about me? Will I be able to survive the gue?"


    Alex answers slowly with a heavy heart, he doesn''t want to tell the professor, but the professor deserves to know,


    "I am sorry professor... In this room, you are the only one that I know who will not survive the gue..."


    In his previous life, the survivors did try to investigate the professor''s whereabouts. They wanted to learn more about what he had studied, but in their search for him, they found out that he didn''t survive the gue.


    "Thank you for being honest with me. I will return to the United States and try to convince as many people as possible. Don''t worry about my safety and please take care of that assistant of mine. I''m sure that she is willing to stay and help you."


    "I assure you, professor, what you have done these couple of days will really make a difference to the world, you will always be remembered."


    The professor gives aplicated look and smiles, "Take care." He then leaves the premises with mixed feelings.


    There are now only his countrymen left in the room.


    "Now, I really wish to discuss what will be our strategy for our country."

 Chapter 44 - Silent Night

    The meeting with Regent Suryo, General Rico and James Randalls have started. Alex told them the exact locations of the Pirs in Central Java, West Sumatra, South Swesi, West New Guinea, and Bali. Alex will be in charge of the one in Bali, the one in Sumatra will be the Regent''s base. The Regent will also assign his generals the task of sending soldiers to clean up the other two locations.


    As for the one in Central Java, it will be a little bitplicated.


    Indonesia has a poption of 270 million, about 60%, which is around 140 million, live in Java. Alex told the group that the current government will not survive. There are too many people that will not survive the gue and that includes the President and the Vice President. Alex hopes that General Rico, a high-ranking police officer, will be able to uphold public security and save as many people as possible from the capital city and people around western Java. The Randalls will take care of Surabaya city in the Eastern Java. After 3 months, they will need to bring the survivors to the Doomsday Pir in Central Java. This will be a very difficult task. .


    Overall, the Regent will be providing support through army soldiers and weapons, James Randals will be supporting by providing supplies and General Rico will be pushing with the government support. Alex also requested General Rico and the Regent for support in the Bali police Headquarter and an army base.


    The meetingsted for 3 hours, it was already midnight and it was time to go. The next time they meet, if they managed to survive, it will probably be in a few months after the apocalypse started. Before leaving, the Regent had a private conversation with his granddaughter Aria. It seemed to be a difficult situation for her, but Aria still chose to help Alex as promised.


    The next day Alex decided not to leave Singapore for another night, he stayed in one of the private cottages in Sentosa Ind Singapore. Many of the guests from yesterday tried to contact him but he refused. There was nothing else he was willing to share with these people. Alex met with Jerry and Aria to discuss a few things, and after a few minutes, they both left.


    24 December, it was Christmas night. For the past couple of years, Alex had been attending church on this night with his family, but not this time. Tonight, he had other things nned, it was also for his family''s sake. Alex stayed alone in the vi right next to the beach. The sound of the wind and the crashing of the waves was very peaceful. It was a silent night.


    22:00 At night


    Several people wearing a ck outfit surrounds the vi where Alex is staying. They walk swiftly with almost no sound at all. These are a group of Ninjas. They are Japan''s mysterious mercenaries. Master in the art of fighting called ninjitsu. Their existence in the modern world is still somewhat a mystery. They specialize in spying for information or political assassinations. Tonight they areing for Alex, unfortunately for them, he is prepared.


    Seven hundred meters away from the beach, there''s a boat facing the vi.


    "One, two... Five hostiles confirmed. They are approaching. Right now, they are 10 meters away from the vi. Target locked, permission to take the shot."


    "No Aria, hold your fire, I can take care of this."


    Alex already knew that after the event, especially showing off the spirit stones, there will be some group of people who will want to steal it from him. He was actually waiting for it.


    Three ninja warriors have managed to walk inside the vi, while the other two are waiting outside as backups. Ninjas are masters in using a short sword, two of them walks slowly into the bedroom door. Upon opening the door, a force of wind suddenlyes...


    BAAMMM


    A punches out and hits one of them in the face, the other two ninja jumps out to the back. The ninjas that are outside swiftly run inside the vi. Alex slowly walks outside of the bedroom, right now, six of them are within the vi''s living room. The space of the living room is about half the size of a basketball court. But with all the furniture, it somehow feels tight inside.


    "I''ve heard that Ninjas are masters in close quartersbat. I really wish to give it a try."


    SLASHHHH... SLASHHHH...


    Two of the ninjas move swiftly shing their katana. Alex manages to dodge it.


    SHHHHTTT... SHHHHTTT...


    Two more advances together to fill up the empty space next to Alex. Alex is nowpletely surrounded.


    "Are you boys here to kill me or capture me?"


    "...."


    "Hello, are you guys mute? You guys really are the best assassins!"


    He is about to counter-attack when Aria suddenly reports to Alex,


    "Alex, more areing."


    "How many?"


    "Just one, it''s a woman. I think you will not like thisˇ­ The person approaching is Christina."


    "..."


    Alex finally stops ying around, he needs to finish this group of assassins or it might endanger his friend. Although this group of assassins is better in hand to handbatpared to the special forces soldiers, they are still no match to Alex. He''s a high stage Mortal Realm with medium grade movement techniques, include the 10 years ofbat experience and his storage ring full of weapons, these assassins definitely do not have any chance in winning against him.


    Alex dodges one of the ninja''s attacks with the hexagram step, the side steps, and uses an elbow.


    BAMMM!


    Taking his short sword while at it, he turns around and shes the other 2 ninjas at his back. He then jumps up and throws the short sword to stab the fourth ninja. Four experts of ninjutsu martial arts are down in less than three seconds. The fifth ninja standing on the back cannot believe what he is seeing.


    When Alex is about to attack thest ninja, the door suddenly opens. The fifth ninja is surprised and he draws his sword to sh the person who has just entered through the door.


    Alex is startled, he takes out a gun from the storage ring, but it seems that he is not fast enough...


    The ninja''s movement is swift and shes even faster.


    When Christina opened the door and she was shocked upon seeing the scene...


    SLAASSHHHHH.....


    SHHHHHTTTTT..... SPLATT...


    The sword ising straight to her as if trying to reach out to her, but the ninja''s head explodes before it even reached her. Blood sshes on the door, some also sshes on Christina''s face... She is stunned, she is about to scream when Alex suddenly grabs her and makes a hand sign not to make a loud noise. Alex then takes her to the sofa to sit.


    "Great shot Aria."


    Alex praised Aira, she did a headshot from seven hundred meters passing through the window on a slightly moving boat.


    Aria answers,


    "Don''t be toofortable. I spotted three-speed boats moving to your location. ETA two minutes, at least a dozen hostiles. Should I take the shot?"


    "Negative. Draw them in first."


    Alex, kneeling in front of Christina, says,


    "You came at a bad time. Next time, call me first. Did you ate the stone I gave you?"


    Christina, unable to speak, only shakes her head,


    "Do you have it with you?"


    She nods, "Good, eat it now and hide. Go to the bedroom and stay there, more people areing."


    "Alex, I counted 18 of them. They seem to be amateurs, based on their clothing and weapons. I am 80% sure they are rted to the Somalian pirates. They are only 50 meters away from your location. How do you want to proceed?"


    Alex calmly answers, "I will stay here to distract them. Proceed with the shooting starting from the back. Jerry, you will pick off the ones that are isted. We will not kill them. Only disable them..."


    "Ok."


    "Affirmative."


    The result of the battle was obvious. Aria disabled her targets easily with her snipping abilities. And with the darkness of the night, Jerry''s knife skills and speed were uncanny. None of the pirates had seen himing when they approaching the vi, 18 hostiles were down in less than 3 minutes.


    Aria stayed on the boat as a lookout. Inside the vi, Alex and Jerry tied up all 22 hostiles, Christina also saw the mercenaries. Alex didn''t bother to interrogate them, they were mercenaries after all. They probably didn''t know anything except how much money they will be paid.


    Christina was still confused, she wanted to visit Alex because of what she had heard about yesterday''s event from her parents. The Alex her parents described was not the Alex she knew. Seeing this bloody scene, she somewhat understood that he really did change.


    The spirit stone she ate has taken effect, she is now a middle stage Mortal Realm Spirit Enhancer. Christina is a unique Spirit Enhancer with talent in fire. But she has never experiencedbat like Jerry or Aria, thus her talent is dormant. Now that she has reached the middle stage, once the Doomsdayes, it would be easier for her to train her talent. Alex told Jerry to drive Christina back to her home.


    With what had happened, she somehow believed what Alex told her to be the truth, she moved closer and hugged Alex... Then she left.


    Alex is worried about her safety too. He hopes that she will be able to survive the uing disaster.


    Once Christina and Jerry are no longer in sight, Alex faces the 22 mercenaries who only cares about the money. He considers pirates and assassins as lowlifes in his book. What he is about to do is not going to be too difficult for him. Alex takes out the amulet of the sun from his storage ring. A ughter has been concluded that night.


    Aria has seen the scene from afar, she can see what Alex is doing and she feels troubled about it.

 Chapter 45 - The Decision

    25th December.


    Christmas Day is one of the joyous events celebrated by many people around the world, but this year it is quite different. One of the local channels airs a talk show that tries to rte Christmas day and the Doomsday. The news about the doomsday has started to give concern to many people all over the world, but it is not enough to create panic and chaos. The people who believe it and some paranoid people have already started stockpiling supplies, there are even some that took their family and move out from the big cities. Another result is that some organizations are rushing to build a mini fortress and begin on stockpiling weapons. As a result, the Christmas day this year is a lot busier than usual.


    Alex and his group took a morning flight. When the ne arrived, Alex had just enough time to have a Christmas service with his family. As for Aria and Jerry, they both returned to the main base.


    Something was bothering Alex''s mind ever since he came back. His actionsst night served it purpose, those who wanted to take his stones by force already got the message.. Alex also managed to get additional 22 sacrifices for the amulet, however, it was still not enough. If he added the people he fed to the amulet from Mexico, the amulet had an overall of 37 sacrifices. Alex tried to sense the amulet''s power and he felt that not even half of the amulet''s power had been restored. He needed more, much more.


    Here he was, sitting in a church, but thinking about where to sacrifice more people. What an irony. His mind was in conflict between what is right and what is wrong. It was pretty easy to murder the person who tried to kill you, but where else could he find more of them. Where can he get more? He could not kill innocent people for the sake of his daughter, could he?


    Innocent that''s the keyword, there is one ce he can find guilty lowlife human --- the prison.


    He put this thought on hold at the moment, his main concern right now is his family. This morning he saw his wife and two daughters, they went to church together and had lunch together. Things seemed to be normal, but he knew there was something unsettled between him and his wife. But probably not the best time to discuss it right now.


    After lunch, although Alex wanted to spend more time with his family, he left for a more pressing matter. Alex went to the police headquarters in Bali. He met with two people; Colonel Jaka, the third-ranking person of the police forces in Bali, and Major Sandi the one in charge of the Densus 88 police special forces.


    There are 15,000 police officers in Bali, but most of them are traffic and administrative officers. Half of the Indonesian police officers in Indonesia look more like a civil servant than a security officer. Many of them are overweight. Not many of these officers are reliable for Alex. However, this Colonel Jaka is one that he believes he can count on. He was rmended by General Rico.


    Although Bali can be considered a small sized city, the security is on a higher standard due to the many foreigners that live here. There were 10 squads assigned in different ces around Bali. Major Sandi is the leader of two battalions of special forces. Alex came to familiarize himself with these police officers, in the future, he will rely on them once the doomsday start. As of now, Alex doesn''t have much influence with the police because General Rico doesn''t have much authority to control any of them, unlike the Regent and the army.


    Alex briefed them about the doomsday threat and how the army had been preparing as a precaution. He told them what to expect and shared his base''s location which could act as a refugee shelter. Alex also left them a two-way radio as a way tomunicate between Alex''s base and the police headquarters which was located in Denpasar, Bali''s capital city.


    There''s one more special agenda that Alex requested as a favor, the information on all jail houses and prisoners that were held in Bali. For these small favors, they are willing to assist.


    There are six prisons in Bali, but the five of them are small or temporary jailhouses. There is only one that can be truly called a prison, the main prison is a ce called Kerobokan prison. It has a capacity of 350 prisoners, but there are 1,400 prisoners being kept in there.


    Alex went to visit the prison apanied by one of the police officers. He could easily get a tour since he was acquainted with General Rico. There were only 14 guards keeping watch on 1,400 prisoners, it''s the worst prison ever. It''s very easy to infiltrate. Alex went around checking the blocks and cell while reading the prisoners data.


    Cell Block Q, this is the one Alex came looking for, the note says that this block is the one full of prisoners with the heaviest crimes. The murderers, terrorists, and rapists. These are the world''s scum, nobody will miss them. Although seeing the data and the cell, Alex feels a little disappointed. There are only 25 of them. Alex can tell this is not enough. Alex walks to the next block second to Cell Block Q. Cell Block P, inside are robbers and drug dealers there are about 60 of them. Alex stares at their faces and their profiles. He can tell some of these people did their crimes out of a desperate situation, some of these drug dealers could probably be friends with the ck Snake Gang. Alex has mixed feelings about this.


    One of the prisoners is skinny old man who looked into Alex''s eyes. Alex can sense the regret and sadness in his eyes. Alex is hesitating, his heart is heavy... to choose between her daughter life and these strangers should be easy for him, but Alex still finds himself doubting on what he should do. Alex decided to leave the prison and return back to the hotel.


    In front of the hotel, Alex met a friendly face, Theo the Priest, one of his oldest friends. ''This guy likes to show up right in the worst moment,'' Alex thought. Alex went for tea with Theo and had a chat about conscience and death. This guy, Theo, have always been a friend he can talk to. Alex heard his friend''s counsel, but with what is at stake, it only made his mind more troubled. Alex told him about the doomsday and the base he set up. He told him whether Theo believed him or not, Alex wanted him to move to the vi in the bay city before the end of the year.


    Alex returned to the hotel room with a heavy heart. It''s alreadyte in the evening. The kids were already asleep. Alex sat down next to Tiffany and stared at her while she''s sleeping. There was no guarantee that the Amulet of the sun will work, but there is no other way he could think off other than to proceed with the ughter.


    A figure moved slowly and stood next to him. It''s Devita, his wife.. she said, "Let''s talkˇ­"


    Alex decided to be as open as possible to his wife. He told her the same information as the one in the event in Singapore. He said he had a glimpse of the future and told her the disaster that would happen in 5 days, the tragic end of Tiffany and what will follow soon after with his wife and Tiarra. Alex told her about the disease that has no cure and the amulet with its sacrifices.


    Devita took this news very seriously, she had a couple of days to think about it. When the world is in chaos, most people will always think of family... familyes first...


    Devita firmly said... "Do what you have to do to save this family."


    Alex hugged his wife and kissed her forehead. He walked away and then he left the hotel in the middle of the night.


    The air felt a bit colder that night...


    The next morning there was local breaking news about the horrifying deaths of Kerobokan prisoners. 85 bodies were found in a terrifying condition. The locals suspected a disease or virus outbreak. No evidence or witnesses can be found.


    Watching the news Devita felt uneasy but there was a slight smile that could be seen on her face.


    Alex stayed in Bay City''s vi, today, he was going to start hisst preparations for the two bases. Before leaving, Alex took out the Amulet of the Sun, a total of 122 life had been sacrificed. Alex can tell that the amulet is finally alive. It was as if the key had been inserted and it is now activated. Alex focuses his mind to open up its power, slowly the amulet turns brighter and brighter. It shines as bright as the sun and the light slowly condenses into a small shiny pill.


    Sess...


    Alex could feel that the amulet would need a few weeks before it could create another pill. This one pill will be the only chance Alex have to cure his daughter.


    Hopefully it will work...

 Chapter 46 - Christmas Present

    26th December 2019


    The Bay City has changed a lot in thest 3 weeks. Alex walked around the Bay City''s vi and the main base. There was not much he can do at this point. There were now simple walls and fences all around the city. Guard posts could be seen on the outer wall.


    The Mayor is still missing. Benny, the Mayor''s assistant, is still doing a great job handling the city''s affair in his stead. Ever since Alex announced that he was preparing a refugee shelter a few days ago along with the viral video and the media''s continued reports about the doomsday topic, the locals around the bay city were restless. The arrival of the army and the destroyer ship at the bay also increased the public''s concern. Today there''s actually a Bali local TV news reporter that came to do a coverage on this.


    Alex told all of his staff, the army, navy and all of the workers to gather in the main base at 16:00 today. He also told Hendrik to also bring the big family.. It''s time for them to finish their long holidays. He''s going to make an important announcement. Alex also invited the TV reporter to the main base.


    When Alex arrived earlier at the main base, he drove around with Tony, his construction manager, to check the progress of the base. The main priority was the high stone wall. Alex drove around the wall and he''s satisfied that the 13-kilometer wall were all done. It just needed a little bit finishing touch. If the stone wall was not done, the base could bepromised. Although the stone berms were only 70% done, Alex was not really worried about this as its main function was to be the secondary defense.


    The 200 hectaresnd clearing were done and the farmers had been seeding the fields. The irrigation path from the river was very crude and done poorly, but it can still be improved in the future.


    Inside the base, 60 warehouses were done out of the 100 goal. The big sized building for storage, indoor garden and research center were already functional. The current base has the capacity to hold 30,000 people. So it''s currently satisfactory for Alex.


    Alex saw dozens of vehicles parked inside the base. 60 trucks, 40 jeeps and the 10 APC (Armoured personnel carrier) were delivered as promised by the Regent.


    [Pindad Anoa APC]


    mass: 12.5 tonnes


    Length: 6m


    Width: 2.5 m


    Height: 2.17 m


    Crew: 3 + 10 passengers


    Main armament: 12.7mm Machine Gun, STK 40 automatic Grenadeuncher.


    secondary armament: 2x3 66mm smoke grenade


    operational range: 600km


    Speed: 90km/hour


    This are the perfect doomsday vehicles. For the vehicles to be functional once the EMP attack began, the mechanic and engineering team had to refit its engine. As a result, the max speed went down to 70km/hour. Next, Captain Donnie guided Alex into one of the warehouses and showed him the Autocannon.


    [Rh202 Twin Gun]


    20mm twin mounted autocannon


    mass: 1640 kg


    length: 5m


    barrel length: 1.8m


    width 2.3m


    height 2m


    crew 3-4


    traverse: 360


    Rate of fire: 880 rpm


    Effective firing range: 1600 m high flying targets and 2500 m ground targets.


    The Regent gave him four pieces of this canon. ''What a great Christmas present'', Alex thought. At the moment, Alex stored it in the warehouse as it still won''t be needed. Alex then went to check thest buildings in progress.


    In the Command Center, all the officers from the Navy, Army, including the cksnake leaders and his managers are there.


    "It''s almost the time. Let''s gather everyone to the open field."


    16:00


    Alex is standing on the center of the stage, behind him are Captain Donnie, Commander Tom, Benny, Doctor Andy, and Nina. There are more than 7,000 people that have gathered in front of him; 200 workers from Jakarta, 4,000 hired workers, 1,000 farmers, 100 mechanics, 100 doctors, 300 cksnake gang member, 250 death squad foxtrotpany, 80 navy marines and a few hundred of their families. There are some Bay City locals who came to help in the past few weeks. There are also Hendrik, Devita, Alex''s big families, Cindy and Theo.


    Alex walks a few steps to the front and starts his speech,


    "Thank you everyone for all your hard work in preparing this base. Some of you might already know and I am here to clear your doubts. We are building this ce as a refuge base to prepare for the doomsday. Yes, some of you might have heard it from the TV or the news. We believe the doomsday wille, therefore we are seriously preparing for it. As you can see, this ce will be the perfect ce to defend from the gue. We had prepared the walls for protection, weapons to defend ourselves, food and supplies for survival. We even haveb and medical center prepared."


    The army, navy and the gangs were already aware of this news, but the workers weren''t. Some of them were simple workers and peasants, thus they find this news hard to understand. While the ones who understood this were starting to be worried about their family back home.


    Alex continues,


    "The doomsday will start on the 31st, 5 days from now. We know most of you have families outside the base. Therefore as of today, our contract is over, all of you will get the sry as promised plus 3 times the amount as a bonus. Use it to buy yourself some supplies and prepare for the doomsday. But I am reminding you that when the doomsday starts, all those money will lose its value. For those who want to stay and continue in building the base, you are wee to stay. We will provide, food, shelter, and protection. I urge the others who are going back home to spread the news to bring your family and your friends to this base. But I am reminding you, when you are within these walls you will follow my rules."


    A momentter, Alex''s staffs start handing out the sry of the workers. Out of 5,000 workers, more or less 800 people decided to stay. Alex then continues his speech,


    "This message is also directed for all the others. For those who came from Jakarta or any other ces, we will provide you a ticket back home. I want you to think about this carefully, when the doomsday starts, it will be hard to contact your family and friends back home. Make sure you won''t regret it if you decide to stay."


    After a few hours, thest count are: 150 of his staff, 600 workers, 200 farmers, 30 mechanics, 50 doctors, 250 ck snake gang. 250 army, and 80 navies. Not one person from the army and navy left. Together with some of their families and other Bay city locals, there are now just about 2,000 people decided to stay. The workers will continue their daily tasks, the doctors will continue the research and the others will continue their training.


    Alex then gathered his family and took them to a nice dinner. Alex''s dad, his younger brother Hendrik, his older brother Jimmy, wife and 2 kids, Devita''s parents, Devita''s little sister Vily and little Brother Victor and his girlfriend. Alex''s family members with Devita totalled 14 people. Alex don''t know which of them would survive the gue. Alex slowly exined the news to them. They are currently in despair to prepare for the death of a family member in 5 days... who in their right mind could do that.


    The next morning, Alex had a chat with Devita and Hendrik. Alex asked them to take care of the family as he has 4 days left to get everything ready. As much as he wants to spend the next 4 days with them, he still has the responsibility to prepare for every person in his base.


    Alex left Jerry and Nina in charge of management and security. He expected that with the media crew and the people who left to spread the news, people will start moving into the base.


    Before he left, Cindy came to talk to him. She had talked and heard the news from the professor, she wished to stay and help Alex.


    "Don''t you have a family to look after?"


    "I have a grandfather, but he''s been missing for weeks."


    "..."


    "Is that considered normal for an American family?"


    "No.no. don''t get the wrong idea, he''s also an archeologist professor and it is normal for him to go adventuring for months. He''s quite famous though, you might know him. Dr. Henry Walton Jones?"


    "Nope, no clue." craziness runs in the family he guessed...


    "So what do you think? I could be useful, I can read the relic''s sign for you. I can also speak 8 differentnguages and I''m also not afraid of using guns... I like to be in the ce where there is action... What do you think?"


    In the end, Alex took Cindy, Theo and of course Aria with him for hisst preparation.

 Chapter 47 - Last Preperations

    Alex spent the next three days driving around meeting with local authorities, various organizations and publicmunities. He also tried to contact the names in the list of the known survivors from his previous life. He tried to convince them to prepare and invited them to the base.


    - - - - - - - - -


    The Army Base


    This would be the most important phase. There were 18 regional militarymand centers all around Indonesia. The one in Bali was the 9th Division. This division had 4 districts under its jurisdiction. The Bali ind district, and the inds on the east as the other three districts; the West Nusa Tenggara District, the East Nusa Tenggara District, and the East Timor District.


    Today, all the head of the four districts had gathered. The division led by Major General Agus and each district were represented by a colonel. The whole division controlled six infantries, one cavalry, and onebat engineer battalion. There was also the special forces, the Red Berets, stationed there. It amounted to 8,500 soldiers.


    In the meeting, the person Alex looked forward to meet the most was Captain Farel. An army intelligence officer. In Alex''s previous life, he was one of Bali''s surviving leaders. He was born in a family of soldiers but graduated from Oxford University. A genius, unfortunately, the smarter the person was, the more skeptical they were. The Regent''s introduction and Aria being present were not enough to move them. Alex must exin the doomsday in a hypothetical situation. Luckily, Captain Farel was a rational person.


    Alex requested the army to recall all non-active personnel back to their bases. He even requested for all the reserve soldiers and trainees to gather. Their presence managed to add 10,000 more soldiers. In total, there should be over 18,000 military personnel. These soldiers were divided between 4 districts. But the Bali district itself had total a little over 8,000 soldiers.


    Alex gave them the information about his base, discussed strategies and asked them to prepare a two-way radio tomunicate.


    - - - - - - - - - -


    The Governor''s Office


    Governor Agung was the leader chosen by the people of Bali. When the doomsday starts, the death of the President would end the main government of Indonesia. Alex didn''t know the fate of this governor either because in Alex''s previous life they never met. This meant that the governor either died from the disease or died very early.


    This meeting was important. The governor facilitated a meeting with the local authorities and religious leaders. There were almost 100 invitations sent out, but only 25 of them came to the meeting.


    This result was within Alex''s expectation, as it''s still in the holiday season. Mayor Rendy of Bay City was the best example. Even so, Alex still wished to see them. Alex briefed them the same information all over again. And he couldn''t help but feel as if he''s on a Writer Book Tour.


    "Doomsday Pir: Meet and Greet"...


    - - - - - - - - - -


    The Pencak St Society


    This was a martial art dojo. The biggest and the most famous base of traditional martial art in Bali. During many Bali incidents that threatened the locals e.g. the Bali bombing in 2002 and 2005. Or the prison break in 2017, the Pencak St Society was the most reliable activists on-site. Their overall members were more than 5,000 practitioners. Some of the strongest survivors in Alex''s previous life were members of this society.


    Generalizations in Pencak St technique were very difficult. The styles and movements were as diverse as the Indonesian archipgo itself. The principles behind the movement of Pencak St were self-defense and self-control. The techniques were not limited to hand-to-handbat. The practitioners also trained in the usage of sharp edged weapons e.g. dagger, saber, also spear and shield.


    Like many other martial arts, the practitioner''s level were indicated by their belt''s color. White, yellow, green and blue, were the four basic levels. When practitioners mastered the basic techniques, they received the violet belt as a sign of recognition. Completing the advanced training would receive brown and then the red belt. While the master level practitioners would receive the honorable white sash.


    In Bali''s Pencak St Society, out of 5,000 members, there were 500 red belts and only 70 white sash masters. From this masters, twenty people received the title of Guru, and only three receive the Mahaguru title.


    Today, Alex''s group was weed in the hall by the masters. Some of the Gurus also posed as the Indonesian Army trainer, thus his visit were received with open arms. It was an honor to be received by a Mahaguru.


    Alex saw a few faces that he recognized within this hall. It''s quite nostalgic. He fought together with a few of them asrades.


    Alex stood in the middle of the hall facing the Mahaguru surrounded by the many masters who sat on the floor.


    "Mahaguru Indra, My name is Alex. I came with important information, but before that, I wish to have a friendly match with one of the masters. I hope you can grant my wish."


    A guru sitting on the side said, "A brave man, but do you have the capability? Which one of us would you like to spar with?"


    Alex looked at one of the youngest looking masters in the hall sitting next to the Mahaguru then pointed at him.


    "I heard so much about master Rama''s talent, will you give me this honor?"


    The master named Rama was not surprised that he was chosen since he looked young.


    Another guru jumped in toment,


    "Hahahha. Mr. Alex, Rama may look young but he is not weak, in fact, I think he is the one with the most potential in here."


    Alex knew the guy''s name, Rama. In his previous life, Rama is a Saint fire element spirit enhancer. One of the strongest survivors in Bali. He was a very talented martial artist and received his violet belt when he was 16 and the red belt when he was 20. He then studied other martial arts skills around the world resulted in him winning an Olympic medal in st. After winning, he returned to master the White Dove techniques style of the pencak st. Received his white sash at the age of 24. Thenst year at age 25, he received the honorable title of ''Pendekar''. The brave and fierce spirit enhancer named Rama. Alex wanted him to be part of his team.


    "So will I be granted this honor?" Alex sped his hand and bowed to the Mahaguru.


    "Do you ept Rama?" the Mahaguru asked him.


    "Yes Mahaguru, I ept."


    Rama felt that this Alex was not a normal guy, as a talented spirit enhancer his perception was beyond normal.


    The fight started after they bowed to each other


    "Thank you for epting." Alex smiled at Rama.


    One.


    Two.


    Fight!


    Immediately, Rama performed his tiger stance move. It''s a defensive crouching style. Pencak St was best in terms of its defensive forms and explosive moves.


    Alex smiled, ''Atst someone worthy.'' This time, he took the initiative and attacked first.


    SHHHHH


    Alex advanced with his full speed.


    BAAAMMM!!


    Rama barely blocked Alex''s punch, he even got pushed back a few steps. All the masters in the hall were startled.


    Within Alex''s group, it was the first time Theo saw Alex''s skill and he''s astonished. Cindy was excited as always while Aria kept her cool.


    Usain Bolt, the Olympic gold medalist broke the 100-meter world record with his 9.69 seconds dash. Alex, being a high stage mortal realm, could break the record with less than 8 seconds. He could run a 10-meter distance of less than 1 second.


    Alex was surprised too because Rama managed to block his high-speed attack. He indeed was a great talent. Alex assumed that Rama had passed the limit of the medium rank mortal realm. Impressive. Such a talent at a young age.


    They exchanged moves for another 10 rounds. In the Pencak St steps techniques, the 8 directions were considered as basic techniques. Being a master, Rama managed to use and utilize it perfectly.


    After the 10 rounds of exchanges, Alex felt Rama''s moves got stronger and faster.


    Alex was surprised yet again, Rama''s White Dove techniques had already surpassed the mortal realm. As a spirit enhancer, Rama was very talented in the usage of the inner energy. The Pencak St called it Chakra. This inner energy could create powerful explosives strikes.


    Alex felt pressure with his exchanges with Rama, but in the end, Rama still lost. All the masters were surprised. They all possessed a mastery in the martial art. They could tell the moves Alex showed were beyond the limits of the human body.


    Alex then told them about the secret of his strength, about theing doomsday, and his base. On the 31st, the Bali ind will be in chaos. Alex requested the help and co-operation of the Pencak St society. They were, of course, willing to help, it''s their ind. Alex left another two-way radio for them. Unfortunately, with the current condition, there was no reason for Rama to follow him. So Alex left empty-handed.


    - - - - - - - - - -


    Three days have passed... and it''s the 30th of December. On the way to the base, Alex felt something different from the streets of Bali. It didn''t have its usual charm. Less music on the street, less party, and fewer crowds. The human minds were unique, they refused to believe in the doomsday message. But when it bes near to D-date, it disturbed their minds. This could be a good sign, Alex thought.


    Alex returned to the base after 3 days. The base poption exploded by 5 times. There are now more people staying on the base than before the announcement. The team was hard at work separating the neers. There was nothing much Alex can do at the moment than allocate them all in some of the warehouses. These sudden increase of people was a good sign that his message had epted by the locals. But it also could bring a problem.


    Not the time to worry about it, this will be thest day. Alex spent the remaining peaceful hours by having a quality time with his family. The tension in the air made it hard, but as usual, Hendrik could always light up the mood.


    Another day passed.


    And the D-day finally came. Even with all the nning and preparation, deep down Alex was afraid. No one could ever be prepared for this.

 Chapter 48 - Its Nonsense

    Jakarta 31 December. 11.00


    South City Mall, one of the crowdest mall in south Jakarta. Daisy a 19 years old girl, currently enjoying her usual Hot green teatte while waiting for her college friends at Starbuck.


    Suddenly a sudden touch to her shoulder...


    "Sorry girl, we took so long..."


    "Sorry sorry, the traffic is kinda weird today" .


    "Yes Daisy we''re not lying there are surprisingly many police on the street today"


    "..."


    This is Daisy three college friend, They have been friends for a few years, Rahel the drama queen is in the theater major, she already ys in a few small-budget local films, Sally took the business major and Melissa follows her, parents major in politics. While Daisy took major in Art. These four girls are the Jakarta college four beauties.


    .


    "You''ll forgive us right girl... you are always nice...


    .


    Daisy just smiles and nodded,pare to her friend she''s actually a little different, she''s a simple girl. Jakarta college is one of the best school in Jakarta, most of the students came from a rich family. Daisy, she''s an orphan, her mother died when she was little and her father follows three years ago. Her parents left her some heritance who currently being managed by her aunt. Daisy is one of the special students who got epted in the college with a special schrship. She''s a talented artist.


    .


    "Anyway on the way we met Adam and his friends, I invited them here... he said he will join us"


    .


    "Waaa Adam will be joining us, hows my hair" Rahel started her dramatic routine.


    .


    A few minutester Adam came with his two friends, Jason and Keane. Adam is what these girls thought as the ideal boyfriend. He''s handsome and smart. He is the student council president and the basketball ball team captain. His two basketball buddies Jason is a tall bulky guy, for his age, he looks like a person on steroids. Keane is much shorter, he is a very talkative guy.


    Keane "Hi girls, there are four of you and three of us but don''t worry this Keane can handle two girls at once" Adam''s hand grab Keane head down... "Please excuse him, he''s always like that" Adam not only handsome he''s also a gentleman.


    There are now seven people on the group, they moved to the mall balcony corner. Rahel took a sit closer to Adam. She really likes him and not afraid to show it. But daisy somehow feels this Adam has been secretly staring at her.


    "So what do you boys have n for this new year eve?"


    "We the basketball team suppose to gather tonight but many of our friends suddenly cancel"


    "Is it that doomsday topic again?"


    "Yes some of their parents are very protective I guess"


    "I thought it was expected to start today... but I guess its just all nonsense"


    "..."


    "Look!! the sky is weird today.."


    "Don''t be such a drama... its probably just raining stor....."


    "..."


    The clear blue sky and white cloud that was there just a moment ago suddenly turn into thick dark clouds. it seems moving like a smoke gas and spread out fast covering the sky. A few secondster a lightning storm can be seen inside the dark clouds. It''s a bolt of blue lightning. It didn''t strike down, but it swimming around on the cloud.


    .


    Thunderous sound repeatedly heard on the horizon, it gave a chill to everyone hearing it. The wind blows really strong... the group needs to hold on to something to keep their feet steady.


    .


    "It''s weird.. the wind is blowing towards the storm"


    Suddenly the wind and the thunder stops...


    .


    CRRRAACCK!!!


    "..."


    BRAAAKKKK!!!


    .


    "..."


    The group and everyone on the balconies walking up and seeing the scenes outside. There are multiple car crashes can be seen. There is one car that got flip over by the bus and crash into the bustop.. there are some passerby got hit and thrown away.... it was chaos outside... Not long after the mall light goes out. before anyone trying to say anything about it. A horrible thing happen..


    .


    TTTTSSSSSS.


    "..."


    .


    Up in the sky an airne swirly fall from the sky and drop to the mall on the opposite side of the streets.


    .


    Adam screams "Everyoney down!!!"


    .


    .


    KKAAABBOOOOOOO!!!!!!


    .


    the sses around the cafe breaks, Daisy wake up from the floor with a ringing sound on her ear.. The crash and explosion was less than 100 meter from her and the group. A figure help her up, it was Adam, but she cants think anything at the moment other than seeing back to the scene outside of the balconies.


    .


    .


    It was such a horror. Wreckages and fire... most people on the opposite balconies were crashed... Daisy can see the body of a person hanging on the balconies. Scream and cries everywhere. The group are shocked and terrified. The design of the mall are identical between two opposite balconies, make it seems like a mirror and horrific thought came to their mind...


    "My phone is off let me see yours!!"


    "Mine too.."


    Adam walks to the cafe counter and asks for thendline phone... it''s also off. even his watch is off.


    "..."


    "Is this really happening?" Melissa said what''s in everyone mind at the moment... everyone starts to rte to the doomsday video, the timing is urate. Sally start crying thinking about it...


    Adam intervene "Don''t panic, nothing is sure, this could probably be a terrorist attack. An EMP attack can be developed by many countries these days."


    Adam manages to relief some of the group despair... but the situation really is upsetting. Daisy walks closer to Sally and hugged her...


    Many people rushed out to the street. people worried things would get worst, it''s natural to think of going back home..


    Daisy speaks up.."What should we do now?" everyone looks up to Adam. He thinks for a while and said. "A terrorist attack or Doomsday, either way, this ce is too open.. it''s not safe. We need to find a safer ce first... whose home is the closest?"


    .


    The closest house is Rahel''s, but its a few blocks away.


    "Ok, we will go to my ce then". Adam said.. its an apartment just a block away... what do you think?"


    Most of them want to go home but its probably not a good idea as its too far and the street are in chaos at the moment. Everyone then agrees to go to Adam''s apartment.


    "we are uncertain how long this disaster wouldst, as we are currently in the mall. It''s probably a good idea to get some supplies first. and we need to hurry... many would think the same"


    Led by Adam, the group ran to the first floor and to the supermarkets. They each grab a big backpack and start filling it up with foods and drink. Just to be sure Adam and the boys went to the hardware store and took some tools; Hammer, Knife, and axes.


    Not long after the supermarket suddenly bes crowded. "Time to go"


    Daisy said "wait we should leave some money in the counter"


    "...:"


    Three men, four women with backpack walk out of the supermarket and start carefully walk to the apartment. It''s one kilometer away from the mall.. but the journey seems much longer than that. The group saw some corpses inside a car with no one to help and people running around the street.


    Finally, the group reaches the apartment lobby, There are some people rushing out of the apartment with big bags.. there are no securities around. the group walks up to the stairs.


    "It''s the 8th floor, look at the bright side.. it will be unfortunate if it is the 18th floor" Adam try to make jokes to lighten up the mood, but none of them in the mood for jokes. only Daisy smiling at him knowing his intention.


    They finally reach the apartment. it''s pretty big two bedroom apartment... the group resting in the living room, they are a lot calmer at the moment.


    "So Adam, I never know you have an apartment here?" Rahel asked


    "Yes this one belongs to my dad"


    "Never heard of you speak about your dad"


    "Yes my mom and dad divorced a while back, my dad actually just gave me this key a few days ago."


    "This photo is your dad? that uniform... is he a cop?"


    "Yes he''s a high-rank police officer"


    "That''s good probably your dad wille and help us"


    "I doubt it"


    "..."


    "Your eyes...!!"


    "Keane your eyes turn red..." the group altogether seen it. Keane''s eyes are bloody red...


    Keane walks up the corner.. seeing a mirror he bes panics. "I am fine. I am fine... nothing wrong !!...don''t look at me like that!!..."


    Suddenly Keane turns smiling... "Hahaha... Hey, Sally, yours is also the same"

 Chapter 49 - Red Eyes

    Seeing their friends eyes turn red, everyone turn panic again... Melissa screamed


    "Go away from me!!! don''t get any closer!!" Melissa actually pushing Sally away, they have been friend for a few years, but fears is a very powerful thing, it could turn even family against one another.


    Jason also took a step back, he unconsciously drew the hammer he took from the hardware store...


    These people all have watched the doomsday video. From the EMP attacks that did happen, out of fear they already 99% convinced that the doomsday really hase. The next is the disease that could turn human into zombies....


    Keane saw the hammer that Jason pull, he also quickly pull out his knife. The situation bes even crazier.


    "Stop all of you... Calm Down!!" Adam screamed and stand in the middle between Keane and Jason. Daisy walk closer to Sally, her faces turn pale, she''s terrified.


    "Do you feel any pain at all?" Daisy asked. Sally shook her head, it seems only the eyes turn red, no pain at all, probably just side effect of the storms.


    "This is a unique situation, we should help each other, not fighting between ourselves" Adam always was a natural leader.


    Melissa answered "We all watched the doomsday video, this is definitely the disease told, we should stop it before it turns and attacks us"


    Daisy said "Stop it, Melissa, we don''t know that, this is Sally, she''s our friend, you boys also better stop right now"


    Adam continues, "We are pretty safe in here, but I think we should go find help for Sally and Keane, what do you think...? The St John hospital is only two blocks from here"


    Keane definitely agrees with this idea, Sally looking at Daisy not sure what to do... "Yes it''s a good idea, don''t worry I will apany you"


    Melissa respond "Anything to keep them away... the further the better, but I am noting... Its chaos out there, anything could happen... Jason, Rahel what about you two? Jason decided to stay, while Rahel after a few thought she also doesn''t want to go, although she feels safer to be with Adam, she''s just too afraid to go out.


    Daisy, Adam, Sally and Keane four of them took a few stuff and walk out of the door. This time they pack light so they move faster. They cautiously walked out of the apartment.


    .


    ."HELP...HELP.. help me something wrong with my girl, her eyes you see? what''s happening"


    .


    The same scene can be seen all around the city.. the street is filled with abandoned cars. People running around the street.. its a real chaos.


    Jakarta is the capital and thergest city in Indonesia. Located on the northwest coast of the world''s most populous ind Java, it is the center of economics, culture, and politics of Indonesia, with a poption of 10,075,310 within the are of only 661 square kilometers. That''s a density of 15000 people within one square kilometer. Combine with the 4 districts around the city, its total poption reach more than 30 million people. Its world secondrgest urban agglomeration after Tokyo.


    Even with people staying indoor in each of their houses and apartment, the streets are filled with oceans of people.


    Along the way, while running to the hospital, The group felt unsettle. and the reason was shown when they reach the hospital. Thousands of men, women, and children are currently screaming outside of the hospital. All needed help. The group can see almost all the people in these crowds have their eyes turn red.


    The security and police are overwhelmed, Not only that there are too many people, all of these people are agitated and crazed by fear.


    "Please sir, I am already here first, please take a look at my mother, she''s unwell"


    "My boy, help my boy!!!"


    "There''s really no more room if you all can please calm down.. we will try to help as many as possible"


    "No!! No!! please let me in"


    BRACKKKK!!


    One of the police officers was assaulted and his gun was taken by a man with red eyes.


    BANG!! BANG!!


    He shoots a warning shot to the air and screams "Let me in Let me in..!! I have a family waiting back home... I can''t wait anymore"


    The crowds start to spread out... the situation turns to worst, In Indonesia guns are very rare so people are not used to seeing someone threatening with the gun... Even the police are hesitating.


    "Please calm down.. do not shoot"


    Things suddenly turn from bad to crazy bad, a group of men rushing to the hospitals holding weapons and a few of them holding guns...


    BANG!!!


    The panic red eye guy holding the gun got his head blown by the shot.


    "The doomsday ising !! you people with red eyes will only endanger the rest of us. pick up your weapon and kill as many of them as you can!!


    One of the dozen men with weapon threw a bottle to a group of woman who was sitting on the side.


    "CRAAKKK"


    "..."


    It was a homemade molotov cocktail. it burns the women and the other around her.


    "AAAAAARRRGGGGG!!!"


    People stunned seeing these scenes. It didn''t stop there... this group of men starts stabbing and shooting people with red eyes...


    "Kill them!! Kill them!!"


    People screaming and Yelling.. the crowds suddenly run away from the hospital...


    Adam and the group from the other corner saw these scenes in panic. "We won''t get any help in here, we should go back," Adam said, but Daisy scream.. " somebody needs to help those poor people.. there are only a dozen of them why is no one helping?"


    Adam grabs daisy arm and looks into her eyes. "Daisy, look at Sally, she''s shaking... we should go back now.. and find another way to help"


    When they are about to leave, Keane actually going crazy he took his knife rushed into one of the attackers...


    "Keane Donttt!!"


    Keane is the point guard of the basketball team, he''s athletic and moves really fast... in a few second within all the chaos, he manages to run behind one of the attackers and stab him in the back.


    There is a satisfaction can be seen in his face... its such a relief from all the stress for him. He finds the thrill addicting. he rushed to another guy... this is the guy with a gun.


    ten meter


    five meter


    The guy unexpectedly turns around and saw him...


    "..." This guy looks as panicked as he is... they both stunned...with five-meter distance, between a knife and a gun is no mathematics. Keane suddenly regretting his rushed decision.


    BAMMM!!!


    Adam manages to tackle the guy, to the ground. Keanes react fast and took the gun from the floor. it''s now the other way around... many eyes are currently watching Keane holding a gun...


    "NO body moves!! Don''te any closer!!. Keane watch the guy on the floor.. starring at him


    "You are a piece of shit.. these people.. how could you hurt this people..." Keanes seems to have some psychotic breakdown...


    Daisy and Sally also came closer... "Keane don''t do this..."


    "Don''t you all see what he did? this guy deserves to die.."


    BANG!


    BANG!


    two shots and the guy on the ground died... There are some of the attackers heard the shot and approaching...


    "Adam, bring them back... leave me alone"


    Keane then running away from the scenes with the gun... there is nothing Adam can do at the moment they also hurriedly run back to the apartment.


    .


    KNOCK KNOCK.. Open up!!


    .


    "Is that you Adam?" "Anyone else with you?"


    "Goddammit Melissa Open the door"


    .


    Adam Daisy and Sally walk up inside...


    .


    "Where is Keane?" Jason ask


    .


    "He''s probably head out home"


    Melissa relief hearing that... looking at Sally, "What about her? what do you n to do with her?"


    "We will do nothing this is my house she can stay here with us"


    Melissa disagree "This is about all our safety, I think we should vote, Jason, Rahel what you think?"


    Daisy really annoyed with Melissa right now, but then suddenly she saw something wrong with Sally...


    "..." "Sally!!"


    Sally passed out and fall to the floor... Rahel also screamed... "What happened!!"


    Adam move closer to Sally, "she just passed out, she really burning up", Adam took her to one of the bedrooms... Melissa disagrees, but she really can''t object...


    Adam and Daisy take a turn to look after Sally, but there''s really nothing they can do... a few hourster...


    "No breath and no pulse, I am sorry.... she''s already dead"


    Daisy cried looking at this, Rahel also cried at the back... Melissa has some mixed feelings but her fear took over...


    "We should burn her body or throw it outside the apartment"


    Daisy scream "Stop it, Melissa, don''t you have any decency, this is our friend, she just died...


    Adam give it some thought and said, "Daisy, we will try to find proper funeralter, but just in case I will tie her arms and legs... is that ok? I will be very gentle with her body" Daisy can''t stand it... she walks out of the room. The group left Sally tied body in the room and gather outside in the living room.


    They can''t tell the time but it should be almost midnight... The group is currently very quiet... Adam has a lot going on his head a the moment "if the doomsday message is true, We really are in real trouble... if only I listen to my father"

 Chapter 50 - Dead Rises

    There is an empty bedroom but the group decided to just sleep in the living room. Adam told them to sleep but its really hard considering what did happen today, and what will be waiting tomorrow... The morning sun has risen, The girls did get about two hours sleep...


    PRANG!!


    "..."


    Loud sound can be heard from the unit upstairs, everyone awake in shock.... The sound could be heard moving towards the balcony...


    "HELP!!...NO..NO..AARGGH"


    The group just about to move to the balcony when a human body fall down from the top. It hits their balcony and continues to fall... blood can be seen on the balcony railing


    "..."


    "AAAAAAAAA.!!!"


    Rahel was screaming in shocked, Jason and Adam pick up their weapon and walk slowly to the balcony... nothing can be seen upstairs. As the person who fell from 9th floor.. seen unmoving on the ground... probably dead. Adam slowly closed the balcony door...


    .


    The five of them looking at each other... Thinking about the body inside the bedroom, their heart beat faster.


    .


    "..."


    Another loud sound can be heard in the hallway...


    "BAMM BAMM BAMM BAAMM"


    "Open up please... help me!! something happens to my dad" Its a woman voice, she''s knocking a few doors asking for help"


    "Don''t open it!!" Rahel shout.


    "We need to know what''s going on.."


    Adam gives a look at Jason, he noded. Weapons ready they slowly unlock and open up the door... This apartment is very exclusive, there are only 12 units on each floor. As there is no electricity, the hallway is pretty dark. There is only one window in each end. The woman currently knocking the unit three doors down. When Adam was about to call her, the unit that the woman knocks actually not locked... she opens the door.


    "..."


    "AAAARRGGGHHH"


    A figure jumped at her.. two more figures follows.. three of those things swarming over her... Blood ssh out everywhere... The scene is really shocking to Adam and Jason... They were stunned... one of those things turn and facing them.. it moves closer step by step. Its a pale looking man with blood spill out of his eyes and all over his mouth... A walking corpse, a zombie.


    These days there are lots of movies depicting a zombie, but looking at the screen and facing a real one are two different things. The gore and smell are suffocating.


    Seeing only one of the thing approach, Adam muster up the courage to pick up the axe


    "Watch my back and watch the door"


    Adam advance closer and swing the axe to the zombie head.


    "SLABBB"


    The swing was not strong enough to cut off its head, but it seems to get the job done. The undead sways over and falls to the ground. Adam pulls out the axe and swings it one more time to be sure


    "SLABBB"


    This time the swing severed the head. The zombie no longer moved. The other two zombies still enjoying their breakfast at the moment... Adam turns around and saw Jason.


    "Jason behind you!!"


    Jason was staring at the scene, he didn''t realize another one of the undead already behind him. There is another door open at the back. Probably this zombie is the woman''s dad.


    Jason was a little bit panicked, he wasn''t prepared, he got pushed down by the zombie. He struggled to break free from the zombie on top of him. The zombie actually has some strength. Adam was trying to run back when suddenly...


    "STAABBBB"


    The zombie was stabbed by a knife in the head. Blood sshes at Jason''s face. The zombie stop moving... It was Daisy, she came out and help.


    Thest two zombies just finish their feast and walk closer to Adam. Jason woke up, he noded to thanks Daisy and stand behind Adam. The zombie moves weren''t as slow and rigid as in the movies but it still slower than most living human. Adam and Jason work together. Jason smashes one of the zombies with a hammer. When it drops Adam swing the axe to the head. Jason then tackles the next one and push it to the wall. Hold its neck so it can''t bite. Adam took Jason hammer and hit its head.


    Adam and Jason walk around and check the unit that was open. just to make sure there is no zombie left. Afterward, Adam screamed, "We have cleared the hallway.. is there anyone else in this floor?"


    .


    .


    no answered...


    Either there are none left alive or they are too afraid toe out. Adam and Jason head Back to the unit.


    Melissa and Rahel both are still tense. Jason still has blood on his faces. There are some seen in Adam clothes as well. They are now 100% sure the doomsday video is true... before they want to n on anything they need to take care of Sally''s body inside the bedroom. Although Adam, Jason, and Daisy already have experience killing a zombie, its a different matter to kill strangers and someone they knew. Rahel and Melissa don''t want to do it. In the end, again Adam stepping up for the task. Daisy actually volunteers to help him...


    They went inside the room and as expected Sally corpse currently crawling, scratching and bitting the bedroom floor. Adam put a clean bed cover on top of her... took a deep breath and stab the head with a knife. He then covers a second clean sheet to cover the body. He decided to just leave the body in this room at the moment. After what happened, even after thoroughly clean up the room, no one will be willing to use this room again.


    "..."


    Noise can be heard outside, they went out of the room and find Melissa drawing a knife facing Jason...


    "What happened?"


    "Adam. Look at Jason''s shoulder!!"


    After washing up his face and changing his clothes, the group can see a bite mark in between Jason neck and shoulder.


    "Yes, I didn''t know I got a bit... until just now... "


    "Let me see that" Daisy move over and trying to see the bite marks, she then put on some alcohol and make a simple dressing patch to cover it.


    "The doomsday video never says anything about being turn into one with a bitemark...that''s just something we know from the movies. we should wait and see... this could be nothing"


    .


    Looking outside the balcony, they can see fire and smoke all around the city. There are gunshots and explosion. They start seeing some of the zombies on the streets and people running away from them... There are more zombies than humans can be seen on the streets. Things turn to the worst.


    .


    "So what should we do now?" the group not sure what to do they are in conflict.


    .


    .


    "Because of the doomsday message, hopefully, the government have prepared some countermeasure... first option n A, is to wait it out...we have enough supplies tost a few weeks if we ration well..."


    "the second option n B, is probably what''s been in all our mind since yesterday... we could go search for our family, we could start with the one closest... Rahel home?"


    .


    Melissa jumps in and says "I vote to just wait it out... there are probably thousands of those things on the street it''s too dangerous"


    .


    Adam thought for a while and ask the group to follow him to the other bedroom. He walks to one of the wardrobes, there''s actually a secretpartment.. inside there are three pieces of GLOCK pistols, six magazines and two pieces ofbat knife.


    <GLOCK 19>


    Catridges : 9mm


    Rate of fire : 1,100 - 1,200 RPM


    Effective firing range : 50 m


    Magazines Bullets : 15


    "What do you think? feel a bit safer now? these are my father spares.


    "Your father has 3 spares hanging around... who''s your father again?"


    "I told you already he'' a high ranking police officer"


    I will hold one, my father thought me how to shoot before. Anyone here has any shooting experience?


    .


    .


    Jason said, "just some experience in game..." Adam responds "that will do, anyone else?" Rahel doesn''t want it, so it''s between Melissa and Daisy. They both knew at a time like this, a gun could be the difference between life and death.


    Melissa hurriedly said, "give one to me, I need one."... Daisy doesn''t want to fight for it but then Jason said "you can have mine Daisy, I think I''m better at using a hammer and thisbat knife. Jason smile at Daisy, she saves his life today... he ns to return the favors.


    Adam continues "Although we have this gun, I suggest to stay here for a few more days. This apartment is a good shelter it will be hard for a zombie toe up here. We see the situation for a few more days if nothing change then we move, what do you think?"


    "Agreed, n A it is then"

 Chapter 51 - Run And Run

    The group cant just stands around do nothing. Adam teaches Melissa and Daisy on how to use a gun. The group tries to salvage and collect any item that could be useful from three apartments that''s already open. The EMP destroy all electronics but it didn''t destroy batteries, it wasn''t hard to make shlight to work. The group also collect ropes, sleeping bags, some medicines, and clean clothes. Adam also came up with the idea to make a long-range weapon. The group made a dozen pikes out of sharpening steel pipes and wood sticks taken from disassembling furniture. They alsobine the pipes with knives and created spears. This spears will be useful as it will be easier to fight zombies from a safer distance. The day feels so long, The broken watch makes it feel even longer. While waiting, the group asionally saw the view outside the balcony. Sometimes they can hear sound from the unit downstairs, but they really don''t think it''s wise to check it out at the moment


    Finally, the night came. Its been almost 12 hours since Jason was bitten, and his wound looks ordinary. No sign of red eyes, fever or any disease either.. This makes the group feel much relief. The zombies bite that cant spread disease, that makes things much simpler. This time Adam manage to convince all three girls to sleep on the empty bedroom while Jason and Adam will take turns to guard in the living room.


    D-Day +2 at 4:00 AM


    Adam currently on his guard shift. He sat on the floor next to the balcony. A figure came to sit next to him.. its Daisy. She just quietly sit there staring at the city outside the balcony. Its very dark outside but she can subtly hear several screams in her mind. Its probably just the fear clouded her mind...


    Daisy makes a subtle sound... she sang a song...


    ***


    The night was dangerously dark


    As if a gloomy secret gracefully kept


    The time was still, I was in total amnesia


    What I was doing? Who I was?


    My head was swirling, I saw spiders.


    Nothing was clear, the ce was full of smog


    I heard the voice of a little girl


    Scary cry, fearful face covered with loam


    Surrounding the ce were beastly creatures


    All creatures enclosed me, I gave a shout


    But nobody there...


    ***


    It was a beautiful poem, she is an artist after all. When Daisy finished her poem, tears fell from her eyes... Adam moves closer and gives her a hug. She hugs him back... a momentter their eyes met... and they kissed... Both of them in each other embrace for one full hour.


    .


    .


    The sun was about to rise when suddenly they saw a bright light from the unit downstairs...


    "..."


    "something is wrong"


    Adam went to the balcony and there he saw fire covering the unit downstairs... a man shout can be heard


    "BURNT...BURNT... BURN IT ALL...HAHHAHAHA"


    "..."


    Its theughter of a crazed person...the fire spread really fast it already reach the unit next to it. It will only take minutes until the fire reaches their unit.


    "Daisy, wake everyone up"


    Adam took as many of the prepared tools inside the bags, it took only a few seconds and everyone also start packing...


    "It seems n A need to cut short. Bring only the most essential we need to pack lights.. we are going for n B"


    five people. All wear backpacks. Adam brings an Axe, and a few pikes on his backs. Jason with knives and Hammer. and all three girls holding a spear each.


    "The fire might attract many zombies to gather to this apartment we must move swiftly, do not use the gun unless it''s really necessary, as it might attract more of them. Let''s move"


    Eight floors down.. on his way down. Adam saw at least half a dozen man thinking of the same thing. they saw each other but decided this is not the best time to chat. The 2 groups reached the first floor but they saw at least more than 2 dozen zombies at the lobby.


    The back door might be a good option, but it probably also full of these zombies, time is at the essence. It seems the other group also have a simr thought...


    "Attack!! girls stay close behind us stab with your spear when you see an opening"


    Adam quickly jumps to the first zombie and swing with his ax.. while Jason tackles and push the 2 others with his big body. when the 2 zombies down. Daisy stabs one of the zombie''s head while Melissa and Rahel muster up their courage and both stab the second zombie. Three zombies down in less than 3 seconds... The other group has 5 men and 2 women. It seems they also had their share of fights with zombies before. A dozen zombies down in less than one minute. The groups manage to break out of the lobby to the outside...


    "..."


    As Adam thought, a few hundred zombies have gathered outside the apartment. They were attracted by the fire and light...


    The two groups currently still stick together and quickly make an opening to one side of the building.. and finally, they manage to get out of the encirclement. They are now at least one hundred meters away from the apartment entrance. Adam saw there is a third group just reach the lobby and was just about to walk outside... but they are already toote... they can''t get out. hundreds of zombies already in front of them. Adam group and the other group can only hear the scream and terror. It brings a chill to them...if only they are just a minutete.


    Adams and the group cannot rx. A few dozen of the zombies currently chasing them


    Although zombies are slower, if they are not careful, they can get surrounded and meet their demise.


    "RUN RUN... Keep Running" after 15 minutes of running finally the two group manage to outrun the zombie without casualty.


    "Hi I am Rick, most of use from 3rd and 4th floor.


    "I am Adam, these are my college friend I lived on the 8th"


    "I see, we are heading to a school building on 21st street, I heard many survivors gather there, its only 3 blocks from here do you want to join us?"


    Adam gives it a thought and saw Rahel and said, "we probably will go there, but we have one more stop to go first."


    The group heading to Rahel house, They are passing through many zombies on the way, some they kill but mostly they just dodge and run. With the zombie move slower than a normal human, as long as they don''t stop, surrounded or stuck into a corner, the group will be fine. After a tiresome 30 minutes run, hack, sh, and dodge, the group reaches Rahel house.


    It was a big house. The problem is there are still zombies behind them. "Rahel you have at most 5 minutes, make it quick... Daisy and Mellissa go with her, be careful, me and Jason will try to hold and distract them.


    "Mommm... Dad..."


    They went around the house swiftly and finally inside the master bedroom they found them.


    "...."


    It was a horrific scene.. on top of the bed there are corpses of Rahel father, mother, and little brother. it seems the father kills his wife and son then kill himself. It was a stab to the head and then hemits suicide the same way.


    "Father... Mother..... Brother... " Rahel'' cried


    A momentter Adam get inside the master bedroom... they are almost inside... we can''t stay much longer... Rahel still on the bedside crying.


    Daisy said"Let''s go Rahel we gotta go now"


    Rahel seems to lose all her spirit and cannot move.


    "Just leave her here..." Melissa is panic now


    Suddenly Jason walk inside the room


    "They already inside the house we are toote.."


    "..."


    "Dammit... Barred the door check the window"


    "There''s too many of them we should clear up all the one outside the door first"


    "BANG BANG BANG BANG"


    Adam used the gun and Daisy follow


    "BANG BANG BANG BANG"


    "Now closed and barred the door.." Jason moved the wardrobe and drop it in front of the door


    "This won''t hold them long.. those gunshots would only draw more of them too"


    Adam quickly open one of the windows, tied and throw the rope down. there aren''t many zombies at the back of the house. suddenly...


    GRRROOAAAARR!!!


    The group suddenly stunned... there is something different walking on the hallway outside this room.


    BAAAMMM!! the door and the wardrobe shakes.


    "This is not good... Melissa, Daisy go down now..."


    BAAAMMM!! the wardrobe and the door blown open. Before sliding down the rope Daisy manage to get a glimpse of what monster came through the front door...


    Its a zombie but unlike the others, this one body full of muscles make the skin reddish in color. It''s about 2 meters tall. Its teeth and finger sharps like a ferocious animal.


    GRRROAAAARRRR!!!


    Adam quickly draw the gun an shoot the monster,


    BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG


    five shot, three missed. one hit its shoulder thest one suppose to be a head shot but the monster manage to cover it with his hand.. and the bullet pierce its hand instead... It''s fast.


    The monster saw three targets and it jumped to the weakest... Rahel didn''t even saw iting.. she was tackled down and bitten... her head roll off the floor...


    Adam and Jason were shocked!!, a few zombies already stepping inside the room


    "BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG..." four zombies down. Jason jumps to the redskin zombies he threw a spear and thrust the zombie body...


    STABBBB.. it was a decent stab, it''s a direct hit but seems to create almost no pain to the red skin zombie. Jason continues he aims to smash the hammer into the monster head. But the monster took his arm instead and break it like breaking a toothpick.


    "ARGGGHHHH"


    Seeing the situation, Adam took another two shots at the monsters. BANG BANG and that''s it... Two more hit its chest. The monster seems to be in pain, but it still manages to advance forward.


    "..."


    "CLICK, CLICK... Adam took 15 shots today, his magazine is empty. it will take a few seconds to change the magazine.


    "FUC***"


    It approaches Adam, but suddenly


    "BANG BANG.. the monster head Blows, It was Daisy, she decided to give a hand, and manage to get a lucky shot...


    "Let''s go hurry up" Daisy saw Rahel headless body on the floor and Jason broken arm, she decided to cover fire, while Adam helps Jason down the rope.


    BANG BANG BANG a few more shot to any zombies that walk through the door. Before she jumps out the window she saw a shiny crystal within the monster brain. Daisy took it and hurriedly follow the other.


    "Let''s go find Rick and other survivors"

 Chapter 52 - No Hope

    There are now only four left in the group. But they really have no room to be in despair right now. They have been in constant running. There are just too many of these zombies. Ten million people in Jakarta city, how many of them have now turned into zombies? And what about the red skin one? The thought really scares them up. None able to survive that redskin zombie. Not without a gun, although maybe the use of gun itself that draws the red skin monster.


    After another 30 minutes of running, the group finally reached their destination. They were weed by the group of survivors who guarding the gate. Two dozens of strong man can be seen using des, knives, and homemade spears. They are not just protecting the gate they also constantly patrolling around the perimeter to kill and thin up the surrounding zombies. The person who wees them name Keith and he''s currently showing them the schoolpound ande to meet the person in charge.


    It''s a prestigious school building, the reason survivor choosing it because it has a 2 meters thick wall all around the buildings.. There are 3 gates The Green Gate, Fish gate and the Courtyard gate. The school itself is a 3 storey buildings, so it gives good views of its surroundings. Next to the school is a zaplex, the survivors have managed to move most of the useful items and supplies to this school.


    The group met the survivor''s leader her name is Lea she was the headmaster of this school. The meeting is quite simple. There were few simple questions about each identity and the headmaster like to know the situation outside to gather more information. Adam told her about the redskin zombie. The headmaster finds this information disturbing. Hearing this, she decided to move and equip the survivor with a gun in all three separate gates.


    In total there are more than 200 survivors, most of them are adult, most likely not many children manage to survive the first few days. Fortunately, there is a doctor among them. Jason was taken to the medical center ced in the schoolb. The other three walking around thepound to try to find someone they knew or maybe some information about them. Melissa particrly trying to find information about the government, her mom is one of the government cab members. But they didn''t find any, there are just too few survivors. In the evening Jason returned with a splint made of cardboard in his arm, it seems it would take at least 2 weeks for his arm to recover.


    All the survivor was given the freedom to choose between the hall or the ssrooms and set up their own sleeping arrangement. Luckily the group has sleeping bags ready, so they are quitefortable. Finally, after all the running and fighting they are able to get some rest. Before sleeping, Daisy has a discussion with the group, she showed the crystal stone she found from the red skin zombie. Everyone excited about seeing the stones. This is the spirit stone mention in the doomsday video. This stone supposes to give power to the one who consumes it. Daisy offering it to Adam. He gave it a thought but decided to refuse, he thought this stone would give much survival chance for Daisy. "It''s your kill you take it.." Daisy can understand Adam''s intent and decide it to consume it. Melissa was really jealous, but she has no right to ask for it. After a few minutes, Daisy felt changes in her body, she can feel all the muscle around her body contracted, and the warm essence running through her veins and slowly turns cool, she felt a surge of energy within, Daisy thinks she can now see and feel her surroundings better.


    .


    D Day +3


    .


    Most survivors have a responsibility to take a turn as guards patrol or join in the supply run group. It appears half a dozen guard diedst night and one supply run group didn''t make it back as scheduled. Therefore this morning everyone needs to participate in a role. The guard position should be less threatening as there are many survivors around. Almost all survivor choose guard duty, so as to be fair Adam join the supply run, Daisy force herself in following Adam, he disagrees at first but considering she ate one of the stone she probably will be fine. Jason and Melissa stay as guards.


    The supply runs are a 10 men group, mostly travel very light with empty backpacks and expected to return full. Their aim other than food or medicine, it''s also finding other survivor or gather information. Information gathering is the most crucial at the moment. Yesterday three supply group were dispatched, and only two returned. Today another three were dispatched. Unfortunately, the group Adam''s in was given the same route with the yesterday missing group. Adam found a familiar face within this group Its Rick, the apartment survivor. it''s good to have someone familiar near you when facing a dangerous situation.


    The group manage to fill up their bags, met several survivors and bring them back. Although they didn''t find any clues on the missing group, this run can be considered a sessful one. Daisy part within the group was such a surprise, weirdly she seems to know which building to enter and which one shouldn''t. She''s probably the reason they are having such a sessful run today.


    "She''s your girlfriend bro?" Rick ask "If not please introduced her to me"


    "..."


    When the sun about to set the group finally arrived back to the school. But they were wee with shocking scenes. The school was surrounded by hundreds of zombies. From the distance, they can see the guards are in troubled. Not everyone on the group willing to rush into the zombie wave.


    Only 6 of them dare to do it. Adam, Daisy, Rick, and three others. The rests decided to stay in one of the near-empty building with the survivor they found. To walk past hundred of zombies, the trick is to rush in a straight line and don''t get left behind, within just a few minutes the group manage to get inside thepound. Right at the same time, they were ordered to close the gate and move to the inner building.


    The windows of the first building were all barred. The four entries were guarded. hopefully smaller entry point will make the ce easier to defend. The group separated to see each their friends and family. Adam, Daisy, and Rick met the headmaster to ask for the update.


    "You guys came back, none of the other back, either they died or they already abandon this ce looking at the current situation"


    "What happened here, headmaster?" Adam asked


    "The zombie came non stop since morning... one of the red ones did came and break one of the gates, we had to use guns. We manage to kill it but a dozen of us died with it. Since then the wave of zombie never stop. 30 more of us died since. Many have not returned, there are just about 100 of us left. 30 are elderly and children. How long do you think we can hold on till? we can''t just rush out as well, we will only condemn those elder and children to die. There is no Hope"


    A guy ran to the group. "headmaster, the left entrance got overwhelmed, we can''t hold it anymore, what should we do..?"


    Daisy said firmly "There is always hope. Don''t give up, we will take over that entrance"


    Adam, Daisy, and Rick ran to the left entrance.. it was full of corpses... only three people left guarding that entrance. Jason is within them... Three of them jumped in and help, With six people, the defense could hold. Two in the front, two in the back and thest two as back up to fill the opening when needed. They also can rotate the role when one is tired.


    "Where is Melissa?" Adam asked


    "I''m not sure she''s been missing for a while now... Jason said


    A few minutester. "Something bad ising," Daisy said... Adam and Rick believe her and suddenly worried...


    "GROOAARRR!!"


    "Its that thing again, move back a few steps, let it in, prepare the pikes"


    "The red zombie rushed in... it has the speed of middle-rank mortal realm. it can outrun almost any normal human."


    "Now!! Pull up the pikes!!"


    it''s such a narrow entrance and the red zombie although have intelligence it was driven by its savage nature. it jumps into the pikes.


    BAAAMMMM!!


    Three of the pikes bent by the zombie strike, only two of them got stuck in its chest. but its movement has slowed down by a lot. Daisy draws her gun and jumps in, with such speed and decisiveness..


    "BANG... BANG..."


    Two close-range shot to the head. its head was blown apart. Daisy walks closer and finds what she looking for, another spirit stone. She threw it to Adam. "Eat it now... we gonna need it."


    All five eyes looking at Daisy puzzled in amazement.


    .


    .


    A figure run closer to the group its Melissa and Keith, a few other walking behind them.


    "Thank god you guys alright.. we have been watching from the third floor it''s amazing you guys can finish it in such a short time," Melissa said. The other entrance won''t hold as well, we need to regroup on the second floor, and wait it out in front of the two stair.. the zombie move slower in stairs.. let''s go"


    Melissa has always been the smartest, her decision since day one actually has always been right, its the attitude that some people might have trouble with.


    100 survivor pushed back to the second floor. 30 elderly and children another 20 injured. Thest 50 survivors who can still fight were separated to guard two stairs. they manage to hold out for a few hours. But now their strength was almost depleted. This is it. the bullet also almost empty.


    "GRRROAARRRR"


    From the second floor, they can see not one but three of this monster approaching.


    "WTF!!!"


    "People eyes starring at the headmaster and the groups of elderly and children"


    "We will NOT leave them behind. I will hold this ce or die trying!!" headmaster shouts her resolution.


    "the survivor''s spirit was lifted" Although deep down they know maybe in the next hour, none of them will be left alive.


    .


    .


    But suddenly miracles happened


    "BRATATATATATAT"


    shes and machine gun sound can be heard from outside...


    "BRATATATATATAT"


    The cavalry hase. its the Indonesian Army, in less than 10 minutes the zombie inside thepound was secured.


    A few soldiers and a high-rank officer walk up to the second floor.


    "Who''s in charge here?"


    "I am," Headmaster Lia said


    "We will bring every survivor to safety.. we need to be quick... bring your most important supplies and travel light. we will go in 10 minutes. it will be a long march"


    "Who am I speaking here?"


    Another officer walked up the stair and said "I am General Rico"


    A general, the group were amazed, one person actually more shocked than others. its Adam...


    The general realized Adam staring at him.. he smiles and said.. "good you''re alive"


    Adam answered "Yes father"

 Chapter 53 - Commander In Chief

    General Rico, he''s the most famous general in Indonesia. Thanks to his sessful missions in eradicating terrorist cells and bases thest few weeks. A few days before the Doomsday start, he got his second-star medal by the president, he is now an Inspector General. Within the police department, only two other people has the same rank as him. Although he never cares for medals, the increase in rank gives him more ess, especially for preparing the doomsday.


    .


    Ten days ago he left Singapore with a lot of responsibility on his shoulder. Alex didn''t expect much from him, just save as many survivors as possible from west java and send them to the central java Doomsday Pir within three months. This is a very difficult task, The whole west java and Jakartabined, that''s over 60 million people. 10 times bigger than Bali. With more people means more responsibility and more chaos that came with it.


    ..


    To save as many as possible he needs as much help he can find. The police department in Jakarta totaled 9000 police officer, half of them are traffic officer and another 1000 plus are administration officer. Only 3500 men can be considered as the fighting force. As for the police special forces Densus 88, there are 10 toons in Jakarta area plus 6 toons all over West Java. That''s about 500 men. These numbers are far from enough to help him secure 60 million people.


    .


    The key is the military. Luckily with the support of the Regent Suryo, General Rico got support from the head of 1st division army named Major General Zaki. The 1st Division control 5 districts, 10 infantry battalion, and 6 support battalion. There are also 5pany of red barret special forces. That''s 17000 soldiers. Combine with the reserve soldier, the trainee and military police. The number reached 30.000 soldiers.


    .


    The n was to gather as many of these fighting forces as possible without neglecting their current duties and without raising suspicion to the government. So a cover story was made. ''An end-of-year national security convention''. Under such short notice only 22000 soldiers and 3000 police able to attend.


    .


    The two generals have been preparing a temporary base for the people of Jakarta and its surrounding. The main trouble before they can start evacuating people is to make sure the chain ofmand would stand after the gue.


    .


    <DDay>


    .


    17000 of these soldiers and almost 2000 police officers got their eyes turned red. Even General Zaki also caught the disease. General Rico can''t believe that thousands of these nation defenders would perish without a fight. He separated the two groups put them in a confinement and had to watch one by one all the 19000 perish. The convention bes a mass grave to the soldiers. This incident creates bitterness and changed him. The death of Major General Zaki made him the highest ranking officer. He took overmand helped by three army colonels and one colonel from the police department.


    Dday +1


    The generals rearrange the divisions of 6000 fighting force into 5 battalions each led by 4 colonels and himself. one battalion consists of 5pany each around 200 men. The general also formed groups of special toon; 4 police special forces toon and 8 red barret toon. each with around 50 men. The battalion starts its first day with basic formation training, as its a newly formed battalion. While the 12 independent special forces toon can start moving and rescuing VIP. That day it was confirmed that the president and vice didn''t survive the gue. New leadership needs to be formed, unlike other countries, Indonesia doesn''t have a sessor line, so the leadership currently control by the military. Unofficially General Rico be the temporarymander-in-chief.


    .


    <Dday +2>


    .


    Total of 25pany, 10pany defending and reinforcing the base. The other 15pany took a tour around the city collecting survivor. Until the third day, thepany that led by captain Joko and the general himself reach the school that Adam''s was in.


    Both father and son met, its fate. But there seems to be a barrier between them. The general always has the country and his men on the top priority. That''s how his wife divorces him and took his son Adam away. They normally only met once a year during the Lebaran holiday. During thest ten days, the General has tried to contact Adam''s mom, but she has been rejecting his call; he reaches out to Adam as well, but he never believes his story. When the doomsday start, again the general choose the country before his family.


    The headmaster, send all the survivor to pack up. The General want to have a private talk with his son, Adam grabs Daisy''s arm not letting her go, it appears he wanted Daisy to know more about his life. The general find this situation interesting, finally, his son has someone he''s close with.


    "Any news about mom?"


    Adam starts with the hard question, actually his mom was one of the VIP the general ask to pick up...


    "I''m sorry son, she''s gone"


    .


    The news was difficult for Adam but in a situation such as this, it''s to be expected.


    "Can you guarantee that by following you my friend will be safe?"


    The general startle by this question, it really appears his son doesn''t trust him, he then looks at Daisy, He smiles... his son apparently has a caring personality.


    "Yes I promise, there will be nowhere else safer," the general firmly respond.


    "Ok then I will put my life and my friend''s life in your care"


    Adam took Daisy and went over to his group, pack up their stuff and follow the army convoy.


    Apparently, the school was not their first stop. There are 250 soldiers in the convoy fully armed. They are protecting almost 700 citizens. Added with the survivor from the school there are over one thousand people within this convoy.


    Facing a fully armed convoy, the zombie doesn''t stand a chance. asionally they only need to be careful with the red skin zombie. But a prepared full armed squad can easily kill one with a decent tactic. The general surely will not forget to collect the spirit stone. Sadly, the spirit stones did not always drop. The walks took 5 hours and the convoy finally reached its destination. The ce the general chose for the convent and Jakarta survivor base.


    The National sports arena ''Gelora Bung Karno''.


    It''s strategically ced in the center of Jakarta. Wall and steel fence can be seen surrounded the whole 173 hectaresnd area. There are eight ser size fields, four halls, one convention hall, three-sport stadium and one of the biggest stadium in Indonesia the Bung Karno stadium. Name after Indonesian first president. It can seat for up to 80.000 spectators. This national sports arena was the home for The 2018 Asian games.


    There are eight entrance gates, each being guarded by one armypany of 200 men. Eachpany will in charge of their own shift and patrol. Two policepany guard inside to ensure public security and safety. There were already thousands of survivors inside thepound. Every hour new survivor reached to this ce. This ce has be the base of defense for the Jakarta survivors.


    .


    <DDay +4>


    <Jakarta Base>


    Area: 173 hectares


    Survivor total poption: 26.657


    Leader: Inspector General Rico


    Defense Team:


    4 army battalion: 4112


    1 police batallion: 1068


    8 army special forces: 397


    4 police special forces: 213


    .


    The general reached the centralmand center. There are few intelligence officers, military colonels, and a dozen cab members.


    "So let me see what n have you guys came up with?"


    "We have prepared more convoy n for the outer area of Jakarta, As for defense, we have installed sniper towers and machine gun turrets in all eight posts. We also received confirmation about the cargo sent by the Randalls at the port. The vehicles and supplies should arriveter today. When ites, we can set up a better survival base. The military has prepared a basicbat training for all able-bodied citizen on the main stadium. within a few days, we expect the first batch of five thousand militia should be ready."


    "That''s Great, what about the spirit stones? how many haves we collect?"


    One colonel bring out a bag full of spirit stones there are at least a dozen of them


    "Ok this is a great start"


    The general then touches a ring on his finger, the bag suddenly disappear, and a red zombie corpse shows up,


    "bring the scientist to research on this monster, find out what makes them different or if there is any weakness in their physiology."


    This is a storage ring, the general got it from professor John in Singapore, considering theing threat, the professor thought the general needed it more than him.


    .


    "Everything seems to go as nned, I wonder how Alex did in Bali"

 Chapter 54 - Doomsday Restart

    Alex''s daughter, Tiffany didn''t survive the disease... Wife and second daughter, Tiarra also died right before his eyes. His friends, hisrades, all perished!


    It''s only a dream!" he told himself again.


    This has always been Alex''s nightmare. Today, the doomsday will restart, it will all begin again from here.


    31st December. Doomsday.


    . .


    10:00


    Alex gathered everyone in the field. There are more than 10.000 people. Every hour more people flow in to seek shelter at this base. Alex starts addressing the crowd.


    "Today is the day. The people who stay in this base are the ones who believe that the doomsday WILLe. You all know what to expect. This will be a difficult day for all of us... within a few hours, the gue will start. My message to all of you is to use the time remaining wisely. I remind you to NOT make any trouble. For the safety of thismunity, any offense will be handled seriously. If you are not willing to abide by thismunity rule, you are free to leave. The medical center has prepared one thousand hazmat suits. I personally think it will not work. Me and my family, we won''t need it. However, if you''d like to try, you can pick a lottery chance for the suit. The medical team will also do their best to make things easier for those who caught the diseaseter on. Fear not... life is a journey everyone has a part in it."


    Alex assigns Aria and Jerry in charge of security as he trusts them both and he knew they won''t be infected by the disease. They will also be able to control the soldier and the gangs. Alex''s order was simple, give freedom to everyone, whilst keeping the peace in themunity. It is a sensitive time, people tend to do stupid things. Everything will be settled by nightfall.


    After Alex give out the announcement, he returned to his family. His wife, two daughters Tiffany and Tiarra, the brothers, Hendrik & Jimmy, his father, Devita''s parents, sister Vili and brother Victor. They gathered for family lunch, which would be theirst meal together.


    The sky suddenly changed, the wind, the thunder, and the blue lighting. However, these things don''t bother Alex. His main concern was immediately shifted towards Tiffany!


    Alex took his Devita and the girls to a private room. Half an hourter, just like in his previous life Tiffany''s eyes turned red...


    "Daddy, What happened daddy? why are you looking at me like that?"


    Devita''s heart beats faster... it seems that everything Alex said wasing true. Alex waited a few more minutes to make sure both Devita and Tiarra weren''t affected by the disease.


    .


    .


    It seems that everything is the same as in his previous life, it''s not random or even contagious. There are just people who were born immune while others are not. Alex currently is looking at Devita''s eyes waiting for a confirmation.


    "Do it!" she said.


    Alex took out the shiny pill from his storage ring. It''s the pill created by the Amulet of the Sun.


    Alex''s heart races, there is one thing that is still on his mind. This pill was made from a medium grade unique artifact. She might not be strong enough to consume it. As a resolve, before the pill, Alex gave one of the spirit stone to Tiffany. After she swallowed the spirit stone, Alex can immediately sense a surge of energy flowing into her.


    Alex then gave her the shiny pill.


    .


    .


    Suddenly her temperature spikes, her body was burning up. Alex can tell the pill was still too strong for her. Without much thinking, he gave her 5 more spirit stones. They somehow were able to cool her body down, then she passed out.


    The effect of the stone would not be visible until after a few hours. Alex left Tiffany to rest. He decided to check the condition of his other family members. He can''t help but feeling anxious...


    .


    Together Alex and Devita walk out of the room. The air was thick.


    .


    They found Devita''s sister Vili, sobbing uncontrobly,


    both her mom and Dad''s eyes have turn red...


    Her brother Victor and girlfriend were also infected.


    Devita can no longer hold back her tears.


    Alex then saw on the other side of the room.


    His Father


    His brothers, Jimmy...


    Even Hendrik...


    "..."


    Alex felt gutted. Both his father and brothers.. god really is cruel!


    "AAARRGGGGHHHH"


    What''s the point of all this reincarnation? What''s the point with all the preparations...


    Even Jimmy''s family, not even one were spared...


    They were all in despair...


    Jimmy said, "What does all this mean?" He knows the answer, Alex already told him in detail before, but fear and hopelessness turn all logic to denial... he just wanted to hear a confirmation.


    "I am sorry brother...., you got infected, I''m afraid you only have a few hours left. I am so sorry"


    Hendrik: "I don''t care about me, but what about father... is there really no other way?"


    Alex just shakes his head, he can''t tell them about the pill... he only has one anyway.. what good would tell them about the pill do right now?!


    Alex walks closer to his father, he drops down to his knees in front of him... "Father forgive this useless son of yours..." Alex cried thinking about what his father has done for him all of those years.


    "Don''t worry about me, doomsday or not, my life won''tst much longer, What about my granddaughters?"


    "They are fine father.."


    "That''s good, just do what you have to do.. don''t mind us you have a lot of responsibility right now."


    Alex walks out of the ce... it is currently raining hard in Bali. 10.000 people in this base facing the same situation. The wailing and crying currently being overcast by the pouring rain.


    Cindy and Theo walk towards him.. they seem fine. Alex let out a slight sigh of relief... He then instructs Theo to hold a service in one of the empty warehouses, Cindy will help spread the news.


    Alex walked to the barracks. The army, the gang and the navy were all there. Jerry and Aria stood with them. The ones who weren''t affected by the disease were already out to secure public safety. The rest are the ones who were affected by the disease.


    Commander Tom the captain of the destroyer. There were 38 navies who got affected.


    .


    Jacko and Vicky, ck snake gang leaders and 152 of the gang members.


    .


    Lieutenant Harris, Mike, Budi, Sergeant Mayhem and 121 Deathsquad soldiers.


    .


    Surprisingly most of this soldier seems to be able to ept the situation. They have gone through many life and death situations before. The gang felt depressed but they were always the world outcast, they don''t have much expectation for the future. There are a total of 311 men in this room out of the 580. Considering 80% is the average of people contracting disease in his previous life, this number seems very fortunate. Probably there is a connection between people who had pushed their body and mind to the limit with their immunity to the disease. Although less got affected, each of these men is a fighter... for them to die by a disease is suffocating. Alex gives a final salute to all of these men.


    .


    It is upsetting...


    .


    Next, Alex went to check on his workers. Everywhere all the same.. more red eyes, Eka his project manager... Rina his HR psychologist, someone whose skill he really needed in such predicament ...they too...


    "..."


    .


    It''s Nina...


    His most trusted manager and friend...


    .


    "No.., not you too Nina" Alex has known her for a long time... he has gotten really dependant upon her.


    .


    Tears streaming down her face..."I really don''t want to die, I still want to help you some more.. there''s so much to do...,"


    Alex tried to console her.. a momentter she seems to force herself up.


    "I should hand over all the data to someone else..." with a forced smile she said. "You''ve been a good friend Alex, take care.." with thosest words she walks away...


    .


    To Alex, it felt like he just lost another part of his life.


    .


    Alex drops by to theb. Doctor Andi was also infected. As expected, the hazmat suit didn''t work. Doctor Rachel was busy handing out sedatives to help relieve the pain, many people need it.


    .


    .


    Alex returns to his daughter to check on her condition... Devita sat by her bedside... Apparently, the situation is still not getting better.. either the pill was too strong for her tiny frame or the disease was affecting it, her physique simply could not keep up... The thought crossed his mind, perhaps it was because she''s too young.. had he given the pill to someone else, his brother or father, would it actually work..? But looking at his daughter lying there motionless, he knew he can''t live with himself if he didn''t take the chance and let her die for the second time...


    When Tiffany finally came to, she wasn''t well, her body was weak. The disease has progressed into its final state.


    "Daddy you''re here?" "I am sorry I''m sick daddy.."


    "don''t worry about me daddy"


    .


    These words crush Alex''s heart to pieces.


    He didn''t think much and scrambled out all of his remaining spirit stones. There are only 11 left. He made Devita take one and give thest 10 to Tiffany. By now Tiffany took a total of 16 stones. It is the maximum that a human can take to reach the peak of the mortal realm. Not to mention she''s only 12 years old, he can''t imagine what side effect would 16 spirit stone do to her body, Alex really can''t think anymore, at least at the moment her body has stabilized. She hung on through the critical phase of the disease. Although Alex is anxious to see the effect of thest 10 stones, it would need at least 12 hours. There is nothing else Alex can do but to sit and wait.


    The rain finally stopped. "It''s time!"


    Everyone who got the disease were on theirst hour, they are mostly already incapacitated. Alex says his farewell to each of them...


    In the next hour, everyone worked together to move the bodies into arge pit that was already prepared outside the base. A simple service was held and then the bodies were burnt together. The me raised ten meters high. It was a crude funeral, but time is of the essence. Only 2872 of the ten thousand people survived.


    The families, The fighters, The workers...


    "There is no time to mourn the lost, the operation needs to start now!"

 Chapter 55 - Dusk Till Dawn

    D-day 12:00


    Simultaneously all over the world, the EMP has stopped every activity. There was no electricity, no transportation, and no telmunication. During the first hour of shock and panic, most people resolved to either stay and hold out in their own home or still stranded and looking for a way home and their loved ones.


    13:00


    The disease spreads and panic escted. People went around looking for help. Some decided to loot supplies and equipments from the local stores. What''s left of the police on duty were overwhelmed by the sudden outbreaks and riots. Driven by fear and despair there were violence everywhere, more and more people are getting hurt.


    18:00


    The people affected by the disease started to perish one by one. 8 out of 10 people.. Worldwide, billions of people die almost simultaneously. People start to loose their mind, there were suicides everywhere. People are bing hopeless.


    20:00


    The city has cked out. Yet there''s light, shining brightly,ing from one particr area in Bali.


    <Bali Base>


    Area: 115 hectares


    Survivors: 2872


    Leader: Alex


    Defense Teams consist of:


    Deathsquad: 136


    Navy: 56


    cksnake: 102


    Looking at the number of survivors, 6 units quickly formed.


    Alpha Unit: Lieutenant Aria


    Bravo Unit: Lieutenant Rangga


    Charlie Unit: Lieutenant Russel


    Delta Unit: Captain Donny


    Echo Unit: Lt Commander Karra


    Foxtrot Unit: Jerry


    The first three units are special forces with a maximum of 50 men each. Alpha and Bravo were branches of the Deathsquad. While Charlie was formed by the Navy Frogmandos. These will be the independent units, they will be assigned with special missions and were given more authority to follow and investigate leads.


    Delta, Echo, and Foxtrot units are abination of Deathsquad, Navy, cksnake, and hundreds of quickly drafted able-body man with fighting experiences. In such a short time each of these units numbered 200 men. With at least 10 Deathsquad and 30 ck Snakes as squad leaders each. They were all equipped with edge weapons and some handheld firearms.


    At the moment, 750 men were prepared for a mission called ''Operation Dusk till Dawn''. The main target is to evacuate as many survivors as possible and properly dispose of the diseased bodies by burning or blow to the brain. There is only 8-9 hours window until the zombies start waking up and devour everyone in their path.


    5 million people live in Bali. 3 million are located in the South section it''s the most densely popted. The rest 2 million were spread out all over the West, South, East and Central sections. The Base and the Bay city located in the East section. Alex gathered all of the Unit leaders and all the key person in themand center.


    "We all have lost close friends and family today, but we MUST act fast, or even more will die, and the future will be threatened! I have exined the strategy and arrangement for our first operation. But before that, now that the doomsday really happened, I need all of you to hear me out. I have been fortunate with a glimpse of knowledge of the future. I n to use this knowledge for one goal ''The survival of humanity''! Therefore, I now solemnly pledge myself to lead thismunity until I die or until we find someone better. If any of you here today think that you can be a better leader than me, please step up and make your argument right now!"


    Alex is Jerry''s savior, he owes him his life, he fully supports Alex to lead. Captain Donny, Lieutenant Rangga has seen Alex performance before, their leader Regent Suryo also gives them the order to support him, so they will do just that.


    Lieutenant Aria, has even reason to follow him; he''s stronger than her, he''s trustworthyˇ­ in her mind, at least. Besides.. she promised him!


    Ltmander Karra and Lieutenant Russel, has seen Alex''s abilities, but the one who truly follows the Regent''s orders was the deceased Commander Tom. In their mind they understand that this doomsday disaster was not a simple matter, although this guy is seemingly an ordinary civilian, his nning and strategy were seamlessly urate. He also knows much about what''s toe...They conclude, as long as they are not tasked to do something against their belief, they WILL submit to Alex''s authorities.


    The chain ofmand was settled at that moment. It is time to start the operation. Each unit was given long-range two-way radios with 35-40miles (50kilometers) range. it won''t be enough to cover the whole ind, but using the main base as a centralmunication hub, t will be sufficient. Jeeps, trucks and APV vehicles were divided tactically.


    Delta Unit, led by captain Donny and assisted by Bayu, were given the task to defend the main base. These 200 men will be separated into ten squads. Four squads will be guarding the four gates. Another four will go patrol the five-kilometer surroundings to invite locals to the base and to burn bodies. The other two squads will be in reserve, while also in charge of training the new militia. Captain Donnie is the best person for the job.


    The security of the base will be assigned to Captain Donnie. The surrounding wall patrols to Bayu. Administratively, due to the loss of many workers including Rina and Nina, a small council were formed to manage the base. They are:


    Theo, Tony, Doctor Rachel, Jane the botanist and Devita.


    Devita will take care of Nina job and Theo will take Rina''s... Tony still the head of construction, Doctor Rachel overseer of the medical department and Jane will be in charge of the garden and farms. They will temporarily decide on the day to day tasks while Alex is away. While Alex''s daughters are under the care of their aunt, Vili.


    Echo unit led by Ltmander Karra and Charlie unit by lieutenant Russel will go directly to Bay city. They will be paired up with the group prepared by Benny the Bay city Mayor''s assistant. Their collective task is to secure the Bay city and all of the East Bali section. They will also start to recruit and training sailors to operate the ships.


    Foxtrot Unit led by Jerry and Bravo unit by Rangga will directly sweep the North section of Bali. As Jerry and many of his cksnake were based in the North, he''s well acquainted with many of the locals.


    Alex will go to the most crowded South section with Aria''s Alpha unit. The n is to meet up with the army and the police force in the main city of Bali. Denpasar. Cindy came along with him.


    Alex and Aria''s unit took 5 jeeps and 3 APV with them. The road is too dark, they are the only vehicles moving with lights on. Many of the local survivors staring at them. But because of the intimidating frame of the APVs, no one dares to approach. Many yelling for help, but there was nothing Alex can do for them right now. The soldier announced repeatedly through the loudspeaker, instructing them to move to Bay city for safety.


    The journey from the main base to Denpasar took two hours. They passed through a few viges before finally reaching the city of Denpasar. It is the main city located on the northern side of the ind. It''s a crowded city, but still nothingpared to the southern site. Alex destination was clear: The NgurahRai ser field. ced next to the Bali police headquarters.


    22:00


    The convoy halted, Alex with 50 of the Alpha unit came out into the field. There stand 600 men, upright and ready. Alex recognizes the man standing before him, it''s Colonel Jaka of the Bali Police Department.


    "It''s great that you are well Colonel, but where are the rest of the troops?" Alex gets right to the point.


    .


    .


    "It''s very upsetting. Truth to be told, this is all the officers we can gather during this crisis. The rest, either died from the disease or upied with personal reasons."


    "What about Major Sandi''s Densus 88 team?" Alex asked


    "They are on the way to evacuate the Governor to safety."


    "600 officers... It''s simply not enough.. we won''t be able to cover even one-tenth of the city by morning," Alex said. "Is there still no news from the Army?"


    "None! Major General Agus can''t be contacted."


    Alex was kinda depressed with the news. If the army didn''te, there will be NO hope for this city. This could turn out even worse than his previous life.."


    .


    .


    "Let''s wait for a few more minutes"...

 Chapter 56 - Execute The Plan

    22:30


    The night feels much colder than usual, It''s darker, but it''s definitely not quiet. Almost every household get one or more of their family member infected. To make things worse, light andmunication were down. Many were helpless. It''s only been a few hours since the catastrophe began.


    <Main Base>


    There wasn''t much change in the main base other than more refugeesing in... Many people all over Bali have heard the news, when the EMP strike, some already start rushing for shelter. Captain Donny is in charge of the base security, he and Bayu make sure all the people who came in will not create trouble.


    While Devita quickly dives into work, keeping her mind upied, it helps.. She recruits dozen of people, mostly Alex previous staff to help administer the refugees. Each was weed with a simple interview, filing out forms, receive a simple identity card and assigned to their warehouse and bed number. Many of these people came in despair, Theo works together with Doctor Rachel''s team to give them some treatments; physically and/or mentally. That was everything that they could offer at this stage. More will be provided in due time.


    <North Section>


    There is a total of 250.000 people living in the North section. Almost everyone stays near the shore. There is only one main road that spans as long as 150 kilometers extending from the east, all the way from the North section to the West section. Bravo team led by lieutenant Rangga and Jerry leads the Foxtrot team, together they sweep all the viges and the surrounding residential areas in a counterclockwise movement. It''s a very straightforward mission, racing against time.


    One of the main challenges is to treat each civilian as delicately as possible. As all the viges and small cities are still in mourning with the death of their family and friends. Coming in strong with burning torches will definitely only provoke more mess. The military APV and jeeps make the locals anxious, but it also makes it easier to speak with them. The strategy is to first meet with the local leader or elder, inform and offer help with disposing of the bodies. Afterward, inform them about the main base and also recruit more people to help with the sweeping. With a bigger number, they will be able to achieve the mission''s target faster. Even driving straight 150 kilometers would take 2 hours, the convoy only has 8 hours to cover dozens of viges, every second count!


    <East Section>


    As for Echo unit Lt Commander Karra and Charlie unit Lieutenant Russel, it might seem like they''ve drawn the lucky straw. Their mission was to secure the Bay city and the whole East section. Which seems easy as it is the section closest to the main base and most of the locals are already aware of their existence. But given the timeframe, it will not be that easy, With only eight hours window to secure the 2nd most densely popted section in Bali. The Bay City itself will be the transit hub for refugees before entering the main base. Therefore, failure is not an option.


    The East section''s poption is a little over 800.000 people. Only a quarter of that of the South. But it''s not to be taken lightly. The Bay city itself only has 10.000 people at most. Within the East section, there are 3 main clusters that need to be secured.


    Antiga city: 50.000 people, North side of Bay City, Located between the Bay city and the main Base.


    Semarapura city: 150.000 people, West side of Bay city on the main road to the South Bali.


    Amarapura city: 350.000 people, the biggest city on the far east.


    Charlie and Echo Units convoy arrived in the Bay city. They bring APV and lots of trucks. As this will be the transit hub, many of the truck will be ced here to travel back and forth, sending people to the main base. The city was in the dark, none of the vehicles working, the arrival of the convoy became the center attention. Ltmander Karra was weed by Benny, the mayor''s assistant.


    The Bay city''s chief of Police, Roby, along with almost all of the active policemen have sumbed to the disease. Though Benny only has around a dozen policeman helping him, it seems that the situation in the Bay City is well under control. He managed to convince the locals to work together. In this area, only a little over 3000 locals survived. When the Units came, they have just finished a funeral service and about to burn all the bodies.


    With the help of Benny, the units managed to recruit 500 volunteers. After careful consideration, it is apparent that Benny has a knack with people, Lt Commander Karra decides to involve him into the n. She gave him one of the two-way radio. Benny and his volunteers will go to the smaller city of Antiga and all the little viges in the North while Lt Commander Karra will go directly to the second biggest city of Semarapura. Charlie special forces will stay in Bay city on stand by to support the group that might be in trouble.


    <South Section>


    At the same moment across the ind, Alex is still waiting in the ser field. There are 600 policemen and 50 special forces in front of him waiting for an order. The army is currently 30 minuteste, and their two-way radio is unresponsive. 650 people are simply too few to handle 3 million people in less than 8 hours. Yet he''s not ready topromise the grand n, he wants to save as many people as possible. He just can''t wait any longer. He needed to execute the n this very minute...


    .


    Suddenly..


    .


    "..."


    Hundreds of people running closer toward the field, with white headbands tied around their heads. Alex recognizes the leader at the front... it''s Rama, the pencak st master. So these people are all members of the Pencak St society, almost 1000 of them.


    "Rama, you came!"


    "Yes Mr. Alex, I bring almost all of the surviving member of the pencak st society, ready for your order. Were you not anticipating our arrival?"


    "Yes yes, of course, I did, I just didn''t expect so many of you toe."


    "I assure you, Mr. Alex, my fellow disciples also take part in their share of grief earlier today, but we KNOW our presence here will crucial for the future of our city."


    "Thank you, Master Rama, you came right when we needed you the most!"


    Alex needs to do some adjustment with his n, but with their help, things will be much smoother. Most Indonesians don''t fully trust the police force, although in crucial times like these they needed thew enforcement to help them feel secure, it''s not the same with this Pencak st society. They are the local idols and most importantly they are also regr civilians like them. This pencak st society disciples could do a much better job at persuading the locals to be involved.


    The n was to let them multiply. A total of 1500 men, police and martial artistbined, were then divided into 50 groups of 30 men. Each group was given a zone area all around Denpasar city. They are encouraged to recruit more people to help dispose of dead bodies. With a specific method of either burning or blow to the head. Alex was sure they will not be able to finish their task in eight hours, so he decided to equip them now with some edges weapons, and remind them when the dawnes, they need to start moving and evacuate people to the North side of the city.


    Alex clearly understands that even this is still far from enough. He then took the Alpha squad to the Army base, to check on what exactly happened to the Army since they lost contact. It''s half an hour drive to the hill in the North side of Denpasar. There were around 8000 Army soldiers, and even after the disease, there should still be one or two thousand soldiers who would survive the gue. To not receive any news from them just doesn''t make any sense! Unless...

 Chapter 57 - Last Duty

    Alex and the Alpha Unit went to the Military base, to be safe, the vehicles were parked one kilometer away. Thest information Alex got, the military did manage to gather their soldier from all over Bali to this base. There should be Major General Agus, a colonel, Captain Farell, and around 8000 soldiers.


    In Alex previous life, he had never encountered Major Agus. It was Captain Farell from the Military intelligence who managed to lead the Bali military personnel. This is one of the ces he used as a survivor base until the doomsday pir came.


    Alex thought even if General Agus got infected by the disease, Captain Farell or one of the colonels should be able to resumemand. Alex was hoping all he has done didn''t create a negative butterfly effect.. Bracing himself for what actually went down in this base, to the army and especially captain Farell.


    The base is situated up on the hill. Although it''s only 30 minutes away from the city of Denpasar, it''s quite isted with forest surrounding thepound. The base was well protected by steel fences and watchtowers. There are many barracks and a few hangars to store military vehicles.


    In high alertness, Alex waits by the units with the vehicles. Aria then returned with the scout''s team.


    "So what did you see?"


    "There are only a few guards around thepound.. it''s too quiet."


    "Ok all of you stay here for now," Alex said.


    "Where are you going?" Aria''s worried


    "Just wait"


    In just less than 5 minutes, Alex returned carrying an unconscious soldier around his shoulder. With his speed and stealth, Alex was able to move quickly undetected, disarming the guard was child''s y. They p him into consciousness and interrogated him. Once he understood that they were fellow soldiers, he gave up information willingly.


    Apparently, when the disease broke out, there was chaos within the rank. The one who got infected were greater in number, so they forcefully locked up those uninfected.


    "All the infected should be dead by now, then what happened to General Agus and Captain Farell? Did they not survive the disease?" Alex asked.


    "Both of them did, it was actually the General who ordered the lockup for all the uninfected. Captain Farell got locked up in one of the hangars with hundreds of other soldiers. Some of the uninfected who help the General were his closest subordinates."


    Alex somehow was relieved upon hearing this. Although the situation isplicated, at least the uninfected soldiers are alive. Before confronting the General, he should first check on the captured soldiers.


    There are 5 squads of 10 men between the Alpha unit. Alex brought Aria and two squads with him. Cindy requested to be involved in the mission... her eagerness baffled Alex. What''s up with American girls, can''t they see the situation is highly dangerous? Alex declined and instructed her to stay.


    .


    When Aria overheard, there was definitely a slightly smug smile on her face.


    .


    The group finds no trouble gaining entry into one of the hangar. These are all death squad special forces. They were swift and silent. Plus, with Alex in the lead, none of the guards saw himing. He''s too fast. A few unconscious guardster, Alex and the group made their way in.


    There are over 1000 soldiers who got locked up, they seem down in spirit. The arrival of Alex and the group startles them. Alex found Captain Farell among them.


    "What happened here, Captain?"


    "Mr. Alex, so good to finally see you here. we have gathered as nned. But when the infected started to show symptoms, the General held back the order to iste them. The situation then esctes, but the General decides to lock us up instead."


    "Aria, you release the others first. Captain, youe with me to meet with the General!"


    .


    "..."


    Suddenly, a group of armed soldiers rushed into the hangars. They must be the Red barret army special forces... there are about 60 of them. The situation became tense.. 20 Death squad against 60 Red Barretts, with hundreds of soldier still tied up in between them. Should a shoot out starts it will be chaotic, many lives will fall.


    .


    "Hold your fire!!" Alex said.


    .


    "That''s wise Mr. Alex. I am Captain Adnan,mander of this Red barret unit, we''ve met previously in the meeting.


    .


    .


    "Captain Adnan... let me see the General."


    "Let mee too," Captain Farell said.


    .


    "With one condition, ask your men to stand down and drop their weapons."


    .


    Alex looked at Aria and gave her an affirmative nod... She''s concerned.


    .


    "Don''t worry, I can tell it''s not within the General''s intention to have any blood spilled between us."


    Alex, Aria and Farell, all three of them went to see the General. Captain Adnan lead them to another hangar.


    "..."


    This hangar filled with bodies of soldiers who sumbed to the disease. All 6000+ bodies, each body were covered with white sheets and ced neatly in rows on the ground. The view was heartbreaking. Major General Agus, the highest rank soldier in Bali, the leader of the 9th Division was standing in one corner of the hangar, staring into the bodies.


    .


    "Greetings General,"


    Alex always shows courtesy to old generals, after all, they''ve abdicated their lives to defend the country.


    .


    "Mr. Alex you are here, atst, I apologize if I ruined your n"


    .


    "What happened here, General?"


    .


    The General thought for a while and slowly answered...


    "When my friend Suryo told me about you and this doomsday, I was highly skeptical. But as a friend, I gave him the benefit of the doubt and listened anyway. Though I never really believed anything he said. When the storm rolled in and the disease spreads, I was struck with the truth. I was here, standing in front of my men when I suddenly see thousands of eyes staring back at me turned red as blood!"


    "It knew what wille next and the risk of not following through with the n, but I really can''t make the order and just give up on these men."


    .


    .


    "You are a parent, Mr. Alex?" The General continues


    "Yes general, I am."


    .


    "All of these men were like my children. Since they first join the army, they came here, slept here, ate here, trained here.. they practically grew up here."


    The General point at one of the body, "That one... his parent died since he was young, when he got married I was his guardian". The general point to another body "That one... his mother would send me rice cakes every day and ask me to take good care of her son." This one here, "Colonel Relly.... he is more like a brother to me than my own brother. We have been friends for 30 years!"


    .


    "..."


    "Answer me this Mr. Alex, are you 100 percent SURE that all these bodies will turn into the undeadˇ­? Can you 100 percent guarantee that there is no cure? Do youpletely believe that between these 6000 bodies NONE would wake up as a normal human?"


    .


    Without hesitation, Alex replied, "Yes, I am sure General. Even if there is a cure, it''ll be toote now. These people have already died."


    .


    "....I ... I can''t ept that! In the world where we believe in the existence of zombies and even monsters, shouldn''t there be gods too among them..?! So where are they? Where is their divine intervention?"


    .


    "..."


    Alex was taken back... he remembers that grey figure again, he really doesn''t know how to answer this. He thought for a while and said...


    .


    "What are you nning to do General?"


    .


    "I n to wait till thest hour, that''s the least I can do for them."


    .


    "General, your action will jeopardize our n. more people will suffer because of this. Can you at least let the uninflected soldiers go and help the people?"


    .


    "Yes...you are right... Captain Farell, you can follow Mr. Alex here to help the people.. and you, Captain Adnan you and your soldiers can go too..."


    .


    Captain Farell: "You shoulde with us General..!!"


    .


    "Don''t you worry about me, Captain..." The General spreads open his arms and shows the switch attached in his wrist. "You should go.. everything has been prepared, if these soldiers really turn into the undead, I will free them from their suffering."


    Turned out, the General has ordered the Red Barrett to prepare C4s all over the hangar beforehand, he knew his soldiers will not let him do this, so he locked them up first.


    Alex asked fervently, "Are you sure General?"


    "Mr. Alex, I''m already too old for this. Please take care of the surviving soldiers and save as many of the people as you can."


    .


    Reluctantly, Alex gave a salute to the old general and walked away. Captain Farell, Captain Adnan the army soldier and the Red Barrett, together numbered around 1200 soldiers, they went to the armory and geared up. As for the rest of the arsenal, he will send other people to pick upter. The vehicles at the hangar need some modification, without it they''re as good as decorations. The army came back with Alex to the city. The vehicles Alex brought, are not enough for everyone, they decided to start sweeping from the North to the South.


    .


    .


    Six hours have passed, the dawn came.


    With help from the army, the South section group manages to cover half of the Denpasar city.


    .


    Time''s up...


    .


    .


    KAAABBOOOOMMMM!!!


    .


    Big explosioning from the hill... smoke fills out the velvet sky... It seems the General just aplished hisst duty...


    .


    .


    This also means


    .


    The dead has finally risen.

 Chapter 58 - The Bait

    07:00


    By this time, most of the undead were awaken and return to their basic instinct, ...the need to eat! The undead might move rather slowly but they have quite the strength to grab, pull and bite. Fighting zombies one on one might be easy, especially using a weapon. But for one human being surrounded by three, or ten, or consider an unending wave of tens of zombies, even high-rank mortal human will eventually sumb. The trick is to not get surrounded by either keep moving or fight within groups. Also, try to move as silently as possible since noises will attract more zombies.


    <Main Base>


    The morning sun has risen. In thest 8 hours alone, more than 10.000 survivors came to this base. They then were separated into 3 categories.. The fighters, the workers and the children and elders. There is nothing much the base can do to the elders and children at the moment. From there, Devita, Tony and Jane assign the workers depending on their individual skills: Administrator, Builder, and Farmer.


    As for the fighters, they were directed under themand of Captain Donnie. As the situation is currently still in chaos all across Bali, these fighters were only given a few hours basic training, at the end of which they were equipped with weapons and right away sent to a mission with Bayu.


    <North Section >


    Jerry and Rangga Unit sessfully finish their 150 kilometers marathon in 8 hours. They have managed to both inform and help dozens of viges along the shores. In the end, the group manages to recruit one thousand men to help. With this number, Jerry and Rangga decided to continue to the West section. The West section has two main areas, the Gilimanuk on the North side with a poption of around 150.000 people, and Negara on the South side with 300.000 people. Rangga has special mission prepared by Alex beforehand. He head North to Gilimanuk, a port city on the westernmost of Bali, only separated by 2 kilometers strait to East Java. While Jerry went down to the Negara. Each unit brings 500 volunteers to help. This time they went in fully armed.


    <East Section>


    Benny''s Group, meanwhile, has sessfully cleared up all bodies in Antiga city. The road between Bay city to the main base is now safe. Lt Commander Karra Echo unit, on the other hand, has fallen short. Unlike Benny, themander was not familiar with the locals. In the end, Benny''s group came over to assist her. It took them the whole 8 hours to cleared up Semarapura with over 100.000 bodies.


    When the dawnes, there were only a few zombies left. After recruiting more people, the group moved on to the next city. It is the Amarapura city, with 350.000 people in poption. The city is located on the far east, to go there they need to pass the Bay city.


    "..."


    DRATATATATATATTA


    .


    DRATATATATATATTA


    .


    Surprisingly the fight has already reached the bay city. Lieutenant Russel''s Unit is currently defending against hundreds of zombies'' attack.


    Lieutenant Russel Navymandos were startled by the sudden attack.. the city and viges on the east of Bay city didn''t have the chance to be given a heads up. The undead''s attack came from the east. Luckily, the Vi covered the east side of the city. It was the first ce under attack, therefore the nearby locals were warned by the shootouts of the Charlie units.


    "Lieutenant! WTF is this..."


    "That''s what we are here for sergeant Joni, stay in formation.."


    "!!!.. it''s closing in on us!!"


    DRATATATATATATAT..


    "Calm down Sergeant!!"


    Without a moment to spare, Commander Karra and Benny reached the bay city.


    Benny said, "They are under attack!! Commander, should we join the battle now?"


    Lt Commander Karra was shocked at the sight of the zombies, swarming at them, she was stunned!


    "Come on Commander, we need the order to open fire..now!"


    They rushed in and join the defenseˇ­ After a few moments of agony, the situation was finally under control...


    She finally calmed herself down and said... "Hold back on using your ammo, unless it''s really necessary... use melee weapon instead, the noise of gunshots will only draw more of them in.


    Mr. Benny, load every elders and children on the trucks to the base while all other able-bodied man and women who can pick up a weapon, should join the fight! "


    .


    The Battle of the Bay city finally start.


    .


    <South Section>


    The battle in the South was on a muchrger scale! The whole South section was divided into the North Denpasar city and the south, which is the Nusa Dua ind. Both areas connected by a narrow space. An aerial view would reveal that geographically, it was in a shape of an hourss.


    On the North outer of Denpasar city itself located 6 smaller cities. They were: Kerambitan, Tabanan, Mengwi, Abiensemal, Sukawati, and Gianyar. Between all of these 6 small cities, Denpasar, the Capital city, and Nusa Dua Ind, totaled more than 3 million people.


    10:00


    When the zombies started to rise.. all chaos breaks loose... casualties count start to drastically incline. The spread out tactic was not effective anymore. Alex then ordered all men to slowly retreat to the outer city.


    Alex quickly gathered all the leaders for a Tactical meeting. Lieutenant Aria, Captain Farell, Captain Adnan, Colonel Jaka, Major Sandi, Governer Agung, and Rama were present.


    "It''s good to see that you are save, Governor!"


    "Yes, yes, indeed..." still with traces of sweat on his forehead he responded.


    As if on cue, "AARRRGGGHHHH one of that thing bit me.. am I going to infected too?"


    "Don''t worry Colonel Jaka, it is not infectious, you''ll be fine."


    Alexmences the meeting.


    Alex reminded them about the strength of the zombies and the best, most effective ways to defeat them. He also exined to them about the red mutated zombies, who have greater speed and strength, andst but not least about the spirit stones.


    "The tactic we have now is simply too slow. There are roughly a million zombies in the city.. it would take too much time. We need a more aggressive approach! The objective is to save as many people as possible with the least casualty, while preserving as much ammunition as possible."


    As an intelligence officer, Captain Farell interjected with a brilliant strategy.


    First, to create 6 posts on each smaller cities. These 6 posts will contain the zombie''s movement from Denpasar to many other areas north of it. These not only will be survivor posts for those who were injured but also pickup points to transfer all children and elders to the main base. The police and the army together numbered 1,800 people. The pencak st society 1,000 men plus 5,000 volunteers. All together, 7,800 men will be divided to guard the 6 posts. Each with 1,600 men. This operation will be organized and led by Captain Farell with the assistance of Colonel Jaka.


    Second, a main strategy called "The Bait". As the name suggests, the idea is to lure in as many zombies as possible to one ce and bombarded them with heavy weaponry. The allocated point is Bali International Airport, which is located strategically on the narrow path between the Denpasar city and Nusa Dua ind. The narrow path provides the ideal defensive stance. This location will not only draw in a flow of zombies from Denpasar, but also from the Nusa Dua ind.


    Eight APV were allocated for this strategy. Only APV would be robust enough to charge into millions of zombies. Without counting in the red mutated ones.


    This will be a highly dangerous mission, therefore, joining will be voluntary. Among the 104 men selected, ranging from The Deathsquad, Army Redbarret, Police Densus88, and Red Belt and white shash top Pencak st disciples, none of them refuse.


    Finally, Aria with 30 Deathsquad, Captain Adnan and 20 of his Red Barret, Major Sandi and 20 of his Densus 88, Rama and 20 of pencak st disciples, along with a few of the soldiers specialized in Operating the APV were gathered, armed, and ready.


    .


    Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, Alex caught a stare along with a big smile.. its Cindy.. It doesn''t take a genius to understand what crosses her mind..


    "..."


    "Nope!! you are definitely noting"


    12:00


    Eight APVs power through the Denpasar city using eight separate routes, while making a very loud noise to attract the zombies.


    "WE ARE FROM THE ARMY... WE ARE LEADING THE UNDEAD TO THE SOUTH... ALL SURVIVORS MUST IMMEDIATELY MOVE TO THE NEAREST SURVIVAL POST NORTH OF THE CITY... I REPEAT... WE ARE....."


    DRRAATTATATATATAT...


    .


    It''s working! Along the way, the APV fired up the machine guns to make noises and thin them up. Bit by bit...


    .


    .


    16:00


    The APVs arrived at the destination... hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of zombies right behind them...


    All 90 fighters jumped out and got into position. One squad start nting C4s all around the airport. While two other squads made their way into the terminals and cleaned up the zombies... but as Alex reluctantly anticipated, they found hundred of survivors hiding on the second floor.


    .


    .


    This could be tricky.


    .


    .


    "ATTENTION TO ALL UNITS! ITS SEEMS THAT WE NEED TO HOLD UP FOR A FEW HOURS!"


    .


    "I have sent for urgent reinforcements.


    Meanwhile, let''s give our guests here a proper wee!"


    .


    "LIGHT THEM UP"


    .


    .


    DRATATATATATATATATA.....

 Chapter 59 - Mutiny

    There was once a girl who lived in a little vige by the sea. She was the prettiest and brightest little girl in the vige, everyone loved her. They took care of her as one of their own. There are two things she loved the most; the people and the sea. She loved swimming, diving, and sailing, everything about the sea. Until one day, the very thing she loved, ripped everything away from her.


    On one fated Friday, 26 December 2004, the Indian Ocean Earthquakes created a series of 30-meter tsunamis that swept across 14 countries and imed the lives of more than 220,000 people.


    The Indonesian city of Banda Aceh reported thergest number of victims. The earthquake was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. The little girl lost her home and everyone she ever loved, her parents and the vigers all died. Somehow, she happens to be the sole survivor from the vige.


    During the rescue mission, a high-ranking naval officer found her in the wreckage and took her in.. She was only 15 years old. Since then, the Navy became her family. She graduated from the Maritime Academy and continued other studies in nautical science. She took the officers course and excelled throughout her military career, specializing in navigation and seafaring.


    Many yearster Commander Tom, a respected captain of a navy destroyer, was drawn to her talent formand and took her as his number two. She is now Lieutenant Commander Karra.


    Theing doomsday, the disease, dead bodies, and zombies made her remember all her traumatic past. The disaster also be a vivid reminder of her desire to help her people.


    Doomsday +1 16:00 <East Section> Bay City


    Lt Commander Karra''s unit with Benny and Lieutenant Russel''s unit, currently still defending the Bay city from hundreds of zombies who keep flowing in from the East. The ear ring sound of gunfights have attracted zombies, the defense team struggles on holding down the city from seemingly endless waves of zombies using melee weapons. There are now more than 1,000 men standing by the unit in fighting against theing hordes.


    "Lieutenant Russel, this is crazy! We are fighting an abomination here!"


    "Stopining and focus on the zombies!"


    Though Lieutenant Commander Karra did finish her maritime academy, she never had anybat experiences. Except for the frogmandos who asionally received a special mission. The daily Navy task involves; capturing illegal fishing boats, sea smugglers or helping to evacuate boats or airnes crashes ident in the seas. It would suffice to say that when ites to facing the undead, none of Navy soldiers would be mentally prepared.


    Lieutenant Russell, on the other hand, has gone through many life and death experiences before.


    As for Benny, he just really care about the people and always strive to do the best he can.


    After a few hours, the situation in the Bay city actually slowly getting under control, most fighters eventually get the hang of killing the zombies. They also start to cooperate with each other better. More and more survivor joined the group in fighting the zombies. The time hase for them to start marching towards Amapura city.


    "Commander!! A message just came through"


    "..."


    "Yes, yes I understand"


    .


    .


    "Listen up! We got an urgent assignment, we will bring the ships to support the South sections. Mr. Benny, Your job is to assist Lieutenant Russel here. The Navy sailors and officers wille with me, themandos will stay with you."


    .


    "Let me and my squad apany you, Commander," Sergeant Joni said.


    Having special forces on a rescue mission is not a bad idea. She confirmed with a nod.


    .


    .


    Benny continues defending the Bay city while hundred experienced defenders follow Lieutenant Russel on their march towards the Amarapuara.


    .


    Lt Commander Karra and 30 men gathered to start boarding the Fatahih destroyer.


    This is the first time ever that Ltmander Karra board as the captain of Fatahih and took leadership of the bridge.


    "Engine start.. check!"


    "Lieutenant Torry Set a course to the South!"


    Lieutenant Torry is the youngest officer on the bridge and recing her position as the navigator.


    "Set Sail!!"


    The whole preparation took half an hour and the trip expected will take one hour to reach its destination. Lt Commander Karra was in the bridge when suddenly a group of Navy soldier break in and ambushed her...


    "..."


    "Sergeant Joni, what''s the meaning of this??!"


    .


    "Sorry Commander, me and the crew decided we cant follow your order..."


    "..."


    Karra replied... "We are the Navy, we uphold the militarymand, it wasmander Tom''s mission, and also our mission to help Bali in facing this disaster!"


    To which Sr Joni answered "With all due respect Commander.. what mission? And whichmand? I believe by now the centralmand is no longer in existence... We are not like those people out there, they are currently fighting for their home... but what about OUR home? Lieutenant Peter here supports me, he would very much like to go home and check on his mother... many others feel the same... We are not like thosemandos and Deathsquads, most of them have no family... We thought this is a good window of opportunity. We can use the ship and go back home... together! What do you say to that, Commander?"


    Commander Karra, look at the dozen faces that currently on the bridge in suspense waiting for her decision. People in the Navy normally closer with each other than the Army, most of them would spend months even years between themselves in a contained space. Themander can see their faces in agony. They just lost many colleges and friends with the disease and watching the zombies actually attacking and eating human beings is taking its toll. If onlymander Tom is here, he would know how to best handle this situation. Unfortunately, he too got infected and died. It''s all on her now.


    "I understand... we are all afraid... I promise I will make sure each of you has an opportunity to do just that! But as for this very moment, people are counting on us! Their lives are on the line and we have a duty to uphold..."


    .


    "NO!!" sergeant Joni seems very agitated... He pulled up a gun "I DEMAND that you send us home NOW!"


    .


    Everyone in the room were noticeably more nervous.


    .


    "Sergeant, this is not what we discussed," Lieutenant Peter said.


    "That''s enough!!!" the young Lieutenant Torry too tried to stop the escting tension.


    .


    The situation bes chaotic.


    Lt Commander Karra saw an opening, she charged into the armed Sergeant"


    "..."


    BANG!! BANG!! BANG!!


    Three shots were fired...


    - - - - - - - - - -


    Doomsday +1 17:00 <South Section> Bali Airport


    "Mr. Alex, the APV machine gun ammunition is almost empty, what should we do?"


    Alex knew there are at least 150 survivors holding up in the airport. With full authority, he responded...


    "We have enough space for only 90 people in the APV. These vehicles will take you to safety in the North. I asked for 30 volunteers to stay behind."


    Alex took what he can, 90 survivors, into the APV mostly children, elders, and the injured and move them out of the airport. Before leaving, the APV managed to empty out its grenadeuncher supplies.


    KABOOMMM!!.. KABOOMMM!!.. KABOOOMMM!!


    Dozens of explosions spread out all around the airport, thus sessfully created an opening for the APV to went through...


    .


    That left the units plus 60 locals with no vehicles as an escape.


    "What now?" Captain Adnan asked.


    "This is our chance... the explosion creates an opening, let''s move to the airport''s warehouse. It''ll provide a form of barrier for defense and it''s also the closest building to the ocean.. not a second to spare, let''s move it, NOW!"


    The group arrived in the warehouse and quickly set up barricades...


    "How much ammo do we have left..?"


    "Not much"


    "Conserve the bullets and use melee weapons instead.


    "Mr. Alex, there are hundred thousands of zombies out there, without firearm we won''tst an hour."


    Major Sandi said, "These zombies are actually not that hard to kill, we should be fine without guns."


    "Don''t underestimate them Major.."


    Before Alex got a chance to finish his sentence..


    .


    GROOAAAARRRRRRRR


    .


    Every pair of eyes were stunned...


    "What is THAT???!"


    "That''s the mutated one. 12 hours have passed. Some would have turned into the mutated ones by now... There are hundred thousand zombies out there, I reckon there are at least a few dozens of the mutated ones."


    .


    The group saw from the windows how fierce the mutated one moves.. It was a fearsome sight...


    .


    .


    GROAAARRR!!!


    .


    BANG!!


    Seemingly out of nowhere, the mutated red zombie head exploded, right before their eyes!


    "..."


    "Nothing to worry about..." Aria snipes through the window...


    "I saw moreing.. be prepared!"


    "How long till reinforcements arrive?"


    .


    "They should arrive within the hour"


    .


    .


    "..."

 Chapter 60 - Surrounded

    Hundred thousands of zombies surrounded the warehouse. It''s an ocean of zombies, as far as the eyes can see, they are everywhere! It was so crowded that the zombies were shoulder to shoulder, pushing against each other. These are new zombies, they just died less than 24 hours ago, most of them still have an appearance of a real human. The pale faces and skin, traces of blood spilling out of their red eyes, some from their mouths and all over their bodies.


    The Bali Logistic warehouses, ced on the easternmost corner of the terminal, right by the shore. Each warehouse has a size of 4 basketball courts put together. Its ceiling is 8 meters high. It has a steel mezzanine on the interior, circling around the inner wall. All the unit''s sharpshooters position themselves on the upper mezzanine. As the ammunition is limited, they focus mainly on a clear headshot targets or to help the crews on the ground who were in trouble.


    At this point, some of the group are still positioned on the warehouse outer gate. Thepound is surrounded by orange colour Balinese stone walls. They are only 2 meters high with authentic ornaments on the top.. Clearly not an ideal defensive wall, but nevertheless, it is still somewhat an effective barrier. They deemed it to be pointless to close the gates as they were only made of mere thin metal. It is also probably wiser to keep a steady flow them in or they might pile up and spill all over the wall. There are 4 entry gates.


    The 30 soldiers from Death Squad and 20 of Pencak St disciplesbined forces and split into two teams. One will be facing the zombies from the front gate flowing from the Denpasar city, while the other set up at the rear gate facing the Nusa Dua ind. Major Sandi with Densus police forces were assigned to the West gate. That left Captain Adnan Red Barret with the East gate. At first it seemed that the front gate were dealt with the most zombies.. but as time passed, there wasn''t really not much of a difference anymore. The zombies are everywhere!


    There were few mutated ones approaching, but they were almost immediately shot down by the snipers. As tempting as it was, Alex didn''t bother himself with spirit stones at that moment as lives are more important. Soon enough there will be enough spirit stones for everyone to consume. But these 90 men are his elites. Their tactical knowledge and battle experiences are irreceable. Alex has big ns for each of these men.


    After 30 long minutes, the soldiers ammunitions are finally gone. The danger has just been elevated to another a whole other level.


    "We should be able to see the ship on the horizon by now. Where are they?"


    "It should take them only one hour to get here, and thest we heard they have left the port. They should be here any minute now"


    "I don''t feel right about this! Try to establish contact with them"


    .


    .


    "No one answered, Sir"


    "..."


    The main objective of the ''Bait'' operation was to give a better chance for the Denpasar city survivors to escape towards the North. And now that the zombies were sessfully drawn to this location, the units need to hold them off for as long as possible.


    The second objective is to annihte as many zombies as they can. Now the units have achieved both objectives, it is time to LEAVE. There is no other way out other than through the shore and by the ships. It is only 500 meters to the dock and another 400 meters till the end of the dock. That''s 900 meters dash to the pickup point.


    The group could just run and jump into the ocean and wait for the pickup, but for how long? And with the red zombies around, floating defenseless in the water will be too risky.


    Alex begin to feel the anxiety settling in as the ammunition starts to run out, casualty starts to fall. About a dozen of the units were heavily injured and some were incapacitated. Between all of the gates, The North and the South gate were still the strongest, mainly because of the Pencak St disciples. When the guns were rendered useless, these martial artists were the strongest men on the ground.


    Alex also has prepared many edges weapon from his storage rings, he started giving out spears and pikes to the 60 survivors and dispatched them to help the units on the frontline.


    After 15 minutes, Major Sandi''s group on the Western gate were the first to crumble. One of the red mutated zombie managed to get through the parameter and attacked the Major. He was badly injured and was escorted inside along with all the other injured soldiers.


    With his heightened senses Alex kept monitoring the situation. Secretly, he nned to train and test the soldiers and fighters to their limits. But now, with the ships still not within sight, the predicament was impossibly critical. The time hase for HIM to act.


    "EVERYONE, MOVE IN TO THE WAREHOUSE!"


    Defending the outer gates have now be a lost cause. There are simply too many zombie corpses on the ground. With no other resort than to move into the warehouse, the units promptly moved inside. They were now effectively cornered.


    From the 150 men that they started with, about 30 of them were injured, some were unable to move. Alex knew this has to stop now! Otherwise at this rate, by the time the shipes, evacuating the injured will definitely slow them down significantly, thus jeopardizing their survival.


    There are two small back doors, 6 rolling gates and one extended gate inside the warehouse, it''s 30 meters wide. Alex decided to lock up all the other doors and open the big gate. Everyone gathered in a semi-circle formation behind the gate, those who were exhausted from the previous fights will act as the reserve fighters.


    "You guys hold this line, I will buy more time"


    Alex open up his ring and he took the Golem out, along with that, two pieces of Katana. They were the Japanese swords he took from the Ninjas back in Singapore. A golem on his side and sharp swords on both hands. He leaps forward into the ocean of zombies, holding nothing back.


    BAAAAMMMM!!!!


    The golem plummeted into the group of zombies with full force and crush them with its gigantic stoney figure.... at once, dozens of the zombies were annihted or thrown back a few meters. An opening was created. Alex took the chance, immediately jumped into the centre and start ying zombies with the skilful shes of the Katanas.


    SWISH!! SWISH!! SLASH!! SLASH!!


    Four zombies'' heads flies with just one body rotation. Alex took out four grenade from his storage ring and threw it in each four separate directions.


    KABOOMM!!... KABOOMM!!... KABOOMM!!... KABOOMM!!...


    There are now four more openings created, Alex leaped forward, positioning himself right in the middle of these zombies, A high stage mortal realm with a medium level movement techniques. Even a hundred Deathsquad soldier would find it challenging to touch him. Alex movement was inhumanely fast and his hexagram steps enable him to move around without being cornered. His strength also allows him to cut zombies'' heads effortlessly, no different to slicing tofu in the kitchen. Not a single movement was wasted...


    .


    Jump to the front... SLASH... heads rolled.


    .


    Roll back... SWISH... heads rolled.


    .


    Alex moved in a circle formation, none of the zombies can stop him. He made it look like a walk in a park.


    .


    GROOAAAARRR!!


    .


    Suddenly, one of the red mutated one charged at him.. this could be a problem.


    .


    BANG!


    The red zombie''s head exploded, it seems Aria still have a few bullets left. And boy was she d she saved it. A proud big smile bloomed across her face. Only for a split second, then she aims at another red zombie behind Alex.


    BANG!


    Sure enough, another head exploded. The red zombies have increased speedpared to a normal human being, and their movement is quite unpredictable, most highly skilled snipers would need a few shots to get a hit, but not Aria.


    With Aria watching his backs from the unpredictable red zombies, Alex was able to ughter the regr zombies easily.


    SWISH!! SLASH!! Continuous heads rolled.


    His performance in the field left an impression to all the spectators. Some of them got so excited, so much so, that they get the spirit to jump and help. Five Pencak St specialists ran forward and join the fight. They were Rama and the four white sash fighters. These five have acquired the master level with the title ''Pendekar''. They were by far the BEST fighters among all the Pencak St society in the world.


    There were now 3yers of defense. Alex right in the middle of the zombie waves. The Golem and the five Pendekar on the secondyer. Then all the rest straggler will be faced by the rest of the group inside the warehouse.


    This went on for another long 15 minutes... the zombies did not relent while the fighters were getting more and more exhausted. Alex managed to kill a few of the red zombies who escaped Aria''s sight. At this time, he already broke both Katanas. These regr steel swords were simply not strong enough. Fortunately, he still has a few more spares stored. The zombies who fight the golem, face even more tragic ends. The golem was the perfect zombie killer, equipped with its hard as a rock exterior, each punch would unquestionably crush the zombie''s heads in a single blow... Zombies bodies start to pile up in front of the warehouse gate.


    .


    .


    Just as things were starting to be slightly under control...


    .


    Aria said "The destroyer is in sight!"

 Chapter 61 - Sea Of Flames

    Hundred upon hundred thousands of zombies are no joke! There are at least half a million of them gathered around the airport. Even after the APV machine guns, the grenadeunchers and hours of fighting, Alex''s groups were only able to kill one-tenth of them. The zombies kept flowing to the area non-stop. Considering the poption of the South section, there should be at least two million zombies, about one-third of them are here. This presents an ideal opportunity to eliminate them at once, Alex wishes to clear up the Bali ind as soon of possible. That way they can move on and help other inds that are in need. But this is not the time to be greedy, he''s more concerned about the safety of his men.


    "EVERYONE PREPARE TO LEAVE"


    Thirty injured men being carried by the other thirty. There were still ny other men fighting, but Alex doesn''t want to take any chances. He gave all the spare assault weapons and handguns from his storage ring to the soldiers, enough to arm two dozen of them. There wasn''t much ammo left, but it should make charging out easier. At a moment like this, Alex really wished he has a higher grade storage ring. The one he has on is only a low grade piece and half of its space is taken up to store the golem..


    "WE ARE GETTING OUT OF HERE! FOLLOW THE GOLEM TO THE DOCK!"


    BAAAAMMMMM!!!


    The golem sted a hole on the wall, making a decent opening towards the East shore. Alex fling over some more grenades outside.


    KABOOOMM!!... KABOOOMM!!... KABOOOMM!!...


    A good few hundreds of zombies blown to bits and thrown back by the explosions, effectively paved a getaway for them. The golem immediately advanced ahead of them and steadily crushes all the zombies in its path. All the other men quickly followed.


    DRATATATATAT... DRATATATAT...


    .


    They soon burned through what was left of their ammunitions, but fortunately it was enough to create arger opening for the group. They then swiftly moved out of the warehouse. Alex stepped in as the rear guard, he wanted to make sure that nobody gets left behind. After retreating about a hundred meters, Alex press on the switch for all the C4 around the airport.


    .


    .


    KABOOOMM!!... KABOOOMM!!... KABOOOMM!!...


    KABOOOMM!!... KABOOOMM!!... KABOOOMM!!...


    Fire and smoke rises up all over the airport vicinity. There were 2 dozen of those C4 nted. It could only kill a few hundred of the zombies, but these explosions should slow them down a fair bit and also the loud noise would drag in more of those zombies.


    Within those few minutes, even before the dust settles, the groups were ready with a defensive stance on the dock. The dock is only 10 meters wide and extends 400 meters to the sea. It is considerably easier to defend this area, as all the normal zombies were unable to swim, that left them with only one narrow opening to defend. Captain Adnan then set off a smoke grenade, yellow smoke immediately covered all of the dock and into the air.


    Alex picked up the of the two-way radio.


    Lt Com Karra : "Sorry we arete, there was a littleplication"


    Alex : "You can exinter Commander, we are standing by the dock with the yellow smoke"


    Lt Com Karra : "Position confirmed ETA 10 minutes"


    Alex : "You know what to do Commander, execute ording to the n"


    Lt Com Karra : "Roger that!"


    "Target confirmed"


    "In 3.. 2.. 1.. Fire!!"


    The Fatahi destroyer fired its main cannon.


    <Bofors 120mm>


    Barrel length: 8.05 metres


    Shell: 23,5 kg


    Caliber: 120 millimetres


    Elevation max: +80ˇă


    Rate of fire: 40 rpm (per barrel)


    KABOOOMM!!... KABOOOMM!!... KABOOOMM!!...


    KABOOOMM!!... KABOOOMM!!... KABOOOMM!!...


    40 rounds of explosive bullets.


    Where the airport terminals used to be, just in a blink of an eye, now was nothing but fiery rubbles. There were at least tens of thousands of zombies killed this way and even more from the falling wreckages and fire. All the spectators witnessed this with astonishment and unspoken relief.


    The 10 minutes mark finally arrived, the destroyer managed to dock and the group board the ship safely. It has a capacity of 150 men. Between the soldiers, survivors and the Navy, they all numbered 180 men, so it is currently carrying its exceeded capacity limit. But it should be fine for a short voyage.


    Alex went into the bridge and meet themander. To his surprise, Lt Com Karra has a bandage on her shoulder and there, too, was a body on the floor covered by a white sheet.


    Noticing his line of sight, Lt Com Karra went on to exin, "This is the body of my young Lieutenant... it''s my fault Tory died.


    There was an argument which quickly turned chaotic. Sergeant Joni panicked, drew his gun and identally shot the young Lieutenant Tory. It was a critical shot to her heart and she died instantly. The second shot was a miss but the third shot hit Commander Karra''s shoulder. Watching it escte, all the other Navy took took charge, they grabbed and contained the Sergeant. All of them regretted having supported the crazy sergeant, but by then the Commander was unconscious and the Navy was unsure if they should keep going or abandon the mission. Fortunately, the Commander shortly came to and they made the right decision..


    Hope we don''t cause to much damage?!"


    "We settle what to do with themter on!" Alex responded calmly. "Now it is time to execute the second attack!"


    <Bofors 375 mm twin anti-submarine rocketuncher>


    Caliber: 375mm


    Barrels: 2


    Maximum firing range: 3,625 meters


    Detonation mechanism: Acoustic Proximity Fuse


    This weapon was originally created for submarines but the technology can also be used for shooting a target onnd with a maximum range of three kilometers. Because the EMP is down, the automated targeting is unfunctional. It will be unreliable to shoot underwater, to a specified target nheless. But in case of shooting onnd with such a wide target should be a piece of cake.


    SHUUUTTT!!!... SHUUUTTT!!!...


    KABOOOMM!!... KABOOOMM!!...


    "Reload.. and Fire!!"


    SHUUUTTT!!!... SHUUUTTT!!!...


    KABOOOMM!!... KABOOOMM!!...


    Tens of thousands of zombies eliminated by this st and thousands more from the fire that follows. The Bali Airport have now turned into an impressive sea of mes.


    All the leaders currently gathered in themand room of the Fatahih destroyer. Alex, Lieutenant Aria, Commander Karra, Captain Adnan, and Rama. All except Major Sandi who currently is under medical treatment.


    "What should we do next?" They looked at each other then naturally the sightsnded on Alex.


    "There''s nothing much we can do for the Denpasar city, but the Nusa Dua ind to the South could use some help. Commander Karra, you can send all the injured and the civilians back to the Bay city and to the main base for treatments. Captain Adnan will bring the rest of the soldiers to board South of here and help the Nusa Dua people. We shall organize transport for the Nusa Dua people using the steel transporter ship, back and forth to the Bay city"


    "What about me?" Aria asked.


    "I have a specific n for you and Rama. What do you think master Rama, do you want to apany me back to Denpasar city?"


    "Yes.. of course!" Rama said with light in his eye, always weing new challenges.


    Before leaving, Alex used the two-way radio to talk to his wife and check on his daughter, Tiffany, who apparently was still unconscious. After hearing that Tiffany''s condition was stable, he was slightly assured. With that tinge of hope Alex moved on to the next task.


    Together with Aria, they geared up with more weapons and ammo. Rama, in the other hand, decided to use a spear and a shield. Alex then took out a little leather pouch, in itys 6 spirit stones. These are the stones Alex gathered during the previous fights. Alex thought about major Sandi who was already in his 50s and Commander Karra who clearly needed some physical booster. He handed the stones to Karra, Adnan, and Sandi, 2 pieces each. Alex purposely elevate their strength as team leaders, as the survival of the whole members depended on them. The two stones would potently do just that!


    "..."


    "....What about me?" Aria looked pissed! She has seen Alex give away stones to many people.. except her!


    .


    .


    "Yes.. of course... I''ll give you some too.. soon!"


    Aria stared at him in the eye and raises 5 fingers...


    "..."


    "Yes.. sure... as many as you want.."


    Alex then headed down to the ramp and jumped out of the ship. Aria, Rama and the golem followed right behind him as he swiftly move between the mes. With a smaller group, it''s easier for Alex to move around dodging and killing zombies. Alex aims to kill more mutated zombies, gather more spirit stones as well as training their teamwork.

 Chapter 62 - Break The Party

    DDay +3 <South Section> Denpasar City


    Outside a school''s dormitory, a group of students were frantically running away from the undead. One boy in particr ran in panic, failed to see what was on his path, caught his foot on a corpse and tumbled to the ground.


    With a terrified look on his face, he shouted at his friend. "Dean, save me!"


    Dean turned to the call and saw that the zombies were quickly closing in, there are at least 3 dozen of them. With eyes full of fear, he hesitated only for a second before and dashing off without looking back.


    "Deane back!! Barry.. anyone please help me!!"


    The horrified boy screamed at the top of his lungs.


    This desperate voice stopped Barry on his track.. His eyes instinctively turned to the direction of his cry for help, only to see no less than 10 zombies pouncing on him on the ground. Gnawed without mercy, as his agonizing wail and the sound of flesh ripped apart fill the air.


    Witnessing such horrendous scene unfolding before them, everyone''s faces ashen and their legs went limp. But their instinct took over, as the adrenaline rushing in and they fled without turning back a second time.


    Without help, it only took a few minutes before the 10 savages had their fill on the boy''s body and just like that the boy''s cries subsided.


    As it was a holiday season, the dorm was quite empty. There were 40 students who stayed back in the dormitory during the New Year''s eve. When the disaster struck, the students who got infected immediately left the dorm to find help. The dozens left decided to hold up in the dorms.


    It''s been three days and they were anxious, not to mention running low on food and water. Two days ago they saw a military APV who announced everyone to move North. Followed by series of loud explosion from the South. At that time, the field outside the dorm was clear from the zombies, and the group was hopeful for the Army to fight the zombies, win the battle, and help will eventually arrive for them. They thought this was their one and only way out, thus they all unanimously decided to wait.


    After two long and agonizing days, regret and hopelessness steadily crept in. From out of the windows they can now see the streets filled with more and more of the undead. Every now and then they would hear a ruthless growl followed by the bellowing sound of their cry.


    In their desperation, on the third morning, the group decided to push their luck and run up towards the North. As they realized that it''s only a matter of time before the scary monsters would find and end them.


    Never to anticipate that their movement as a group would attract a group of zombies, and the screaming only makes things worse, more zombies were drawn and started chasing them.


    The group kept on running and found themselves in a small street leading to the North. Straight ahead of them stands no less than 10 zombies. They are blocking the only road leading to the North. Now they were sandwiched between two groups of hungry undead.


    The road was not very wide, the zombies ahead seems to be well upied on a lifeless body. At first nce it appears that these zombies were blocking the whole street, but wait, there were still a small gap!


    At this critical moment, two of the boys rushed toward the zombies ahead of them, yelling loudly. They were the baseball club students, who used steel baseball bats to knock down two zombies to the ground and crush their heads.


    Dean as one of the fastest runner took the chance to dash through the gap.


    But he was a step toote, that''s when a big cold hand stretched out and firmly grabbed his arm.


    "No! Help! Help!"


    In a panic, Dean pulled out a kitchen knife and started jabbing at the zombie''s arm. But three more zombies immediately followed, grab his other hand and opened their jaws to bite hard on his neck.


    "Aaargghhh! Help!!"


    Dean let out a sharp scream.


    The three zombies, whilst firmly holding Dean, began ripping apart his flesh. The remaining zombies were instinctively attracted by the smell of blood and they marched towards the group. The two boys with the baseball bats were soon surrounded by the zombies. They didn''tst three seconds and quickly submerged by the undead, they let out a miserable shriek.


    Barry and the remaining 7 students witnessed the scene with eyes filled with terror.


    "We''re done for!"


    One student was so scared that he copsed on the ground.


    Barry yelled "Get him off the street!! Let''s go inside this house".


    The group carried the unconscious boy and went into a small two storey. They broke a window, made their way inside and hurriedly barricade the door and windows with whatever furniture they can find.


    GROOOAARRRR!!


    "Ahh, the red monster is here. We''re finished!"


    "I told you we should have stayed in the dorm!"


    One of the girls cried... Barry had a crush on this girl name Cynthia for a while now. But he was really helpless... A group of 16 year old teenagers were not equipped to survive this kind of situation.


    BAAMM!!!... BAAMM!!!..


    The mutated zombie mming on the barricaded windows trying to break in. "It won''t hold for long".. dozens of zombies have surrounded the house.


    "Let''s go upstairs."


    Barry didn''t think much and grab the Cynthia''s arm and walk her upstairs. But just as they reached the top of the stairs ...


    CLAANKKKK!!!


    One of the red zombie leaped inside through one of the second-floor windows...


    "..."


    The red monster slowly rose up before him... it was at least 2 meters tall. Up close, Barry can see the reddish color actually came from a bulking and stretch out muscles that raised out of the skin... some of the skin were still attached on some of the muscle joints. The monster''s fingers have turned to ws, the mouth splits open and a row of sharp wolf-like teeth revealed.


    "This is it.." he whispered under his breath, so this is how he''s going to go. Behind him, Cynthia was shaking uncontrobly. He can feel the trembling from her arms... if only he''s stronger.... he thought...


    The zombie advanced with a jump with mouth wide open, when suddenly...


    SPLATTT!! The head exploded... the body crash down right in front of Barry and blood now sttered all over his body.


    Barry was stunned for a few seconds as the girl behind him screamed hard.. He still can''tprehend what had just unfold.. Who or what saved him? There are no one around...


    Meanwhile, one thousand meters away, a woman in ck outfit was in a prone position on top of a 4 storey building.


    "Target Down"


    "Great.. you can break the party now Rama," Alex said.


    "Sure. No problem!"


    Wasting no time, Rama rushed towards the house, charging in with a spear.


    Pa!! Pa!! Pa!! PA!!


    The speed of this spearpletely surpassed his own expectations. It was a multiple stealthy thrusts. Every single stabs crushed a zombie''s head with uracy. Rama was able to advance forward while constantly vanquishing all the zombies in front of him. He has practiced the Pencak St basics on spears, but he has never been this impressed by the technique before. There was this innate inner strength, every movement has a surge of power, as if the entire strength of the body was perfectly used in harmony with the spear.


    A wide swipe to the zombie''s legs and all 5 were effectively knocked down. Rama jumped up while thrusting to the fallen zombies'' heads.


    Pa!! Pa!! Pa!! PA!!


    More zombies eliminated.


    BAMMM!!!


    Shield bash and few zombies thrown back and fell on to the ground. With such speed, Rama managed to ovee them one by one. Within the 30 seconds Rama sessfully crushed almost 3 dozens zombies and reach the front porch of the two storey house. There he faced the red zombie, right before he was about to advance...


    SPLASH!! It''s head sttered without warning.


    "Aria! You should have left that one to Rama"


    "..."


    "There are two behind you, you should take care them."


    A simple nce to her back, Aria draw her handgun and shoot..


    "BANG! BANG!"


    2 bullets, 2 headshot, 2 red zombies. Piece of cake!


    Alex were monitoring their performance from a distance. In thest two days, Alex have given each of them six spirit stones, that should make them both a high-rank mortal realm spirit enhancer. Their strength, speed, perception are monumentally heightened. These red zombies are too easy for them to kill now. Spirit enhancers really are extraordinary.


    The zombies in the vicinity were all dead. The three of them gathered in front of the house. Alex has stored the golem back to his storage rings since day one. The golem consumes too much energy. Just a few hours of fight has sufficiently depleted its energy level down to 5 percent, plus, it''s not yet easy to find spirit stone. Alex walked around the house and picks up another spirit stone.


    "O spirit stone out of four red zombies, sigh.. thedy of luck is not on our side today."


    The group of student walks out to see them. Barry saw everything Rama did from the top and secretly wished be able to possess all that power too.


    "You kids should advanced ahead to the North now, just follow this road and you will find the closest post around 4 kilometers away."


    .


    Tut...Tut...Tut


    Alex''s two-way radio receiving an iing call.


    .


    "..."


    Time to go back to base. "My daughter''s awake!"

 Chapter 63 - Starbase

    DDay +4


    <Main Base>


    After three days of non-stop fighting, Alex can finally rx and have a proper rest in afortable bed.


    As hey, his mind drifted to the special warehouse he built. This particrpound is the VIP building. It may look like an ordinary steel warehouse from the outside, but on the Inside is anything but. Instead of an open space with bunk beds and share toilets, this VIP warehouse has multiple bedrooms, private bathrooms, a shared living room, and a kitchen. Alex would amodate his special guests here.


    That particr morning he woke up really early, went to the kitchen and start cooking breakfast. A personal stove and fridge connected to their own electric generator. Another special privilege of being the owner of the ce. That moment he was reminded how long it has been since hest had a chance to cook in a kitchen, not to say that it''s one of his strong suit but today is a special asion. He put together a simple American breakfast... scrambled eggs, pan fried bacon, sausage, and toast. His daughter''s favorite. It took him no less than two hours to prepare.... again, not his expertise.


    When he reached the dining table, his wife, Devita, Vily, her sister, Tiarra and Tiffany are all already set and waiting for the food.


    "Food is ready.." he cheerfully announced from the kitchen.


    Alex ced all the food on the table and then he takes his seat next to Devita.


    "It''s not whole grain bread, but I make it extra crispy, hope you girls like it. Dig in!"


    The little one, Tiarra said "Daddy we haven''t said grace yet!"


    "Oh right you are. Now why don''t you be a good girl and say grace for the family, ok?"


    "Yes, Daddy..." she said enthusiastically.


    She closes her eyes, sps her hands together and the others dly followed.


    "Thank you God for the food and the drink. Thank you for all the blessing You gave me and my family, Amen."


    .


    .


    Suddenly, Auntie Villy burst out in tears...


    "Sob.. I''m... sorry..."


    "Are you okay Auntie? Did i do wrong with my parayer?"


    .


    "Oh no Tiarra dear, you did really well."


    Alex smiled to the little girl and then noticed tears running down on his wife''s cheeks too.. he reached for her hands as a silent assurance...


    .


    "Let''s eat..."


    .


    Tiffany shifted her right hand, ever so slowly, and all eyes were watching her attentively. She carefully touch and feel the table... then tried to reach for a te.. when she found one, she went and grab a piece of the toast on the te and took a bite.


    "Daddy, Yummm!!"


    As she chewed the food, a big smile on her face bloomed. Alex thought to himself, this is probably the most beautiful thing he has seen in this world.. the pure untainted smile of his daughter... only...


    .


    .


    Within Tiffany''s beautiful smiling face, there is a sight that also stings his heart deeply.. her eyes...


    .


    They are all white...


    .


    she has lost her vision...


    .


    "Can you help me with the fork Mom?"...


    Still in tears, her mom helped her put the fork into Tiffany''s hand... The scene was really heartbreaking. Yesterday when Tiffany regained her consciousness, the redness on her eyes were gone.. but also her sight along with it.


    The 16 spirit stones and the shiny pill from the Amulet of the sun, did save her life.. but blindness was the side effect. Another strange thing was that her physic too was normal. She''s supposed to be a peak stage of mortal realm, but her current strength is a regr 12 years old girl. Alex has no clue as to what other side effects she will experience, if any. She, most likely be the only survivor of the disease that killed more than 5 billion people. Probably Alex will soon find the answer inside the Doomsday pirs.


    The atmosphere in the room was somber not only because Tiffany has turn blind, but also the simplicity of the prayer about the family have touched them deep in the heart. Only four days ago, 15 family members had lunch on the same table, together, and now.. there were only 5 of them. For once they let the feeling of loss surfaced and grieve to take ce.


    In this predicament, to say grace was a very hard thing to do. However, not so for Alex. He was ever grateful to still be able to sit with his family. He''s grateful Tiffany was alive. As for her eyes, he has silently vowed to himself to find a cure no matter the cost.


    After Breakfast, Alex left both of her daughters to their aunt. While he took Devita along with him. Together there were plenty to do in this base.


    The main base is currently bustling with many survivors who took refuge. Many of the people were separated during the chaos. The most demanding job at this point of time was the administration. Almost everyone who came, do so with a hope to find their rtives or friends. The base was more crowded than Alex has previously anticipated. In a way, he was grateful as it meant that his ns worked. On the flip side though, it also meant that Alex would need to make some quick adjustments for the poption managements.


    <Bali Base>


    Area: 115 Hectares


    Survivors: 86.345


    ording to the existing n,100 warehouses were built and finished construction just one day before. But with each warehouse''s capacity at only 500 people, they were still left with another 36.345 people to amodate somehow. Mathematically, that worked out to 80 more warehouses that needs to be built.


    As Alex coordinated with Tony, his construction manager, he found out that the base has enough space to create more than a thousand warehouses, but their currents materials in stock were only sufficient for another 200 warehouses. With the steady flow of thousands of people each day, this has be an imminent problem.


    Alex has many agenda that he wishes to do, but to make the base work effectively, he realized needs to assign operational leaders. Before he does that, he needs to make sure his authority was justifiable.


    The highest ranking person in hismunity was the Governor. Alex had a discussion with himst night, the governor made it clear that he was neither willing nor capable to take charge and lead a survival base of this caliber. He was just a popr school teacher who turns into a role model, went into politics and got elected. Everything was alright until that day, when he saw zombies for the first time and see what they can do, he was overwhelmed with fear and still haunted ever since. He fully supported Alex to be the leader inmand.


    Alex added a few more names as operational managers and changed some. Theo had requested to step down from his position as a manager, he will continue to help, but managing chaos proofed to be too much. Captain Donny also preferred to be in the frontline. After a lot of considerations, Alex finally decided to assign 7 managers to lead 7 divisions, they will also take a role as decision maker for the base while he''s away.


    Devita: Manager of supplies division.


    Jane: Manager of the farming division.


    Doctor Rachel: Manager of medical and research division.


    Tony: Manager of Construction division


    Benny: Manager of the administration division. He''s really good with people.


    Agung, the ex-governor: Manager of the education division.


    Major Sandi: Manager of public security division.


    The seven managers will together be in charge of the developments and public security. Also in the works is to create a war council, but this will have to wait a few more days, when most of the leaders returned from the battles on the front line. To be on the safer side, Alex gave each of the leaders two Spirit stones, this will not only make them stronger physically but will also help them mentally as they lead under constant pressure.


    Before he brought everyone together for a general meeting, Alex understood the importance of an identity. A name to this entity would not only let them to be recognized, but it will also help to boost the spirit to the group. Thus, regting aw would be the next logical step to hold themunity together.


    Alex then thought about the doomsday pirs that wille down from the stars, so the name ''Star Base'' sounds fitting. Along with the Army, it too will adopt the same concept and be called the ''Star Army''. The rules he created are in and simple.


    1. Do not kill human.


    2. Do not steal.


    3. Help each other.


    4. Everyone must contribute.


    5. You can keep what you find outside the base, but remember all rules above.

 Chapter 64 - Seven Division

    Alex gathered his seven managers to conduct a meeting inside themand center. Their main agenda, the allocation of manpower in ordance to their jobs and living areas. In lieu with the principle of the fourth rule, ''Everyone must contribute''. Hence, everyone regardless of gender, between ages sixteen to sixty, unless disabled, must contribute to themunity.


    Other than the supervisory role, which was employed directly by its direct manager, there were two main roles within themunity: the workers and the fighters.


    Back in what now looked like a distant past, the peace made the ratio between civilian and security personnel was about 1:500, however in Doomsday''s era, Alex proposed a ratio of 6:4. Six workers and four fighters for every ten people.


    Benny said, "Mr. Alex, based on my estimations, Bali will have been cleared of all zombies within a month or two. Shouldn''t we focus on rebuilding society with workers rather than conscripting more fighters?"


    Alex could understand where Benny wasing from, the preparation for the first disaster went better than his previous life after all. "As I''ve exined in the Doomsday''s video, the threat will only increase.. Soon enough, we won''t only be facing zombies, but monsters too. The zombies are just the beginning just like the tip of an iceberg."


    As thest word exited Alex''s mouth, a memory shed before him on how a group of elite sky realm warriors got devoured by a ten-meter monster. The screaming, the despair resounded in his mind, making him unconsciously shiver. "Remember to be cautious. Again, the uing threats will be more than it currently is. If we don''t prepare well, we''ll be wiped out by these monsters."


    "Do you have a timeframe?" Major Sandi asked.


    "Three months," Alex answered. "After the third month, more mutated zombies will appear in the streets and hordes of monsters with inhuman strength will show themselves. Without a proper foothold and preparation, we''ll all be wiped out. Therefore, before the third month arrives, we should gather everyone we can, not just in Bali, but all the inds in the east or further."


    All the managers exchanged nces. Only four days had passed since Doomsday started, and all of them grew somewhatcent because of the progress. However, the ominous information from Alex made them anxious again.


    After that exnation, nobody argued about the ratio of workers against fighters in the meeting. For now, Alex intentionally left it at that because he nned to slowly increase the fighters'' ratio in the future.


    Alex moved to the next part of the agenda and set the quota for the first batch of recruits to be at most thirty-five-thousand people. Thisrge number of recruits would be handled by Major Sandi and although the Major was a high ranking officer in the police department and an experienced trainer for the police special forces, he considered it a challenge to train so many untrained people. Actually, Colonel Jaka, head of the police, had first been offered to train them, but he refused using his age as an excuse.


    Major Sandi''s team was then assigned to coordinate with the Mahaguru Indra of Pencak St Society as well as its masters. Together, they were to handle the recruitment process and training. And under Alex''s requirements, he asked them to minimize firearm training not only because of limited bullets but in consideration of the future once the Pirs descended. The Pirs would house a lot of closebat artifacts and techniques, so it was better to start building the foundation early for the art of closebat.


    The first course of the training would be Pencak St basic movements, offense, and defense techniques. Second would be weapons training namely; the art of the saber for assault, and spear and shield for defense.


    Only those who had prior training in using firearms or showed talent would be given the chance to be in the firearm troops.


    The third course was formation coordination. They would be trained with the basic five-men formation and some big group formations for offense or defense.


    Alex ordered for this first batch to be ready within two weeks. He mentioned that this public security division''s purpose wasn''t to build an army but to serve as an introduction and form a militia. Hence, this division had the right to choose who were to stay as guards for the base. The actualbat force would be led by the military and gain experience mostly throughbat encounters.


    Once the recruitment process was finished, all the new fighters would be stationed in Antiga City, located in between the main base and Bay City.


    Alex tasked Tony to recruit five-thousand workers to revitalize Antiga City into a fighter base and turn Bay City into a naval base as soon as possible. The expected residents there would be forty-thousand people, five-thousand workers and thirty-five-thousand fighters. This should solve the rising concerns of the main base''s being overcrowded.


    After that reassignment, Alex calcted there should be around forty-six-thousand people left in the Star Base. However, since he was expecting thousands more survivors would arrive daily in the uing days, he knew overcrowding would be an issue again, so Alex needed to quickly sort them out. Excluding the children and elders, there should be about twenty-eight-thousand workers ready to be assigned jobs.


    Alex gave Tony ten more thousand workers to be builders and steelworkers. He tasked the manager to finish building the remaining two hundred warehouses as soon as possible. Alex purposefully assigned more builders for faster manualbor because the electronic construction machineries were destroyed by the EMP.


    Although there were still more tasks that needed to be done outside the base, housing the refugees took priority over other building projects. He was expecting these two hundred warehouses would be finished in three to four weeks, therefore at the moment, he had Tony set up several big tents as temporary living arrangements for the refugees who wouldn''t be able to get a ce yet.


    Jane was given seven-thousand people to be farmers because it only made sense as more people arrived,rger crop yields inrger farms were needed. Fortunately, it wouldn''t be hard to find seven-thousand farmhands with the current base''s demographic. After all, many Bali locals were farmers. She was also given the task to expand the crop variety, so they''d eat not just potatoes. Jane raised concerns about poultry and dairy products and Alex gave her the go signal to coordinate with the research division.


    The medical and research division led by Doctor Rachel was given the task to recruit all survivors with any kind of medical or scientific experiences. Right now, she was managing eighty doctors and nurses, and even though that was barely enough to run one medical center, Alex asked her to send a few medical teams to the survival posts, thinning further her already scarce. To remedy that, however, Alex gave her the permission to recruit dozens more medical students to be a medical assistant. As for research scientists, they were far and few in between. She had managed to find a few of them, so they were tasked with researching the mutated animals, the zombies'' anatomy and learning more about what the spirit stones were.


    Benny led the administration division and his daily task mostly centered around profiling each survivor with a brief interview, providing an identification card, housing and giving out the food vouchers. He was the lead manager of the information center, which had the job of reconciling missing rtives and friends. The information center would''ve been an easy job, but without aputer or the inte, theplexity became a hundred times harder. Fortunately, Benny''s passions lied with helping the people. So, he had been given an additional five hundred people to help sort out the activities.


    Devita was assigned thest more than ten thousand people for her supply division. Her division''s main goal was to make sure every resource they received was distributed evenly; therefore, her division had the most subdivisionspared to the others, which were namely: the helpers, the cooks, the traders, and the scavengers.


    Her division would handle the logistics, the kitchen, the main dining and the market. Each person who had an identification would receive two food vouchers each day. That meant roughly a hundred-thousand mouths to feed each day. With the food supplies Alex had prepared, he expected it tost around six months. However, since more people would arrive here sooner orter, they''d pretty much burn through their stockpile eventually. Therefore, this division needed toe up with creative meals out of dry or canned foods and to find more supplies.


    This was where the scavengers teams woulde in. These scavengers would scour various supplies inside abandoned cities. They had to be apanied by fighters whenever they set out and the scavengers would search following this priority list: foods, medical supplies, ammunition and gasoline.


    Four-thousand were to be assigned to the scavengers team. And with the help of Barry, the navy engineer, all survivors with mechanical skills would be tasked to fix and maintain all uing functional electrical equipment including the vehicles. With the electronic supplies that Alex already had prepared before the EMP, Alex hoped to find more vehicles that would work, especially boats.


    For the kitchen department, Devita only assigned five-hundred cooks and whatever was left, would be assigned as helpers to whichever subdivisions needed more manpower. The helpers main task would be logistics.


    As for traders, they wouldn''t be needed until everything was established. All daily necessities like something to eat, to wear and to sleep had already been prepared for free by the base, eventually though, Alex would create a market and barter area but not now. A blueprint was enough.


    The meeting ended, however, there was one person who appeared to have been left out of the initiative. That person was Agung, the ex-governor; he wasn''t quite sure what to do with his division of almost 10,000 children and elders in this base.

 Chapter 65 - The Wrestler

    Once everyone had left, Alex mentioned to Agung to recruit a team of teachers and educators. As of the moment, there were more than eight thousand children under the age of sixteen, and more than a thousand elderly. A few hundred of the elderly were past the unproductive age, hence, the ex-governor assigned dozens of caretakers for them.


    Actually, almost all of these ten thousand people needed caretakers, because like the others, they had also lost most of their family members. The amount of caretakers was far from enough, however, they had to make do with what they had.


    The age-old cure for worry and sadness was love, but if they couldn''t have it, then give them hope; if they have also lost all hope, then give them something to do.


    Hence, Agung proceeded to recruit a few hundred of these elderly to be educators and caretakers for the children. These weren''t ideal solutions, but these must be done. At least for now.


    ***


    DDay +5.


    Barry and six of his friends had managed to reach a survival post yesterday; today, they were to be transferred to the Star Base. As they neared the base, they were surprised to see the four-meter tall concrete wall, which spanned a few kilometers to the middle of nowhere.


    They got on one of the trucks along with many others, which was guarded with a convoy of armed people, and dropped outside the base. There were at least a few hundred of them once all people from the trucks got out.


    After the officers of each truck made sure no one else was left, the trucks circled back toward the direction where they came from, seemingly to transport more people to the base.


    Barry strained his neck to look up at the big gate. It was heavily guarded; there were at least a few dozen guards standing atop the wall.


    The group was then allowed through the gate and was guided into one of the big tents in an orderly line.


    As Barry waited for his and friends'' turn to be let in, he gawked at his surroundings: the moving trucks, the armed guards, the wall, and the base in general. It all gave a sense of security that he couldn''t help but wonder who had prepared all this. It was probably the government who readied all of this, like the president had survived or had been staying on this ind when the disaster had struck.


    Barry was thest one to enter the tent, and he was nervous about what questions they would ask him. He also had many questions he wanted answers for, but the man, looking around to be thirty, in front asked him first.


    "Name?"


    "Barry Hans"


    "Age?"


    "Sixteen"


    "A Bali local?"


    "No. Student from Jakarta."


    "Do you have a family in Bali?"


    "No. I came with my friends, we are ˇŞ was from the same school, and lived in the same dormitory."


    The man simply kept looking at his list while writing.


    "Any special skills?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "Martial arts, shooting, masonry, carpentry, medical, cooking, teaching, or even singing. Anything at all?"


    "Iˇ­ ummˇ­. I''m a student of IT. Programming and web designing are my majors. I can make a great website pageˇ­ Ohh, right! I also write novels! My sci-fi novel became famous on the web. Does that count as a special skill?"


    "What do you think, genius? Anyway, you''re sixteen, you must choose one of the options. Fighter or worker?"


    Barry remembered those strong people who had saved him and his friends. He said, "Fighter!"


    "Are you sure? I don''t really rmend it for people your age."


    "I am sure... A man never backs down on his word."


    "Hmmˇ­ Sixteen years old, I guess you could be considered half a man. Here. This is your identification, and today''s two food vouchers. You are now part of the Star Army. The army will provide you food and shelter. In return, you will follow the army''smand. Do you understand?"


    "Sir, yes, sir!"


    Aside from the ID and vouchers, Barry received a red armband. Thinking about his path to bing a warrior, he smiled widely, but when he got back to the group, none of them were wearing the red armband. They all wore a yellow one.


    "Guys, why are youˇŞCynthia, where''s your armband?"


    "Ah yes, it''s because I''m still sixteen, Barry. So, I''ll be going to the education department."


    "..."


    Barry began to regret his earlier decision. He thought about shamelessly changing to a worker, but he changed his mind after hearing Cynthia''sment.


    "Wow, you''re wearing a red armband. You really are brave, Barry," Cynthia said with eyes full of admiration.


    "Haha, yes. I promise. I-I''ll train hard and be strong to protect you!"


    "..."


    After those words exited his mouth, the others stared at him with teasing looks. Did he just dere his love to Cynthia, his crush?


    Barry realized it toote and was about to take it back but Cynthia smiled and said, "I believe in you, Barry."


    His heart thumped faster and fluttered, but then the P.A. system sounded.


    PRRRIITTTTTT!!!


    "All red armbands, gather in front of the base. We''re moving to Antiga City."


    "..."


    Noooo! Barry cried in his mind but tried to keep cool in front of Cynthia. "Well, umm. Take care of each other. I''ll be back soon."


    "Take care, Barry."


    ***


    Cynthia went toward the education division.


    It was divided into three groups: the kindergarten, the primary and the secondary. The kindergartners were kids ranging from infant to six-year-olds. They only needed to learn how to read and write. The primary kids were seven to twelve-year-olds, studying mathematics, geography, biology, and moral studies. The secondary, the one where Cynthia was in, would learn each of the seven divisions professions and basic fighter skills. They would also learn leadership skills by taking care of the younger students. So, starting from today, Cynthia was in charge of a group of thirteen-year-olds to lead.


    ***


    Alex had spent thest two days with his managers. He made sure everything would run smoothly while he''s away. He also gave authority for the seven managers to conduct a majority vote on the hard decisions in case Alex was unreachable.


    He had set up the long-range HAM radio to make suremunications would run. By now, Lieutenant Rangga should have finished his special mission to set up the booster antenna on the westernmost city of Gilimanuk.


    Their current two-way radios should be able to travel further by now. The aim was to contact James Randall in East Java, Surabaya city; however, until James also seeded in fixing the booster antenna on his side, they wouldn''t be able tomunicate just yet.


    Alex had thought about preparing thismunication antenna beforehand, but there was a big chance the operator would be infected by diseases or the antenna would have been destroyed during the EMP strike. Since those crucial moments had passed, he assigned one of the staff members to be standby on the main base HAM radio.


    He nned to explore the big cities, in which the army was still clearing. He wanted to go and help. But before he went on going about his next trip, Alex visited Benny and took the time to read all the names.


    There were some names on the survivors'' list he recognized, and also a few spirit enhancers he knew from his previous lives. One of them was still underage but the other one, who was a foreigner from Russia, clearly he wasn''t expecting to see his name. In Alex''s previous life, this guy was supposed to be having a holiday in Bangkok, Thand, not in Bali. This must be a case of butterfly effect in his viral Doomsday video.


    Sergei Jacob, a Russian professional wrestler, and entertainer. He was the runner-up ofst year''s Strongest Man''s Champions League. He was arge guy, two meters tall, arms as big as a tree''s trunk, short red hair and beard. This guy was an earth element Spirit Enhancer. He was unconsciously connecting with the earth''s energy, giving him some abnormal muscle growth and strength.


    Although this guy looked scary with his ripped muscles andrge frame, he was one of the nicest people Alex had met in his previous life. And, it was quite easy to recruit him. Alcohol and cigars was the answer.


    Fortunately, Alex kept many of them in storage, so when he offered to share some of them, Sergei Jacob immediately epted his offer. It was either an exciting adventure or some boring construction manualbor, ording to Sergei when Alex had given a rundown of his uing trip.


    Now that that was settled. Alex decided to bring not only Sergei, Aria and Rama but also Cindy and Theo. He thought it was a good idea to train them, especially his best friend, and gain some survival skills. As for Cindy, Alex didn''t need to say one word because she had been pestering him ever since he had returned to Star Base two days ago.


    They were to go first thing tomorrow morning, and before he dismissed them, Alex gave six stones each to Sergei, Theo, and Cindy. He also gave thirty spirit stones to Major Sandi and asked the major to give it only to the most talented fighters. Tonight, Alex would spend more time with his family.

 Chapter 66 - The Psychic

    DDay +6


    Before taking their leave, Alex gathered Aria, Rama, Sergei, Cindy, and Theo to choose weapons and test their abilities.


    Aria, as usual, selected her AWM Warfare Magnum 338, and Glock Pistol. Alex told her to also pick up a melee weapon because she needed to train on her closebat abilities, so Aria grabbed a set of short knives and put it on her hips.


    As for Rama, he brought his own spear and shield. He had gone to the steel workshop yesterday and ordered for a full metal spear as well as a full metal rounded shield to be forged. The specifications of the one-handed spear were 1.6 meters in length with a 40-centimeter vanguard. It weighed about 15 kilograms, which was too heavy for any normal person but not for a high stage mortal realm user. With the longer de, Rama could do both pierce and sh attack. Adding the heavy size into the equation, it could also be an effective smashing weapon. Regarding his shield, it was 60 centimeters in diameter and he held it on his back..


    BANG! BANG!


    "Wuhuuuu! Did you see? Bullseyes!" Cindy said, the 9mm pistols still had hot air rising up its muzzles. She had taken six spirit stones the night before, so her perception had improved a lot this morning.


    She then ced the two 9 mm pistols on her hip holsters.


    "You should also choose a melee weapon," Alex said.


    Cindy walked around the storage and finally found something that interests her... It''s a bullwhip.. its made of leather and its 300 cm long.


    "..."


    "WHAHAAHHAHAH" Sergeiugh really hard


    "I didn''t know your that kind of girl... kinky"


    "..."


    Cindy annoyed, she swings around the whip make a loud crack. she swings around one more time and the whip suddenly tied around Sergei''s feet, she pulled.


    "..."


    BRAKKK!! Sergei fall down


    "Wow... I really like you girl... You''re one feisty girl..!!"


    Cindy smiles. Its been a while since she used it, her grandfather used to teach her when she was small. Alex wasn''t sure if a whip will be practical, but he really doesn''t want to argue with Cindy. The argument will be endless.


    "What about you, Sergei? What kind of weapon would you like to use?" asked Alex.


    Sergei stared at the weaponsid down on the table. ording to his bio, he was a wrestler who was an expert in sambo. A hand to handbat technique that used punching, kicking, elbowing, kneeing, headbutting, throwing, and gripping. After some time, he grabbed a pair of steel knuckles. It seemed fitting to him with his high stage mortal realm and abnormal strength that made his punches like a canon.


    Lastly, Alex asked Theo to choose a weapon. Alex knew Theo never liked violence, so the choosing process took quite some time. Nevertheless, Alex made it his personal goal to have Theo get used in handling weapons, so Theo''d be able to defend himself.


    Theo picked up an assault rifle and after firing a few rounds with good precision, he put it down while shaking his head.


    Since this was the first weapon Theo touched half-willingly, Alex stored a few assault rifles in his storage ring in case Theo needed themter. Alex also stored a machine gun, grenadeuncher, and a methrower. As for a closebat weapon, Theo was still stuck in choosing one. He truly had no preference.


    "What about a polearm?" Theo said. Before Alex had a chance to say yes, Theo shook his head and said, "Actually, nah. I''m not feeling it."


    Theo continued, "What about picking a weapon you think will be the best for me?"


    Alex thought about giving Theo the pickaxe as a joke when Theo suddenly said, "A pickaxe! really?"


    Alex''s eyes showed disbelief. He stared weirdly at Theo and said, "Bro, you did consume the spirit stones I gave you correctly? Are you feeling right in your head?"


    Theo fell into thought before saying, "Now that you''ve mentioned it, I am feeling a bit weird. I''ve been hearing things and can somewhat understand other people better. Thought I heard you saying pickaxe earlier, did you? Is this because of the stone''s power?"


    "Jackpot! If my assumption is right, then you''re one of the rare spirit enhancers, the psychic type," said Alex excitedly.


    In the modern world, psychics or people withtent mental power were usually referred to as Extrasensory Perception or ESPers for short. Some also called the ability as the sixth sense, an ability to im reception of information not through physical senses but with the mind. In fact, most people were already using it on a basic level called intuition. However, many people still mistook ESP ability with high perception, but the real difference between those who had high perception against people with ESP were dreams.


    Scientists had tried to find the connection between perceived reality and dreams countless times but still couldn''te to a conclusion. Hence, dreaming still remained as one of the greatest mysteries of the mind. Although most people dreamt, they usually forget about it because their level of using their sixth sense was low, unlike those with higher ability, they could remember it with greater details.


    It seemed that Theo was one of those lucky few called ESPers. Zhao Fan, the head of the Zhao China''s big four families, could be considered as the high-level psychic spirit enhancer.


    Alex hoped Theo truly was a psychic type spirit enhancer, and he couldn''t help but confirm what kind of specialty Theo had: telekic, telepathy, irvoyance or an even stronger one like Zhao Fan.


    Once the group was ready, Alex prepared two jeeps. Their first destination was the biggest city in the west, Nagara City.


    After Alex''s group had arrived, Jerry went out to give them a sitrep. Based on Jerry''s scouts that had been going around the city and the surrounding viges, he estimated there should be at least three-hundred-thousand zombies. He had sent out many smaller units from his two-thousand to rid the area of zombies, however, with only two-thousand survivors doing the job, the skirmishes had been difficult due to the presence of the red mutated zombies if it were only regr zombies, they would have cleared the area already ording to Jerry.


    With that settled, Alex''s high stage human realm team began the operation. Alex led the team using his two katanas; Jerry moved in with high speed using daggers; Rama''s ever-flowing spear thrusts and swings; Sergei''s explosive punches; Aria''s sharpshooting to cover; Theo firing an assault rifle and Cindy having fun with her handguns and whip. These seven people cut through waves of zombies with their main goal of annihting all red zombies. If the mutated ones were gone, the army could easily take over the city. And within just two days, they had taken back the city. The survivors of the city were either sent to the main base or moved to the west section survival post in Gilimanuk City.


    Alex left the defense of the west section to Lieutenant Rangga. He gave the lieutenant three tasks; the first task was to monitor themunication signal and protect the antenna; second was to create patrol groups to secure the smaller viges scattered in the west section; and third was to send a scout to swim across and check the situation in Bayuwangi City, the easternmost city of Java Ind about four kilometers away from Gilimanuk separated by the sea.


    Before Alex left, he also provided thirty spirit stones to the lieutenant for him to reward the most talented fighters, including himself.


    Alex''s group of seven fighters swept toward north hunting for more mutated zombies until they reached the biggest city on the east section, Ampura City.


    Lieutenant Russel was the person in charge of Ampura and reported the same thing to Alex. It took Alex''s group another two days to clear up rid the city of mutated zombies. And after making sure all remaining survivors had left the city, the Ampura was then abandoned.


    The lieutenant was then given a task to guard the eastern section of the Bay city and to prepare some survivors who would be sailors. Alex also provided a dozen spirit stones with the same purpose.


    Alex''s group then spent two days driving around the central section from one small vige to another targeting the red zombies while rying information about the main base and how imperative it was that they all should move there within the next three months.


    Finally, Alex found the time to go to a very important vige, it was the vige where Erick and little Vina lived. They headed toward the location and he was hoping to see some familiar faces, he had spent many months in the ce in his previous life after all.


    Erick''s family had saved him, especially little Vina who had stayed with him and became his surrogate daughter. However, as the two jeeps neared the vige, Alex''s heart raced to see arge ck smoke rising in the general direction of the vige.


    "No No Nooo!"

 Chapter 67 - Join Us

    Seeing the smoke from the distance, Alex became worried. He knew it was exactlying from Erick''s vige.


    "Just follow this road heading to that smoke," Alex told Jerry to continue driving. However, his fidgeting knees wouldn''t stop; he jumped out of the jeep and started running with his fastest speed through the forest.


    The vige was located in the middle of the mountain, it''d take the jeep a while to find its way through the forest.


    When he jumped, Aria followed suit. Alex didn''t mind because Aria had marksmanship as well as ranger training. Pathing through the woods was an essential skill for a sniper, they need to fully understand the terrain and be one with the surroundings. Hence, this was her speciality and the reason she was one of the Death Squads best scouts.


    Both of them were high stage mortal realm humans, they were supposed to have the same speed and strength but Aria still found it hard to keep up with Alex despite her ranger training..


    The steep and rocky terrain, along with thick brush, made it difficult for most people to even walk past this mountain. But for Alex, he knew these woods like the back of his hands. Also, rather than running, Alex was hopping between rocks and trees while Aria chased after him in amazement.


    So, in just five minutes, Alex reached the supposed location of the small vige. There should be around two dozen makeshift houses however, half had been burnt down. There should be around forty people too, but they weren''t in sight except for the few stragglers of zombies.


    Alex quickly disposed of them and begane checking each one of the houses. He found about a couple of human corpses around with bite marks on them. Alex then checked each corpse and recognized some of them, but he hadn''t found Eric or Eric''s family members among them. He let out a sigh of relief because there was still a chance they might have survived.


    After he had finished his investigation, he began to wonder what had happened to this vige. Was this a result of the butterfly effect he had created? Because, this remote vige should have not been attacked by zombies until the third month.


    A few minutester the two jeeps arrived. Together, they carried the human corpses, whatever was left of them, and dug a simple burial for the bodies. Theo then ended it with a prayer.


    Somehow, Alex felt responsible for this. Although he knew that humanity had eventually been wiped out after ten years in his previous life, and he shouldn''t be upset for every victim that would die after being reincarnated, it was because he had lived with these people that he took this one personally.


    The group gathered. Theo had graduated from medical school before he turned to his faith and became a priest. When he had taken a look at the bodies, he found out that most of these people died around 12 hours ago, not from zombies but by knives and bullets. Aria also mentioned that she had found two sets of tracks; one wasrge, about a dozen people, two days old; while the second was smaller tracks only about 12 hours old. Both of these tracks, however, went in the same direction. And since Alex was searching for the remaining vigers or any answers, this was the way.


    Cindy was outraged hearing Theo and Aria''s reports. "Humans did this?! Fucxxxx assholes!"


    Rama asked, "Should we follow then?"


    Alex didn''t answer, but everyone knew he was raging inside and what they should do next. Since the tracks went deeper in the forest, they couldn''t bring the jeeps. Alex asked Theo and Cindy to return to the base, but they refused. They wanted to see the culprit as well. Therefore, they hid the jeeps and pursed the tracks.


    Although everyone had reached the high stage mortal realm, Alex adapted with the group''s speed. Aria took the lead and the group followed not far behind her. It took them an hour to travel about four kilometers and the tracks disappeared at a five-star resort aptly named The Butterfly Hotel, one of the few famous hotel chains in Bali.


    This particr hotel was remotely located in Bali surrounded by mountains. It was said that many famous celebrities or political figures often stayed in this hotel.


    The group could see the hotel from a distance. Aria used her sniper scope and scouted the hotel.


    "What do you see?" Alex asked.


    "About a dozen guards, some using firearms. There should be more inside."


    He tried to be calm and think of the best strategy. First, he didn''t know what had happened to vigers. Until he knew better, he better hid his strength.


    Alex assigned Aria as the spotter with Sergei and Rama as her guards. As for Jerry, Alex needed his speed, a pair of hidden knives should be useful. Theo appeared harmless and Cindyˇ­ since she was an American, she would be their distraction. Alex was somewhat worried this mission was too dangerous for her. She was a girl after all.


    "You want me to act? Sure, I''m great at acting! I promise I won''t let you down. I''ll lead you on."


    Apparently, Alex worried for nothing. This definitely wasn''t your typical normal American girl or was it?


    Alex then ced all equipment in his storage ring. The four walked to the front gate.


    "Halooo... Thank God there are people here."


    "Can you help us? Do you have food? We can payˇ­"


    "Woah, woah! What''s with all the guns! We''re harmless!"


    Seeing the noisy blonde girl, the guard in the gate wasn''t what to do and called for his leader. Alex and the three were then frisked by the guard. They found a knife and one pistol, which Alex purposely let them find. It had been almost two weeks since Doomsday had started after all, so not holding weapons would bring more suspicion.


    A guy in his 40''s holding a big knife came out, inspected the weapons and seemed to be deliberating something. Alex could tell this guy wouldn''t hesitate to cut people if he had to. This could be the guy who killed all the vigersˇ­ wait better not be recklessˇ­ but before Alex was able to say somethingˇ­ Cindy shouted, "Who the fuxx are you? I demand to see your boss!"


    Alex became speechless. This girl was either fearless or just in stupid. He was about to take his weapon from the storage ring when...


    "Hahaha! Sorry, miss. My name is Anton, the head of security of this hotel. Please, follow me. I am sorry to say, however, that all weapons must stay here."


    It seems she could be brilliantˇ­


    or just luckyˇ­


    The group was led to the biggest vi and was asked to wait in the living room. The vi had tempered sses with a wonderful view of the hill and forest and arge balcony facing the courtyard. The four people sat on the couches but Alex was getting worried once more. He hadn''t seen any civilians, just the dozen guards.


    After a while, a short middle-aged guy wearing only shorts came into the living room with two beautiful womenaround his arms wearing swimming suits.


    "This is the estate owner Mr. Big," Anton said.


    "What is this now, Anton!"


    "..."


    "Wow! A foreign beauty! So, have the four of youe here to join?"


    "Join? What do you mean?" Cindy said.


    "To be part of ourmunity, of course. We''ll give you food and shelter ˇŞ you see Anton here? He and his crew are hired by yours truly. They''re an expensive bunch because they were international bodyguard services and only deal with AAA clients. They''re the best, so I can guarantee your safety in ourmunity against the zombies."


    "What do we have to do in return," Alex asked.


    "Nothing! We just need to work together," Mr. Big smile widely.Suddenly, a ruckus erupted in the courtyard. "Right about the time. Let me show how you''ll work with me."


    At least a few hundred people walked into the courtyard, but all of them were in a terrible condition. Some had visible injuries; some were being carried at their back.


    "Ohˇ­ There are some casualties today. What can I say? This is a very difficult era and going outside is very risky. Don''t you agree?"


    Alex focused his vision on the returning survivors, being a high stage mortal realm, his perceptions had been heightened so he could see further. He scanned the faces of each person, one by one. Until finally, he calmed down a little. He found Erick and his wife within the group.


    Mr. Big seemed to have noticed Alex''s little smile and mistook its meaning because he said, "It seems you like what you see? Are you going to join?"

 Chapter 68 - Peak Mortal Realm

    Alex had seen Erick, his wife and some other familiar faces, however, where were Erick''s children as well as other children? Questions about the burnt vige and killed vigers rose in Alex''s mind. These people were hiding something.


    He then gave a sign to Cindy and Mr. Big and Anton noticed it.


    "I''m the leader of this group. We actually have a simr base, and I think we can make a trade."


    Mr. Big was surprised hearing this. "I guess you must be like me. You''re one of those who believed that Doomsday videos, aren''t you? After I''ve watched those, I changed this resort into a survival base immediately. Then I hired Anton, the crew and bought many supplies.".


    So that was the butterfly effect, Alex thought. The butterfly effect was the idea that small things could have non-linear impacts on aplex system. The concept was imagined with a butterfly pping its wings and causing a typhoon.


    Alex''s reincarnation and actions changed the history he knew from his previous life. He knew of the risks but wasn''t regretful in doing it. So, Alex had still put out that viral message for he believed the more people knew about Doomsday, the better, because it would surely increase humanity''s survival rate even if there were many questionable survivors like this Mr. Big. It should still be better than no human survivors.


    "I think that in this new world, all humans should help each other and start rebuilding for the future. I noticed though there aren''t any children among your survivors. Where are they?"


    "We didn''t send those kids to work. We''re keeping them all safe here."


    Alex gave a look at Theo, and he nodded. Even though still in an early stage, Theo could feel if a man was telling the truth or not. At the least, this Mr. Big believed it to be the truth, so Alex needed to push this up a notch.


    "We''re building a bigmunity, so we need more people, preferablyˇ­ people with family. If not, then the kids that can still go with us. If I can have them in my base, that will be great."


    Mr. Big seemed puzzled. "Your requirement is quite weird. For me, those kids are useless."


    Anton cut in and said, "What do you have to trade with?"


    Alex noticed the situation was a bit odd. This Anton seemed to be more than what he had imed to be. Hence, Alex wanted to force his hand, and from what he had not all the guards were fully armed, it should be very hard to get guns in Indonesia after all.


    Alex walked to one side of the room, raised his finger and took out five assault rifle.


    "..."


    Except for Alex''s group, everyone in the room was shocked. The guns appeared out of nowhere after he had touched the ring. Mr. Big was shocked, but Alex noticed Anton''s reaction was quite different, lust appeared in his eyes.


    "I was very lucky in finding plenty of weaponry in an army base. So, what do you think? Are you interested in trading?"


    "Yes, yes, I am interested. What about that ring of yours, do you want to trade that one as well?" Mr. Big said, impressed.


    "The ring is not for trade. But if you let me see what I''ll have in exchangeˇ­ I might change my mind."


    Anton was suspicious and about to say something but his boss already walked out to the balcony and shouted, "Bring all the kids out! Let them see their parents!" Mr.Big turned to Alex and added, "Hahaha I guarantee you, we have plenty that you can choose from."


    Mr. Big thought they could find more workerster, but he needed more guns. Alex noticed Anton appeared a bit unhappy about this. But a momentter dozens of kids came out to the courtyard.


    Alex saw Vina and her younger brother running to Erick and his wife. With this, he felt much more rxed now.


    Mr. Big was a real businessman, he could tell Alex was much happier now. This was the best time to close the sale.


    "So, how many do you want and how do you want to trade for them?"


    Alex thought for a while and said, "I think we can make a trade. Everything can be negotiated of course but make sure these people won''t rebel or anything. Can I ask how you guys acquired them by the way?"


    "Don''t worry, they all came willingly to work with us."


    Alex looked at Theo again and surprisingly, Theo nodded. Alex found it hard to believe, so suddenly doubted Theo''s psychic ability. He couldn''t think of any other ways to be more direct to get the results he wanted.


    "Please answer me this, there''s a small vige called Kesut, four kilometers north of this hotel. The vige was burnt to the ground and its inhabitants were killed. Not by a zombie, but by humans. Was that your work?"


    One of the girls on Mr. Big''s arms suddenly seemed shocked. She shouted to Anton, "Is this true? You said you''ll leave them alone!"


    Anton ordered his guards to take the two girls away. Alex and his group was suddenly on guard.


    "What is this, Anton? What did you do?"


    Anton just smiled and said, "So this is why you guys came. I''ll tell you. Yes, it''s my work. Those useless people refused to join us, so we came back and took all their supplies. They won''t need it."


    Mr. Big said, "Guards!"


    Suddenly, half a dozen men came into the room.


    "Capture this guy! You dare to go against my order Anton? You''ll rot in the cell."


    "HAHAHAHA! You''re so stupid. Did you think they''d listen to you?"


    None of the guards moved. Mr. Big suddenly realized his stupidity. He had invited a tiger into his home and now, it turned to bite him.


    "You guys also can''t leave. I want that ring and everything in it. But first..." Anton grabbed Mr. Big''s neck and choked him in the air.


    "Squeek... that''ll be thest annoying word I''ll hear from your mouth."


    Alex gave a sign to Jerry and Jerry jumped forward to stop Anton.


    SWIISHHH!!!


    "..."


    The result wasn''t as Alex had expected. Anton had managed to dodge and hit Jerry with his elbow.


    "..."


    BAAAMM!!!


    The elbow hit Jerry, making him drop and kneeling on the floor. Jerry was a wind spirit enhancer, he could move faster than Alex. So, there was only one reason how Anton could react that fast.


    Peak Stage Mortal Realm!


    CRRAAKKK!


    Mr.Big''s neck didn''t just snap but his head almost fell off from the body. Anton threw the lifeless corpse like tossing a garbage.


    "HAHAHAHA! I knew it. You guys have also eaten the stones. This stupid boss of mine collected all those workers gave him, but gave all the spirit stones for me to safeguard. But I ate 20 of them. How many did you guys eat?"


    20 stones? It should only take 16 stones to reach peak stage mortal realm, but this guy''s just wasting stones, Alex thought. However, he wasn''t really worried. Alex opened his storage ring and took out a two-way radio. "Aria, take the shot."


    BANG!!!


    SSHHHTT...


    Aria pulled the trigger from a distance. And as a peak stage mortal realm, Anton could see the bullet, however, dodging it was a different matter. Fortunately for him, when the bullet hit the tempered ss, its speed slowed down and its trajection could be seen easier. Anton managed to barely dodge it.


    Although the element of surprise was gone and he might be able to dodge the second bullet, Anton didn''t want to risk it, so he moved away from the window.


    "With that distance, it''ll be hard to snipe this guy. Don''t worry too much Aria, actually I need some exercise. Just focus on the armed guards and save the people outside. As for the rest, take care of the others, leave this guy to me."


    Anton was outraged. "Shitt! How many people do you have with you? I swear, I''ll kill all of them!"


    BANG! BANG! BANG!


    Aria quickly sniped the armed guards. Rama and Sergei jumped out and tackled the other guard outside. Inside the vi, Alex threw Jerry his knives and Jerry quickly attacked the guards at the back of the room. Surprisingly, they weren''t easy to handle, Anton had probably given a few stones to some of his most trusted men as well.


    Alex also took out handguns for Cindy and Theo, not realizing a shadow had appeared behind him. He turned around but it was too fast, he couldn''t dodge it!


    BAAAAMMMM!!!


    Alex got tackled by Anton. It was such a heavy hit that Alex was pushed out from the second floor vi, through the thick sses and fell into the courtyard.


    Anton jumped out and followed him out. He took out his big knife facing Alex in a duel.


    Alex facing Anton.


    It was one against one.

 Chapter 69 - Muscle Memory

    The guards holding firearms were all disabled by Aria. It took Rama and Sergei a few minutes to take out the rest of the two dozen guards. The gun shootings and fighting made most civilians run into the hotel to find cover but some decided to stay. It seemed they really were mistreated or had suffered.


    All eyes were staring at the two people in the middle of the courtyard.


    Alex and Anton still hadn''t yet started the fight. Anton was checking the condition of his crew but it didn''t look good. It seemed like the fastest way to finish this is to kill their leader first. Looking at Alex, Anton''s eyes turned murderous.


    Alex then took out two katanas, one on each arm, and got ready to fight.


    AAARGGHH!!.


    Anton advanced, swinging his big knife with the speed and strength of a peak stage mortal realm. Alex knew their strength difference.


    Peak stage had twice the muscle strength and senses. Peak stage mortal realm could run twice faster than high stage mortal realm. They could run a 100-meter sprint in 6 seconds, hit twice as hard, twice the body resilience, see and hear better. However, this twice stronger wasn''t as easy as one plus one equals two. A peak stage mortal realm with the same weapon and ability could fight at least five of the high stage realm.


    Alex took a big breath, just like when he had fought against the 200 death squad soldiers. He used the breathing techniques that came with the Hexagram steps, making his body much lighter and movement faster.


    SLAASSSHHH!!


    Alex swayed back a little and the big knife just missed one centimeter from his nose.


    Anton moved forward, his big shoulder on the front, trying to do a body m.


    BAAMMM!!


    Although Alex got pushed 5 meters back, Anton looked as if he had just hit a pillow.


    Alex''s movement and breathing technique made him much lighter, he didn''t get hurt at all.


    Anton raged again. He quickly ran up to Alex again and did multiple swings of his knife.


    SLAASSHH!! SLAASSHH!! SLAASSHH!!


    Alex dodged them by coiling down and rolling to the front. He appeared behind Anton and shed with his katana, however, Anton was faster. Anton deflected Alex''s katana with his big knife.


    CRAACKK!!


    One of Alex''s katanas broke. Peak stage truly was a lot stronger. Alex then jumped back a few steps.


    Anton began to feel anxious, he almost got cut down by that Japanese sword from the back. "Who are you? You''re really strong and can keep up with my speed. How many white stones have you eaten yet?"


    "Six," Alex answered.


    "..." Anton then shouted, "YOU''RE LYING! How could that be? I''ve eaten more than six and definitely no one under the amount I ate is stronger!"


    Alex said with a smirk on his face, "Oh really? Then it''s probably not the stone. It''s you. You''re just a big idiot."


    "!!!"


    Anton became outraged and used all his strength to do a full power blow.


    SWWWISSHHH!!


    A step to the left and Alex rotated his body to the left, avoiding the big knife just a few millimeters away. He then held the katana with both hands and did a precise counter swing.


    SLASSHHH!!


    Alex''s de went through Anton''s neck, cutting off his head and then rolling on the ground. He was beheaded by Alex.


    "Like I''ve said, idiot... what a waste of spirit stone..."


    There was a reason why Alex didn''t hand out 16 stones to all of his people. It was because of muscle memory.


    The spirit stones enhanced a human''s physical body by pushing all its muscle into its maximum limit. The legs, arms, chest, ear, nose, eyes, bodily function, everything. But the muscle needed to adapt to its new strength. This was facilitated by increasing the number of muscle nuclei, aka myonuclei, within the muscle cells. Human muscles needed a form of procedural memory that involved consolidating a specific motor task into memory through repetition. With this process, it would decrease the need for attention and create maximum efficiency within the motor and memory system.


    By pushing the body to the limit without letting the muscle ''remember'' it would be like a man who normally raced using bikes suddenly took part in an F1 racing. He or she may have all the parts needed, however, they wouldn''t be able to control it to the fullest potential.


    In Anton''s case, this man hadn''t been able to fully use his peak stage mortal realm. And with Alex having ten yearsbat experience, a medium grade technique and messing with the guy''s psyche by taunting. Anton hadn''t had the chance to showcase his peak stage strength.


    Alex then gathered all the survivors. When he told them about the burnt vige, some of them suddenly started crying and probably thinking the same thing had happened to their vige as well.


    It looked Mr. Big truly had nothing to do with it. It was just Anton who had been doing things in the shadow and forced them to work by fear of safety or food. He was probably the one who had suggested separating them with their families or their rtives in order to control them.


    There were about 436 survivors in total, some decided to go back and check their viges even though Alex had discouraged them for it might still be dangerous. However, they didn''t fully trust Alex too for they didn''t know him.


    In the end, Alex didn''t force them but still told them about the base he had prepared on east Bali, near the Bay City. As for those who would be going to his base, Alex had called out a few trucks to transport all these people.


    Before they left, Alex went and checked Erick and his family. He approach Vina and said, "Hello, what''s your name?"


    "I am Vina."


    "Hi Vina nice to meet you, I have a little girl just like you. I bet the two of you can be good friends."


    "I am not a little girl, I am 12."


    "Yes, yes, you areˇ­"


    Alex smiled. Her little brother named Jayden was also the same age as Tiarra.


    He gave special attention and treatment to Erick''s family. Erick looked to have been injured because of an ident in today''s supply run. Alex gave Erick one of the stones so his injury would heal faster. Erick''s wife thanked him for what he had done and did to the family.


    For Alex, this whole situation brought him nostalgia. The memory that had happened 10 years ago. Although none of them had recognized him, deep down, Alex felt he had done his duty in saving another family.


    Alex then went to check around the hotel. They found mountains of supplies, mostly canned foods and dry foods. Mr. Big really was prepared. Alex roughly estimated that he had enough to feed about ten thousand people for months. So, Alex ordered the truck via radio to return and grab the rest.


    After one full day, all of the hotel''s supplies had been stripped off, even the beds and nkets. Nothing was left. This group of scavengers led by his wife were now professional home mover.


    Alex and the group ran back to the small vige Kesut. Found the jeep and went back together to the main base.

 Chapter 70 - More Food

    DDay +14


    Two weeks had passed since Doomsday had started.


    Alex''s group had just returned to the Star Base, and even though they had been away for only a week, so many things had changed.


    The Star Base was more crowded than before. Although the number of people matched with the smaller cities on Java Ind, the walls and limited space made it feel tight to walk around.


    <Star Base>


    Size: 115 hectares


    Poption: 98,464


    Guards: 5,000


    Administrators: 1,000


    Farmers: 20,578


    Children: 9,198.


    Elders: 5,411


    Construction Workers: 24,290


    Scavengers: 27,311


    Helpers: 9,321


    Chefs : 500


    Medics: 222


    Researchers: 12


    <Antiga City>


    Leader: Major Sandi


    Size: 45 hectares


    Poption: 59,255


    Fighters: 50,000


    Firearm Troops: 5,000


    Guards: 500


    Workers: 3,500


    Others: 225


    <Bay City>


    Leader: Lieutenant Russel


    Poption: 10,350


    Sailors: 6,500


    Guards: 500


    Workers: 3,250


    <Gilimanuk Post>


    Leader: Lieutenant Rangga


    Size: 311 hectares


    Guards: 2,000


    Workers: 1,219


    <Denpasar Post>


    Leader: Captain Donny


    Size: 171 hectares


    Guards: 2,500


    Workers: 1,088


    Within these two weeks, the majority of Bali survivors should already be within these four safe areas. The Denpasar survival post was the frontline, facing the hordes from the south section, the Gilimanuk city would be the post connecting to Java Ind, the Bay City and Antiga City which were only three kilometers apart from the army and navy base. Thest one was the main base, the Starbase.


    Construction wise, mostborers were still building the main base. There were about 190 warehouses built and another 110 more warehouses underway. The construction division focused their resources on building the big hall as the education center first as well as reassigned some workers in another post where the goal was to turn the city into a defense base. They mainly worked on walls, guard posts, and guard towers.


    Today, Alex called for a small meeting between his seven managers. The main agenda was food. With their main base''s current poption, Alex estimated the food storage would be emptied within three months, including the food supply Alex had confiscated from the hotel.


    Jane from the farming department reported that the first batch of potatoes would be avable in two months and for the second batch, which would be made in the expanded area would be ready in three months, that should add another four to five weeks of food supplies.


    Devita, Alex''s wife, mentioned that her scavenger division found new supplies and that should also add another few weeks.


    Overall, there were about more than 200,000 people staying in Bali right now. The food supplies for the next few months should be fine, but with the continuous arrival of survivors, the consumption rate would also increase.


    "How''s the animal research so far?" Alex asked Doctor Rachel.


    "Many domesticated animals had died from the gue and zombie attacks. Cows, sheep, pigs, ducks, chickens... you name it. The one that had survived, however, became extremely aggressive. There are some species of animals that have a higher survival rate, such as birds and fishes. However, there has been an increase in rats and cats sightings and some incidents involving them attacking. Another weird thing is that we can''t find any trace of insects at all, which is disturbing. But the most worrying thing is the animals'' behaviors. It''spletely off the chart. Currently, we''re still collecting more samples to get more urate findings."


    Alex already knew all of these findings in his previous life. In the next few weeks, the remaining humans would be facing these mutated animals and the rats and cats would be the first to mutate. Still, Alex was hoping these scientists could find a good reasoning behind it. Better yet, to domesticate some but if unable to, then kill them.


    "I think we''ll find the solution to our food shortage if we started fishing from the sea and hunting these animals."


    "Rats and cats?" The ex-governor Agung said.


    "Yes... let''s leave it to our team of chefs to be creative about it. The fighters would be the ones to hunt these animals, and the supply department would still be the ones handling the foraging and transport of carcasses. As for the fisheries, there should be another sub-department to take care of this. Jane, do you think you''d be interested in this? I''ve heard your aquaponics have made some progress, haven''t it?"


    "Right, currently, we have about three thousand fishes within the pond. I''m still coordinating with the research department if there are any abnormalities in fishes'' growth but if it goes smoothly, we should have ten thousand by three months. For other types of fishing... I''ll probably organize some river and inshore fishing but not sea fishing at the moment."


    Jane was then tasked to recruit a few hundred men with fishing experience to be fishermen. At first, she asked Alex if she could take from the farmers instead, but Alex believed the farmers already had a lot on their tes, so it''d be better not to multitask and prepare a whole new subdivision for fishermen.


    "I''ll leave you to handle the rest, Jane." Alex said. He turned to the rest and said, "Other than fishing, didn''t the north section have a chicken farm breeding the Cemani chickens? The ck ones? I believe this type of breed would''ve survived the gue, however they would''ve been more aggressive at the same time.


    "Major Sandi, please prepare some of the guards to help the scavengers. Tony, prepare some steel cages for the chickens. If there''re still some of them, hopefully, we''ll still be able to eat eggs for breakfast in the future.


    "Also, I need everyone to know that this mutated animal meat will be poprter once the supplies starting in. Since I''m nning to open a market soon, we''ll also need people to facilitate the trade markets."


    "What are we trading?" Devita asked.


    "Food coupons, luxury limited amenities like shampoo, toothpaste, soap anything at all. You can n the market, its ce, pricing, and target demographic. I think by one week we should have enough items and create a centralized market. So, make sure to task the scavengers to collect these items. Ah, speaking of which, Tony! Build the market area too as well, it''ll be the best if you can build it near the storage warehouse."


    "Okay, Alex," answered Tony.


    "How''s your luck with the vehicles," Alex asked Devita.


    "We''ve only managed to find a few older model vehicles, so far. As for the transporter ships, the mechanics have managed to restore two."


    "Great! Hopefully, they can get two or three more ships as soon as possible."


    There was nothing more the education division could prepare right now, school had already started. As for the administration department, as almost all people had already been listed, he would take a look at it soon.


    With that, the meeting had ended. Alex asked Dr. Rachel to stay behind before showing her the Amulet of the Sun. After two weeks, the amulet had created another pill. Alex then gave the shining pill to the doctor, and asked to research the pill and turn it into a medicine serum for multiple usageter. Alex ced high hopes in this project, and hopefully, the doctor could show some results soon.


    Alex''s next stop was to check how the fighter''s training were progressing. He drove to Antiga to check the fighters and also the Navy in the Bay City.

 Chapter 71 - Be The Very Best

    BRRAAKKK!!!!


    "Ouch!"


    A boy was thrown down by a man wearing a martial arts uniform. Currently, the boyy on the floor, head spinning, and his body aching. Many spectators were looking at him but the boy didn''t care as he tried very hard to stand up and ask for another round. "Again," he said.


    The man wearing the martial arts uniform was in his early twenties, but although the boy''s age wasn''t that far from this man, the strength difference between them was too far apart.


    The young man was smiling, seeing the boy''s high spirit.


    The boy finally stood up, started to form the pencak st defensive stance. He used the eight direction steps to move forward carefully before jumping forward with a kick.


    "Ciiiaattt!!!".


    His opponent blocked with two hands and followed up with a rising hip, roundhouse kick.


    BANG!


    The boy once again dropped to the ground. However, he gritted his teeth, gathered his strength and flipped himself and did a triple kick. The three kicks, unfortunately, were blocked then dodged and a counter fist arrived into his face.


    BANG!


    The boy fell t again. His eyes were closed from the sudden impact and his body was telling him to give up. But then, a beautiful face came into his mind. Then her beautiful voice and the words he vowed to never forget.


    "I believe in you, Barry," said the girl in his mind.


    Barry rose up shaking, and this time he rushed at the young man with a body m! His opponent, still smiling, only moved a little step to the left and pushed Barry''s shoulder softly, making Barry lose his bnce and fall again.


    "Enough! I like your fighting spirit but passion without using your brain will only get you killed!" The young man turned around and added to the fifty people around him, "Does everyone understand?"


    "Yes, Instructor Milo!"


    The young man was Milo, a young ck belt karate specialist. He was assigned to train this group of new fighters. Today''s lessons were sparring. His karate was good practice for the pencak st trainees in order to teach them how to adapt to a different kind of opponent.


    "Well done, Barry."


    "But I wasn''t even able to touch you, Mr. Milo..."


    "Don''t worry. With your spirit and enough practice, you''ll pass me one day."


    Barry''s eyes glimmered with hope. Milo, on the other hand, was worried that he might have given him a bit too much of a praise.


    Barry had joined the fighters group about a week ago. Although each day became harder than the next for everyone, the difficulty for Barry was much more because being in a state of love-struck. He really missed Cynthia.


    "Barry, I can see you''ve a real passion inbat. Whatever your motivation is, keep it up! That kind of motivation will make you survive the disaster better."


    "Yes, instructor."


    "Everyone, we''re going to the Curahee mountain again. 20 miles up 20 miles down. Let''s go!"


    The practice had always started and ended by running up and down the mountain while wearing the fullbat equipment: sword, shield, and spear. The main purpose wasn''t stamina, but to create discipline and bond between the squad.


    "One two One two One two One twoˇ­"


    Today was the tenth day of practice. Tomorrow, these new recruits would be divided into the regr fighters and the elite fighters group. The ten days of training included the basics of: martial arts, weaponbat, formations, and firearms. They were some sort of a test to pick the talented fighters so that they could focus on those who have an aptitude for fighting to train and treat better in the future. But of course, these talented ones would also be responsible for the more dangerous missions.


    The reason why Barry had been trying hard to be a part of the elite was to fulfill the wish of his dearly beloved. Only by bing an elite fighter would he be able to achieve Cynthia''s wish of him ''To be the very best''.


    While running through the mountains, Barry''s mind calcted his chance of getting epted in the elite fighters. All the new recruits had been given by each instructor a mark and he remembered his to be the following:


    Name: Barry Hans


    Age: 16


    Firearm skill: Average


    Formation understanding: Low


    Weaponbat: Average


    Hand to Handbat: Average


    "Ahhˇ­ too much average. This''ll be a problem. I don''t think I''ll get epted."


    While his mind was wandering through L Land, suddenly, Milo shouted! "Gather up! Defensive phnx formation!"


    The fighters drew their spears and shields; the first rank of fighters locked the shields together in a tight formation while the second rank of fighters stretched the spears overhead of the first ranks. The phnx, therefore, presented a shield wall and a mass of spears pointed at their enemy, making frontal assaults against it very difficult. The firearms were stationed at the very back, and as long as the defense held, the firearms would''ve no need to waste their bullets.


    "What happened?"


    "Smoke at the front, something ising"


    Not long after, the group saw it. A group of rats! At least one hundred of them!


    "Stay strong, men! We can defeat them!" Milo tried to calm the fighters.


    These new recruits either had limited or zero fighting experience, Milo thought that fighting against mutated rats would be the best practice to build their confidence.


    When a rat mutated, its body grew much bigger either the size of a dog or the size of a cat. The biting power of the mutated rat became more powerful as it could take out a chunk of the human body. They also ran faster and had harder skin. However, their main threat was their numbers, rats always hunted in groups like wolves packs.


    Stabbb


    Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!


    "Firee!"


    Dratatatatatatatta


    The situation wasn''t bad, the phnx formation was at best facing enemies from the front and the fighters were standing shoulder to shoulder that there was no opening, but suddenly, five mutated made their presence known at the back of the formation.


    An attack from behind was the phnx''s main weakness. Because once the phnx had been formed, the tight formation made it hard for people to move. So, back attacks could easily destroy the formation.


    The mutated cats no longer looked the small ones before Doomsday, they were more simr to tigers and lions, growing up to at least 300 kilos each. Although the five cats moved at a slow pace right now, when they strike, most normal humans wouldn''t be able to dodge. The ws and the teeth of these cats were terrifying.


    Milo quickly tried to think of a solution. He asked thirty fighters and people with firearms to stay in the phnx formation and asked twenty more men to form four squads using five-man formation.


    The five-man formation was the most basic squad for assault. The twenty people were all using sabers and each squad would handle one cat, while Milo would face the fifth cat.


    Barry was identally included in one of these five-man teams, in his mind, the cats were scarier than the rats, but on the other hand, this was the one chance he could prove himself.


    The five-man team was the easiest to learn and also the most effective in fighting an enemy stronger than one squad. When a member of the team was threatened, the other four would jump in and help. Unfortunately for Barry though, two of his teammates were shocked by the ferocity of the cat and suddenly froze up. His five man squad took a lot of effort to finally kill one cat, but because of the two, one of his teammates was heavily injured.


    He became enraged and rushed to help the other group.


    SWISH!! SLASH!!


    A few minutester, the situation was under control. Milo checked the condition of all of the squads, a dozen light wounded, four heavily wounded but no deaths. He was pleased with the result. When his eyes fell on the boy named Barry whose whole body was covered with blood and hand still trembling, holding his bloody saber. It left a good impression on Milo.


    The group checked out the mutated animals and found two spirit stones from the rats and one from the cats. The mutated animals had a much smaller chance to drop spirit stones. Milo then organized a transport to deliver the mutated animal bodies to the Starbase.


    Finally, the group returned to Antiga City. Before they separated, Milo approached Barry. "Well done Barry. The most important qualities to be in the elite fighters is courage."


    Milo gave Barry one of the spirit stones and a badge symbolizing his entree to the elite fighters group.


    Milo gave Barry one of the spirit stones and a badge symbolizing his entree to the elite fighters group...

 Chapter 72 - Special Unit

    Alex and his sixrades arrived at Antiga City, which was now a fighters training base. The reason why this location was chosen as the training base was because this city was strategically located between the Bay City and Star Base.


    Antiga provided ready built houses for the fighters to stay and enough erected walls for protection. The workers had diligently upgraded these walls in the past couple of days and they now also had watchtowers around the city. It was a simple small city with traditional Balinese houses and temples all over the ce.


    Before Doomsday, this city had around 50,000 inhabitants, which already made it crowded. And with the poption of fighters and workers reaching almost 60,000, the city had reached its optimal capacity so they had somerge tents set up as temporary amodation for the fighters..


    In the city''s outskirts, multiple training sessions were being held. Thousands of fighters keen to learn the art ofbat and although most had nobat experience, these people joined as fighters by choice for pretty much the same reason. They had lost their loved ones when Doomsday had started. Many were still traumatized, however, the physical training with the goal of fighting back either served as a therapy or maybe some sort of distraction from their misery.


    Around 5,000 people were chosen to be firearms specialists. They would receive a more focused shooting program taught by the army marksman experts. Most of these people were previous police officers, ex-army, animal poachers or experienced people in ying arcade shooting games.


    The remaining 50,000 fighters had a more diverse training. In order to train such big numbers effectively, trainingmittees were separated into ten divisions. Each division consisted of 100 instructors that handled 50 men each. So, in total 1,000 instructors were formed. Suddenly, almost all the special forces and army turned into temporary instructors.


    The following was the fast training course designed by Captain Farell, an Oxford graduate with a degree in Military Intelligence.


    10 Basic Training Session Within 10 Days


    1. Introductions to weapons and guns


    2. Basic spear and shieldbat


    3. Basic saberbat


    4. Weapons sparring test


    5. Formation training


    6. Basic outdoor survival


    7. Pencak st forms and movement techniques


    8. Pencak st art basic defense


    9. Pencak st art basic offense


    10. Hand-to-Hand sparring test


    The aim of these courses wasn''t to build up their stamina and physical strength, the spirit stones would handle that. Rather, it was a foundation to find talented fighters so they could transition smoothly to advanced training in ordance to their aptitude. And only those who had passed basic training could join advanced training. The instructors themselves could also choose up to five men from each unit to be rmended into the elite forces.


    The advanced training would ce the fighter into its real unit. They would train in realbat situations such as fighting zombies or mutated animals while still being guided by the instructors. Leadership and teamwork would also be built in the advanced training.


    Alex went inside themand center and met with Major Sandi, Mahaguru Indra, Colonel Jaka, Captain Farell, Commander Karra and a few of the instructors.


    "How many out of the 50,000 passed basic training?" Alex asked.


    "Barely half," Captain Farell said.


    "I see. That''s still a good conversation rate. These trainees were mostly civilians who had never handled a weapon before. Having half of them pass basic training in 10 days, I''ll consider that as good. Keep up the strict selection. And I don''t wish these survivors to die on the first day out. Repeated training will give them more confidence. If they still failed after their training, just tell them to join the workers group instead," Alex said. He then turned around and said, "How about the elite units?"


    "Out of the half that passed, we, the instructors, have chosen 3,000 elite fighters. These people are thebination of those who have experience in martial arts or have shown great promise in a particr field. We also enlisted somew enforcement officers," Captain Farell said.


    Major Sandi said, "We have a total of 320 special forces unitbined from death squads, Densus 88, Frogmandos and Red Barret. There are also 120 red belts from the Pencak St society."


    Alex thought for a while, there were 25,000 inexperienced fighters, 3,000 elite fighters, and 500 special fighters. He wondered if this number would be enough to help the survivors from the Java Inds. There were also 15 million peoplebined from the inds east of Bali.


    "Grandmaster, what do you think? Is it wise to send them to fight now? Are they ready?"


    Mahaguru Indra wasn''t sure how to answer. 10 days for him was too short of a time.


    Alex understood the Grandmaster''s concern. He thought if these people weren''t ready and he sent them to fight actual battles, one would wonder how many would return. On the other hand, however, if he sent them toote, millions more of people would survive. These people really needed to be ready for battle as soon as possible. Then, Alex thought of the fastest way to get them ready. Spirit stones.


    "How many spirit stones have we gathered so far?" Alex asked.


    "About 700," Colonel Jaka said.


    Alex himself had collected about 300 spirit stones. It wasn''t enough. And because this was the early stage of the Doomsday, there weren''t enough spirit stones around for everyone. The mutated rats and cats meat weren''t high-level mutated animals, so it''d take too long to get stronger by eating that meat.


    Still, Alex thought of a way, however, it was a very risky way to solve this problem. He wondered if it would be necessary, but considering what was at stake, Alex nevertheless decided to do it. He suggested a dangerous expedition to a vige called Ubud up in the mountain at the central section of Bali.


    He ranked the difficulty of this mission as very dangerous, so he also needed to be prepared. He checked out the new list of names provided by Benny and the list of special fighters, and fortunately, Alex recognized a few more spirit enhancers'' names from his previous life.


    Raisa, a famous beautiful Indonesian singer. She came to Bali for an end of year concert. This girl had the voice of an angel, making her a superstar. In fact, she was also a psychic spirit enhancer. Her singing could unconsciously mesmerize people''s hearts. Too bad she wasn''t one of those fighting types, at least not yet. Alex couldn''t bring her to a dangerous mission, not every girl was as strong as Aria or as crazy as Cindy.


    Oscar and Oliver, the Lightning Twins. Both were, in Alex''s previous life, deemed as few of strongest survivors from West Bali. They had never worked with anyone and were actually troublesome in his previous life. However, in this life, both of them moved to Star Base andter to Antiga. They had experience in fighting zombies, hence both were now high-rank mortal realm.


    Darius, a guy in his 40''s, was once a rich and well-known businessman in Bali, many of the locals, and even the government knew him. Unfortunately, he lost all his family and friends in the disaster. So, he became one of those survivors who crazily fought at the front looking for death, someone whom Alex could rte to in his past life. Darius also had already eaten a few spirit stones thesest few days from hunting mutated zombies. He was a spirit enhancer talented in gravity, and in the previous life he created and led the strongest survival group in Bali.


    Four more spirit enhancers, plus Jerry, Aria, Rama, Sergei, Theo, and Jane, Alex would have ten spirit enhancers in his base. There should still be some more, but Alex would only know after the Doomsday Pirs arrived.


    Excluding Raisa and Jane, Alex gathered the eight, including Cindy and four white sash ''pendekar'' from pencak st society.


    Alex gave each person enough spirit stones to reach the peak stage of the mortal realm and consume them immediately so they could digest it overnight and go out of Antiga the first thing in the morning for a very special mission.


    The next morning arrived and Alex chose a toon of ten squads with ten men each from the special forces to go with him. Everyone prepared their equipment, Alex stored some into his storage rings.


    Once everything was set, a total 114 men fully armed, got on ten APVs and drove to Ubud vige, a ce in the mountains surrounded by forest and well-known for its ''monkey forest''.

 Chapter 73 - Sacred Monkey Forest

    Ubud vige was a remote vige, but it was also a famous tourist attraction. Listed in the top 5 must-go ces on any travel destination websites, the vige was sat on the hills surrounded by forests and rivers. Many 5-stars hotels and vis, gift shops, restaurants, and temples.


    In conclusion, Ubud vige should be secure because of its location. There were supposed to be a lot of people here because of the tourists and locals, however, when the ten APVs arrived in the middle of the vige, what they found puzzled them.


    It was too quiet. There weren''t even any zombies except the ones following the APVs from outside the vige.


    The group stopped in front of the vige entrance and eliminated all the zombie stragglers before slowly driving around the vige. They checked some of the shops, houses but couldn''t find a single body. It took the group an hour to drive around the ghost vige which was supposed to have at least 50,000 people living here.


    The sacred monkey forest was a popr tourist attraction in the vige located just on its corner.. They drove toward it and found the wall all around the forest separating the forest and the city. The entrance was quite small, hence couldn''t be entered by vehicles.


    In front of the gates, there were big open fields and rows of dozens of two-story shops. There were supposed to be more than 700 monkeys living in this forest, but even up until in front of the forest, the group didn''t see any one of them. The APV stopped there and the group went into one of the buildings, which was supposed to be a two stories cafe.


    Alex gathered the group in front of a big table and started to discuss tactics. "The sacred monkey forest is 10 hectares big, but it''s connected to the jungles that run into the mountain. We came here to hunt the monkeys."


    "Really? Anyone here brought bananas?"


    "Hahahaha. Good one bro."


    The two who had just spoken were the 19-year-old twins Oscar and Oliver. They were troublemakers even before Doomsday, but their recent advancement to peak stage mortal realm made them even more undisciplined and arrogant.


    Alex didn''t really bother about it. Boys will be boys, they will soon understand.


    "Don''t get me wrong, we won''t find monkeys in there. They''ll look more like goris, even bigger, actually. A single bull won''t kill them. So, you probably need to shoot a dozen bullets in the critical parts of their bodies before they go down."


    In Alex''s previous life, the Bali survivors had explored this ce after the Doomsday Pirs had descended. Many from that group had reached Earth Realm, so not only were they stronger, but because of the pirs, they also had artifacts. However, even with such a group, they returned with casualties. If Alex didn''t move cautiously and prepared properly, his group could easily be wiped out by the mutated monkeys.


    Alex exined, "Going inside to fight the monkey in their forest is suicidal. We''ll need to lure them out.


    "We''ll strategically ce the APVs in these four locations outside the gate and ce mines in this location. The ten squads will form a defensive formation from inside the buildings.


    "These monkeys are smart, but they are still animals and will follow their instincts. If we bring thousands of troops guns zing inside, they''ll run to the jungle, and it''ll be harder to find them. This is our chance to clean up the threat early before they get stronger.


    "All 100 special forces will stay and guard here. Cindy and Theo, the two of you will also stay here too."


    "No! Let mee," Theo said. "Let me participate, once I''ve seen a sight of trouble I''ll run back, I promise."


    Alex saw the conviction in his best friend''s eyes. He needed to believe more in Theo and let him get stronger, so Alex agreed. Hopefully he wouldn''t regret this. As for Cindyˇ­ Alex didn''t even need to look at her because he knew she already put on her puppy eyes, so she could be included in the team.


    All 14 people went inside; Aria with her trusty sniper rifle, Jerry with his double knives, Sergei with a shotgun, Oscar and Oliver with double sabers, Darius with a sword and a shield, Rama and the four masters with spears andstly, Theo and Cindy with an assault rifle and a pistol. Including Alex, all of them had reached peak stage mortal realm.


    They went inside to lure out the monkeys.


    The park was heavily forested and hilly. A deep ravine ran through the park grounds, at the bottom of which merged into a rocky stream. Trails allowed visitors ess to many parts of the park, including the ravine and stream and the trees were so tall that it almost covered the sky. The smallest tree was at least one meter thick in diameter while thergest ones went up to five meters. Some of the trees here were probably at least 1,000 years old.


    The group walked a few hundred meters. And because they were at peak stage mortal realm, their perception had improved by arge margin. They already noticed some movement around them as well as the eyes staring at them. At least a few dozen monkeys had arrived.


    A few minutester, the group arrived at the end of the path leading to a temple named Zaith. The temple had a big human face with yellow eyes sitting at the entrance. There were also some snake statues next to it.


    "Whatever happens, it''s imperative to not enter the temple," Alex said to everyone, highly concerned about the thing lurking within the temple. "The monkeys are the guardians of the temples and we don''t want to fight both the guardian and what''s inside together.


    "Okay, this is it. Most of the monkeys should have noticed us and should be calcting our strength by asking more of their kinds to join the show. The more there''re of them, the more confident they are. We also need to anger them just enough so they''ll chase us out.


    "How about both of you boys like to contribute for this important task?"


    Alex then told Oscar and Oliver something, which only they could hear, and both of themughed. They walked to the corner of the temple and pissed on the wall.


    "..."


    GRRRRRR... GRRRRRR... OOH OOH OOH...


    A couple of the mutated monkeys showed up. The smallest was 1.5 meters tall while the biggest 2.5 meters tall. Their furs were grayish and silvery at the back. And they had long-tails, about two meters in length and diameter and thick. Their eyes were red in rage as they showed off their sharp teeth at the twins before jumping out to attack the two.


    The twins were prepared; they both took out their saber and quickly dodged to the side, one to the right, the other to the left, while shing in coordination the bigger mutated monkey.


    SWISHH!


    A peak stage mortal realm had their strength doubled. And because of that, the deep cut into the monkey''s hard skin anointed the sabers with dripping red blood. Howeverˇ­


    "WATCH OUT!!" Alex screamed.


    Although the mutated monkey was injured, it didn''t look affected at all. The big mutated monkey mmed Oscar, throwing him about three meters, while the other one grabbed and tackled Oliver down.


    These mutated monkeys were as strong and fast as them, shocking the whole group! Oscar, who had been thrown, saw this and suddenly regretted his carelessness and screamed help for his brother when...


    BANG!


    The mutated monkeys that grabbed Oliver had its brain''s spilled out. Aria had taken the shot.


    Alex also rushed up and quickly decapacitated the other monkey who was attacking Oscar from behind. That monkey''s head rolled.


    "I told you not to underestimate them! Hit the vital organs!"


    Suddenly, a few dozen monkeys walked out behind the trees. Everyone from the group took a defensive stance.


    "LOOK UPPP!!" Alex screamed.


    The group was shocked to see a few more dozen mutated monkeys, standing, hanging, and jumping down the trees. It was now raining monkeys...

 Chapter 74 - Second Stage

    Alex''s group was in trouble as they were cornered in front of the temple. A few dozen mutated monkeys were on the way while at least twenty monkeys were jumping down from the trees.


    Somehow, within such a short window, Aria had still managed to aim at the falling monkeys and shot three of them in the head. Theo had also tried to follow up using the M16 assault rifle.


    DARARATATATTATA...


    The bullets injured the monkeys a bit, but they still charged at the group.


    M16 assault rifles were the most widely used automatic rifle. It used 5.56 rounds, each around 55 grains and the cartridge had light recoil.. It was the best for beginners as it could shoot faster and more urately. However, it came with a low stopping power, so the bullets had only stopped the mutated monkeys only for a moment.


    Aria''s AWP sniper rifle, on the other hand, came with 308 bullets. It weighed 208 grains, had moderate recoil and high stopping power. These bullets were able to pierce the monsters'' tough skin. And if the bullets hit the critical area, it could turn into an instant kill.


    Out of the twenty mutated monkeys that dropped from the trees, Aria had killed three of them, Theo had managed to hurt and stopped four of them, and Rama had thrown his steel spear, skewering two at the same time. Rama was worthy of his peak stage mortal realm strength and perception. The others could only wait for these monsters to drop to the ground, but surprisingly...


    SPPLLATTT!!!


    A fastshing object managed to throw sevenof these apes a few meters away. It was Cindy with her 3-meter bullwhip. Thanks to hershes, only four monkeys were able to reach the closebat distance range. And because of that, these four monkeys were easily dismembered by the focus fire of the others.


    Cindy was ecstatic for she gleefully shouted at Alex, "Did you see that! I did that, I did good right!"


    "Watch out! Keep your focus!" Alex couldn''t tell if having her in the team was a blessing or a curse.


    Alex knew the level of these mutated animals from his previous life. Later, once the scanner was avable in the Doomsday Pirs, people would be able to tell the monsters'' strength level. Rats and cats were low-level beasts, about levels 10-15. Red mutated zombies were level 15-20 and these mutated monkeys were about level 25-30. Some mutated monkeys could even reach the peak of stage one mutation. Hence, fighting unarmed and without any techniques or weapon, a peak stage mortal realm might not win in a one on one with these apes.


    Now, the fourteen peak stage mortal realms humans weren''t just fighting hundreds of these peak stage one monsters, they were fighting the monkeys in their habitat.


    These mutated monkeys weren''t easy to fight because of their species too. They were the long-tailed macaque. These monkeys jumped from tree to tree using its arm and tail.


    Jerry found it very hard to kill them, his daggers also were ineffective against them. A direct stab on the torso didn''t do much damage even if he cut their arms! The monkeys could still fight. Hence, Jerry needed to stab soft critical parts; either the eyes, neck or groin to kill them.


    "My saber broke!" Darius shouted and Oscar threw him one of his own.


    Currently, normal weapons weren''t durable enough to be handled by a peak mortal realm and use them against the mutated monkeys'' hardened bodies. The weapons would chip, bend, or even break after a few cuts.


    Sergei''s M4 semi-automatic shotgun with its 12-gauge shells, however, was extremely effective. Unfortunately, it only held six shots, and once those were used up, the monkeys charged at him, forcing him to use it as a bat to hit therger monkeys.


    Aria had already shot twelve bullets. She tried to change the clip before the beasts closed in.


    As for Alex, he saw more monkeys than trees were closing in. About a hundred were starting to converge in their location either on the ground or from the trees. The situation had be critical.


    "Gather up!"


    The group made a small circle formation. Rama and the four masters covered five directions using their spears and shields, holding a defensive formation. Although Alex had made the others reach peak stage mortal realm, he could see his group were bing anxious at the sight of hundreds of monkeys heading toward them.


    Fortunately, the sudden defensive formation made the monkeys'' advances stop.


    "Everyone stop attacking!" Alex shouted.


    Alex slowly walked out of the circle formation, raised his two katanas, and stared at the monkeys before kneeling and dropping his weapons on the floor.


    "Are you sure about this?" Jerry asked.


    "Yes. We need to take the risk, follow me."


    The others were hesitant, but they trusted Alex so all dropped their weapons as well.


    Alex recalled his own experience of fighting against these monkeys in his previous life. And even after reincarnation, these mutated monkeys still followed their basic animal instincts aside from being smart. Alex understood this from the fact that these monkeys had hid on the trees and hadn''t attacked from the front because of their calctive nature. They wouldn''t suddenly attack until they felt they were the dominant power.


    What Alex had done and the others was in fact an act of surrender, which slightly diffused the monkeys'' aggression.


    One of the mutated monkeys cautiously moved closer while acting in a way that it thought intimidating. Since Alex and the others kept the submissive act, the mutated monkey eventually believed he was in full control of the situation. And finally, what Alex had been waiting for revealed itself.


    Within the seas of grey mutated monkeys, an all-silver furred monkey showed up. This was a second stage mutated animal. The first second stage Alex had ever seen since this Doomsday started. He remembered that this one should be at least a level 40 mutated animal.


    This Silver Mutated Monkey obviously was their leader. Even though its physical size wasn''t much bigger than the grey monkeys, everyone could see its iron-like muscles, sharp fur, and viscous eyes.


    Slowly, it walked closer to Alex.


    GRRRRR... GRRRRR... OOH...OOH


    Once it had entered the range Alex desired, he suddenly said, "You are one stinky monkey!"


    Alex raised his finger and took out his trump card from his storage rings. The medium grade golem. The three-meter ck golem suddenly materialized behind the silver monkey, raised both arms and then mmed it with full strength.


    BAMMMM!!!


    The dust settled and the second stage silver monkey was now lying down in the ground. And before it even had the chance to stand up, the golem pounded the monkey''s back with its rockyrge foot. The golem quickly snatched the monkey''s arm, rock foot still on the monkey''s back, and then pulled!


    The silver monkey shrieked in pain until a solid crunching sound entered the ears of all the onlookersˇ­


    SPLATTSS...


    Both the silver monkeys'' arms were forcibly removed and its blood decorated the ground. The golem, however, wasn''t done as it raised itsrge rock feet once more and mmed it on the monkey''s head.


    CRAAAKK...


    The whole thing took only less than five seconds. It wasn''t because the second stage monkey was weak, rather the golem was too strong. Before they had entered this forest, Alex had filled the power gauge of the golem to 100% capacity, which had cost him almost 200 spirit stones.


    This golem was a rank two, a medium grade artifact. Because of its full capacity, it had the same strength as a peak earth realm human or a peak second stage animal. The sudden ambush and the golem''s greater strength made short work of the mutated silver monkey.


    OOH... OOH... OOH... OOH... OOH... GRRRR...


    The hundreds of mutated monkeys turned into madness, the whole forest seemed to shout. The group quickly picked up their weapons, and Alex took out another item from his storage ring. It was a re. He lit the re and threw it into a pool of liquid on the ground, the ck liquid then turned into a zing fire spreading like a fiery dragon all the way to the forest''s entrance. A path had opened up.


    When the group had entered the forest, Alex had been sneakily pouring gasoline starting from the entrance. They actually had this in n in case the situation became too much for them to handle. It came in handy for they could easily find the way back and it also seeded in scaring the monkey, making them open up a path.


    "Now! All move at full speed!"


    The whole group followed the fire trail, a peak mortal realm could sprint 100 meters in 6 seconds, at full spee, it only took them 40 seconds to arrive at the entrance. Since the monkeys had lost their leader, the chasing monkeys became reckless and rash.


    Mission aplished... Monkey killing time...

 Chapter 75 - War Of The Apes

    The fourteen people in Alex''s group sprinted toward the forest''s entrance. Not far behind them were the enraged shrieking and rumbling of hundreds of mutated monkeys.


    The group managed to pass the gates, none were left behind. After the ticketing booth, they reached the gathering area that had y paved bricks. Cindy, however, suddenly stumbled and fell because of the constant enraged screaming from behind the monkeys.


    Although everyone was a peak stage mortal realm expert and could run even faster than Usain Bolt, Cindy still was the slowest, so she was thest person to reach the gate. She was the only person who wasn''t a spirit enhancer. And now she had fallen, she was in such a huge problem.


    "Seriously, a peak mortal realm, would die because of a misstep?" Alex was bewildered. He turned around and the sea of apes enclosing Cindy just a few meters behind. Alex grabbed and carried her in one of his arms, and used the other arm to sh the closest monkey..


    SLAASSHHHH!!


    "You came back for me..." Cindy''s eyes were glimmering with gratitude.


    "..."


    One of the bigger sized monkeys charged at them. Alex executed his breathing technique and used the monkey''s body as a foothold to jump back to the group.


    More mutated monkeys jumped out of the forest, they didn''t even look around and kept chasing the group. After the paved area, next was the parking lot. Alex and the rest hopped on the abandoned cars and continued to the main road until they halted in front of a row of two storey shop buildings.


    The ten APVs were ced strategically facing the forest gate. This was the spot they needed to be. As they turned around, they saw hundreds of monkeysing in waves jumping out of the forest, which was about two hundred meters away.


    The War of the Apes was about to start.


    Alex, the golem and the thirteen peak experts, waited outside. About a hundred special forces squad had their weapons ready by the windows of the second floor in several shops, except the one squad operating the APV.


    Before the actual battle would start, Alex had nned to thin the numbers of these monkeys. To do that, he had the special force prepare proximity mines all around the paved area in front of the gates.


    "Hold, steady. We need to drag more monkeys out of the forest." Alex watched hundreds of ferocious monkeys and noticed the others bing nervous. He suddenly asked, "What do you call a monkey in a minefield?"


    The group was startled hearing Alex making jokes in such a dangerous situation.


    He, however, just smiled, took out a proximity switch just before he pressed it, he said, "A Baboom! Did you get it? Hahaha!"


    KLICK!


    KAABOOOMM!!... KAABOOOMM!!... KAABOOOMM!!... KAABOOOMM!!...


    Multiple small explosions all sted at the same time! The explosion took down at least one hundred of them; it also separated the hundreds of monkeys at the front with the hundreds at the back who were mostly injured. The monkeys in front turned around only to see the rising fire on the gate. They stood there confused.


    "This is it! OPEN FIRE!"


    DRATATATATATTATAT... DRATATATATATTATAT... DRATATATATATTATAT...


    Half a dozen snipers with .308 bullets and dozens of AK47 with 7.62mm cartridges, rain bullets that had enough firepower to prate the mutated monkey bodies. But, of course, the main course was the 12.7mm Machine Gun installed on top of the Armoured Personnel Vehicles.


    NSV heavy machine gun


    Mass: 25 kg + 11 kg (50-round belt)


    Length: 1,560 mm


    Cartridge: 12.7ˇÁ108mm


    Rate of fire: 700¨C800 rounds/min


    Muzzle velocity: 845 m/s


    Effective firing range: 1500 m vs. air 2000 m vs. ground targets


    Feed system: 50-round belt


    BRATATATATTATATATTATATATTATATATATATAATTATATTATA.....


    Ten APVs; ten machine guns zed through the seas of mutated monkeys. The 12.7ˇÁ108mm made bullet holes on the monkeys bodies, tearing them apart, for they couldn''t resist the firepower that could destroy unarmored vehicles and prate lightly armored vehicles.


    It took a few seconds before some mutated monkeys to understand the situation and decided to group and charge the APVs. But this was what Alex''s thirteen people of peak stage mortal realm experts as well as the hundred of special forces standing on the second floor of the shops were waiting for. They stopped and killed all the apes that closed in on the vehicles.


    BANG!! BANG!! BANG!!


    Aria had joined the group of half a dozen snipers, shooting from the windows of the buildings and every bulleting out of her sniper''s muzzlended a critical shot. She had changed her bullets to the bigger sized 50.cal cartridges. It was much heavier, had huge recoil, and wasn''t usually used by women because the uracy decreased by a lot. However, this didn''t apply to Aria... One bullet, multiple headshots.


    The rest of the group separated to guard the ten APVs in four corners.


    The twins and Rama were guarding one corner, Sergei with the two spear masters, Darius with the other two. Jerry, Cindy, and Theo guarded thest one. Alex and the golem roamed around helping which group needed assistance the most.


    It was a solid n, but after the fire from the explosion dwindled, more monkeys jumped out of the forest, making it seem endless.


    After a few minutes, the group was starting to feel the pressure. Cindy randomlyshed her whip, which was effective in sweeping multiple targets, but itcked killing capabilities. Theo, however, surprisingly started to get used to using the pickaxe, it really was one of the most effective weapons for a beginner. And in this group, still, Jerry was the main powerhouse. His knives seemed to gain some mysterious power that felt sharper in each sh..


    Darius broke another saber and started to fight by bashing his steel shield. One of the spear masters broke his spear and got thrown to the back by a monkey. When the spear masters'' defense formation broke, a monkey managed to jump inside and bit one of them, making the blood-soaked ground bloodier. This group''s APV was parked in the corner, so it got the most pressure.


    "ARRRGHHH!!!"


    "Get down!"


    Darius shouted and darted forward with his shield at full power and crushed the monkey''s head, saving the life of the spear master. When they both got up, however, several other mutated monkeys were already on top of the APV.


    "Abandon the vehicles!" Alex said.


    The two soldiers inside ran out of the APV''s back door with assault rifles zing at the monkeys. As they moved inside one of the buildings, the monkeys managed to break the machine gun on top of the APV.


    Alex was upset seeing one of their few vehicles broken, but at least his men were safe. The golem saved Darius and the other two and they all were guarding in front of one of the building''s doors.


    Before he lost all of the APVs, Alex ordered the grenadeunchers attached in the APVs to fire.


    STK 40 AGL (Automatic Grenade Launcher)


    Mass: 33 kg


    Length: 966 mm


    Cartridge: 40x53mm grenade


    Rate of fire: 350-500 round/min


    Maximum firing range: 2,200 m


    "FIRE"


    SHHHH... SHHHH... SHHHH...


    KAABOOMM!! KAABOOMM!! KAABOOMM!!


    A few dozen more apes died. There were less than two hundred mutated monkeys left. Alex wasn''t satisfied, so he ordered another round.


    SHHHH... SHHHH...


    KAABOOMM!! KAABOOMM!!


    Thest APV got distracted by the monkeys before shooting its grenade, so it shot in the wrong trajectory. It aimed too far.


    SHHHHHHHHHH...


    Looking at the grenade trajectory Alex heart suddenly stopped a beat...


    KABOOOMM!!


    Alex heard the sound of rumbling structures from a distance.


    "WTF!!! Oooo SHIT!!!... No...No...No!"


    "What''s the matter?" Jerry asked.


    Rumble rumble rumble... whrrr... whirr... whrrr


    The mutated monkeys turned tails and started to run away.


    CRRRAACKKK!! CRRRAACCKKKK


    From a distance, Alex could hear the sound of trees falling. Something huge wasing out of the forest.


    "We should leave, now!! Fuxxx we won''t make it!"


    The group instinctively sensed something from deep within the forest, they saw three pairs of big yellow eyes staring from the shadow of the forest and heard a loud hissing.


    SSSSSSSS... SSSSSSS... SSSSSSSS...


    Then, three huge green scaled skin creatures slithered out of the forest and they were all stage two mutated beasts.

 Chapter 76 - Rattle The Cage

    The group was now facing a much more dangerous threat. These three monstrous beasts that crawled the ground. These fifteen-meter slender serpents slithered silently, their dark green scales shimmered in the sunlight as their tongues asionally flicked out to taste the fear in the air showing their fourrge fangs.


    The three monsters were the mutated reticted pythons. Even before the mutation, these types of pythons were considered the thirdrgest snake in the world. The reticted python was among the few snakes that preyed on humans. Attacks on humans weren''t frequent, but this species had been responsible for several reported human fatalities, both in the wild and captivity.


    In Doomsday, even a harmless cat could be a threat after mutation; Pythons mutated into second stage animals, even more so. The three snakes looked outraged with their yellow eyes; it seemed that the explosion had rattled their cage hard.


    The slimy bodies started smashing everything within their path, the trees, the gates, the abandoned cars, even the mutated monkeys near there.


    BAAAMMMM!!!.


    One smash from the tail and a row of huge mutated monkeys were crushed on the ground, sttering blood everywhere.


    The simple action from the snake shocked everyone. First stage beasts were iparable to the second stage beasts because of the significant jump in power. The pythons advanced.


    The group now had to face these three monsters, including a hundred plus mutated monkeys.


    The peak stage fighters still somewhat held up, repelling the aggressive monkeys. Sergei, who looked to be the most injured, was arm-wrestling with three of them. Luckily, he had the most robust body among them. If it were anyone else, they would have been lying on the ground in pain.


    "Get off!! You damned monkeys!" Sergei smacked one of the monkeys and crushed its head with his steel knuckle.


    The twins were still fighting recklessly and should''ve been injured or dead a long time ago if Aria and the snipers hadn''t helped. As for the rest of others, there was no group who had it any better. They were all still upied with the apes, and now with the snakes about to join the fight, this could turn into a real disaster.


    Alex quickly calcted the situation; he had never nned to attack the snakeir. If he had, he would''ve brought more firepower or wouldeter when he and the rest had evolved to earth realm.


    Alex knew what exactly was the extent of these snakes'' strengths; they were at least level 40. His golem could defeat one in a one on one fight and might even hold two at the same time, but Alex knew their had more than three snakes. He remembered in his previous life that there were six of them and one of them was a mother snake. For Alex, this was pure mathematics.


    "Everyone retreat!!!"


    There only had eight APVs left; it wouldn''t be enough to fill everyone, so Alex came up with a n that included his peak stage experts, which might give them a chance to outrun these abominations. What he was worried about were the special forces squads.


    Alex sent his golem to distract the three snakes, the golem jumped forward and punched down one of the snakes.


    BAAAMMM!!!


    The strong smash made the snake drop t to the ground, the golem continued the attack by grabbing one of the abandoned cars and mming it against the grounded snake.


    BAAAMMM!!! BAAAMMM!!


    The car exploded into pieces after one m but that killed the snake. Alex felt a bit regretful he didn''t have any weapon for the golem to use. He couldn''t make one as well since none of the conventional human weapons would be strong enough to be used by the golem.


    The other two snakes slithered past the golem and the golem managed to snatch the tail of one snake. However, that snake suddenly coiled around the golem, strangling it. Because of that, the third snake managed to pass the golem and head for the group.


    When Rama noticed the snakeing, he focused all of his inner strength into the tip of his steel spear. Pulling back, he let out a powerful spear that rotated countless times in mid air heading for the snake which had been strangling the golem. This technique would create higher pration power to the opponent''s defense.


    PA!!!!!


    The spear hit the snake''s left eye, it loosened its coil, allowing the golem to escape. Aria, still using the .50 cal cartridges, and always aware of the situation, prepared her next shot. This time, her target was that snake''s right eye.


    BANG! It hit perfectly.


    Now the second snake had be blind and in pain, it thrashed around. Everyone, without discussing, decided simultaneously to keep their distance and focus on the third snake, who had raised itself and closest to them.


    On the other side, BRATATATATATATA...


    The APV''s 12.7mm machine gun bullets were able to hurt the snake, but it wasn''t able to pierce it. It only made the third snake mad. These bullets couldn''t stop the snake''s advance to one of the APVs. Alex quickly took out an RPG grenadeuncher from his storage ring and aimed at the approaching snake.


    SHHHTTT...


    CLANKK!!!


    Unfortunately, the snake noticed it and was able to deflect the grenade with its huge tail.


    KABOOMMM!!...


    The grenade exploded on the side where more cars were parked. The snakes then pounced on one of the APVs and coiled around it. Unfortunately, two special forces squads, who were still inside the vehicles, were unable to get out and got crushed inside.


    "..."


    If only the grenade had hit, Alex thought. He hated to lose his strongest fighters, but this was the path Alex had chosen. Gains came together with the risks. But still, Alex was outraged. He shot another grenade at the snake.


    KABOOMMM!


    This time it was a hit. The grenade blew up near its head, burning its green scales, which was also spurting out blood at the point of impact. Alex shot two more grenades on the same spot.


    KABOOMMM!!... KABOOMM!!!...


    Both had preciselynded on the same spot, and finally, a hole appeared in its head, showing its insides. The python wiggled weakly, losing its energy, before stoppingpletely and crashing on the ground. One snake down, two more to go.


    Seeing one snake blinded, another dead, and just a few dozen mutated monkeys left, Alex thought, this was the chance. Alex told the rest of the squads to fill the remaining APVs and go. There was nothing much they could do anyway.


    "Go! Go! Go!"


    The vehicles had a capacity of thirteen men. But because they were less APVs, they were forcedto cram in more than the APVs should handle. Still, Alex needed them to get away from this location, so when things turned south, he only needed to worry about the peak experts. The APVs drove in full speed, exiting the area and still firing its machine gun when suddenly another huge figure came out of the forest, crashing with one of the APVs.


    "..."


    BANNNGGGG!!!


    The Armored Personnel Vehicle, weighing 16.5 tonnes, easily got thrown away, flipping a few times on the ground. The thing that had crashed into it wasn''t an ordinary beast.


    "FUXXXXX!"


    Seeing another APV full of special forces soldiers destroyed, Alex was in distress. There might be survivors left in those vehicles, but what Alex was more afraid of was now in front of them. It was the mutated mother python. Almost twice the size of the mutated reticted pythons, and a high stage second stage mutated animal.

 Chapter 77 - Fierce Battle

    The battle in front of the monkey forest was reaching its climax. It had only been thirty minutes passed since the group had run out of the monkey forest but the streets, the battlezone, looked like it had gone through war.


    The ground was littered with different bullet casting, at least tens of thousands of them. Hundreds of grey fur bodies of the monkeys also filled most of the street and even massive craters that had been created by explosions.


    Three out of ten APVs had been destroyed. These APVs were Alex''s treasures. Half a dozen of these APVs had made Alex''s army of special forces defend the airport for hours all the while eliminating ten of thousands of zombies. Hence, looking at these wreckages made him upset but even more so at the thought of his special forces people being dead.


    Out of the hundred special soldiers that Alex had brought, two were confirmed killed and about fourteen special soldiers inside the APVs that had been thrashed by the mother python. Alex hoped that most of them were still alive.


    Suddenly, from the crashed APV, a figure just crawled out of the back..


    "Thank God, there are still survivors," Alex muttered.


    These groups of special soldiers had reached the high stage mortal realm. Most of these people should''ve survived the crash, he thought. And luck would have it, two more figures struggled out of the APV.


    But thenˇ­ When the first soldier stood, the pair of big yellow eyes took notice and stared at him from a few meters away. The soldier didn''t even have the chance to pick up his weaponˇŞ


    "SSSsssssssssss"


    With its tongue flickering, the monstrous beast swiftly pounced and gobbled the poor soldier like a snack. The soldier next to him froze in shock. After devouring its prey, the mother python''s yellow eyes stared at its next victim.


    Without orders from Alex, one of the APVs pushed the break and all the soldiers came out of the vehicles and rained bullets at the beast with their AK-47 assault rifles 7.62 bullets, AWP snipers .308 bullets and even therge-caliber APV heavy machine gun bullets that could even tear through an armored vehicle bombarded the body of the monstrous python, making sparks fly off as the shots were repelled. The bullets had no way of even leaving a mark on this green scaled beast.


    "Damn! None of those bullets are working," cursed Alex, staring at how tough the snake''s scales were.


    The snake had an extremely abnormal defense and Alex thought that only his twin gun autocannon 20mm cartridges would be able to hurt it.


    The rain of bullets didn''t hurt the beast at all; the snake wasn''t even bothered by it. After it finished swallowing the first soldier, it took the time and slowly moved to the second unfortunate soldier.


    "..."


    Sssssssssˇ­ gulpedˇ­


    Underneath the crashed APV, there were still a few moving soldiers who were struggling to get out, but the snake no longer mind them as it decided to slither toward the fourteen fresh targets that were firing at her.


    Alex couldn''t let that happen, so he took out the grenadeuncher and fired it at the huge python.


    SSHHHH!!! Kabooommm!!!


    The smoke cleared, and just what he had thought, it didn''t even leave a mark, but at least he managed to get her attention. Alex shouted, "OIII!!! YOU BIG FAT UGLY LAD LOOK AT THIS! Everyone watch out!!!"


    Alex shot hisst couple of grenades from the grenadeuncher at the two smaller mutated snakes.


    KABOOMM!! KABOOOMM!! KABOOOMM!! KABOOOMM!!


    The grenadeuncher''s bullets flew slowly. Normally, any type of stage two beasts would''ve been able to dodge it but the previous snake that Alex killed had been taken by surprise. So, the first snake was able to deflect the grenade, however, the second snake was blind. Because of that, it took a direct hit from the grenade and then dropped dead on the ground.


    The mother python let out furious hiss and crawled as fast as it could after Alex, ignoring the fourteen soldiers.


    This was a high-level stage two beast, Alex knew he wouldn''t stand a chance against the monster in a direct battle and even more so with just himself. So, he ordered the golem telepathically toe with him and run into a nearby forest while trusting his men to handle thest mutated snake and dozens of monkeys by themselves.


    The snakes moved faster than him; Alex used the breathing and movement techniques to run as fast as he could. The mother python''srge body was slightly slowed down by the forest trees, but Alex used that to his advantage and hopped from one tree to another. Alex kept his focus up and checked his surroundings, worried that the other three snakes would ambush him.


    Seeing Alex run inside the forest chased by the big snake, Aria became worried even though she understood Alex had done that for the safety of everyone. She wanted to run after him but she knew that the best way to help Alex was to finish thisst mutated python and the rest of the monkeys first.


    As a sniper, she had a better understanding of the situation; she tookmand of the team and ordered the rest of the soldiers in the APVs to kill the remaining monkeys nearest to them before assisting the others. Theo and Cindy, being not much of a greatbat experts, helped the soldiers against the monkeys.


    The rest of Alex''s personal group fought against thest snake. However, the battle with the stage two beast was much more difficult without the golem''s help.


    Jerry was in charge of distracting it by his high speed, and he was the only person who could do it because of his speed. His knives, however, weren''t useful in this situation.


    Rama and his four spear masters jumped in together charging at the beast, but even the full steel spears with their full power behind the spears were unable to pierce its body. A simple sway from its huge tail and two spearmen got hit, they had managed to block it with their spears but were still thrown away a dozen meters before turning unconscious, if they hadn''t their injuries would''ve be more fatal.


    Another swing of the snake''s tail, Darius, who was holding another saber, managed to evade it and jump on top of the snake''s head. He put all his strength to stab its skull but thenˇ­ CLANK! The sword broke! He became upset for that was his third sword today. And because of the momentary distraction, the snake managed to shake Darius away from its head, throwing him dozens of meters.


    It was now the twins'' turn. They fired an AK-47 and hit the snake''s head, which seemed to hurt it albeit slightly. However, its pain became fury as it suddenly pounced at them, twisted its body and turned around, swinging its huge tail that seemed to warp the air in such a strong blow. Oscar was its target and everyone could tell if he got a direct hit, he would be instantly killed...


    "Noooo! Oscar!" Oliver shouted.


    Oscar watched the tail closing in on him, his face paled, he really believed this was the end of the line for him until Sergei appeared, pushed him away and took the hit!


    BAAAMMM!!!CRAAAKKK!!!


    It wasn''t a simple smack, everyone heard the dozens of Sergie''s bones cracking! Sergei had the strongest body; muscles and bones, but even he became critically injured with one hit.


    Oscar jumped up to Sergei and carried his body away. The tail continued to swing and was about to reach Oliver, but before it managed to hit him, Rama had found this to be an opening and threw his steel spear in his full strength, using his special move. The spiraling steel spear thrusted into one of the snake''s yellow eyes.


    PA!


    The tail swept up, missing Oliver, as it thrashed in pain. It kept rampaging, which managed to hit Rama, who had been holding another spear and blocked it. The full metal spear broke as he got blown back. But after its tail attack, the snake followed up with a bite.


    A mutated python had poisonous fang bites. It punctured deep into Rama''s shoulder, making him scream as if the four fangs were huge sabers stabbing into his body at the same time. Two of Rama''s spear masters quickly did multiple thrusts at the snake''s head, making it let go of Rama.


    Another powerful expert had been heavily injured. Rama might not survive the day. The mutated python, although it had multiple scars and wounds, was still slithering energetically. It turned its head again to Oliver who seemed to see that the big yellow eyes were the stuff of nightmares. He froze in fear.


    But as he got stuck in ce, another figure shed in the corner of his eyes and managed to stand on top of the snake''s head.


    Aria had rushed from the direction of the snake''s newly blind eye, and stabbed her AWP sniper rifle inside beside Rama''s spear. This was the sniper rifle that was already upgraded with the big .50 cal bullets...


    BANG!! BANG!! BANG!! BANG!! BANG!! BANG!!


    All six bullets poured into the snake''s brain from its eye. The high caliber bullets managed to blow its brain. The snake dropped t to the ground, dead.


    Aria was standing still on top of the dead snakehead. This created a deep impression on the twins and everyone else. The situation here was finally under control. She looked at the direction where Alex had gone too, anxiously.

 Chapter 78 - The Nest

    The battle in front of the monkey forest was settled. The dozen or so remaining mutated monkeys turned tails and fled back into the forest. Aria ordered the group not to chase. With Alex inside the forest, Aria was in charge. Not because she was one of Alex''s earliest recruits, but because of her position as lieutenant in a death squad special forces, making her the highest inmand after him. Also, she was an experienced and natural leader.


    After calcting the situation, she ordered the group to help the injured first. There were eight special forces soldiers who had died, two in critical condition, and another dozen injured.


    The two critically injured were Rama and Sergei. Rama was currently unconscious because of the poison. While Sergei, even with many of his bones broken and body full of blood, he kept his usual charm.


    "Why are you all so gloomy?" Sergie grinned, stillughing although unable to move.. "Just give me some cigarettes and I''ll be ready to kick more of those ugly bitches in no time... Urggghh..."


    Sergei took a hit for Oscar and Rama saved Oliver. Aside from that, the twins also got saved many times by Aria and others. Hopefully, from this day on, the twins would be more mindful.


    Aria ordered the APV to transport both of them and a few more back to the main base. Aria radioed the main base to prepare the medical bay and also told them to send reinforcement. Particrly more troops, some trucks and some from the scavengers team. She tasked twenty-five men to stay and create a temporary post. Sooner orter, zombies would start arriving here because of the noise they had made.


    Although it was faint, they could still hear the falling trees and explosions from where Alex and the mother python had gone. Alex and the golem were still fighting the abomination. After everything had been set, Aria didn''t wait for another second and went inside the forest with Jerry. The rest of the group were ordered to stay and wait.


    After a few hundred meters, Aria and Jerry could see the fight. This mutated mother python was almost twice the size of the one they had faced. If a hit from a smaller mutated python could bring Sergei into a half living corpse, with the mother python''s doubled weight, any of them from its tail would spell certain death. Hence, Aria and Jerry didn''t want to act recklessly and they watched from afar.


    The python was still furious and kept chasing Alex relentlessly. Even with his movement techniques and the golem''s assistance, Alex was barely able to dodge the snake''s fierce attack. When Alex noticed the two''s presence, he threw a smoke grenade and quickly jumped away while the golem fought by itself.


    "How''s the situation down there?" Alex worriedly asked.


    Aria gave a quick report. The condition of Rama and Sergei ced a great big frown on his face. He really needed to settle this fight as soon as possible.


    "Can''t we just run away?" Jerry asked.


    "No, we killed her offspring. She''ll never let us go. If she went to the main base it would be a disaster."


    "Can the golem win?" Jerry asked.


    "The golem was built for defense, it doesn''t really have anything which can kill that monster. And once the golem''s energy runs out, we''ll be in big trouble. I have tried many things but that skin is just imprable," said Alex.


    "Is there anything we can do?" Aria asked.


    "There is one thing but I''m not sure if I can pull it off. With both of you here though, I think the sess rate should increase." Alex took out an item from his storage ring. This was the single-most object he thought that could injure or hopefully kill the snake. It was the explosive vest he had taken from one the terrorist base which had C4s attached to it.


    C4 was amon variety of stic explosive. It had a texture simr to modeling y and could be molded into any desired shape. This particr vest had six pieces of C4 that were already turned into six pipe bombs. The steel pipe was made to contain the powder and increase the pressure inside so once it exploded, the explosion power would be much more powerful. Aside from that, the shrapnel from the pipe after it exploded was also lethal. Usually, in the event of terrorism, most victims died of the shrapnel rather than the explosion itself. The perfect weapon of terror.


    Alex quickly discussed the tactics for they didn''t have much time. When the smoke dissipated, the snake would target Alex again.


    Aria felt something was amiss with his strategy but before she had the chance to say anything, Alex had advanced already. She saw a nce of Alex''s smile before he left. Then she felt anxious.


    The smoke cleared; Alex hid behind a tree. The python darted its gaze to find its prey while still fighting against the stone golem. Jerry then lunged at the monster but instead of attacking, he used his knives with his speed to cut the surrounding trees.


    SLASSH!! SLASSH!! SLASSH!! SLASSH!!


    The fallen trees managed to trap and limit the snake''s movement. The mutated monster was pretty smart, for it decided to move out from the tree encirclement, however the golem snatched its body and grasped it closer to its body.


    Alex jumped out of the tree and moved closer as fast as he could. This was a very dangerous move because if the snake saw him and swung its tail, he would die. And just before Alex entered its vision...


    BANG!! BANG!!! BANG!! BANG!!


    Aria let out multiple shots from and each hit the snake''s eyes. Even .50 cal bullets couldn''t pierce the high second stage beast''s eyes. However, it was enough to bother its sight for a while.


    Alex managed to move in closer to the snake and when the snake noticed him, the golem used its full power to grab the snake''s mouth with both hands and opened it wide. Alex stopped right next to its mouth.


    At this moment, Aria finally realized what was amiss. That was a terrorist''s suicide vest and used a manual trigger. Unlike the mines, the pipe bombs used an ordinary detonator, a trigger base safety fuse with a sting cap. It would only give one second from trigger to explosion.


    Aria''s mind quickly calcted Alex''s chance of leaving the st unharmed. Six pipe bombs, 0.56 kilogram of C4 each with shrapnel. The st radius and one second to escape.


    0% chanceˇ­


    Alex''s smile shed before her eyes, and her heart stopped. "Nooooooo!!!" Aria shouted.


    Alex didn''t seem to hear her at all and she was toote. Alex switched the detonator and threw the vest inside the mother python''s wide mouth. He turned around and jumped off but not even one meter away from the mouth...


    KAAAAAABBBBBBOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!


    Aria watched in shock as she saw Alex''s figure engulfed by the fiery st! He got thrown by the shockwave, crashed on multiple trees, beforending on the ground with his body on fire.


    Aria didn''t even bother checking on the mutated snake as she ran toward Alex''s body on the ground. Panicking, she ran the fastest she had ever been and kneeled when she saw Alex''s burnt body, full of ck ash.


    No human being could survive that st...


    He wasn''t moving. She covered her face as tears suddenly fell.


    "No, no, no, why did you do that?"


    "..."


    She didn''t realize the body in front of her slightly twitched and opened his eyes.


    "What are you crying for?" Alex coughed. Aria was startled. She didn''t know what to say.


    "How ˇŞ Why ˇŞ What-what happened?" Aria asked.


    Alex stood while groaning. He went back to the snake and once he saw the snake''s body no longer had a head, he felt relieved. Alex took off his shirt, which was the answer to her question.


    "..." Aria was shocked.


    Alex was wearing the low-grade armor artifact the whole time. This was the vest he had taken from Hans of the Ahnenerbe Organization. Alex took a big bet and seeded. He had charged this vest with twenty spirit stones from behind the tree in order to achieve its maximum defensive capability. As he checked its status, the one meter away from an explosion of six pipe bombs took 90% of its energy. The armor would need time to recharge again and more stones. Hopefully, this mission didn''t make him bankrupt.


    When Aria realized what had happened, her face turned red. Luckily, Alex didn''t notice that for his full attention was with the prize before him.


    He had been thinking about this for a while now. There were supposed to be six snakes in total, but even after the mother died, none of the other three came out. There was only one reason he could think of. The other three hadn''t hatched yet.


    Three second-stage snake beast eggs. That was very valuable, thinking about the prospects made him smile for a while even after they had left the mother snake.


    Alex and the group once again went into the forest, toward the central temple. Following the path leading to a cave, about 500 meters deep, they found the pythons'' nest.


    There were thousands of human remains and skeletons. So, this was where all the Ubud vigers had ended up. Sitting in the middle were three yellow one-meter tall eggs.


    "BINGO!" Alex said.


    These three eggs could really be useful for Alex in the future. Unfortunately, since it was an egg that contained life, Alex was unable to put it into the storage rings. His group then took the eggs back to the post in front of the forest.


    A few hourster, the reinforcements of soldiers and scavengers came. Alex took one of the jeeps to return to the Star base. He was worried about Rama and Sergei''s conditions.


    It took the remaining people in Ubud a few hours to scavenge all the 600 plus mutated monkeys'' and four snake''s bodies. They had also collected 460 white spirit stones and 2 yellow spirit stones.


    The group packed everything into the trucks; they also took the eight soldiers who had died.

 Chapter 79 - Panacea

    Alex pushed the pedal to the metal as he returned to Star Base with spirit enhancers: Rama and Sergei, in mind. These spirit enhancers were as rare as finding a needle in a haystack. Roughly only one in every ten thousand survivors were spirit enhancers and these spirit enhancers were the key to humanity''s survival.


    After he arrived, he rushed to the medical bay and found both of them on a medical bed recuperating.


    "How are they, doc?"


    "When they reached here, they were on their dying breath, especially Rama. He was poisoned by a strong toxin. Honestly, I had no idea how he had survived the hours of transit. But as per your order, I have injected them with the trial serum from the pill you gave. Their condition has stabilized. It''s really a miraculous item."


    Alex became much more rxed after the report.. "That''s great to hear. How long do you think it''d take them beforepletely healed?"


    "We''re still monitoring the condition, but it should be safe to say that Sergei should be back in a day or two. As for Rama, however, the serum is fighting the poison, if things go well he would take at least a week."


    Alex was d to hear such news. He went forward to check on their condition personally and surprisingly, Sergei was already awake.


    "Mr. Sergei, great news. The doc said you''ll be healed in a few days."


    Sergei looked at Doctor Rachel before switching back to Alex. He then said, "Can you please tell the doctor that you''ve promised me liquor and cigarettes every day?"


    "..."


    "Mr. Sergei, you better listen to the doc. If your health doesn''t improve, you might not be able to smoke and drink for the rest of your life."


    The doctor took Alex to the researchb and showed him her division''s experiments and results.


    First, the doctor showed Alex the shining pills from the amulet of the sun. The pill''s essence had been extracted and diluted into many samples to analyze and test its potency.


    "Like I said before, this is a miraculous pill. I was hesitant in giving it to the patients before because we still hadn''tpletely analyzed half of its substance because they were things that don''t exist within our periodic table. The other half filled with a high amount of Ribovin, Acubin, Ascorbic-Acid, Apigenin, Baicalein, Benzoic-acid, Chlorogenic-acid, Citric-acid, Ferulic-acid, Oleanolic-acid, Salicylic-acid, and Ursolic-acid. Thesepounds are normally found in nts, fruits, vegetables, milk or any other substance that are well known to give positive effects to human bodies.


    "The result we got from treating Sergei is amazing. His bones were crushed, but within hours we saw how the bones regenerated and started reconnecting with each other. As for Rama, his flesh wounds closed up within hours as well. The snake''s toxin was quite unique and so powerful that it''ll take time to neutralize. But because of that, we had an idea. We tried the serum against the world''s most known viruses; Eb, SARS, H1N1, Avian flu and many others. Within hours, the results were remarkable, it had destroyed the well-known viruses in seconds.


    "I believe we have found the medical ''Panacea'', Mr. Alex. The one that came from the Greek mythology''s goddess of universal remedy. It''s a name we scientists had used for the myth of a miraculous cure, but with everything we have seen so far, this substance is meant to cure all disease, it''s worthy of its name.


    "We also did a simple procedure to measure its concentration. We diluted it and finally find the most optimum results without losing its potency. The one pill you gave can be diluted into five serums. We used one for research, and two for Sergei and Rama. These are thest two, you can use it orally, but for faster effect, an injection through the veins is the best way."


    Alex took the two serum, another life-saving item. The amulet of the sun would provide one shiny pill every two weeks. That meant Alex would''ve ten healing serums every month.


    "What about the spirit stone research?"


    "About the spirit stonesˇ­ other than the research Mr. Randal''s team of scientists didst month, we didn''t find anything much. We''re stuck. My team and I all agree that this spirit stone is a biogic form of pure energy. Its science is hundreds of years out of our reach.


    "However, we''ve tried looking into the notes further and found something with our experiments on the mutated beasts and human bodies who had died from the disease. We''ve found out that the cause of mutation is due to a virus. We took the liberty of naming it the Doomsday Virus or the D-Virus. This virus causes an alteration in human DNA sequences and modifies its gene function. There were many other cases found and many studies of DNA sequence alteration. But this virus adapts with a speed which is at least a thousand times faster.


    "Surprisingly, we found arge amount of the D-Virus genes within the mutated beast bodies. The bodies became the virus'' vessels. This would basically mean that just by consuming the beast, it could fasten human mutation."


    Alex already knew of this information. This was his reason for going to the monkey forest in the first ce.


    Later that day, the convoy from Ubud returned to the starbase. Alex ordered the supply division to butcher the monkeys and snake meat. Each monkey gave one-kilogram of boneless meat, which amounted to around 200-300 portions. That was a total of 130,000 portions of mutated monkey meat. The three snakes gave 3,000 portions, and the mother snake gave 2,000 portions. Alex ordered the steel workshop to create and can all this meat.


    130,000 portions of high-level first stage beast meat.


    3,000 portions of low-level second stage beast meat.


    2,000 portions of high-level second stage beast meat.


    The mutated beast meats weren''t the same as a spirit stone if consumed. Because of the human body''s metabolism, a person needed to consume a few portions before it''d show any effects of strengthening a human''s body, which also differed depending on the human consuming it.


    Alex assigned the meats to be handed to each soldier type.


    25,000 regr soldiers would each get 2 cans of high-level first stage meat.


    7,500 city guards would each get 5 cans of high-level first stage meat.


    3,000 elite soldiers each would each get 10 cans of high-level first stage meat.


    500 special soldiers would each get 5 cans of low-level and 2 canned high-level second stage meat.


    With these distributions, most elite soldiers should be middle stage mortal realm and the special soldiers should be high stage mortal realms in a few days. The whole star army would get an upgrade.


    At the current stage of mutation, these people would''ve a big advantage against any zombies or mutated beasts. Because of that, Alex felt much easier letting these soldiers go on an expedition to the inds west and east of Bali. The war preparations werepleted, and soon it would be the time to set up the war council.


    Alex returned to his family, seeing his blind daughter, Alex wished to try to give Tiffany one of the healing serums. But since Tiffany had taken one whole shiny pill before, he was concerned about potential side effects. Hence, he decided to wait until he received more results from the research department.


    Thinking about the spirit stones and the meats collected, Alex felt much lighthearted.


    Due to all the fighting he had done in the past few days, he felt exhausted as he arrived home. So, for tonight, he shut off his mind from all the worries in the world and took a rest surrounded by his family, not even thinking that the three yellow he had stored in the warehouse would bring disaster to him and everyone around him.

 Chapter 80 - Its The Eggs

    DDay +17


    "Next!"


    "Name?"


    "Barry."


    "Battalion?"


    "8th Battalion."


    "toon Number?"


    "toon 077."


    "Here it says you are an elite soldier?"


    "Yes."


    "How old are you again?".


    "I am 16 this year."


    "Here are your 10 cans of high-level first stage meat."


    Barry received ten canned meats because he had been chosen to be a part of the elite soldiers three days ago. As he had expected, elite soldiers received special treatments. The regr soldiers had only received three portions of canned meat and even the city guards, people who had received earlier training than them, only got five portions.


    The Star Base managed its residents this way. In exchange for housing, food and security, everyone had to contribute. If anyone managed to do more than what was required, they would receive extra treatment. And one such example were these ten portions of canned meat.


    When Barry received his portion this morning, he immediately consumed two of them for breakfast. At first he thought something had gone wrong for his body warmed up, making him sweat bullets, but then after a few minutes, he felt energized like he had taken a cold shower after a whole day of strenuous exercise. Afterward, Barry returned to his toon.


    The Star Army had been modified, simplifying the known military units. A squad wasposed of 10 people; a toon consisted of 10 squads, a total of 100 men; a Battalion contained 10 toons, for a total of 1,000 men.


    As an elite soldier, Barry had been forced to be a squad leader and for thest three days, it had been disastrous for him. Within the whole Star Army, he was the youngest squad leader. He never knew what Milo saw from him, because most squad leaders came from either the military,w enforcement or at least had some martial art experience. His squad of 10 men had been looking down on him and wasn''t the least subtle of their worries that he would get them killed.


    "Squad leader! I saw you got lots of canned meat, please share some with me."


    Barry, being the nice guy he was, gave one of his canned meat to this guy named Yuda. Yuda was one of the untalented ck Snake Gang fighters. He was a troublemaker who had alwaysined about how unfair the system was to everyone, especially since he was one of the earliest people who came here.


    There were a total of 25,000 regr fighters and 3,000 elite fighters who had passed basic training. Unfortunately, most had no actual battle experience. So, those who had a slight leadership or battle experience like the pencak st society, police officers or military soldiers, were automatically epted as the elite fighters, except for the ones who were too old or had a questionable attitude like Yuda.


    "That canned meat is wasted on him. You must quickly take control of your unit, else your nice guy routine will only endanger your squad," said Dn, also an elite fighter and a squad leader. They were in the same 077 toon.


    What Dn had said was actually true. Yuda had been fighting zombies on the front lines from the very first day, he had found and eaten a few spirit stones, hence, a stage one beast meat no longer had much benefits for him. The canned meat was only effective for people who had never eaten any spirit stone before. Like Barry for example, he had eaten only one spirit stone, so he still reaped the benefits from the meat. In truth, Barry nned to give some of these canned meat to Cynthia. The thought suddenly improved his mood.


    "Gather up!"


    Chris, the 077 toonmander gathered all his 100 men. This Chris was a sergeant in the Red Barret special forces. Out of the 500 special forces, 250 who had talent inmand were selected to be toon leaders.


    The Star Army had also modified army rank titles since more and more civilians had taken leadership positions. There were no longer sergeants, lieutenants or generals within the Star Army. There were only unit leaders, toon leaders, and battalionmanders.


    "We''ve received a report about unusual sightings. Our 077 toon have then been tasked to check this disturbance. So, let''s go!"


    "Yes, toon Leader!"


    A few kilometers west of the Starbase, the 077 toons were shocked at the sight before them.


    There were thousands of mutated beasts heading toward Star Base.


    - - - - - - - - - -


    Since morning, Alex had been busy having another division meeting. In his hand was a list of the current data and the reports from all divisions.


    <Star Base>


    Size: 115 hectares


    Poption: 108,318


    Guards: 7,000


    Administration: 1,000


    Children: 9,497


    Elders: 5,611


    Farmers: 21,428


    Fishers: 6,215


    Construction workers: 20,290


    Scavengers: 27,311


    Helpers: 9,321


    Chef : 500


    Medic: 131


    Researchers: 14


    <Military>


    On training: 26,832


    Regr soldiers: 24,119


    Elite soldiers: 3,177


    Special soldiers: 489


    Number of Battalions: 25


    Number of toons: 241


    The poption had increased for another 10 percent in thest 4 days. Most of the new workers were sent to be fishermen. And like before 40% were moved to Antiga to receive basic training.


    The busiest of the workers were still the construction and steel workers. As of the moment, there were 140 warehouses built, it still wasn''t enough for everyone but since tents had been set up, the situation wasn''t dire.


    And due to the recent surge of materials, such as the carcasses from mutated monkeys and snakes, these workers had their focus changed to creating tools, sabers, spears, shields and canning of meats. Alex actually had another task for them, he ordered those who had experience in tailoring to start making armors for the soldiers. Simple light armor that would protect the people from animal bites or scratches. That should be helpful for the Star Army.


    Behind that, Alex''s actual main goal of finding people who could design and create light armor made out of the second stage beast snake. This snakeskin was one of a kind due to it being light, durable and strong material as evident by yesterday''s battle and the how the steel construction workers had difficulty in cutting this material. As for the mother snake material, it couldn''t be done for now. Alex would need to find a better weapon or toolter, which could handle such materials in the Doomsday Pirs.


    Alex told the workers to collect other useful parts from these snakes. The fangs and the poison, specifically, these two materials, with the right modification, could be useful for Alex and his team.


    After assigning those, Alex also just received a report that the HAM radio in the Gilimanuk City finally received a message from James Randall. It looked like he needed some help. Alex really wanted to start sending the army, but as he was thinking, a nervous-looking soldier entered the room and reported to Major Sandi in a whisper.


    The Major frowned as he said, "There''ve been multiple sightings of mutated beast heading here."


    "Isn''t it like any other day? What''s new?" Tony said.


    "The sightings reported the beasts numbered in the thousands. The soldiers believe that at least 40- 50 thousand of them will arrive in an hour or two."


    Alex was also shocked, arge number of beasts attacking this location had never happened in his previous life unlike the zombies! He searched through his memories of his previous life and then remembered about a simr case in the Philippines.


    "The eggs! They''reing for the eggs!" Alex shouted. He added, "If I''m not wrong, this means, even more, wille! We need to defend Star Base, sound the rm, and contact the Star Army. Gather all the soldiers!"

 Chapter 81 - Night Battle

    The sun''s orange glow would soon be reced by the curtain of darkness lit by the night''s stars in an hour. Alex stood on top of a four-meter concrete wall, staring at the peaceful horizon, which would soon be filled with deadly beasts.


    There were four main gates within the Star Base. The Main Gate in the south, River Gate in the east, Pir Gate in the west and the Mountain Gate in the north, facing the mountains.


    Alex noticed the returning scouts so he quickly called the battalionmanders into the headquarters. He started the meeting by saying, "Commander Farell, please give out the report."


    "Out of the twenty-five battalions that were formed, only fourteen managed to get inside the base in time. The other eleven battalions are in Antiga City, in the east, awaiting orders."


    For the battalionmanders, other than Farell, Alex recognized Adnan, Rangga, and Russel from the special forces, and Bayu, previously one of the ck Snake Gang leaders as well as nine othermanders Alex hadn''t really met. Each of thesemanders was in charge of 1,000 men; adding Major Sandi''s 2,000 Starbase Guards, the total number of people ready to fight were around 16,000 men..


    "Thergest threat we saw were from the south, mostly mutated rats. There''re at least 30,000 of them. There''re also sightings of mutated cats, at least 5,000."


    "What''s the strategy?" Alex asked.


    "Do we even need a strategy? These are only rats and cats. With our high walls and firearms, they won''t stand a chance," said Bayu, who had fought a lot of these rats and cats during his patrols.


    Farell nced at Alex, he seemed to agree with Bayu''s analysis.


    "I''m afraid it will not be that simple," said Alex. In his previous life, Alex had heard of a simr case in one of the bases in the Philippines. Hordes of mutated beasts attacked due to the scent of high stage eggs.


    A mutated python normally would never leave its eggs, it would keep the eggs safe by covering in some kind of gtinous substance, which would cover the eggs'' scent. When Alex had eliminated the mother snake and took the eggs from its nest, the scent roamed free.


    The sense of smell differs among species, with some having keener abilities than others, some species had been born with genes devoted to smelling. Rats, for example, had highly sensitive noses, some rat species had even been trained to detectnd mines.


    Humans, on the other hand, had their brains to help them out of a tricky situation, but for many animals, it was their nose that helped them to survive. The human nose had about 5 million olfactory receptors that allowed us to detect odors. Cats, for example, had a far better sense of smell with up to 200 million receptors.


    Aside from cats and rats, there were many other animals who had a better sense of smell such as snakes, monkeys, and even bears. A bear could detect an animal''s carcass from about 30 kilometers away.


    Bears were one of the things he was actually worried about. Although bear sightings weren''t much in Bali, he exined that bears would''ve also mutated, and this caused the rest to look anxious.


    "Can''t we just take the eggs away from the city?" asked Farell.


    "It''s toote, I''m afraid. The eggs have been here overnight, even if we took it somewhere else, these beasts woulde stomping this base first because of the strong scent. So, I urge everyone to not underestimate this and prepare for the worst."


    They then discussed strategies. They decided the four gates would be guarded by three battalions each while the remaining two battalions and the guards unit would act as a reserve force in the center, reinforcing whichever gate needed them the most.


    The Starbase had a double-wall defense system. The concrete wall and the stone bern. In front of the two-meter tall stone bern were two meter deep ditches. Although these walls and ditches were effective against the zombies, Alex wasn''t so sure if it would be a good idea to hold ten thousands of rats. He was worried if thousands of animals crashed into the wall at the same time, it would destroy the wall. Therefore, the n was to open all gates and have the soldiers funnel the beasts and fight them inside.


    Farrel and Sandi would stay in the center with a total of 4,000 men under theirmand, Adnan would guard the south, Rangga the east, Russel the west gate and Bayu the north gate. Each with three battalions, totaling 3,000 men. 12,000 men were barely enough to cover the 13 kilometers of concrete walls, however, they had to make do with what they had.


    The expected enemies were mutated rats and cats, the rats were on the lower list of threats, but Alex knew these cats could climb the walls. Therefore, before the siege urred, he ordered everyone to stay in the warehouses along with picking up weapons, mostly pickaxes.


    Alex''s thought about the uing battle was half and half. If things went well, this disaster would be a fortune. Tens of thousands mutated beasts as well as hundreds to thousands of spirit stones were being delivered to his doorstep. But of course, they needed to win the battle first.


    "Move, move, move!"


    Every soldier took their positions. One battalion stood in a half circle formation inside the gate using melee weapons, while the other two battalions either stood atop of the gate holding out firearms or were spread around the gates.


    Alex also prepared in each gate some special toys to use.


    The rats arrived first in the south gate. As soon as they were visible, the battalionmander shouted, "Phnx formation!"


    One thousand men gathered into a tight defensive formation holding spears and shields up in front of the gate.


    The rats were only a couple meters away, some hundred cats were within the horde. They then funneled, which was the only thing they could enter from. And just before they reached insideˇŞ


    Wwooossssshhhhhhh!!!! Wwooossssshhhhhhh!!!!


    Several breaths of fire shot out like a fiery dragon god purged the unholy beasts attacking the human settlement in the south gate. These were methrowers. Alex had bought them before the Doomsday had started. He spread the twenty methrowers in between the four gates...


    The mutated rats faced the full wrath as they got burnt to the crisp. Loud, multiple squeaks resounded in the south gate. As for the rats that had managed to get past the breath of fire, rows of sharp teeth-like spears, peeking through the gaps of shields, pierced them! The spears served as skewers and the mes served to barbeque them.


    Pa!... Pa!... Pa!... Pa!... Pa!... Pa!...


    The south gate''s defense held, and the entrance became clogged. Due to that, some of the rats circled the walls and found the other three gates in the west, north and east gates. The same scene repeated in each gate.


    An hourter, the sun had set and the stars were peeking.


    RRRrrrr!!... RRRrrrr!!!...


    The mutated cats started showing up and started climbing the walls with the sharp ws and powerful legs. These cats were natural hunters in the night. Cats were good at detecting movement in low light, they had an acute sense of hearing and smell, and their sense of touch was enhanced by the long whiskers protruding from their heads and bodies. These enhanced senses allowed cats to hunt effectively at night.


    This meant trouble for the soldier up the wall. Due to their erged bodies, it felt like fighting dozens of jumping tigers. The firearms troops, equipped with AK47 and 556 cartridges, began shooting at the moving targets.


    DRATATATATATA... DRATATATATATA...


    Fighters using sabers also joined the fights but casualties soon started piling up. Unfortunately, most soldiers were still at the middle stage mortal realm. Seeing the soldiers starting to have trouble, Alex gave an order via radio.


    SHHHH!!! SHHHH!!! SHHH!!!


    KABOOMM!! KABOOMM!! KABOOMM!!


    Multiple grenadeunchers were shot all around the gates, it was like fireworks in the night. Not only did it kill dozens of unfortunate mutated beasts, it also lighted up the gasoline-filled ditch before the stone bern.


    WHHHHOOOOOSSSSSSSHHHHHH!!!


    A circle of fire lit up the Starbase, as hundreds more beasts were burnt, and moved away from the base. The night had be as bright a day momentarily as the beast massacre restarted.


    DRATATATATATA... DRATATATTATA...


    "Send in the reinforcements!"


    Ten battalions of soldiers rushed from the east, these reinforcements came fully armed and brought along half a dozen APVs with machine guns zing their way into the east gate''s entrance.

 Chapter 82 - The Siege

    <South - Main Gate>


    "Shields up!"


    "Hold the line!"


    Adnan was the captain of the Red Barret special forces. He used to train and lead thousands of special forces soldiers. He has been in dozens of secret missions before and survived many life and death situations.


    He was currently the most experienced battalionmander guarding the south gate. The other twomanders followed his order. Adnan and his 1.000 men stood on the first line in front of the gate.


    "Hold the line!!"


    Wwooossssshhhhhhh!!!!


    Pa!.... Pa!... Pa!... Pa!... Pa!... Pa!...


    Thousands of wolflike mutated rats rushed into the gate, the battalions created a semi-circle formation about the size of a basketball court. There were 3 rows of spearman and 2 rows of saber fighters. These ck furred creatures were annihted by the dozens every minute. But there was always the careless soldier who got bitten and badly injured or died. Adnan ordered the soldiers to switch rows every 15 minutes to give some breathing room.


    "Do not falter!!" "Bring up the reserve soldiers!"


    Because of the mutation, many of these 1.000 men were stronger than his previous special forces. But these soldiers were inexperienced, they tend to make mistakes.


    "Keep your shields up!" "Trust the brother next to you!! Focus on what in front of you!!"


    The mutated rats attacking the south gate were twice as many as at the other gates. Commander Adnan saw ck furs creatures cover all over the ground until the horizons... there''s definitely more than 30.000 rats in here. These are city rats, they mostly came from the city''s sewers. All the big cities were south of the Starbase.


    RRRRR... RRRRR...


    "Firearm troops, fire!!!"


    DRATATATATATATA...


    The cats were still the hardest to deal with. They are fast and fight better in the dark.


    Each battalion had at least 100 firearm troops. At this gate, a total of 300 chosen men were using an AK-47 with the 7.62 cartridges. There were also a dozen snipers.


    Pa!... Pa!... Pa!... Pa!... Pa!... Pa!...


    The battle at the south gate was a battle of endurance; Adnan''s troops had the advantage, but his battalion''s survival will depend on how long they could hold the line.


    <Central - Headquarters>


    Hearing the battle reports made Alex''s blood boils. He was really anxious to jump in and join the fight, but he needed to put his trust in themanders. They needed to improve fast if they wished to save humanity.


    "There are many more mutated beasts seen at the south gate, should we send reinforcements?"


    Sandi has known Adnan for quite a while, one in the police special forces, the other in the army special forces. He was worried about his friend''s safety.


    "No.. we need to hold! As long as it''s only rats and cats, they will be fine."


    "What of the situation at the other gates?"


    "The River Gate in the west and the Mountain Gate in the north are fighting the same mutated beasts, but with half the numberspared to the south gate. At the east gate, Commander Karra is leading the 10.000 reinforcements. She ns to clean up the whole east battlefield within the hour."


    <East-Pir Gate>


    The East Gate had Commander Rangga holding one of the battalions, unlike Adnan, Rangga lead from the top of the wall. He is a death squad lieutenant who specialized in kungfu techniques. Within kung fu, there were also Chinese double saber techniques.


    SLASH!! SLASHH!!


    Every sh managed to kill or incapacitated the mutated beasts.


    Most of the battalionmanders already reached the high stage or peak Mortal Realm. Rangga himself was still in between high and peak state expert.


    Seeing the situation within the gate and outside the gate, Rangga felt thrilled. There should be ten thousand rats and hundreds of cats attacking the east gate but with higher firepower, troop discipline, and now the 10.000 men lead by Karra the east gate will be cleared within minutes.


    But...


    Before the east group separated to help the other gates, suddenly multiple loud sounds could be heard from the sky...


    KWAAAKK..!! KWAAAKK..!!


    These east groups were shocked seeing thousands of mutated birds flying from the seas and covering the sky. These were the lesser frigate seabirds. The magnificent frigatebird is arge, lightly built seabird with brownish-ck plumage, long narrow wings and a deeply forked tail. They were also known as a pirate bird, as they liked to harass other birds. Their normal size was around 80cm, but the mutated seabirds are sized between 1.5m to 2 meters tall.


    "It''s the whole colony of frigate birds from the east sea, each is a high-level first stage flying beast."


    Commander Karra''s 10.000 soldiers were their first victims. The mutated seabirds, using their ws, beak and crush on their prey. Luckily, Karra brought six APVs today. Six machine guns lighted up and roared at the night. The east gate suddenly turned chaotic.


    DRATATATATTATATAT....!!!


    Hearing the news of the seabirds, Alex quickly deployed Sandi and his guard unit. The 2000 guards units were not sent to the gates but to be spread all around the Starbase, protecting the civilian''s warehouses. Alex was worried that the seabird would fly inside and hurt the civilians.


    The two other gates, the west, and north heard the news about the birds, their battalions became a bit anxious.


    <West - River Gate>


    Rusell on the West River Gate had just finished fightings the mutated rats and cats. He was about to send his men to back the east gate when suddenly he heard multiple sshes from the river...


    Hundreds of mutated lizards were moving towards the west gate...


    .


    "..."


    "Everyone get in position!"


    <North - Mountain Gate>


    The same thing also happened within the North Gate, when the mutated rats'' number turned smaller, suddenly thesest rat groups of mutated beast dispersed outside of the gate... Commander Bayu and the other 3000 men felt something big wasing...


    The ground was shaking, the tremors sounded in the night and from within the shadows suddenly dozens of huge mutated brown bears came chargingˇ­


    GROOWWLLL!!...


    They were like a tank moving at fast speed... The men at the North Gate were shocked, they knew these dozens of mutated bears were on a different level.


    "Close the Gate!!" Bayu screamed.


    "Firearm troops keep firing, someone contacts the headquarters quickly!"


    Alex hated to be right, as expected, these were the mutated animals known for their keen smell... The lizards should be around high to peak stage one, but the mature mutated bears should already reach the second stage.


    Alex ordered Farell to bring the two battalion of to support the West Gate, while Alex himself would go to the North Gate.


    Alex moved out of the headquarter and two groups of special toons were already waiting for him. Each toon has 50 men, these men were hand-picked only from the special forces or the top martial artists. These special toons could have their own unique name.


    The Tiger toon, lead by Donny, the former captain of the death squad, the twins Oscar and Oliver were assigned to this toon. The Wolf toon, lead by Jerry with Darius backing him up. Alex brought the two special toons and also Theo, Cindy, and Aria with him. They were heading to the North Gate when suddenly a figure stopped him... it''s Sergei.


    "You guys are not going to have a party without me right?"


    The healing serum is really incredible, yesterday Sergei was in critical condition, now he''s already fit for fighting.


    "Great, you can join the Wolf toon."


    "Let''s go!"

 Chapter 83 - Brave Heart

    Tak. Tak. Tak. Tak. Tak


    A group of people was running hurriedly along the concrete wall. Sweat and panic could be seen on their faces. The group was assigned to guard the North Gate. They have been defending the gate from the rats, but a few minutes ago their battalion was assigned to swipe and guard all over the north wall. The north wall is 4 kilometers in length, 2 kilometers to the left and right of the gate.


    They were able to repel the attacks from the rats'' hordes, but when the cats joined the fray, the tactic needed to change. Bayu, the battalionmander of the North Gate sent a few toons to the east and west of the gates. This was the group that was assigned to the east, toon 077 lead by Chris and 4 more toons. A total of 500 men spread out all over the eastern side of the north wall..


    Unlike rats, mutated cats are able to climb and jump high. They''re very agile and dangerous. A hundred men of toon 077 got the easternmost area. When they reached there, they saw a few human bodies already dead all over the ground. It''s the city guards, it seemed some cats managed to pass through into the central area...


    RRRRRRR..... RRRRRRR


    "Watch out!! Look up!!"


    A dozen cats jumped over the walls... These mutated cats were as big as tigers. They were calmly staring at the groups. The mutation not only turned them bigger, faster and stronger but somehow also made them smarter. These packs definitely didn''t mutate from the domestic house kitty cats, they were feral cats. Feral cats, just like dogs, have a strict social structure and a pack leader. They often formrge groups, with a dominant female at the helm.


    Chris, the toon leader, suddenly gave the sign...


    "Attack!!"


    A toon default formation. 3 spear and shield units at the front, making the phnx defensive formation, 3 saber units on the secondyer, thirdyer with the reserve units were prepared to surround them from two sides or defend from the back. Thest unit was the firearm unit, aiming and shooting from behind.


    DRARRAAATATTATATA


    The firearm unit, mostly equipped with AK-47s and M-16s started the attack. The rain of bullets was able to hurt and kill a few of them. Then the firstyer spear units advanced...


    Pa... Pa... Pa... Pa... Pa...


    Multiple spear thrusts... a few more cats got stabbed and bled...


    ROOAAARRRRR!!!....


    The mutated cats went berserk... a few just jumped into the spear wall and sacrifice themselves, just to break the formation... A few jumped with full strength and passed over the spear wall and dropped right in the middle of the secondyer...


    .


    AAARRRGGGGHHH!!!


    This beast weight at least 200 kilograms. One unfortunate fighter in the second row got dropped and bit right at the neck... SPLATTSS!!! instantly killed. The cat''s life also didn''tst long, multiple sabers pierced its bodies... But its sudden attack already achieved its purpose...


    .


    .


    The formations broke.


    "..."


    These toons really were newbies, they really needed more battle experience, they did really well at first, but at the first sign of trouble, they panicked... Chris, the toon leader, came from the special forces. He was really disappointed with the result, but thinking about how these people just only had such short training, Chris really couldn''t expect too much.


    Thest dozen of cats jumped in to attack... but Chris quickly modified the formation.


    "Five-Man Team Formation!"


    The toon suddenly turned into dozens of small teams, each took one or two cats... but suddenly more cats jumped over the wall...


    Thinking how the toon was going to be held up for quite some time and worried about the packs that already went into the central base, Chris decided to send two units to track and hunt the beastsˇ­ Dn and Barry''s unit was chosen....


    "..."


    Two units, twenty men following the beast tracks... a few hundred meters afterward:


    "Oooo... Fuxxx this way is heading to the children''s warehouse."


    " It''s the biggest and brightest warehouse...!!"


    "Let''s hurry!"


    "ARRRGGGHHHH!!!"


    "..."


    The group heard a loud scream... when they reached in front of the warehouse, they saw a dozen bodies alreadyying on the floor... next to it, four mutated beasts were seen still devouring one of the bodies... The group suddenly realized the mutated cat in the back was almost twice as big and had white fur... blood still dripping from its fangsˇ­ it''s the pack leader...


    The white cats were staring at the group with their red eyes...


    "..."


    All twenty men got frightened... it didn''t take a genius to realize this particr mutated cat was on a different level than all the others...


    "What should we do??" Dn asked.


    "We cannot fight that, just call for another unit!!"


    This was Yuda the trouble maker in Barry''s unit, who was supposed to be the strongest... Barry looked at the warehouse behind the mutated cats. The cats were ced in the middle between him and the children behind them.


    "RRRRRR....RORRAARRR!!"


    The white beast provoked the groups... the other three also growled at them, preparing to attack...


    "Probably it''s not a bad idea to call for reinforcements?"


    "I am the fastest runner in this group, I will take the task!!"


    Yuda instantly ran away from the group... two other men followed him.


    "..."


    Barry is a 16 years old boy, he was really clueless and had no idea what to do facing this situation... Someone really needed to lead... Barry''s heart was racingˇ­ he''s afraid.


    Dn nned to lead... but the hesitation turned to disaster... before he even gave any orders, all 4 mutated cats attacked the group...


    DRATATATATATTA..


    One of the men in the group, holding a firearm, managed to stop them for a few seconds. But those monster just kept advancing. It seemed that they felt no pain.


    "Five-Man Formation!"


    Because of the three that ran away, only 3 Five-Man Formations could be formed.


    Barry then quickly gave a sign to Dn, both of them will take care of the white beast.


    SWISH!! SWISH!! SWISH!!


    Multiple sabers hit the mutated white cat''s bodies.. unfortunately, all weapons were unable to pierce its body... Both Barry and Dn already passed the mid-stage of the human realm, both were really not strong enough. This white beast should be at the peak first stage level.


    After a few minutes, Dn''s and Barry''s bodies were full of bite wounds and scratches... without the shield, Barry currently was holding, he might have already died today... This group was not strong enough to fight against this mutated cats. A short whileter, although the rest of the unit was able to kill the three mutated cats, Dn passed outˇ­ he lost too much blood...


    Seeing the three smaller cats down, the white cat was enraged and quickly charged at Barry, he barely managed to dodge...


    "..."


    "CRAAASSHHHH!!!"


    The white cat crashed into the warehouse.


    "Fuxxxxxx!!!"


    The beast identally went inside the children''s warehouse... white fur and bloody paws and fangs... hundreds of children were terrified watching this scene...


    The white cat became more frenzied and prepared to jump into the crowds of children.


    "..."


    BAAMMMMM!!


    Barry didnt think much and tackled the cat before it jumped into the crowd...


    "RUNNNN!!!" Barry said.


    Unfortunately, this white beast was much bigger and stronger than Barry, he quickly got Bit, and scratched, overpowered and held down... tworge paws with sharp ws were pressing on his shoulders...


    "AARRGGHHH"


    Saliva and blood from the beast dropped to his face... the beast''s next move will be Barry''s end... but suddenly:


    "Dratatatattaat!!!"


    A group of soldiers rushed inside the warehouse... there were dozens of themˇ­ The guy in the front moved really fast and quickly dismembered the white cat''s head from behind...


    "Barry is that you?"


    "Instructor Milo.."


    "Great job Barry, I saw what you did... I really didn''t choose the wrong person. You are the bravest person I know... You can have a rest first. The reinforcement of 10.000 men from Antiga has arrived."


    .


    "That''s great... the children will be safe....."


    .


    "..."


    "Barry!!.. Barry!! Bring the medic!!...


    Milo just realized there was a big open wound on Barry''s stomach...


    .


    .


    Just a few dozen meters away from the scene, a girl slowly moved closer... a few seconds ago she just heard the screaming of someone she knew really well... Run he said... the girl was in charge of the group of little children, she really couldn''t leave them alone... but then she heard a familiar name called... Barry... Barry,... she slowly moves forward... and there she saw.. a familiar face.. blood all over his body... eyes closed...


    .


    "..."


    .


    "Barry... Barry... it''s me, Cynthia... Barry, Barry.. wake up..."


    .


    "Barry... Open your eyes!"


    .


    Tears fell from her cheeks...

 Chapter 84 - The Cannon

    <East - Pir Gate>


    Six APV cars attached with 12.7mm machine guns were pouring hot metals into the hordes.


    DRAATATATATATATAT....


    Facing stage one beasts, these APVs were unbeatable, total killing machines. Mutated rats and cats were unable to resist the high caliber bullets. The raining bullets didn''t just pierce their bodies but they actually tore them apart... .


    Commander Karra and the 10 battalion fighters, a total of 10.000 men were charging at the mutated beasts at the east gate... As the most experienced officer within the battalion, she''s now inmand.


    Karra had never been a great fighter, but she''s a smart woman. As an experienced navy officer and navigator, she always found tactics fascinating. A ship navigator must always consider ship position, asses threats and determine the best solution.


    Five battalions of men are spreading out and surrounding the beast hordes from the outside, while the other five creating an arrow formation and charging straight into the main gate. With the six APVs as the arrowheads, the beast wave was easily cut in half and opened up a path.


    When the five battalions reached the east gate, they divided into three groups. One group with two APVs and two battalions heading to the south, another group also with the same number heading to the north. These two groups swiped and cleaned up all the beasts along the walls, charging fiercely next to the ming ditches. They went directly to support the other gates.


    Commander Karra with thest battalion and two APVs joined up withmander Rangga''s three battalions to clean up all the remaining beasts in front of the east gates. The ten thousand mutated beasts were being crushed from the front and the back. Just before they finally routed the east gate''s beast threat, other threats show up.


    Hundreds of flying beast flying down from the dark sky... The sudden surprise attack created casualties within the east gate battalion. These birds diving from the shadow of the night, sharp ws and beaks that turn lethal when they hit the fighters critical areas like the neck. The 2 meter tall birds are also strong enough to carry one man to the air and throw it in the sky. The lucky victim would drop to the ground with heavy injuries, the unfortunate one was ganged up on in the skies.


    The battalions depended on the APVs'' machine guns and the firearms unit for fighting threats from the sky, but the number of the firearms unit within the east gate was less than a thousand. The dark night also made it harder to aim at these flying beasts.


    On top of the east gate, a man was fighting with three mutated cats. He was holding two long straight double-edged swords. This is a ''jian'' Chinese style sword, held by a peak Mortal Realm fighter. The man could utilize these swords into a dancing-like sword style.


    The three mutated cats died within less than 10 moves. Seeing this, Karra impressed. A flying beast dove down and suddenly attacked this man from his back...


    "Watch outmander!!"


    The man quickly did a flip and parried the iing attack. He got pushed a few steps, but instantly counterattacked... A full power swing attack with his sword managed to hack off the mutated bird''s wing. When the bird fell to the ground, the man continued with multiple sword stabsˇ­


    Pa, Pa..!! The mutated bird died.


    "Thank you for the warning, Commander Karra."


    "I''m sure you will be alright without my warnings Commander Rangga."


    This man is Rangga, the previous lieutenant of the Deathsquad, one of the brightest fighters with Chinese wushu specialty. Seeing the mutated bird''s corpse body, and hundreds more flying above the army, Rangga was slightly worried.


    "Commander Karra, any idea?"


    Karra thought for a while and said: "Is that thing ready?"


    "Yes, but there''s only one installed on each gate."


    "Don''t worry, wait for my signal."


    A few minutester, multiple fireworks and res blew out in the sky, the sky near the eastern gate became brighter than the day. The fireworks also sessfully shocked the birds... during all the confusion, Commander Karra gave orders to the firearm squads; multiple AK-47s with 7.72 cartridges bullets, APV machine guns 12.7mm, the sniping team with AWP .308 bullets. All together shot at the targets in the skies.


    "Fireeeee!!"


    Drartatatattatatatata Dratatatatatatatata


    At the same moment, on top of the gate, Karra watched as three of the soldier firearm units operating a piece of five-meter length machinery. It''s the RH 2202 twin cannon turrets. Alex already installed all 4 turrets at the 4 different gates.


    "Aimmm and Fireee!!"


    Booom..!! Booom..!! Booom..!!


    The 20 mm bullets not only tore the birds it hit apart, the bullet also blew on impact and created a mini explosion in the air.. each explosion created more panic within the mutated birds. The sudden barrage of bullets, the fireworks, and the mini explosion... dozens of the birds died in the air, another dozen dropped to the ground and were finished by the ground units.


    A few minutester, the rest of the mutated birds fleed off heading back to the eastern seas...


    <West - River Gate>


    Commander Russel''s battalion was with the other 2 battalions currently fighting with the new threats. The mutation turned the lizards into a humanoid form who walked on two feet. They have muscr bodies and hard scaly skin. The lizard''s strength ranged from high to peak stage one beast, about the same threat as the monkeys, while the monkeys are, more agile.. these lizards have harder bodies. Normal bullets have trouble piercing their skin. These lizards are amphibian mutated beasts, they can fight both in water andnd, the fact they moved out of the water became an opportunity to make the river safer. Alex ordered the total annihtion of these lizards.


    With the arrival of Commander Farell''s battalion, there were 5.000 men ready to fight the hundreds of lizards. It became a ten versus one battle, the lizards'' slow movement gave the soldiers some confidence. The fight in the west became a good fighting practice for the troops. The firearm troops also tested the twin cannon turret on the west gate. It''s a one shot one kill situation. After a few shots, Russel decided to just conserve the turret bullets. The five battalions slowly moved out of the gate and surrounded the lizard beasts. Farell thought they could finish all the lizards in an hour or two.


    <North - Mountain Gate>


    This gate found it the hardest to endure, the three battalions were spread too thin guarding the four kilometers north wall. Commander Bayu already sent half of his men into the eastern and western side of the wall. Just now, dozens of huge furied bearlike creatures charged into the north gate. Each bear was at least 4 meters tall, looking at their size, Bayu felt anxious and quickly closed the gate and called for reinforcement.


    Bayu also prepared the firearm team to shot from the top of the wall, he also set up the twin canon.. when the Bears started getting closer to the gate...


    "Everyone Fireee!!!"


    Dratatattatatatat, Boom!! Boom!!


    The bullets only hurt the mutated bears, but it didn''t stop their advance. Bayu felt even more in trouble seeing the cannon, unable to one shot the bears... A direct hit to the big brown body made it stop for a while, blood could be seen dropping, but the bear continued moving forward...


    Things turned to the worst when the bears started crashing their huge bodies into the gate...


    BAAAMMMMM!! BAAAMMMM!! BAAAMMMM!!


    CRRAAACKK!!


    The gate suddenly broke apart... all the newbie soldiers at front of the gate, looking at the huge monsters were terrified, for most of them, this is their first battle. They were just about to start fleeing when...


    A group of men jumped in front of them and charged at the mutated bears. This was the special toon.

 Chapter 85 - Huge Beast

    Alex brought the newly formed special toon to the north gate. These men were part of the 500 special soldiers. 250 who have leadership talent were assigned as toon leaders or battalionmanders. Another 150 were still assigned as instructors or were leading the city guards. They would fill as themanders of the next batch of fighters. The rest 100 special forces men were assigned into this special toon. Unlike the battalion soldiers which was built as a liberation force from the zombies and monsters, this special toon will be assigned to handle the unique and special missions.


    Most of these men were with him during the Bali Airport bait mission, some also with him on the monkey forest mission. These men have the strength, knowledge, and battle experience. All of these 100 men already became a high stage or peak stage Mortal Realm. They no longer needed many spirit stones, they needed more battle experience. These toons will be his main force in challenging the doomsday pirs.


    Tiger toon has Donny and the twins.. Wolf toon has Jerry, Darius, and Sergei. When the North Gate was destroyed, these men came in and stood in front of Bayu and the three battalions. They are now standing face to face with the mutated bear.


    "Wow, those beasts are huge!!"


    "We need bigger weapons!!"


    When standing so close with the beast, the men realized the gravity of the situation. There are only about three dozen mutated bears, but each bear was as big as an elephant. Alex encountered these beasts in his previous life. They are the Sun Bears. It is the smallest of the world''s eight bear species. Itsmon namees from the white or yellowish crescent markings on their chests, which many people think looks like the rising or setting sun. Despite their name, Sun Bears are actually nocturnal, roaming the forests at night. The sun bear has uniquelyrge canine teeth, extremely strong jaws, and long ws. It is said to be one of the most dangerous animals to encounter in the jungle.


    Things to note for his men are; the brown fur representing the younger beasts, they are supposed to be peak stage one, while the dark brown ones already reached adulthood, and turned into an early second stage beast. The bears are not faster than the monkeys or have strong durable skin like the snakes, but the mutated bears have greater strength. It also has the biggest vitality. Bears are the only animals who can still fight till the death. They don''t give up easily.


    Alex noticed there were only five dark brown sun bears among them, the rest were still first stage bears. With the golem help, Alex thought It won''t be such a hard battle.


    Before Alex could feel rxed, he saw a figure move from behind the mutated bears, it''s a much bigger beast than the rest of the bears, it''s the evolved mutated bear. The whole body covered by jet ck fur, the bear was about 5 meters big. A second stage beast, Alex wasn''t sure either mid or high stage. This could be a problem...


    None have the power to defeat a high second stage other than the Golem. Alex must assign the Golem to fight against it. There''s no time to think of other strategies... the Bear has moved forward passing through the gate...


    "Jerry, let''s have a bet which toon will kill more mutated bears.", Donny asked.


    "What are we betting on?"


    "What about 200 food vouchers?"


    "Deal!!"


    Two hundred food vouchers meant his toon will give up 2 days worth of food. Food might not be hard to find this current time, but those food vouchers have be a sort of currency within the base. It can be used to trade anything from shampoo to tissue.


    "Everyone, attack!!"


    Tiger toon on the left side, Wolf toon on the right and Bayu''s Battalion in the center. The firearms still sent a few more bullets, barraging the mutated bears. By the time the bears reached the closest fighters, most of them have be injured.


    As the entrance of the gate was narrow, only a few bears managed to enter each minute. Except for the leader of the pack, who currently facing a one on one fight with the golem. The fight in front of the gates turned into a ten vs one battle. The special forces were fighting using everything they had to kill the mutated bears; shotguns, machineguns, spears, sabers.


    The bears'' strongest attack was their paw attack. With their size, one paw was almost as big as a tree trunk. It has sharp long ws like a sharpened meat cleaver.


    AARRGGGGHHHHH!!


    One man from the Wolf toon hit on the chest, the paw managed to tear part of the man''s chest. Another got bodymmed from it and suddenly fainted. These mutated bears really are not easy to deal with. Their bodies are covered with a thick amount of fat. It took a dozen spear stabs into the beast before its lifeless body started to drop t into the ground.


    "My toon''s already got three.", Donny said...


    "Mine... one... two... three... four... we seem to be winning."


    "..."


    After a few minutes, the Tiger and Wolf toons'' fighting power increased, they started to understand each other''s strength and started to work together more efficiently. When one attacked, the other one distracted the opponent. When one was in danger they would cover each other.


    Alex was currently only watching the situation. The golem''s fight against the ck bear was a stalemate. He''s more worried about the five dark brown ones. Alex ordered the firearm troops to focus fire upon the five dark brown beasts. As the dark brown bears got hurt and distracted, the troops managed to overpower the bears.


    Almost an hour has passed, all over the gates, the fight started to cool down as many of them died and fleed the battle. Alex moved closer into the ck furred beasts, he wished to finish this fight with the death of the pack leader. Alex took out a grenadeuncher... he aimed and...


    .


    .


    SCCCRREEEEECCHHHHHHH...


    .


    Suddenly a screeching sound could be heard in his ears and all the fighting suddenly stopped... Alex saw the huge ck bear suddenly looked anxious... the bears growled and suddenly the dozens that survived quickly retreated. The ck bear gave ast look to Alex before turning around with his kind into the mountain.


    .


    SCCCRREEEEECCHHHHHHH...


    The sound turns much louder now, whatever it is, it''s already very close...


    .


    KWAACKK!! KWAACKK!!


    .


    A figure flying within the darkness of the night...


    "..."


    "Ooohh. NO... why is it here?"


    The seabirds were nothingpared to this flying creature. It''s pping its wings with such strength, that every each one seemed to throw a tornado... brown feathered with a wingspan reaching more than 10 meters. This soaring beast was the ruler of the sky.. and is now heading straight to the central of Starbase...


    Alex face suddenly paled, Alex knew what monster this is, and it''s heading straight to where the eggs are... They''re in his storage, next to his house where his blind daughter was.


    "..."


    Alex used his fastest speed and ran like a madman back to his ce...


    What he saw shocked him greatly.

 Chapter 86 - Garuda

    The name of Garuda is very famous, it is part of the state insignia of India, Myanmar, Thand, Cambodia, and Indonesia. The Indonesian official coat of arms is centered on the Garuda.


    All around the Bali temples, and many other ces around the world, Garuda statues or paintings can be found. Garuda is a legendary bird or bird-like creature in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain mythology. The mount of God.


    Garuda is described as the king of birds. He is shown either in the form of a giant bird with partially opened wings or a form of a man with wings and some bird features. Garuda is generally a protector with the power to swiftly go anywhere, ever watchful and an enemy of the serpent.


    But the schrs never found a real garuda bird, some believed it to be created based on the real bird species called the Golden Eagle or one of the hawk or condor species.


    Alex didn''t really care what species the bird came from, he only cared about the things this bird did in his previous life. This mutated giant bird could destroy a single city with fully-armed soldiers by itself.. A p of its wing could throw a truck away, its ws could crush a building apart and its beak could pierce a tank. The garuda bird that Alex knew was a third stage beast. This should be the same Garuda. In his previous life, this beast wreaked havoc in Papua, an ind easternmost of Indonesia. There''s no way Alex or the Golem could fight against this threat.


    Alex''s heart had never been this worried, he hopped around on top of the warehouses and rushed into the VIP warehouse, where his wife and daughters lived. But the bird was just much faster than him, Alex could only see from afar how the Garudanded in his warehouse.


    Alex had no idea how to kill it, to hurt it or to just send them away. But seeing his family in danger, he knew he had no choice but to just face it.


    The bird''s aim was the storage building next to Alex''s VIP warehouse.


    CCRRRAAAAKKK!!.


    With just a p of its wing, the warehouse''s roof just got blown away... It was looking for the source of the scent and finally found it. Three pieces of one-meter tall yellow eggs. This is what the garuda came for. The beast snapped it with its beak and gulped one of the egg... a momentter it took the second one. and finally thest one, just like that all three eggs were devoured by the flying beast.


    A momentter... a door of the warehouse''s next door open...


    "Haloo... what was all that noise...? Aunt Villy are you there?"


    .


    The bird slowly starring at the human facing it... it''s a little girl...


    "Who is there?... Who are you?


    .


    .


    "What are you?"


    Here''s when Alex finally arrived at the scene... his little daughter 10 meters away from a huge winged beast. The Garuda is part of the birds of prey species, it is a veryrge raptor, 5 meters in length. Its wings are broad and the wingspan is 10 meters. The dark brown beast has powerful feet and massive, sharp talons to snatch up a variety of prey. Seeing his little girl in front of this beast, Alex quickly acted.


    "HEII YOU UGLY CHUBBY BIRD!!"


    The Garuda''s took a nce at Alex, and as seems as it understood what Alex said, the bird furiously moved towards Alex.


    Alex took out the golem, it quickly jumped forward to stop the massive birds, but...


    "BAAAAAMMMMM!!!"


    At first, Alex thought about using the Golem to hold the beast, and Alex would quickly save his daughters during the chaos... but with just a p from its wing, the golem got thrown away 15 meters... it''s now heading straight at Alex...


    Alex opened up a smoke grenade in his hand... fog rose. Alex instantly performed breathing techniques and the second stage of the hexagram steps. His speed increased substantially and Alex quickly dodged into the thick smoke... but...


    SNAAPPP!!


    Therge talons grabbed Alex easily... He was suddenly caught within its grasp... and being thrown and held down into the ground... AAARRRGGGHHH!!... Alex''s maximum speed was unable topete with a stage three beast... and now, the talon held Alex on the ground while crushing him with the beast big bodies... AAARRRGGGHHH!!. Alex was in pain...


    Tiffany, hearing this, suddenly had some idea of what''s going on...


    "STOP!! STOP!! Don''t hurt my Daddy!!"


    Hearing Alex''s painful screams, Tiffany turned hysterical and suddenly something seemed to snap inside her brain...


    Boom!!


    A deep rumbling of thunder echoed in her ears... her mind suddenly felt refreshed as if a thick cloud had suddenly been vacuum away... She could feel the presence of such strong forces in front of her... it had a golden majestic color... the majestic golden force seemed to fly into her and it seemsforting to her, she decided to ept it.


    .


    .


    The whole experience seemed a few minutes for her but for Alex and everyone else, itsted a mere few seconds... Alex saw her daughter Tiffany was screaming, and suddenly her eyes turned red and stared at the bird on top of him... A secondter, the beast moved weirdly, it let go of its grasp... walked back a few steps, looked around before finally jumping and flying away fast into the mountains... The weirdest thing was how the bird''s brown eyes turned full white during the whole process.


    .


    The situation baffled him, although his whole body hurt, and probably some bones snapped, Alex quickly moved over to Tiffany. She''s currently still standing still with her eyes still red... Alex tried to call out to her, but there was no response... he decided to wait, this was so mysterious to him... Alex never heard of such a thing in his previous life. Considering Tiffany was the only person who survived the disease that took the life of at least 5 billion people. It will be even weirder if nothing weird happened to her.


    A few minutester, her eyes turned back to white...


    "Daddy... Daddy? Are you Ok Daddy?"


    "Yes Tiff, Daddy''s fine... "


    "That''s great Daddy, I saw you hurt on the ground."


    "You saw me? Your eyes turned better just now?"


    "No Daddy..., not me... I saw you and I also saw me just now.. it''s weird Daddy..."


    "..."


    "Don''t worry Tiff,... now tell me what was thest thing you saw."


    "I saw.... the sky.. the mountains... I think I was flying."


    "..."


    It seems Tiffany''s able to go into the mind of the Garuda, Alex knew some psychic spirit enhancer who could affect a monster''s or beast''s mind, but never control it.. and this Garuda was an extremely rare third stage mutated beast... this ability of his daughter was very powerful. Alex turned really curious to test his daughter''s ability, he had some idea of what he wanted to try, but not today. It seemed she turns really tired afterward. Alex took her back to rest and afterward went to check the battle reports.

 Chapter 87 - Life And Hope

    All the three python eggs were eaten by the Garuda, it really was unfortunate. The eggs of high second stage beasts are very precious, especially at this early stage of doomsday. It is one of the best ways to increase an earth realm fighter. The higher the realm, the harder it is to improve. Alex was nning to keep it until the pirs came and breakthrough the Mortal Realm. Didn''t realize it became a disaster to the base instead...


    Python eggs apparently have a very special scent that attracts all the other beasts, if Alex had known he would not have brought them to the base. Currently, the eggs already are gone, but just like he thought, the mutated beasts somehow were still attracted to the remaining scent. Although most of the beast hordes already have been routed, a small number still gathered outside the base. The dead beast remains made them hesitate and soon after left the ce.


    The only threat left remaining are the undead, these abominations just came because of all the noises.. There were a few thousands of the normal zombies and few dozens of the red mutated one. It''s now already the third week after doomsday. The number of mutated zombies gradually increased. In the future, there will be more red zombies than normal zombies. Therefore it''s imperative that humanity will also grow stronger, faster.


    When the morninges, all the threats have beenpletely neutralized. The fighters and the workers quickly gathered all the beast corpses and giving it to the supply department. The medical center has been busy helping all the injured. Luckily the mutations also made the bodies of higher stage fighters heal faster. Unless it''s a critical wound, most fighters would fully be healed in a day or two.


    Alex was nervously waiting for the casualty result from Dr. Rachel...


    "Just tell me straight doctor.."


    "452 died in battle, 43 died in the medical center. 221 are heavily injured, but they would most probably survive. All mostly fighters and guards."


    Almost 500 men died in one night... the news really disturbed him.


    Theo was next to him when the news arrived since reaching the peak stage of the Mortal Realm, his mind reading power has improved, he instantly understood how Alex felt about the news.


    "Do you want to talk about it?", Theo asked


    Alex closed his eyes a little bit, seemed to be in a lot more thought than he said.


    "Help me prepare a funeral service for them."


    "Of course."


    All the bodies were quickly cleaned up, instead of a pit, this time Alex had the resources to create a better funeral service. Arge wooden podium was quickly created. All the bodies were put on top and covered with thin white sheets.


    Some of these victims still had family or friends... They were spending thest moments with the bodies before they were being ced on top of the podium... Alex slowly walked around the podium and watched some of the victims'' faces, he then stopped in front of one of the bodies...


    "Such a young boy.", he thought.


    A girl was kneeling next to this body.


    Alex seemed to have seen this boy before, he tried to remember... yes, this was one of the boys he saved from the Denpasar city.


    "What''s his name?"


    "Barry.", the girl replied.


    The death of this boy seemed to put another extra weight on his shoulders... He med himself for foolishly bringing the eggs to the base, he med himself for his inability to save more people...


    This boy, wearing a red armband that made him a fighter, such a young boy probably not even 17. Was it a mistake to make such a young boy into a fighter? Yet another thing he med himself of.


    Theo still standing next to him suddenly said.


    "It''s not your fault... you already did your best."


    Alex while still starring at Barry''s body shook his head and said:


    "Not good enough it seems."


    Alex saw tears drop in the girl''s cheek, she wiped the tear off with her hand, and slowly moved closer to the body and kissed the boy... gently she whispers...


    "I love you, Barry."


    The girl suddenly looked very solemn, she took the boy''s red armband and wore it on her arm, she gave the boy onest look and stood up full determination before leaving...


    Alex was startled.. just like lighting that suddenly shook his mind... he finally understood... This was not his own fight, this was everyone''s fight. It''s everyone''s responsibility, not just his... He cannot decide everyone''s fate. If they choose to follow him, then they would also need to ept the risks...


    He tried to think objectively, is taking the egg worth it?... Yes, the eggs would have been useful, a stronger fighter meant a safer base... Now that he didn''t get the eggs was it still worth it?... Yes, the battlest night was an important battle to give all his 25.000 newbie fighters battle experience. Soon, they will go on their campaigns. From this one battle, they will be much better fighters, can survive better and hopefully be able to help more people. Yes, 500 men diedst night, but it also became a graduation ceremony for all the other 24.500 men.


    The funeral was started before noon, 495 victims'' bodies fromst night, plus the 8 special forces that died in the monkey forest, all 503 victims. Tens of thousands of people gathered to give their respect to the victims.


    The services started with Theo giving some preaches about life after death, how everyone eventually will meet again together in the afterlife. It was a veryforting message.


    Afterward, a beautiful girl walked up to the podium, it was Raissa, the famous singer and spirit enhancer. She said her condolences and sang a song called ''Life and Hope''.


    When water is rarer than tears.


    When you have to buy air.


    When the flowers stay a story.


    Will we finally realize?


    When a smile is rarer than anger.


    When life is almost worthless.


    When the world groans painfully.


    Will we finally realize?


    Hope prayer can rotate time.


    Believe there is still time left.


    Believe that only we can give hope for everything.


    Will we finally realize?


    It was a beautiful song. Thest two weeks, these people just kept running, fighting and surviving, they lost all hope. The song reminded them of hope, giving them the courage to continue living, to fight. Ten thousand people cried and their spirit lifted up.


    Raisa, as a spirit enhancers, was one of the people who got special treatment and received spirit stones. She''s currently also a peak stage spirit enhancer, her singing was able to slightly move the audience''s heart and mind.


    Alex walked up to the podium and said:


    "Before us lie the bodies of our family, friends, andrades. These people gave their lives protecting this base, protecting us, and protecting humanity''s future... Things are different now, billions of people died all around the world, we are the ones left behind. We are being entrusted with the survival of humanity, the path in front of us is difficult, but I believe together we can prevail, we owe it to the people who died before us."


    Alex lit up the podium, fire and smoke filled up the air.


    Ten thousand people were seeing the scene with hands clenched and eyes full determination.

 Chapter 88 - War Council

    Very early in the morning, a group of soldiers walked into the army barracks and started picking up a few soldiers. They were approached while they were still asleep.


    "..."


    "What is this? What the Fuuuuxxxx do you think you''re doing?"


    A bucket of water was thrown to the soldier and he quickly awoke in panic, 5 fully uniformed and armed soldiers stand before him. One of the higher ranking soldiers spoke to him:


    "You are needed for questioning."


    "What for? Why?"


    "Juste with us." .


    The poor soldier still in his sleeping clothes was taken to the headquarters, there seemed to be a few other soldiers taken, and currently waiting for a summon, everyone looked nervous. They were taken inside one by one, and finally, it''s his turn.


    Inside the room, there were a few people sitting behind a long table facing at him. The one in the middle was the Starbase Leader Alex, there were two other people he recognized, one was his toon leader named Chris and the other one was another unit leader, named Dn. He was suddenly frightened.


    "Name, toon, and Battalion number"


    "..."


    "It''s... Yuda, toon 077, 8th Battalion."


    "You are here, standing trial for a crime, the usation is desertion."


    Farell the one who asked the question, Alex will be the one giving the sentence.


    The used was Yuda, one of Barry''s men, at the critical moment, he and two other men ran and left the fight. Looking at Dn and Chris, it seemed it''s really hard for him to get away with it. At that time he said he went to find help, but actually, he hid in one of the safer warehouses.


    "I didn''t desert, I went to find reinforcements... believe me."


    "So did you?... Did you find some?"


    "....No... I got lost, it was very dark, and I panicked."


    "Do you know what happened to your unit leader?"


    "Yes he died... believe me, I really liked that guy, we were really close."


    Hearing his answer, Alex whispered to the men standing next to him...


    "So?... What do you think?"


    "It''s obvious don''t you see... Even not using my ability we can tell... All lies."


    The man standing next to him was Theo.


    Alex gave a signal and a momentter, the soldiers brought another 2 men into the room. It''s the two men who also left that same night. The one named Rofi actually did go looking for reinforcements.


    "The army finds Rofi not guilty, but as he went away without the unit leader''s permission, you will be sent back as a trainee, until reinstated as a regr soldier."


    "For you both, you are found guilty of desertion! You will be stripped off from your military rankings and will be ssified as probation citizens for one month."


    "During this one month, you will keep working like all normal citizens, but you will only receive one voucher per day, and in the event, you create another trouble, you will be sent away from the base."


    Yuda was baffled hearing the sentence, he didn''t want to argue if he was guilty or not anymore...


    "On what authority did you give the sentence??!!"


    "You are not the president, you are not a judge, you are not even in the military or any government institute, you have no right to sentence me. I came here as a volunteer. I came from ck Snake Ind, you took away your authority over us by killing our employer..."


    "The situation that night was grave, I knew we won''t stand a chance against that big mutated cats, so running was the smart thing to do."


    Alex gave a slight smile, there will eventually be people who will not follow him, he was actually surprised it took so long before the first one to challenge his authority appeared.


    "...Mr. Yuda, since the beginning of the doomsday, how many people did you save? how many monsters did you kill? I''m not gonnapare numbers, but what you did to the people around you will define who you are... Most of these people around this base chose me as their leader, at least the army did. Another thing, the ce you slept at, the food you ate, also came from me... Let''s just say, as I am the homeowner and you are a guest, you must follow the house rules."


    "But you have a good point, I will not force anyone to follow me, let''s just say the first two weeks, I ept everyone because of my phnthropist nature. You have eaten my food, you have received the safety andfort of a bed, but from this day on, everyone can choose to follow my rules, or leave..."


    The men next to Yuda were terrified to be sent out of the base, he epted his punishment. As for Yuda, not only did he decided to leave, he influenced and took dozens of other men with him. He''s a Bali local, he knew the surroundings, he also already ate a few of the spirit stones, he thought he could survive with this small group. It was his choice.


    Alex took half a day to sort all the sentences and then continued on with his main agenda. Some were told to stay in the room, they were Farell, Karra, Jerry, Adnan, Donny, Benny, and Sandi.


    "Any of you understand why I asked all of you toe and observe all of these?"


    "You are nning to create a new justice system..." Farrell said.


    "Yes, but not only that, very soon we will need to expand and take campaign across the sea, it will be very hard for us tomunicate. I will need all of us to have the same system.. An agreement on how we will manage all the survivors. All 7 of you will be the highest ranking officers on site, the Star Army War Council. I need all you to have the power to uphold justice."


    Division Commander will be the highest rank within his Star Army. One division will have at least 5 battalions and also will be supported with a support unit of 2000 men. Abination of administrators, workers, scavengers, and medical personnel. They will be supplied with a few vehicles and boats, they will be the star army expansion force.


    Benny''s Division will go to the East Nusa Tenggara province.


    Adnan''s Division will go to the West Nusa Tenggara province.


    Karra''s Division will go to the East Timor Province.


    Farrell''s Division will go to the East Java Province.


    Sandi''s Division will go to Lombok Ind.


    Three Divisions will go to the inds east of Bali. One will go to the West, with the presence of Jake Randall and General Rico, one division should be sufficient. As for Sandi''s division, Lombok ind is the closest ind to Bali, so Alex assumed he will not leave for long or will be able to control both inds, especially because there were still 25.000 more soldiers still in training as support.


    Jerry''s Wolf toon will go support the East Divisions and Donny''s Tiger toon will support the West Divisions, Alex also nned to go to Java ind. First, he needed to gather both James Randall and General Rico''s Army in preparation for the Doomsday Pirs that will drop in Java ind. Secondly, yesterday''s battle settled his food problems, but now he had a shortage of bullets. Alex nned to visit some of the military bases and ordnance factories in Java Ind.


    For the East Campaign, Alex gave them a few days to prepare. The boats were also limited so it will take a few rides to move the 20,000 plus men to the other inds. But for the West Campaign, they will need to leave immediately. The long-range messages seemed to be urgent. Before leaving the meeting, Alex gave them some pointers on ces that were too dangerous and what their final destination should be. Alex also reminded them, their mission was to save as many men as possible.

 Chapter 89 - The Market

    The expansion n was already drawn, themanders chosen and the soldiers prepared. The Divisions are currently preparing their supplies. It will at least be a two-month campaign, there is also a possibility that they will be held up in different doomsday pir bases. If it wille to that, it will be a few months before they will be able to return to Bali Ind. Some of these men will have to leave their family and friends for a while. There are many things to prepare.


    After the mutated animal battle, the base was filled with the mutated animal carcasses, the workers were busy collecting all the meat. Without proper treatment, all this meat would turn spoiled. Working in temperatures no less than 40 degrees, first skinning, draining the blood, taking out the bones and then rinsing the meat. It is crucial to keep the meat inside the airtight packages, hence the steel cans. This method could preserve the meat for up to three years.


    It was a bountiful harvest. The rats'' meats were turned into dried meat jerky and the others were put into cans..


    Dried rat meat jerky: 2.000.000 portions


    Cats canned meat: 1.000.000 portions


    Lizards canned meats: 400.000 portions


    Birds canned meats: 700.000 portions


    Bear canned meats: 20.000 portions


    These increased the base''s food supplies for another 2 months. For the next few weeks, the chefs were forced to create creative food menu choices; rat jerky hotdog, cat meat fried rice, bird soup, and such. Unfortunately, the rats and cats were considered low level mutated meats, it would only give small effects in the long run and only to low stage mortal realm humans. The bird and lizard meat could slowly turn humans stronger into the medium stage, but it would need the second stage mutated beast meat like the bear meat to improve into the high stage mortal realm. To reach the peak stage, it would need a medium to high second stage beast meat.


    Alex discussed with Devita and her team about distributing these meats. From today on, the citizens will be served mutated meat instead of the normal canned foods. This way, hopefully after a month or two, most citizens would turn into medium stage Mortal Realm humans. The lizard and bird meat will be given to the army. As for the bear meat, it would be prioritized for the elite soldiers and the leaders.


    Thest few days, 800 plus tailors were given the task to create armored clothing out of three snakes'' skin. They were also given a thousand lizard skin portions to create lighter armored ones. The results were 600 pieces of snake armor and 2000 pieces of lizard armor. These armors'' strength test was amazing, it was thinner and lighter than the bulletproof vests and it could cover arger body area. The bearskin was unfortunately not as useful as the lizards, it could turn into a nice coat or nket though.


    The higher the army rank, the better the privileges. The special forces were given the snake armor each. There weren''t enough lizard armors for the whole elite unit, therefore it was awarded only to the soldiers with achievements. Each battalion was given 50 lizards armors to be given away by the battalionmander.


    There were currently around 150.000 citizens within and around the Starbase. That''s 300.000 portions of food to be distributed every day. Alex took the authority for the distribution. He needed everyone to take a role and they will be provided with food and shelter. In return, all items found will be given to the base. Alex wished in the future each citizen can find their own fortune by hunting and trade their findings to the free market, every citizen can buy and sell like the world it used to be. But that will only be possible after the surroundings were more secure or all of these people could be more independent. At the moment these people are still dependable to Alex, especially the old, the weak and the little children. Alex thought about all the things the pirs could do in his previous life... maybe by then, the free market would be more feasible.


    The distribution system Alex decided on was what he knew best, the corporate system. Just like corporate sry, the one with the higher ranks will receive better treatment and rewards. This would create motivation for all people. The ones with achievements will get rewards, the ones making mistakes got punishment. As for the rewards, the easiest would be the vouchers that were given every day. Each voucher can be eligible for one food serving or can be traded for something else. These vouchers could turn into the new Starbase currency.


    The citizen ranks were divided into:


    Probation citizen: One voucher per day


    Regr citizen: Two vouchers per day


    Supervisor worker: Three vouchers per day


    Managers: Four vouchers per day


    Army trainee: Two vouchers per day


    Army regr: Three vouchers per day


    Elite soldiers: Four vouchers per day


    Special soldiers: Five vouchers per day


    Commanders: Six vouchers per day


    Once a week, every citizen will be given an extra two vouchers and some people with achievements mentioned by the managers will get extra vouchers.


    The vouchers can be given to someone else and also can be used to trade in the markets. These trade markets will be provided and controlled by the supply divisions to control the supply-demand and the prices. Alex gave all these tasks to Devita''s team, from providing the items and the distribution. Luckily before the doomsday, Devita managed her family''s business who owned a dozen shops all around Indonesia. It''s much different this time, but she was an experienced trader.


    The market was opened in the middle of the base, several shops were currently managed by the supply team. They were trading special items like alcohol, cigarettes, bathing products, and many others. The shops didn''t sell any spirit stone but were willing to buy spirit stones for some vouchers. Alex nned to collect as many spirit stones as possible. Thest battle gave him another 2.700 spirit stones, now in total Alex held around. 5.000 white spirit stones and 5 yellow ones. These spirit stone were shared with the special soldiers. Alex made sure all of them have enough to reach peak stage mortal realm before leaving.


    The five divisions were given two months worth of food, one thousand spare edge weapons, ammunition, tents, medical supplies, and other essential items. Within a day or two, all preparations werepleted. Before leaving for his long campaign, Alex decided to spend some time with his family first, also hoping he will have the time to explore Tiffany''s ability.

 Chapter 90 - Unique Ability

    The ground is shaking, the tremors and all the shriekings... The monster hordes from the deep areing. Every refugee which ran to the Bali Doomsday Pirs are fighting for their lives. The fightsted for 3 days, when the hordes attacks finally stopped. In the end, only thousands of survivors left within the Pirs'' vicinity.


    "The kids, what about the kids...?"


    "Vina. Thank god you''re alright...."


    "Where are the others?"


    Alex went inside the ce where all the refugee''s kids held out... it was such a horrifying scene. Mutted bodies and blood... a shocking sight, it gave such a shock that it made him lose his breath and his heart started hurting.


    "AAAARRRGGGHHHH"


    "..."


    ".... another dream of the past..."


    Alex awoke in a bed, even after such a horrifying dream, he didn''t shout or sweat... he has been living with this experience for the past ten years. He had been repeating these horrible events when he slept. He has a PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, it is an anxiety disorder. It can develop when people are having such a trauma that it disturbs their mind. In the time of war, almost 50% of soldiers will experience this, Alex wondered what was the percentage number for doomsday survivor.


    Alex actually awoke in such a wonderful morning, eyes burning from the sunlight, he heard a small voice and felt a small hand. An angel pushed his cheeks up in a smile. He stared at the big brown eyes and kissed the round soft cheeks. It''s Tiarra, his 7 years old little daughter.


    "Good morning Daddy, time to wake up!"


    This was the reason for his existence, to protect his dearest one. He wished to be able to stay like this forever. But the nightmares always hunted him every night. He still didn''t know the reason of his reincarnation, but he got this second chance. This time there were at least ten times more survivors in Balipared to his previous life. But what about all the survivors in the other inds. All the inds in the eastbined have 5 times the poption of Bali and Java Ind has 30 times. How many of them still survived by now. Alex has been up all night writing notes to be given to the divisions. He wrote down every importantndmark and challenges that they might find. Alex hoped it will increase their chance of survival.


    "Come on Daddy, you wake sote today."


    Alex went out and saw there were few people waiting for him for breakfast. His wife and two daughters, Theo, Cindy, Aria, and Erik''s family. These were the people who have been staying at the VIP warehouses. Erik himself currently still hasn''t finished basic training. Alex invited him to stay with his family because he trusted him. His wife and kids could also keep each otherpany.


    After breakfast, this morning Alex took Tiffany to the training ground, he nned to explore his daughter''s ability. Tiffany currently sits on the chair smiling, she got to have some time with her father today.


    "Tiff, I need you to focus today, concentrate and try to follow my lead."


    "Yes, Daddy."


    "You are now facing toward mount Agung. Remember the bird creature from two days ago, I wonder if you can feel if the bird is still in that mountain or not."


    ".... What do you mean daddy?"


    "Just remember how you felt then, and try to feel it again."


    ".... Yes... I remember the golden light... Yes, daddy, I can feel her still there... very subtle."


    "Her?"


    "Yes daddy, it''s a she."


    "Can youmunicate with her or can you understand her thoughst? Will shee back and harm us?"


    "I can subtly understand her, but I don''t really know, Daddy, I am confused... But I know for sure she won''t hurt us..."


    "Can you ask her to do something for you?"


    "No Daddy, I don''t think so... sorry Daddy"


    "It''s ok Tiff, you are doing great."


    Alex thought maybe because the Garuda was a stage three animal, Tiffany currently couldn''t control her. Alex started with his next n, he brought some of the mutated beasts in cages. These were the badly hurt mutated beast who were captured during the battle.


    "Tiff, there are some animals caught during the battle I wonder if you can feel ormunicate with them as well?"


    "Let me try Daddy..."


    Tiffany has been blind for almost three weeks now, she has been trying to feel her surroundings from touch, hear or smell. But what she did to the Garuda was as much a mystery as everyone else.


    "... Nothing Daddy..."


    There were 3 mutated cats and a young mutated bear about 3 meters in size in front of her. It''s an aggressive beast, it has been roaring for quite a while.


    "... If you try harder Tiff, Daddy will get you some candy afterward..."


    "What about ice cream?"


    "..."


    "That''s a bit hard, what about shaved ice with syrup...?"


    "Chocte."


    "Ok deal."


    .


    Tiffany took the time trying to feel the mutated animal, she actually could feel a slight red light. But she really didn''t know what to do next...


    .


    "... I really don''t know what to do Daddy.. sorry..."


    "It''s ok Tiff."


    It''s too bad, but probably he shouldn''t rush it...


    "Take these animals away!!"


    "Daddy.. what will happen to them, are you going to hurt them?"


    .


    "... I''m sorry TIff they are very aggressive, there''s nothing else we can do."


    The soldiers were preparing to move the mutated beast... when suddenly Tiffany moved closer to one of the cages and touch the bear''s head without Alex noticing...


    "Tiff! Nooo...!!"


    Surprisingly, the mutated bear suddenly became calm, and its eye turned white... Tiffany''s eyes, on the other hand, turned red. This was exactly the same situation as with the Garuda. Tiffany could see through the bear''s eyes. The bear could move with hermand. Alex was excited, not only could she possess the bear repeatedly, apparently even when she didn''t possess it, the bear turned docile. It seemed as if the bear confused Tiffany as its own kind and family.


    Alex continued on testing with the mutated cats and concluded that with her current strength, she was only able to tame one of the mutated cats. Her possession abilities turned gradually weaker and shorter. Maybe with time, the other two could be tamed as well. But at the moment, it''s already too straining on her. Just in case Alex kept the guards around these mutated animals for a while until Alex was fully convinced the animals won''t turn aggressive anymore. Alex never knew a beast tamer in his previous life, he was not convinced that it''s just a normal spirit enhancer''s unique ability. Hopefully,ter the doomsday pirs would have the answer.


    Later that day, another message arrived from the Surabaya city of East Java, James Randall urgently needed help. Alex had prepared to leave with Farrell''s Divisions of 7000 men, and Donny''s Tiger toon tonight. Before leaving, Alex dropped by to see Rama in the medical center. Although he had be conscious and was not in any life-threatening danger, Rama won''t be able toe along with the party. Alex ordered Rama and the ''pendekar'' to stay and defend the base.


    The expansion n finally had started.

 Chapter 91 - The Misfits

    Jakarta, DDay +20


    The city center is the worst ce to be in during a doomsday apocalypse. Wisma BNI 46, one of the tallest buildings located in the heart of the Jakarta Central Business Districts. It''s a 2600 meter tall office building with 46 floors. Mostly used for corporate banking.


    Tak... Tak... Tak.... Tak... Tak...


    A group of youngsters seemed to be running up the stairs.


    "Without those white stones, I don''t think I will be fit enough to walk up these stairs..."


    "It''s the fourth time you said that Romi. And we have only reached the 20th floor."


    "Once every 5 floors then... That sounds fair enough toin."


    "Just shut your whining. It''s your turn now."


    "Really?... Oooo man."


    The guy named Romi opened up the 20th-floor steel emergency door slowly... Moving inside the office corridor and then screamed:


    "Is anyone alive in here??!!"


    "We came to help, shout if you are still alive... We won''t hurt you!"


    GRRROOOAARRR!!!


    "Ok, that''s a no... Run or fight?"


    "You know the drill... Let''s go!"


    The group of 5 fought the iing red zombies. 2 men in the front with a saber and an ax, 2 at the back using spears. one stayed on guard at the back. Within a few moves, the mutated zombie was decapitated.


    "Yes, another spirit stone!"


    "Hurry, close and mark the door!"


    Tak... Tak... Tak... Tak... Tak...


    Sounds of running steps from the stairs below, three other people ran up the stairs reaching out to the group. The arrival of these three brought lots of cheer to the group.


    "Daisy you''re finally here... Yess!!"


    "Everything will be much smoother now."


    "Seriously, you guys only happy to see Daisy, not me?"


    "Yes definitely not you Rick."


    "Ok, enough chit chat guys, the building courtyard started to fill with zombies again, we need to speed up."


    "Don''t worry Adam, with your beautiful Daisy here, we will finish in no time."


    Adam, Daisy, and Rick, were the three survivors from the apartment and schoolplex, it''s been 2 weeks since that incident. Adam and his friends have had military training for a few days and started to form his own gang of misfits. A group of youngsters who were crazy enough to ept special missions from the army. Adam''s father General Rico fully supported Adam''s decision to contribute. Not only because he had limited military personnel, but also because the general believed that only by experience will a boy turn to a man. The general gave the group of 20 youngsters an instructor and after a few days and a few spirit stones given by the general, the group had started epting missions.


    Their mission today was a special one, the group will go to the tallest building in Jakarta and modify the antenna into a working HAM radio, it would create a strong signal booster, and increase themunication range of the base.


    Now that Daisy already was with the group, things really turned much easier, Adam gave most of the group''s spirit stones to Daisy because of her unique ability, she''s a human radar... She can detect threats a distance away from her. Now that she had turned into peak stage Mortal Realm, she can detect monsters in a 100-meter radius, and a slight reading of anything 500 meter''s away from her. This way, the group just stopped to the floor where there were few mutated zombies, just for a chance of some spirit stones drop. They were also hoping to find survivors.


    "Two floors up, the 38th floor, there are at least 6 survivors. Let''s go!"


    Adam was trusted by the group to lead. He''s smart, brave and also the strongest man from this group. He lead in front, opened up the steel emergency door of the 38th floor.


    "Haloo.. we are here to help... we mean no harm, pleasee with us, we will lead you to the survival base."


    Adam and 7 of his friends slowly approached the survivors on the 38th floor, it seemed they have been held up here for thest 20 days. Four men and two women, they seemed to be office workers of this building. When Adam approached, the four men were holding brooms sticks and kitchen knives. They were very nervous and currently in panic.


    "Who are you...!! How did you get up here? There are so many zombies down there!"


    Adam answered "We cleared the way out but we must hurry before more show up, pleasee with us."


    "How do we know you won''t hurt us?"


    "Mister if we want to hurt you, you will be dead already!"


    Romi shows his pistol attached to a holster in his belt,


    "just hurry and prepare we will leave soon."


    The four men turned ecstatic. It was such good news, they have been eating the vending machine food for thest 20 days. And it''s been a while since they breathed fresh air.


    Adam felt something was amiss with the two women expression, they were in such bad conditions, probably it was all the stress.


    Romi and the 3 of you will stay here and help them prepare, Daisy, Me, Rick, and Soegi wille with me to the tower. Soegi you bring all the tools, we will go up first then go back here when we are finished with the mission.


    "Roger Leader Adam!!"


    After the 4 of them left, the other four tried to help the 6 survivors, they were in such bad conditions. Romi came and approached one of the women when suddenly, the woman grabbed his pistol from the holster.


    "..."


    "What are you doing!!!", Romi said.


    The woman tried to speak but not a voice seems able toe out. The girl aiming the gun to the four men, when suddenly she cried...


    "You... men... you... you... all... are... animals!!"


    The four men were terrified, suddenly the group realized what had happened...


    "No don''t... we are sorry... don''t shoot!!"


    BANG!! BANG!! BANG!! BANG!!


    Three shot missed, one hit the head, and instantly killed one of the guys. The other three decided to run downstairs, they believed the way out had been cleared up. It''s an opportunity to run.


    The girl was still crying when she decided to shoot herself up andmit suicide. There were now only 5 men left on the floor.


    "FUXXXX... the shots will drag more zombies in."


    "What should we do?"


    "Let''s check down first, Adam''s group has Daisy with them, they will be fine."


    One of the muscr guys named Roy picked up thest survivor and carried her. Halfway down the stairs, the group heard screams of the three men that went down first. It seemed they''ve been attacked by several red zombies.


    "SHHHiiittt!!, let''s run back up..."


    "Ooooo maannn really? More stairs..."


    "Shut up Romi, this is your fault anyway!!"


    The group met up with Adam at the top building rooftop, they barred the door.


    "You finished there Soegi?"


    "Yes just give me a minute or two."


    Adam stared at all the people next to him and said


    "You guys know what this means right?"


    "Roger Leader!!"


    "We have prepared 6 parachutes, I guess some need to share, remember to be careful... watch the wind and watch your step."


    "Ok ready? We will aim and meet up at the Jakarta Central Water Fountain."


    "Yes, Leader!"


    Adam didn''t hesitate to share one of the parachutes with Daisy and quickly prepared to jump


    "Everyone Jump!!"


    "Let''s gooo..!!"


    "Yippe Kai yeee!!"


    "Kawabangga!!"


    They really were a group of crazy misfits, these youngsters seemed to know no fear.


    Multiple men flying in the sky... Adam hugged Daisy tightly when they jumped... all dropped near the fountain... The zombies also didn''t give them time to rx... hundreds of zombies ran to the fountain.


    CRRRAASSHHH!!!


    Suddenly, a bus drove and crushed all the zombie on its way and parked next to the fountain. It''s Jason with the rest of the misfits unit. The bus had been modified by the military, unfortunately, it''s currently full of survivors. Adam, Daisy, Rick, Roy, and Romi decided not to get on the bus. The full bus drove away from the fountain...


    Adam said: "Mission aplished, let''s go!! We are walking to the base."

 Chapter 92 - Daisy Flower

    With all the noise, hundreds of zombies easily turned into thousands. Jakarta was one of the crowdest city in the world, and the business district was the center of it all. There were millions of zombies within the city. There were only five of them, fortunately, all of them already were body enhancers. Daisy at the peak stage, Adam at high stage and all three others were in between of the mid and high stage. With their current fitness and Daisy''s ability, it should be easy to escape from these hordes. But at first, they needed to lose these zombies first.


    "Let''s go inside that mall, we lose them inside and go out the back."


    "Ok leader!"


    The group hacked and shed its way towards the mall. Grand Indonesian Mall, the biggest mall in Indonesia.


    GROAAARRRR!!! .


    Three red mutated zombies spotted the group.


    "We cannot outrun them... We should kill them before we go inside. Remember, no guns!"


    Adam quickly faced one of them. A pickaxe in each hand... Pa..Pa..Pa.. Within just three moves the red zombie''s head got hacked away by the ax. Romi with a saber found it very hard to parry and shed at the zombie''s attacks. Romi got a few scratches by its w... suddenly...


    Huuussshhh. Stab!


    A knife went flying and got stuck right in the middle of the red zombie''s brain. It instantly dropped to the floor... slowly Daisy moved closer and pulled the knife out. Rick and Roy both worked beautifully together and their steel spears thrust thest zombie.


    "Ok, let''s quickly go inside."


    The group went inside the mall through one of the cafes with an outdoor balcony. The main entrance was fully blockaded by furnitures, a massive fight seemed to have happened a while ago. Probably during the first week of the doomsday.


    "Ok we''re inside, let''s keep our voices down. There should still be hundreds of those zombies inside the mall and we don''t want to attract the ones outside too."


    The group moved quickly but quietly straight onto the second floor. Most of the zombies were on the ground floor. The second floor was quieter.


    "SLAASHHH"


    One by one, zombies were being cut quietly from behind. The group swiftly went to the other side of the mall.


    "Leader... Leader..."


    "..."


    "Yes, what is it now Romi?"


    "While we are here... can we scavenge some stuff as well?"


    Adam responded: "I don''t think there is any food left... These things are the first ones taken by the survivors.."


    "No.. leader... I mean maybe... hmm... shoes? Or bags... maybe new socks and jackets will be nice."


    "..."


    "Actually, I could use new shoes as well", Roy said.


    .


    .


    "Ok but don''t go too far. We''ll stick together... quiet and quickly."


    "Roger Leader.... shopping.... shopping."


    .


    .


    Everyone went inside the department store, even Daisy wanted to check out some clothes... Adam apanied Daisy while still fully alert watching the surroundings. Adam suddenly saw something in the distance...


    Currently daisy was trying some clothes in the dressing room, she was after all still a young girl, she loved pretty things... After a few minutes, she went out...


    "Adam... what do you think?"


    "Adam... "


    "Adam... where are you?"


    .


    .


    A figure suddenly jumped onto her...


    "..."


    It''s a hug from behind... Adam''s arm around her waist from the back and led her in front of the changing mirror...


    "What are you doing?"


    "Shhhhh... no noise remember?"


    With a cheeky smile on his face, Adam slowly touched her hair and put something in it. It''s a beautiful hair clip. Three small yellow daisy flowers were on the hair clip. It firmly held onto Daisy''s hair and made her beautiful face shown more.


    The young couple stared at each other in the mirror smiling...


    "Beautifull daisy flowers for my beautiful Daisy."


    "That''s such a cheesy line..."


    "Well,...But It did make you smile right.."


    Adam turned her around facing him, one hand raised her chin, eyes closed and kissed... Two lovebirds finding love in such a strange situation.


    But the romance was cut short...


    AAAARRGGGHH!!


    Adam and Dasiy were startled and quickly followed the scream. It was Romi''s. His face pale and sweaty...


    "What happened?"


    "A ghost... I saw a ghost!"


    "What the Fxxxx, are you crazy man?"


    Rick was not convinced... This Romi was always such a drama queen.


    "Seriously man... I really saw it.. a dark shadow moving in on me."


    The group looked at each other in confusion... When suddenly they all saw it...


    A shadow figure slowly moving out from the darkness... it turned into the shape of a small boy... it seemed to be watching the group looking at Daisy and approached closer to the group...


    Adam quickly jumped in the middle and swung both of his pickaxes at the shadow... And the figure suddenly sshed out like a cloud of smoke.


    "Gather up. Back to back create a circle!"


    The figure slowly formed again... still approaching Daisy... Adam quickly responded with another sh...


    "STOP!! WAIT", Daisy said


    "Listen did you guys hear that?....


    "Hear what!! I hear nothing!"


    "It''s calling out to me."


    A voice spoke to Daisy''s mind.


    "Help me....Help me..."


    The smokelike shadow stopped right in front of the group... One of its hands pointing out in a direction.. And the figure dispersed in smoke again... Daisy closed her eyes and concentrate on her ability in the pointed direction...


    "One survivor in that direction."


    "..."


    The group found it hard to believe that there was still another survivor holding up inside this mall. A shopping mall was the first ce where the survivors went into when the doomsday starts. This was also the first ce that got attacked. Therefore when they went inside the mall they didn''t expect a survivor.


    "What''s with the shadow and smoke?"


    "Should be an ability user just like mine.", Daisy said.


    "So should we go and help?"


    "Of course we should."


    Daisy was still quiet and suddenly said... "It''s the ce with the most zombies."... Daisy was worried.


    Adam put his hand on Daisy''s shoulder..."Don''t worry we won''t leave without the boy."


    "You agree with me boys??"


    "Yes. You bet we do leader!"


    The group quickly went into the allocated area. It''s a restaurant on the ground floor. It seemed like the boy stayed in the back of the kitchen. Seas of zombies gathered in front of the restaurant and filled almost all of the ground floor. There were also a dozen red mutated zombies that could be seen.


    "I guess there is no other way boys. We''ll go in guns zing... It will be messy."


    "Yes, Leader... Messy is the new sexy."


    .


    .


    Adam sometimes worried about the kind of group he actually led.


    .


    "Let''s go!!"

 Chapter 93 - The Cavalry

    "All set!!"


    "There''s not much else to do, remember, in and out. I will lead, Roy and Rick both of you on my side, Romi and Daisy watch our back."


    "It''s any second now...."


    Tar!! Tar!! Tar!! Tar!! Tar!! Tar!! Tar!!


    This loud sound was the Chinese new year''s firecrackers, it blew multiple times in a minute. The group set it up a while ago on the other end of the mall, they use this tactic before to draw away the zombies. It''s very effective, but on the negative side, it will bring more zombies inside the mall. Time was short, they must quickly run and save the boy..


    While the firecrackers were still making loud noises and most of the zombies were attracted to the other side:


    BANG!! BANG!! BANG!! BANG!! BANG!!


    The group of five went in guns zing using handguns, their main targets were the red mutated zombies, these were the main threats. With these mutated zombies gone, the threat level would go down significantly.


    The group emptied out their handgun magazines, dozens of zombies and 6 of the red mutated zombies died by the gun barrage.


    "Let''s move!!"


    Five people hack and shed the zombies swiftly without stop straight into the restaurant entrance. Adam, Roy, and Rick held down the entrance, while Daisy and Romi quickly entered. They cleared out the few zombies inside and quickly went to the back kitchen. Without electricity, the back room was very dark, it also stunk of rotten foods and corpses. Daisy saw piles of zombie corpses, mostly mutted in pieces.


    "The storage freezer.", Daisy said.


    Romi quickly opened up the steel door, just a step inside and suddenly a figure jumped in on him...


    SWISSHH!! It was a fast knife sh. Romi was in panic, the shes went straight to his neck.


    CLANK!! Daisy with her peak stage speed was able to quickly help and parry the knife attack, the figure quickly hopped to the side. It was the boy, he seemed to be in a crazed state, messy hair, eyes red and body thin like a skeleton...


    "Calm down, we are here to help, we won''t hurt you..."


    The boy stared at daisy and quickly dropped to his knees and let go of the knife... He fell to the kitchen floor. It seems he''s really tired and just used thest ounce of his energy for this attack.


    Daisy moved closer to the boy. The boy seemed to be 12 years or 13 years old, his body very thin. Daisy assumed this boy must not have eaten anything for thest few days. The boy was so malnourished that his skin seemed to almost fall off.


    Daisy gave the boy some water and a piece of her chocte bar, the boy was still staring at Daisy while eating the chocte slowly.


    Daisy looked at Romi and said:


    "Give me one spirit stone. I heard you got one before."


    Romi gave the one spirit stone while sulking in helplessness. Daisy gave the spirit stone to the boy, the spirit stone was a very nutritious item, it would help his recovery.


    "What''s your name?"


    .


    The boy seemed to be lost in thought for a while, Daisy could only imagine what the boy went through thest 20 days. He slowly said: "Tommy."


    "Hi Tommy, you can call me Sister Daisy, you seem to be a tough kid, do you think you cane with us, we''ll go away together from these monsters ok?"


    Tommy just nodded, Daisy took his arm and helped him stand up. Romi, after being given a cold stare from Daisy quickly helped carry the boy and walked out of the kitchen.


    The situation outside the kitchen was chaotic. The three were fighting at the choke point, in front of the entrance. Suddenly two red zombies jumped through the window disy. The two got past Adam and went straight to Daisy.


    Daisy quickly took out her knife and threw three of them. One of the red zombies got critically stabbed in the head, dead. The other one got two knife-stabs in its shoulder... It continued its advance to Daisy, she was not prepared.


    "Nooo!!" Adam panicked.


    Suddenly a shadow figure jumped onto the mutated zombie, held its foot preventing it from attacking Daisy, another figure jumped to its shoulder, took the two knives and quickly stabbed them into the zombie''s head. The shadow figure dispersed into smoke while the one holding the knife was Tommy. It seemed Tommy already took a few spirit stones, he appeared no weaker than a high stage mortal realm fighter.


    Adam''s relieved, but they were not safe yet.


    "The horde has returned... more areing.. we must hurry.."


    Romi quickly carried Tommy again, the group moved out quickly heading to the esctors up to the second floor. Most zombies found it difficult to follow them up to the stairs. There were still a few of the red zombies chasing the group.


    They swiftly moved out of the exit door and headed to the second-floor parking space. They kept running until the end of the building and jumped down to the street outside the mall.


    All sweaty Romi said:


    "Hahaha we are safe in one piece."


    "Don''t Jinx it.."


    CRANKKˇ­ CRANKK


    ss shattered, dozens of red zombies jumping out of the mall windows followed by hundreds of normal zombies. From one end of the street, Adam could also see another dozen red zombies swiftly heading to the group.


    "Fuxxxxxx you see what you did Romi..."


    "What did I do?"


    "Daisy, find the safe passage... Run for it boys.."


    The group ran full speed, they could outrun the normal zombies, but not the mutated ones. They are out in the open, 30 mutated zombies gradually turned to 40 then 60...


    "I am so tired, I really need a break."


    "OMG, there''s about one hundred of those now, is this the end...?"


    Adam, calcting the situation, knowing the base was still a few kilometers away, he suddenly said:


    "Daisy you bring the boy back to the base, I''ll hold them back a while."


    Daisy suddenly stopped running, eyes closed concentrating.


    Roy said "No way you stay alone leader, I will stay with you..."


    "Me too..." Rick respond.


    This gang of misfits might be crazy or reckless, but they were very brave and trustworthy, Adam felt no regret if he had to die with them at this moment, he stared at Rick, Roy, and Romi...


    Romi smily said "Actually, Leader I can''t run anymore... I have no choice but to stay with you."


    .


    "..."


    .


    Daisy open her eyes starring at Adam...


    "don''t worry they are here."


    BRRRMMMMM... A bus drove heading to the group, it was Jason and the other misfits.


    "Leader, we came back for you, and we brought a guest."


    The ground was shakings... The tank cavalry wasing... 5 Direct Fire Vehicles Badak (Rhino) fitted with a Belgian CMI Defence CSE 90LP turret armed with a 90mm gun fitted with a muzzle brake, and 7.62mm machine gun.


    BOOOMMM!!! BOOOMMM!!! BOOOMMM!!!


    Dratatatatatatˇ­.Dratatatattatat


    Multiple cannon shots, dozens of the mutated zombies sshed like watermelons. The shots followed with machine guns managed to annihte half of the pursuing red zombies. Next, a group of fighters all high and peak stage experts using edges weapons assaulted the surviving zombies. A hundred mutated zombie threat was gone in less than 5 minutes.


    A figure walked closer to Adam,


    "How do you like the tanks? It''s beauty, right? Let''s head back now."


    "Ok, father."

 Chapter 94 - Jakarta Base

    The group headed back to the Jakarta main base, the National Sports Arena ''Gelora Bung Karno''. It''s only been 3 weeks but the arena has turned into a city of its own. All the survivors from the Jakarta city have already gathered in this ce. There used to be more than ten million people living in this city, now the people in this base are probably all that''s left.


    <Jakarta Base>


    Area: 173 hectares


    Total Survivors: 165.322


    Leader: General Rico


    Defense Team:


    25 Company Special Forces 2.421


    8 Military Battalion 8.732 .


    10 Militia Battalion 9.987


    All 160 thousand plus survivors were packed into the several smaller stadiums and sports buildings. Unlike Starbase, this base has too many civilianspared to military personnel. During the first week, the general recruited all who had military experience; Police, Navy, or Airforce. Combined with the force collected before the doomsday, there were more than 10.000 military men gathered. All ten thousand plus were separated into 8 different gates and back with the militia.


    As Jakarta base was so close to the city center, the zombie hordes came nonstop. These 10.000 plus men have been fighting endlessly defending the base. Thest 3 weeks, the number of military men that died while defending the gates has reached more than a thousand men.


    "Open Gate 6, the tank unit has returned!! It''s General Rico!"


    "Ready the fighters!"


    Each time a convoy returned, they were normally followed by hordes of zombie stragglers. Especially loud tank convoys such as these. Hundreds of men who were guarding the 6th Gate came out with pikes and spears. Unlike the Starbase, they do not have a steel factory, so most of their melee weapons are the militarybat knives or were crafted from simple household items. Steel pipes sharpened be pikes, attache a knife and it became a spear. A steel batt with nails turns into a spiked mace. All the rare scavenged weapons such as axes, or sabers were given to the special forces unit.


    Within minutes all the thousand zombies stragglers were cleared up. Five tanks followed with the hundred special forces fighters and a bus full of survivors safely move inside the gate.


    "Wee back General!"


    "Thank you for the weing party, Colonel Andry."


    "How was the tank testing general?"


    "They were magnificent, gather all the others, we need to have a meeting today."


    "Yes General!"


    General Rico came out of the base, not just for a rescue, he came to test the new tank units. His team of engineers just managed to modify and activate the 10 tank units ''Badak''. 10 armored vehicles with high explosives canons and machineguns. With these tanks, the general thought the next phase could be started. Before that, Rico decided to see his son Adam first.


    "Son, it was so close, if I came a bitter, you and your friends might not have survived."


    "..." Adam thought what his father said is true...


    "So what do you think? You and your friends, ready to join the military?"


    .


    "No father I don''t think they will agree, maybeter."


    Rico gave it some thought and said...


    "Your boys want to rest or are they ready for another mission, there will a very important mission soon, what do you think?"


    "Yes, father I... we are ready."


    "But I need you to recruit more members, your current numbers are not enough, here take this, these are the spirit stones taken from thest zombie fight, should be around 50 of them, consider it the reward for yourst mission."


    "Thank you, father."


    The general smiled, it seemed he could repair his past mistakes and continue his fatherhood duty.


    "What''s with the group name anyway? Misfits? Why not the dragon or tiger group?"


    "..."


    "Actually... these millennials they... don''t like those kinds of names... it''s either Misfits, Flyingcow or RottenRice, so I chose the first one..."


    .


    .


    "Ok... Misfits... will do then...Good luck with your recruitment, and be careful."


    After giving out the stones, the general quickly headed to the meeting, Adam stared at his father''s back for a while, his father currently held a big responsibility, he started to have a positive attitude towards his father.


    .


    General Rico went into the meeting room. A few minutester, the meeting started with around two dozen men. These were the high-ranking military officers, cab members, and a few civilian public figures. All the men in this room represented the voice of the people.


    .


    Food, security, and people. This was always the main agenda. Unlike at the Starbase, there were a few things that are different.


    First the food. This base has not stockpiled enough food, the supplies sent from the Randalls were only enough for a few weeks, therefore the base needed to rations its food, all survivors will be given limited food per day, most days only once a day. The people were forced to share their supplies or even decided to organize their own scavenger hunts.


    Second, security. There were more survivors and less military personnel, therefore the security threats itself were not just from the zombies, but also on the inside. 100.000 men; sad, hungry and desperate people gathered in one ce was like a ticking bomb. To increase public security 10.000 men were recruited and trained to be a militia, they have standard training and were equipped with simple weapons. Although not very reliable, at least being in the military or militia would get them two meals per day. This militia would increase the safety of the perimeter and inside the base.


    Although General Rico was currently assigned as themander in chief, he knew little about governing. His main concerns were managing the army to protect the people inside and finding more survivor outside. All the other he left to the people in these meetings.


    "So first tell me about our food supplies and the solutions."


    Karen, a former cab member, and Melissa''s Mother were in charge of this.


    "With our current number, our supplies will only be able to hold out for three weeks, one month at most. After that the people will need to depend on their own for food, I suggest we send more scavenger hunt convoys."


    BRACK!! A hit on the table.


    "More people outside!!? Thest toon we sent was unsessful and only half returned!" Colonel Bernard was agitated as his toon was the one he just mentioned.


    .


    .


    "Calm down or you''re out of the meeting colonel..."


    "I''m sorry General."


    Rico continued: "What about security?"


    "It seems the zombies tend to go more aggressive in the evening and in the morning, those are the most constant attacks with the highest zombie numbers, also we have seen an increasing number of those red zombies, I rmend an upgrade to our wall."


    Rico continued: "How many new survivors came to this base yesterday?"


    "125 men."


    General Rico thought for a while and finally decided:


    "It seems there won''t be many survivors left in Jakarta, we will send a few toons to the city''s outskirts, it''s imperative that all the survivorse to this base within a month. Also, get more people to find and scavenge foods, we need at least another month''s worth of supplies."


    "Only one month?" Karen was confused.


    "Yes, we also won''t need to upgrade the wall as well. We will be leaving the base."


    "..."


    "Leaving the base? Do you mean sending a battalion?"


    "No!... Everyone. we will all be moving to another base."


    "..."

 Chapter 95 - Street Mercenaries

    The meeting was not just nning for the future of Jakarta Base, but it also to n the future of the country. People within this meeting represented thest of Indonesian authority. Therefore Rico''s n of moving the entire base needed to be epted by the people in this meeting.


    There were four colonels within these meetings. Bernard, Andry, Jaka, and Rano. This was also the first time they were hearing this. They were confused.


    Colonel Rano was the first one who voiced his opinion:


    "General, I know there are still millions of undead within this city, but I am sure with our current force, eventually we will able to take back the city."


    The others within the meeting seemed to agree with the colonel, there have been too many casualties from the people who went out of the base. They were terrified to go outside this base. Although the wall of this sports arena was not the ideal defensive wall, it had been sufficient to hold the zombies attack thest three weeks..


    Another cab member added:


    "General, I am not a soldier but I had my share on killing those abominations, I am sure given some time and enough training these 100.000 civilians will be able to contribute on taking back the city."


    More people seemed to agree with Colonel Rano''s idea. This city was their home, after all, something worth fighting for.


    A beautiful cab member named Silvia decided to say her piece to, this woman in her early thirties was the granddaughter of the Indonesian first president, her influence within these cab members was huge.


    "General, it seems many people here need some exnation, please give us the reason."


    The General stared at the people within this meeting and slowly said:


    "Colonel Rano, don''t you realize that the undead bes stronger each day and that the red mutated zombies nowadays are easier to be found?"


    Colonel Rano and the other seemed to agree and nodded. The group started to realize something and the atmosphere between the people in this meeting seemed to turn colder...


    "I have very reliable intel that the current threat is only the first wave. What''sing next will be much harder to deal with. and if we don''t leave the city within the next two months, everyone will be in grave danger."


    "!!!"


    "..."


    "What do you mean General!!?"


    "What Intel!!?"


    "Where did you hear this?"


    "The same person who warned me about the doomsday and made us prepare the soldiers and the supplies, without his intel, it would be lucky if even half of our current numbers survived by now."


    .


    .


    A man in his 60''s wearing a very expensive suite voice his opinion. This was Anthony, one of the 9 Dragons Family in Jakarta.


    "How much do you trust this source general?"


    The general said firmly... "With my life."


    .


    The people within the meetings suddenly turned silent, this news was too much toprehend... An even bigger threat than what they were facing nowˇ­ That''s madness...


    .


    Silvia broke the silence and continued her question:


    "General, where will we be moving the base?"


    .


    "It will be near one of the cities in Central Java."


    "..."


    "How are we going to move 100.000 men to reach 200-kilometer distance trough millions of zombies?"


    .


    .


    "The same way we got help with our supplies, we will also receive help from our friend from the east, but before, while we prepare the move, we will send a few toons to the east. To scout the road and connect ourmunication line."


    .


    "Even with the tank units, that is a crazy mission."


    Rico thought that other than his special forces probably only a crazy unit such as the misfits would ept such mission.


    The meeting went on for another few hours; when night came the General returned to his quarters only to find a beautiful half-naked woman already waiting for him in his bed.


    "You are better at this than I thought you know?"


    "?"


    "Being the country leader I mean."


    While opening his clothes, Rico answered:


    "That''s mainly because of your help of course..."


    The woman in his bed is Silvia, a cab member and granddaughter of the first president. The General always had his sweet spot for a beautiful woman. The night turned wild for both of them.


    - - - - - - - - - -


    The next day, Adam walked down the main street within the sports arenapound. The main street has be the most crowded area. There were hundreds of stalls created by the survivors as the gathering hub and market ce. Within this area, people bartered their supplies: foods, weapons, medicine, or clothes. There were also people providing their services as a bodyguard to go outside or also as always prostitution.


    The situation around the main streets was also filled with people begging for food, the conditions were very depressing.


    On top of a pedestal, a guy preached a sermon:


    "Repent!! The end of days hase, belief in him, everything is exactly as the scripture said. Repent!! It''s not toote to believe in the Lord!"


    Adam already received news of his special mission. This morning, he, Daisy and the Misfits walked around the main street for one main reason; to recruit more people to be part of his gang of misfits.


    "So what kind of people are we looking for?"


    "Young people such as us, but have much experience outside the wall. The stronger and crazier the better."


    "Should we open a recruitment stall?"


    "No, I already know exactly which people I want to join."


    "Don''t tell me?"


    The group went to one corner of the main street, a group of youngsters opening up a tent with a sign ''mercenaries for hire''.


    "Yooo... Misfits..."


    "What an honor for the famous Misfits to visit our humble tent."


    "Brother these are the Misfits? They don''t look as tough as I heard."


    While the Misfits were the group famous for helping the military in special missions, this other group of youngsters was known as the Mercenaries. The went out many times before. The leaders were the pair of brother and sister Nathalie and Nathan. They both were orphans that have been living in the street for a long time. Most of the youngsters from their group also came from the same background. They have been survivors since they were born.


    "We would like your men to join us Misfits for a very important mission for the survival of our base."


    .


    "What''s the pay?", Nathan Asked


    Romi is upset and said, "Didn''t you hear the part for the survival of our base?"


    "Nope!! Everything we do these days is always about the base, but at the end the day we still need food to eat."


    .


    Adam knew this youngster may seem harsh, but he knew for the fact, they have been doing mercenary work to feed the young children from the streets.


    .


    Adam threw Nathan a bag of 25 pieces of spirit stones.


    "This is half of what we got fromst mission, I also guarantee equal sharing for our future loot. What do you think?"


    .


    Nathan gave a look to Nathalie and discussed it with their group.


    "With one condition... We will only follow themand of people stronger than us. We challenge a three on three fights. Do you ept?"


    "Of course."


    There were two dozens of these youngsters, most of them already consumed a few stones, with Nathan and Nathalia almost reaching peak stage of the Mortal Realm. But to their surprise, none of them could defeat Adam, Daisy, and Tommy. Knowing Daisy''s and Tommy''s ability, this group of youngsters was more confident to join the Misfits. The Misfits finally have 50 men. Time to prepare for the mission.

 Chapter 96 - Father And Son

    Adam was currently looking at the fifty plus members, all youngsters. The oldest was Rick who was 24 years old, and the youngest was Tommy. The Misfits don''t allow anyone below 17 to join, but Tommy was able to spend 20 days alone among the zombies and also had a special ability. He was probably the toughest Misfits member, so Tommy was an exception.


    The Misfits were now too big to be led by himself. Adam chose several people to be unit leaders. Jason, his school friend, and Rick, the apartment neighbor. Nathalie and Nathan from the street mercenaries and of course Daisy. All of these leaders were also the strongest among these youngsters.


    Adam and all five unit leaders were being called tonight for a strategy briefing by the general. The briefing was held in one of the buildings, it was the basketball stadium.


    "Wow, the Misfits are being recognized by the General", Nathan was impressed..


    "I guess we really should give ourselves some credit for our contributions for thest few days."


    "Hahahhaa, we really should.", Rick said with a big smile on his face.


    The group went to the meeting with proud faces. But their confidence was crushed within minutes. When they went inside the basketball stadium, it was already filled with more than 500 men. They were all toon leaders and special forces unit leaders. All were extraordinary soldiers, there were also some famous militia fighters and martial artists.


    A few of the Red Barrets'' special forces soldiers looked at Adam group and said:


    "Sorry kids, no basketball tonight..."


    "Hahahahahhaha... "


    They must have known, no one could enter without invitation, they only said those words to mock the group. Rick and Jason were disturbed, but surprisingly Nathalie said:


    "We often hear such mockery, don''t worry, at the end only strength and achievements matter."


    Adam and Daisy were impressed by hearing such words, it appears the siblings really were special. The group took seats at the back facing the center court.


    General Rico was currently standing in the middle of the basketball stadium. Next to him were the four colonels and a few of the cab members. The court floor appeared to be drawn. It''s a map of Java.


    The General was ready to exin his strategy.


    "Greetings and thank you foring."


    Rico stared at all the five hundred plus men in front of him. All these men were the best and brightest. They would y an important role in the survival of the country.


    The briefing was quite straightforward, there will be four divisions being sent to four directions. Each division would have one military battalion, one militia battalion, two special forces toons, and a few civilians group support. There were about 3000 men in each division. The first division will head westward and collect all the remaining survivors from the west to be brought back to Jakarta Base. The other three divisions will head eastwards, one through the north coast, one through the south coast and one through the central hignd.


    1st Divison, led by Colonel Andry going to the western area of Tangerang. Collecting many survivors and must be back at the Jakarta base by one month at thetest.


    2nd Division, led by Colonel Rano going to central Java through the north coast, a direct approach to the city of Cirebon.


    3rd Divison, led by Colonel Joko going to central Java through the city of Bandung, one of the crowdest city in the West Java, located in the hignds.


    4th Division, led by Colonel Bernard going to central Java through the south coast, passing through the city of Bogor and then Sukabumi.


    The three Divisions who went to the east will be scouts, an advance team to check the best route for the 100.000 civilians. They will also go to set up amunication antenna as a signal booster. The divisions were expected to find two things during their missions; either hordes of zombies or hordes of survivors. Each had its own challenges. Therefore each division will be provided with two ''Badak'' tank units, two trucks of supplies and three buses as a way of transportation.


    Since the EMP attack, it''s been difficult to modify vehicles to work. The survival base only had limited working vehicles. The buses won''t be used as a way to transport the soldiers, butter on, they will be useful to carry the old, young and sick survivors.


    The Divisions will be given full authority to adapt to each situation. The colonels will be apanied by one cab member and a public figure, to represent the civilian voice into the decision making. The Misfits are being assigned to the fourth divisions.


    "OMG, we got the unlucky number of four!!" Ricky said...


    Adam never believed such a thing and epted his task sincerely.


    Adam realized Daisy was staring at one corner of the stand, a figure walked closer to the group. It''s Melissa, his schoolmate and used to be one of Daisy''s best friends. But since the doomsday, they hardly talked. This time Melissa approached them.


    "Adam, Daisy, Jason... You all are joining this mission as well."


    "Yes.", Daisy said.


    "I see you all are with the fourth division, I am going with my mother, she''s in the cab member entourage for the third division, we are going to the city of Bandung, I guess we will meet up again in a few days."


    "..." Daisy was not sure how to respond, their rtionship had been broken since the death of Sally and Rahel...


    Melissa continued: "I know we have our differences in opinion, but no matter what, we have a history together. You and I Daisy, I hope we can still be friends, we all need friends, especially in today''s world. What do you think can we still be friends?"


    Daisy looked at Melissa''s eyes, reminiscing of the good times they had in the past, Daisy smiled and nodded.


    "That''s great, hope to see you again Daisy, be safe. You too, Adam, Jason."


    Before the group headed out, they were being stopped by another person. It''s General Rico.


    "I see you made some new friends."


    The general looked at Nathan and Natalie. It seemed although the general looked very ignorant to Adam''s activity, he recognizes the little things of Adam''s situation. Adam realized this as well, his opinion of his father turned more positive each day. Not only just because of what he did to Adam, but also his treatment to the survivors and how he led the base.


    The general approached him closer and said:


    "It seems things will turn crazier each day, I need you to be safe, but the only way for you to be safer is to be stronger. Be careful."


    "Yes, father."


    Adam thought of something and gave the courage to ask:


    "These 4 divisions are about half the number of defensive forces of this base father, will you be able to hold the base?"


    "Hahahahahah, you worried about me boy? Don''t worry, the militia is currently much stronger and experienced, I will have the manpower to recruit more militia afterward. Don''t worry about me. Also, you will need this more than I do, there are some weapons and supplies inside... Take care."


    "..."


    Rico just gave his son the storage ring, this was the best he could do for his son at the moment. Watching how the General specially treated Adam, the siblings then realized that Adam was the son of the General... It''s being friendly with the president''s son... They were somehow impressed and felt much safer being in the Misfits.


    Tomorrow, the mission will start.

 Chapter 97 - Surabaya Coast

    DDay +22; The coast of East Java


    The sky was bright, the wind breezing and the waves thumping on the boat. The sshing of salt water created natural sounds that soothed the ear. The blue water covered the horizons under the white-blue sky. The moment was so peaceful as if the doomsday never happened.


    A group of people could be seen on top of the military mid-sized patrol ship. The ships were 33 meters in length and 13 meters wide. Their hull had navy grey and blue camouge color. There were two 12.7mm machine guns on the front and back and one 20mm light canon. They''re the Boa ss ships, they can hold a maximum of 20 men and have 40-knot speed. This was one of the two patrol ships that came with the navy destroyers.


    The ships have been departing from Bali Ind Bay City since early this morning and have been sailing for thest 6 hours.. A man standing at the port deck was looking at the sky... suddenly three figures approached fast from the sky. It''s a group of mutated birds. Within seconds they were closing in just a few meters away from the group.


    BANG!! BANG!!


    Two sniper shots, bullseye, two of the mutated birds'' heads sshed. Their lifeless bodies dropped from the sky. Thest of the mutated birds felt threatened and tried to make a turn back to the sky when a rope-like item suddenly wrapped around its body and pulled it down closer to the ship.


    SLASSHHH!!!


    A saber quickly cut off its head. All three mutated birds dropped within seconds.


    "Did you see that Alex??"


    A blonde woman who just sheathes her saber with a cheerful smile was waiting to beplimented.


    "Yes.. yes your whip attack really improved... impressive, Cindy."


    Her smile turned bigger when suddenly a woman approached her and raised up her hand and made a simple gesture with an expressionless face which tranted to: ''I got two, you got one.''


    .


    .


    "Yes yes, your snipping skills are also impressive, Aria.", Alex said.


    .


    Cindy responded: "Huh!! Nothing impressive about using a firearm, it''s such a cheat!"


    Alex was no longer surprised by how these two girls were weirdlypeting against each other. But deep down inside Alex realized they were both really fond of each other. Aria, the ice queen who normally doesn''t bother with anyone, was currently actively interacting with Cindy. It was an improvement on her part, Cindy really had talent in being close with other people.


    There were a total of 16 men on this ship. Alex, Aria, Cindy, Theo, the twins and ten special forces soldiers from the Tiger toon. The rest 40 men were with Commander Donny who took thend route together with Farell''s Division. Thend approach would take a few days longer. Alex was kinda worried about James Randall abruptly ending long-range message. Thest message from Surabaya City was that they needed help and since then, no one was reachable.


    Alex brought the ship as an advance team, their target was the city of Surabaya. Within a few minutes, the group should be able to reach its destination.


    The City of Surabaya is the capital of East Java province and the secondrgest city in Indonesia. The city has a poption of over 3 million within the city and over 10 million in the Greater Surabaya Metropolitan Area. Located on northeastern Java on the Madura Strait, it is one of the earliest port cities in Southeast Asia.


    "We have arrived.", Alex said.


    It''s been three weeks since the doomsday, the once stunning port city had lost its glory. Tall buildings of apartments and office towers seemed ruined. Windows were broken, buildings ckened by fire. Many houses turned into a burned pile of rubles.. there was no sign of life, only zombies. Thousands of zombies could be seen from the coast. A city of 13 million would have almost 10 million zombies roaming around.


    The boat slowly sailed along the coast to the west until reaching its main city area. There was one unique point of interest in the city. It''s the Suramadu bridge, also known as the Surabaya¨CMadura Bridge, was a cable-stayed bridge between Surabaya on the ind of Java and the town of Bangkn on the Ind of Madura in Indonesia. The 5.4-km long and 30 meters width bridge was the longest bridge in Indonesia.


    Alex and James once discussed this bridge as the obvious best strategy to help the Surabaya City survivors. After doomsday, all survivors would be moved to Madura Ind. The bridge would turn into a choke point and be the best defensive fortress.


    The ship sailed alongside the bridge and headed to Madura Ind.


    "All the survivors should already be there by now.", Alex thought.


    Suddenly Alex saw something that surprised him


    "..."


    The bridge was destroyed halfway. A hole gaping around 30 meters wide separated the two ends. From the way it looked it seemed as if it was blown apart, a big battle seemed to have happened here a few days ago.


    "What happened here?", Alex thought. James should have known that within 3 months all the survivors needed to move back to Java Ind and to the doomsday pir location. James shouldn''t have ordered this bridge to be blown apart unless it''s really necessary. Alex became more worried about James'' safety.


    A few minutester, the ship finally reached Madura Ind. It''s about half the size of Bali with a poption size of almost 3 million people. At the Madura end of the bridge, an outpost was created. It had tall walls, watchtowers and barbed wires all over the post. Alex''s group spotted a group of soldiers protecting this post.


    "That''s a relief, it seems the Madura Ind didn''t get overrun by the zombies."


    "Let''s dock and check out the post."


    After an EMP, seeing a working military ship approaching the post created a panic among the soldiers. An rm was sounded. Machine gun turrets were manned. Hundreds of armed soldiers suddenly lined up all over the defensive wall.


    "Do not fire!! We are survivors from Bali Ind, we mean no harm. Let me see the person in charge!"


    To be safe, Alex didn''t bring everyone, he needed Theo for mind reading, and probably a few soldiers just in case. The twins should be his best choice. He thought about leaving Cindy and Aria, but just before he said a word, both of them gave him the cold killer stare... It seemed Alex didn''t have a choice about this, he finally decided to leave the twins and 5 soldiers on the ship. Theo, Aria, Cindy and another 5 men came along with him.


    "I need you all to leave your weapons in here.", a man said.


    The group of nine were weed by the leader of this post, he''s an army captain named Eddy. They were being led to the headquarters where a colonel seemed to be in charge of this survival base. It was not James or the General that was sent by the regent. Along the way, Alex tried to gather information from the captain.


    "Captain, we are looking for a friend name James Randall, is he here among the survivors?"


    The captain looked troubled and hesitated to answer Alex question...


    "Please Captain, I really need to know."


    The captain gave a sigh and said...


    "I am not supposed to tell you this, but James Randall is the city hero''s, me and many people on this ind owe him our lives... but, I am sorry to tell you, that your friend James Randall is dead."


    "..."


    The news was like an electric shock in Alex mind... At the same time, the sky had turned yellow as the sun set... His footsteps turned much heavier, he needed to know what happened.

 Chapter 98 - Chalk Mines

    Madura is an Indonesian ind off the northeastern coast of Java. Madura was administered as part of the East Java Province. It is separated from Java by the narrow Strait of Madura. The Madurese were one of the ethnic poption in Indonesia. They came from the ind of Madura as well as surrounding small inds, such as Gili Raja, Sapudi, Raas, and the Kangean Inds.


    On the whole, Madura was one of the poorest regions of the East Java province. Unlike Java, the soil was not fertile enough to make it a major agricultural producer. Limited economic opportunities have led to chronic unemployment and poverty. This turned the Madurese into one of the toughest people in Indonesia. The ind''s economy turned to mining, fishing, cattle-raising and agricultural limited to tobo farming. The ind also has been a major producer and exporter of salt.


    Alex and his group were currently being guided by Captain Eddy and some of his men. They took a drive by a truck heading north.. As soon as the outpost and the bridge disappeared from view, it was reced by t expanses of rice fields interspersed with pockets of forest and tropical trees. Captain Eddy was quite a friendly and talkative man for a soldier, he tried to be a good guide for the group and exined the situation of Madura Ind.


    "That''s what I know about the Madura Ind,ter you can ask more about our defensive and military condition with the colonel, I do not have the authority to tell you about that."


    "Ooo. Yes, I am sorry about your friend again,ter you will see how much James Randall did for the survivors. Even this truck was provided by hispany, many more people would have suffered and died if not for his help."


    Alex really couldn''t enjoy the view or the information, he was currently still troubled by the news of James Randall''s death. Not only did he begin to feel attached to the man, without his resources, Alex''s ns to prepare the Jakarta Doomsday Pir will also be in jeopardy.


    After a few minutes, the group arrived at the Jaddih Chalk mines. It''s located halfway from the Suramadu Bridge and Bangkn, thergest Madura Ind city. After driving through the old mine tracks, the group reached the entrance of the mine. Chalk cliffs and azure water made for a very picturesque setting, there were a few atmospheric caves that have been hollowed out in long blocks.


    Some parts of the mines were still used before the doomsday but the other parts were in progress to be turned into a hotel, it was a famous tourist site. At the moment, the hotel building and its surroundings have been turned into a headquarters for the army.


    "This is the military headquarters, where are all the civilians?", Alex asked.


    "Two weeks ago the army and your friend has sessfully taken over the city of Bangkn from the zombies, all already relocated there, the military headquarters stayed here as a way to coordinate easily from its surrounding, as you see we have high grounds, just a few hundred meters that way you can see the city of Bangkn and the Suramadu Bridge. From what I heard, it''s also James Randall who bought the unfinished hotel just a few days before the doomsday."


    Alex gave a few thoughts of its cement and surroundings, it really was a good defensive base. If the army weren''t able to take over the city, this could be a good location for a survivor base, James Randall really did give it a good thought... More reason for Alex to feel troubled by his death.


    All around the base, Alex saw hundreds of soldiers in training. The group of nine arrived at the main headquarters, it''s one of the hotel''srge rooms about the size of a basketball court. In this room, a man in his 40''s seemed to be anxiously waiting for Alex''s arrival, there were two dozen armed men all around him. Finally, Alex now facing and staring at the man, he was Colonel Dion, the highest ranking soldier in this base.


    "Halo... You must be Alex, James Randall mentioned you a few times, it seems he thought of you as the key to our survival."


    Alex tried to study the man, it seemed there was nothing special about him rather than he seemed to have consumed a few spirit stones, but the way it looked, he should not have reached the peak stage. Other than that, this man looked really ordinary, he didn''t even have a strong aura of leadership form his gestures and speech. Alex was anxious about the detail of James'' death...


    "I heard from Regent Suryo, the 4th army division general should be leading the army in Surabaya and Madura, did he not survive the disease?"


    "... Yes, the general died from the disease. The other two high ranking colonels also didn''t survive."


    Alex saw the colonel''s eyes and he seemed genuinely sad about it, but Alex had a better way to know about the truth, Alex stared at Theo, and Theo nodded... it seemed this was the truth.


    "Before we discuss anything else, I really need to know about the detail of James Randall''s death."


    The colonel seemed startled with Alex''s direct approach, he gave it some thought and answered slowly.


    "It was three days ago, the hordes of zombies that approached from the bridge were at its maximum, James took some of his bodyguards, using two armored vehicles, they drove across the bridge, bought us some time to blow up the bridge, trough his action, we managed to stop the horde''s advance, thest we saw him, the armored vehicles were surrounded and destroyed by the hordes, there were also explosion, there''s no way anyone could survive that... he died heroicly."


    Alex found there was something odd with this story, first, James would not agree to blow the bridge unless it''s really necessary. Second, James was a millionaire, not a soldier, there''s really no need for him to go on suicidal charge himself. Alex''s suspicion grew even more.


    "Why didn''t the military do it? Why did businessmen like himself have to do it, do you know his reasoning?"


    The colonel seems anxious and answered... "No, sorry I don''t know..."


    Alex gave a quick nce at Theo again, and he shook his head... Alex turned more furious...


    "Please answer me another question, did he agree or disagree to blow up the bridge?"


    The colonel seemed agitated... he answered "Yes... Yes... We all agreed on this decision."


    This time Alex didn''t even look at Theo to know the answer, he''s burning with rage and continues...


    "You are lying colonel... Tell me the truth!!"


    The colonel suddenly panicked, gave a quick thought and said:


    "I... I... I have no reason to exin it to you, you are just a civilian!"


    Alex didn''t think much and opened up his storage ring, arge ck golem materialized from a thin air, everyone in the room turned rmed... but were unable to respond quickly enough. The golem with its maximum speed quickly grabbed the colonel with its big arms. It pulled him up in the air with one arm, it had the power to crush the colonel with one squeeze... The soldiers hesitated, not sure what to do... But Alex suddenly shouted...


    "DON''T you all dare to move!!"


    Alex slowly moved closer step by step to the hysterical colonel... With a murderous eye he slowly said:


    "Now Colonel, please tell me the truth..."


    Suddenly a man rushed quickly inside the room...


    "Stop!! There''s no need for violence, I will help exin everything."


    Alex turned around and saw a middle age man, he was a famous public figure and Indonesia ex-governer, a tall guy in his 40''s named Cahaya.

 Chapter 99 - What A Crab

    The man who just walked into the room used to be very famous, he was one of the controversial governors. He was awarded as one of the best governors in the world but the country unjustly put him in prison. He was loved by the people for fighting the country''s corruption but also hated by some because of it.


    Alex knew about this guy named Cahya, he really respected the man. His reputation was enough to make Alex order the golem to let the colonel go.


    Uhuk!! Uhuk!!


    The colonel''s face turned pale, he lost his breath and almost choked to death by the rock monster. He was not in the position to talk.


    Although the ex-governor was a respectable character, Alex was a little bit worried that the two dozen armed guards decided to open fire on Alex and the group. So he decided to drop the colonel close to his side. Alex then stared at the man and asked:


    "Mr.. Cahya, please exin."


    The ex-governor gave out a little sigh and slowly exined.


    "Mr. Alex, believe me, I have known Mr. Randall since before the doomsday, he was my friend as well, his death also troubled me."


    The ex-governer talked very emotionally, he seemed really sincere.


    "He invited me and a few others to prepare for the end of days, I thought he was crazy at first. But he seriously turned lots of his assets and resources into buying weird stuff. He really turned a few parts of this Madura Ind into a safe haven for the survivors, without his help many more people would have died, we really are grateful for all he did."


    "After we managed to take over thergest city on this ind, we thought we would start rebuilding in this base, but he kept arguing that we would need to move the base... many were against him... I also was... How could hundreds of thousands of citizens, women, and children move past these millions of zombies."


    "He never gave up to try to convince us, it seems he''s waiting for you, a friend from the east... But there was an incident that resulted in the zombie hordes crossing the bridge... Hundreds of thousands of them... We took a vote and decided to blow up the bridge."


    "He insisted that our decision was wrong... We could not believe him... When the soldiers carried out the explosives, he took the armored car and drove across the bridge... Many people thought he did it to increase the sess rate of the n. But I know there was something he really needed to do across the bridge at that time... Whatever his n was, he failed... none of us believe that he is still alive."


    The ex-governer really has talent with his word, Alex never really trusted a politician though... Politicians are by far the most adept at lying. They study how to do it and have advisors that do research on what are the best ways to lie. They are professional liars.


    Luckily Alex has a lie detector with him, Theo stared at him and gave a nod, it seemed to be the truth. Alex gave it some thought and said:


    "But none of you really saw him get killed right?"


    The ex-governor seemed to want to argue but suddenly hesitated and decided to say:


    "Yes, there is a possibility that he is still alive."


    .


    .


    Alex felt much more rxed now..."Good," He then helped the colonel up and said


    "I am sorry colonel, I was too emotional just now."


    The colonel gave such a big smile and said:


    "It''s no problem at all Mr. Alex... Hehehe."


    Alex thought this colonel must be one of the types that got past the ranks with connections, he seemed really unreliable... But he was probably not a bad or greedy person... Alex thought in times like these there''s really no need to be greedy for power... Food or spirit stones maybe... But being a leader in times like these is too troublesome.


    "I would like to see the site where it happened.", Alex said.


    "Yes.. yes, I could apany you myself, Mr. Alex..."


    When the group walked out of the hotel, suddenly a bell was ringing...


    TING...!TING...!TING...!


    The whole group was startled... Alex asked: "What happened?"


    The colonel said: "It''s an emergency message from the city... this mean mutated beast attack... "SHIT!! Could it be that thing again?"


    "It''s the third attack this week..." The ex-governor seemed worried.


    "I''m sorry I really can''t apany you right now Mr. Alexˇ­ Although maybe you can give us a hand?"


    Alex gave it some thought and decided to tag along, 10 trucks drove down from the chalk mine bases. Hundreds of other soldiers who didn''t get a ride would run to the city.


    The chalk mines were only 3 kilometers away from the main city of Bangkn, it only took the group 5 minutes to reach the coastal city. The city currently turned into a survival base since a week ago. All the survivors from Surabaya and the Madurese locals were setting up their new homes in this city.


    <Bangkn Base>


    Area: 65 hectares


    Total Survivors: 241.988


    Leader: Cahya


    Defense Team: 5 Military Battalion 5.245


    There were a lot of survivors from the Surabaya city, this should be thanks to the bridge that made retreating to Madura much easier.


    When Alex reached the city, the long coast of sand was filled with red creatures, they were mutated crabs. Hundreds of mutated crabs were moving ind, they''ve got big pincers, googly eyes, and a thick exoskeleton. The smallest size was a meter in diameter, while therger ones were about twice that size. Alex has seen the mutated crabs in his previous life. These mutated crabs have the power of medium stage beasts. Other than their two big pincers and their hard bodies, there was really nothing special about these crabs.


    The city currently had only 5 battalions of soldiers, the other battalions were on the campaign to clean off all of the zombies within Madura Ind. These few thousands of soldiers were seen struggling to defend themselves against the mutated beast.


    Dratatatattata...!! Dratatattata...!!


    nk! nk! nk!


    Firearms were ineffective against their hard bodies, even the high caliber bullets were only able to crack it... The defensive soldiers took whatever melee weapon they had, they really were struggling...


    CRUSSHH!! CRUSSHH!!


    The big pincers could easily crush human bodies, the defensive lines were starting to crumble.


    "Fuxxxxx!!! There are so much morepared to thest attack!!"


    The colonel took the hundreds of units that he brought to support the defense team. Alex gave a few words to his group before he suddenly also rushed into the mutated beasts.


    Tak! Tak! Tak! Tak! Hussssss!!!


    Alex jumped on top of one of therger sized crabs, it''s the crab''s blind spot, its pincers were unable to hit an opponent on top of its body. Alex pulled out an ax from his storage ring and quickly swung its de to the spot between the crab''s eyes...


    SWWWISSSHHH!!!.. Crack!!


    With just one swing, the bigger sized mutated crab died just like that... Many of the soldiers around saw what Alex did.. And they suddenly cheered excitedly... Alex shouted:


    "The spot between their eyes is their weakness, just watch out for the pincers and you all can easily kill these creatures. Let''s Go!!"


    Within seconds every man in the defensive line followed what Alex did... The wind suddenly changed... The mutated crabs died easily one after another... Suddenly, a loud sound could be hearding out of the sea. It''s a huge white colored mutated crab 6 meters in diameter, around the size of a truck. The soldiers within its vicinity were terrified but unable to have the chance to run away from it...


    SWWWIISSHH!!! BAAMM!!


    With a single swing of its pincers, three men were crushed... dead.


    The appearance of what appears to be the mutated crabs'' alpha shocked all the men...

 Chapter 100 - The Coast Battle

    Bangkn City is located on the northwestern side of Madura Ind. The city center is only 500 meters away from the beach shores. Its white sandy beaches span one kilometer across from the city''s south section to the north section.


    Currently, thousands of soldiers were fighting the mutated crabs, as most of the soldier have been holed up on this ind, they have received limited spirit stones. Therefore only a few of them have consumed them and became medium stage Mortal Realm fighters. Even fighting a low level mutated beast was difficult for them.


    Colonel Dion''s soldiers, along with the ex-governer Cahya and Alex''s group arrived from the south side. With Alex''s knowledge of the crabs'' weaknesses, the south section was gradually able to put up some resistance. At the same time, the north section suffered a lot of casualties. The arrival of the White King Crab mutated beast made the situation worse. The soldiers of the north section lost their morale, some could be seen fleeing the battlefield.


    During such chaos, hundreds of men arrived from the northern section of the city, they were wearing simple dark clothes with an orange bandana on their head.. They were the Madurese fighters. Most of the Madurese citizen stay in the northern section of the city, the conditions forced them to join the fights. Hundreds of strong Madurese men, using mostly pikes ands charged into the group of mutated crabs. These Madurese fighters, unlike the soldiers, had been running around the Madura Ind these past three weeks saving their kinsman, they have more fighting experience. Most of them also already became medium stage Mortal Realm fighters, even some were at a high level. Their appearance boosted the will of the soldiers.


    "Shitttt... how can we fight this big monster?"


    A few of the Madurese fighters were trying to find a way to kill the White King Crab... These huge pincers and eight sharp legs... They all were lethal to any man.


    "There''s no way theses and pikes can prate that hard body."


    "Should we focus on the weak spot in the middle of the eyes like the one showed by the soldiers?"


    "Do you have any idea how to get close to that thing?"


    "..."


    None of the fighters dared, even after eating the spirit stones, they have seen how fast that white abomination moved, they were not sure they can dodge the crab huge pincers.


    "No idea at all?"


    "... I just realized where is Run?"


    "Did he run away?"


    "Not possible... He''s the strongest among us."


    While the group was still discussing a way to kill the white crab, a truck drove into the sandy beach and rushed straight at the White King Crab at full speed.


    "BAAAMMMMM!!!"


    The truck crashed at the huge crab directly from the front... It was a direct hit, but it only pushed the mutated beast backward a few meters. A figure kicked the truck''s front window and quickly jumped out of the car holding a steel harpoon. While the mutated crab was still disoriented by the crash, the man quickly thrust the steel spear directly into the monster''s weak spot... right between the eyes.


    "CLAAANKKK!!"


    "..."


    Unfortunately, it''s the sound of the steel harpoon breaking from the impact. It seemed either the weak point was different or the man''s hit was not strong enough... The huge crab suddenly turned into its berserk state. The man suddenly regrets his recklessness... He quickly jumped out of the truck before the crab''s pincers cut the truck in half.


    "That''s Run!!"


    "What a brave moron!!"


    "Run!! Runnn!!"


    The White King Crab didn''t want to leave the man who hurt it just like that, it decided to chase him... The Madurese fighters, although having no solution, decided to jump in and help the poor man... But the group suddenly stopped halfway... The scene in front of them made them freeze.


    From inside the waves, at least a dozen more White Mutated Crabs emerge... These made all the thousands of soldiers panic. Run was startled by it and suddenly stumbled on the sand. He turned around and saw a huge pincer swing right at him...


    "I guess this is my end.", he thought...


    BAAAMMMMM!!!!


    "..."


    A rock like monster crashed into the white crab in front of him... The crash seemed stronger than the truck... The mutated crab staggered backward and its whole body dropped t on the sand.


    Shockingly, there was a man on top of the rock monster. The man looked at Run with a smile.


    "Haloo. Luckily I arrived in time."


    The man jumped in front of the crab and he seemed to wield a weird spear in his hand... A steel spear with a sharp ivory horn on its end.


    "Watch out for the pincer attack!!" Run warned the man.


    The crab was able to quickly stand up and swung its most dangerous weapon, its pincers...


    SWWISSHH!!!


    Hop!!.. The man could easily jump and dodged the attack, the move looked so simple, but Run realized how hard it was to perform such fast but efficient moves.


    The man followed his move with a simple thrust to the spot between the crab''s eyes using the weird spear.


    PAAA!! The spear was surprisingly able to stab deep into the huge mutated beast.


    PAAA!! PAAA!! The man stabbed two more times into the surrounding area... All direct hits and entered deep inside the crab head. The attacks were followed by a loud shrieking sound of the crab. And the crab fell down unmoving... dead.


    The man was surely Alex, when he saw the emerging white crabs, he quickly summoned the golem to help him rush hundreds of meter in seconds. He recognized the white crab as a peak stage one mutated beast... The main trouble was its hard exoskeleton skin, probably only an explosive cannon could pierce it. Fortunately, Alex had a surprise prepared in his storage ring. It''s the stage two snake fang that was modified into a spear. With his peak stage mortal realm strength and a stage two beast item, he could pierce the White King Crab''s weak spot. The whole scene seemed so easy that it created an impression among all the soldiers in the vicinity. Especially to Run and all the Madura fighters.


    "You are not giving up now right?"


    Alex gave Run a hand and helped him up from the sand.


    "Let''s go."


    The man fiercely rushed into the dozen white crabs. Run tried to follow, but he just couldn''t keep up with his speed, he could only see from the back when the man easily dodged and stabbed the huge abominations. His rock monster was also able to hold the pincer attacks and even pulled the pincers apart with its bare hands... Juicy white crab meat could be seen sshing in the air... The before horrific scene turned into a sort of a feast by the duet man and rock monster.


    On the south section, Aria, Cindy, Theo and the 5 men wearing snakeskin uniforms also created a deep impression on the army. All these people were peak stage mortal realm fighters, the small red crabs weren''t able to hurt them at all. Soon after the crab started to flee altogether, There were still five of the white crabs fleeing, Alex, unwilling to let them go, took out his hand radio...


    "Fire at the white crabs."


    Suddenly a ship quickly approaching from a hundred meters south of the coast. The boa ss patrol ship took a few shot from the 20mm light cannon.


    KABOOM!! KABOOM!! KABOOM!!


    SPLASH!! SPLASH!! SPLAATT!!


    After a few shots, three of the white crabs'' dead bodies got pushed back to the shore by the waves. Finally, the coast battle is over, although there were dozens of casualty, the soldiers and all the other men felt fortunate, especially with the involvement of these strangers led by a guy named Alex. Just a few hours after his arrival in Madura, Alex already became their hero.

 Chapter 101 - Bangkalan City

    The whole coast battlested for about an hour. By the time all the mutated crabs were gone, the sky has turned ck. The night came and was followed by the soldiers carrying the victims'' bodies to the city outskirts. More than one hundred men died but most of the victims had no family to cry for them, there were just too few tears.


    The bodies were prepared by their fellowrades, ming torches filled the night and all the bodies were burned. These simple burials came so often, that the people already got used to it. Most were just d they managed to outrun death one more day.


    Alex wanted to go find James, but considering it''s alreadyte in the night and he already arrived in Bangkn city, he decided to stay in the city. This city probably was thergest survivor base in East Java. He needed to know of its people.


    As the hero of the battle, Alex and the team were cheered and weed with open arms. All survivors were curious about him, many wished to get close to him.. Alex realized the survivors living in the city were separated into three groups. The local Madura people, the Surabaya Javanese, and Chinese ethnicity. The majority were still the Javanese people and the Chinese were always the minority. The ex-governer Cahya seemed to do a great job uniting these three groups.


    Cahya and Colonel Dion took the group into arge hospital building which already turned into amand center. There were about fifty people already in the room waiting for him. They were the survived government officials, public figures, and high ranking police and army officers.


    These people have been stuck on the ind since doomsday, they were curious about the situation outside, especially the other base Alex had prepared. James mentioned his friend in the east quite a few times.


    But these people currently felt uneasy. They have heard of the incident earlier today with Colonel Dion, they were anxious, not sure how to approach Alex. They were all taking part in the decision to blow up the bridge, so in a way, they wereplicit in James Randall''s death.


    Inside the room, a dinner has been served as a way to break the ice between them and to celebrate the battle victory against the mutated crab. Alex and the group sat on the front table next to survivors'' top figures. Colonel Dion, Cahya and few elders of the Madura people.


    The dinner was surprisingly sumptuous, cream tuna spaghetti, mushroom soup, and apple juice. Alex was surprised and the ex-governor seemed to realize it.


    "Mr. Alex, this meal was courtesy of the Randall family as well. They have stockpiled lots of food supplies enough for hundreds of thousands of men for months."


    James was one of the richest men in Indonesia, for him, this task should have been easy.


    Alex responded: "For a second there I thought you people fished the tuna from the sea. These fish taste excellent."


    "No sir, James not just only prepared the food but he also storage it well and even prepared professional chefs to prepare it."


    "..."


    "Being rich does have its advantages", he thought.


    "What about fishing, I thought many of the locals were expert fishermen?"


    "Yes, we have thought of that, this man is a well-known fisherman. He can exin better than me."


    Cahya pointed at one young man in his 20s, Alex recognized the man. It''s Run, the man he just saved from the white mutated crab just now. The man looked nervous being asked to speak to him.


    "Yes Mr. Alex, thank you for saving me just now... We did manage to fish some before, although the fish seem more aggressive, it''s manageable. It''s just we only have wooden boats on the ind, they''re not strong enough and often get attacked by the beasts from the water."


    Cahya added: "This is one of the reason James strongly disagreed of blowing up the bridge, without the bridge we are stuck in this ind, but now I believe you have more of the ships like the one you brought right, if you can lend one or two of them, we will be really grateful."


    Alex gave it some thought and asked:


    "I do have more ships ready, and I can give a few to you."


    The people in the room suddenly cheered. This man named Alex seemed to be the generous type.


    "But... let me ask what you n to do with the ships?"


    Cahya responded: "Well, obviously we need transport to connect this ind to the Java Ind, although we have lots of items prepared in here, one day they will eventually run out. We might be safe in here, but the things provided on this ind are limited."


    Alex suddenly stood up from his seat, everyone was startled.


    "Listen up all of you!! Listen well!! This ind is not safe, it might be for a while, but not after a few months, and definitely will not survive to see another year."


    "..."


    All eyes suddenly stared at him, he seemed to get everyone''s attention.


    "The mutated beasts will only get stronger... In a few months those white crabs are just a toypared to what''sing... The monsters wille in muchrger hordes and each one will be stronger than those crabs."


    "..."


    "!!!"


    "That''s insane!!"


    The crowds turned chaotic. What Alex said was an affirmation of what they have seen. The zombie and the mutated beast attacks do gradually increase and were much harder now. The ex-governor Cahya stood and calmed the crowd. He then turned around back to Alex.


    "Please tell us more."


    Alex told the group about the doomsday pirs that will drop in Central Java and the one in Bali. Alex and James nned to move the survivors into these two bases. The news was very hard to be received by these people. Cahya, on the other hand, was a smart and wise person, it''s better to prepare for the worst, he thought.


    In the corner of the room, a group of people mostly high ranking government officials were having a little discussion


    "This man is crazy."


    "Leaving the ind facing those millions of zombies? Who on the right mind would do that?"


    "Pirs from the sky? Does he think this is a sci-fi novel?"


    "We need to drive him out of the city as soon as possible. Before more people sway from his fantasy."


    "How?"


    "Colonel Dion is useless. Don''t worry, we should be able to persuademander Dario, his special forces soldiers will not be afraid of that Alex."


    "Yes, yes, I agree."


    "There, he''s already here... This will be interesting. Commander Dario never likes to bow down to people not even to the colonel or any of us."


    Not long after, a dozen men arrived in the hall. Cahya mentioned them as themanders of the other battalions that went to battle the zombie on the east of the ind. They returned quickly after hearing about the attack in the east. These men were the best military fighters of the ind. Cahya mentioned if they were in the city when the mutated crab attack, the battle would have been much easier.


    Alex saw they were all military men. Weirdly these men weren''t interested in him, but they stared directly at the beautiful girl next to him.


    "..."


    Alex thought Aria really was beautiful, bute on...


    The group of men in the corner was excited, seeing this.


    "This is much easier than we thought. You see, Lieutenant Dario doesn''t care about that Alex at all."


    "What''s with the attention to the girl next to him."


    "That''s even better. We can even ploy to make him kill Alex and give the girl to him..."


    "Wow, that''s vicious..."


    "You mean viciously smart right...?"


    The group of men smiled gleefully in the corner.


    "Watch, he''s approaching that girl..."


    Dario and a few men walked forward and approached Aria...

 Chapter 102 - Dancing Cattle

    Commander Dario, the leader of the special army, with three of hisrades walked closer to Aria. This action brought everyone''s attention in the room.


    Alex also thought they might be up to no good.


    The four men stopped a few meters in front of Aria and suddenly altogether raised their hands.


    .


    "Salute to Lieutenant Aria!"


    .


    "...."


    .


    .


    The four soldiers gave a formal salute, with a friendly and warm smile to Aria.


    .


    .


    Everyone in the room was startled, especially the group in the corner... Dario and his special soldiers were known to be stern and hard to be close with. All the men in these rooms have been trying to woo them with no sess, but this group of men suddenly turned into puppies in front of the beautiful girl next to Alex.


    .


    .


    Aria saw the man with surprise.


    .


    "Dario... you guys are here!! That''s great"


    "I am d you guys survived the doomsday, the regent sent you here?"


    This group of special soldiers apparently were the Deathsquad Soldiers sent by the regent, Aria''srades. Aria moved closer and gave a handshake to all the four men, she seemed really happy.


    Aria was known as the ice queen, although her reaction was normal for most of the spectators, Alex found something was out of ce. She was a bit warmer than usual. Cindy found the scene a bit unusual as well...


    "That''s a bit weird, don''t you think?", Cindy wondered.


    "They were obviously justrades in arms.", Alex said.


    Cindy continued... "Naaa... this is not the girl I knew... should Theo mind read this Dario guy?"


    "That''s unnecessary, there is really no need."


    Cindy turned and looked at Alex...


    "Are you not even a bit curious? Now you are a bit weird... should Theo mind read you then...?"


    .


    "..."


    .


    Aria realized she was acting out of ce, she introduced the group.


    "This is Dario and soldier from the Deathsquad... we were from the same unit before I being promoted to anotherpany by the regent."


    Alex just realized he saw these men before.


    Aria grew up in the military and in the special forces base, she had a special rtionship with the soldiers. As the regent granddaughter, she was also the Deathsquad''s "princess". She was adored and protected by many of the men.


    Alex stared at all the men and said.


    "What''s your mission, Commander Dario?"


    "To protect the citizen of this area."


    "Now, please tell me, whosemand do you follow soldier?"


    "Since the general died on doomsday, my mission stays the same until I find further contact from the regent, I am currently in charge... Although now that you are here, it seems you are inmand..."


    The four men and the rest of the squad at the back altogether gave Alex a salute. It seems now his n for the city will be easier than he thought. Dario also knew some of the soldiers that Alex brought. Knowing that Alex was in a good rtionship with their best fighter made the spectators easier to trust Alex''s group. Except for some.


    A group of men was sulking in the corner...


    "There goes our n...."


    "For our safetyˇ­ We should never say a word of what we discussed..."


    "Agreed..."


    The dinner was over with Alex getting to know the people and the city better. Alex currently had no solution on how to move these people other than sending his ships from Bali to transport them one by one. But he had limited ships and all have already been used for the expedition to the east by the other three divisions. If Alex can''t find another solution, his expansion ns to prepare for the doomsday pirs will be in jeopardy. Alex decided to sleep it off and wait until he has a better picture of the city tomorrow.


    The next morning after another sumptuous breakfast, Cahya brought Alex to see the city. There were twice as many survivors here as in Bali, but the food supplies James Randall prepared were surprisingly more than enough for the survivors tost for a year. They were all stored in steel cargo containers. There were also containers filled with medicines and other necessities like clothes and nkets. There were also a few hundred working vehicles. The Randalls were really impressive to be able to prepare all of them in a week or so before doomsday.


    When passing the shore, Alex saw the soldiers nning to bury the mutated crab carcasses. The civilians seemed worried about eating mutated beast meat. As they thought they have plenty of normal food, they don''t want to risk eating the mutated meat. Alex told Cahya about the benefits of the meat and Cahya stopped the burial and quickly collect all the crab meat. Alex also ordered to turn the sharp crab''s legs and exoskeletons into weapons and shields. It will be quite difficult but attainable.


    There''s one particr thing that Alex was actually interested to find out. He left this one task to James before the doomsday. It''s the Madura Ind mutated cattle. Madura''s Ind was famous for its cattle herding. It''s a Zebu breed, the coloration was reddish brown with non-specific white patterning on the back and rump. It was used for racing by the locals and were sometimes called the dancing cattle.


    This particr breed survived the doomsday and turned into mutated beasts, its body turned as big as an elephant but was surprisingly docile. Alex saw in front of him a few hundred cattle. In his previous life during the doomsday and when the Madura Cattle turned huge, most of the locals were scared and decided to kill it. Later on, the few that survived turned to be useful for the survivors. This time Alex told James to save as many of them as possible.


    No one knew exactly about their docile behavior, some believed it the result of castration. The cattle were castrated since young and then trained to follow humans orders.


    Seeing the hundred cattle in front of them, the twins are excited.


    "With this hundred cattle, we can build a ranch and start producing many more little cattle."


    "It will solve future food problem."


    .


    .


    Cindy replied... "What part of castration did you not understand?"


    Alex knew from his previous life that only the male cattle or the ox survived the doomsday, and even if there were females that survived, all these male had no tools to do the job.


    Alex never nned to use these animals as food supplies, although full of meat, they were only low-level stage one beast. Alex nned to use them as a means to transport supplies all the way to the doomsday pir. They could also be usefulter on to farm the fields... But now, considering the bridge was destroyed, things will be more tricky.


    When Alex was still lost in thought nning, suddenly the city''s signal bell chimed again.


    TING...!TING...!TING...!


    The whole group was startled...


    "Something was spotted from the shore... is it the mutated crabs again? Fuxxxxxxx."


    The group went running to the closest shore and checked the situation. The things they saw surprises them.


    Half a dozen huge ships could be seen approaching from the city of Surabaya''s shore. All of them were barges. A tbottom boat normally used for carrying heavy loads. When the ship came close there were about a hundred people on top of each of the ships. Alex recognized the one standing at the front.


    It''s James Randall.

 Chapter 103 - New Weapon

    Six self-propelledrge Brig Ships arrived at Bangakn City''s shore. This is a t-bottomed ship, built mainly for river and canal, Indonesia as a country with thousands of inds really depends on its sea transport. Although this type of ships normally transports heavy loads such as coal, woods, stones or sands. The ones that arrived at the city were thergest type, they were 150 meters long and 20-meter wide. On top of these six, there were thousands of people, they were civilians, probably more Surabaya City survivors.


    James Randall arrived at the port, and he directly approached Alex''s group, he was apanied by dozens of foreigners, they were mostly guards. Before he spoke to Alex, he seemed to delegate one of his man to take care of the people and supplies from the ships. He had no problem making Alex''s group waits. Watching James action, the people around turned anxious.


    Alex moved closer and started the conversation:


    "Always the businessman, aren''t you Mr. James?"


    "Yes, yes I am sorry, the stuff I brought is quite delicate.."


    James gave his final instruction and then turned around facing Alex, with a warm smile and a firm handshake.


    "My dear friend and savior Alex."


    "Now you''re being too much.", Alex replied.


    "No honestly, not only did you cure this poor crippled man, but you also saved his life. If it wasn''t because of you, me and many more of these people would have died."


    "Hahahaha... from all I have heard since I arrived here is how my friend James Randall saved their life, they were seriously sad when hear you died."


    James was startled: "I died? Yes... it might have looked that way from across the sea, I guess."


    Alex curiously asked: "So how did you survive? I heard it was almost impossible for you to get away from the hordes."


    "Hahaha, this is my secret weapon, I already asked my men to set it up for you to see."


    The group went into a field not far from the Headquarter, dozens of non-functional cars were already ced on the other side of the field. James Randall''s bodyguards were waiting with boxes of wooden crates. Most of these bodyguards were foreigners from North America.


    Alex stared at these dozen bodyguards and felt that these people were not weaker than his special forces. James must have given each of them enough spirit stones to reach the peak stage mortal realm. Although they might have the same strength, most of these men are 2-meter height, they looked much more intimidatingpared to Alex''s Asian soldiers.


    "I believe these men are part of your secret weapon, aren''t they?"


    James looked really proud when he replied:


    "I hired these people from the ckwater Mercenaries, and they have been taking care of me for years, they are like family to me. Let me introduce theirmander. Codename; Winter, Zee, Slo, Red, and Flea. They were ex-navy seals that quit after a mission went wrong during a civil war in Nigeria."


    Zee, an African American man, opened up a wooden crate and took out a huge machine gun.


    The M134 Minigun, a six-barrel rotary machine gun with a high, sustained rate of fire (2,000 to 6,000 rounds per minute). It featured a Gatling-style rotating barrel.


    Mass: 39 kg


    Length: 801.6 mm


    Barrel length: 558.8 mm


    Cartridge: 7.62ˇÁ51mm NATO


    Barrels: 6


    Dzzziiinggg... Dratatatatatattaattaatt


    The bullet poured rapidly out of the rotating gun, the targeted car got pierced with multiple holes. It really was a monstrous gun. This gun was normally installed on top of a tank or inside of a helicopter. With his peak stage of the mortal realm, the African American man could easily hold it with one arm. It really was an impressive disy, but it''s nothing new for Alex... James saw his reaction too and said:


    "Not impressive enough for you? Actually, this is only a weapon I use as aparison, I guarantee whates next will interest you."


    James gave the order and the man called Red took out a weapon, this time from a huge modern aluminum box. The thing that he pulled out of the metal box really gave excitement to Alex. It''s a metal cannon shaped weapon with a few cables showing out of it. It doesn''t look pretty, but Alex had a rough idea about what kind of weapon this was.


    "Is that what I think it is?", Alex asked.


    "Yes, it is... it''s aser cannon."


    "..."


    "What!!... How!!... This..."


    James showed his cheeky smile and said: "Let the man giveˇä you a demonstration first."


    The man carried the weird looking weapon, it''s not much smaller than a Gatling Gun, the new weapon also came with a metal backpack, which seemed to be its power source.


    Zzzziiiinggg... Phhhiuww!! KABBOOMM!!


    When hit by theser weapon, the targetted car suddenly got blown apart. The demonstration really gave an impression to all the spectators.


    "Do you like it? James had a satisfied smirk all over his face."


    "Before doomsday, I gathered a focus group... we thought about any technology which can be useful, thisser cannon is one of them. Laser weapons have already been discovered for a few years, but its usefulness is limited. It can only be installed on top of heavy vehicles as it''s very heavy and also needs to be apanied by arge battery pack, but humans enhanced by spirit stones would solve this problem.


    James Randal showed another fact that gave Alex more of a surprise, he opened up the battery pack and apparently James Randall scientists already came up with a way to use a spirit stone as an energy booster for the weapon. The technology was actually invented in the 1980s, where a scientist created an energy source trough pure mineral rocks; ruby, sapphire, and diamonds. But the project was shut down as the value of the stones far outweigh the energy they produced. When the focus group learned about the spirit stones, its research was reproduced.


    Alex thought, if this could be mass produced, this could be a game-changer for humanity''s defense. Later on, the doomsday pirs could provide almost all the items needed to survive, but it was always good to have options.


    "It appears this weapon is the reason you survived the hordes, how many of such weapons do you have with you?"


    "Just one... this is actually just the prototype."


    "Anyway to mass produce it?", Alex asked.


    "Not sure, but if you really want it, then we need to return to my office at the center of Surabaya city. We were only hiding on the port before. To get inside the city center will be very difficult, there are millions of those zombies in it."


    Alex gave it some thought and decided for this task to be another thing to do before leaving the Surabaya city. Now with the ships, Alex could start making a better n to evacuate all the 200.000 people, plus all the supplies and all the mutated cattle. After the weapon demonstration, Alex nned to gather all the leaders to join with the evacuation n. But before that, lunch would be great, he thought. What kind of dishes would the chef prepare this time?

 Chapter 104 - The Strategist

    DDay +27


    5 days have passed since Alex arrived in Surabaya city. These past few days, thebined forces of soldiers led by Dario, Madura''s fighters led by Run and Alex''s group lead by Aria, actively eradicated all zombies on Madura Ind.


    The ind itself, although not as developed as Bali, was almost the same in size. It was not an easy task, thebined forces went into the mountains and jungles and covered all the beaches. The hardest was still clearing up the most popted city in the east of Madura. Five army battalions lead by Dario went inside and cleaned up more than five hundred thousand of zombies. Alex and the golem personally helped killing hundreds of mutated red zombies to make the task easier. With this action, now all the survivors within Madura Ind have been gathered in Bangkn City. The poption of Bangkn city has grown even more today.


    This morning Alex and his group took the Boa ss patrol ship across the sea into the Surabaya City outskirts. Alex brought along Cahya, James Randall and Commander Dario. All the Brig Types ships brought by James could be seen following behind the patrol ship..


    Across Madura Ind, tens of thousands of people have gathered on the outskirts of Surabaya City. This group of people has gone more than 150 kilometers in thest 5 days journey through a few small cities and viges from Bali to Surabaya city. They are the star army divisions lead by Farell.


    On the front line facing the Surabaya City, an army tent and simple wooden barricades were being set up. asionally, dozens of zombies could be seen approaching these barricades, but the fighters could easily and silently kill the undead. These fighters have been tempered with multiple battles in thest few days. The journey didn''t just give them battle experience. There were dozens of carts with supplies and about 20.000 plus civiliansing along with them. These were what''s left of the survivors between Bali and Surabaya city.


    When Alex''s group arrived, Cahya organized all these twenty thousand plus survivors to be ferried by the Brig Ships across the sea to Madura Ind. Alex went to approach the tent to meet Donnie and Farell.


    "Wee, Mr. Alex."


    Donnie weed the group with open arms. Although Donnie was already a peak stage mortal realm when he left Bali Ind, Alex could tell the journey has made him stronger. Battle scars could be seen all over him and the same confidence could also be seen in Farell. The five-day journey was an interesting experience for them both.


    "Yes, wee to Surabaya Commander Donnie, Commander Farell. It seems you had an interesting journey. Let me introduce you to Mr. James Randall and Commander Dario."


    Seeing Donnie, Dario quickly gave his salute. Donnie was one of the respected captains of the death squad, he also outranked him. As for Aria, their rtionship is more like family, so she doesn''t really put up much courtesy with him.


    "So, Mr. Alex, what''s the n? My tiger toon is ready for a mission.", Donnie said.


    Alex told them the current condition of Surabaya City and Madura Ind. Then he exined theser weapon and the need to retrieve the technology.


    James Randall told the details and position of his workshop and office and how it''s located right in the middle of Surabaya City''s center, right in the heart of the millions of zombie hordes.


    "I did try to sneak in before, but there were too many of those red zombies, and we quickly got surrounded and had to leave." James did lose a few of his men back then.


    Alex quickly wrapped up the mission objectives.


    "The first objective is to create a diversion and drag as many zombies away from the city for at least 4 hours, while a group would sneak in and infiltrate Randall''s office. The second objective, of course, is to kill as many zombies as possible... the more zombie we kill today are less zombie we need to fight tomorrow..."


    "I will personally go and retrieve the item, for the battle, I will trust all the nning and strategy to you, Commander Farell."


    Alex chose Farell to lead over Donnie. This decision seemed unthinkable to Aria and Dario, but Donnie didn''t mind at all, he actually seemed excited by the n. Thest few days, Donnie had been following Farell''s strategy, he grew to trust this ex-army intelligence officer. Alex had known Farell''s capabilities from his previous life, he was known as the strategist. Back then, even without being a spirit enhancer, Farell was one of the survivors'' leaders. Alex didn''t hesitate to assign Farell to one of the divisionmanders.


    This guy named Farell is quite extraordinary, an Oxford book smart who finished his master degree in advanced warfare and literature, raised from a strict military family. A good looking guy with a stern, unbending personality. This guy is very popr among the females.


    Farell, with his usual calm, gave the situation some thoughts and slowly spoke:


    "This time we need to be extra careful, this is the secondrgest city in Indonesia. It''s expected to have more than five millions zombies. This will be thergest hordes we ever faced, and there should be thousands of those red ones, maybe even tens of thousands."


    Farell was an expert in military strategy, he''s been teaching the art of war in the Indonesian Military Academy. Unfortunately, he''s currently facing the undead. These abominations behave more like animals than humans. Therefore, his choice of tactics was limited. These times he''s inmand of Donnie''s and Dario''s soldiers, all total of 10 battalions of fighters. He has a little more than 10.000 men and he''s about to face more than 5 million brainless zombies. That''s a 500 to 1 figure, therefore he needed to think the strategy thoroughly.


    Farell gave instructions at the tactical briefings with all the unit leader and battalionmander. Before the battle started, there were some things the fighters and workers needed to do.


    Alex epted all the n and gave him fullmand of the battle, he then left with James and the others to prepare his own operation.


    Later today, thousands of workers and fighters were given tasks by Farrell. One of the main tactic mentioned in the Art of War is the use of thend into an advantage. Farell started giving them tasks to cut trees and making funnel pits.


    This was a tactic used sessfully by Roman soldiers in 121 AD during a battle against Scottish tribes. A trench is dug, with a funnel at one end; this allows for the zombies to be herded into a tight, deep space where they are vulnerable and immobile. The trench only allows for a few zombies to be able to push forward at a time, meaning effective shooters or careful meleebatants can dispose of a few zombies at a time, rather than having to face an entire horde.


    A hundred of this funnel pits with sharp wooden spikes were created facing the Surabaya City. All preparations took half a day, by the time the division finished installing the pits, all the 20.000 civilians have also been safely ferried across to Madura Ind. Finally, all the preparations have beenpleted.


    The next morning, when the sun has risen in the east, the divisions have also finished forming the battle line. Thousands of fighters stood ready facing the city of Surabaya. The battle of Surabaya is about to begin.

 Chapter 105 - The Convicts

    The Star Army''s ten thousands of fighters were all standing shoulder to shoulder, creating a battle line about two kilometers long. The army positioned itself on the south side of the Surabaya City as on the north and the east sides of the city were the seas. The n was to drag as many zombies to the south while Alex''s group from the Madura Ind on the north will cross the sea by ship.


    Although it looked like the army was standing in a simple line, it''s actually a carefully prepared defensive formation. Farell, as themander, has used this tactic several times before. The strategy was simr to the tactics used by the British against the Zulus and other technologically inferior tribes. Essentially, several lines of soldiers are formed behind one another. This tactic is effective in keeping the fighters'' endurance against the endless wave of zombies. .


    There were one hundred funnel pits prepared in front of the army facing Surabaya, the seas to the east, farms, and rivers at the back. The battle line, the funnel pits, and the wooden pikes. There was only one thing left missing with this strategy... the bait.


    Farell had everything well prepared, Donnie and his tiger toon of fifty men was seen leading a group of fighters. These groups were moving into the front of the funnel pits and marched onto Surabaya City. There were almost one thousand of them. These men were not like all the other soldiers. They seemed undisciplined and didn''t move in information. All of these men were not even wearing a uniform.


    The Tiger toon was recognized by their dark green mutated snakeskin uniforms, all the other Star Army fighters would wear a red armband, while the workers wore yellow armbands. These armbands were given as their identification. These one thousand men, on the other hand, wore ck armbands, none of these fighters were holding firearms, each of them was given a simple melee weapon. Axes, spears or sabers.


    These men were the convict fighters. They were the men found captured during the previous battle. They were mostly vers, robbers, rapists or just about all the fighters who surrendered after fighting against Star Army. These men were called the convict fighters as they have been convicted guilty of crimes. In this new world, prisoners will be too difficult to manage. All Starbase oppressors were only given two choices: Die or join as the convict fighters.


    These convict fighters, depending on their crimes, were given one to six months of probation status. During this sentenced time, they have minimum rights and were only given one food voucher each day. After serving their time, they can choose freedom or join as a Star Army trainee or citizen. With their status, they were normally given the most dangerous missions, mostly bing meatshield soldiers or bait like in today''s battle. There was another way for these convict fighters to get their freedom before finishing their sentenced period; which is by battle achievements. These battle achievements could only be given by the divisionmander. Farell promised to give their freedom by giving proof of killing 20 red mutated zombies. These rules were the best way for these convicts to pay for their crimes and also a way to get more experienced fighters.


    More than one thousand convict fighters moved forward and went into the streets of Surabaya City. Donnie''s Tiger toon, a total of 50 men, also went along with them and started opening fire against all the undead they could see...


    Tratatatatatatataat.... Tratatatatatatatat


    KABOOMM !! KABOOMM!!


    Multiple grenades were thrown into the area with the most zombies. Grenades are actually a very bad solution to kill zombies. Except for the one blew up on impact, the explosive force will not kill any zombies if it doesn''t hit the zombie''s head. These grenades are thrown to make loud noises and attract more zombies.


    Most of these convict fighters are experienced fighters. Except for the red zombies, the first wave of zombies could be easily tackled by them. Although after 15 minutes the zombie wave turn bigger and bigger and it turned into hordes...


    Seeing the situation, Donnie decided to give the call:


    "Time to fall back"


    "Fall Back!! Fall Back!!"


    Currently, their main objective to lure as many zombies as possible has been achieved. Donnie started to call all the men to exit the city and retreat back to the battle line. There were currently hundreds thousand of undead that could be seen filling the streets of Surabaya. The thousand convict soldiers followed the tiger toon closely.


    The normal zombies were not as slow as it was portrayed in those sci-fi movies, they could move quite fast, but any normal fighters could easily dodge or outrun them. The scary thing about these zombies was not their strength but their numbers. Most fighters died not during their brutal battle, but their inability to find the right timing to flee or finding the right escape route.


    The main concern was still red zombies. Among the hundred thousand normal zombies, there were thousands of these mutated red ones. They could outrun any of these fighters, therefore the fighters needed to retreat strategically. Every 100 meters, these fighters would switch ces between running and defending. These moves were very hard to perform by experienced soldiers, even harder for these convict fighters... Casualties started to pile up. Most of the casualties happened because of their greediness to get more red zombie heads and get freed from their probation status.


    Inside a seven eleven shop, a group of convict fighters was seen fighting a few of the red zombies. The one in the front held a saber was an ex-policeman who was convicted of manughter.


    "We need to leave now!!"


    "There are two more over there!!... We can quickly run after killing those two..."


    GROOAAARRR!!!


    "!!!... Fxxxxxxx, we are surrounded"


    "Let''s head out right now!!...!!! Arrrgghhh Help!!"


    Mutated red zombies grabbed the poor man and easily tore his head from his body.


    SPLATT!!


    The scene created horror to all the other convict fighters in the area... They regretted for not leaving earlier... More and more red mutated zombie surrounded their group. They quickly ran to the back exit of the shops, but three more red zombies blocked their escape route...


    GROOAAARRR!! GROOAAARRR!!


    "That''s it... We are doomed..."


    Suddenly a figure rushed into the back of these three zombies. With arge ax, a bulky guy swung his ax and cut one of the zombies'' head in half... This guy was Donnie, the tiger toonmander. Another swing of the ax and one more red zombies split in half through the waist. The red zombie dropped t to the ground but was still moving... Donnie jumped onto the upper half and crushed the head with the bottom of his steel ax.


    CRAACKKK!!!


    Thest red zombie jumped onto him... Before the zombie reached out to him, Donnie threw the big ax with his peak of Mortal Realm strength... BAAAMMM!! Thest red zombie got thrown and stuck into the wall...


    "Move move!! Quickly!!"


    After finishing thest zombie, Donnie and the group ran back to the main army.


    Donnie, as the mainmander of this assault, did a great job leading his troops, within 30 minutes all thousands of fighters returned back to the defensive lines. There were more than one hundred casualties, but without Donnie''s decisivemand, many more of these convict fighters would have died on the streets of Surabaya.

 Chapter 106 - Battle Of Surabaya

    Sounds of gunfire, explosions, and screams could be heard echoing from the city to the defensive line, located about 3 kilometers away from the city''s streets. It''s only been a short wait of half an hour, but it felt much longer. These fighters have been in a couple of battles before, but all of them realized that the current battle will be on a much different scale.


    The battle line was separated into three parts; the center, the left wing and the right wing next to the shore. All ten battalions totaled more than 10.000 fighters. Farell also nned to make the battle as a way to improve these fighters, therefore he thought it''s important to keep Dario''s five battalions together in the right wing. He shared the other 5 battalions of Star Army he brought from Bali into two parts; the center area and the left wing. Donnie took 2 battalions together with the Tiger toons and the convict fighters to defend the left wing with a total of 3.000 men, while Farrell kept the other 3 battalions with a total 3.000 men right in the center area.


    Currently, right in front of them were the returning fighters led by Donnie, who have been chased by the hordes of undead. There were hundreds of thousands of them; walking human corpses, pale skin, bloodied faces screaming and chasing like wild animals.. The fighters tightened and prepared their weapons, shield, and spears... All standing behind hundreds of funnel pits, waiting for Farell''smand.


    "Steady... Steady...!!"


    "Reinforced the left wing!! More hordes heading to the left wing!"


    "Snipers ready!! Aim at the red zombies!"


    "Steady... Steady..."


    "Fireeee....!!!"


    Bang!! Bang!! Bang!! Bang!! Bang!! Bang!!


    Tratatatatatatata Tratatatatatatata


    KABOOOMM!! KABOOMM!!


    Sniper shots, machine gun barrages, and grenadeunchers poured heavily at the advancing zombie hordes. The sudden rain of fire created chaos among the undead and stopped their momentum. Heads blew, bodies got pierced and were thrown to the groundˇ­ The wave behind them got stumbled but quickly moved back up and continued their attack, but this time at a much slower pace.


    "Fighters ready!! Spearman to the front!! Spear wall!!"


    Hundred of thousands of zombies drag into the funnel pit and crash between each other, their advance was significantly stopped. Thousands of these zombies also got pierced by the sharp wooden poles. The hordes went into the pit but only one-tenth of it came out. The one that manages to get through the funnel pit also got pierced by the fighters spear walls.


    Pa!! Pa!! Pa!! Pa!! Pa!! Pa!!


    "Close the gap!! Tighten the line, don''t let them in!!"


    Donnie''s Tiger toon and the convict fighters quickly joined the left wing formation. The left wing had fewer soldiers and the convict fighters gave more challenge to the formation, but Donnie and his 50 special forces Tiger toon made the difference, each of them was already an experienced peak stage Mortal Realm fighter.


    All the fighters on the left wing and center wing, although not all came from the army, each of them had consumed at least one spirit stone or has eaten mutated beast meat. They at least had the strength of the mid-stage Mortal Realm, many already reached the high stage and some of the experts were already peak stage fighters. This increase in strength plus experiences made normal zombies no longer frightening for them.


    Looking at the left wing performance, Even with twice the numbers, Dario found it difficult to hold the right wing. Dario''s 5 battalions of men were all the survivors of the Indonesian Army posted in the Surabaya base. Most of them were trained soldiers, but these army soldiers have less fighting experience especially using edged weapons. Many of these 5000 men also haven''t consumed any spirit stones.


    "Hold the Line!!!!"


    "Firearm troops aim at that red zombie''s group on the right!!"


    Tratatatatattat!! Traatattatatatata!!


    "They are too fast. The frontline can''t hold it anymore!!"


    "Dammmnnn!! We need more reinforcements in that area!!"


    Three hundred men were seen rushing into the right wing, these were the reserve soldiers prepared for the battle, they wore ck clothes and orange bandanas. They were the Madurese fighters led by Run. These fighters were mostly fishermen experts in spears, this time they were given unique shield made from the mutated crabs. They''re much lighter and stronger than the normal shields, they also came with sharp edges and pincers that could be used to kill the undead. The past one week these Madurese fighters were groomed in the art of the spear and shield. They were also given some mutated crab meat and spirit stones. All of them already reached high stage mortal realms.


    Pa!! Pa!! Pa!! Pa!! Pa!! Pa!!


    Run with his usual recklessness charged too deepˇ­ As the leader of the units, he was given more spirit stones and already turned into a peak stage Mortal Realm expert. Like the famous saying, with great poweres a great itch to abuse it.


    Thanks to these Madurese fighters, the right wing became stabilized, the line was reformed and the zombie killing restarted. All ten thousand fighters collectively had their fair share of zombie killing. The scene turned into a massive zombie ughter. Within minutes, skewered zombie bodies started to pile up. The ones they need to watch out for were the mutated red zombie... These red undead could run faster and jump higher, naturally, they started to jump out of the tunnel pits... but.


    BANG!! BANG!! BANG!!


    The sniper team was ready behind the line. Wave after wave of zombie hordes were facing the same situation... Every 15 minutes, the battle line switched its frontline fighters with reserve soldier at the second line. After less than one hour at least half a million zombies died... but within the horizon, the 3 kilometers distance between have been filled with a sea of zombies. The fights got harder each time, and zombie bodies started to pile up so that it became difficult to hold the battle line.


    Commander Farell gave the sign for the next tactic tomence...


    "It''s time, light it up!!"


    "Yes, sir!!"


    CLICK!!


    KABOOM!!! KABOOM!!! KABOOM!!! KABOOM!!!


    Right in the middle of these millions of zombies, dozens of C4 explosives that have been installed previously blew up simultaneously. The front fighters also threw ming torches into the funnel pits and instantly the hundred funnel pits turned into a zing fire... The pits have been filled with gasoline, and with just a simple spark, the hundreds of thousands of zombies inside the pit were burnt.


    "Retreat to the second line!!"


    The explosion and fire created a few minutes of opportunity for the battle line to retreat back to the second location 200 meters behind.


    "Stand ready... quickly reform the battle line!"


    This second battle line had a simple ditch in front of them... its main purpose was only to slow down the advancing zombies... but all the advancing zombies needed to pass through the burning funnel pits and piles of zombie corpses...when they reached the ditch their forces were already thinned down by lots.


    Farell moved right in front of the frontline standing shoulder to shoulder with the frontline fighters and raised his saber... The hordes have managed to pass through the funnel pits, more and more zombies came closer.


    "Everyone, this is it. No more tricks! It''s now the chance to prove yourself... Trust every brother next to you. We will hold this line! Right wing! Left Wing! Star Army! Fight!!"


    SLASH!! SLASH!! PA!! PA!! SLASH!! SLASH!!


    The mostmon attack was to cut or stab the zombies'' heads. With a solid defensive formation, this act could easily resist the normal zombies... The main trouble was still the mutated ones that were able to jump out of the fire and wreck the fighters'' formation.


    Farell checked the time and realized the whole battle has been going on for two hours. The fighters needed to hold the line for at least another two hours. Farell could only hope Alex and the group who went inside the city center found what they were looking for and were able to get out safely.

 Chapter 107 - Sneak In

    When the first explosion started on the south side of Surabaya City, Alex''s group already arrived on the north shore by ship. The group was about to disembark on the ports near a warehouse pointed out by James. There were 20 men within this group. Alex''s previous party; Aria, Cindy, Theo, the twins Oscar and Oliver. While James Randall was surrounded by his bodyguards, the 5 ex-Navy seals and other foreigner bodyguards totaled 15 men.


    The ex-navy seals have protected the Randall family for a few years. Most of the other bodyguards were lead and trained by them. Winter, Zee, Red, Flea, and Slo. They have been in hundreds of missions before quitting and joining the private sectors.


    Winter, the leader, was a bald man in his 40, he looked a lot like a famous movie star from the die hard franchise. Zee, his second inmand, was an African-American, Red was a good looking Caucasian who also was the bombs experts, Flea was their sniper and Slo the guy with a tomahawk hairstyle. All the men in the group already reached peak stage Mortal Realm. .


    Other than Cindy, everyone in Alex''s party were Asians, so they had smaller buildspared to James'' party. To make things worse, Alex''s group didn''t really have the look of fighters: 2 beautiful girls, one middle-aged man, one priest, and two youths. Cindymented:


    "I feel like I am staying in the wrong group."


    Aria responded with a smile:


    "Well... feel free to switch sides, we won''t mind."


    Cindyughed at thement:


    "Do you want to switch sides with me? You see that guy Red, he is very handsome and look at his arms and chest.."


    Aria, the ice queen, wasn''t impressed, she''spletely uninterested. The twins, on the other hand, were still young... although they were strong, somehow they felt bothered by Cindy''sment, those foreigners did look bigger and stronger.


    "If you really like it, then go for it.", Aria replied.


    "Haha... Nah, I like our leader better, I somehow feel safe around him. If only he''s 5 or 10 years younger, he would be perfect."


    Alex was startled: "I can hear that... You know..."


    "Yes... I did that on purpose of course."


    "..."


    Cindy chuckled seeing Alex''s expression, she thought these Asians were so fun to fool around with...


    The group disembarked to one of the corners of the port, the area seemed very quiet. They could only see less than a dozen zombies around them.


    "James, you sure you want to tag along? You can just give us the details of the location and leave it to us..."


    Alex was kinda worried about James'' condition, only a month ago this billionaire was still a cripple who sat in a wheelchair, even though he consumed enough spirit stones and reached peak stage Mortal Realm, Alex believed because of his disease, he currently at most only had the strength of the high stage realm.


    "And miss all this action? No way!! I had enough sitting for a lifetime. Anyway, the mission will go much smoother with me around having all the ess and stuff, also, I am confident in Winter and his men''s capabilities, they can keep me safe."


    "Ok then... If you say so... Don''t say I didn''t warn you.."


    The group silently killed all the surrounding zombies and went into a warehouse with a big Randall logo. James Randall lead them to the huge hall behind. He had vehicles and equipment prepared. This Randall could not be rich if not smart, it seems he has prepared some supply warehouses in a few ces around the city for an emergency, Alex was impressed.


    "LT, the warehouse is secured"


    "Roger that, Zee you and Gold Team make a perimeter while we prepare."


    "Right away."


    LT is the nickname Winter''s men used to call him while they were still in the special forces. These fighters didn''t move like bodyguards at all, they moved in team and formation. They even used military signs and signals. Navy seals special forces were special, they were the best soldiers in the States. Within special forces, normally a unit only had a dozen men, and the unit itself could be separated into 2-3 teams of 3-5 men. At the moment Zee, with his gold team of 5, created a perimeter around the warehouse, while the other 2 teams securing the inside and help to check the prepared supplies.


    There was food, medicine, and weapons. There was also top of the line equipment like heat sensors andmunication devices. Winter took a box and approached Alex.


    "This box is filled with 10 sets of wirelessmunication devices, all using radios frequencies with a range about one kilometer. This will be useful for your team."


    Thesemunication devices were a good upgrade to rece his outdated two-way radio. Although it''s very small, it could be firmly held by the ear. It has a few channels that could easily be set up and used. Alex gave one set to everyone in his group.


    In the next room, there were 5 luxury SUVs ready to be used. They were the Mercedes-Benz G ss. A 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 engine, which could produce up to 416 HP. This ˇäwas the armored modified version of the car, the SUV is also rtively fast and could manage a top speed of 155 mph and can go from 0 to 60 in 5.5 seconds. All five were already modified to withstand an EMP before the doomsday. It''s great to be rich and resourceful.


    "Wow, this is a really nice car for doomsday. Rich guys really do have a taste."


    James, with his usually calm face, said:


    "Actually these cars were for the staff... The one I will be using is this one."


    James Randall uncovered the ck sheet that covered a huge item... It''s a ck luxury RV.


    It''s a Mercedes Benz 10 meter long 3 meter high home vehicle which was also the armored modified version. Queen sized bedroom, 2 bunk beds, designer sofas, reclining seats, kitchen, bathroom with electric hot shower, two television sets, and even a rooftop whirlpool. This vehicle was the dream car of royalties and movie stars.


    "..."


    "Do you like it? There''s only 30 of these made in the world, I got 3 of them. But only this one managed to be delivered on time."


    Theo thought that having afortable car to go to battle was unwise.


    "Are we going to a battle or a pic?", he said...


    "Haha. I guarantee this vehicle is not any less safe than the other five. After all, if we really are going to die today, I want to die asfortably as possible. So what do you thinkdies..? I have room for three more..."


    Winter and Flo started packing the supplies inside the huge vehicles, the other men also started turning on all the other vehicles.


    Alex gave Theo a look and said:


    "I guess it does make more sense to take the SUV, you and the twins can ride together..."


    "..."


    Alex then quickly went inside the RV, Cindy stares at Theo with a cheerful smile and followed Alex, together with Aria.


    A few minutester the ck RV and five SUVs went out of the warehouse and headed to James'' office which located about 5 kilometers away, right in heart of the city. The convoys went past hundreds of zombies, while the red ones that got near, easily got blown in the head by the fighters in the SUVs. With their current speed, the trip would take about 15 minutes. Although it was such a short trip, James was acting a good host and opened up a bottle of champagne, and poured a few drinks with ice... During such an asion, while staring outside over the street feel with zombies, Alex suddenly felt a bit anxious about their mission.

 Chapter 108 - Compete

    One month after the Doomsday, the streets of Surabaya city has turned into ruins. Burnt cars, buildings, broken sses, rubbles, and corpses surrounded the once beautiful and lively city.


    From the north side of the city, Five SUV cars and an RV was seen driving by passing in high speed.


    BAMMM!!!


    "Sorry about that... can''t really dodge all of those zombies..."


    "Another one iing!!"


    BAMMM!!! .


    Theo is currently inside of the first car with Zee and two more of James'' bodyguards. As he can read minds, he can tell that this foreigner hits the zombies on purpose just for fun. It''s not that Theo cannot take the joke, but they are currently in the heart of zombie hordes, so he is not in the mood.


    "Don''t worry man. We were here three days ago and there were at least five times of these zombies on the streets, we were unable to drive past them at all. Whatever the other group is doing on the outskirts of the city, it is definitely working. I am really optimistic about this mission."


    The convoys kept on driving, the deeper into the city they went, the more crowded the zombies were. Some of the buildings they passed like the hospital, the police station or the mall had lots of barbwires setup around as a defensive structure. Theo can tell that a huge battle had taken ce on this site a few weeks ago, but seeing the empty city, everyone can tell what the final result was.


    After half an hour drive, the group finally reached a roadblock.


    "This is as far as we can go with the cars, the main road in front is blocked. There are too many abandoned cars."


    The group parks the vehicles in the basements of small office buildings. The Gold team and the Yellow team quickly jumped out of the cars and secured the basement. This will be their fallback position. The group went up to the building''s second floor to check the surroundings. Alex, James, Winter, and Aria met to discuss tactics.


    James briefed them about the location, the office''s condition and described the items they need to acquire.


    A minuteter, Flea and the twins return after scouting the area.


    "Do you want the good news first or the bad news?"


    "Good news first."


    "I charted out the quickest path from here to the designated building. It''s about 500 meters away, and I saw only around 200 zombies roaming the area. Including the ones inside the building, there are probably twice the number."


    "200 seems easy enough, I think considering our position right now. What is the bad news?"


    "From the 200 almost all of them are mutated zombies."


    "..."


    James stared at Alex and said,


    "Is that normal?"


    Alex gave it some thought. But he really doesn''t have the answer. In his previous life, he spent the first few months of the Doomsday in the Bali mountain. While Alex was still thinking...


    "Don''t worry Mr. James, I believe we can handle this 200 red zombies."


    "Yes, you can count on us LT."


    Winter is still staring at Alex and then continues,


    "I think you can just leave the mission to us. Your team can stay here to protect Mr. James."


    Hearing this, the twins suddenly felt offended.


    "Are you looking down on our team? You big piece of Shhii..."


    "I am sorry if I offended you, but I honestly think that this is the best strategy for our current situation."


    "What the Fxxxx!"


    Oliver also gets outraged.


    "Stop it you two!!!"


    Alex res at them both and suddenly they turn quietˇ­


    "I am sorry, these two are still young, please don''t mind their childish words. But I believe the mission will go faster if we all go together. The faster we finish the mission, the faster also the army can retreat, what do you say?"


    "Okˇ­ Please stay close to us then..."


    "..."


    Alex thought that this guy named Winter apparently doesn''t realize that he really does look down on Alex''s team. Probably it''s a good idea to know each other better.


    "I suggest in the spirit of teamwork, let''s have a littlepetition. We can fight side by side and see how many each team can manage to kill the red ones. What do you think?"


    "I am sorry Mr. Alex, but ying a game during a mission is very dangerous."


    Alex has mixed feeling about this Winter, both annoyance and respect for the guy. Alex gives a quick look at James as he knows that he is good at reading people. James quickly understood and supported the idea. A momentter, the mission turns into a littlepetition.


    Both teams grab their weapon of choice then quickly advances. Although there were only 200 of them in sight, the teams still needed to silently kill all of these undeads or else within ten minutes, ten times more will join the fight. Alex''s team members were already skilled in using melee weapons; Alex with the katanas, Aria with the knives, Cindy with the whips, Theo with the pickax and the twins with their double sabers.


    Alex''s group advances to the right side of the streets, meanwhile, James team presses onwards to the other side. Fighting hundreds of red zombies are not to be trifled with. These abominations have the same strength as High Stage Mortal Realm, fighting them using only melee weapons are quite tricky, but Alex''s current team have been fighting together for a while now. Cindy''s whip is very useful in deflecting the undead''s attacks, while Alex, Theo, and the twins jump in for the massacres, while Aria''s throwing knives would target those that are unreachable by closebat.


    Pa! sh! Stab!


    5...10...15... 20...


    Their teamwork is fantastic, all of them are in the Peak Stage Mortal Realm. Dozens of red mutated zombies were killed beautifully. A momentter, Alex realizes that the opposing party on the other side of the street is actually not slower than they are... They are actually even faster!


    They were three teamsposed of five men each. The Gold team being led by Zee, Blue Team being led by Slo and White team being led by Winter. These groups of men attached silencers into their handguns and assault rifles. These three groups move in formations and start shooting at the red zombies. With their Peak Stage Mortal Realm, they move really fast, added to that is their perception being heightened, they can shoot in high uracy. Multiple headshots blew the undead''s heads.


    Piu!! Piu!! Piu!! Piu!!


    10... 20... 30... 40...


    Not only they have a bigger group, using firearms would definitely make it easier in killing these red zombies more so than melee. These ex-navy seals were backed by one of the richest men, they were well equipped. The navy seals were trained to kill their enemies efficiently and the most efficient way to kill other than a gun is a concealed weapon. Therefore, their main melee isbat knives. As for martial arts, they practice Brazilian jiu-jitsu, followed by western boxing.


    At the end of the street, in front of the Randall Building, the two groups meet and the result is that James team killed almost twice of the undeadpared to Alex''s team. Although Alex lost, he didn''t feel ashamed or mad at all. Rather, he found more respect towards Winter''s men. The twins, on the other hand, felt unsettled.


    Winter approached Alex and said,


    "We only won because of guns, on the other hand, your teamwork and martial arts are amazing."


    It''s quite hard to be angry to a man such as he. This Winter not only had the strength, but he also had leadership capabilities. Alex looks forward to more of his contributions in the future war.


    The team separated as nned, the Gold team with Zee will set up a perimeter outside and will stand guard for any sights of trouble. Flea, the sniper, jumps up on top of the nearest building as eyes. Winter''s White team and the Gold team would go to the workshop to grab theser weapons. While Alex''s team and James will go to his offices to find the blueprints.


    There are a dozen more of these red zombies inside thepound. Winter and his 10 men quickly rush into the workshop which is located in the basement. It was a bigplex, the two teams have decided to separate in order to save time.


    Slo with his Blue team heads toward into one of the corridors then proceeds into the storage room.


    "Did you see the twin''s faces when we had defeated them?"


    "Haha! They are 10 years too young topete with us."


    "Quiet Mike! Concentrate! There could be more of those mutated ones inside this room."


    "If it is more of that red one, then we have nothing to worry about. I wish there is another one stronger than the red zombies. A higher grade one perhaps. Something more challenging"


    The group went inside the room and they were suddenly shocked by the horrifying scene taking ce in front of them.


    "!!!"


    Tratatatatta Tratatatata


    "AARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!"

 Chapter 109 - Black Carnage

    Piu... Piu... Piu...


    "Three hostiles down! The corridor is cleared... Let''s move inside." .


    "Roger that!"


    The 5-men blue team consisted of all trained fighters, went into the storage room in the basement of Randall Corporation office buildings. When they opened the door, they were shocked by what''s in front of them.


    "What the hell happened here!"


    "Gosh, it stinks!!"


    "Mike, focus on the front. Clear the room!"


    "Turn on the torch!"


    The room was dark but, with the lighting from outside the door and the torch attached on their M16 assault rifles, they could somehow see what''s inside the room.


    What seemed to be a storage room which was about the size of two basketball courts had turned into a swamp like room. The floor was wet with ck roots covering almost all the ground up to the walls and ceiling...


    "What the fuxx is this thing... It''s so slimy..."


    The center of the room was filled with rows of storage cabs. The five men decided to separate in two teams. Slo took the right with two men, Mike with thest to the left... With fingers ready on the trigger, they moved slowly passing through rows of cabs.


    "It''s supposed to be in this section... Let''s search."


    "Got it... This cube''sbeled as energy cells."


    "Ok, that must be it. Grab all you can and put it into that box. Let''s hurry, this room gives me the creeps."


    A short timeter Slo''smunication device made a sound. It''s Mike on the other side of the room.


    "I found something here as well."


    "What is it?"


    "I don''t know sir... I can''t exin... But I think you should see it."


    "Ok, you two pack in here and quickly move the stuff outside the room."


    Slo noticed the direction he''s going, the closer he got to his destination, the size of the roots got bigger... When he reached Mike''s position he saw his two men freeze up in front of a thing that looked like a huge cocoon-like tree that stuck into the corner of the room... All the roots surrounded the area originated from this... Whatever this is...


    "..."


    "What the fuxx is this?"


    "This can''t possibly be one of the experiments done by the corporation right?"


    "What should we do with it, sir?"


    One of the men moved closer to the thing and tried to touch it...


    "I think... It''s moving... I can hear something..."


    RRRR.....RRRR...


    "I don''t like it... Get away from that thing..."


    When the men turned around watching Slo, suddenly something thrust out from the cocoon...


    "WATCH OUTTT!!!"


    SPLAAATT!!


    It was an arm as big as a tree trunk. Its palm and five fingers huge enough to fully grab the poor man.


    The man tried hard with their peak stage Mortal Realm strength to force himself out of the monstrous grasp. But it didn''t budge at all and only squeezed him harder...


    AARRRGGGHHHH!!


    From within the cocoon, a figure slowly moved out. It''s a humanoid with two arms and two feet, the abomination started standing with its head almost hitting the 5-meter ceiling. Three meters broad shoulders and arms as long as two meters with knife-like ws. Muscles bulging in all part of its pitch ck skin.


    The abomination stared at the prey in his hand, and slowly opened its mouth wide open... Dozens of long sharps teeth and a long snake-like tongue...


    SSSRRRRR...


    "NOOO!!!"


    Piuuu!! Piuuu!! Piuuu!!


    Slo took three shots from his handgun to the monsters head, but not only did it not hurt it... It didn''t even care, as if it didn''t feel a thing.


    The monster continued with its feast...


    SPLAAATTT!!!...


    The monster took a big bite and the whole head was gone. Blood sshed everywhere...


    KRIUUKK... KRIUUKKK


    It even slowly chews it... Blood was dripping out of its mouth.


    PUH!


    It spits the remains to the side as if it was no longer amused by it.


    The gore and horrific scene made Mike who was freezing at the sideline threw up... And he suddenly realized something fast moving right at him...


    "MIKE RUNN!!"


    Tratatataata Tratatatatatat


    Slo decided to switch his handgun with the M16 assault rifle load with the high caliber 7.62 magazines. Several bullets hit the monster''s sides, but it still didn''t affect it or even hinder it at all.


    BAAMMM!!!


    Mike used his peak stage strength trying to dodge full speed, but still got partially hit by the monster. It threw him a few meters and he hit the central cabs


    "RUNN MIKE CALL FOR BACKUP!"


    With his whole body hurting, Mike collected all his strength to stand up and run back... That''s thest thing he saw of Slo. Before he heard a loud noise.


    KABOOOMMM!!!


    On the other side of the basement, Winter and the White Team heard the loud noise.


    "It''s close, it must be the blue team."


    "White calling Blue... Roger"


    "Whi- White Come Help!!"


    "Mike is that you? Calm down, what''s the status. Roger!"


    "Mike!! Mike!!"


    No sound came from themunication device. "What''s your order, LT?"


    "Let''s double back to Blue Team''s position, weapons hot."


    "Roger that LT."


    "Gold Teame in."


    "Yes LT."


    "With the loud noises, I think the party will start soon. Be ready."


    "Roger That."


    The gold team who guarding the perimeter gathered in front of the building preparing for any iing zombies. The White Team, Winter, Red, and three others were running full speed to the BlueTeam. Halfway through, they heard something that made them stop.


    "Halt!! You guys heard that?"


    Thud..! Thud..! Thud..!


    "What the fuxx is that sound?"


    The sound only got louder. Whatever was making that sound wasing closer.


    THUD..! THUD..! THUD..!


    "Hold your fire!! That''s our boys!"


    Two men holding boxes were seen running approaching their position. Another person was seen running a few meters behind them. It''s Mike!


    "Ok, it seems they are alright."


    Just before the group wanted to make a joke about the funny way Mike ran, suddenly their faces turned pale seeing what''sing behind him.


    "What the fuxx!!!"


    "Open fire!!!!!!"


    Tratatatatatata Tratatatatatat


    Seeing how all the assault rifle bullets got bounced back. Winter decisively gave an order.


    "Red!! RPG!!"


    "Roger that!!"


    BAAAMMM!! Shhhhhhh KABOOOOMMM!!


    A direct hit to the ck monster''s neck... The explosion blew the surrounding walls into rubble.


    "RELOAD!! SHOOT another one!!"


    BAAAMMM!! Shhhhhhh KABOOOOMMM!!


    An experienced fighter tends to have good battle instinct. His instinct said it''s far from over. But even before the smoke dissipated, what he feared turned real, the huge ck monster walked out of the explosion unhurt.


    The monster appeared to no longer be running... It has seen its pray running towards another 5 fightersˇ­ this monster different from any other zombies seems to have some kind of intelligence.


    While the monster was still undecided of any task, Winter ordered the 8 soldiers into formation.


    "Reload and use the piercing cartridges!!"


    This group of men was really fully equipped to go to war.. James Randall seems to have prepared them thoroughly.


    It took a few seconds and the group had managed to take a defensive position. Suddenly an object dropped to the floor right in front of them. It bounced a few time like a ball before it stopped.


    The group was able to recognize the object thrown... It directly made their faces turn pale... The object was a head full of blood, the group can quickly recognize its tomahawk hairstyle. It''s Slo''s decapitated head.


    "SLOO...!! FUXXXXX!!"


    The group got distracted only one second but that was a big mistake. The ck monster already shortened the distance in half. It ran full speed to the group.


    "FIREEEEE!!!"


    Tratatatatatat... Tratataatatatat...


    But it''s useless. Even the piercing bullets seemed unable to pierce the skin of the monster.


    CLANK.. CLANKK...


    It''s almost like shooting at a tank. The two men at the front panicked and quickly turned around to dodge the monster''s attack.. but


    SPLATTT... SPLATTT


    Both men got mmed down by the huge ck hand and instantly died on the spot. Both men, also peak stage Mortal Realm, but their speed was just notparable to this monster.


    The ck monster was currently standing in the middle of the group. Some were still desperately shooting at it. The abomination grabbed another man next to it and with both its hands twisted the poor man like wet clothes.


    SPLATT!!


    Only five men left. All facing each other not sure what to do, the team turn desperate one of them turn to Winter.


    "LT, what should we do?"


    .


    .


    .

 Chapter 110 - Tactic

    KABOOOMM!!


    On the top floor of Randall''s office building, Alex and his group together with James just finished gathering all the research material. The explosion also surprised the group.


    James quickly tried to contact his teams:


    "White Team,e in!"


    "..."


    "Winter!! Anyone!!"


    "This is Zee Gold team, White Team is heading to the basement, currently uncontactable."


    "Ok Zee, what''s the status outside." .


    "This is Flea, I scouted and the hordes areing, ETA 7 minutes."


    Alex tried to calcte any possible scenario. Inside a building, a group of trained peak stage Mortal Realms will not be troubled by normal zombie hordes. This must be something else. It''s either a strong mutated beast or... it''s... an image came to Alex''s mind, and he turned worried.


    He thought:


    "It cant be. It''s too early."


    Alex quickly prepared for the worst.


    He gave Aria, Cindy, and Theo a different task and he brought James and the twins quickly to the basement.


    As peak Mortal Realm fighters, not only could they run fast, the group even headed down to the ground floor by jumping out of the windows.


    Hopp!!


    When they reached the ground, the group quickly went separately. Alex was followed by the twins rushing back into the building and headed to the stairs down to the basement.


    KABOOM!! KABOOM!!


    There, two explosions just went off from the basement just up ahead.


    "That''s a blow from an RPG, I think. Winter Team is probably in danger..."


    James turned more worried.


    "Alex... What do think they are facing right now?"


    "..."


    "I''m not sure."


    James knew pretty well that Alex has vast knowledge about the doomsday, therefore he was curious. Alex''s silence somehow made him more worried.


    Less than a minuteter, Alex finally reached the destination, Alex could hear gunfire on the other side of the door. He quickly rushed and broke through the door.


    BAAMMM!!


    It''s a hallway as big as a basketball court. Alex arrived on the other side. There he saw in the center a monstrous pitch ck abomination currently facing what''s left of Winter Team, three gruesome corpses, and five men still standing.


    Finally, Alex saw it, and he recognized the monstrous figure standing in the center of the hall. The Doomsday Pirs identified it as the second stage zombie. It''s the second evolution of the roaming undead hordes. These advanced zombies were the reason all survivors around the world were unable to resist the zombie hordes. Even highly secured fortresses with advanced firearms will not able to stop them.


    These ck mutated zombies will start to show up a few months after the arrival of the Doomsday Pirs. Six months after doomsday it will bemon to find a few of this type within the zombie hordes.


    "Mike don''t!!!"


    Winter screamed, trying to prevent Mike from running to the exit door on the other side of the room... But this action got the monster''s attention. The monster''s ck huge hand suddenly changed its form into a big sharp de and it quickly dashed towards Mike''s back... Winter rushed trying to help Mike, but...


    SWISSHHH!!!... SPLAAT!!


    Mike got sliced in two, dead... And now Winter was standing less than 5 meters next to the monster. It turned around facing Winter... It''s next prey...


    Alex was just about toe to help him but he suddenly stopped when he saw the navy seal veteran''s face. He still looked fully spirited wanting to fight the monster next to him.


    Winter gave a simple sign to Red at the back... A simple sign and his old teammate quickly understood what he meant.


    The monster started its advance... Winter drew two handguns from his side holsters. His two arms reached out to the front and shot.


    BANG!! BANG!! BANG!! BANG!!


    Thunderous heavy shots sounds came out from the two handguns. And it was actually able to make the monster stop its advance.


    The guns Winter used were the Desert Eagles. They''re loaded with the .44 Magnum bullets.


    As the name says, the pistol''s visual design resembles an eagle, the handgun still could be considered a "final kill". Originated from the United States and Israel, the Desert Eagle consists of a triangr barrel with a huge muzzle. It is a semi-automatic gun with very immediate recoiling speed, however, one bullet is equivalent to a kill shot. This handgun can be considered as the most powerful handgun.


    A normal person needs to use both hands to shot this gun and it''s rarely used as a dual handed pistol, with for a peak stage Mortal Realm''s strength it''s possible


    BANG!! BANG!! BANG!! BANG!!


    Multiple hits from the strongest handgun in the world, but it seemed to only bother the monster. The bullets were still unable to pierce its pitch ck skin.


    RROOOOAAAAARRRRR!!!


    The monster turned mad and quickly advanced... Winter''s experience and reaction speed made him able to dodge the attack just a breath away.


    BAAAMMMM!!!


    The ck zombie hit an empty spot on the ground. It quickly got up and was just about to jump and chase Winter when it saw two small objects flying to its face.


    KABOOMM!! KABOOMM!!


    It''s not an explosion from a normal grenade but its a sh grenade. The blow somehow blinded the monster for a few seconds. Winter kept a distance further while still shooting his magnum bullets


    BANG!! BANG!! BANG!! BANG!!


    Winter quickly moved, the decisive and creative tactic gave quite an impression to Alex. Alex predicted Winter could possibly be a spirit enhancer.


    The ck zombie was finally able to see clearly and turned even madder chasing Winter. With just a breath away, it''s able to move 10 meters and swung itsrge de shaped arms... But he didn''t realize Red standing next to the creature approaching closer holding a huge object on his arm. It''s theser weapon.


    Zzzziiiinggg... Phhhiuww!!


    A yellow sharp light beam hit the monster in the shoulder...


    KABOOOMM!!!


    The de-shaped arm got blown apart and dropped to the ground... The monster got down on its knees and seemed really hurting.


    ROAAAARRRRR!!!!


    Alex was really impressed with the action. But Winter''s next action made him panicked.


    Winter kept shooting his Magnum bullets while moving closer to the abomination.


    BANG!! BANG!! BANG!! BANG!!


    All 8 bullets have already been used, the gun is now empty. Winter was disappointed his high caliber bullets seemed to not have much effect on the monster. He''s only two meters away from the monster now. When he noticed something unusual


    From the blown up shoulder, ck root-shaped liquid flowed like water and was reshaping back the arm. At incredible speed.


    "!!!"


    ROAAARRRRR!!!!


    The ck monster used the other hand and quickly grabbed Winter''s body... The other hand formed back to the de shape although not fully formed, it was big enough to quickly thrust directly to the middle of his stomach!!


    STABB!!!


    Blood spilled from Winter''s chest and mouth... James standing on the sideline was shocked with the scenes. From the other side, all of Winter''srades tried to help. But they were not close enough.


    The monster rose the de shape arm and was just about to give its finishing move... A swing to decapitate his head.


    SWISSHHH!!!


    CLANK!!


    "!!!"


    The de didn''t hit Winter''s neck instead it was stopped by a hard rock shaped object. The rock object grabbed the arm while another figure dropped down to the monster''s shoulder and stabbed a sharp ivory horn-shaped steel spear.


    Pa!!


    GGGRROOOAAAAARR!!


    It''s Alex jumping and stabbing using the spear made of stage two mutated snake. The spear thrust deep into its shoulder and it quickly let go its grasp of Winter.


    Alex pulled the spear and quickly grabbed Winter''s body, and jumped out away from the ck monster. The rock golem held the monster''s body and made it unable to chase Alex.


    In the corner, Winter was currently dying next to James Randal. He''s about to give hisst breath.


    "I am sorry... I am better than this... Better than this."


    Alex saw high potential in this Winter, he decided to take out one of the two panacea serums and injected it into Winter''s arm.

 Chapter 111 - Scary Thought

    Two monstrous figures were currently wrestling with each other.


    BAAMMM!! CLANK!! BAAMMM!!


    The Stage Two Stone Golem fighting against the Stage Two Zombie. The huge golem is only about half the size of the ck zombie, it''s looking like a David versus Goliath situation. But the golem seemed to be able to firmly hold on against it''s opponent''s monstrous body.


    Meanwhile, after Alex injected the serum into Winter, a momentter he passed out. Alex gave him a quick bandage and told James and his remaining bodyguards to take Winter out of the building. As for the boxes of stuff collected by the two teams, Alex quickly stored them in his storage rings. Red decided to stay, as he held theser weapon, he hoped to stay behind to help.


    ROOAAARRR!!!


    The huge zombie''s shoulder has finally fully regenerated. It''s now able to use both of its arms.. The monster held the golem''s body tightly and rammed it into the wall.


    BAAAAAMMMMM!!!


    The golem got blown over to the room behind the wall. The ck zombie decided to turn around and redirect its attention to the guy who stabbed its shoulder. the ferocious monster rushed straight to Alex.


    Zzzziiiinggg... Phhhiuww!!


    Another yellow sharp light beam came from the weapon held by Red shooting at the ck zombie, but this time it was able to dodge it. The ck zombies were at the second stage evolution of the zombie. Within a few months, this type will be the zombie hordes'' powerhouses. Monstrous strength, bulletproof skin, and high regenerative power. None of the Mortal Realm fighters will be strong enough to fight this zombie type personally. Even the peak stage Earth Realm fighters will have trouble fighting them without proper skills and equipment. In his previous life, Alex had killed thousands of ck zombies, but it was when he had already reached the Sky Realm. Right now he was only a Mortal Realm fighter. From his experience, the most dangerous thing about this ck zombiepared to other zombies or mutated beasts was its intelligence.


    "With my current strength, I would not be able to blindly defeat this monster... I need to outsmart it." This monster was a real predator, Alex didn''t dare to underestimate it. He took a deep breath, instantly performed breathing techniques and the second stage of the Hexagram Steps. His speed increased substantially.


    Alex threw two smoke grenades to the ground.


    BSSSHHHHH!!!! BSSHHHHH!!!!


    White smoke instantly covered about 10 meters around the area Alex was standing in. Like a ghost in the mist, Alex gradually was missing from its view. The ck zombie jumped forward only to end up hitting empty smoke.


    SWISH!! SWISH!! This creature was still depending on its eyesight and hearings to search for its prey, it could hear its prey was near but was still unable tond a hit. Instead, it constantly received multiple hits to its legs.


    PAA!! PAA!! PAA!! GROAARRRRRR!!


    When the smoke cleared everyone else could see what Alex did. Instead of taking a distance against the ck monster, Alex did the opposite. Using the hexagram steps, he managed to stick close and continuously stayed at the monster back. Armed with the snake tooth spear, Alexnded multiple stabs at the opponent''s legs. Although the stabs were unable to disable it, somehow it was enough to reduce the ck zombie mobility. The creature finally realized what Alex has been doing, but Alex already gathered all his strength, he jumped and dealt a critical thrust to the monster head.


    PPAAAAA!!!


    Alex miscalcted his strength, the spear only managed to pierce the head halfway through the monster''s jaw. The creature screamed loudly but was still able to do a counter attack. The monster raised both of his hand and swung its monstrous arms at him, and this time Alex was unable to dodge it.


    BAAAMMMM!!


    The hit from above crushed Alex to the ground. Alexy on the floor and coughed up blood. If he''s not wearing the protective low-grade armor, he would already be unconscious or worst. The monster quickly followed the attack, this time using the pointy sharp end of the arm, this attack would surely kill him, but...


    BAAAAMMM!!! T


    he Golem has returned and tackled the monster, it dragged the fight away from Alex and both of them started to wrestle again. The twins and Red rushed to Alex to help him, but other than losing his face in front of his men, he''s fine. Alex started calcting different tactics and scenarios to help the golem kill the monster together. He nned to arm the twins with the extra snake tooth spear from his storage ring, but he decided it was too risky... One wrong move and the two spirit enhancers could die. In a one on one fight situation between stage two golem and stage two zombie, Alex knew the golem would thrive, so he decided to just watch the fight. Probably because the ck zombie had already been hurt by theser weapon and the multiple stabs by Alex, the fight ended a minuteter.


    The golem was finally able to pin down its opponent to the ground andunched multiple explosive punches to the ck zombie''s head. BAAAM!! BAAAM!! BAAAM!! CRACK!! CRACK!! SPLAATT!! The ck zombie''s head was cracked and turned into paste, Alex walked to the headless body and found a piece of the yellow spirit stone and put it in his storage ring. The group then quickly headed out from the building and joined the team outside.


    The situation outside has also turned chaotic, Zee with his Gold Team took a defensive stance outside of the office building. Thousands of normal zombies and hundreds of the red zombies already swarmed the area.


    Tratatatattatata, Tratattatatatatata The team poured all the ammunition they had at the iing zombies. This team of experienced peak stage fighters was able to effectively do headshots even with assault rifles. Zee, on the other hand, used the huge M134 Minigun.


    Dzzziiinggg... Dratatatatatattaattaatt


    Hundreds of zombies died each second at the hands of the small group, but the zombie hordes still came in thousands. BANG!! BANG!! BANG!! BANG!! On top of the building, Aria and Flea fired their sniper rifles to headshot the iing zombies. As they were located on the high ground they could see an endless number of zombiesing to the area.


    "More iing... We need to head out soon."


    "Hold on. I spotted something."


    "Iing from the north!"


    BAAAMMM!! BAAAMMM!! A huge steel object moved in fast heading to the group from the north while crashing at the zombie hordes, It''s James'' armored RV. The vehicle stopped meters away from the group, the RV''s door opened up and a man with eyesses using a Pickaxe on both his arms start piercing zombies around the vicinity. "Are you guysing?" The sses guy was Theo and the one driving was Cindy, Alex ordered them both to go take the RV knowing the hordes wille. Aria and Flea jumped down from the four-story building and started to move inside, all fourteen survivors were packed inside the luxurious RV.


    "Ok everyone''s already in. Let''s go!!"


    The vehicle started to drive quickly and headed back north to the shore, there were thousands of zombies trying to stop the moving RV but the golem was protecting it while running side by side with the vehicles. It was the first time James'' bodyguards saw the golem, they were amazed by it. Seeing it also made Alex wonder, without the golem he might not have been able to defeat the ck zombie. He wondered if it''s normal to encounter this zombie type only one month after the doomsday. In his previous life, he was in the Bali mountains at that time, so he would not know. He never heard anyone ever saying that they saw one this early as well. But then, if anyone ever saw this type so early, none of them would be alive to tell the tale. Alex suddenly had a scary thought in his mind,


    "Will the doomsday turn out differently with his reincarnation?" "Humanity was annihted in only a few years during the previous life... If the monsters got stronger how bad would it be this time?" Alex''s wild thought suddenly got distracted by the sound. BAAAMMM!!! BAAAMMM!! "Cindy drive carefully!!! You''re gonna wreck the RV, this is not a tank! Let Zee drive the car!", James worriedly said. "Move away!! It''s dangerous to distract the driver!!" Cindy chuckled... In her mind:


    "Not a chance, this is so much fun..."


    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


    Authors note: I Just found out that although I am contracted by AllNovelFull, I will never receive a sry unless I go premium. Basically, I will not receive a single cent for all thest 2 months'' 80k words writing. I came into a dilemma about whether to go premium or not. After discussing it with a few people, as promised I, decided not to go premium. I love writing this story and decided my priority is getting my novel read by more people. However, money could be a good motivation, therefore, I set up a pat_reon for those who enjoy my novel and would like to support me more. https://.p a t r e o n/avan7 Hopefully, I did the right thing. Pleasement and tell me what you think. Thanks. Avan


    Update note:


    07/11/2019- Finnaly turn premium

 Chapter 112 - Journey To The West

    DDay +31


    Three days have passed since the Battle of Surabaya. The four hour battle between 10,000 men against millions of zombies had ended with a tactical retreat.


    Farell moves the 10 battalions back to the south across the paddy fields which slow down the iing hordes and then crossing the small river. The 10 battalions finally retreat by the brigs type ship through the river back to the Madura ind.


    The four hours battle had a death toll that reached almost a thousand fighters, one-third of ite from the convict fighters who were fighting on the front line. But within the short battle, the Star Army was able to kill approximately a million normal zombies and more than thirty thousand red zombies.


    By the end of the battle, there were 12 convict fighters who were able to finish their targeted 20 red zombies bounties. Most of them have been collecting their kills for a couple of days. These 12 men were given the choice to either go free or join the Star Army as a full-fledged citizen. Surprisingly, all 12 men chose to rejoin the Star Army. In the end, all 12 were assigned as the unit leaders of the convicted fighters..


    Not only they were awarded as full-fledged citizens, but they were also assigned as unit leaders as there were none of it at the moment. Thus, their status in the Star Army is also nowparable to the elite soldiers. Unlike the other convicted fighters who only receive one food vouchers, these 12 men receive three vouchers per day.


    Due to the way the Star Army treated these 12 men, it made the rest of the thousand convicts more motivated to try harder on the next uing battles. Later on the more convicts fighters turned into regr fighters, the morepetitive it is to be unit leaders, therefore more quality fighters and leader will emerge.


    The Star Army spends thest few days resting. Theo organized simple funeral services for all of those who died during the battle, including James Randal''s six bodyguards.


    Looking at the bodies burning and thinking about those that they have left on the battlefield, Alex wondered as themander in chief if his decision was right. One thousand men died for items that may or may not be useful for the uing battles.


    But then again, as much as it hurt to see the people''s sacrifice, with the million zombies they have exterminated, the fighting experience of the Star Army has rose along with the tens of thousands of spirit stones they had collected, in the end, he''s sure he did the right thing.


    Alex makes sure that all of the fighters that participated in the battle will receive their rightful spirit stone rewards. He then started to recount their numbers.


    With the addition of new fighters and new survivors, the poption of Bangkn city had grown even more.


    Bangkn Base>


    Area: 65 hectares


    Total Survivors: 271,722


    Defense Team:


    Colonel Dion''s 5 Battalion: 4,822 men


    Dario''s 5 Battalions: 4,673 men


    Run''s Madura Fighters : 1,876 men


    Farell''s Division: 7,655 men


    Donnie''s Tiger Units: 50 men


    That''s almost three hundred thousand people living in the Bangkn Base, these numbers are quite hugepared to the other survival bases in Alex''s previous life. Although, other than the army, most of these people have no fighting experience. They have been too rxed for the past four weeks. This will be problematic in the future as Alex needed more fighters.


    After hours of strategic meeting with Farell, Donnie, Cahya, James, Dario, and Run. the next nned finally drafted.


    Alex first priority is always to save more people, second is to prepare the base and strengthened the survivors, therefore Alex assigned each the leaders with task


    Farell and Dario all ten thousands more fighters will go separately heading down south of the Surabaya city all the way to the south coast to search and rescue more survivors. The convict fighters also being divided into these two groups, these people eager to go battle and finish their bounty as soon as possible.


    Alex gave Farell one main objective, near the city of Mng on the south coast there is one particr important ce. It''s the location of PT Pindad factory. Indonesian main defense industrypany and exporters. Farell division objective is obviously to collect as many weapons, bullets, armed vehicles and also artillery.


    Next task is to increase the fighters numbers out of the 270.000 survivors. At that day, 50.000 selected to be trained as fighters. All able-bodied man, age 17 to 50 preferably without family to take care off.


    Donnie tiger toon will be in charge of training. This will be the same basic training as the one thought in StarBase. Basic hand to hand fighting movement technique, weaponbat, formation training, and survival training. Alex left 5000 spirit stone as a reward for the top 10% talented fighters from this batch.


    Colonel Dion 5 battalion army of 5000 was disbanded and merged into the 50.000 new recruits. the colonel itself was removed from his rank. Thest few days Alex has the chance to know more of this Dion, he got into his position trough connection channel, he is not really a fighter, but Alex finds him trustworthy. He is apparently a very good administrator, therefore Alex gave him the army administrator position. He would probably be one of the busiest people onwards, especially with the army is expand.


    The other n is to start packing up and move all the rest of 200.000 men. These people will be moved by sea using the Brig ships into the Star Base in Bali. Cahya the ex-governor will be in charge of this task, moving 200.000 plus men, supplies, equipment using the limited brig ships are not an easy task.


    Considering the number of ships and the size of transports, Cahya approximates the back and forth trips from Surabaya and Bali would take about three to four weeks to finish. Therefore Alex set the new recruits training by Donnie and the mission to the south by Dario and Farell will need to be wrapped up with the same schedule. In four weeks all civilians will already be moved to Bali and there will only be armed fighters ready for the next phase.


    Alex asked James and his team to move to Bali as well, but he refused. James wanted to be in the center of it all. Although he was a businessman, like himself this James has a lot of fighting spirit in him. Therefore Alex agrees to take him and the rest of his bodyguards.


    Alex then gave theser weapon research and equipment to Cahya to be given right away to Doctor Rachel research team in Bali starbase. The priority is not the weapon itself, but the technology to convert spirit stone into an energy source. Although Alex has aboratory and scientist prepared at the base, Alex unsure if there would be much sess with the project, he can only hope for the best.


    Thinking about Bali, make Alex think about his family, Alex write down a letter to be given to his wife Devita and also note for his daughters. He predicts he won''t be home for another month and maybe more.


    Lastly Alex gathered up Run and his 2000 fighters toe along with him. Alex added another 3000 Madurese locals especia?ly the one who has experienced with the mutated cattle. Alex has big ns for these hundred of elephant size cattle. Alex took 300 of these mutated cattle, the rest will be sent to Bali base with Cahya.


    Alex team, James and his bodyguards plus the Madurese fighters all 5000 plus 300 mutated cattle carrying supplies prepared by James, heading for a journey to the west into the central Java.


    "Time to meet up with Rico."

 Chapter 113 - Olympus Has Fallen

    DDay +35. Washington USA


    The White House is the official residence and workce of the President of the United States. The white pce-like building is located in the heart of Washington, the capital of the United States.


    The whole 100 square miles of the federal district of Columbia including the White House to the north, the Lincoln Memorial on the west and the capitol building on the east that is connected with Washington monument, a base lies on its center. It has been turned into a survivor''s basecamp.


    Hundreds of temporary tents have been set up on top of the lush green yards. Thousands of fully armed military soldiers can also be seen guarding the perimeter of the gates. Thousands of people; men, women, and children are trusting their life to these soldiers.


    The White House has been turned into amand center. Within the blue office, groups of people have gathered for a meeting. Most of them are military officers and high ranking soldiers..


    Although the oval office is bigger and has a better view of the surroundingspared to the blue office, it seems that none of these people are interested to gather in the room where the President has passed away.


    When 80% of the poption got infected by the disease, most of the government officials died within the first 24 hours. Fortunately, the United States has a Presidential line of session system. When the President and the Vice-President got infected by the disease, the fourth in line which was the Secretary of the State took over the position. The chain ofmand has been instantly reestablished.


    Two weeks ago, the newly elected President and all of the remaining government officials have left the building and relocated to a more secure base.


    Currently, this dozen of people that had gathered in the blue office was left in charge of the Washington district to secure and take in as many survivors as they can from the surrounding areas for as long as possible.


    It''s dark outside and the sun has set, but the screams and gunfires are echoing constantly in the area. Everyone in the room is fully armed, these people have gone through a lot of sleepless nights to keep the area well defended.


    A man in his 50s, who is wearing a military uniform, appears to be the colonel that is leading the meeting.


    "How many units have returned today?"


    "22 units, 9 units are still unountable, sir."


    "How many new survivors?"


    "345, sir."


    "..."


    The colonel turns silent, he thinks over their situation for a while. There are more than 7 million people living in the Washington district. In thest 30 days, his battalion has managed to secure more than one hundred thousand people. Every day, the transports woulde to pick up thousands of civilians and send them into another survival base outside of the city.


    The number of survivors they are recovering each day from within the city is dwindling, but the colonel is sure that there are hundreds or even thousands more still holding out somewhere within the city. Therefore, he kept on sending rescue units outside.


    Today''s result though is probably the worst. Not only they found only 300 plus people, there are 9 army units are unounted for.


    "Men, listen up!"


    "Roy, tell us the order from the President."


    Roy is the guy wearing a suit, he is the CIA''s deputy director. He decided to stay behind two weeks ago to help.


    "We have received the news that today the Baltimore city basecamp has been overrun. Tomorrow, they are predicting that the iing hordes from the north will be multiplied."


    "The President has given the order to evacuate, it''s imperative for everyone to leave the city before noon tomorrow."


    "..."


    "Sir, will they send extra transport for tomorrow?"


    "No, they will not, it will be the usual pick up."


    "..."


    Everyone in the room turns silent, all of these people understand the consequence of this order. There are still more than 10,000 civilians in the base, include to that the soldiers, there are at least a total of 12,000 men. The transports will not be enough to evacuate all of these people, even half would already be considered fortunate.


    "Ok men listen up, I know we are all tired, but I need every man to give their best for one more day! Tomorrow when thest transportes, we will prioritize all women and children first, the rest of us will follow on foot together."


    "This order might be for the best, we have been encountering more and more of those red monsters."


    The colonel then gives a sign to the young man who is standing next to the CIA''s deputy director. The man then quickly hands over a small pouch to each of the men in the group.


    The young man said to the group,


    "Remind the soldiers to only consume a maximum of 16 stones, more than that it''s useless."


    This junior analyst seems to know much of the situation, everyone in the room finds him very interesting.


    The colonel continues,


    "You boys already know what this is. This crystal stone will increase our chances to survive, share this to all your troops. God bless us all tomorrow, and God Bless America."


    "HOOORRAA!!"


    Apparently, the intel they have received is inurate. By the break of dawn, massive hordes of zombies have already surrounded the districts.


    Tratatatatatatat!!! Tratatatatatatta


    KABOOM!! KABOOM!!


    Gunfires and explosive are raining towards the waves of undead, but it seemed like for every one zombie that dies three more woulde as a recement.


    "Where are the transports?"


    "They are unable to push through their usual passage, there are too many zombies, they must reroute, ETA one hour."


    "!!!"


    "Those red monsters are everywhere! Get everyone to regroup near the White House, we will make our stand there!"


    Tratatatatatatatat Tratatatatatatat


    "Colonel! They are here!!"


    "Roy, handle the evacuation, do it fast!"


    These are convoys of tanks and trucks, at most, only 5,500 people could fill up all the space, the rest would have to walk.


    The officer in charge of the transport approaches the CIA deputy director.


    "Sir, our order is to retrieve the army, you are our priority!"


    "No, the army will follow behind, get more civilians inside!"


    Roy orders his junior analyst to go along with the survivor''s group.


    "With all due respect sir, I will stay here, give my spot to someone else."


    "Are you sure?"


    "Yes, sir!"


    A momentter, another group transport convoys have arrived, but this one is a much smaller group.


    Two dozen men walked out of the convoy fully armed, many recognized them from their uniforms. It''s the delta force. They are the most elite of the special forces unit. Only tasked with the most special missions, they approached the man in charge.


    "We are here on a highly confidential mission, I hope that you can help us."


    "Yes, Lieutenant what do you need?"


    "We are looking for someone. A CIA analyst named Kenny."


    "..."


    Roy, the CIA deputy director, was startled because the name they mentioned is his staff next to him.


    "I am Kenny."


    "You are Kenny? The one who was assigned with the task to follow up on the investigation on the Doomsday video in Singaporest month?"


    "Yes, that''s me."


    "That''s great! Our mission is to retrieve you out of the city."


    "Me? why me?"


    "We only know the higher up is looking for you."


    "Can''t we just move out together along with the rest of the men?"


    "No! Our order is clear. You muste with us now!"


    Kenny looks at his boss Roy, not sure what to say...


    "Go! It is an order. We''ll be just right behind you."


    Kenny was hesitant, but he still followed what his boss said.


    "Ok... Let''s go."


    Kenny went inside a vehicle and they drove really fast, followed by the transports. A few minutester,


    BAAAAMMM!!


    The vehicles drove through an object in the middle of the street, they seemed to be in a hurry.


    "Aren''t you guys driving a bit too fast?"


    The Delta force personnel gives him no response, one of them reaches out to the radio,


    "The package is secured. We are out of the red zone."


    "..."


    "Wait, what do you mean red zone?!"


    The lieutenant stared at Kenny and said, "Let us hope they manage to get out in time."


    The vehicles have passed by the hill, the federal district, the White House and the monument can still be seen in the distance, but suddenly


    A sound like a roaring thunder can be heard screaming on the horizon, follow with it a second of silence... Kenny unconsciously followed the source of the sound and stared at it nkly. It''s the White House... A bright white light covers all of its vicinity and then follows another thunderous sound...


    KAAAAABBBBBBOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!


    Kenny stares at the distance and cannot believe what has just transpired... As an intelligence officer, he knew what kind of bomb was used. "Fat man" It''s an atomic bomb with the equivalence of a 23-kilotons of TNT.


    ck dust were now raining all over the remains of what was known as the Washington districts... Along with the 5,000 men left in the area.


    All the men he fought with together for thest 30 days... All gone...


    "The Olympus has fallen."

 Chapter 114 - The Fortitude

    DDay +37 North Carolina USA


    The Appchian Mountains run for 1,500 miles along the east coast of the United States from Northern bama to Maine. The highest point of the Appchians is 6,684 feet at Mount Mitchell in North Carolina. The Appchians are part of a temperate forest biome and are mostly covered with a variety of trees including pine trees, spruce, birch, and maple trees.


    Inside Mount Mitchell, one of the biggest and the most advanced United States secret bunkers was hidden. "The Fortitude". The bunker began its construction after the September 11 disaster in 2001. A privately owned mining operation was enlisted by the U.S. Military to begin sting out caverns within the mountain itself. A series of main chambers were cleared out, creating acres of underground space in which a series of buildings were created, supported on springs to shield them from earthquakes and reinforced against the surrounding rock. Other support chambers such as water reservoirs and supply storages were also created, making the site fully self-sufficient for an extremely long period of time.


    Other than having dozens of huge chambers that could refuge tens of thousands of people, "The Fortitude" is also an "HEMP-protected" bunker and missile silomand center.. This bunker is the best ideal ce to survive the zombie apocalypse.


    In one of the chamber rooms, a long wooden table and screens are being set up in front of dozens of men. The people in this room are what''s left of the United States government. The one sitting at the head of the table facing the screen is a beautiful middle age blonde woman who just only one month ago held the secretary of state position. But right now, this woman is the new president of the United States, Elizabeth McCord.


    Thest few weeks have been a nightmare for everyone, as themander in chief, Elizabeth must stay strong and decisively make hard decisions for the survival of the country.


    "Give me thetest overall update of the situation."


    A man backed by a team of analysts has a presentation prepared.


    "Yesterday, we manage to established contact with Fort Carson in Colorado, they have managed to secure the Cheyenne Mountain Military Base, and have started to move survivors inside the bunker."


    "That is good news, how many states and military bases have been secured so far?"


    "Currently only 95 military bases."


    Elizabeth seems frowned hearing this number. The United States has by far the strongest military in the world, and to support the nation''s armed forces, America has established military bases in every state. The Department of Defense oversees more than 420 military instations in the 50 states. Currently, within one month they have managed to secure a quarter of them, all thanks to the government''s quick response and the help of advanced radarmunication in all of these bases.


    "What of the news from Fort Bragg?"


    "The army battalion from Fort Bragg is in progress to secure Charlotte City, it is estimated that it will take another two days to secure the city and clear all the paths from Fort Bragg to this bunker."


    Elizabeth has never been worried about the Army Division in Fort Bragg, it is thergest United States military instation, even after the doomsday there are still more than 10.000 soldiers ready for battle. She is sure that Charlotte City is in good hands. Thinking about it made her remember about yesterday''s incident in Washington DC.


    "The meeting is adjourned, send in General Max."


    A few minutester, the secret service, the president''s personal guards brought in a man in his 50''s with a steel cuff on his hand. This man brings an aura of a seasoned fighter, most people would be afraid by just a simple gaze from this man, but not Elizabeth.


    "I already gave you one night to reflect on your mistake, general, do you now regret what you did yesterday?"


    "..."


    The general just kept his silence and seemed uninterested with the conversation.


    "General Max, you are the most respected general in the army, please work with me."


    The general gave a slight stare.


    "I did what I did and I will not regret it, I will do it again facing the same situation."


    "General Max, your action, has killed about 5000 American citizens, many of them are American soldiers."


    "I know exactly what I did, those 5000 men should be d. With their sacrifice, we managed to kill at least a million, maybe two millions of those zombies. It''s a 1: 500 situation. If we wait anytime longer those millions of zombies will only spread and move to different cities, more people will suffer."


    "That''s your assumption General, we don''t know that, but what I know for a fact is that 5000 human beings died yesterday. In a world like this, one more survivor is important for the future of humanity."


    The general suddenlyughed in amusement.


    "HahahahaI what future? The world has changedˇ­ Those things are abominations, I will do whatever it takes to kill as many of the undead."


    Elizabeth seemed unable to meet eye to eye with the old general, it''s a shame. She decided to strip him of his rank and let the secret services take him into custody.


    Staring at the back of the old general while he walked out of the room, Elizabeth felt this was not the end of it.


    Elizabeth then sent her secret service to bring in another person, a few minutester Kenny the CIA analyst went inside the room.


    Kenny was still in shocked, a few hour drives and one good night''s sleep in a secure base will not be able to cease his anger, but currently, the woman in front of him was not only the president but also his idol. Elizabeth McCord, before bing the secretary of State, she spent fifteen years as a CIA analyst and afterward a few years as a professor of political science at the University. She''s a legend in the CIA, the boss of his old boss.


    The President sat in front of him, staring at him with her beautiful eyes.


    "I am sorry about what happened, it was my mistake. I have known Roy longer than you, he is like a brother to me, so somehow I understand your loss."


    The president''s one sentence made him unable to argue anymore...


    "As you might have guessed, you are here because of the reports you made on the doomsday video, without your reports, we would have not known about the spirit stones, the EMP effects or the infected human who turn into monsters. With this information, we could quickly prepare the vehicles and also start collecting and giving spirit stones to our soldiers. but I really believed there''s a bigger story behind this, at first we sent a team to seek Professor John, went to the office at Harvard University and to his home and only to find his body, it seems he was infected."


    "The professor died? That''s too bad, then what you need is..."


    "We need to find the guy named Alex."


    "..."


    "We have reason to believe that he''s currently building a base in Bali, Indonesia. I want you to go there and do whatever it takes to bring him here to America."


    "With all due respect madam president, I might not even survive traveling to the next city, and you are sending me to Bali? Indonesia? That''s halfway around the world!!"


    There were a few seconds of silence, Elizabeth also thought this mission was quite unreasonable, but then she said:


    "Do you know when this bunker was built?"


    "Yes, Ma''am, right after nine eleven."


    "Do you know why it''s named The Fortitude?"


    "No... Ma''am."


    "Fortitude also means endurance, resilience, fearlessness, the courage in pain or adversity. When the first airne hit the twin towers we were not prepared, we endured lots of pain. We built a bunker like this so we would have better preparations, but again, this bunker is not enough, your report said about things that wille in less than two months, we need to be prepared, I believe there are a lot of things that this guy named Alex kept from us, I believe you think the same"


    .


    .


    The next day the president sent Kenny away with three fully armed delta force soldiers who already reached maximum strength of the mortal realm. Kenny''s mission was to drive all the way to the San Diego Naval base in California. In there, USS Midway Aircraft Carrier will be ready to send his team all the way across the Pacific to Bali.


    Just an hour after sending off Kenny, suddenly, a loud sound could be heard inside the bunker


    KAAABBBOOOMMM!!!


    TEEEEETTTT!!! TEEEETTTTT!!!


    Loud rms echoed in the hall of the bunker, Elizabeth get off from her chair and asked his staff


    "What happened?"


    "Madam president, General Max escaped, dozens of men helped him out."


    "..."

 Chapter 115 - The Lion City

    DDay + 40 Singapore


    Singapore, the Lion City, is a small-but-prosperous ind nation, is both a city and a country located just off the southern tip of Peninsr Mysia in Southeast Asia. With a poption of 5.6 million people, packed into a 722.5-kilometer square total area it is only one-tenth the size of Bali. Singapore is a highly developed country in Southeast Asia with one of the world''s strongest economies, it is known for its epic poption density and its reputation for cleanliness, the role model of a futuristic city.


    40 days after doomsday, Orchard Road, which was the country''s most crowded street, now looked like a ghost town. Only a few undead could be seen roaming the streets of the once lively street.


    On one corner of the streets, a group of armed fighters can be seen moving silently across, there are about 50 men. Most of them are carrying melee weapons such as; sabers, spears, axes, metal bats and many more. The man in front, who appears to be the leader, is anxiously waiting.


    Suddenly, another group of 50 people arrives.. Unlike the first group, the second group is wearing dark blue uniforms, bulletproof vests and firearms. They are the Singapore police force.


    The leader of the first group, a big guy holding a huge butcher knife, wees the police force cheerfully,


    "You guys are finally here!"


    Two uniformed men approach him,


    "Are you Corporal Tan of the 1008 militia unit?"


    "Yes, sir!!"


    "Ok good corporal, I am Lieutenant Choi and this is Colonel Ronny."


    When corporal Tan heard that the other person is of the colonel rank, he was startled and quickly ordered his men to give a formal salute to the Colonel.


    "At ease men, that is no longer necessary. We are allrades today."


    "Are you joining today''s raid, Colonel?"


    "Yes, I am. Our new mission objective today is quite unique. There is an important item that we need to retrieve inside one of the building from the area we are sweeping today."


    "May I know what is the item''s description, sir?"


    "That is ssified, corporal."


    "I apologize, sir. Sorry, it has been a while since my formal training."


    "It is ok, corporal. Just follow Lieutenant Choi''s instructions, and you will be fine. I believe that is something you can handle."


    "Sir, yes sir!"


    "Good! Follow us and we will clear out the buildings from here up to Scotts Road."


    "Yes, sir!"


    Simr to the other countries, Singapore''s poption also suffered an 80% casualty rate. When the first 24 hours began, more than four million people got infected by the gue. But even with the worldwide EMP and the mass infection, the government was able to quickly quarantine the infected and dispose of them when they turned undead.


    The higher up decisions were determined and decisive, even if most of the people, especially the families of the infected, were against it. The infected people died and turned into monsters within 24 hours, this gruesome transformation had been seen by their families and rtives. Although the Singaporean citizens were devastated, they once again put their trust in their government. Some even praised the government''s timely response.


    When the dead had started rising, more than two million zombies were eradicated immediately. There were also people who hid their deceased family members from the government and protected them. But there were also some that were not handled properly and were now roaming the streets.


    To this date, there are more than 600,000 survivors in Singapore. That is more than 10% of the remaining survivors in one ce. If there is apetition, Singapore would probably win first ce as the city with the best survivor rate on the doomsday era award.


    The government''s decisive response is one of the reasons for its sess. The other reason is the country''spulsory national service policy.


    It is a policy first instituted in 1967, that requires all male Singaporeans age 18 and up to serve two years period ofpulsory military service. Upon finishing this service, these men be an operational-ready reservist for Singapore''s army in times of war or disaster such as now.


    On the third day, the country had experienced a crisis due to the attacks of the undead, the reserved army was activated to help Singapore''s army and police force.


    Thebined force exceeded 200,000 people, that''s more than 1/3 of the surviving people of Singapore. The government''sbined units were then divided and dispatched to Singapore''s 28 city districts. The dispatched surviving citizens were in charge of cleaning up their own district with the support of the police force. The army, on the other hand, were being sent to defend the borders and the beaches. With this brilliant strategy, the surviving citizens teamed up together in clearing out the undead on their own neighborhood. By the third week, zombies were rarely found on the streets again. The city was gradually recovering its former glory.


    As time passed by, small specialized units had been formed. Each unit had a number between 20 to 50 men. They were divided into three categories, army units, police units, and militia units each had their own chain ofmand.


    The group led by Corporal Tan is the eight militia unit who lives in District 10, hence the number on their unit registration of 1008. The second group is the police unit led by Lieutenant Choi.


    The two units have a total of 100 men, they are clearing out zombies inside the buildings on the way to orchard street. Most of the buildings are shopping malls and hotels. They are going through room by room and are making sure that all of the remaining zombies are dead.


    After a few hours of clearing out zombies, they have finally reached their area of objective.


    It is the ION Shopping Center, one of the famous Singaporean malls.


    "Corporal, we are going to scout and clear out the hotel, your assignment is clearing out the shopping center."


    "Sir, yes sir!"


    The group separated into two and went to their respective destinations inside the mall. When the outbreak happened, some people decided to hide in the mall for protection and its supplies. There should be hundreds of zombies inside, but surprisingly there were only dozens that can be seen.


    "Mr. Tan, I have a bad feeling about this."


    "Don''t worry, it''s possible that another unit had already passed by and cleared out this building."


    "If that is the case, then where are the bodies?"


    "I agree that it is odd, but what choice do we have? Do you want to say to the colonel that we didn''t finish clearing out the mall because we were scared?"


    "..."


    "The first level of the mall seems to be clear, let''s go to the basement. The subway station should be down here. I remember that the station on the other side was blocked, so I guess there should be some action down there."


    "Ok, sir. Let''s go."


    - - - - - - - -


    On the reception of the hotel on top of the mall, the police unit has finished its clearing operation and has already retrieved the mission item. It''s a small cube-shaped safe made of steel, although it''s small, it weighs at least 30 kilograms.


    Almost all of the people in this police unit had already taken a few spirit stones, most of them were in between of the mid-stage to high stage mortal realm. But even for a high stage mortal realm, the safe still feels heavy.


    "Can''t we just open the safe sir?"


    "No lieutenant, the order is to retrieve the safe in its current condition."


    "I understand, sir."


    "Let''s go down and rendezvous with the militia."


    Lieutenant Choi took out his radio.


    "Corporal Tan, this is Lieutenant Choi,e in, over..."


    "Corporal Tan,e in, over..."


    "KRRRRRRRRˇ­"


    "KRRRRRRR... HEEELLLPP ... KRRR"


    Hearing the response, the police unit hurries over to where they are. When they are closer to the shopping mall, they can hear loud noises and screams from the direction of the basement. The police unit quickly runs towards the basement entrance to the subway station. But before they can jump inside, a dozen men run out of from the basement''s entrance.


    "HELLLLPPP!!! AARRGGHH!!!"


    Colonel Ronny can see the waves of zombies behind this dozen men. Hundreds of them are killing all of the ones left behind and chasing the ones that are running. What shocked them the most are the majority of these undead are the mutated red zombies. A few dozen more are probably on their way. The scene that is unfolding in front of them can only be called a massacre. The militiamen are being chased, grabbed, pinned down, and being gobbled up one by one. Some are trying to help their fellowrade, but only to result in meeting the same demise.


    "HEEELLLPPP!!! HELPP MEE!!! URGHHH!!


    Colonel Ronny quickly orders the 50 armed policemen to create a defensive line facing the entrance.


    "Shoot them down!!"


    "Sir, what about the militia units?"


    "Can''t you see there''s nothing we can do for them! Hurry up before those monsters start closing in. FIRE NOW!!!"


    Tratatatatatatta Tratatatatatat


    Bullets are being fired from the M16 assault rifles, raining down onto the masses, humans and zombies alike are both getting pierced by the bullets. A man with a big frame tries to rush out from the chaos, only to be weed by the hot steel bullets. That big man is Corporal Tan, half a dozen bullets pierced his big body. He falls to his knees and looks at his men, all of them lying down, dead on the ground. The man slowly loses his consciousness. He gathers all the strength left in him to burn the image of the police officers who are supposed to help and protect its citizens. He looked with such a deep grudge and disappointment. But there''s nothing he can do...


    At the final moments of his life, a red mutated zombie walks closer and opens its mouth for a big bite on his neck...


    CCRRAUUCHHH!!!


    Head rolls...

 Chapter 116 - Firebirds

    Tratatatatata Tratatattata


    The police unit, under themand of Lieutenant Choi and Colonel Ronny, are still firing at the iing hordes.


    "Reload! Fire!!"


    Tratatattatat Tratatattata


    More and more undead emerges from the subway entrance. It seems that these hordes of zombie have been locked inside since the beginning. There are thousands of them, and at least dozens of those red mutated ones.


    "There''s too many of them! We won''t be able to hold them off!"


    "Let''s retreat back! Ask for backup!!"


    Tratatatatatat Tratattatata


    The police unit retreated defensively towards outside of the mall to the Orchard street. There were a few of them who did not move quickly and got left behind inside the shopping center. .


    Once the unit was outside of the mall, the open street and fresh air brought back their depleted fighting spirit. The remaining men started to form another defensive line and the ones who had ran out of ammo pulled out theirbat knives and steel baton. As they were preparing, the undead started to move out of the mall and slowly filled the street.


    "What a mess! Is there anyone who responded?"


    "Two units have responded to the call! One is just around the corner, and the other one ETA in 5 minutes."


    Hearing the news, Colonel Ronny calcted their chances of survival. Especially his chance of survival. He actually considered leaving this unit and run to save himself, but he might suffer a big consequence if he did that, thus, he might as well wait for a few more minutes he thought.


    The police maintained their formation and slowly moved backwards as they emptied out theirst bullets, they needed to hold out until reinforcementse.


    Just before they were about to engage in melee, the first reinforcement arrived. A militia unitposed of 50 men, only a few of them were equipped with firearms.


    "We are militia unit 1014."


    "Thank you foring. We appreciate the quick response."


    "Don''t worry sir. It''s our duty."


    The militia unit didn''t think much of the situation and courageously jumped to attack from one side of the street.


    SLASH!! SWISH!! STAB!! BANG!! BANG!!


    It had been 40 days since the doomsday started. Most of the militia units have had their share of fighting the undead without firearms. Thus, the militia unit had more confidence with their closebat skills than the police units.


    The situation turned into an all-out fight...


    The survivors, in general, were much stronger than the zombies. There were even some people who could fight against a red zombie in a one on one battle. But in this situation, it seemed that for every one zombie they killed, two more emerge from the mall.


    "How many more are there!"


    A few of the red zombies have managed to push the line. One of them attempted to jump straight Colonel Ronny''s position.


    The colonel calmly took out his handgun and poured out three bullets right at the iing zombie.


    BANG BANG BANG!


    Three shots were ced directly into the head of the red zombie.


    The colonel is an intelligent man, he is not a coward nor weak. He is always good at reading the situation. But he has a w, he is a selfish man.


    The colonel calcted their situation including the iing reinforcement. He concluded that with their current condition, all units would not be able to hold against the zombies longer than 10 minutes. There were already a few casualties and when the casualty reached a certain number, the defensive formation will break.


    SLASH!! SWISH!! STAB!! BANG!! BANG!!


    "It has been 5 minutes! Where are the other reinforcement?"


    "They got held up sir. They are not sure when they will be able to reach here."


    "!!!"


    The situation upfront was just getting more chaotic. More red zombies came out breaking through the shopping mall windows. The situation made the two units felt despair. They were less than 100 but fighting a few thousand zombies. The defensive line could break any moment.


    "We are outnumbered and out of bullets sir."


    Seeing the situation, Colonel Ronny finally decided to leave the battle. He slowly moved back, behind the defensive line, and turned around. But when he was about to run, Lieutenant Choi called him.


    "SIR!!!"


    "!!!.. What?! What is it?"


    "Sir, we are saved! The Firebirds is here!!"


    "Firebirds? They are here?"


    Hearing the name Firebirds, Colonel Ronny feels conflicted. The Firebirds is the nickname of a certain militia unit that''s been famous recently. They are the strongest militia unit in district 10. Not only this unit is strong, there are only 30 members and their members are all female.


    The Firebirds were separated into three groups; the spear unit, sword unit, and firearms unit.


    Their entrance started with a barrage of bullets from the firearms unit. This group was led by a fierce middle age woman with a scar on her left cheek.


    Tratatatatatatatattata


    The second group was led by a beautiful woman with a very long hair. She held a crescent de spear. Each swing from the long de cut the zombies bodies in half.


    SWWISSHH SWWISSHH


    A group of girls using spears were following the beautiful woman. They created a spearwall and pierced holes into the zombie''s heads.


    Thest group came in charging to the middle. This group was led by a woman taller and bigger than most men. This red-haired woman should be a northerner, her arms and muscles were bulging with strength. She held tworge steel rods. With each of her heavy strikes, the zombie''s heads were smashed to paste. This group of closebat melee fighters used a mix closebat weapon.


    All thirty female were fierce and their teamwork seemed really solid.


    A few red zombies were able to pass through the spearwall and charged at the firearms unit. The woman with the scar took out herbat knife, but before she was able to do anything, a beautiful short-haired woman with big eyes rushed in front of her. She held a Chinese short sword and with just a few swings, multiple red zombies were beheaded easily.


    SPLATT!!


    Clearly, most of these women had already reached high stage mortal realm and some have already reached the peak stage. The three leaders were even stronger than a peak stage expert fighter; the firearm scarface woman, the long-haired woman with crescent de spear and the northerner woman with steel rods.


    But none of them are stronger than the true leader of the firebirds unit. The beautiful short-haired woman. She is the reason the group was named the way it is.


    She equipped another Chinese sword on her other hand. She then raised both swords, closed her eyes and suddenly, both swords turned red and then mes burst out to envelope the metal in a matter of seconds. The woman is apparently a fire spirit enhancer who is able to manipte fire. She rushed forward with her two ming swords and performed sword techniques that looked like a dance. A dance of fire that looked both frightening and beautiful. Hence the nickname of Firebirds.


    The ming fire sword cuts through the zombies like a hot knife through butter.


    SWISH!! SWISH!! SWISH


    The 30 females unit led by these peak stage spirit enhancers were able to dominate the battlefield.


    A few minutester,


    "They are here! The reinforcement from the military is here!"


    Lieutenant Choi finally lets out a sigh of relief, a cheerful smile can be seen on his face. It is because the cavalry hase. Behind the 50 fully armed men is an armored vehicle with a machine gun installed on top of it.


    Tratatatatattaatatat tratatatataatatat


    With the help of the additional reinforcements, the zombies were finally pushed back.


    The melee units got their breathing room because of the military. The short-haired woman''s me dance ended near Colonel Ronny''s position. When they noticed each other, they were both startled. The colonel and the firebirds leader seemed to be unable to say a word to one another. Looking at the strange behavior Lieutenant Choi took the initiative.


    "On behalf of the police force, we really appreciate the help, are you the leader of the Firebirds?"


    Colonel Ronny suddenly cuts in,


    "Lieutenant Choi, let me introduce you to her. This is Christina the leader of the famous Firebirds team and also my lovely ex-wife."


    Hearing the mock of her ex-husband, Christina frowned and decided to leave without a word and returned to help her units.


    The Firebirds members are provided by her family, while the three spirit enhancerse from the list of names given by Alex.


    Thest 40 days have been hard for her, but she was able to push through. Due to that, Alex''s heartwarming special friend, who almost died from the ninja''s attack, is now lead one of the strongest units in Singapore.


    Just when the situation about to clear up, the group suddenly heard a scary and loud sound behind the hordes of zombies.


    "RRRRRRR.....GGGRRROOAARRRR!!!!"


    A huge pitch-ck figure slowly emerges from the shopping mall''s entrance. A 5-meter tall humanoid monster with huge sharps w, crocodiles like teeth and a long snake-like tongue...


    SSSRRRRR...


    With the emergence of such a monster, a shivering chill went down in Christina''s spine.


    All of the people on the battlefield felt a heavy pressure as if they were being pushed down by the monster''s presence.


    The fighters were paralyzed and didn''t know how to react, but the huge abomination did not wait for them and jumped to the armored vehicle. The abomination''s huge hands smashed the car into smithereens along with the soldiers inside. It then lifts up the vehicle and threw it into the group of fighters a dozen meters away.


    Within that short few seconds, more than 10 people have died.


    "RRRRRRR.....GGGRRROOAARRRR!!!!"

 Chapter 117 - Christina

    RRRRRR... GROAARRR


    The ck monster was a second stage mutated zombie, just like the one Alex fought at Randall''s office, but this was the first one ever seen in Singapore, none of the fighters here knew about it.


    SPLAT!! SMASH!


    The pitch ck abomination grabbed the nearest fighter, chomped on his head and spit him out like candy.


    The monster''s every step would crush human fighters, it''s every smash would cost a life, it''s every move brought despair to the men.


    Tratatatatatatat Tratatatattata


    None of the assault rifle bullets worked, sniper rifles or machine gun .50 cal would hurt it, but the machine guns that were installed on the vehicles were the first things the monster destroyed, it was as if the monster knew about it. None of the melee fighters were able to stop it..


    Unconsciously a hundred men slowly moved back little by little from the battle. With the men getting pushed back, the zombies became more aggressive. More red and normal zombies wereing out and pushed through the line.


    "What the fuxx is that thing?! How are we going to fight that?"


    The ck zombie kept attacking and no one seemed to be able to stop it. One of the military unit men took out a box. Inside there was a rocketuncher. He quickly loaded one of the rockets.


    "AIMMM and FIRE!"


    SHHHUUUHH


    The rocket flew right at the ck monster. But the monster could see it and was able to swiftly dodge it.


    KABOOOOOM.!!


    The rocket blew up right inside the ION shopping mall. ss shattering, fire burning. There was now a big fiery hole at one side of the famous shopping center.


    A figure moved really fast closing into the ck zombie. It''s Corrie the firebird long-haired girl with her crescent de, she''s a wind type spirit enhancer. Naturally, she''s the fastest fighter in the field. She saw an opening and she took it. She advanced with her fastest speed and took a full low sweep to the monster''s feet trying to lose its bnce.


    SWISHHH!!! Paa!!


    The de staggered like hitting a rock.


    Watching the scene Christina worriedly shouted:


    "Corrie! Watch out!!"


    The ck zombie counter-attacked using both of its hands trying to grab Corrie, the monster''s speed was not any slower than her, she was barely able to dodge, she turned around and took another swing. This time with full power to the monster neck


    SWISHHH!! Paa!!


    Same result. No use, but this time the monster''s arm was able to grab her waist.


    "!!!"


    "AAAHHHH"


    Corrie threw up blood, the ck monster tried to squeeze her dead, but while it focused its attention to the speedy spirit enhancer, the monster didn''t realize another figure already standing next to it.


    It''s Maxine, the tall girl who is an earth spirit enhancer she gathered all her power into the two huge steel rods and smashes them both into the monster''s arm.


    CRACKKK!!!


    The heavy blow broke its target, the monster shouted in pain as it released its prey. The monster''s right arm looked disjointed.


    "It worked!!"


    A big smile came from Maxine''s face when she was about to hit the monster the second time, she suddenly felt something was wrong. She hesitated for a second.


    The monster''s scream suddenly stopped, one of the monster''s arms turned into a huge de and it surprisingly cut its own disjointed arm...


    "!!!''


    Next, just within a few seconds, a new arm started to regenerate.


    Seeing the scene, Maxine was frozen to the ground. The ck zombie swung down its de arm shing at her... SLASSSHH!!


    The hit would have killed her instantly, luckily Corrie swiftly snatched her away. The huge monster was mad and decided to give them a chase... Corrie knew if she ran to the fighters, more people would die. She could only run and dodge in a circle.


    Christina couldn''t let both of her newfoundrades die, so she decided to move in and help. But the two swords on her arm were already burned to a crisp and became unusable. This was the after-effect of her ability.


    Since she reached peak stage Mortal Realm, she was able to burn objects with her hand. She has the ability to cause matter to burst into mes. Her special power increased the kics of atoms and molecules causing an item to ignite. Every time she uses her power, she would eventually destroy her weapon.


    Christina quickly walked to the colonel.


    "Give me your knife!!"


    She didn''t wait for his answer and quickly grabbed the half meter hugebat knife. Just before she turned, suddenly the colonel grabbed her arm.


    "Don''t be stupid, you can''t win against that,e with me!! We should leave now!!"


    Christina only stared at her ex-husband with disgust, she released herself from his grab, apparently, she''s physically stronger than him. This startled the colonel.


    Christina didn''t want to waste her time talking to him. Her friends were in danger. She turned around and reach out onto Jenny, the scar-faced woman holding an assault rifle.


    Jenny is a weapon expert, after talking to Christina, she quickly took off approaching the man with the Rocketuncher, grabbed it and moved to the rescue.


    She''s closing in while pouring in the assault rifle bullets right into the monster''s face.


    Taratatatatatat Tratatatatataat


    It somehow managed to distract the monster from chasing its prey, it turned around and looked at the scarfaced women aiming at it with the rocketuncher.


    AIMMM FIREE!!!


    Looking at the scene, Colonel Ronny could only feel disappointed by how useless that action is. The Rocketuncher doesn''t fly fast enough, not only would the monster dodge it, but it could also endanger the other fighter.


    When the rocketunched, everyone held their breath...


    SSSHHHHHUUSSS!!


    And just as expected the monster dodged it easily... but


    After shooting the Rocket, Jenny quickly dropped theuncher and raised both her hand. Blood could be seen dripping from her nose. Suddenly, the flying rocket changed its course.


    It turned around in curve and directly hit the monster''s back.


    KABBBOOOOMMMM!!!!


    All the spectators cheered seeing the big st. Jenny''s special power was what the science knew as telekinesis, the ability to move or maneuver an object with the mind. It seems Jenny was one of the rare psychic spirit enhancers. She forced herself to move the heavy rocket, the act took all her energy away. Although it seems that it will be the only psychic move she could do today, the result was worth it. The hundred plus men were cheering at the unbelievable sight.


    But in one corner, Christina kept charging thebat knife with her special ability. She refused to believe that the hit would kill that monster... And just as she tought.. The people''s cheering faded together with the clearing of the smoke.


    The huge monster dropped on its knees crouching on the ground. A huge st wound could be seen on its back, there was a huge chunk of the monster''s back missing... But the monster still slowly moved.


    The scary part was that the people could see the st wound was slowly regenerating, the ck colored liquid seemed to be moving around its back and slowly covered it up to cure the wound.


    Christina knew that this time it''s her turn.


    Christina rushed out with the burning redbat knife. She quickly hopped and jumped on top of the monster''s shoulder, just behind its head.


    She held the huge knife tight with both of her arms, she screamed with the top of her lungs, the knife''s me was fiercely burning. Using the full power of a peak mortal realm strength, she quickly pierced the knife straight at the monster''s brain.


    PAAAKKK!!!


    It went in inside the head.


    GRRROOAAARRR


    To everyone''s shock.. apparently, the stab to the brain didn''t kill it... it seemed to only hurt it...


    Christina refused to give up and still tightly held the knife. Currently, the whole 30 centimeters of the knife de already went inside the monster''s head. Christina closed her eyes and focused all her power into the knife... The me burned wildly inside the monster''s head.


    The monster struggled on the floor... It also didn''t want to give up easily. The monster de arm moved to aim directly at the human behind its back...


    SWWIISSHHHH!!


    CLANK!!!


    Corrie and Maxine both jumped in using their weapons to deflect the strike. It resulted in the two women thrown five meters to the back.


    Christina, while closing her eyes, realized herrades were still fighting and the only way she could end it is with thisst move.


    She gave everything she had and the me turned stronger. mes wereing out of the monster''s ears, eyes, and mouth.


    AAAAAAARRR;!!


    SSSPLLLAAATTT!!!


    The monster''s head exploded...


    All the spectators were speechless seeing the scene. A woman standing on top of the headless ck monster...


    .


    .


    The spectator gasped in amazement.


    Not long after, one started cheering a name followed by another.


    Christina... Christina... Christina...


    Christina opened her eyes staring at the blue sky when suddenly her sight turned blurry


    She lost it.


    Christina passed out, fell and was quickly caught by herrade.


    That day the legend of Christina of the Firebird has been engraved in the mind of the soldiers andter to all of the Singaporean.

 Chapter 118 - Family First

    Singapore was one of the crowdest cities in the world. But when the doomsday started there was not many people on the street, therefore there wasn''t as much chaos as in the other cities.


    On the first day of Doomsday, Christina listened to Alex''s advice and chose to stay home with her two children, Kelly her 9 years old daughter, and Kaleb her 6 years old son. They holed up in a big mansion full of guards and maids, but Christina felt insecure waiting for the awful day.


    Around noon, the storm came and the electricity went down, her worries became worse, it seemed that what Alex had said turned to be the truth. For the next few hours, her mind was fixed on the state of her two children. Then the infection came, more than half of her guards, maids were infected with the disease.


    It included her daughter Kelly...


    When her daughter''s eye turned red, her heart lost a beat.. It seemed half of her world crumbled down.


    She tried getting help from her personal physician and the family doctor, but none of them were avable.


    Deep down inside, looking at how the disease also affected many other people, she realized that there was no hope, but a mother would never give up on her own children, not while she was still breathing.


    On her desperation, she contacted her ex-husband Ronny. But even the father of her daughter was unable to help.


    That day she found out a more horrible truth about her ex-husband, although she knew he was a liar and a cheater, she never realized how heartless her ex-husband was. On that chaotic day, he did not even care about what happened to his own daughter, but only cared about his mistress.


    When the night came, Christina held her daughter tightly seemingly never wanting to let go... She asked for help, none came, she hoped for a miracle, nothing. She could only stare helplessly as Kelly slowly loses her consciousness.


    "Mommy."


    "Mommy, I am scared mommy..."


    "Mommy..."


    - - - - - - - - - - - -


    DDay +42


    Christina woke up from her nightmare. This memory haunted her every time she closes her eyes. With cold sweat all over her body, she tried to stand up from arge bed that felt familiar. She looked at her surroundings and she realized that she just woke up in her own bedroom.


    An old woman hurriedly walks inside the room, trying to help her stand.


    "Please don''t move too much young miss."


    Christina looked at the old woman and tried to smile.


    "I have told you so many time auntie, don''t call me young miss again. I am no longer a young girl."


    The old woman was Christina''s personal maid, she had been taking care of her ever since Christina was born.


    "To me, you will always be my young miss. Please don''t move too much. The physician will be here soon."


    "Auntie, where is my son Kaleb?"


    Not long after, another old woman came in with a young boy who suddenly ran and gave Christina a hug.


    "Mommy... You''re awake. I was worried"


    "Don''t worry dear, mommy''s fine."


    This boy named Kaleb is the only remaining joy in her life and also her only reason to live in this crazy world.


    After giving her son a warm hug, Christina looked at the other woman who was looking at her coldly. This graceful woman in herte 50s is Christina''s mother, Elena Young the head of the Young family. Ever since the death of her husband, she took herte husband''s ce and is now leading the family.


    "How long have I been sleeping, mother?"


    "Two days."


    "I see, what of my friends? Are they ok?"


    "You mean your guards? They are all fine, you did well this time. Prime Minister Lee is looking for you."


    "..."


    "I can see that you are healthy enough to stand, you should head there quickly."


    "Mother... but... I ..."


    Christina had been gone a few days because militia duty, she would like to spend at least a few hours with her son.


    "Your uncle is waiting for you as well. It''s best you not keep them waiting."


    "Ok. Mother..."


    Christina has a strict childhood, especially with such a wealthy family background there''s not much she can do. At times such as this, she misses her carefree time in Australia. Suddenly, Alex''s imagees into her mind.


    "Christina remember it''s very important to support your uncle... Think of the family first."


    "Yes, mother."


    Later on that day, Christina traveled to the Istana, Singapore''s presidential pce. As it seemed to be official business, she brought her 3 trusted firebirds leaders, but to her surprise, none of them were allowed to enter the inner chamber.


    Christina entered alone, inside the room there was a big oval table. There are 10 sets of chairs but only 7 were filled. The one seating on the head is Prime Minister Lee Semo. The three men to his right are the top 3 surviving Singapore generals and on the left are the 3 ministers, one of them is her uncle, Sidao Young.


    As Christina was part of the militia unit, she walked forward and gave the prime minister a soldier''s salute and eximed,


    "Christina Young, paying respect to the prime minister."


    The prime minister was impressed by Christina''s beauty.


    "Is this your niece, minister Sidao?"


    "Yes, she is."


    "Not only she''s a beauty, but she is now also a national hero."


    The prime minister was happy with what he was seeing and continued,


    "Tell me, Miss Young, what do you want as a reward?"


    Christina didn''t wait long and responded,


    "Thank you for your kind words, prime minister. But I only did my duty for the country, and expect no reward."


    "Good. Good. You even have a great personality..."


    The prime minister looked at Minister Sidao and said,


    "The Young family sure is blessed to have such talent!"


    "Miss Young, there is no way you will walk out of this room without a reward. From today onwards, you will be assigned as a unitmander, you will have a total of 5 units under yourmand."


    Christina nced at her uncle and saw him nodding, she then answered,


    "Thank you, prime minister."


    "Don''t thank me yet. Actually, I have a very important mission for you."


    Suddenly, Christina felt anxious,


    "Miss. no... Commander Christina, I need you to bring your units to establish contact with China''s maind. The government will provide you with a working ship to take your units to Hongkong and you will rendezvous with their team there. I need you to gather information and report back your findings."


    Christina was startled. This was a very dangerous and difficult mission, she wondered why the prime minister is giving the mission to a militia unit and not the army. But before she could say anything,


    "The maind just received information about the ck zombie you faced the other day. It seems that they are really interested to meet the person who managed to kill it. Don''t worry the units assigned to you will be all military, I will also send high ranking military officers to apany you, but you will be in charge of them."


    Christina doesn''t want to be separated from her son, but she understands the importance of this mission, but she is still somewhat confused. She suddenly thought of something,


    "With all due respect prime minister, if you would like to know more information about the ck zombies or anything else, the one we need to see is not in China, but someone down south, in Indonesia there is a man called Alex."


    "Alex? Is that?"


    "Alex is the man who gave information about the doomsday at the festival a few weeks ago. Because of his information, we were able to quickly nullify the zombie threat on the first day."


    One of the prime minister''s generals have the information about Alex, and Christina added,


    "Yes sir, what he said during the festival appeared to be the truth, also, I know him pretty well, I believe we can get better information from him."


    The prime minister gave a little thought, but he seemed decided already,


    "No, we have promised to send you to the maind. You will go there immediately."


    Christina lost her words. She was just stunned.. Not sure what to do next, her uncle suddenly interjected as he knew the reason of her hesitation,


    "Don''t worry about your son. I promise I will take good care of him."


    Because of what her uncle said, Christina had no other way or reason to refuse. She could only ept the mission. After Christina left, everyone in the room also left except for Prime Minister Lee Semo and Minister Sidao Young.


    "So, Sidao, how is the preparation for the re-electioning?"


    "Don''t worry prime minister, it''s all going smoothly. Within a few weeks, I assure you that you will definitely be the next President of Singapore, you will do a better job than thest one."


    "Hahaha, good work! When I be president, I promise that you will be the next prime minister."


    Knock!! Knock!!


    "Prime minister, I have a surprise for you."


    "Oooh, what is it?"


    "Come in."


    A man walked inside the room wearing a military uniform. The person had a rank of colonel and appeared to be carrying a huge cube-shaped safe.


    "Prime minister, let me introduce you to Colonel Ronny. He was also involved in the fight with the ck zombie. In fact, he is Christina ex-husband."


    "Really? hahaha.. ex-husband? Why did you let that amazing woman go?"


    Ronny frowned upon hearing the response and introduction. He hated to be known as someone husband''s and be treated as a shadow. He liked to shine as himself. But before he was about to answer the prime minister, Minister Sidao went back to their main topic,


    "This colonel has brought something that might interest you.."


    "I wonder what it is?"


    Sidao Young gave colonel Ronny a nod. He then ced the huge safe on the table in front of the prime minister. Looking at the safe the prime minister was suddenly startled,


    "Is this?... Is this really what I think it is?"


    The prime minister reached out and entered a code into the safe,


    Tit Tit Tit Tit Tit Tit nk!


    The safe was opened by the prime minister''s key code,


    "Hahahahhah! Sidao you are an interesting man! I only mentioned it once and yet, you were actually able to bring it to me... Hahahahaah! Good! Good!"


    The prime minister opened the chest and took out a few small boxes. He quickly opened one of the boxes. There''s abel in front of it ''King of Denmark'' it''s one of the rarest and most expensive cigars in the world. The prime minister lighted up one of them and quickly inhaled it.


    "Huufffff.....Haaaa... This is great."


    The prime minister offered the cigar to Minister Sidao and the minister took it. He then looked at Colonel Ronny he seemed to be hesitating but decided to offer one to the colonel as well, the colonel could read the situation and rejected the offer.


    "Your loss then.. hahaha."


    "You seem like a smart man, Colonel. I will reward you handsomely. If you prove yourself to be smart enough, I might consider you to fill out one of these empty chairs."


    When Ronny saw the content of the safe, he was not even a little bit surprised, even if it cost him the life of dozens of men in his team for a mere cigarˇ­ Instead, he suddenly burned in ambition, he seemed to be just a few more steps into bing one of the country''s top executives. It seemed that there''s something good that coulde out from a doomsday after all. Seeing the situation, Minister Sidao smiled really wide.


    - - - - - - - - - -


    The next day, Christina gave Kaleb a very warm hug. She left her son to the trusted old maid and her mother. She then met up with her new units, she now have 5 units totalling 250 men, and is still led by Maxine, Corrie, and Jennie. Coincidentally, the military officer assigned to her is Lieutenant Choi. The group then went aboard an old corvette ship named RSS victory.


    While the ship was slowly departing Singapore''s port, Christina looked back with a heavy heart and said,


    "I shall return..."

 Chapter 119 - Central Java

    D-Day +50 Semarang, Central Java


    The city of Semarang, the capital city of central Java, located at the North coast of Java Ind, about halfway between Surabaya City in the east and Jakarta city in the west.


    The city of Semarang probably cannot bepared with the two megacities, Jakarta as the capital city if counted with the surrounding urban areas has more than 40 million people, Surabaya on the east has more than 20 million, while Semarang has around 6 million people.


    Between these three cities, Semarang seems nothing special, but in this Doomsday Era, the city of Semarang will be the key to survival for the people of Java Ind. Of the 5 Doomsday pirs that will drop in Indonesia, the only one dropped in Java ind will be located 10 kilometers south of Semarang City.


    Therefore this city has been an important goal for Alex. The 200 kilometers journey from Surabaya City took Alex and his group around a week, since then Alex has spent thest two weeks trying to liberate the City of Semarang from the undead infestation. The n is to make the city into the next home for the people of Java.


    Cleaning up 5 million zombies is no easy task, currently, Alex and the team have been setting up a defensive base in Semarang''s biggest universityplex, Diponegoro University.


    The 200-hectare square universityplex is located only one kilometer away from the outskirts of Semarang city.. It has dozens of multiple story buildings, a 4 tower apartment, a sports stadium, and even its own hospital inside theplex.


    Currently, there are already about 60.000 plus people taking refuge in thisplex.


    These are the survivors of Semarang city, its surroundings, and the refugees gathered by Alex and the team along the journey from Surabaya. There are also the refugees brought by Colonel Rano, the Second Division Unit from Jakarta, sent by General Rico.


    Semarang City Base


    University of Diponegoro


    Area: 204 hectares


    Civilians: 64.672


    Defense force:


    Jakarta 2nd Division: 2.867


    Madurese fighters: 5.213


    Colonel Rano and his 2nd Division have arrived in this city a few days before Alex''s group, even with the two Tank ''Badak'' units, they still had a hard time defending themselves from the hordes. The arrival of Alex''s team has been a heaven-sent for them.


    General Rico has briefed the colonel about Alex, therefore the Colonel has been very cooperative. Thest two weeks, the joined forces of 8000 men have killed half of the surrounding zombies.


    Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!


    Around the Universityplex, groups of fighters seem to be fighting using spears, stabbing the iing zombies. These are the Madurese fighters.


    "Watch out there''s a few of the red ones among them!"


    Although most of these fighters already reached the mid-stage to high stage Mortal realm, seeing the ferocious red mutated zombie still made them anxious.


    Suddenly a figure ran off from the back


    Tak! Tak! Tak! Tak!


    "Don''t worry boys, Run is here!!"


    Run is the leader of the Madura Fighters, and also their best fighter. He''s also the down-to-earth type that likes to joke with his men, he''s really popr among the people.


    Run jumped into the group of red zombies holding a spear and shield made of mutated crabs. With just a few swings, he managed to easily kill the surrounding zombies. The men behind him cheered for him.


    "Run! Run! Run!"


    A minuteter a dozen zombies, that have been roaming to these side of the gate were down.


    "Ok, this area is secured."


    One of the men approached him and gave him a big thumbs up.


    "You are the best Run, I think you are the strongest Madurese fighter... No, no, I mean the strongest in the country!"


    Hearing thepliment, Run felt really proud but before he could respond, another manughed at thement.


    "Hahaha, I guess you haven''t seen Alex and his group, have you?"


    "Alex? Is he stronger than Run?"


    "Not just Alex, I think everyone in his group is stronger than Run."


    "Really? That''s crazy."


    Hearing them talking about him as if he''s not there irritated him. Sometimes he thinks as their leader, he''s a bit too friendly with them...


    "Ehem... I am standing right here you know."


    "Yes.. of course, you are... We are not blind."


    "#&#!$"#"


    "Excuse me... not all of them are stronger than me... at least I am in the top 10. No the top 5."


    The men were not convinced...


    "If you are that strong why are you here when they went fighting in the city?"


    "Well, they asked me to stay guard the base you know... This is also very important."


    "Yeah... Yeah... Alright. We believe you."


    Run was really irritated with theirments, not really because they were wrong, but because deep down he somehow felt that they are right. Alex has been forming skirmish groups consisting of only the strongest fighters and it has annoyed him that he didn''t get an invite.


    At the same time in one corner of Semarang City, a small group of fighters was being surrounded by thousands of undead. Currently, it seems in every 10 normal zombies there is one mutated red one. Hundreds of mutated zombies circled the group of 50 men preparing to jump on the prey.


    None in this group of fighters holding firearms. All were holding melee weapons; spears, swords, axes, and hammers. Even though they were surrounded 100 to 1 it seems none of these men were nervous.


    ROARRR!! ROARRR!!


    All the undead went in trying to grab a bite of flesh from the humans in front of them... They are hungry for some fresh meat... but what was waiting in front of them was sharp cold steel.


    SLASH!! STAB!! SWISH!! STAB!!


    The 50 fighters moved with great rhythm. They did not appear to be in formation, but they were able to hold the lines. Each of the men was able to fight multiple undead individually.


    Just within a minute, hundreds of undead got decapitated in pieces, dropped unmoving on the ground.


    This group of 50 men was handpicked by Alex among the survivors who have reached the peak stage Mortal Realm.


    Alex forbade them from using firearms, as in the future, firearms will be ineffective. Among these 50 men, half of them came from the army so the past two weeks have been a great experience for them.


    Alex currently watched them from the top of one of the buildings with the golem standing next to him. Since the fight with the ck zombie, Alex couldn''t be careless.


    James Randall and his men were among this group, Winter, Red, Zee, Flea and a few others have picked a different kind of edged weapon. Winter, even without firearms killed zombies left and right easily. Alex was sure this Winter has to be a spirit enhancer.


    The twins kept getting better and better, with their double sabers. Both were jumping around between zombies, within each stop a zombie''s head would rolls.


    Theo already got the knack of using the pickaxe and Cindy always still seems excited about all the fighting.


    "Yeeesss another one... Double kill with one whip!!.."


    But among all these fighters, currently, Alex focused his attention to the beautifull girl in a ck suit fighting alone separated from the group.


    Aria the ice queen currently trained herself in using small daggers. The weapon was first chosen because of its small size as it won''t be a hinder to her when she holds a sniper rifle. But with time she came to like using it more and more.


    Aria beautifully moved among the hordes, moving in rhythm, she''s flowing along with her fighting techniques.


    SLASH!! SLASH!! SLASH!!


    Unconsciously she''s able to pace her breathing with her skill. Although she moved really fast, her consciousness was totally calm like an ocean. Suddenly something within her body seemed to change...


    "!!!"


    Alex and some of the men noticed that Aria is changing... Aria''s body was covered in mist. The mist thickened and started to reflect light, slowly Aria''s body started to disappear.


    Dozens of zombies found themselves stabbed and shed from out of nowhere, they couldn''t see their attacker. Seeing the situation, a big smile was on Alex''s face.


    "She really is special."


    After 10 minutes, there were only a few dozen zombies left, and Alex quickly gave an order.


    "Retreat!!"


    The group quickly moved back together, running a few hundred meters into a designated location. A minuteter the previous killing field already had already been swarmed with another wave of zombie hordes. In fighting zombie hordes, it''s important to know the right timing to retreat from the battle.


    The group of fifty finally entered a safe zone, some men approached Aria.


    "What the hell was that?"


    "That was awesome!!"


    Aria did realize something changed with her body, but she really had no idea how to exin. Alex moved closer to Aria and said:


    "Don''t worry too much, you will eventually get used to it."


    In his previous life, Alex knew there were a few special spirit enhancer who were able to show their spirit proficiency even before their transformation into the Earth Realm, these people were considered as the talented one.


    Hearing Alex''s exnation, the twins felt jealous.


    "How about us, teach us how... Teach us!"


    "Sorry, for genius only."


    "#@$&#"


    Tit!! Tit!! Tit!!


    Alex radiomunication suddenly made a sound.


    "Yes? OK. That''s great."


    After the short radio, Alex called out the 50 members.


    "Ok boys, time to get back, finally our guest has arrived,"

 Chapter 120 - The Gathering

    Diponegoro University in the district of Semarang City, a once famous university, was turned into a survival base. All of its residential and faculty buildings were renovated to house the survivors. Hundreds ofrge tents also filled the green fields. The 200 hectares districts were reinforced with thick walls and barb wires to slow down the advance of the hordes of zombies and mutated beasts. Few of the entrances were being guarded by hundreds of survivors. Currently, on the huge field in front of the main gates, thousands of men could be seen waiting.


    Alex was standing in front of these thousands of men. Alex''s elite teams, James Randall, as well as Jakarta''s second divisionmander Colonel Rano, and Run and his Madurese fighters were standing next to him.


    Up in the distance, they saw arge group of people heading to the university''s district. There were also thousands of them.


    Each and every survivor of Semarang city could not hide their excitement while waiting. The approachingrge group were the survivors from another city.. Theye from the west, these survivors came from the capital city of Jakarta.


    Soon enough, Alex and James could finally see a familiar figure in front leading the groups.


    "That''s General Rico right?"


    "Yes, that''s him..."


    "Thank God, he survived."


    "Yep."


    The group led by General Rico finally entered the university''s district. There were at least ten thousands of them walking on foot. There were also a few dozens of vehicles and a few of the ''Badak'' tank, but these vehicles were mostly being used to carry the supplies. Alex could tell that most of these ten thousand men were fighters.


    The general approached closer while looking for a familiar figure, and finally, he saw Alex.


    It had been almost two months from the time theyst met, but because of the chaos, it felt like a year''s worth of time had passed. Many things had happened within thest two months. The colonel had suddenly be themander in chief of the country. The heavy responsibility had burdened him ever since. When he finally saw Alex, the colonel felt like some of his burden had been finally lifted.


    Alex weed the general and shook his hand with a firm grip,


    "You''re finally here, general."


    "Yes, we are finally here."


    "Ooohh sorry, I believe I should call you president now?"


    The general could tell that Alex was teasing him, he responded,


    "Yes, maybe you should."


    "Yes, maybe I should."


    Their grip on each other''s hands suddenly became tighter. Upon seeing this, Jamesughed out loud,


    "Hahaha! Get a room already!"


    Alex let go of his grip with a big smile. He''s in such a good mood. Half of his preparations before doomsday had finally seeded, although Alex knew that the general was a capable man and received some of his advice, Alex could not help himself in being concerned as anything could happen with the chaos the doomsday brought. The general being able to bring the survivors from Jakarta here was already considered a fortunate event for Alex.


    "I can''t help but notice that these men are all fighters, general. Where are the civilians?"


    "This is the advance team, the groups with civilians are at least two to three days behind."


    "That''s great."


    Alex slowly asked an important question.


    "So, how many people survived in Jakarta?"


    "We found more survivors along the way,bine that with the survivors from Jakarta and the ones from West Jakarta, there should be more than 400,000 people."


    "I see."


    These numbers were much more than what Alex had anticipated. He expected only half of that number would survive. But it seemed that either his warning or General Rico''s capabilities really made the difference.


    General Rico added,


    "I have two more divisions going through the cities on the south coast of Java. There should be more survivors once they returned."


    "That''s really great."


    Talking about the divisions that were dispatched to the south coast made General Rico think about his son Adam. They should have arrived already at this city, it had been a month since they separated. But thinking about the three thousand units that went along with his son,


    ''They should reach here soonˇ­''


    The general lost in thought,


    "Ehem... General, you probably have a lot of things to do first and would want to rest after. Your team could settle in the south side of the district as it''s alreadyte. Let''s gather for a strategy meeting tomorrow morning, bring along your leaders."


    "Ok sure."


    The general followed Alex''s suggestion and moved the whole army to settle in the allocated area. The interactions between Alex and the general, including what Alex ordered, made a few of the general''s men confused. Especially Silvia, the beautiful surviving cab member, who is also the granddaughter of the first president of Indonesia.


    That night, like all other nights, Silvia dropped by Rico''s room for a special visit. After they finished their steamy sessions, Silvia expressed her concerns to the general,


    "Darling... Who is this guy named Alex? I think I have never seen him before. What is his background?"


    The general had a long journey, add to that the hours of the special session, he''s not really in the mood to have any conversation. But beautiful girls were always his weakness, even worse naked beautiful girls.


    Silvia continued, "Is he from the army?"


    "Nah.. he isn''t."


    "..."


    "A politician or... maybe military intelligence?... how long have you known him?"


    The general''s a smart man, he understood where this conversation was going,


    "To tell you the truth, I only have known the guy for a few months. I also did a detailed background check on him. He was just a normal businessman and he wasn''t even that sessful."


    "Then why...."


    "Why am I close to him or why did I listen to him, right?


    "Yes..."


    "Silvia, you have seen the strength of people who have eaten the spirit stone right? I know you are smart enough to know thatter on, guns will be obsolete. Military training will also be obsolete. The government can only govern the people because of its military strength. So when the military bes obsolete, who will then govern them?"


    "..."


    "It will be the one with the most power. Don''t you agree..?"


    Silvia slowly nodded,


    "This guy named Alex is currently the most powerful man in this country and he is not alone. He also has powerful people on his side that are supporting him. A simple businessman suddenly turning like this is really weird. But even though I have only known the guy for a few months, I feel like can trust him. That''s even weirder right?."


    The night ended with another steamy session of the couple.


    The next morning, General Rico brought along a couple of people; Colonel Rano, Colonel Andry, a few of the surviving cab members, and of course, Silvia.


    Alex was apanied by James and a few of his elites; Aria, the twins, Cindy and Theo. Run the Madurese leader was also invited to join the meeting. When he received the invite, he couldn''t hide therge smile on his face.


    The group gathered around in arge meeting room with a big table in the middle. On top of the table, there was arge map of Indonesia with little figurines showing the location of the armies, supplies and important establishments.


    Alex started by saying,


    "First, we need to think about where to settle the expected 500,000 people from Jakarta and Semarang. I was initially nning to move the base in one of the little viges close to the pir, but with the time constraint and number of survivors, I think the only way to solve this problem is by eradicating all the zombies from the city of Semarang and take back the city from the undead."


    Everyone was very interested in hearing about the n, but Colonel Andri suddenly cuts in while Alex was exining,


    "Do we have enough men to clean up the city within a week or so?"


    Colonel Rano, who had been fighting in Semarang for thest two weeks with Alex exined,


    "With both of our fightersbined, there should be around 20,000 men. Clearing out the millions of zombies in Semarang city and its vicinity would take 4-5 days the fastest."


    Alex added


    "We just got the messagest night, Soon another group will arrive. Adding their force along with ours, we should be able to finish it faster"


    In thest few weeks, one of Alex''s main objective was to finish installing the high-frequency radar on a few strategic locations around Java ind. Due to this, he was able to pick up long ranged radio messages, this was the reason why Alex was able to anticipate Rico''s arrival.


    "Which group? Who is it?"


    Rico was really interested to know, but before Alex was able to exin, a man suddenly went inside the meeting room and reported to Alex,


    "Ok great, bring them in."


    "They are here already," Alex added,


    Soon after, a dozen strong men wearing ck uniforms went inside the room to make a path for an old man. Aria was standing next to Alex and was startled upon seeing the people who just arrived. She couldn''t help but be shocked because all of these men are Death Squad soldiers, and the old man is the retired Regent Suryo, Aria''s grandfather.


    "!!!"


    The regent was very famous. He was a national hero, the only living 5 star general and was the vice president for a period of time. He was held in high regard, not just among the military, but among all Indonesian citizens. Everyone in the room recognized him.


    The colonels and the surviving cab members especially Silvia, knew very well of the regent''s status and power. They were all speechless.


    Alex approached the regent and gave him a warm handshake.


    "Wee, Regent Suryo."


    "I''m d that everyone''s been gathered, this is good."


    The regent tapped Alex''s shoulder and went to give handshakes to the other people in the room. Finally, the regent faced Aria,


    "You seem well, that''s good."


    Before the doomsday, their rtionship wasplicated, but the chaos and death made her realize and think of the only family she has left, her grandfather.


    "Yes, I am well, Grandfather."


    "That''s good... Very good."


    "From now on you are dismissed from your duty and you will follow me closely." The regent said


    "..."


    The regent didn''t wait for an answer and then continued to make acquaintance with the people in the room. Aria was left with mixed feelings.. She unconsciously stared at Alex not sure what to do.


    .


    .

 Chapter 121 - Age Of Heroes

    DDay +53


    The city center of Semarang is 305 kilometers squares in size. It used to be the home for more than 1.5 million people. It has hundred thousand houses, 10 high rise buildings, which are mostly hotels, and a fewrge famous religious buildings. Java''s oldest church, the great mosque, a pagoda, and the oldest Chinese temple. These architecturalndmarks showed the Indonesian''s unity with people from different religions and race.


    Two days prior, the gathered survivorsunched a mission to eradicate all the undead from the Semarang city and the results were satisfying. Thebined forces of 20,000 survivors led by Alex and Rico including the fighters brought by the regent did a fantastic job in clearing out the area.


    The regent arrived in Semarang city aboard a navy battleship. He only brought with him 300 fighters, but all of them were Death Squad soldiers. These Indonesian elite special forces were recruited only from the best of the best. .


    After the disease spread out, unfortunately there were only around 900 Death Squad soldiers who survived the infection. These elite special forces were the main reason the regent was able to quickly control the central Sumatra from the undead.


    When the regent finally was able to connect the high-frequency radio signal, and get in touch with Alex, he quickly brought 300 of these men to Semarang City.


    The 300 men that was brought by the regent were all surprisingly at the peak stage Mortal Realm. They were veteran fighters with peak strength and each of them was not weaker than Alex''s elite units. These 300 Death Squad soldiers were strong enough to bepared against 10,000 regr fighters.


    In thest three days, the survivors had infiltrated Semarang city from all sides, they went through every house, buildings, malls and the ten high rise towers. Now, all teams have reached the city center, they predicted that by the end of the day, the City of Semarang would already be sanitized.


    Alex separated himself with the units. He was going around all over the city to check the situation of the army together with his stone golem. He''s trying to minimize the battle casualty. He was mainly looking out for cases of those Stage two ck zombies that would be found within the city center.


    Alex suddenly stopped in one of the famousndmarks. This building had a huge red wall and gates. Inside the gates, theres a big 10 meters tall bronze statue of man in front a huge red pce. It''s the oldest Chinese temple called the Sam Po Kong. Alex stopped in this particr building when he saw a familiar figure standing by himself in one corner of the pce.


    When Alex approached, a dozen men suddenly moved in on him, but when the men recognized Alex, they slowly moved back to their posts to continue guarding the perimeter of the temple. Alex finally reached the man, it was the regent.


    The 60 years old man, had a certain charm despite his age, but there''s also an aura of strength in him that would give pressure tomon men. Fortunately, years of experience made Alex one of the exceptions.


    Alex could tell that the regent had already consumed spirit stones and at the peak stage Mortal Realm. Alex believed that the old man in front of him would gradually be the same heroic figure from Alex''s previous life. The West Regent, protector of the west.


    "I hope I am not disturbing you, regent."


    "Not at all Mr. Alex."


    Alex tried to figure out why the regent was standing in this ce. The regent saw the stone golem standing next to Alex with interest..


    "What do you call this thing?"


    "Its a stone golem Regent, its a medium level artifact"


    "I see... interesting"


    The regent turn around and went staring back at the huge stone wall with engravings. The stone wall is a 5 meter high and 50-meter wide stone sculpture. It tell a continuous story of a certain famous person.


    "Alex, do you know whose story was written in here?"


    "Yes, but I know only a little bit, regent. As I recall, this wall tells the story of a great admiral of the seas, Zheng He."


    "Yes you are right..."


    Zheng He was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during China''s early Ming dynasty. He was originally born as Ma He in a Muslim family. During the 14th century, he led an expedition across Africa and South East Asia, into Java and to this Semarang city.


    ording to medieval Chinese sources, Zheng Hemanded seven expeditions consisted of 27,800 men and a fleet of 62 treasure ships supported by approximately 190 smaller ships. He''s voyages have been described as the great fleet of gigantic ships, farrger than any other wooden ships in history.


    He created such an impression with the locals that prompted them to build one of the most majestic buildings within the center of the town as a memory and honor to the admiral.


    The regent then start reading the writings on the engraving,


    "We have traversed more than 100,000 li of immense water spaces and have beheld in the ocean huge waves like mountains rising in the sky, and we have set eyes on barbarian regions far away hidden in a blue transparency of light vapors, while our sails, loftily unfurled like clouds day and night, continued their course as rapidly as a star, traversing those savage waves as if we were treading a public thoroughfare..."


    The regent continued,


    "The 14th century, 600 years ago, the age of Heroes..."


    The regent was lost in thought for a while. He then continued,


    "I believe it wasn''t because the Admiral title, nor his armada that defined him as the hero of his time. But rather, it is because of his courage to go blindly into the new frontier facing the unknown. In some ways, it is somewhat rted to our situation right now, is it not?"


    "Yes regent, I agree."


    The regent turned around to face Alex while smiling,


    "I feel fortunate that despite my age, I still have a chance to be part of the new age of heroes."


    A few hundred meters away from where Alex and the regent were standing, the streets of Semarang city were filled with people battling against the undead. The gunfire sounded like thunder, the roaring of the mutated zombies and the shing of melee weapons could be heard.


    The three days battle started from three corners of the city of Semarang, they employed this strategy to ensure theplete annihtion of the undead in the vicinity. The 10,000 fighters from Semarang and the Madurese led by James Randall and Alex''s elites took the east side, General Rico with his 10,000 fighters from Jakarta took the west side, while the regent''s 300 Death Squad soldiers took the south side.


    After three days of thoroughly going in each street and buildings, the three groups were also finally nearing the center of the city. As they were getting closer to the center, there were asional encounters with each other. However, it seemed that the more they went closer to the center, the more mutated red zombies they fought. Due to that, the third day was harder than the previous two days.


    Alex''s elite group of 50 was the first to reach the center of the city. The city''s center had a roundabout interchange going to the six main streets of Semarang. It was surrounded byrge buildings such as hotels, schools, and shopping malls.


    The groups needed to advance until they reached the city center''s roundabout interchange. The noise from the fight on the streets roused the undead from the surrounding buildings. There were now thousands and thousands of the zombies flowing into the street like a tsunami.


    Theo was standing in the middle of all of the fighters, but even then, he still felt anxious. Sometimes, he felt unlucky to receive his psychic abilities. Because ever since Alex found out of his special skill is, Alex forced him to train harder and even put him in this suicide team, "I am a priest for Christ''s sake!" He can''t help butment to the group.


    "As I said earlier, I think we rushed in too far and too fast."


    The beautiful short hair blonde girl with sses next to him gave him a weird look.


    "Oooo!! Please shut up with all the whining and just stand behind me!, I will protect you!."


    Theo stopped trying to understand this girl named Cindy a long time ago. This girl is normally calm and smart, but she would suddenly turn into a..... whatever she is when she sees an enemy.


    Alex actually assigned Winter the ex Navy seals in charge of the elite team whenever he''s not around, but James Randall always liked to ymander.


    "Yes, this is actually a bit too much, but don''t worry reinforcement from the south ising."

 Chapter 122 - Clear Up

    Today the sky over Semarang City is clear. The sun shines brightly, it''s probably one of the hottest days of the year. Within the streets of Central Java''s capital city, fighters are seen fighting with everything they have. Finally, it seems this will be the Semarang City''s final battle. Alex''s 50 elite fighters are currently surrounded by seas of the undead.


    Fortunately, the reinforcements have arrived from the south. A group of ck-uniformed fighters is advancing. These Death Squad soldiers were both scary and pleasant to see. Not only each one of them is a skillful fighter, but they also move in perfect formation. This is the strength that none of the other groups can follow. Each of these Death Squad soldiers has had been training hard together since they were young, they trust each other like their own brothers.


    Cindy grew more excited seeing the iing 300 men. In her mind, she started to wonder if they wore no clothes and put on a red cape, they would look exactly like the soldiers from one of her favorite Hollywood movies..


    Among these 300 men, there are 3 that actually stand out, Alex has seen and recognized all three of them. They are 3 out of the regent''s famous 5 little generals. One using the huge hammer is called Anton, a hulking muscles guy whoter on got the title The Destroyer, another next to him has an exact opposite build, he is a smaller than regr-sized male holding double swords named Rafid.


    The third one among the regent''s little generals is the special one, he wasn''t there when Alex came to the Deathsquad military base in Sumatra. The 40 years old man named Arief has been Deathsquad''s highest rank for years and currently thest living out of the Deathsquad three colonels. He is the regent''s closest confidant. In previous lives, this guy holding arge de was known as a spirit enhancer nicknamed the Silver Warrior.


    "Courage!! Truth!! Victory!!"


    "Charge!!!"


    When the 300-men Deathsquad and itsmander joined the fray, the situation finally started to turn in favor of the human survivors. With every step of these 300 fighters, hundreds of undead died. They were definitely proven as Indonesia''s greatest military force. These people are not the same group as they were before the doomsday.


    There''s actually one main reason why these 300 men had been training harder than usual in thest few weeks. Two months ago, a guy arrived in their base and put these nation''s greatest army to shame. One guy fought more than 200 Death Squad soldiers and was able to defeat them all. To add more salt into their wounds, this one guy even took away their beloved Ice Queen away.


    This time in front of the Ice Queen, within this battle on the street of Semarang, they would like to show off their newfound strength.


    Bang!! sh!! Pa! Pa! Baam!!


    Every swing of Anton''s hammer would crush open a few undead heads at the same time. Every minute, dozens of heads were seen flying decapitated by Rafid''s twin swords.


    But it seems that in thest three days none of what they did would interest Aria the Ice Queen, although they found her ignorance to be normal, the people that were recently close to her like Cindy, Theo and Alex realized something different with her these past few days.


    ROOARRR!!


    On one side of the battle a red zombie charges at Aria from behind with high speed.


    "ARIA!! WATCH OUT!!"


    SPLASH!!


    The red zombie stopped just half a meter behind her, and it would have bitten her back if Cindy didn''t quickly grab the undead using her whip.


    Aria was lost in thought for a second there and quickly turned around and stabbed the red mutated zombie with her knives.


    "Thank you, Cindy... I owe you one.."


    "Not one girl!! This is the second one today. What got into you!... Concentrate on the battle."


    "Yes, yes... Don''t worry, I am fine."


    Actually, Aria has been in a lot of thought, the word of her grandfather the regent three days ago still clouding her mind till this day.


    (The battle of Semarang will finish today, does that mean we will be leaving tomorrow?")


    (Why does that guy not say anything to me?)


    (Doesn''t he need me anymore?)


    These questions have been filling her mind in thest three days. While still killing zombies left and right with her skill, she unconsciously moved a bit too far from the group into the front of a hotel lobby. Suddenly...


    RRRROOOAAAARRRR!!!!


    A loud shrieking scream, so loud it broke the windows of the hotel lobby and was followed up by arge pitch-ck figure jumping into Aria. This is the second stage, mutated zombie.


    "!!!"


    Aria used every little strength in her body to jump back a few meters, but herte reaction cost her a deep scratch on her back.


    AAaargghhh!!!


    Aria got thrown back a few meters from the impact and stumbledying on the ground.


    The huge 5-meter tall monster chases her and closes in real fast, within seconds it''s already just a meter away from her.


    "!!!"


    Aria is in a very bad position, she''s unable to move. She sees the huge abomination throwing a kick onto her, a direct impact from such force would probably kill her.


    ''It''s the end.'', she thought... At thest second, suddenly a sh of an imagees to her mind, it''s an image of a man that had been on her mind these past few days.


    People say when deathes knocking on the door, most of the time an image of the most important person in the heart would show in mind.


    ''... Dying like this?.... How stupidˇ­''


    BAAAMMMM!!!


    A figure jumps in and crashes on the flying kick. Aria was stunned with thest second rescue, it was the famous rock golem that managed to push the huge abomination away from her.


    Looking at the golem, suddenly her heart flutters, in her mind, he came to the rescue again... A figure came closer to her and started helping her stand, Aria''s heart was racing faster than usual, she turned around to see the man behind her saying...


    "Are you alright?"


    When Aria finally saw the man, suddenly she was startled, the man who''s currently helping her is not the one she expected. It''s Rafid, one of the Deathsquadmanders. She felt embarrassed inside but quickly hid it.


    "I am fine, thank you..."


    Another figure holding a huge hammer came to Aria in panic.


    "Are you alright miss?... No sorry, are you alright lieutenant?"


    The two Deathsquadmanders have idolized Aria for a long time, they have been closely watching out for her when Aria was in danger, she was their priority. But when they reached Aria, it seems Aria didn''t really care to talk with them and appears to search for something.


    The golem is currently fighting with the ck undead, but the owner is not around... Unconsciously Aria starts searching for Alex, a few secondster there in the distance she saw Alex on top one of the three-story building standings watching the fights with her grandfather.


    (Why are you up there...?)


    (Don''t you see I got hit just now?)


    (Ouchh... it''s pretty painful...)


    (Don''t worry Aria, you are fine, you are fine...)


    Up in the distance about 200 meters away from where Alex and the Regent standing...


    "Wow!! Luckily the stone golem came right in time, it moves amazingly fast."


    Alex was currently deep in thought...


    "Fortunately I prepare for the worst, as expected there is one of these things at the city center."


    "What is that thing?"


    Alex tried to exin as much as he could about the strength of the ck zombies, its super strength, its regenerative ability and its ability to turn a part of its body into a solid sharp weapon. But the more Alex talked about the horrors of the stage two undead, the more the regent liked the golem who was able to hold the monster even more. The regent is a military man, he will always be interested in a powerful weapon.


    "Where can I get one of those golems?"


    "You will find some of themter on from the doomsday pirs, regent."


    " I see... I see"


    "By the way, it appears your granddaughter is fine, regent."


    "Yes, of course she''s fineˇ­ Strength runs in the family you see."


    Aria''s wounds were currently being treated by one of the fighters, as she crouched on the ground, she tried to focus her mind back at the battle and saw the amazing fights between the golem and the abomination. Last time in Surabaya City, she was outside and didn''t get the chance to see the ck undead, it''s her first time studying the monster strength.


    It appears the golem is stronger than its opponent, it hits harder and has a stronger body. Aria starts seeing dark purplish blooding out of the ck zombie. But unfortunately, the golem doesn''t really have a strong attack or a weapon that could really kill the monster, therefore the fight seemed to be going nowhere.


    BAMM!! BRACK!! BAMM!!


    They kept hitting each other, but both were still able to stand back firmly. The golem jumped up, raised both of his hands to the air and came crashing down with such a powerful hit with both of his hands.


    BAAAMMM!!!!


    The stage two ck zombie was down to its knees to the ground, it seemed to scream out loudly, none of the spectators would know if it''s out of anger or pain.


    Suddenly, a figure came quickly closing in on the ck monster. It''s one of the Deathsquad soldiers, the spirit enhancer. He raised his huge two-meter long sharp des to the air and the huge de suddenly turnedrger in form and suddenly seemed shinier than before.


    The quiet man named Arief came charging at the golem with both arms on his de.


    AARRGGGGHHH!!!!!


    He jumped and with all his strength swung it down right on top of the undead''s head.


    SSWWISSHHH!!! SPLAT!!


    The de went in 20 centimeters deep into the monster''s head, it''s able to make the abomination stop attacking, but it seems it''s still twitching its arms although half of its head''s already split by the mysterious de. Arief quickly used the monster''s shoulders to pull the de and perform another swing at the exact same spot.


    SPPLLAAATTTT!!


    Finally, the head was split in two. The brain was spilling out of its head, and the huge monster finally stopped moving and dropped to the ground.


    Seeing this everyone around cheered for the man. A few of Alex''s group turned in wonder, especially James Randall''s team of special forces, they have seen first hand how hard the second stage zombie''s body is. But this man is able to split it apart with that strange de.


    Other than the 300 death squad soldier, Alex also knew the secret behind the de. This guy named Arief is a spirit enhancer who''s able to control metal. When he reached peak stage Mortal Realm, he realize he got the power to strengthen a metal.


    When Alex saw his strength, Alex grew more excited, in his mind there''s finally another special spirit enhancer who''s able to show their spiritual affinity while still in the Mortal Realm.


    Minutes after the death of the stage two zombie, finally the city center was neutralized from the zombies. Next, the survivors could start rebuilding the city. As for Aria, when the battle was over, surprisingly she seemed to find her determination and decided to meet with her grandfather.

 Chapter 123 - Rebuild

    A day after the final battle in Semarang City, the city''s streets were already flooded with new crowds. The undead have been reced by survivors from West Java. They arrived just right about the same time when the City of Semarang was neutralized by the zombie threat.


    After the death of the ck zombie, there was no longer a thing that could really trouble thebined forces of Regent Suryo''s Deathsquad soldiers, General Rico''s army and Alex''s fighters.


    Currently, General Rico was very busy organizing the 400.000 plus survivors from the west to settle in the city of Semarang.


    He spent the whole day only to allocate the settlements for the survivors. The streets were currently still filled with corpses and rubble. Thousands of vehicles were abandoned in the streets, some crashed into houses. Almost all of the houses have broken windows, doors and walls. The initial survey concluded that about one-third of the residential houses were either in need of heavy treatment or were destroyed beyond repair. But currently 400..000 survivors were filling a city that could house millions, so the current houses were more than enough for the survivors to live in.


    Organizing hundreds of thousands of people is not an easy task. Even with the help of hundreds of staff and thousands of volunteers, it still took hours to finish the job. While the local survivors of Semarang City wanted to im their old residencies, the wealthy from West Java would like to have their own area. The Javanese, Sundanese, and Madurese ethnics also liked to have their own corner.


    After allocating the ces of living, all survivors started working together to clear the city from corpses, rubbles, and unused junk. They mostly started in their allocated areas. All usable essentials like nkets, clothing, food, medicine, even bathroom essentials, would be put in the streets to be collected by the soldiers. All this stuff would be piled together and will be evenly distributedter.


    The General strictly ordered punishment for those who withheld such supplies. This order was created to ensure equal distribution between all survivors. Some will not get too little or too much.


    Later on that day, everyone start able to see how the city has gradually return to its former glory.


    In the general''s heart,


    "We will start rebuild the nation.. it will start from here"


    One of the general staff finally handed him the survivors data.


    Semarang City


    City Area: 392 kilometer squares


    Civilians: 482.726


    Defense force:


    Jakarta Main Army : 8.122


    Jakarta 1st Division: 3.215


    Jakarta 2nd Division: 2.785


    Madurese fighters: 5.213


    Alex Elite Team: 50


    Regents Death squad: 300


    Surprisingly, the three days battle fighting against millions of zombie took only less than 50 casualty, there were hundreds of light and heavily wounded fighters, but since human consume spirit stones, their body regeneration also improve. With proper treatments, these fighters would be back fighting in a few days time.


    Now that the city has been sanitized, the fighters now established 10 post all around the city to guard the city perimeters and start clearing up the undead outside the city and around the vicinity.


    When the General finally distributed today''s final task to his staff, Alex came to visit him.


    "You''re a hard worker, aren''t you?"


    While still writing down notes on files given by his staff, the General responded calmly:


    "These people currently look up to me Alex, they are my responsibility now."


    Alex took a look at the reports and seen the survivors number, there are more than 500.000 survivors currently living in the city, Alex believe there isn''t many other city around the world would have this many survivors in one ce.


    Seeing the General really put a lot of thought on the task made Alex really d. Suddenly Alex realized a beautiful woman standing next to the General staring at him.


    "This is..."


    The General suddenly realized the situation,


    "Ohh yes, I didn''t properly introduce you both, this is Silvia, you probably saw her on TV or news before, she was in the government cabs, now she''s one of my trusted advisors."


    Alex, in his previous life, knew the General for many years, he knew about the General''s hobby and just smiled at the General''s introduction of Silvia.


    "Hello. I am Alex."


    "Hi, I am Silvia."


    "Mr. Alex, Rico told me so much about you, you are a man of mystery."


    "Wow... Is that apliment?"


    "That depends."


    "Depends on..?"


    "Depend on your intentions... will you help rebuild the country, or do you have a hidden agenda?"


    Before Alex was about to answer, there was amotion heard from the survivors not for from where they were standing. Alex quickly rushed to check it out, followed by Rico and Silvia.


    The group arrived in front one of a 4 story za located in the mainmercial area of the city.


    Alex heard the people discussed about what happened innthe street.


    "What''s going on?"


    "Survivors!!! We found survivors!! Still surviving eight weeks after the doomsday!! Thank God!"


    "I heard these dozen people learned about the disaster days before the doomsday, they decided to hold up inside with lots of supplies and locked themselves in a secured floor."


    "They prepared before? I actually heard about it before from the news, if only I listened, my wife might still be alive..."


    Hearing about it gave a smile to Alex''s face, he could never measure how much impact his doomsday message would give the people. But at least these dozen people, men, women, and children were still alive because of his message.


    These people have been unable toe out at all thest few weeks, as there were just too many zombies around. Last month they haven''t heard of any living survivors at all and they have lost hope these past few weeks. Seeing the fightersing, they were so cheerful. Alex came and approached the dozen people, they were actually a few different families staying together.


    Seeing Alex''s reaction on the survivors, General Rico determined that this person is someone he could depend on. Silvia just stood by watching the scene with many things on her mind.


    It''s been a very tiring day, but the General, surrounded by his staff, didn''tck energy, especially seeing the gradual changes within the survivors.


    Smiles andughter used to be a rare sights, now it has start to be seen on the survivors face. The General finally understood what''s been missing for thest few weeks since the doomsday.


    It''s... hope.


    When the night came, just like any other night, Silvia was already waiting for him in his bedroom. The General took off his clothes and went to take a shower. The cold shower is a great refreh for the task he did today, there was a great satisfacion within his heart. Inside the shower box with rainy water dripping, a soft hand suddenly touching his shoulder from behind. The beautiful cab member joined him and start to kiss him. After another steamy session, the Generalid back in bed, with the woman at his side hugging him tightly.


    "Rico... "


    "Yes..?"


    "I... how well do you know the Regent?"


    "Not well, but I really respect the man..."


    "Then... how close is Alex with the Regent?"


    "Pretty close I think... You can tell how close they are, but I can''t tell what''s really inside of each of them.."


    General liked thepany of a woman as beautiful as her. Buttely, she''s been giving him a lot of headaches


    "What''s on your mind again this time?"


    "General, you are the officially elected leader of the country... You must be careful with these two men..."


    "Hahahaha don''t worry, I am not a pushover. I will act in my beliefs for the best of the people."


    The general shuts his eyes, thinkin about his men, the survivors and the new city of Semarang... he then give a tought about what Silvia just said


    (am I a better leader to lead these people?)

 Chapter 124 - Request

    The next morning, in front of one of the most majestic mansions in the city of Semarang, a beautiful girl is anxiously waiting. This girl is a fearless soldier from one of the most elite units in the country. She''s not afraid to go a thousand miles inside of a foreign country just to infiltrate behind enemy lines. She has been in dozens of dangerous missions, but currently, this same girl is stuck, paralyzed, and unable to walk a step closer in front of the mansion''s door. This door is the entrance to a residence belonging to the most powerful man in the country, Regent Suryo. And the anxious girl is Aria the Ice Queen.


    Aria seemed to have found her determination two days ago, but ever since yesterday she began hesitating and was unable to take the steps to knock on the main door. Today was her second attempt.


    Her heart felt truly heavy. Not sure what to do.


    (You can do it Aria....)


    (Ok, I am ready...)


    (...wait...wait)


    (Maybe I should prepare a note...)


    (No... that''s stupid...)


    (Ok, maybe not today... tomorrow... definitely tomorrow...)


    Her mind was full of these thoughts, resulting in her not realizing that a man was approaching her from behind.


    "Aria! What are you doing there?"


    "!!!"


    Aria was startled, she turned around and saw a familiar middle-aged man facing her. It''s Colonel Arief, Regent Suryo''s one and only trusted aide.


    "Sorry Colonel Arief, I forgot something... I will take my leave."


    "Aria, wait! Actually, I was actually searching for you."


    "..."


    "The regent wants to see you. Let''s go inside."


    Aria was unable to reject the order, she gathered her courage and went inside. Walking inside the mansion, they passed by the living room and arrived in the garden at the back. Regent Suryo was there standing next to a pond.


    "I''m d that you are here, Aria."


    "Yes, grandfather."


    "I think tomorrow will be thest meeting. The day after, we will head back to Sumatra."


    "!!!"


    "Make your preparations."


    "..." Aria did not move, she felt that if she didn''t say it now, she would surely regret itter.


    "Why are you still standing there? Do you have anything to say?"


    "Grandfather... you... What about your promise... our promise to help Alex?"


    The regent took his eyes out of the pond and faced her in interest. "We did help Alex, we sent soldiers, ships, equipment. And you also have been helping him for a few months now... I think it''s enough..."


    "..."


    "Do you have another reason to stay with him longer?"


    Aria quickly tried to find other excuses. "... Don''t you need someone you trust to stay close to him?"


    The regent slowly moved closer, approaching her. "There are already many Deathsquad soldiers following him. It''s enough... no need for you to apany him. Instead, you will stay close to me."


    "..."


    The regent found her hesitation interesting, he continued. "At first I could not believe what he said about the doomsday, but when it really did happen, I saw many people die. The first person on my mind was you... You are the only family I have. When I got in contact with him, I immediately came here to see you... You see, your grandfather doesn''t have many years left, let''s not argue and stay together for as long as we can... What do you think?"


    Suddenly Aria realized how selfish she was, the man in front of her was not only her grandfather, he was also her caretaker, trainer and her superior. She really felt embarrassed with her decision before. "I understand, grandfather."


    "Good girl."


    Aria turned around and walked slowly back to the living room and to the front door. It seemed that with every step she took, the further she walked away, her steps felt much heavier, same with her heart.


    (I guess this is it then...)


    When Aria left the house, Colonel Arief came and approached Regent Suryo.


    "It seems that Miss Aria has special feelings for that man named Alex."


    The regent wasn''t startled at all, he noticed Aria''s excuses and kept his calm. "I think you are right. Another reason to quickly separate them and take her with us..."


    "Is it because he''s a married man?"


    "No. It''s because she doesn''t know what''s best for her. Alex is like a wild card, I am unable to analyze him. If my granddaughter really chose him, I don''t really care if he''s married or not... My granddaughter can have whoever she wants."


    Knock!! Knock!!


    There was someone knocking on the mansion front door.


    "Did she came back?"


    Colonel Arief walked to the front, opened the door and saw the man that he was just talking about with the regent.


    "Hi... I would like to see the regent please."


    "Yes Mr. Alex, please wait here. I will inform the regent first."


    "Ok sure."


    While Alex was waiting, a few meters from him within the trees, Aria was watching him from afar anxiously. Aria saw Alex after she went out of the mansion. Knowing he was heading towards the regent''s mansion, she decided to follow him quietly.


    (He really came here...)


    (What does he want?)


    (Could it be?)


    Colonel Arief returned to the door and allowed Alex to go inside the mansion. Aria''s heart was racing, she must know what Alex was trying to discuss with her grandfather.


    Thump... Thump... Thump...


    Suddenly, a mist covered Aria''s body. She turned invisible and went inside the mansion as well.


    This time, the regent was waiting in the mansion''s living room to talk with Alex. This guy named Alex; although a mystery, the regent always found him interesting. "What can I do for you Mr. Alex?"


    "Thank you for having me. I came here because I''ve heard that you have decided to leave the city and return to Sumatra very soon."


    "Yes that''s true, but if you came here to talk about strategy, we can discuss it tomorrow during the meeting."


    "I did note here to talk about strategy, regent. Today, I came for something a little bit personal... I came to talk about Aria."


    "!!!"


    The misty figure listening from another room suddenly lost a heartbeat for a second, it seemed that Alex really came to talk about her. She also almost lost her control over her newfound ability and tried hard to maintain it. The regent himself was also a bit startled with Alex''s remarks.


    "I came here to persuade you to let her stay with me..."


    "Hahahaha. Mr. Alex, if you are talking about our deal, I think I already fulfilled my promise. All of the Deathsquad that was assigned to you will stay and will help you, but I am sorry. I really can''t let my granddaughter stay with you."


    "I understand regent, but I really need her to stay with me."


    "!!!"


    Aria, on the next room, suddenly felt agitated. She was unable to keep herposure. It will be very embarrassing if she was found lurking and listening to the conversation, but she really needed to listen to this. She forced herself to keep calm.


    "I know she''s important to you, but you could not keep her safe forever especially during this crazy time. Let her stay with me for at least another year and I can guarantee she will be one of the strongest fighters in the world. By then she will no longer need anyone else protection, in fact, I also want to persuade you to let the colonel to join me as well."


    "..."


    The regent was stirred by Alex''s words. "Exin more."


    "The key to survival is within the pirs. The more survivors essing a pir, the more the pir can give its benefits, but there will be major benefits that can only be essed by talented individuals especially for Spirit Enhancers like Aria and Colonel Arief. With the right team and preparation, these individuals could receive special skills and artifacts. One of those major benefits are the stone golems and many other things. Therefore, I have been forming the elite units and collecting more talents."


    The regent got more excited hearing the pirs and its benefits. He looked at the man who has been his trusted aide and closest council for years. Regent Suryo asked Colonel Arief who was standing beside him. "What do you think Arief?"


    The colonel calmly asked a question to Alex. "Mr. Alex, What kind of skills and artifacts are we talking about?"


    "Artifacts ranges from weapons, armor, relics, and items that are many times stronger than the equipment enhanced by your ability. As for skills, I know that you have an affinity with the metal element. Your item enhancement skill is very beneficial, but each time you stop using your ability, the weapon with the enchantment would instantly turn back into normal, wouldn''t it?"


    Alex continued exining to the colonel. "What if told you there''s a skill to increase the item''s hardness, sharpness, size or even make the enhancement on an item be permanent. Those are the kind of skills you will be able to receive from the pirs."


    Alex needed as many spirit enhancers he could get for his n, the more he has, the more he could achieve greater benefits from the Doomsday pirs. Therefore, Aria and Colonel Arief joining his group would be very important for him. But even with this information, he could tell that the colonel was still keeping his calm.


    The regent asked his trusted aide once again. "So, what do you think?"


    "If what he said is true, then it''s important for us to send as many talented individuals that we can find to Alex. As for me, unless it''s your direct order, I will always choose to stay by your side. In such dangerous times, I will not let you out of my sight. After all, I have read reports that there will also be one pir in Sumatra. I will happily receive whatever Mr. Alex said from there just to stay close to you."


    Alex was startled, it seemed that it won''t be easy to recruit this guy. What Colonel Arief said was actually true, but Alex has ns that would multiply the benefits of the doomsday pirs. Alex wanted to say more, but it''s really hard for him to exin. Currently, within Alex''s rank, there weren''t any spirit enhancers as talented as Aria or Arief. Both of them were already showing their elemental affinity while still in the mortal realm. Other people like the twins, Jerry, or Sergei the Russian Wrestler only showed an increase in their physical bodies.


    This was very important for Alex, therefore he decided to increase his bargain.


    "Regent, what if in exchange for assigning both Aria and Arief to me, I will lend you the stone golem."


    "!!!"


    The offer really took the regent by surprise.

 Chapter 125 - Choice

    The idea of having the powerful golem was very alluring to the regent. It''s always been his enjoyment in life to collect powerful weapons. For years, he''s been amazed at the most advanced guns, vehicles or airnes. Five years ago, because of the regent''s demand, Indonesia managed to have thetest nuclear submarine. But in his mind, none of those wereparable to the temptation of the stone golem.


    Alex saw the glimpse of interest from the regent, but the lust in the regent''s eyes suddenly calmed down. The regent had spent 30 years leading the army and for thest 10 years, he led the nation. At this moment, his years of experience made him able to control his emotions. Regent Suryo didn''t quickly answer Alex''s question. "How does it actually work?"


    Alex exined to the regent how a person can create a binding with an artifact, with just a drop of blood the user can use the artifact with just a thought of his mind.


    (This guy wanted to trade that powerful golem for Arief and Aria. Are they really worth that much? It''s not like they will lose their loyalty after a year.. But what is it that he''s aiming for... What is it that he''s hiding... Or did something really happened between Aria and Alex?... I guess I really am too old. These days, I heard people in love are really hard to predict... I''ll test out the waters then.)


    "Ehem... Ehem... As you know, my granddaughter is really precious to me. She is my one and the only family in this world. As for the colonel, he has been with me for as long as I can remember, both of them are really important for me." The regent seemed hesitant but continued saying. "For the golem, I am willing to let you choose one of them, the colonel or my granddaughter."


    "!!!"


    Everyone in the room was startled with the regent''s decision. Aria, who is in the next room,heard the regent''s decision and became tense.


    "..."


    It''s now Alex turn to think. He was veryfortable with Aria, and her skills will be very importantter on. But Alex also needed someone like the colonel who can deal critical damage to the opponent given the previous events. The regent gave him a headache by presenting a choice, but Alex decided to go all in to achieve his goal. "Regent if you assigned both of them to me for just a year, I will not just lend you the golem. I will let you keep the golem as long as you want! How''s that?"


    "!!!"


    Alex felt hesitant to give away his precious golem, a medium stage golem would not be easily essible on the first stage of the pirs, but almost every survivor who could reach the second stage could have one. Alex also thought of the fact that it''s not like the golem will go missing or anything, this golem could be useful for the regent to defend the west region of Indonesia.


    "Youˇ­ Are you serious?" The regent''s face cannot hide his joyous emotions, it was as if a little boy had just been offered a holiday in Disnend. This reaction gave Alex and even his trusted aide a shock. But again, within just a second, his expression turned around 180 degrees. "No..No... As I said earlier, choose one."


    (I need to push how much that guy value my granddaughter.)


    "..."


    Alex suddenly felt that either this regent was really an unreasonable person or his business nature had gone down the drain. Alex gave the thought a little consideration. If he truly needed to choose one of them, he will choose... "Regent, if this is truly your final decision. Then, I will choose your granddaughter."


    BRACK!!!


    Suddenly, a loud sound came out from the next room, it''s from Aria. The suspense was too hard for her to handle, she tried so hard to control her skill that she identally knocked down a piece of furniture.


    "Who''s there?!"


    The regent has few guards in this mansion, but he knew that there should be no one in the next room.


    Aria became panicked.


    (Nooooo!!! I should run!)


    (No No Aria... don''t do that, that will be more embarrassing.)


    Sheposed herself and slowly walked to the room where the regent and Alex were discussing. "It''s me... grandfather."


    "I see... so have you been listening to the conversation?"


    "... Yes... I have."


    "Then what do you think? Will you follow this man for another year?"


    Aria unconsciously looked at Alex and both eyes met, her heart was racing really fast. "...No grandfather. I choose to stay with you."


    (Stupid Stupid Aria... You are a coward.)


    Aria was fighting with her thoughts, she very confused right now, she used to think that she''s the type who never cared about anything and just did or said whatever was on her mind. This is a new experience for her.


    The regent understood her granddaughter really well, he was practically her parent. Seeing this, he felt very d. He decided to tease her a bit. "Mr. Alex as you can see, this girl is really clumsy. It''s my fault really... I think I raised her incorrect. You should probably reconsider and just choose the colonel instead. This guy is a 40 years old bachelor because he''s been taking his duty too seriously. He practically has no other life besides the army, he could probably learn a lot about rtionships from you. So, what will be your decision? Will you choose the colonel instead?"


    Alex was a little bit confused on what the regent said about the rtionship part... But he really didn''t want to make a big deal out of it and focused on what was important. Alex faced Aria and asked. "Don''t you want to stay with our group anymore?"


    Aria, because of her confusion and with Alex''s eyes staring directly at her, was unable to think right. She cannot differentiate the part [stay with our group] and tranted it in her mind as [stay by my side]... And within her confusion, she said. "I want....no! no!... I can''t!"


    The regent, for the first time, saw this side of her granddaughter and felt really happy. "Hahahahah... Alex, I will allow her to stay with you for another year. But promise me to let her visit home after a year... I am an old man, don''t let this old man be sad and in wanting thepany of a family, will you?"


    "Yes, regent I promise."


    "Remember one year. Not a day longer. In order to make sure you seed with your task, I will allow you to take Colonel Arief as well. In fact, I will assign another 100 of our Deathsquad soldiers to you, how does that sound?"


    "!!!"


    Everyone in the room was once again startled... This regent was really hard to predict.


    The regent faced Aria and said. "Do whatever you feel is right... Follow where your heart leads you."


    Unconsciously, tears fell down on Aria''s cheek...


    "Aria, don''t embarrass yourself... you may go now. There are a few things that I need to discuss with this man."


    Aria was speechless. Even though the regent raised her, they never had a familial rtionship. Aria knew that the regent loved her, but he had been raising her just like any other soldier... "Girl... Toughen up." That''s what the regent always said in the past. Deep down inside, she wanted to hug the only family she has left, but a barrier in her heart made her unable... she decided to leave without saying a word.


    There are now only three people left in the room. They walked to the living room and are now sitting on a sofa.


    "What can I do for you regent?"


    The regent gave a sign to the colonel. The colonel walked to a cab on the corner of the room, he took out two folders and put it on the coffee table in front of Alex. The two folders were about 20 to 30 pages thick. Each folder has a name written on it. One was Alex, the other was Rico.


    Alex opened up the files and started skipping through the pages. It has all the information about him, his family, his works, his friends, and even his religious activity. His hobby, his most visited dining ces, even his favorite inte activities. But none of these bother him as he''s no longer that person anymore. He just skipped through all the pages while smiling as if he was looking at an old photo album.


    Browsing through the pages, thest few pages caught his interest. There were details of the events that happened in thest few months; his travels to Bali, US, and Singapore. Even the urrences after the doomsday started. His tactics on rescuing survivors, the battle at Bali airport, the monkey forest, the attack of mutated animals and among other things. All were exined in detail. It even included thetest fight in Surabaya up to the fight with the stage two ck zombie.


    Alex knew that there were a lot of people who were the regent''s eyes and ears within his fighters, after all, the regent provided a big portion of Alex''s current army. But what interested him the most, was the fact that the long-range radiomunication was just connected less than a week ago, and yet, the regent already had the detailed report in his hands. It appears that the regent is a very prudent and thorough person.


    After reading through his files, Alex put it back on the table, he didn''t touch Rico''s file.


    The regent saw that Alex was not interested in reading the remaining file and could not help but ask. "Aren''t you a bit curious as to what kind of person is our currentmander-in-chief?"


    "Not really." Alex calmly answered the question. Why should he care about Rico''s past when he has already seen the future. Rico was his friend in his previous life. Thus, Alex trusted himpletely.


    The regent could read between the lines, he observed that there was something about Alex''s rtionship with Rico. This somehow puzzled him. After all, there was no record of Alex being acquainted with the man earlier than 3 months ago. The regent was concerned about this man named Rico.


    "Alex, tell me honestly. Do you want to be the leader of this nation?"


    "..."


    "Because if you do, I will fully support you, even without a military background. What you did in thesest few months really impressed me. If you want to lead the nation, I am confident that at least half of the people within Rico''s army and cabs will follow what I say..."


    "..." Alex kept his silence and listened to the regent.


    The regent continued. "Tell me what are your ns. In times like these, we need a strong leader. I know that Rico is a capable leader, but I am not sure if I can trust him."


    Alex slowly gave his response. "I trust him, but I know trust is not something that can be given, he needs to earn it. A wise man once told me the best way to test someone''s integrity is by giving him power. I believe he deserves to be given that chance... Let him lead."


    The regent startled with Alex response, give it a thought and said


    "What about you? What are you nning to do?"


    Alex closed his eyes and re-lived the terrors from his previous life. The screams of pain and suffering, mes and blood, death and destruction everywhere. There was only despair, there was no hope.


    With determination in his heart, Alex looked intensely at the regent and said. "I will go find hope."

 Chapter 126 - The New Java

    SemarangDDay +56


    Today is a special day. As soon as the first light shone on the city of Semarang, the people have started walking out on the street and went to the city center of Semarang City. They headed to the five-way intersection which is centered around a huge park that is about the size of four ser fields, which is called "Simpang Lima". All of these people were informed that the gathering time was 8 in the morning, but the field has been filled with thousands of people much earlier.


    A simple stage has been prepared and there''s a tall pole standing in the middle of the street. The side of the stage is filled with dozens of VIPs: high ranking soldiers, cab members, religious leaders,munity elders, etc.


    It''s now exactly 8 am in the morning and the number of people that have gathered at the field counted around 500,000. The ce is fully packed, but everyone is patiently waiting.


    From the side next to the stage, a dozen of soldiers wearing all-white uniforms raised their rifles and aimed it to the sky.


    "Fire!".


    BAAAANGGG!!


    All 12 guns fired to the sky, the sound echoed around the area.


    "Fireee!"


    BAAAANGGG!!


    The second shot was immediately followed by the third shot and the sound echoed throughout the city.


    Soon after, a group of young men and women, also in white uniforms, came marching in a 4-row formation with a boy in front holding a folded cloth with his both hands. This group of youth is called the Paskibraka, which is a title given to the g bearer group in the ceremony.


    Each marching steps were spectated by everyone with mixed feelings, with the current condition of the country, it''s very hard to follow such a ceremony.


    The marching stopped and the g was unfolded.


    The leader of the ceremony shouted. "The g is ready! SALUTE to the g!!!"


    All 500 thousand plus people raised their arms in salute respectfully. The red and white g slowly rose up the pole. The g was fluttering in the center of the field and the people suddenly started singing together one of Indonesia national anthem.


    ''Padamu negeri kami berjanji''


    ''Padamu negeri kami berbakti''


    ''Padamu negeri kami mengabdi''


    ''Bagimu negeri jiwa raga kami''


    ''To you our country we promise''


    ''To you, our country we dedicated''


    ''To you, our country we served''


    ''For you, our country our body and soul''


    The country of 300 million people probably only has less than 5 percent still alive, they were spread out and were doing their best to survive all over the continent. The people left standing within these fields are the survivors of a oncerge country, but now they are broken. They understood things will never be the same as it was in the past. Seeing the g fluttering gracefully with the wind, it reminded them of the life they had before the doomsday. Singing the national anthem, bit by bit, their shattered spirit started to rise up.


    When the g was raised, 4 people walked onto the stage. One standing in the front and three at the back. The person standing in the front is themander-in-chief, the elected president of the country, Rico. The leader of the ceremony shouted one more time.


    "Salute to the president Rico Karnavian!"


    All 500 thousand people gave their respect to the famous general of the country. Most of them had seen his achievement in the news, he is a rising young general famous for his actions against the terrorists and the leader of the police special forces. The Jakarta survivors knew about his election, but for the other survivors, this was the first time they heard that he is the current president of the country. Seeing such a famous, strong figure leading them, these people felt somehow reassured.


    The figure behind him was Regent Suryo, James Randall and Alex. The regent was actually more famous than Rico, so for him to stand there was expected. But the other two people standing next to him made the crowd somewhat confused. They were expecting one of the ministers or maybe another general standing beside Rico and the regent, but instead these two were regr people.


    James Randall may have shown his contributions to the people of Surabaya, but not to these crowds. At the very least, the people knew him as a famous billionaire. The people convinced themselves and thought that a billionaire''s contribution to the current situation should not be small, but that unknown ordinary-looking person next to him was very questionable.


    Just like James, Alex was only known by the Bali survivors or just within the fighters and soldiers. This was the first time among the majority of the 500 thousand people have seen his face. But seeing the people on the stage or the VIPs giving him the honor created a mysterious visage toward him.


    Rico saluted back to the people and took a step forward. It was a huge crowd, but Rico was already used to being in front of a lot of people, but after singing the national anthem, Rico couldn''t help himself feel a bit nervous as these people were looking at him with eyes full of hopes and expectations.


    "My fellow countrymen, today is the day we will start rebuilding our country. We will work together to achieve this goal. From the east to the west, we will endure, and will survive this disaster. I will ept the honor of leading this nation. But I am asking for your trust and support, for me and every people behind me or next to me. On this special day, I am also asking permission from you and from the predecessors to rename the city of Semarang. There will no longer be a citizen of Jakarta or Surabaya or Semarang among us, only the citizen of Java. The name of Java came from an old Proto-Austronesianguage which means home. Because as of today and onwards, this city will be everyone''s new home, therefore we shall name it[The New Java City]."


    The short simple speech from President Rico was epted by the people and they expressed their approval by giving him a big apuse. This ceremony was Alex''s idea tobine two things, to show his support for Rico as themander-in-chief and also to raise the people''s spirits and hopes for the future.


    When the ceremony was over, all the VIPs have gathered in the huge hall within the newly restored city hall. This will be the most important meeting for rebuilding the country.

 Chapter 127 - The Map

    About 100 men gathered within the city hall of A. The people invited to these meetings were the highest-ranking and the key people in rebuilding the nation. Half of them were previous ministers, surviving cab members, society figures and high ranking military officers.


    There were many faces that Alex didn''t really recognize within this room. There''s a good chance in his previous life these people didn''t get to survive this long. Other than Rico, James Randall, and Regent Suryo, Alex only recognized around twenty people; standing close to Rico, there was Silvia, the beautiful cab member, and the two Colonels Rano and Andri. Next to the regent, there was Colonel Arief, the metal spirit enhancer and the Regent''s two little generals Anton and Rafid.


    James Randall was standing in one corner together with some people, other than Winter, his bodyguard, James seemed to be standing next to an old man in the 60''s, this was Anthony, one of the 9 dragons from Jakarta, he came together with the Jakarta Survivors a few days ago. He realized James'' position within the new government and decided to stick close to James, joining their resources could also be beneficial to James.


    As for Alex, he only brought along Theo and Cindy, Alex brought Theo for the obvious reason, with Theo''s mind-reading ability, Alex was curious to know which of the people in this room really were sincere on rebuilding the country or had their own hidden agenda. It''s important for Alex to map them out now.


    As for Cindy, she''s been ranting non-stop about wanting to join the meeting... Alex didn''t really want to argue with her, and nobody in this room would dare to restrict Alex''s ess, so currently she was able to join the meeting, Cindy looked really excited.


    On the contrary, the other girl standing next to Cindy has been quiet all day, Alex was already used to this Ice Queen to stay quite near him but recently things have been a little different. Although quiet, she has been more attentive than usual.


    "You ok, Aria?"


    "Yes I am... do you need anything?... Water maybe?"


    "No, no... I am fine"


    Things turned awkward, fortunately, three figures came approaching Alex and Aria, seeing them, a delighted smile appeared on Alex''s face.


    They were the two Deathsquadmanders Donny, Dario, and the smart ex-military intelligence Farell. They just arrivedst night from Surabaya, their arrival brought many cheers to the people as they brought the armaments taken from the Pindad Weapon Factory.


    They brought along trucks of weapons and ammunition, hundreds of vehicles such as tanks, APV''s and even advance artilleries. The firearms fighters will not need to be worried about weapons and ammo for a while now. Farell even took the time to cleanly disassemble a few of the bullets making machinery from the factory and took as many as he could to this city. Last night they have been busy organizing the supplies, therefore this was the first time they met. But Alex knew better thanst night these people came to visit the regent first, but Alex really didn''t mind it at all.


    It seems everyone''s already in the room and the meeting was about to start. The room was set up with hundreds of chairs surrounding a huge table in the center showing the map of Indonesia with little figurines marking important information on the map.


    As Rico has been officially announced as the leader of the nation, he started the meeting with an open discussion, he allowed the people gathered to express their opinions on what to be prioritized on rebuilding the nation


    The new armaments brought by Farell gives confidence to the people in these rooms. Some thinking about gathering more survivers, some concerned about food supplies, some thinking about reinforcing the city with walls for defense. All ideas came with solid and detailed ns. Alex just stayed quiet watching these people interacting with Rico on the details, Alex watching attentively each person who talked and making sure Theo gave a note on each person.


    One guy suddenly felt impatient and was emotionally ranting about how the new governor should first establish new ministers and Rico as the newmander in chief should carefully pick the right person for the job.


    The discussion suddenly heading towards more on politics, on how they should choose some of the old ministers, or the need to find each ethnic as a representation. These things really made Rico''s frown.


    Rico raised his hand, and everyone stops talking, Rico then looked at the regent and asked for his opinion.


    "What do you think, Regent?"


    "Hahaha... What do old men know about this situation, all that has been discussed is already great."


    "Please, Regent", Rico insisted.


    "Ok, if I may add, this old man thinks we should broaden out our scope... We should stop thinking only about the survivors of this nation... What about our surrounding countries, what happened to the US who''s imed to be the world''s greatest nation. Or what about India, our neighbor, they have thergest poption. Aren''t we curious to know how many nations survived the disaster? I know we should prioritize on our surrounding inds. Kalimantan, Swesi, Papua. But I think we should send representatives to other nations... I am sure everyone here already heard that the dangers we currently have are just the start and it will only get worse. I thinkbining resources with surrounding nations is also a priority."


    The regent had the reputation and the charisma when he spoke, so everyone listened attentively, but the people suddenly reminded about the news of how things would get worse and they suddenly remembered the man who brought that news. Eyes started staring at Alex.


    One man, an old minister suddenly said to Alex:


    "Are you the friend mentioned by President Rico?"


    "Is this really true? Will things get much worse?"


    Alex could no longer be quiet, he looked at Rico, and it seems the president also wanted more exnations. Alex gathered his thoughts and started saying:


    "I''m afraid it''s true... Things will only get worse."


    "How bad... Please exin."


    "Let me think... I know you all are very happy with the armaments brought by the army yesterday. The tanks, artillery and such. I am afraid those things would be obsolete In one or two years time."


    "That''s crazy..."


    Alex''s words createdmotions, these people couldn''t imagine a solution beyond those big caliber guns and explosives. And hearing Alex saying these things will be unusable in two years'' time was unthinkable.


    Alex continued:


    "I am sure everyone in this room is already informed about the existence of the next stage of zombies. The pitch-ck zombies. High caliber bullets or rockets are only able to hurt him but very difficult to kill him. In one year''s time, these ck zombies would start attacking in groups. With their speed, strength and regenerative ability. What do you think are the chances those guns could help us?"


    "..."


    "Within one year there will be an even stronger monster... By then no amount of walls made by humans would be able to stop them... As I said, things will only get worse."


    "..."


    The room turned silent.


    A few months ago, when Alex revealed his predictions, everyone could make a joke out of it. But now, when half of his prediction came true, the people in the room were really in a dilemma. Some weak-minded would just want to run and hide, others just stayed in denial. Only real survivors would find the courage to fight.


    "Then what should we do?"


    Alex walked to the front table and took out arge piece of paper from his storage ring.


    It''s a huge map of Indonesia. It''s simr to the one in the table, but this one seemed to have dozens of marks made by Alex. Five green marks, a dozen red marks and about 50 plus ck marks.


    "Let me exin."

 Chapter 128 - Indonesian Pillars

    Indonesia has 17,504 inds, scattered over both sides of the equator. South of the equator, the Java Ind spreads from the west all the way to Nusa Tenggara Ind in the east. The northern side is dominated by the fourrgest inds, from west to the east are; Sumatra Ind, Borneo, Swesi, and New Guinea.


    All of the people in the room paid attention to therge maps prepared by Alex.


    "For me, the first priority is always the people. The country is not about the gs or the city walls But it''s the people, there were 300 million-plus people living all over the country, there isn''t even a million right now in this city. We need to save as many as possible. I think the first priority is to spread out, find and gather more survivors."


    "Within these maps, I have marked in blue the safest location for all the survivors, this will be the ce where we should gather all the survivors."


    The five blue marks were located at Bali, West Sumatra, South Swesi, West New Guinea, and Bali and one just south of the New Java City. One of the old ministers curiously asked:.


    "Why there? What special about these 5 ces?"


    The five ces were the location of the 5 doomsday pir that will drop to this area. Alex thought about the first time he saw the doomsday pirs in his past life, at that time he was a much different person, he was both frightened and awed by the constructs that dropped from the sky. Alex realized he''s unable to clearly exin the phenomenon of the pir.


    "On the 100th day after the Doomsday, that''s 44 days from now, all over the world simultaneously 1008 constructs would drop from the sky. This objects called doomsday pirs have wonders that I could not exin, the technology is out of this world. The pir could provide many things. Foods, shelter, weapons, protection, and most important is a way to advance all the human into the next realm. These doomsday pirs are humanity''s only hope of survival."


    Hearing this, even the smartest and the wisest people in the room turned to an uproar.


    "That''s... That''s crazy!!"


    "You are talking about extraterrestrial beings?"


    Only a dozen people in this room have learned about the news from Alex previously, but even they still found it hard to ept. This news seemed like a storying from sci-fi novels. Seeing the situation, Rico tried to calm the chaos.


    "Calm down! Let''s hear more."


    Alex was not sure if giving too much information would be good for these people or not. But he had many ns prepared and he would probably have to leave these people for a long time. It''s better to give them as much information now.


    "This New Java City is only 10 kilometers away from the Java Pirs, I believe you have enough resources to connect the city and make the necessary preparations."


    This city has 500.000 plus people, it has abundant supplies gathered from Semarang City and the supplies brought from Surabaya. There were also the Mutated Maduras Oxes ready to help rebuild the city. Alex believed they should be ready when the disasterse.


    Alex''s next information was the hundred ck marks on the map. These marks spread all over the country. These ck marks are the location of hidden relics sites just like the one Alex went to in Bali and Mexico city. When the pirs arrived, these hidden ces will be essible by everyone. The items found on these relic sites are very valuable. The stone golem is an excellent example.


    "Please use this information ordingly."


    Alex trusted the details to Rico, these hundred sites were like a hundred gold treasures chests, each person in this room would be lucky to ess one of them. Alex believed Rico would divide the information ordingly. Hearing the news, the Regent and Rico were both excited about the prospects of having 100 of artifacts as valuable as the golem.


    "I believe the supplies you currently have are more than enough to survive till the pirse, if not you can always hunt for mutated animals. These mutated animals are useful to further increase the body physical strength. In the future, when humans reach a higher realm, our bodies require less sustenance for living."


    These stories Alex kept describing were really hard to digest, but seeing the president or the regent going along with the story even as far as fully supporting this ordinary looking guy named Alex, the crowd could only follow.


    Rico and the Regent stared at the map and saw the 5 pir locations. They started calcting in their minds.


    "Alex... There will really be no pirs on Borneo Ind? That''s weird, it''s such arge ind. I wonder if the drop location is random or nned? If it was nned, who actually nned all this?"


    Borneo is one of thergest inds of Indonesia, it does feel kinda strange.


    "Actually, there''s a doomsday pir in Borneo, but it''s not located in Indonesia, it''s on the other side of the border, within the Mysian Borneo side."


    "I see... Should the people of Borneo head to Mysia then? What do you think?"


    "I will leave that up to you, Mr. President."


    Rico still felt ufortable hearing the title but he really is the new president and making a joke out of it would dishonor the title and the constitution.


    Rico gave thought with the position of the map and said:


    "I understand the Sumatra Pirs will be managed by you regent, I will handle the Java, and you will take the one in Bali, Alex?"


    Alex already gave a lot of consideration about this n and said:


    "No..."


    "!!! Then who will in charge of Bali?"


    "I think James would be suitable to take that role."


    Currently, many of the Surabaya citizens already move to Bali, so many know James already. James also brilliant in management he has the people and resources that could support him. Alex has seen how James works in his previous life. All eyes staring at James, waiting for confirmation, James gave a little thought and decided to ept the role


    "I''ll do it."


    Rico and The regent didn''t really object on James taking care of one pir, but they wondered about what would Alex do?


    "What about you? What about the other pirs?"


    "For the one in Papua, currently three Bali divisions are heading towards that area."


    Alex thought about Karra, the navymander, Jerry, his first spirit enhancer, and the wolf divisions. Alex has many people he can count on in the east.


    "Swesi Ind should be easily reached from Bali, so James should be ideal to take care of that side. As for Borneo Ind, as it could have lots of intrigue with Mysia, I believe themander in chief should take charge."


    The regent had his armywork all around the country, he gave the data about the military base on both Swesi and Borneo to Rico and James. He then waited for what Alex has nned for him.


    "Regent, I really support your idea to start contacting our neighbors, I believe we should start sending people to Singapore and the other Asian countries."


    Suddenly, one by one the huge map has been filled with more information. There''sbined information on themander, number of troops and survivors poption. The group started dividing task to the army to spread all over the nation.


    While filling out this information, Rico couldn''t help remember about the other divisions led by his two colonels and also his son, Adam. Up until this day, there''s no single information about them, Rico has sent a team to check their whereabouts.


    Alex''s cement seemed sound, but Alex still hasn''t answered Rico''s question.


    "What about you, Alex, where are you heading?"


    "I will go to Australia."

 Chapter 129 - Revelation

    Surrounded by the Indian and Pacific oceans, Australia is separated from Asia by the Arafura and Timor seas. The world''s smallest continent and sixthrgest country by a total area of 7,692,024 square kilometers, Australia is considered as the world''srgest ind. Itsnd size is 5 times bigger than the inds of Indonesiabined with only less than one-tenth of the poption.


    In Alex''s previous life, millions of Indonesian survivors were gathered among their country''s 5 Doomsday Pirs, in contrast to Australia''s 28 Doomsday Pirs spread out all around the continent, but with significantly less survivors. Many of the Australian pirs were left unimed by its survivors. When this fact was uncovered by the Asian survivors years after, it was already toote. Because the Australian continent was heavily infested by dangerous mutated animals and beasts. It was then categorized as an abandoned zone.


    This was the reason why Alex decided not to stay in Indonesia, he instead nned to bring all of his elite people across the oceans to exploit the secrets of the Doomsday Pirs. By doing this, he was confident that within a one year period, these people will be formidable powerful fighters able to protect the people from the iing disaster.


    Alex''s exnation brought enthusiasm to the crowd. Alex nned to gather fighters with the highest potentials, he''s sure that were still many people with hidden talents within the Jakarta''s survivors.. Hearing about this, the regent felt even more reassured about his decision to include colonel Arief and the additional 100 Deathsquad was the right call.


    Rico understood Alex''s intention and asked. "How many people do you need?"


    Alex thought for a second and responded. "What matters the most is quality, not quantity. Probably, at most I would only bring 500 men. As of the moment, I have 300 elite people and the regent added 100 men. I might bring 100 more men."


    Many people from this crowd are high-ranking military soldiers, they should have a few people in mind, but they were hesitant to let these people go with Alex as this is a difficult time after all.


    Run, the Madurese fighter is among the crowd, he has been dying to join Alex''s elite crew and he will dly run to be the first one in line to be among the 100. "No matter what I must join this team."


    Rico''s continued with his question. "Alex, now that we know about the significance of the green marks, and the ck mark. Now is the time to exin about the 12 red marks. I''m sure it''s very important for you to leave itst to exin."


    Alex turned silent for a short while. The information about the 12 marks were very crucial.


    "You all have encountered the danger of the undead, the hordes, the red and even the second stage ck mutated monster. Many of you have encountered the mutated animals as well, but these twelve spots will be the one cleaning up our country..."


    Seeing Alex suddenly turned serious the crowd became anxious.


    Rico continued asking. "What are they?"


    Alex breathed slowly and exined to the crowd. "On the 100th day, the arrival of the Doomsday Pirs will be followed by a loud sound from the sky. It will be as if the voices of the great thunders will bebined with some sort of melody. Among the 1008 pirs, seven of them will be as white as snow and one will be radiating gold rays as bright as the sun. All 8 pirs will call out to the earth and the seas. It will be then followed with lightings and great earthquakes that opens up thends. It will be like a gate that was once sealed under the earth will open up..."


    Hearing the description, Theo couldn''t help himself but be shocked. He wanted to say something but he was hesitant.


    "...Hundreds of gates will open up from under the ground and the seas. These 12 red marks will open up in Indonesia. From these gates, the creatures that wille out will be stronger than the ck zombies. They will pour out into the earth''s surface, these creatures from under the earth and from the seas."


    One of the old ministers could not stop himself and interrupted Alex.


    "What do you mean... these creatures... They have been with us? Under us ever since the beginning?"


    Alex stared at the old man, he didn''t need to exin because all the spectators felt it to be true. Alex continued.


    "The creatures from the earth and seas, unfortunately, will not be the end. The worst of them, will be creatures thates from the white pirs. These creatures wille flying in from the sky, even the strongest high realm fighters will not be able to defend against i-."


    "How do you know all of these? This is fuxxing crazy!!!" A panicking guy shouted and cut off Alex.


    Alex knew that most people would find this difficult to believe. After all, no normal person would be calm after hearing this. He was actually debating in head if he could add his reincarnation into the list of crazy things he already mentioned.


    While Alex was in deep thought, Theo walked to the center. It''s unlikely of him to stand up in such a situation, but he seemed to be full of determination.


    "Here me out. The things Alex just saidˇ­ is really not something new... It''s exactly the same as what was written in the book of revtion."


    "Revtion 11:19 ''And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunder, and an earthquake, and great hail'', Revtion 15:6 describes about the seven angelsing out of the temple. Everyone knows the book of revtion is also known as the book of apocalypse, it clearly describes the beast thates out of the earth, the sea, and the sky."


    Many people had whispered and talked about Alex''s vision before, none of them fully believed it, but he has been right about the date of the doomsday and the disease. No one would want to belittle Alex''s messages. Now, added with the scriptures from the bible, it appeared as if Alex was not the first person to receive this vision.


    Alex had read the book of revtion before, but it was the life before, it was such a long time ago and he never really understood it or memorized it. Although, what Theo said made him wonder about history even further. There seemed to be a lot more mystery connecting Doomsday Pirs with the earth''s past. Alex really wished he could learn more of its secret from the pirs and probably from the hidden relic sites.


    "That''s all the information I can share. Do what you must with the information. I hope we can survive this disaster."


    The meeting continued, but after a short while, Alex decided to walk out of the crowded room to get some fresh air. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Talking about the gates and beasts brought out the memories of his past, there were just too much death and destruction. Alex may havee from the future and had experienced thest 10 years of humanity, but he was just another normal sane person, it''s normal for him to feel worried and anxious.


    A few minutester, Rico, James and Regent Suryo came out of the room to see him. It seemed that the meeting was adjourned for a short while.


    James raised his hand and acted like he was having a headache. "I''ve been to thousands of meetings, but none of them were as crazy as this."


    The attempt to lighten the mood was for naught. Alex was not in the mood for joking right now. He faced Rico and said. "Hope you can make the right call, save as many people as you can."


    "Yes of course." Rico looking determined as he answered Alex.


    Alex then handed him a piece of paper. On the paper was a list of names of people in the meeting. "These people are not to be trusted, better take care of them now, trust me."


    The names on the note were people scouted by Theo. There were also a few names that Alex recognized from his previous life. The people who have hidden agendas and people who made such a mess in Alex''s previous life.


    "Ok, will take care of it..."


    The regent suddenly asked. "Alex, once you got your 500 elites, are you going straight to Australia?"


    "There''s actually onest city I need to visit before that."


    "Which city?"


    "Just down south, the city of Yogyakarta. The only Indonesian royal city still ruled by a monarchy, I wish to see the Sultan."


    Rico added. "Yes we didn''t get the chance to visit that ce, one of my division was supposed to go there, but up until now we haven''t heard a thing."


    Rico was abruptly reminded of his two other colonels and especially his son Adam.


    Suddenly, a man hurriedly ran toward him in brought along a wounded man. Rico recognized this man as a soldier under Colonel Bernard, the fourth division where his son was ced.


    "What happened?! Report!"

 Chapter 130 - Responsibility

    The wounded man was set on a nearby chair, he was breathing heavily, but he gave his report. "General, I am part of the advance team to quickly bring news, but we got attacked by a mutated beast on the way here. The fourth division managed to bring along 10,000 refugees, they will be here in a day or two."


    "Why are you sote? What happened?"


    "I am sorry general, the fourth division met with trouble while executing the mission."


    Rico became distressed. "What kind of trouble?! What about Colonel Bernard? Aren''t you supposed to rendezvous with the third division?"


    Seeing Rico suddenly losing control of his emotions, the regent interrupted him. "Rico, calm down. Let the man exin slowly."


    The group found it unusual for Rico to lose his cool, but none of the people here knew that Rico was actually more worried about his son..


    "I am sorry, general. We looked for the third division in the city of Bandung, but what we found on the designated meeting ces were what was left of them... I am sorry to report, but Colonel Bernard believes that the third division had been wiped out."


    "What happened?"


    The third division consisted of one military battalion, one militia battalion, and two special forces, totaling 3000 men. All of these people dying shocked Rico even more so, since their leader was Colonel Joko, who was also a dear friend of him. Each division was provided with two Badak Tanks. What kind of force managed to wipe out these units.


    "Was it zombies or mutated beast?" Rico inquired.


    "We did encounter many mutated beasts on-site sir. But as we continue on our mission, we found evidence that the one attacking us were humans just like us... Colonel Bernard found it hard to ept. Thus, he divided the fourth division into two. He took half of the division to investigate, and we, the other half, were tasked to bring the survivors to this city."


    "Do you know the Misfits?"


    "The youngsters unit led by Adam sir?"


    "Yes my son Adam, do you know if he is alive?" Rico asked worriedly.


    The wounded man thought hard and said. "Sorry, sir I am not sure. I believe they left together with Colonel Bernard."


    Rico''s heart sank, he couldn''t help but think of the worst. "Ok soldier, I know you are hurt, but please finish up your detailed report as soon as possible."


    "Yes sir." The wounded man saluted Rico as he was guided away to the medical center.


    The group finally understood what happened to Rico. The regent walked closer to him. "Rico, I understand the importance of family, but you have a heavier responsibility now. You can send reinforcements there, but you need to stay here to keep the city in check, you have many things to do."


    Rico was silent, lost in his thoughts, he mindlessly answered. "I understand."


    He was not in the mood to talk. A lot of things were running around on his mind. His eyes fell on Alex and suddenly said. "Alex before you leave and go to Yogyakarta, please visit me first..."


    "Sure."


    "Thank you all, I''ll take my leave first."


    Late at night after the long meetings, Rico returned to his room with a heavy heart. He never thought that he could worry about his son this much. Adam is an adult and a man, he could take care of himself, he shouldn''t be worried... but he still did.


    When Rico opened the door to his room, he was surprised because inside were half a dozen people waiting for him. Five men and one woman. He recognized all of them, they were his political supporters. All of them were previous government ministers and Silvia was among them.


    The five men were standing together, Rico remembered their names were written on the note Alex gave. However, Rico wasn''t surprised at all. These five men have been supporting his political career but also has been asking a lot of favors from him. Seeing them only worsened his mood. "What do you all want?"


    One of the previous ministers said. "Rico, you know what we want. We want you to give us the information for some of the relic sites."


    Rico kept his silence.


    "You understand right? We all need to survive, and those artifacts will ensure our safety. Just give us a few coordinates, we already have people ready to collect those artifacts."


    They noticed Rico''s hesitation, thus they pressure him further. "Rico... don''t tell us you forgot about all of the things we did for you..."


    Rico stared at Silvia and asked. "Are you in on this too?"


    Silvia shook her head. "No... I don''t really care about those, but I believe it''s important for you to have more people supporting you. I have seen what that Alex and the regent meant to our nation. Even though you are the president, you need to have power and influence to back you up."


    "I see..." Rico stared at the five men in front of him. These people helped his career before, but he had already returned the favor. With what had happened to the world, the people who only cared about their personal gains were the ones he despised the most, even more so during a national crisis. Rico responded with confidence. "I will not give them to you."


    Suddenly, a dozen men rushed inside his room from outside, they were armed to the teeth and aimed at him.


    An old minister dered. "We had hoped that it would note to this. But we will do whatever it takes to increase the chance of our survival."


    When Rico the faces of the men aiming at him, he recognized some of them as they were part of his personal guards. Rico felt betrayed, add to that all the stress he''s having today. He finally snapped, this was the final straw that ticked his anger. He was furious. A cold voice then came out of his mouth. "So be it then..."


    Rico took a deep breath and suddenly jumped to the closest soldier. A full-powered peak strength Mortal Realm punch hit the poor soldier''s stomach...


    BAMM!!!


    The soldiers were taken by surprise and blood was spilled. Rico quickly disarmed the poor soldier and took his assault rifle.


    The other soldiers who saw what just happened suddenly became panicked, they didn''t expect Rico would fight back. Apparently, Rico was not a paper tiger. The five ministers were trembling in fear and quickly ordered. "You are crazy Rico!!! FIREEE!!!"


    Dratatatatatata!!!!


    Rico swiftly moved around and used the poor soldier''s body as a shield, blood sshed everywhere. Rico aimed the gun from behind the dead body at the remaining soldiers.


    Dratatatatattat!!!


    Five of the soldiers managed to dodge, but Rico seeded in killing four of them and critically wounded another two. These actions made the old ministers and Silvia ducked down in fear. Silvia steeled herself and shouted. "STOP! STOP! DON''T SHOOT!!!"


    But the man next to her immediately shouted. "Don''t stop shooting kill him!!!"


    Within the short confusion, the soldiers looked back at the area where Rico was, but he was already gone from where he was staying.


    "Where did he go? Did he run away? Shiiiiitt! Find him!!!"


    They suddenly heard loud noises from the outside, the guards responded immediately when they heard the roaring gunshots.


    "Fuxxxxx, this has be such a mess! We must escape right away! Drop the gun and retreat to the back, we will meet outside thepound."


    Everyone left the room in a panic. They swiftly headed to the back room and one of the men told Silvia toe with them, but Silvia chose to stay. Things have gone awry but she decided to take her chances in seeking Rico''s forgiveness.


    The old ministers and the soldiers quickly walked out of the room, but to their surprise, Rico was there waiting for them. The soldiers already drop their weapon inside, so they won''t get suspicious, now they regret it seeing Rico aiming an assault rifle at them.


    "You guys really shouldn''t have drop your weapon..."


    Rico also dropped his assault rifle and decided to fight with his bare fists. He wished to blow off some steam through this.


    All of the soldiers were at high stage Mortal Realm, but they did not expect that even though Rico was no longer at his prime, he was able to bring them down one by one. Within just five minutes, all five soldiers were lying on the floor unconscious. When thest one fell, a group of guards arrived at the scene led by Colonel Adnan. The guards were confused, but since they saw Rico standing among the unconscious, the guards understood the situation and arrested the five ministers and the soldiers lying on the ground.


    One of the old ministers struggled while being dragged away by a guard. "Rico!!! If you want to arrest us, give us first a trial!!!"


    Rico let out a sigh when he heard the pleads of this pathetic man.


    The doomsdays era was not a ce for politicians.


    "I can arrest you, the country is currently under Martial Law and I can do whatever I want. Trying to assassinate a president is one of the highest crimes. I will make sure you will ever see the light of day."


    A short momentter, a guard brought along Silvia, also in handcuffs. She tried to plead and asked for Rico''s forgiveness. "Rico. I didn''t do anything wrong..."


    "Stop it. I am sure it was you who give them the ideas. I know you care for me, but you should have trusted me... I will deal with youter. Take her away!"


    When everyone left, Rico felt empty. Most of the people he had arrested today were his closest partners in his political career, the people he spent a lot of time with.


    In the past, he didn''t spend enough time for his family, he neglected his family for his career, for people like them... his failed marriage was one of his biggest regrets. Rico could only me himself for his stupidity. He knew he couldn''t let this happen again. Rico could not stop thinking about Adam. He decided to go find his son.


    The next morning, he took with him a dozen armored vehicles and trucks, with 500 special forces all fully armed heading to the south.

 Chapter 131 - Dear Readers

    Dear Readers, I am sorry for thete chapter. Please give me a minute or two to talk about myself. I will delete this chapter as I release the new chapter.


    Last week was the best ever for Doomsday Pirs, it reached the top 50''s in the ranking. Thank you very much for the support and for voting with the power stones. Within web novel, there''s actually a special rank given to the authors who reached top 50 and it is such an honor being in the top 50 among other thousands of writers. Seeing the numbers onst week, on Monday morning, I burned with passion and motivation and decided to give it my all.


    shback, 6 months ago, when I first started writing the novel, I was in such stress because of work, Not because I have too much to do, but I was helpless and unable to do anything. I was an entrepreneur with 10+ workers and my business was in a standstill. I identally read the web novelpetition and decided to try it out casually. Within that week, I wrote a dozen chapters and I wasn''t expecting to actually win the third ce at that time.


    This was when I realized that writing actually refreshes me.. Thus, I decided to continue writing the novel. Surprisingly, as I enjoyed it and it also suddenly became a thing between me and my 9 years old daughter. I write and she reads it. (That''s why sometimes I hold back from writing a violent scene or R rated stuff.) Around 3 months ago, thepany finally showed more activity and sess, suddenly I have 20+ workers and I really needed to put more attention to it. That''s the time when the novel was held for more than two weeks. about 2 months ago.


    I really want to write and continue the story; my daughter has been pushing me to write again. So, I decided to start writing again slowly. I wrote a minimum of 5,000 words a week. It wasn''t easy, I wrote in the cars, in-between meetings, I wrote on the train, and I wrote veryte at night before sleep. I really want the story to move forward faster, but the work has upied most of my time.


    All the things web novel did to me only made things worse. But despite that, I know the story must go on no matter what. Although mypany is currently in a lot of debt, It''s really never about money for me. Rather, it''s the satisfaction that my work is being appreciated. Justst week, the 2000+ power stones vote, I felt very much appreciated and I really thank you for the support.


    But in thest few days, I felt like I started chasing votes instead of the story itself. I could feel that thest few chapters were rushed. When the new arc about Adam starts, I find myself scrapping the draft a couple of times. There are three main objectives that I want to achieve through Adam''s arc, and if I continue writing the way I am right nowit will be too long and if I write the other way, the story will lose the depth that I want.


    If I didn''t write daily I will sure get less power vote but my main concern is my readers will find it hard to keep pace about the story and easily forget or mix up with the other novel, but I really cannot keep up with the daily chapter.


    Last week what I actually did was, I wrote during my work time, I ended up almost make a big mistake at work, my mind was filled with Alex and his world. I really need to find a way to make this works. I have the content ready for volume 4, now that the world-building almost finished, next volume I can start to focus on Alex himself.


    So please be patient with me, the nned is to stock chapters this week so I can do full 7 days daily next week, hopefully, we can reach top 50 next week, hope for your continuous support. when the top 50 achieved I would have a surprise ready.


    -Avan-

 Chapter 132 - Purged

    "Bravo unit report!"


    "I see dozens of monkeys, sir."


    "Ok, cautiously move in."


    "Roger that!"


    "Charlie unit, report!"


    "..."


    "Charlie unit! Report!"


    "Charlie unit! Hey! Misfits, report!!!"


    "Yes! Yes! Yes, colonel. The area looks clear, sir! Sorry, we forgot that we''re Char... doesn''t matter."


    "Move in, Misfits, be careful."


    "Yes, sir."


    The man behind the radio was Colonel Bernard of the Jakarta''s fourth division. Hundreds of his men were trying to infiltrate a small vige somewhere in the south of Java.


    "Are you sure that they will be fine without you?" Colonel Bernard looked at the young man behind him.


    "I trust my group, colonel. They''ll be fine." Adam said.


    The colonel couldn''t help but feel a little bit worried, this was the first time the group called Misfits would be fighting without their leader. He looked at the girl next to Adam and asked. "So Daisy, how many humans can you sense in there?"


    Daisy closed her eyes and concentrated on the vige in front of her. Within her mind, everything was pitch ck, but lights suddenly sprung out and started moving around the space. She could see the lights representing the army behind her and the two units that were slowly approaching the vige, she then saw a few lights standing still inside the vige. She opened her eyes and said, "Around half of a dozen, colonel. There are a few dozen mutated beast roaming in the vige though."


    Colonel Bernard had been depending on Daisy''s power for a while now. Upon hearing what she said, he looked at the hundred men behind him.


    "Everyone, get ready!" ordered Colonel Bernard.


    Two weeks ago, at the rendezvous point in the City of Bandung, the fourth division was devastated upon seeing the remains of the third division. More than a thousand corpses of theirrades were found. It was such a horrible scene. There were also a lot of mutated animals corpses at the site, but upon further investigation, there were reasons that suggested the third division was attacked by other humans.


    The most obvious reason was that all of the third division''s equipment and supplies were nowhere to be found. Next, was that Colonel Bernard knew themander of the third division. Colonel Joko was a cautious man, it''s unlikely for him and his men to be defeated by mindless animals, unless something might had happened out of their expectations. But Colonel Bernard knew this was just spection, if it were indeed humans who had done this, he couldn''t understand why in such a crazy time humans would turn on each other.


    The fourth division wasposed of 3,000 men. The colonel had decided to split them into two, half would bring the ten thousand survivors to the City of Semarang to meet General Rico as nned. As for the other 1,500 men, they had been separated further into three battalions of 500 men. The first battalion was led by the colonel himself and had headed south through the east path, while the second battalion had gone through the west path. The third battalion had stayed in Bandung City to find other survivors.


    The 500 men from the first battalion had been tracking the culprits for days and the tracks had led them to this small vige.


    Among the 500 men, there were only three toons that the colonel could rely on. The Alpha toon, the colonel''s own personal army, the Bravo toon,posed from the special forces, and the Charlie toon, the group led by Adam called Misfits.


    The Misfits had been a very reliable unit ever since their first campaign 3 weeks ago. Although they were reckless, the Misfits had been able to finish the task given with great results.


    The colonel had realized the secret of the Misfit''s achievement were due to their leader. Even though Adam may be very young, he had been leading his people quite well. The colonel knew about Adam''s identity, in fact, General Rico himself gave him a special note about Adam. Initially, the colonel thought that this Adam and the Misfits would only endanger the mission, but within thest month that they had been fighting together, the colonel found himself liking this young man more and more, he felt that Adam was a born leader.


    "Are you sure that this is the right time to let the Misfits fight without you?"


    The colonel was worried as he knew the Misfits were not professionally trained men. They were just a bunch of teenagers, a ragtag group and if not for Adam, the colonel believed that these young people would have died already, without Adam, he felt that the Misfits would not be fine.


    "They''ll be fine colonel. In times like these, myrades need to learn and work with each other. Especially more so for dangerous missions like this. I believe their team work will improve dramastically."


    The colonel took Adam''s word for it, but Daisy knew behind Adam''s stern and confident look, Adam''s was truly nervous about what would happen to his group of misfits.


    "The fight is about to start! Get ready!"


    SLASH!! PA!! PA!!


    50 men from the special forces attacked from the east side, while the misfits attacked from the west side, soon after, dozens of monkeys frantically charged at the two teams.


    Most of the special forces had reached high stage Mortal Realm and some had reached the peak stage Mortal Realm. While, on the other hand, most of the Misfits had reached the peak stage Mortal Realm, it was just that they were justcking a bit in numbers. But with the two forcesbined, these dozens of mutated monkeys were easily dealt with.


    SLASH!! PA!! PA!!


    The screeching of the wild monkeys in the vige. The Misfits seemed to be having fun in getting a piece of the action.


    "Five little monkeys jumping on the bed, one fell off and bumped his head, mama called the doctor and the doctor said no more monkeys jumping on the bed..."


    "Hey Romi, stop with the singing. It''s creeping me out!"


    "Come on, Jason! I am just trying to lighten the mood that''s all!"


    "Watch your back!"


    SLASH!!! Shrieeekkk!!!


    "You guys should talk less, concentrate."


    "Yes, vice-leader Rick!"


    "Nathan and Nathalie, advance your team''s positions. We take care of the ones left in here."


    "Ok, Rick."


    "Bye, boys! We are heading up first. Tommy, youe with us!"


    Rick led the Misfits if neither Adam nor Daisy was there to lead. He was their neighbor in the apartment and had been a good teammate ever since the doomsday started. Among them, there are: Jason, the huge bulky guy, was Adam''s basketball teammates and best friend. There is also Romi the talkative guy, Nathan and Natalie the siblings orphan from the street mercenaries and Lastly, Tommy the young shadow spirit enhancer.


    The Misfits quickly cleared the area of mutated monkeys. Since there were no more monkeys attacking them, Rick radioed the colonel back. "All clear, colonel. We are heading to the suspected building"


    "Greta job Misfits! Is anyone hurt?"


    "No, sir. That''s a negative. We are fine."


    "Good."


    Hearing the report, Adam felt delighted, it looked like his worries were for nothing after all.


    The colonel received the same confirmation from the Bravo unit a few secondster.


    The Misfits and the Bravo unit then went inside a building where the tracks seemed to be leading them.


    "Bravo unit to centralmand."


    "This is central, what''s the status, soldier?"


    "The area is clear of hostiles, sir."


    "What do you mean? The tracks led here. Are they already gone?"


    "It''s... I think it''s probably best for you toe and see yourself, colonel."


    "Ok."


    After clearing the area of the mutated beasts, the first battalion men went inside the small vige. Colonel Bernard was apanied by Adam and Daisy and went straight to the building where they were expecting the culprits, but what''s awaiting them shocked their cores.


    Five men lied on the floor. But that wasn''t the reason for their shock, rather the condition of the five men lying on the floor were gruesome; their bodies were thin and oozing out sweat, and blood were slowlying out from their eyes, ears, and nose. The medics were already treating them.


    The colonel expected resistance waiting for them in the building, but instead, what they found were five dying men. He was confused, and had no further lead as to what had happened, these five men might give him the answer.


    Half an hourter, the army of 500 deployed defensive positions in the four corners of the vige.


    The leader of the medic finished checking on the five men and approached the colonel. "These five men seems to have had ingested some sort of poison, but I can''t say for sure as I need to use aboratory for a solid conclusion."


    "Poison... is there a way to save them for now?"


    "I''m sorry sir, but we can''t administer an antidote without knowing what kind of poison they took. Right now, their pulse is very low, I reckon they probably only have a few hours left."


    "..."


    The colonel gave it a little thought and said. "How about forcefully waking one up? We need information."


    "Morphine should do the job, but he won''tst long after he consumed it."


    Seeing the men lying on the floor, Colonel Bernard somewhat hesitant, these men looked like any other Indonesian citizens, a simple viger. Giving the morphine would surely kill the man. But recalling about the dead corpses of the third division, he stopped hesitating. "Do it."


    The medic injected the morphine serum into the veins of a dying man.


    Suddenly, the man''s eyes opened wide. Earlier, the man had been unconscious, but now, he was awake and was able to push the medic, the whole thing happened so fast that no one had no time to react.


    BAAMMM!!!


    The medic was thrown 5 meters away and hit the wall. The force of the push was so strong that the medic passed out.


    The drugged man suddenly stood up. Two of the nearest special forces quickly grabbed on to him to push him down, but the drugged man was stronger than the two who had the strength of high stage Mortal Realm and broke out their grasp. He looked around and saw that he''s surrounded by dozens of fighter, and then he stopped moving. He seemed to be confused for a moment and stared at his hands and body.


    Colonel Bernard quickly called out to the confused man. "We are from the government, we are here to help, tell us who you are?"


    The confused man woke up from his daze and then looked at the people surrounding him as he said, "We are the Heavenly Gate, all of you infidels cannot stop us! I will soon be with my god! My god is great!Pledge your allegiance to our lord, or else you all will be purged!


    "PURGEDD!! PURGED!!!Hahahahaah!"


    The man suddenly knelt to the ground and blood started to pour out from his nose and ears, he then started coughing blood a few secondster. The man then dropped to the ground, not moving anymore, he was dead as blood were spilling out from his orifices creating a pool of blood on the floor.


    There was a sudden silence within the room, everyone was shocked on what had just happened. Adam then suddenly felt that something bad was about to happen, he then looked at Daisy and her pale face gave out the answer he was worried about. "Daisy.. What is it?"


    "Weˇ­ we are surrounded..."


    "How many?"


    "There are...hundredsˇ­ no... thousands"

 Chapter 133 - Innocence

    Behind the treelines, hundreds of human-shaped shadows could be seen moving around. Men, women, and even children that didn''t look like fighters had surrounded them. The army would have thought of them as normal survivors and ept them with open arms if not for their non-stop chanting of prayers.


    The first battalion had been anxiously guarding the four corners of the vige. They were inside the buildings and houses of the vige aiming through the windows at the treelines. Although they noticed that the opponents were human beings, their fingers on the firearm triggers felt numb and their hearts felt heavy. Many were not sure what to do if these people charged in the vige.


    In one of the houses, Colonel Bernard gathered all of the unit leaders. Next to him stood Captain Yonas, his next inmand and the leader of the first toon, Lieutenant Axel the leader of the special forces unit, and Rick, Adam''s subordinate and the leader of the third toon.


    They were having mixed feelings on how to deal with the situation. The huge man next to the colonel, Captain Yonas, was the first to speak his opinion. "Why are we still standing here?! We should be out there killing those bastards! It''s obvious they are the one responsible for the death of the third division.."


    Captain Yonas was a hot-tempered man, he''s the type who always speak first before thinking. If not for Colonel Bernard, he might have been kicked out from his position a long time ago.


    Colonel Bernard calmly thought of their situation and said, "Calm down, Yonas! We don''t know that yet! We need to know who these people are before we start shooting! They still might be innocent."


    "Colonel, I can tell these people are far from innocence.. they are very creepy," retorted Captain Yonas.


    "I know our world is different now, but the rules of engagement are still the same. We cannot start shooting at civilians."


    "Ooo fuxxxxx..e on colonel... They are not civilians. Can''t you see that they are holding sabers and chanting like a madman? Axel, back me up on this."


    The handsome looking man dressed in an all-ck special forces uniform named Axel was probably the strongest man in the whole division. The man talks very little but he''s a very dependable person, he looked at the colonel and said, "I will follow any of yourmands."


    #$&#@$#


    The big guy Yonas was irritated upon hearing his answer.


    "You freak in the special forces.. don''t you have any inputs at all?"


    "...No"


    "#$&#@$#.. What about you Misfits?! What do you think?"


    Rick was the leader of the Misfits at the moment, however, he couldn''t help but look and wait for Adam''s opinion.


    Adam noticed Rick''s nce and said, "I think... Just like any fight, it''s best if we got information first. I think we should make contact and act ordingly."


    The colonel seemed satisfied with Adam''s answer. While on the other hand, Captain Yonas was getting even more irritated.


    "Ooohh fuxxx.. for the record, I still think this is a bad idea... So, don''t ask me to go over there and talk to those creeps."


    The colonel finally made his decision. "We are not savages. The rules of engagement need to be upheld, especially in times like these. The lives of every human are precious. I have already reached out to the second battalion as well, so before we reach the next vige, they should be here before nightfall.


    Colonel Bernard looked around wondering who should he send. "As for the one making contact"ˇŞAdam moved forward and presented himself.


    "Me, let me do it, colonel," said Adam determinedly.


    Colonel Bernard looked at Adam, but shook his head. "No, sorry. I cannot have you do it. This is very dangerous, I can''t face the general if anything bad happens to you."


    "Please, colonel let me do it," said Adam not willing to give up, he wanted to contribute and doesn''t want to be known only as the general''s son.


    Seeing Adam''s determination, the colonel finally gave up and then said, "Axel, bring a few of your men to make contact and bring this moron with you."


    "Ok, colonel," replied Axel.


    "Thank you, colonel," said Adam with gratitude.


    The meeting was adjourned and everyone returned to their posts.


    Adam noticed Daisy was staring at him and her face was full of worries. He approached her and gently touched her face. He could feel her blushing and breathe heavily. Noticing the flower hairpin on her head, he smiled and said, "You look really pretty wearing this."


    "Don''t joke around, Adam! Please, I am really worried."


    Adam''s hands fell on her shoulders and whispered, "Don''t worry. I will be fine. I promise."


    "You cannot promise that! Don''t promise me something you cannot keep!"


    "Hmmm, ok then how about this..." Adam reached for Daisy''s hair and removed her flower hairpin.


    "You know how much I love seeing you wearing this. I will give this back to you when we manage to get out this, ok?" Adam said as he walked away.


    "That is..." Daisy paused her words and stared at Adam ''...such a cliche,'' Daisy thought. She noticed Adam would often do childish things like in this kind of situations, but she still felt warm in her heart. She knew that Adam just wanted to calm her down. But in the end, she could only watch Adam''s back as he walks away.


    .


    .


    -


    There was an open field about the size of a football field in between vige''s entrance and the treelines.


    Axel''s group approached the center of the field and shouted, "Who are you?! What do you want?! We are the Indonesian army tasked to find and help as many survivors we can! Let your leader talk to us!"


    Axel utilized the inner strength of a peak stage mortal realm and his voice resounded all over the ce. However, the figures didn''t stop chanting and there were no replies. Still, Axel decided to patiently wait.


    They attempted multiple times and waited for almost an hour, but nothing happened. They were getting impatient and nervous at the situation.


    "Should we move closer?" Adam asked.


    "No this is nothing to do with our position. They don''t want to talk to us. Not yet anyway let''s wait a few more minutes and we''ll report back to the colonel," Axel replied as he shook his head.


    "Ok."


    A few minutester, the chanting stopped.


    Within the treelines, an old man wearing all-white clothes holding a staff walked out. The old man talked to a young boy next to him and the boy casually moved closer to Adam''s and Axel''s position.


    Adam felt conflicted seeing the boy. The boy probably at most 10 years old, but his condition was terrible. It looked like the boy was malnourished, but on his face showed abination of innocence and conviction.


    "Dear sirs, my teacher told me that if you want to talk, you should bring your leader forward."


    "Why? What do you want? We can speak for him," Axel said.


    "That''s all my master told me to say to you. Bring your leader to talk," replied the boy innocently.


    Adam said to the boy with a calm tone, "Little brother, we are here to help you, we have plenty of food and we can protect you from the monsters and the bad guys."


    The boy seemed confused and said, "But aren''t you the bad guy?"


    "No, little brother. We are from the government we are here to help you."


    The boy shouted, "No! Teacher said you are all liars. You are all bad men! I am returning now."


    "Little brother. Wait! Wait! What about your parents? Where are they?" Adam said as he tried to reach out to the boy.


    "Mister, my parents have gone to heaven. But, I will soon follow them to heaven." The little kid smiled with innocence and skipped joyfully back to the treeline.


    The four men were speechless.


    A few minutester, Colonel Bernard joined the field with the other four people.


    "I don''t like this..."


    Suddenly, a ruckus could be heard among the people in front of them. The old man grabbed a wooden bowl and dozens of men kneeled in front of him.


    "What are they doing?"


    The old man seemed to be saying something and started giving drinks from the wooden bowl.


    One person


    Two person


    Three person


    Four person


    All four of them seemed excited and grateful for what was given out by the old man. They took off their shirts and turned around facing Colonel Bernard''s group.


    The old man gave back the wooden bowl to one of his men and took a bag. He started moving slowly to the group followed by the four bare-chested men. As this group approached, Colonel Bernard''s group saw them clearer. The other group''s bare-chested men looked pale and restless.


    The old man in white clothes revealed a face full of smiles as he observed Colonel Bernard''s group. His eyes finally rested at the colonel and said, "It seems you are the leader."


    "Yes, I am Colonel Bernard from the Indonesian army, who are you?"


    "You don''t need to know. As you will all die here!" dered the old man.


    Colonel Bernard''s group readied themselves. "Why are you doing this?"


    "It''s pretty simple actually, we all want to survive and you are in our way," the old man grinned as he spoke.


    The colonel couldn''t understand what the madman''s intentions, but he knew that if he didn''t do anything right now, both sides would lose hundreds of lives. He couldn''t let this happen, especially when so many humans have died since the doomsday, thus the colonel forced himself to think of a solution.


    "You might have the bigger number right now, but we have the firepower. We are here representing the Indonesian army and our country has started rebuilding. If you continue doing this, you''ll be fighting deemed as rebels. My reinforcement is on their way, I suggest you should stand down. If you don''t attack us we won''t harm you, we can all go our separate ways and no more lives will be lost."


    A threat, apromise, and logical reasoning, these were the colonel''sst attempt. But what the old man did after his speech shocked him.


    "Puwah! A lostmb that doesn''t realize he''s already inside the tiger''s den."


    The old man raised the bag and spilled its content. Blood slowly dripped from the bag, following it, a head.


    Colonel Bernard unconsciously moved closer and was shocked. It was the head of the second battalion''s leader! He just spoke with the man a few hours ago, but seeing the head now meant the whole second battalion might have already met their demise.


    The old man smiled widely seeing the colonel''s reaction as he started to move back a few steps. Heughed maniacally, "Hahahahaha! A body without a head would die easily! You guys should have realized by now that the only reason we agree for this meeting is to kill you all. Without a leader, everyone else will be much easier to take care of."


    The colonel was enraged at the knowledge of his 500 men dying at the hands of this madman, he was about to jump at the madman when Adam suddenly shouted at him.


    "COLONEL! STOP! Let''s fall back! Let''s go!"


    Adam''s voice was like a bucket of ice thrown on his head, he woke up and realized that he almost fell to the enemy''s trap. He jumped back to his group, but the four pale men suddenly chased after him.


    The four pale men simultaneously screamed.


    AAARRGGG!!!


    Their eyes suddenly became red as blood flowed out from their ears and noses. ck veins popped out like old tree roots from their body. These four pale men looked like they were in pain and berserk, but their eyes were clearly focused at the colonel. All four took out a small knife as they fiercely jumped with a speed even faster than a peak stage mortal realm.


    Adam suddenly shouted, "Colonel! Watch out!"


    Adam, Axel, and the other two special forces tried to reach the colonel''s position, but it was toote.


    One of the four pale men flew away as the colonel was able to kick him, but the other three managed to stab him.


    Pa!! Pa!! Pa!!


    Colonel Bernard fell to his knees. His hand grabbed onto one of the knives in his body in an attempt to pull it out, but one of the pale men punched his stomach causing him to lose his grip. The pale man then grabbed his hair.


    Adam and Axel were desperate, but they were blocked by the other two pale men.


    "Noooo!!!!!" Adam shouted as he watched the pale man slit the throat of the colonel.


    aattttt


    Colonel Bernard of the fourth division died.


    - - - - - - - - - -


    Authors Note:


    Dear doomsday pir reader this is the longest chapter so far, twice as many the normal chapter how do you like it? Anyway, I keep feeling guilty about thete update while I keep seeing stable power vote from you all. Thank you very much for your patience with me.


    Actually, this week I have a high fever for a few days and also AllNovelFull finally arrives in Indonesia. As I am the first Indonesian contracted by the web novel, thest few days I have been helping the Indonesian writermunity. This will do good to improve my writing as well.


    I have released the Indonesian version of Doomsday pir, currently manages to reach the top 20 in Indonesian web novel as there weren''t that many novels yet. If the Indonesian version manages to reach the top 10, it means free promotion every day as it will appear on the front page. This will be very useful for me as AllNovelFull hasn''t promoted me for a few months now. If any of you have any power vote to spare just for this week it will be very appreciated, just enough until it got stable Indonesian readers. just click on my name and see my other novel you will find it. thank you.


    As for the English version, please be patient with me, I will keep work harder with the English novel as well, there will at least be 2 more chapters this week. thank you.

 Chapter 134 - Village Battle

    The sound of a sharp knife shing through the colonel''s neck


    SPLLAATTT!!!


    Blood dripped from the colonel''s neck as he fell down on the ground. Adam''s mind was denying that the colonel was dead, but the cold hard reality was being shown through the colonel''s lifeless eyes.


    "Noooooo!!!" Adam looked at their situation and his mind was in a mess. Should I retreat or take revenge? Was the madman right? Are we nothing without the colonel?


    Adam wanted to dash forward and kill the four pale men in front of him, but these men were strong and didn''t seem to be afraid of death. They looked around as if they were thirsty for a drink of blood.


    He was hesitating when he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Axel, the special forces leader and the strongest fighter among them.


    "We were careless.... Listen to mymand."


    Simple words but effective, Adam nodded, seemingly to have found a foothold within his chaotic mind.


    The four pale men simultaneously jumped to attack them, Axel was expecting this and shouted an order. "Now duck!!!"


    Adam unconsciously followed the order and they all ducked low to the ground.


    Suddenly, a series of gunfire roared from the vige.


    Bang!! Bang!! Bang!! Bang!!


    A dozen bullets traveled in the air to the field and sted the four pale men.


    "Aaargggghhh!!"


    The bullets pierced through the bodies of the four pale men, one of them even received a bullet in the head and died instantly. Adam lifted his head and saw the remaining pale men full of holes as blood flowed out of their bodies.


    Axel reached for his radio and said, "Good shot, snipers..."


    Axel looked at the two special forces soldiers next to him and they nodded, as if all were thinking the same thing, the two moved closer to the three dying pale men to finish the job.


    The special forces soldiers walked to the knife that the pale men dropped. The moment one of the special forces soldiers reached out for the knife, the three bloodied pale men shockingly stood up and jumped to the standing still soldier.


    "AARRGGHH!!! PURGE PURGE!!!"


    A pale man held the special forces soldier down as the other two pale men bit big chunks of flesh right from the neck and the body of the poor man.


    The other special forces soldier hurriedly grabbed the knife and stabbed one of the pale men''s back, but the stabbed pale man ignored him. The moment the poor soldier stopped squirming, the three pale men jumped toward thest special forces soldier.


    Axel and Adam had been shocked at the sight of them ''eating'', they only recovered when theirst colleague was being pounced upon.


    The two dashed forward to tackle their targeted opponents. But to their surprise, the pale men did not even budge, not only were they faster but their strength were much more overwhelming.


    "What the hell?! Are they even human?!"


    Adam recalled what these pale men had drank before the fight. He also remembered thest moments of the crazy dying man injected with morphine. He noticed these people seemed to be stronger than a normal peak stage mortal realm fighter. They could even still fight despite heavy injuries.


    Every punch Adam made was returned with an even stronger punch from the pale man. He got careless for a moment and a pale man sped him from behind. It was such a strong grab that he was unable to move. The pale man''s mouth slowly opened wanting to bite Adam''s neck.


    SPLATT!!!


    Blood st all over the ground as a head rolled down.


    I''m alive! Adam loosened the arms of the headless pale man entwined on his body. He turned around and saw a saber wielding man. It was his friend, Rick, his reliable vice leader of the Misfits.


    Rick came in rushing with half of the special forces army when they noticed that things had gone sour. Unfortunately, they were just a tad toote.


    It was now two dozen men fighting two bloodied pale men. However, the two pale men weren''t fazed at all, they charged towards the two dozen men.


    The fight didn''tst long, however, the two pale men were so fierce that the two dozen men still somewhat had a hard time killing them.


    "Huff... huff... what the hell... was that?" Rick asked while gasping for breath.


    "Rick, what are you doing here?! Aren''t you supposed to be with the misfits?!"


    "Don''t worry, your pretty girlfriend is with them. She wouldn''t stop worrying about you, so I came here to make sure to bring you back in one piece."


    Axel suddenly shouted, "Retreat back to the vige!"


    Adam looked at the treeline and understood why Axel gave out the order. Along the treeline, the old madman started giving out drinks to two dozen of kneeling men. The kneeling men that drank from the bowl tore their shirts and prayed to the skies before forming a group.


    Seeing the forming battle group of the enemy, Axel had a thought and decided to stop the retreat order. If those crazy people were to go inside the vige, that''ll be the end for us. We need to stop them here. Everyone standing here are the strongest of the battalion. We can do itˇ­


    The two dozen special forces soldiers hade earlier fully armed. They handed out various weapons to those who didn''t have weapons. Adam received a saber as they formed a single battle line to hold the enemy.


    Axel walked forward, opened his radio and looked at the men standing in front of him. "All troops ready your weapons! Everyone, hear my order! Shoot whateveres out from the treeline. Your lives, no... our lives are on the line! DO NOT HESITATE!"


    "SIR, YES SIR!" all shouted in unison.


    Seeing Axel stand in front of them with confidence and decisiveness, Adam couldn''t help but give his respect to the man. He survived his earlier battle because of Axel. This man was a great fighter and apparently, he also had the charisma to be a great leader.


    Behind the treeline, the crazy men were forming up. The army saw these crazy men holding weapons.


    Nothing could be heard except for the rustling of the trees, the night was dead.


    After a few moments, a voice resonated behind the treeline.


    "My fellow brothers and sisters! Our god is great! We are given the chance to repent by carrying out god''s judgment through these infidels! Let us enact the wrath of god upon these sinners! Purge them!"


    "Purge... Purge... Purge..." the crazy men continuously stomped their feet as they repeated this single word.


    Rick was standing next to Adam and said, "Fuxxxx this is a new level of craziness."


    Adam didn''t hear Rick''s words. His mind was preupied as he looked to the other side of the vige. I hope they''ll be alright.


    "Everyone get ready! Remember to not hesitate shooting whatever is in your sight!" Axel reminded.


    All the people on the field and the soldiers from the vige readied their fingers on the trigger. But then, something unexpected happened.


    White smoke came out from the trees. It was so dense that it began to cover the treeline and slowly drifted into the vige.


    The chanting started again, following it, a warcry.


    Thousands of crazy people charged into the vige from all directions!


    "They areing! Rain down bullets at the treeline!"


    Dratatataattatatataatatta


    "Watch out!!!"


    "Enemiesing in from the left! All fire to the left!"


    Dratatatatatattataattat


    These thousands of crazy people looked just like ordinary civilians; many didn''t have the expertise or even proper weapons; some wielded sabers, some just knives, some just held steel pipes among other things. But they all have one thing inmon, they were ecstatic and hade to kill.


    Most of the misfits and the militia soldiers still hesitated and found it hard to fight back, and because of that, casualties started piling up around the vige.


    The main battle was still located at the vige''s entrance.


    Axel stood tall at the front wielding two huge sabers.


    "Here theye! The crazies are here be careful!"


    The two dozen shirtless men had the same conditions as the pale men from earlier; pale skin, blooding out from their ears, nose, and ck vines resurface on their skin. They were unafraid to do anything.


    Tratattaatatata


    Bullets seemed to affect them a little, but they kept on pushing forward.


    "Aim for the head!!!"


    Tratatatatatatatta


    The white smoke made the soldiers unable to shoot urately, as a result, only a few of the two dozen pale men died.


    When the pale men finally reached close-quarterbat distance, the special forces soldiers took out their melee weapons and prepared themselves. These special forces soldiers had been fighting together for years, they stood back to back, shoulder to shoulder leaving no nks opened. They formed a battle formation, it was such a glorious scene. Adam noticed them and wished for the day his misfits would be able to do such techniques.


    "Aaarrggnjj!!!"


    "Ian! No! Fuxxx you, monster!"


    "Henri! Behind you! No!"


    As one pale man dies, one special forces soldier would fall as well. Axel was doing his best to ensure his men would live as he fought two pale men simultaneously.


    He then heard a series of ruckusing from the treeline. It appeared all the rest of the hostile was bringing out their trump card.


    It seems that I''ll not be able to hold the line any longer. I have to bring out ourst card. Axel radioed, "Tiger one, Tiger two move in!"


    From inside the vige, two Badak tank drove out into the vige entrance.


    "Blow up everything on that treeline," Axel ordered.


    "Roger that!"


    SHUUTTTT!!! SHUUTTT!! SHUUTTT!!!


    KABOOOMM!!! KABOOOMM!! KABOOOMM!!


    The explosion was immediately followed with the roars of the heavy machine-gun on top of the Badak tank.


    DRATATATATATTADRATATATATATATA


    Heavy fires and explosions thundered around the whole vige along with the screams of the crazy people. This spectacle raised the fighting spirit of every soldier within the vige.


    "This is our chance! Push them back!"


    This kind of situation is normal in any types of battle, an effective surprise attack, especially thebination of heavy explosions and machine guns will not only reduce the enemy numbers, but the main effect on the battle is also to give shock among the enemy and bring confusion.This is the best time to counter-attack and finish the battle.


    Everyone in the army and the special forces knew of the advantage surprise tactics, they called up the militia to join and advance to maximize its effect.


    SLAASSHH!! PA!! PA!! DRATATTATAA!!


    Blood sshed everywhere as more and more crazy people died.


    Captain Yonas, the vicemander of the battalion, was fighting alongside the militia inside the vige. As the number of crazy people he killed increased, he got more and more excited. But as the smoke started to dissipate and he saw the faces of the crazy people, his heart started pounding.


    Although many crazy men had died due to the counter-attack, the craziness in their eyes didn''t change as they continued moving by hundreds into the vige.


    "Something is not right..."

 Chapter 135 - Escaped

    The fight between the 500 army men and the seemingly endless mad people reached its climax. The tanks rained down rockets shaking the ground, bullets traveled the air as its shell became like a waterfall giving the army the push it needed to advance.


    Different than the pale men, most of these rushing mad people were just normal looking citizens, some were even kids and some were old men. But they kept running through the rain of fire even though the ground was littered with theirrades.


    "This is madness! They are like moths running into the fire!"


    The army had hoped that when a lot of their people die, they would turn their tails around and run back to the treeline. But they were wrong, the waves of mad people continued as if they were possessed by something.


    Deaths on both sides kept rising. Even a fully armed army, wasn''t able to keep these people at bay. Surrounded by ten to one, especially by frenzied masses, casualties started to pile up.


    At the vige''s entrance Axel, Adam, Rick, and the special forces had been fighting desperately against the dozens pale men.. Same with the rest of the mad people, the thunderous explosion behind them didn''t affect their will to kill their prey.


    "Lieutenant Axel, what the hell are they? What are we actually fighting here?"


    "Focus men! We can make it!" shouted Axel, the strongest man on the field. His body was filled with wounds and cuts, his clothes were tattered revealing his bloodied muscles, but he was fighting valiantly and was able to chop the head of one the pale men while still fighting another two.


    Adam had had a bad feeling ever since they were surrounded, he had only wanted to save more people, but his good-willed advice had resulted in their current situation. Seeing the lifeless bodies of hisrades, the Colonel Bernard, he felt responsible.


    The fight continued on for a few more minutes, the special forces able the resist because of their tight formation. Adam thought that if they had been fighting one on one, they wouldn''t survive for this long.


    The pale men movements were erratic, physically stronger and faster they were, but the most troublesome part was that whatever damage they took, they were unperturbed. Their bodies were soaked with blood from the bullets and cuts, but they kepting back to fight. Adam felt as if he was not fighting human beings but rather an undead.


    Suddenly, the mist started to dissipate, the surroundings became more clear. The fight has gone deep into the vige. Gunshots and screams sounded non-stop all over the vige. The tanks have also finally stopped its attacks, their ammunition finally ran out.


    Adam suddenly heard sounds of running footstepsing from the vige...


    Dratatattata!! Dratattatata!!


    More soldiers came from the vige with guns to reinforce the vige entrance and started shooting at the pale men. The reinforcement caused more pale meny unmoving on the ground.


    Adam looked at his surroundings, hundreds of mad people bodies were lying on the ground. Towards the treelines, Adam saw the madman staying still among the burning and falling trees. But to Adam''s surprise, behind the treelines, the figures shuffling seemed denser... they were endless.


    Seeing this, cold sweat ran on Adam''s back. The pale fighters were already very hard to kill, but now, thousands of mad people were running towards them specifically! He can''t imagine how many would survive the battle. It seems the final battle about to begin.


    Suddenly...


    Thump.. Thump...


    Thump.. Thump...


    Adam reached for his heart. It beat oddly. He tried to move his body, his arm, his legs, but was unable to. Every limbs felt heavy and his mind started spinning as the heartbeat reached his head. "Wha-what is happening? Rick! Do you feel something as well?!"


    "Yes! Something is wrong... my body feels weak..."


    Adam looked at the soldiers and their faces told the same story. The new soldiers that had just arrived were not from the special forces, most were still in the mid-stage mortal realm, and their condition seemed much worse, a few started to drop kneeling on the ground as they grasped for air.


    In his confusion, Adam unconsciously looked to Axel, the guy who stood tall and unbending to any threats.


    Axel turned around to his men, he was frowning. "We are in trouble boys... it seems we are poisoned... I believe everyone in the vige is experiencing the same thing..."


    Hearing this, Adam''s heart ran wild. He looked to the towards the vige as if he was searching for his group, his people, his Daisy.


    "It looks like peak stage mortal realm people could only move," Axel paused and looked at the dozens of helpless soldiers in front of him, "I can''t leave them like this, I will stand here and fight till the end... Special forces! I order all of you who can still move to escape and save as many as you can!"


    There were only about a dozen special forces who were at peak stage mortal realm, Adam and Rick included.


    One of the special forces soldiers said, "Lieutenant, I have been following you for years! I will not leave you alone. I will stay..."


    "Me too, Lieutenant!"


    "Same here!"


    The special forces soldiers who could move stood up and dered their will. They all held in salute to their leader.


    Axel clenched his fist, he turned around so his men can''t see his face. He was proud of his men.


    "Men! I am ordering you to leave! Escape while you can!!!"


    But the special forces soldiers stood still, their eyes were clear and determined. "We''re sorry Lieutenant... just for today, we won''t ept your order."


    "I need you to save our people and escape! Tell the headquarters our current state! This is an order!"


    "Lieutenant, please give that job to our young friend here. We will stay!"


    Axel was trembling, his fist getting tighter and tighter, trying to keep his facade of a tough leader. He shook his head, he knew his men wouldn''t follow this order, he trained them, he knew them best. "Because all of you disobeyed a direct order. All of you will receive martial court. All of you are no longer my men. But right now, all of youˇ­ are all my brothers."


    Adam saw the brotherhood of Alex and his men couldn''t help but embed it in his memories. From this moment he decided he wanted to achieve that kind of loyalty from his own people. He wanted to achieve it in his life.


    Axel gave Adam a nce and Adam nodded. Rick and Adam, gave the Lieutenant and his dozen men a salute to the Lieutenant and then quickly ran toward the two Badak tanks nearby.


    The wave of mad people began moving behind the treeline. These men didn''t show fear, but rather ecstatic faces for the uing next round of battle.


    Adam and Rick reached the tanks and found the two soldiers inside were affected by the poison. They put aside the two soldiers and took control of the tanks and drove inside the vige.


    Adam looked back as he drove towards the vige, he saw hundreds of mad people swarming Axel and the special forces soldiers. Adam gritted his teeth and stomped the pedal to drive faster. He was afraid that if he stayed any longer, he would stay there to fight and die with them, but he could not let his friends, the misfits tarry in this ce any longer.


    The tank has a back door and could amodate 8-10 people inside. He could let some people sit on top of the tank as well, therefore with the two tanksbined, at most he could bring around 30 men. Only 30 people out of the 500 soldiers.


    While driving through the vige he saw the other soldiers writhing on the ground and gasping for air, the poison did affected them as Axel had spected. Adam saw the mad people''s crazed expression while killing and capturing the soldiers who were unable to move. There were others who ran towards the tanks screaming for help.


    "Help! Open the door!"


    "Hey you! Hurry up and let us in!"


    Hearing their pleas, Adam clenched the steering wheel. "I''m sorry! I really am!" He tried to turn a deaf ear and continued driving as he knew he couldn''t save everyone.


    "Wait! Don''t leave us!!!"


    Because of the poison, most of these people were unable to catch up to the tanks. But they weren''t going to give up their chance for survival and followed its course.


    Adam was nearing where the misfits were located. From afar, he saw that there were also hundreds of mad people swarming them, but since more than half of the misfits were in the high stage and some were in the peak stage mortal realm, their situation was better than the rest in the vige.


    Nathan and Nathalie''s coordination with each other looked like they were like dancing around the battlefield, Jason was like a mad bull charging his way against the enemies, Romi was following Jason and took the opportunity to kill every enemy Jason tackled, and Tommy, with his two shadows, was running around where reinforcement is needed. The group''s tacticsplemented each other.


    As soon as Adam and Rick arrived, they both came out of the tanks and Rick shouted, "The battle is lost! We need to leave now! Misfits, quickly enter the tanks!"


    Adam looked around, he noticed some familiar faces on the ground dead. At least a dozen misfits died in this fight. He frantically searched among the living for a particr person, his heart beat faster as he couldn''t find her, he grabbed one of the misfits and asked, "Where is Daisy?!"


    A figure suddenly approached him from behind and hugged him."Calm down, I''m here. I''m fine."


    Adam turned around and saw her. He hugged her back tightly. The scent of her sweat, the warmth of her touch, everything of her finally made his heart calm down.


    "What happened?" Daisy asked still being hugged.


    "Colonel Bernard died. Lieutenant Axel asked us to escape and report to General Rico of what has happened."


    Hearing the news, Daisy closed her eyes and felt their surroundings with her abilities. "To the east. I can sense that''s the least dense area."


    "Ok, gather the survivors inside the tank go right away with Rick and lead the way!" Adam let go of Daisy and turned around.


    Daisy grabbed Adam''s arm and said, "What about you? There''s not much time left!"


    "I''ll be right behind you! Now go!" Adam said as he held Daisy''s hand. It felt warm, and soft. Adam then turned to Tommy and said, "Tommy, go with Daisy and keep her safe."


    Daisy opened her mouth but no words came out. Despite her wanting to stay with him, she understood what needed to be done.


    Both lovebirds gave onest look before heading to their respective tanks.


    The tank Rick drove was filled with 20 people and could not carry any more, thus, Rick decided to push the pedal and head east. Adam watched the back of the tank, at least he knew that Daisy would be getting out soon.


    Adam, now surrounded by his best people; Jason, Romi and the siblings, was fighting around the area near the tank as the other misfits entered the second tank.


    "Get inside! Get in!"


    When the tank was almost filled up, a group of people was approaching from the distance.


    "Let us in!"


    "Help us too!"


    Most of these people were from the militia army. They didn''t have the discipline like the special forces. What''s bad is that fear has consumed their mind, they are not thinking straight, they were prepared to take over the tank with force.


    "Wait the tank is full! It won''t move with more people in it!"


    "No let us in! Let us in!"


    Adam looked at the people around the tank, and at the people approaching. He knew if he didn''t do something, all of them would die. He was ordered to return to the general and save people, and yet, he could only save a limited amount of people. He was torn as he wanted to save everyone. Adam screamed as he took his gun and aimed at the militia.


    "DON''T COME ANY CLOSER or I will shoot!!!"


    BANG!


    Adam did a warning shot into the air and then aimed at the militia.


    The iing militia stopped on their tracks and everyone looked at Adam in disbelief.


    Adam said to Jason, "Drive right now! I''ll be right behind you!"


    One of the militias picked up the courage to say something and walked slowly towards Adam.


    "I don''t believe you will shoot, please, we beg you to let us in."


    Adam lifted the heavy and cold hard steel in his hand while trembling. Before pulling the trigger, he closed his eyes as the sound of the gun echoed in the air.


    BANG!!!


    "AARRGHH, you dare to shoot me!" The man held his shoulder as it bled from the gunshot, filled with rage, he dashed forward with his saber raised.


    BANG! BANG!


    Two more shots, two straight in the head, the man died. Everyone looked at each other in confusion. Weren''t theyrades? Why did things have to be this way.


    Adam looked at the dead man and the gun in his hand, trembling he was. Thoughts ran wild in his head. He killed arade. He killed an innocent man. Staring at the gun emitting out its hot air from its hole, convincing himself is what he needed to do. If he has to, then he has to.


    He turned around hoping to see the tank had already drove away, but to his surprise, he saw a little kid skipping towards the still tank. Adam recognized the boy, it was little kid he talked to before in the vige''s entrance.


    The boy was carrying a huge backpack and was joyfully hopping straight to the tank.


    A kid, a bag, and a tank, Adam realized what was happening, "Noo!!!" Adam shouted as he ran towards the boy.


    But, the boy had already reached the tank and Adam was still a couple of meters away. The boy heard Adam''s shout and smiled innocently. The boy looked up to the dark sky and mumbled hisst words.


    "Mommy, daddy, I can finally be with you..."


    KAAABBBBBBBOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!

 Chapter 136 - Captured

    "Mommy, daddy, I can finally be with you..."


    Adam heard the words of the little kid.


    KABBBOOOMMMMMM!!!!


    The deafening roar of the explosion created a wave of air that flipped over the tank and blew Adam away. Bits and pieces of mangled meat rained down around the area as the militia looked at the scene with fear in their eyes, they couldn''t believe what they just saw.


    Adam was lying on the ground and groaning, he was losing his consciousness, his eardrums were ringing and his body was burned. Clenching his fist, he thought it shouldn''t end here. Coughing he called out,"Jason! Romi! Nathan! Natalie! Misfits!!!"


    Everything was a blur and the world was spinning. He tried to stand up, but the burns he received on his skin still gave the sensation of burning and caused Adam to stumble on the ground.. He lifted his head to look at the surrounding, the remains of the misfits were all over the ce, and the little kid was nowhere to be seen except for the kid''s shoes that''s on the side of the flipped tank.


    The st of the explosion caused the tank to be flipped over. Adam slowly crawled with his eyes half-opened towards the tank. As the ringing in his ears dies down, he heard footstepsing from behind.


    The group of militia had already surrendered. The moment they had seen the tank flip over, all hope they had was lost, some still had tried to run but it was all for naught. The mad people chased and killed the ones who ran, but captured the ones who lost their will.


    Corpses of the misfits, militia, and the mad people littered the battlefield, some mad people were kicking the bodies of these ''infidels'' as they joyfully cheered. It was as if the tank was their altar, the people were theirmb, and the smoke rising from the tank was a sign of approval from their god.


    "They have been purged! Hahaha."


    "Our god is great! His justice prevails!"


    Adam continued crawling straight to the tank and noticed the mad people that gathered around the tank. They opened the back door and dozens of people were pulled out from the tank and thrown to the ground when he heard a voice near him.


    "There''s one alive here!"


    Adam felt a hand grabbing onto him and was dragged away. He struggled, but he didn''t even had the strength to break free from the mad people. His eyes were set at the tank, all that really mattered to him was to see his friends if they''re alive right now.


    "Pah!" Adam felt a fist drilled into his stomach as he slowly loses his consciousness. Before it faded, he heard were the words "More people alive here!" he tried to take one more nce and saw that the mad people were pulling out the bodies from the tank and then everything went ck.


    .


    .


    .


    At the vige''s entrance, the swarm of endless mad people along with the pale men surrounded Axel and the special forces soldiers.


    Their tight formation had proven effective as there were more mad people dead on the ground. But as time passed by, the special forces soldiers numbers slowly numbers dwindled and their formation was starting to lose its effectiveness. Until there only two from the dozen that were left.


    Axel stood alongside his two brothers facing the pale men and mad people. With each sh of his two sabers, a head of an enemy got severed from their body.


    As the battle continued, he received new wounds but the old cuts he received were no longer there! Looking closer, the new cuts were healing at a visible rate, he was apparently also the same as Daisy and Tommy, a Spirit Enhancer!


    However, Axel might be a Spirit Enhancer, but that didn''t mean that his stamina was endless. He was breathing raggedly and his vision getting was blurry. He was already at his limits.


    A pale man took notice of this and dashed forward as soon as he found an opportunity and stabbed Axel deep into his lungs. Axel wielded his sabers at the pale man who stabbed him, but the pale man jumped back and the sabers only shed through the empty air.


    "Lieutenant!" shouted one of the two special forces soldiers. He looked away for a moment and a pale man suddenly impaled his heart.


    "!!!"


    Axel summoned hisst bit of strength and jumped to the sneaky pale man. The pale man''s head flew. The moment Axelnded and inhaled, the knife on his back touched his lungs, causing him to kneel down on one knee. Everytime he breathed, it felt like he was being stabbed all over again and again.


    With Axel being unable to move, thest special forces also didn''tst long. Axel can only helplessly see hisstrade being impale from 3 sidesˇ­ Axel look around and see all dozen corpses of hisrades, his loyal friendsˇ­ with his current condition, its seem this will also be the end for himˇ­ looking at their corpses Axel slightly smile and whisper with hisst energy...


    "Don''t worry boys, I''ll be joining you all soon"


    The pale man who stabbed Axel was ecstatic seeing him kneeling, only just one more blow was needed. He dashed forward once again, but was suddenly stopped by a foreign, eastern looking man.


    "Stop. Don''t kill him," said the eastern looking man.


    If Alex or Rico was here, they would definitely recognize this person! This man is Hafiz, the leader of Indonesian''s most notorious terrorist cell, the Heavenly Gate!


    The old man, observing from the side, approached and bowed respectfully to Hafiz.


    "This man recovers from his wounds at a visible rate. Do you see how the cuts he received close up easily? He''ll be a perfectb rat for your experiments, don''t you think? Bring him to yourb and have fun with him," said Hafiz to the old man.


    Smiling, the old man seemed to already have a few ideas on what to do. "Ahh, yes yes. He''ll be perfect for the new drugs and poisons I haven''t had the chance to test."


    "As for the rest of the enemy in the vige, round them all up."


    The old man then nodded at the pale man who stabbed Axel and the pale man then struck Axel''s nape and Axel fell to the ground unconscious.


    A couple of minutester, all squad leaders of the army and militia were captured. The squad leaders were then forced to stand in line. The first person in the line was then dragged in front of Hafiz and the old man. One of the mad people were holding him down and made him kneel. He raised his head and his face was flowing with tears as he tried to beg to let him live. He broke free and held onto the white robe of the old man.


    "Don''t touch our holy priest with your dirty hands, infidel!" one of the mad people kicked him in the guts as he flew a few meters away.


    He was then forced to stand up and he felt a cold sharp object touched his neck. Suddenly, he saw the world spinning. Then the world became still as he felt the wet soil, he then saw a body without a head falling to the ground. It took him a second to realize that it was his body. He died.


    The rest of the squad leaders realized that they were gonna get executed and all tried to run. But the pale men were quick to react as the squad leaders were immediately recaptured. One by one, they saw theirrades heads roll on the ground. Some struggled, some begged, some kept their mouths shut and faced their deaths with pride.


    Captain Yonas was thest in line to be executed. Trembling, he was brought in front of the old man and Hafiz when he suddenly cried out, "I-I believe! I-I will follow the one true god!"


    The old man showed his pearly white teeth, he was not expecting Captain Yonas to break at thest moment. "Hahaha! Interestingˇ­ I''ll let you live."


    .


    .


    .


    An hourter, Adam woke up. He tried to move, but he couldn''t, he then noticed there were ropes on his body preventing him from moving, but the heavy feeling of his limbs was not there anymore. It seemed like the poison had disappeared while he was unconscious.


    Looking at his surroundings, hundreds of people were also tied up, and thousands of mad people were praising and chanting while the pale men were in the middle kneeling and praying solemnly.


    One of the pale men suddenly shook uncontrobly and spat out blood as he dropped to the ground, still spasming. Soon afterwards, the other pale men have the same reactions andid t on the ground just like that. It seemed like it was the aftereffect of what they had consumed from the bowl. It brought out their amazing power, but at the cost of their life.


    The thousands of mad people ignored them as they continued praying and chanting.


    Adam searched around and finally found hisrades. Jason, Romi and the siblings were alive, as well as about a dozen of misfits were sitting not far from him. He then sighed a breath of relief.


    The praying and chanting soon stopped and the mad people pulled the ropes attached to the captured survivors as they began to travel. Walking for hours, they passed one of the major cities in the south of west java named Sukabumi, or rather what''s left of it as it was now a ghost city.


    An hourter, they finally reached a port city called Pu Ratu, it''s located in the south west most of Java. And they were brought to the dock area of the city.


    The dock area still has a lot of ships with trailers sitting on top of them. Broken crates were just lying around everywhere and barrels with woods were on the standby. In one corner of the dock area, there was a mountain of corpses emitting a stomach-churning smell.


    "Bastards! These people are inhumane!!!" shouted of the army soldiers.


    "Quiet, infidel!" the mad citizen struck the man with a club and died. Seeing this, no one even uttered a word for the rest of the trip.


    They soon arrived in front of a once luxurious hotel near the dock area, but now it looked like a rundown building and the face of the hotel was smeared with all kinds of stains. It was there where they stopped.


    The 200 survivors stood in the middle, sandwiched in between the hotel and the thousands of mad people as the ropes that tied them were cut by some of the mad people.


    Adam and the misfits found each other and thought of their situation.


    "What are they nning?" asked one of the misfits.


    "I have no idea. But the way they look at us. It''s giving me the creeps," replied one of the misfits.


    The misfits saw Captain Yonas among the group of the pale men being watched over, but Lieutenant Axel was nowhere to be found.


    Suddenly, the thousands of mad people cheered at the top of their lungs when Hafiz and the old man apanied by a few pale men walked up the makeshift stage in front of the hotel. Hafiz raised his hand and all of the thousands of mad people turned quiet, he then dered, "The judgment day has alreadye. We are the people left behind, the chosen people," he then looked at Adam and the survivors, "our merciful god has given you people a chance to repent. This is yourst chance. You need to prove ourselves to our lord. You need to choose sides."


    Adam feels something weird when he heard the manˇ­ the feeling is very hard to describe.. Its seems like the foreign man word able to reach deep into his mind.


    When the man stops his speech, suddenly a group of people arrived in front of the makeshift tform. Adam and the rest recognized some of the faces in this new group.


    "Theyˇ­ They are from the third divisionˇ­"


    The people from the third division saw the other group and recognized them as well. The two groups ran to each other and hugged the people they knew. These people served in the army, some were even friends and neighbors from Jakarta.


    Adam saw a person approaching him and heard her called out to him, "Adam!" It was Melissa, one of his ssmates whose mother was a politician. She was captured along with the third division. "Jason is here too, but where is Daisy?" Melissa ced her hands on her mouth, "Wait, don''t tell me she''sˇŞ"


    "She escaped," Adam said.


    Breathing a sigh of relief, Melissa looked sternly at Adam and grabbed his shoulders, "Adam, you need to listen to me. For you to survive, you need to listen to whatever the eastern looking man says."


    The foreign eastern man deviously smiled, he ordered his people to give the survivors they captured to drop some weapons on the ground and the people from third division walked to the side. "As I was saying earlier, you need to choose sides. Prove that you''re on the side of our merciful god. Each of you must kill one of yourrades with your own hands!"


    "!!!"

 Chapter 137 - The Pit

    The 200 men were confused as a group of mad people approached them. The mad people were holding weapons and waved it to the 200 men as they force them to go down inside an empty Olympic sized swimming pool.


    Looking around, the 200 men were shocked. The tiles were smeared with dried and wet blood. Its horrible stench hovered in the air and entered their noses, some couldn''t help but vomit on the ground as they smelled the stomach curling odor. One of the 200 walked but suddenly slipped and fell on an upward broken tile and stabbed her hand. They were inside a bloody pit arena.


    Hafiz raised his arms into the sky and said, "Prove yourselves to our merciful god, and we will let you live."


    Hearing Hafiz''s voice, the men feel conflicted emotionally, some went depressed and some other burn with rage. Hafiz is one of the hardest men to deal with.Alex has known him before in his previous life,he regretted he didn''t kill the man when he rescued Rico from the terrorist base. Hafiz is a spirit enhancer with power simr to Raissa the singer.. if Raissa singing could lift up the spirit of the one who listens, Hafiz word, on the other hand, would lower their spirit. ying with their fear would increase the effect even more.


    When the 200 men were conflicted with emotion, Cold ringing of the metals echoed as the mad people dropped around 50 various weapons while surrounding the whole area.


    Melissa shouted from the side, "Adam! Jason! You must grab a weapon! Do it now!"


    Her voice resounded in the whole pit, but a lot of them remained frozen. Some though carefully walked and to try and pick up a weapon but they were dragged back by theirrades hesitating.


    Seeing the people not moving for a while, frown can be seen in Hafiz face, it seems he didn''t really get the result he wanted.He raised his hand and a mad citizen brought a gun from one of the boxes of raided weapons. The mad citizen shots at the 200 man aimlessly


    Dratatatatatta!!!


    A few of the nearest men died with bodies full of bullet holes.


    "10 seconds. If no one acts in 10 seconds, I will start shooting again," Hafiz coldly said.


    "!!!"


    One man among the 200 walks forward. It was Captain Yonas. His expression was dark as he picked up a butcher knife.


    He said to himself, "I cannot die here."


    He then started staring at the people in front of him and his eyes met with Adam''s.


    "Adam! It was your advice that made my friend, the Colonel, die! We wouldn''t be in this mess if not because of you."


    A lot of people looked at Adam and the misfits as they picked up weapons from the ground.


    "Yes!! They even try to run away by themselves!!"


    Some of them were the ones who had chased the tanks. Their faces wore expressions of resentment as they continued shouting.


    "Traitors!"


    "It''s all your @!#$% fault!!!"


    These people were looking for a scapegoat, an excuse to live. Now that Captain Yonas stood forward, they also med Adam. Cursing, ming, fear, all of these converged as they slowly advanced and the misfits retreated.


    Romi lost strength in his knees as he fell to the ground and covered his ears, "No, no! It''s not our fault! Don''t kill us!"


    Nathan and Nathalie had grew up in the streets with the mercenaries and ever since they were little kids, they had been taught thew of the jungle. Kill or be killed. They hastily grabbed two weapons from the ground and threw it to Adam and Jason.


    Adam caught the weapon but found it somewhat heavy even though he held a weapon uncountable times.


    As for Jason, he avoided it. He just simply stood there and red at the foreign eastern man.


    The rest of the misfits clumped together picking up weapons from the ground.


    As for the rest of the militia, they were divided.


    "We don''t have to do this! We''rerades! Please drop the weapon!"


    "They''re gonna kill us, can''t you see that?!"


    "Let''s not turn on each oˇŞ" he suddenly felt a stabbing pain from his back. Turning around, he saw his tremblingrade holding a bloodied knife.


    "I-I did it! I.. I let me live!!" breathing heavily, the one who stabbed dropped the weapon from his shaking hands and ran towards thedder.


    "Good good, my child. You have chosen our merciful god, as the first who has decided, only you may climb up and join us now. As for the rest, pick a side," Hafiz praised.


    Everyone was in a daze, a few secondster, another person from the crowd croaked and fell to the ground. Chaos ensued and people who wererades began killing each other. Jason didn''t kill but just defended the misfits. The siblings have no problem killing to defend themselves. Romi noticed a person who was still breathing on the ground, he found an ice pick and stabbed the injured person.


    Feeling a gust of wind from the right side, Adam raised his saber as he saw Captain Yonas rushing at him.


    ng!!!


    The shing metal bodies of the butcher knife and the saber cried a grating sound as Adam and Captain Yonas tried to push each other.


    "Why are you doing this?!" Adam asked.


    "A boy who thinks he''s an adult. Your immatureness led us all to this!" Captain Yonas shouted as he waved his sword and jumped back.


    "We''reˇŞ"


    "NO, WE''RE NOT!" Captain Yonas interrupted Adam''s words and their bout of butcher knife versus saber continued.


    After several rounds of exchanges, Adam''s body was bleeding as he only kept defending from Captain Yonas'' aggressive attacks. From time to time, people snuck up on Adam and tried to kill him, but he was able to defend himself. Captain Yonas was able to take the openings created by the people who targeted Adam, but he only managed to wound Adam.


    Romi was crawling, trying to keep a low profile, but he saw Captain Yonas. Rage welled up within him as he stealthily made his way near Adam and Captain Yonas'' battle with the ice pick in his hands.


    "Stop this, Captain Yonas!" Adam said.


    "..."


    Suddenly, a silhouette appeared near Captain Yonas and stabbed him on his thigh.


    "!!!"


    "You! You sh*tty kid!" Captain Yonas turned around in rage and saw Romi. He waved his butcher knife to kill him but he suddenly felt something pass through in his stomach. It was Adam.


    Not wanting his friends to die, Adam knew he had to make a choice.


    Losing his grip on the butcher knife, it fell down to the ground as he spat out blood, "Not like thisˇ­ not likˇ­." Captain Yonas'' voice trailed off and took one more hateful nce at Adam beforending on Romi.


    "Get off me! You f*cking prick!" Romi shoved away Captain Yonas'' corpse. His eyes suddenly glowed with a hint of madness as he stared at the lifeless Captain Yonas, he then began stabbing the dead body with the ice pick while saying, "It''s not our fault, you d*mn piece of sh*t! Die die die! Hahahaha!"


    Adam stared at his shaking blood-soaked hands, the first time was through a gun and there was some distance, but now it was up close. He felt the warm blood of his once wasrade. Again, he took another life... Surrounded by his fellowrades who were killing each other, his whole body shivered as he screamed, "Aaaarrrggghhhhh!!!!!"


    .


    .


    Several minutester, the fighting finally ended. Out of the 200 people, there were only 80 left.


    The 80 people who survived were once again tied up. They were being held by the mad people on the side as they faced the makeshift tform.


    Below the face of the tform, one of the mad people ced down a block with a curve in the middle and a basket was set in front of it.


    Hafiz had watched the whole battle and then pointed at eight men, "You people rejected the chance our merciful god gave. You know the consequences."


    These eight men were people who didn''t took life during the pit battle. Some of them got lucky by just hiding in the midst of corpses, some were scared and ran around the whole time, but one of them is Jason, who had just defended.


    The misfits saw that Jason was pointed out and they all tried to resist the mad people. A lot of them had been saved by Jason thousands of times. They strained themselves to break free, but the mad people struck them with blunt weapons,


    The eight men were then forced to form a line in front of the executioner''s block. And a person with a hood that hid his face approached while carrying a big axe. He grunted at the mad citizen who was holding the rope to bring the first person.


    Adam and the misfits saw that Jason''s the first to go. The mad citizen understood as this wasn''t his first time and then pulled the rope as he guided Jason to the block.


    "Stop!!!" Adam raised his head and tried to stand up with his wobbly legs.


    However, the mad citizen pinned Adam on the ground. Adam attempted to gather strength in his body, but the mad citizen pushed him so hard that he only made a mess of dirt with his struggling.


    Jason stood straight and high, unyielding all this time. He didn''t kill anyone when he defended earlier, he stuck to his principles. Slowly he strodded to the executioner''s block and stopped. He turned to Adam and simply smiled, "Brother, farewell."


    When Adam heard Jason''s words, tears rolled down his cheeks. He stared at Jason as he kept on struggling to break free, but the mad citizen pinning him kicked him in the guts causing him to drop down to the ground. His best friend; his brother. With a cracking voice, he tearfully said, "Please noˇ­ Please spare himˇ­ Take me instead..."


    The mad citizen then kicked the back of Jason''s knees making him kneel and then the mad citizen ced his foot on Jason''s back.


    Jason looks around one more time to Adam and then to the madman around him "The apocalypse... how did our world be like thisˇ­" No longer wanting to be part of it, Jason tried to raise his head to stare at the vast blue sky.


    .


    .


    A sound like a butcher chopping a piece of meat on his board resounded. The severed head of Jason spun and rolled over outside of the basket.


    Looking at Jason''s severed head, Adam felt something snapped in his mind. Clenching his fist so hard that it made it white, his heart pounded wildly as if it were trying to break out. His eyes menacingly searched for Hafiz as he vehemently said, "I swearˇ­ I''ll get strongerˇ­ stronger than anyone that I''ll be able to kill who hurts my peopleˇ­ I swear it...." An aura so strong emitted out of him made the mad people and remaining survivors felt goosebumps running in their spines.


    "Hooo hooo. This young one has a strong spirit," Hafiz wasn''t affected by Adam''s terrifying aura. He simply waves his hands and said, "Take him away."


    He struggled like a wounded beast trying to escape, but they overpowered him. They pushed his head on the ground and kicked his stomach and struck his face at the same time. Adam spat out blood as he began to lose his consciousness.


    "I swear I''ll avenge you," Adam uttered before everything went ck.


    "Here''s anotherb rat for you," Hafiz said to the old man.


    "This one so badly wounded, probably not gonnast long... we''ll see how it goes," the old man grinned as he adjusted his sses.


    .


    Adam was taken away while all the other misfits can only helplessly watch.

 Chapter 138 - The Experiment

    In the basement of the luxury hotel, terrified screaming in the distance passed through Adam''s ear. Damp and wet moisture struck his skin and the rustic smell of blood assaulted his nose. Slowly opening his eyes, a gray block of stone weed his blurry vision. His arms felt numb, he tried moving it, but he only heard the rustling of metal beside him. Looking closer, his arms were raised and attached to it were chains pinned to the wall.


    A figure approached him, it''s the old man from before. The old man looked at him curiously and said, "I see that you''ve woken up. You can call me the Chemist. We''re gonna have so much fun together."


    The Chemist touched his body and said, "Yes, good bone. I can see that you''ve already eaten a dozen of these stones," he looked at his two pale men on the side and ordered, "Put him on the chair."


    The two pale men nodded and released Adam as they carried him to the chair and tied him up with leather belts..


    The room was dimly lit, shelves were lined up with jars multiple jars of ck liquids and many of what seemed to be blood bags.


    The Chemist picked up a blood bag from his table and attached it to the IV pole next to Adam while grinning. He walked closer to Adam and inserted a needle on the right arm to let the blood flow in Adam''s vein. Afterward, the Chemist did the same thing on the left arm, but this time, it was a liquid as ck as ink. Upon closer look, the ck liquid seemed to have something squirming around as if trying to get out.


    "What are you injecting me with?!"


    Adam felt something crawling inside his left arm. Suddenly, his left arm felt like being pricked with thousands of needles. The ck liquid then seemed to have arrived on his heart and this time, it felt like thousands of de was shing at his body whole being. He trembled uncontrobly as he breathed heavily and screamed. It was excruciating.


    "Arrrggghhh!!!!"


    Blood came out of his eyes, ears, nose just like the pale men. ck veins bulge out all over his body. It felt like he wanted to explode. He looked around as his instincts were telling him to destroy and kill as if it was the only thing that would make the pain go away.


    The pain calmed down and stopped after two hours, his whole body was soaking wet with his sweats.When Adam started to regain his consciousness, he heard another sound.


    "Boy if you can stand the pain... believe me this thing will make you stronger...One more dosage!!"


    Another jars of ck liquid and blood bags were again transfused into him.


    "AARGGG!!!"


    The process was repeated many times that he lost countˇ­


    His nk eyes stared at the gray ground and he suddenly saw a small item on the floor. Staring at it nkly, he tried to see the item clearly.


    "A hairpinˇ­ a flower hairpin... Daisy?" Adam''s lifeless eyes returned its color as his mind shed back to the time when he was with Daisy, "<em>I''ll be fine. Do not worry. I promise. You know how much I love seeing you wearing this. I will give this back to you when we manage to get out this, ok?"</em>


    "This cruel world devours the weak. Strongerˇ­ I need to be stronger! If this ck liquid makes me stronger, then so be it! As long as I can return to her side, I must endure!!"


    Hafiz and the Chemist walked into Adam''s cell. Hafiz looked at Adam and said, "Hoo hoo. Your eyes. They''re still alive. I''m impressed."


    "Yes yes, out of the 30 test subjects, he''s the only one who persisted. Based on what I have found, his body has adapted to the ck liquid. At first, he needed the blood of patient x, but right now, he just needs to be injected with the ck liquid," the Chemist said and walked closer to the vials of ck blood, "Patient X''s blood was very interesting, it seemed to have merged perfectly with the ck zombie''s blood. We need to search more for an immature ck zombie cocoon and recover its bone marrow."


    "That''s very good, how long now is the potency of the drug?" Hafiz asked.


    "Before it was only 3 hours. But since I have injected the bone marrow of the ck zombie with patient x''s blood, it''sshould havest a few days. Too bad the subject would still be depended on it and if they didn''t receive more dosage in time, they will lose consciousness and dies. Next thing I wanted to try would be to inject new bone marrows with the one we have here and see if it''ll merge. It''ll be too limiting if we only have one of these," picking up the jar with the bone marrow, the Chemist smiled as if he was looking at his most precious treasure.


    Hafiz walked closer to Adam and looked him in the eye, "Come with us and be with our merciful god."


    Adam felt his shivers down his spine, fear was overwhelmed him, but it was only for a moment as he gritted his teeth and stare at the two madmen in front of him with pure killing intent.


    The Chemist grinned, "Seems like your persuasion is not powerful enough for him. You could convert normal civilians just within days, even easier if they are a believer, but for soldiers and people who had consumed those stones, it seems like it''s not really effective."


    "Yes... given a couple of weeks probably I can convert people like him, but we don''t have enough time. Finish everything here and we''ll go back to the Middle East to find more believers," Hafiz coldly said, "continue with your experiments on him. We need the potency of the drug to be more powerful than this. I didn''t realize that the Indonesian government would be quick to organize. I believe their army wille soon. Finish your research faster."


    "Kekeke, ok," turning around, the Chemist picked up blood bag and injected Adam another set of ck liquid and continued on with the experiments.


    Before the doomsday start, the chemist was a biology professor who lost his practice license because of unorthodox experiments. When the doomsday start, the mutated animals, undead and spirit stones really excite him. He got acquainted with Hafiz and decided to join the cause. A few weeks ago the group was fortunate to find unhatched stage two ck zombies cocoon in the city of Sukabumi, he has been experimenting on it, hence the birth of the pale man.


    Days passed, horrible experiments took ce, it made Adam want to die as if living wasn''t worth it anymore, but he held on as the image of Daisy filled his mind.


    Until one day, loud screaming and gunshots howled from the distance, the underground of the basement was shaking due to the explosions around the luxury hotel.The situation outside seems in chaos


    When Adam opened his eyes, Three figuree rushing towards him.Three mad people appear came to take him away...


    Hearing one by one his chains being unlocked,


    In Adam''s mind, "This is my chance"


    Adam waited for the right opportunity. As soon as thest chain was released, a sudden burst of energy welled up in him as his muscles contracted and expanded. Same with the pale men, his strength and speed now exceeded peak mortal realm.


    SWWOOSSHH! BANG!!


    Two mad people were thrown to the wall, the pressure was so strong that wall nearly bore a hole in it.


    Adam grabbed the remaining mad person on the neck and mmed him to the ground. Seeing that the mad person was still alive, Adam raised his foot and stomped the head of the person drilling a hole in the ground.


    Just a few simple moves, three mad people died... he didn''t regret the killing at all. Adam raises his arm and felt such strengthing out from his body...


    "I.. i..." the feeling is hard to exin with words.


    Adam walked out of his cell and moved through the corridor trying to find a way out, but instead of finding the exit, he stumbled upon a room with a marking Patient X.Adam took a glimpse inside the room and he saw a person strapped on a chair with multiple tubes attached to him.


    It took Adam a couple of seconds to figure out it was Axel. Adam rushed over and saw that Axel was nothingpared to his previous demeanor, he''s in critical condition. Axel body has be so thin, wrinkles can be seen all over it.Dozens of empty blood bags ced near the dying man.Adam suddenly figured out where the blood bags that''s been injected to himing from.


    "Lieutenant... don''t worry. I am gonna get you out of here!"


    Pulling out the stic tubes, Adam''s was shocked when he realized how some of Axel organs were no longer in ce.The scene was so gruesome that it probably will leave a permanent mark to his mind... Axel was such a great special forces fighter, but this is how he ended up now...


    Adam cried out loud. "AAARRGGHHH.."


    Axel, barely conscious, felt a man pulling out tubes, slowly opening his eyes he saw Adam helping him out. His dry voice let out a sound slowly, "Adam... please ...Kill... Kill meˇ­"


    Adam looked at Axel with sadness. Adam could somehow understand what Axel had been through. The man cannot be saved anymore... Adam grabbed a knife on the table, but this time, somehow it felt light. Adam moved closer and whispered, "Rest in peace, Lieutenant." The knife gently ran directly into the dying man''s heart.


    Stabb!!


    Axel took onest look at Adam and smiled. Axel died...


    Adam knelt to the floor as he pounded the ground repeatedly in rage. He wanted to kill all the people responsible. But suddenly,


    "!!!"


    Adam''s body shook as the pain started again. Adam knew what this meant, his body needed another injection.


    Thinking that this is the main experiment room, Adam hoped to find what he is looking forˇ­ and there it is. Adam noticed three vials of bottle that contained ck liquid. He remembered what the Chemist and Hafiz talked about and grabbed it. He quickly consumes one to himself.


    Pain once again coursed all over his body, but with the pain, he knew that was getting stronger. He weed the pain as he held his voice, gritting his teeth in delight.


    After a few minutes of the grueling pain, he continued looking for the exit. Following the loud sounds of gunfire and explosion, finally, he saw the stairs going up and ran outside. Upon getting out, he saw that the ce was crawling with soldiers and mad people being ughtered. Guns roaring, people being shed, armored vehicles.


    He suddenly saw a familiar figure.


    "Daisy!"

 Chapter 139 - Asking For Miracle

    "I''ll be right behind you! Now go!"


    Those were thest words Daisy had heard from Adam, and since then, her heart had been pounding against her chest.


    The moment the tank Rick drove got out of the vige, the group realized that the second tank wasn''t following them as nned.


    KABOOOOMM!!!!!


    A huge explosioning from the vige resounded and Rick quickly decided to stop in the hill facing down the vige.


    As the group exited the vehicle, it was evident from the fire and the smoke rising inside the vige what happened with the rest of the army.


    Daisy''s heart skipped as she tried to rush down the road to help Adam and the rest of the misfits, but Rick managed to grab her arm first.


    "Let go of me! I need to go save them!" Daisy struggled, trying to break free.


    "No! I will not let you go! It''s toote!" Rick maintained his tight grip..


    "Please, Rick! We cannot leave them like this... we can''t..." Daisy said as she fell to her knees.


    Rick thought for a while and then proposed, "How about this? I''ll follow them from behind and you will go look for reinforcement. I''ll open the radio everyday in the morning to receive signal."


    Pondering for a moment, Daisy retorted, "No! With my ability, I am the best person to follow them!"


    Tommy, who is normally quiet, stepped in and said, "Rick, Adam told me to take care of her. I will keep her safe."


    Rick then gave a sigh, and sternly said to Daisy, "Ok... but keep yourselves in the shadows. Don''t ever reveal yourselves. You''re not on a rescue mission. Do you understand?"


    Daisy nodded.


    Rick then handed Daisy a long-range radio. Although its range may be limited, Rick believed that it may somehow prove useful. He then said, "Remember, don''t do anything stupid. I''ll definitely bring back reinforcement." Rick entered the tank and quickly left.


    Daisy and Tommy looked over the vige and noticed the movements of the people. The battle seemed to have ended. Although they could barely see them, the people were clearly moving to one location.


    Daisy and Tommy traced back their steps and hid in between the trees. Every now and then, Daisy used her sensing ability to avoid the undead, mutant beasts, and followed the mad people from a safe distance.


    They followed the mad people up into the port city and climbed up one of the buildings near the hotel.


    Taking out a binocr, they watched Adam and the rest kill each other in the pit. Daisy hoped for a miracle just like in all the movies. She hoped that Rick would suddenly bring thousands of armye to rescueˇ­ but miracle didn''te.. she saw Jason''s executionˇ­


    Her heart felt like breaking for she wanted to save them, but she knew she wouldn''t be able too. They''d be surrounded if they showed up now. Hence, she could only cry out her helplessness as they waited for the radio to sound.


    Days passed as she could only watch from a distance how the hostiles each day threw dead bodies out in the open. She hoped none of it were Adam''s. Curling up in the corner, Tommy tried tofort her. When she was about to lose hope, the radio finally picked up a signal. A voice sounded,


    "Haloo.. Is anyone there.."


    "Haloo.."


    It took a second for Daisy to recognize the voice. It wasn''t Rick, but it was the General himself. General Rico.


    Days ago, Rico had reached Bandung city and found Colonel Bernard''s third battalion that was stationed in the city. Since then, he had been searching around for clues where did the other two battalions had went. Until one day, he picked up a message from a woman who ims to be part of the missing troops. They decided to meet up at an abandoned shoe factory near the city of Sukabumi.


    Daisy and Tommy had arrived at the abandoned factory first. She paced back and forth outside while waiting but stopped when she felt the ground shaking. The cavalry hase. Her eyes glowed seeing the APV, Badak tanks, and hundreds of trained soldiers. Daisy could tell that most of these soldiers were not regr soldiers, but rather, special forces.


    She had agreed to meet with the General, but she felt her heart conflicted, although for a different reason. This guy held the highest position and most importantly, he was Adam''s dad. She then remembered the gruesome events that she had observed, her worries, unsure how to report it. But in the end, she decided to push her personal feeling away.


    A figure stepped out from one of the Armored Humvee and quickly walked closer to Daisy. As this was about the safety of his son, the General didn''t care about the safety procedures and reached out to the woman. Seeing her somehow made his face brighten up a little.


    "I know you," Rico said.


    Daisy widened her eyes, surprised that the General remembers her, she then said, "General, IˇŞ"


    One of Rico''s officers suddenly interrupted. "Please miss, you are standing in front of the president, "


    Daisy gasped and corrected her words, "Mr. President, IˇŞ"


    "Don''t worry about formality. It''s Daisy, right? Adam always talks about you."


    If only they were in a different situation, her heart would flutter at the words of the father the person she loves. But now wasn''t the right time. Daisy walked forward and ryed everything she had gathered while staying in the city.


    As Daisy continued her report, Rico''s face became darker and darker. He had ordered his best scouts to gather information, and based on what Daisy said and the scouts were reporting, the situation needed careful handling.


    The enemy seems to have almost 10,000 men, but their numbers didn''t really bother him. Counting the people he brought with him, 500 special forces and the third battalion from Bandung, his forces totaled around 1,000 men. All of them were trained soldiers, but the type of enemy they''re facing is what worries him...


    General Rico was a police officer at heart. This situation was simr to a hostage event but with hundreds of mad fighters who don''t hesitate killing human beings. Whether before or after the Doomsday, he had always wanted to get ideal results, keeping all the hostages alive and capturing the criminals. But this situation was different, his son was inside the city being kept captive and most of the hostile were people that looked like ordinary Indonesian citizens, hence, his hesitation.


    As much as he wanted to rush in and kill all those crazy madman, he could only gritted his teeth. He looked at the girl''s hopeful eyes and heavily said, "I... I am sorry. We cannot... we cannot help them... not right now..."


    The words struck Daisy as if the heavens fell down. Her shoulders slumped down thinking of the worst things that could happen.


    As for the special forces soldiers, they were itching for a battle, but the safety of the hostages was the top priority so they restrained themselves.


    The atmosphere became heavy when suddenlyˇ­


    Tut Tut!!


    The long-range radio from the Humvee sounded. There''s someone on the other end.


    Rico looked at one of his officers and asked, "Are we expecting someone? Do we still have a unit out there?"


    "No sir, all of our units should have returned."


    Tut Tut!!


    This time, it''s Daisy''s radio that sounded and she suddenly remembered something. She smiled brightly as she opened up the channel.


    "Daisy, are you there?"


    "Rick! Rick! Where are you?"


    "Sorry it took so long. I went to the city of Yogyakarta and found the reinforcement we need. Where are you? We are heading your way."


    Hearing about the city of Yogyakarta, Rico''s spirit rose up as he took the radio from Daisy and said, "This is Rico. Who did you bring? Tell me who''s in charge."


    A familiar voice replied and made Rico''s worries fade away.


    "Yo!! Mr. President! That''s really naughty of you to just leave us in the middle of the night... Now, we have toe and save your ass."


    "Hahahaha, Alex!! I am so d to hear your voice, Yes, you alwayse at the right time."


    Hourster, a much bigger cavalry arrived at the abandoned shoe factory. Rick drove in front with the dozen misfits. Just behind him were Alex and his 500 hand-picked elite fighters. Further behind, about 50 trucks followed them and when they finally stopped, around 2,000 uniquely dressed with light armor and striped shirt that came out of the trucks.


    These men were wearing the ceremonial uniforms of the Keraton Guard Regiment. A special unit formed by thest Indonesian royalty of Yogyakarta city specially trained in using rifles and longnces.


    Apparently, when Rick chose to go to the city of Yogyakarta, he arrived at the moment Alex was talking with the Sultan.


    Rick exined the situation to the Sultan, and when Alex heard the name Adam, Alex convinced the Sultan to help. Surprisingly, the Sultan decided to lead this unit himself.


    With the people gathered, a strategy was quickly put in ce and Rico was confident that they could save his son.


    The moment the sun rose, thousands of troops marched into the hostile base. This looks just like what Daisy has imagined, thousands of troops marching for a rescue.Apparently, miracles do happen sometimes.

 Chapter 140 - Rescued

    D Day +67


    The first morning light was about to break the darkness of the horizon while the wind breezed through the coconut trees surrounding the area.


    The 4,000 plus fightersposed of Alex''s elite units, Rico''s troops of special forces, and the Sultan''s Keraton Guards looked towards the hostile''s base, a small port city.


    As the troops faced west, the sun rose behind them. Inch by inch, the shadow over the port city gradually disappeared as the morning sun cast its light. The port city was still. It didn''t have any idea about the iing assault.


    In the center of the army; Alex, Rico and the Sultan were finalizing their attack.


    "We haven''t been spotted yet. It''s best we move quickly." Rico was restless.. His son''s, along with hundreds of captives, safety were at stake.


    Looking over their situation, Alex also came up with the same conclusion.


    On the other hand, the old man standing next to Alex wasn''t eager with the n and said, "It''s wise not to rush into things."


    The one who just spoke is the current Sultan of Yogyakarta city. His name is Sultan Kartasurya the Tenth and he''s 70 years old. He is the 10th person to be appointed as the leader of Yogyakarta and has been ruling the city for thest 30 years.


    Yogyakarta is one of the most unique cities in Indonesia. Their history backdates to the 1800s where they are recognized as its own kingdom, but soon after, they aligned themselves with Indonesia on Indonesia''s Independence Day and ever since then, it has been categorized as special region.


    Although it is part of Indonesia, they have the privilege of managing their own domestic affairs independently.


    The Sultan sized up the new president and said, "President Rico, I hear we''re here to save your son."


    "It''s not just my son, Sultan. There are a lot of other people too," Rico replied.


    "A word of advice Mr. President, you should think about the needs of the country first before other things. If you can''t do that, you should have not epted the job."


    The words struck Rico''s sore spot. He did, in fact, felt guilty about his decision to suddenly leave and look for Adam, but would he just leave his son to die? Of course, he wouldn''t.


    Alex pped his hands. "Ok ok ok. Both of you, we can leave that forter. We need to save the captured people first."


    Alex nced towards his friend, Theo, and noticed that Theo wanted to say a word.


    Theo saw Alex''s nod and stepped forward. "Everyone, please remember that most of these people are being lied to. Please refrain from killing them if possible."


    The blonde girl near Theo gasped and said, "Seriously? These lunatics killed lots of people! Didn''t you saw the pile of corpses they threw on the streets?!"


    Theo, although a bit shy, didn''t cower from Cindy. He instead forced himself to remind everyone to refrain once more from using lethal forces. The world has alreadye to an end, it''s important for humanity to not kill itself.


    Alex understood Theo''s way of thinking. The old Alex would probably do the same, but Alex knew about Hafiz and his followers. The Heavenly Gate, in his previous life, had the ability to turn family and friends against each other.


    Reading the report, he was shocked to find that the Chemist was also with them. Hafiz and the Chemist did not work together in his previous life. But his actions caused another butterfly effect, and that would be his responsibility. The new Heavenly Gate could not be trifled with. Alex hoped to end both of them now.


    "Let''s move, signal the attack!" Rico ordered.


    Rico, as themander-in-chief, was forced to lead in the back. Daisy watched him and could tell that he cared deeply for his son. She saw him leaning forward for a better view and clenching his fist tightly.


    Alex''s 500 elite fighters went in first using melee weapons. All of the peak stage mortal realm within Alex''s group moved quickly and killed hundreds of the hostiles guarding the perimeter before the rm sounded.


    Thebined fighters rushed into the city after Alex''s group went in. The Sultan''s fighters specialized in rifles andnces, so they were ideal in the middle. As for Rico''s troops, most of them were using long-ranged weapon, thus they''re at the back, providing fire support.


    Thousands of mad fighters appeared from all over the ce and then it became a battlefield. des nking, gunshots, screams echoed throughout the port city.


    In the city center, around 100 pale fighters gathered around the Chemist as they drank from the bowl the Chemist gave and started chanting. After finishing their ritual, they started running around ughtering the army, but as soon as they encountered Alex''s team, they fell down one by one.


    Daisy saw how Alex''s team fought from a distance; Aria, the twins, Arief, and a weird blonde girl whipping like crazy. They coordinated better than any group of fighters she knew. Even the special forces couldn''t hold a candle to them.


    The Keraton Guard Regiment and the special forces saw Alex''s team y and couldn''t help but burn with passion.


    The regiment walked in formation with theirncers at the front and the shooters at the back. They waited for most of the hostiles toe near and used the back of theirnces to knock them out. If the shooters saw that thencers were being overwhelmed, the shooters fired their rifles to lighten the pressure from the enemy.


    The special forces wouldn''t want to let up and adopted a simr tactic that the regiment was using. They used the blunt side of their guns to knock out the hostiles and sometimes fired to decrease pressure. Their vehicles targeted the ground near the faraway hostiles and used the st to knock them out.


    The three groups continued like this until they were close to the hotel.


    Daisy used her ability to scan the area.


    Alex noticed the girl''s power and found it interesting, but the boy next to her, his power was even more interesting. A psychic and shadow spirit enhancers who already able to show their power in the mortal realm stage, they are as unique as Aria and Arief.Alex tried to recall them if there was anyone like them in his previous life, but none fit the bill. He smiled as the ability of these two Spirit Enhancers were especially helpful.


    Daisy found signs of hundreds of people being contained in one of the warehouses and headed there. She ran too far from the group.


    Tommy saw her leaving the group and tried to follow her. "Daisy, wait!"


    Daisy wished to see any familiar faces; Adam, the misfits, anyone at all. It had been more than 10 days since shest saw her friends went inside one of the buildings. Her heartbeat raced with the hope of seeing them but that clouded her judgment.


    When she came near the warehouse, to her surprise, pale men rushed out! A half a dozen of them quickly jumped at her.


    "Nooo!" Tommy used his shadow to try to reach her, but he was too far.


    Within a span of a few seconds, Daisy got overwhelmed. She could only reflect on her stupidity when one of the pale men''s des was nearing her. She closed her eyes...


    SLAASHHH!!


    SPLATT!!


    The sound of blood being sshed rang in her ear.


    "!!!"


    Slowly opening her eyes, she saw a familiar figure blocking the pale man''s de with his back. Her heart skipped as the figure of the man slowly turned around to face her. It was the image of the man she held dear. It''s himˇ­


    "Adam!!"


    "I''m d to see you here." The de made a deep wound on his back, but Adam still smiled."Daisy, what''s with the gloomy face? Don''t worry, it''s just a minor wound."


    It''s actually quite a big wound, but Adam didn''t mind it too much. Compared to the torture he had to endure in thest 10 days, this was nothing.


    Adam turned around and grabbed the de with his bare arm and punched the attacker with his other arm.


    BAAMM!!


    The pale man flew back to the warehouse and crashed into several mad fighters.


    "PURGE!!!" The remaining pale men simultaneously attacked Adam and Adam flew to a wall and coughed out blood.


    Adam hurriedly stood up and dashed forward and did several exchanges with the pale men, but as their fighting ensued, he felt his strength dropping.The pale men attacked relentlessly and Adam began defending. It was 5 against 1. Even thete lieutenant Axel could only face 2-3 pale fighters at the same time.As his strength and speed decreased, he started getting more cuts and bruises.


    Alex had noticed the two Spirit Enhancers break off from the group. He wanted to follow them immediately, but his group and elite units hands were full.After a few minutes, everything was clear. He then ordered his group to follow him and went towards the youngdy''s direction. Seeing a young man protecting the youngdy while the other shadow Spirit Enhancer was holding the line against the mad fighters, Alex group of six sprinted to save them.


    The pale man Adam was facing suddenly got entangled by a whip and a man punched the pale man in the face.Adam was dazed for a moment as he watched Alex group of six fought against the four pale men. For some reason, the image of Axel and his special forces resurfaced on his mind as he observed this new group easily taking care of the remaining pale men.


    The rest of Alex''s elite 500 fighters arrived shortly and battled with the hundreds of mad fighters flooding out from the warehouse.The battle soon ended and the remaining four pale men died while hundreds of the mad fighters were on the ground unconscious.


    Adam then turned around and ran towards Daisy. They both caught each other and hugged tightly as if never wanting to let go. Tears ran down on Daisy''s face for she had thought that she wouldn''t have the chance to see him again.


    His body was in a mess and she felt something different about his aura, but she didn''t think of it too much as she kept on hugging him. She had missed him so much and had been worried sick to care about what he looked right now.


    While enjoying their sweet moment of reunion. The radio sounded,


    "A ship has been spotted sailing away, I repeat, a ship has been spotted sailing away, over."


    The battle has only been going for at most 20 minutes, and a ship could already leave the docks, it seems the enemy has already had an escape n prepared.


    Adam''s ear piqued hearing the radio. He couldn''t let them just get away like that. The horrifying things he and his friends had experienced. All of them yed back in his mind.


    Adam broke off from Daisy''s hug and the rage in his heart welled up.


    He then rushed off towards the direction of the pier with amazing speed.


    Alex felt something weird as he looked at the running Adam. He found Adam''s power to be interesting, but it felt off, hence, he tried to follow Adam.


    Adam finally arrived at the pier and saw the ship sailing away.


    "DON''T RUN YOU SONS OF B*TCHES!" Adam picked up a barrel and threw it towards the ship, but it was too far.


    Seeing the ship still sailing away, the rage in his heart wouldn''t calm. He looked around and found a small boat near the dock. He jumped straight at it, but it''s unusable. He returned back to the dock and helplessly watched the ships gradually distance itself far through the horizon. An uncontroble emotion filled him and something inside him snapped. He screamed.


    "AAARRGGHHHH!!!"


    He paced around the docks, looking for ways on how to catch them. With his mind being clouded, he tried to jump into the water, but Alex grabbed his hand.


    "Let me go!!!"


    "Stop... we''ll get them next time."


    The word ''time'' spun in Adam''s mind. No, he did not have time. There were only two injections left with him. He needed to chase them.


    He was about to jump and drag Alex with him when he heard footsteps and saw familiar faces. Nathan and Nathalie, Romi, Melissa, Rick, the misfits, and then Daisy.


    "Adam calm down!!"


    His raging heart cooled down as his friends approached him. They looked like a mess, but at least they are alive.It seemed that the battle had ended. They were safe.


    A sudden jolt ran through Adam''s body, either he overextended himself or it was the kickback from all the torture and the injection. He felt weak and his knees lost their strength. He vomited out ck blood as he dropped to the ground.


    "ADAM!!!"

 Chapter 141 - Decision

    D day +70


    New Java city


    The sun stood its highest as its piercing heat did now show mercy to anyone. A group of people was coursing through inside a thick forest south of the New Java city.


    Alex walked in the front and his elite fighters followed behind him. All wore the same ck uniforms except for two, a girl and a young boy.


    Alex looked at the two teenagers. "Ok, we''re going to test and see the extent of your abilities.. Let''s start."


    He then focused his gaze at the young girl. "Daisy, you first."


    Daisy closed her eyes and began concentrating. Lights showed up in her mind.


    "I can sense five lifesigns500 meters to our right and"ˇŞshe stretched her range to the furthest she could reachˇŞ"another dozen more on the left. 1,000 meters more or less."


    "Can you differentiate whether they are humans or something else?" Alex asked.


    "Yes. Humans have a different lightpared to the undead or animals. I can tell that they are either undead or animals, but I don''t know which one."


    Alex nodded in satisfaction. "Don''t worry, that''s good enough." He made a mental note to himself about Daisy''s ability.


    "They''re moving right now. They''reing towards us. It''s a mutated boar."


    Alex looked at the youngd Tommy and said, "It''s your turn, kid. Once they arrive, use your full power."


    Tommy nodded and looked to the right. Concentrating his mind to unleash his ability, the ground shook as shadows started to rise up and mold itself into a human-sized figure, it then divided itself into two. Two human-sized shadow summons.


    Tommy grabbed two knives from his back and threw it to the two shadows. The shadows caught it.


    A few momentster, five silhouettes zing their way through the woods appeared. The five mutated animals charged at the shadows crashed the shadow body and the shadows scattered like water before forming up again. It appears to form the shadow back would took a bit of Tommy''s energy. The two shadows picked up the knives that were dropped and started stabbing the mutated boars.


    Mutated boar is a peak stage one mutated animal; it''s not that easy to deal with. The mutation made its fur hard as a rock and sharp as a razor. A knife is not enough to make a critical wound to it.


    "Tommy, why not give the shadows a bigger weapon?"


    Tommy was unable to answer Alex''s question immediately because he was focusing intently. His ability required mental energy, but he answered with much difficulty, "I-I-It''s just recently that Iˇ­ made the shadows... hold weapon... knife... most I can... manage at the momentˇ­ sorry..."


    "Haha, don''t be sorry, kid."


    The battle between the two shadows and five mutated boars went on for two minutes, and within that time frame, the shadow kept on getting disintegrated and reformed. Tommy''s sweat ran all over his body and he was a little bit dizzy from the continuous use. Finally, before the three-minute mark, the shadowspletely disappeared.


    "Sorry, that''s the longest time I can summon my shadows..." Tommy said while trying to catch his breath.


    "How long ''til you can form it again?"


    "I''m not sure, maybe after a few minutes, but it''llst much shorter than before."


    "Ok, that''s good enough."


    Alex turned around faced his fighters, Aria, Arief, the twins along with a few other fighters, and ordered them to fight the five mutated boars.


    Aria was the first to step forward and vanished. She used her fading ability and appeared at the side of the boars throwing four knives.


    Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!


    The four knives stabbed the two mutated boar pairs of eyes. Her uracy and the force of knives made the boars squeal in pain. The twins went in with their twin sabers managed to thrust the two injured boar in between its eyes causing the boars to die right away.


    Daisy noticed three boars targeting Arief and shouted, "Watch out!"


    Alex said, "Don''t worry."


    Arief grabbed the two-meter de from his back and held it with his two arms, the de shone. Arief, nicknamed the silver warrior, shouted with excitement, "Come here!"


    Three boar jumped at him simultaneously.


    sh!! sh!! sh!!


    Three quick swings from his de. The three huge mutated boars got cut in six different pieces.. blood sshing out. The battle over just within a few seconds.


    "That''s it pork barbeque for dinner. Is mutated pig meat still consider as haram?" Alex asked Aria with a smile.


    Aria said with her usual cold face, "Not funny"


    "Hahahaha."


    Ever since hearing the conversation between Alex and her grandfather, Aria reverted back to her usual self again.


    Daisy couldn''t stop being amazed at the fighters brought by the guy named Alex. They were in a much different level than any fighters she had known.


    Alex stared at Daisy. "Please check theposition of the other dozen hostiles."


    Using her ability again, she tried to extend her range; 1200, 1500 that''s it past her range.


    "I think they are leaving they are out of my reach, sir.


    "That''s ok, I think I already got the gist of both your abilities."


    Alex thought their abilities wouldn''t be that much useful. They both also didn''t know much about martial arts, but with enough training and once the Doomsday Pirs gave them the right abilities, both would soon enough be important members of his team.


    Daisy a psychic Spirit Enhancer and Tommy a shadow Spirit Enhancer, both were still very young. Especially Tommy, he''s not even yet 15 and just a few years older than his older daughter. They still have more room for improvement.


    Alex decided to exin to both of them about the mission to Australia and its purpose.


    Hearing it, Daisy looked conflicted.


    Alex saw her hesitation and asked, "Is it the young boy? Adam, is his name isn''t it?"


    Daisy meekly nodded.


    "I don''t like forcing people. It will be your decision but please give it some thought. We really need you, the world''s survival is at stake." Seeing that no word seemed to move her, Alex added, "And of course he coulde along to Australia."


    Her reaction brightened up with Alex''sst statement. She did want to get stronger; she wished to improve her range. She had been ming herself ever since thest vige battle. She thought that if her range could improve, she could predict the enemy before they got surrounded and all of this would never happen.


    But her mind only had one thing in it now. It''s been three days and Adam still hasn''t woken up. She''s worried about Adam''s safety.


    "Your boyfriend cane along with us, but I''ve heard that he''s still unwell. The problem is we''re really short on time. Our n has been dyed for more than a week. In less than one month the pirs drop, we really need to leave the city tomorrow. Please make up your mind by then. It will be great if you can join us."


    Daisy couldn''te to a decision. The doctor said Adam''s condition had stabilized, but if they need to go tomorrow and Adam is still unconscious, she will not leave. That''s the one thing she was certain of. She couldn''t imagine life without Adam.


    "What about you, Tommy?" Daisy tried to throw the ball to Tommy.


    "I''m going to follow you whatever you decide, sister Daisy."


    The group finished their training and walked to an outpost a few kilometers south of the city. It was said that this is the ce where the Pir will be drop.


    The ce was bustling with activities. Thousands of workers working together in harmony; some cutting out trees, some farming the fields, and some building simple constructions. This outpost was designated to be a small fortress; hence, the watchtowers around it.


    The group then jumped into a jeep and started driving to the north of New Java.Along the way, they passed through roads and huge green fields of farms.


    "!!!"


    "What is that?"


    "That''s called the maduras ox. They''re extremely useful as recements for the tractors and heavy machinery."


    These were the hundred maduras ox brought by Alex from Madura. Although these beasts were huge and looked intimidating with their huge horns protruding out of their heads, they were actually docile creatures.


    From the workers of the outpost and the people working in the fields with the huge oxen. All of them were working with high spirits. Daisy didn''t find the same energy from the survival base in Jakarta.


    Alex realized Daisy''s amazement and said, "It''s hope."


    Daisy surprised by the unexpected notion asked, "Sorry, Mr. Alex. I don''t understand what you''re saying."


    "These people are not only working for their survival, but they are working for hope."


    As fighters, they had mostly spent their time fighting outside that they sometimes forget what are they fighting for. Daisy pondered for a moment and looked at the workers. This is what they had been fighting for. For the families inside the base, for the children to grow up and safe, for everyone, for everything to return back to normal. The fighters fought with their lives against the monsters that threaten to kill them all.


    She smiled thinking their efforts were not in vain. "Hopeˇ­ it''s quite contagious..."


    After passing a lot of checkpoints, the jeep arrived in New Java city. Other than some broken and worn out buildings, everything else appeared like the Doomsday never happened.


    Ever since the city had been liberated from the zombies, within thest two weeks, more and more refugees have arrived in the city. Right now, they have almost a million survivors residing in this city.


    A few minutes driving inside the city, Alex turned around and looked at Daisy. "I guess this is your stop?"


    Daisy nodded.


    She came down from the jeep and faced the medical center.


    "Tommy IˇŞ"


    "Go ahead, sister Daisy."


    There was only one thing that filled her mind. She rushed into the second floor, to the room where she had left him this morning. Her shaking legs, ragged breathing, all the practice they did earlier showed its toll, but she was able to reach the room. She opened the door.


    "!!!"


    Only to find an empty bed.

 Chapter 142 - Borrowed Time

    "Adam...."


    "Adam... It''s been three days. Last night, I dreamt that you''ll wake up today... I wish you wake right nowˇ­ I have to go for a few hours be right back soon okay..".


    Adam could faintly hear a familiar voice calling him. Someone dear to him, but he couldn''t move nor say anything.


    Daisy... Daisy... these words repeated in his mind... He was unable to control his body...


    Ba-dump. Ba-dump.


    Suddenly, his heart started beating much faster and blood pumped rigorously all over his body.


    Ever since the Doomsday started, most of the hospital''s medical equipment had been broken, making it hard to properly monitor and doplicated medical procedures to the patients.


    When the city started to rebuild and the generators kicked in, most of the main equipment had been fixed but the cardiac event recorder was one of the devices prioritized, after all, it was one of the things that could be left alone and monitor the patient''s life sign.


    Adam''s hand finger twitched and half an hourter Adam slowly moved and opened his eyes.


    A nurse heard fast beeping of the machine and noticed Adam''s hands shaking a little bit. She rushed to his bed. "Someone get a doctor!"


    Adam felt weak all over his body, he couldn''t even lift his arms properly.


    Just as soon as the doctor came in, the beeping dwindled, they thought Adam was going to die and prepared themselves to revive him. Usually, if the beeping started going very fast, it would soon show a straight line, but in this case, it actually stabilized!


    Adam was sweating all over and the nurse opened his t-shirt''s button to cool him off and wipe it off. But she stopped her movements.


    Adam''s cuts, bruises, wounds, were fixing itself at a visible pace. He then felt his strength returning.


    The doctor and nurse gaped in awe seeing the miraculous thing.


    "This is amazing," the doctor said.


    Adam sat up and looked at the doctor. "What''s happening to me, Doc?"


    The doctor pondered for a moment and said, "Your body has gone through some changes. But I''m more surprised at how you are still alive. We couldn''t quite understand it."


    ----------


    When Adam was unconscious, the doctorpared his blood samples and that of the pale men, the doctor ran some tests and found that there were foreign substances going through Adam''s body.


    The blood from the ck mutant zombie goes into the bones, muscles, and tissues expanding them causing explosive powers at the cost of damaging the host''s body. But Axel''s regenerative ability was in the blood. Fortunately, Axel''s blood waspatible with Adam and it integrated itself to Adam''s bone marrow enhancing all of the cells, but particrly the white blood cells.


    The white blood cells are the cells of the immune system that are involved in protecting the body against both infectious disease and foreign invaders. Further subtypes can be ssified; for example, among lymphocytes, there are B cells, T cells, and NK cells.


    The enhanced white blood cells eat the ck cells, but whenever the ck cells count is almost extinguished, it bes berserk, expanding everything within the body of the host at an rming rate. Unfortunately, the enhanced white blood cells aren''t fast enough to eat all of the ck cells in time, thus, Adam is required to take it every 3 days. It''s stuck in an endless loop.


    -----------


    "Stop, doctor. Tell meˇ­ who else knows about this?" Adam asked.


    "Only your family, sir. Your father the President knows."


    Adam stared into the window. His father knew about his condition, he didn''t know whether he should feelfort or not. But at the very least, his friends didn''t know even Daisy. With that thought, at least he wasforted.


    Knowing he has been lying on the bed for three days, he quickly looking for the two injections he has left, the doctor told him that his father has kept them.


    Adam stood up, got dressed, and walked out of his room like he was never sick.


    Arriving downstairs, Melissa greeted him and told him about where Daisy had gone.


    "Have you seen Romi and the other misfits?" Melissa asked.


    Adam actually didn''t want too, he wasn''t sure how he should face them. But thinking that this might be thest time he will see them, he decided to go with Melissa.


    In another building, next to the medical center, there he saw Romi and a few misfits together with almost 300 other people constantly being watched over and being given treatment.


    Romi saw Adam and grabbed Adam''s arms. "You''re awake! That''s great! Adam! Adam! Hei! Please tell your father I''m fine! Hahahaha!"ˇŞhis grip tightenedˇŞ"I''m really fine! I just hurt some people, but it was for self-defense!"


    The nurses saw themotion and tried to drag Romi away. Struggling, he said, "Now that you''re back in action, we go on adventures again! Hahaha!" Laughing like a madman, the nurses held him down and injected some medication to calm him.


    Adam''s eyes were wide at the event happening.


    Seeing Adam''s reaction, Melissa said, "The doctors said that due to deep trauma. They have been suffering psychologically. Those with a stronger mind will be able to recover quickly. But for those that aren''t, they''ll need psychological treatment that could take up to weeks. Maybe even more."


    Melissa fidgeted and asked Adam, "I-I''ve been a captive in that cursed ce longer than you guys. The basement, I''ve never been there, but I''ve seen what happened to the people who went there. Nobodyes back out alive. What happened down there Adam?"


    Adam looked Melissa in the eyes. If it wasn''t for Axel''s special blood, he would most probably be one of those people she mentioned. Dead, thrown out to the streets being eaten by rats while rotting.


    He shook his head trying to forget the resurfacing memories of his tortures. Thinking about the 6 days he has left, exining what happened would be just a waste of time and he doesn''t really want to tell that tale. He needed to get out of here and meet with his father.


    Melissa noticed that Adam''s hiding something, she''s always the smart one in the group. "You can tell me anything, Adamˇ­ please..."


    She had a crush on him for a few years, but Adam never looked her way. She kept a watchful eye at Adam, however, Adam ignored her as he turned around and went on to his next destination, the presidential office.


    Mountain of papers, full of people chattering, asking him for permission and reporting to him. Rico had left the government unattended for 10 days so this wasn''t surprising. But he ordered all of them to stop when he saw a familiar figure standing in front of his door.


    "Son."


    "Father."


    Rico noticed Adam looking around and knew what he wanted.


    "Everyone, leave for the moment. I have important things to talk with my son."


    "But, Mr.PresiˇŞ"


    "Pleaseˇ­ leave!"


    The people inside the office were surprised by the President''s tone. After a moment, all of them walked away and left the presidential office.


    Adam walked closer and said, "Father, I''vee for my stuff. I need them."


    "Yes," Rico said. He pulled his top desk drawer, took out two injections filled with the ck cell and ced it on the table.


    "Son, what''s this thing? None of the scientists know what this is and the doctors haven''t found any clue about your condition. I am about to bring in Alex on this. He might be able to help."


    Ricopared the report on Adam''s condition and the report on the pale fighters and he has seen how the pale fighters died one by one. Thest three days he''s been praying it won''t be the same with Adam. Seeing each day his health turn better, his worries started to dwindle.


    "Don''t worry, father. I''ll be fine."


    Adam had heard about his father anointed as president and how he left the city for days looking for him. It''s very hard for him to picture it as he never had that kind of rtionship with his father before. But it would be lying if he didn''t feel good about it. It appeared that his father really cared deeply for him.


    Now that his father has be the leader of the country in the center of all the biggest crisis humankind ever face. He didn''t want to give him any more trouble.


    Rico sighed. "There must be something we can do."


    Adam asked, "Do you know where the ship heading to?"


    "Our scouts followed them along the coastline west of Java, but apparently they left faraway probably to Sumatra ind or even further."


    Adam had heard his captor talk about going to the Middle East. If they truly went that far, his only chance of survival was probably gone away with the ship.


    "Son, you should get back and rest at the hospital. Have the doctors check your condition for a couple more days."


    "Don''t worry, father. I feel really great."


    Rico eyed him from head to toe. Adam''s physical appearance shows that he''s fine. Moreover, for some reason, Rico could feel Adam''s exuding some kind of aura. A powerful aura. It seemed that he''s really fine.


    "What you n to do then?"


    It seems there''s nothing much he could do right now. Looking at the two injections in his hand. He sighed at the thought of less than a week. He''s on borrowed time. Thinking of Daisy, he just wanted to spend hisst few days he has left with her.


    "I''m going to rest for a couple of days, I guess. Don''t worry about me, Father. You have a big responsibility now. A lot of lives depend on you. Please remember that."


    Adam slowly turned around and left the room.


    Rico, seeing the figure moving away in the distance, felt something as if it will be thest time he will be seeing his son.


    "Daisy, where are you..."

 Chapter 143 - Promise

    After meeting his father, Adam decided to wait for Daisy back in the medical center. He didn''t want to lose even just a minute of his time. Time was his most expensive currency at the moment, 6 days were just too short.


    Looking around, it was Adam''s first time to walk around the city once called Semarang.


    He passed through a field where some new militia trainees practicing. Coincidentally, a few familiar figure was training with them.


    "Adam!"


    Nathalie and Nathan, and some of the misfits saw Adam walking while they were on their way to practice martial art.


    Other than the ones still in the rehab like Romi, there were only 2 dozen of them left. Considering almost everyone from the 3rd and 4th division died, Adam was still grateful that there were people left from his group..


    "Where is Rick?"


    "He''s with the training officer. He would be happy to see you awake."


    Tommy was also with them. If Tommy was here then that meant she''s at the city.


    Adam didn''t tarry too much as he said his farewell with a heavy heart and rushed back to the medical center. As he walked past the door and about to reach for the stairs, He felt a tug from his back.


    "!!!"


    A warm and soft hand hugged him from the back..


    He didn''t have to turn to know that Daisy had been crying. Adam stood still to relish the warm feeling. This might be thest time he would feel this warmth.


    A momentter, Adam turned around, put both his hands on Daisy''s shoulder.


    "I am here, I am fine."


    Daisy turned as red as a tomato realizing the people staring at them. She stepped back and observed Adam carefully.


    "Are you really fine?"


    "Yes, I am fiˇŞ"


    RRRRrrrrrrr


    A loud sound came from Adam''s tummy startling the people around. This time, it was Adam''s turn to be embarrassed. He smiled awkwardly while scratching his head. "Ok, maybe I am not fine... I am freak in hungry."


    Bothughed at the same time releasing the tension they had been feeling all this time.


    It''s been days since Adam ate real food. Daisy took him to one of the closest posts spread all over the city. She exchanged two vouchers for two canned meats. Mutated lizards with soy sauce and ck beans mutated birds.


    They sat on a nearby table and Adam wolfed down his food like a person who hasn''t eaten for years. Seeing Adam, she gave her portion to him.


    She stood up and exchanged two more vouchers. Surprised at Adam''srge appetite, she smiled while watching him eat. If only she knew that his appetite was caused by the horrible experiments done to him.


    Adam noticed that he''s the only one eating, he asked, "Aren''t you hungry?"


    "Noˇ­ I''m kinda fed up with canned meat anyways, but I''m happy watching you eat like this. Arge appetite means you are healthy." She smiled.


    Adam wiped his mouth with a tissue as he smiled at an idea. Something he had heard from one of his father''s staff before he entered the presidential office.


    Adam grabbed Daisy''s arm and rushed out to the street.


    "Ok, you wait here a few minutes."


    "What are you nning to do?"


    Adam answered with a cheeky smile, "Just wait." Then he jogged away.


    While waiting, Daisy''s thought on how to convince Adam to go with her to Australia. She knew he had just woken up and probably needed more rest.


    A few minutester, a loud sound reverberated in the area.


    Brrrmmmmm Brmmmmm Brmmmm


    "..."


    A 200 motorcycle stopped in front of her.. Daisy was startled...


    "Where did you find this?"


    A working motor vehicles were not prioritized for the mechanics to fix. So it''s very surprising to find Adam had one.


    Adam smiled. "Courtesy for the president''s son. Haha."


    As Daisy about to hop in, "Don''t we need to wear a helmet?"


    "Who are we going to crash into..? There''s rarely any working vehicles around rememberˇ­"


    Daisy arms holding tight into Adam''s waist, and the engine start, Adam drove quite fast and Daisy hair blows fiercely by the wind, she decided to put her cheek closely into Adam''s back, arms holding tighter not wanting to let go... All eyes staring at the two lovebirds as they drove through the empty street of New Java city in speed.


    They traveled out of the city, still inside the safe zone, and reached an outpost near a farm lot.


    Adam talked to one of the farmers and received a basket of fresh oranges. Again courtesy of the president''s son...


    The love bird then rode to the side of an uphill facing the beach. The horizon filled with the golden rays of the sun setting, the soft crashing of the waves along with the cool breeze of the salty air. Both got off the motorcycle and enjoyed each other''s presence while looking into the distance, enjoying the fantastic view.


    Daisy opened up the basket and started peeling the oranges for both to enjoy. Adam watched her as he smiled sadly. If only this wouldst forever...


    But there''s really no hope for him, no future. He thought about spending thest 6 days like this and not say anything about his condition, but he couldn''t do that to her. It''s too selfish... she needed to know... he should tell her about it now...


    "IˇŞ"


    But before Adam could say anything, "There''s something I need to say." Daisy said in a serious tone. Adam''s word got stuck in his throat. He noticed her serious face, which was rare and decided to listen.


    Daisy told her about Alex''s n to bring her to Australia and how this would be very important for humans with special abilities like her and Tommy. She then told him about her regrets being unable to predict the iing enemies on thest vige battle. After that, she then started ming herself and almost cried again. She finally asked Adam toe with her to Australia.


    But the problem is, Alex will be leaving tomorrowˇ­


    "..." Adams feel conflicted with the news...


    But then Adam thought for a while and gave a long sigh. Weighing the situation, This might be the best situation for both of them.


    Staring at Daisy eyes, Adam slowly said


    "You should goˇ­ but... I cannot go with you... Iˇ­ I have so many things I need to do here. The misfitsˇ­ and my fatherˇ­ my father needs my help."


    .


    .


    .


    It''s a lie.


    .


    .


    Adam can''t imagine with the thought of Daisy seeing him die gruesomely like the pale fighters. He didn''t want to be remembered that way. If he let her go to do something she wished, that would be considered that he''s not being selfish right?


    Daisy half-expecting quickly said, "In that case, I''ll stay with you. I won''t go," and crossed her arms.


    "No, you''re needed there... more than here."


    With full determination, Daisy said as she turned sideways, "No, I will stay here with you!"


    Adam kept quiet and smiled at her. He looked at Daisy''s beautiful face, her hazelnut eyes. Her long straight jet-ck hair. The fairplexion of her smooth skin. All of her, he wanted to imprint her into his soul.


    Adam slowly took out an item and reached for Daisy''s hair...


    "..."


    It''s the daisy flower hairpin back to its ownerˇ­Its symbolize Adam''s promise


    "Listen to me, ok? It will only be temporarily. We will see each other again. I promise. Each of us currently has our own duties. Let''s walk the path and see each other again in a year."


    Daisy stared at the ground still adamant about her decision.


    "Let''s do a pinky promise," Adam said while grinning.


    Daisy pouted while saying, "We are not kids."


    "Wow, did you know that pinky promise originated from the Japanese? Whomsoever didn''t keep their promise will get their pinky finger cut." Adam tried to lighten the mood but it''s not working. Daisy crossed her arms and turned away from Adam.


    Adamughed and he suddenly thought of another idea. He walked to the motorcycle and reach the storagepartment to grab a pen. "Let''s do this"ˇŞhanding the pen to DaisyˇŞ"Each of us will write down a note about what we want to say. We''ll then put it inside the orange basket and hide it under that big stone.." When we meet again next year let the notes remind us of our current feeling for each other. Althoughˇ­ I am sure we''llugh together reading about it next year."


    Daisy still thinks this is childish, but she doesn''t want to argue and follow Adams idea, as for Adam, this probably will be hisst message to Daisy, it''s the only way he can think of right now...


    Daisy seems to notice Adam took the note too seriously after they finish writingˇ­ Adam softly grabs Daisy''s hand. Daisy''s heartbeat raced as their hands touched and felt his piercing gaze.


    Reaching out to her face, burning in his memory, her everything. He leaned in closer until they were inches apart. "I love you," he whispered as he kissed her soft lips.


    They then went to an abandoned house and spent the night merged as one in each other''s arms. A passionate night that they''ll remember for the rest of their lives. If she only knew...


    .


    .


    .


    Next morning, the two woke up in each other''s embrace. They rode back to the city with Daisy holding him tighter than usual.


    They went back to the ce where all the misfits stay, Adam helped Daisy and Tommy pack and then went to the gathering point. Rick all the other misfits all there to say farewell to Daisy and Tommy.


    Alex weed them with a big smile. "d you can make it, We are now heading to the Star Base in Bali" Alex boarded the ship with his 500 elites plus a few dozen more.


    As the ship sailed away, Daisy stood at the edge staring at Adam trying tomit him into her memory. She hoped that their trip would end soon.


    "One year, we will see each other then"


    .


    .


    Finally, the ship has leftˇ­ that''s the end of it he thought... Adam has nned the same story to his friends, the misfits, something about a mission from his father that need to start soon. He approaches Rick and told him to take care of the misfits while he''s goneˇ­


    "Please take care of them"


    Rick seems to think there''s a deeper meaning behind itˇ­


    Adam wished to stay longer, butˇ­. suddenly his bones and muscles started ripping each other. Sweating out of his body, blood rising up from his stomach, he knows what he needed to doˇ­ he quickly said goodbye and rushing away...


    Adam hurried into one of the abandoned housesˇ­ his body loses all controlˇ­


    ARRRGGHHH!!!


    Adam feels this time it''s a bit differentˇ­ He can see his whole body turn ckish colorˇ­ quickly. Taking out a syringe, he injected himself. He breathed heavilyˇ­ He can tell the injection somehow not as effective as beforeˇ­ something inside him seems to changeˇ­ he felt both rage and despair mixing together... His emotion out of controlˇ­ Adam tried so hard to calm himself but ck color blood keep gushing out of his ear and nose... when suddenly, the door to the abandoned house is openˇ­ he heard footstepsˇ­ someonee approaching.


    "!!!"


    It''s Melissaˇ­ She gaped in shock


    "Please... Melissa... please don''t... tell anyone."


    "I''ll call for help!!"


    Melissa ran out of the abandoned house when suddenly...


    CRACCCKKKK!!!


    She heard loud breaking sound. She quickly went back to check. but there was no trace of Adam only ck color blood filling out the floors...


    Adam''s gone


    That''s thest time everyone saw him...

 Chapter 144 - Bali Arrival

    D Day +75 Bali Ind


    Mountains of papers, people reporting in and out, in the midst of the busy office, a woman in her 30''s worked left and right trying to settle everything. For thest 30 days, ships from Surabaya arrived with a hundred thousand refugees causing their base to be filled with people. Since that caused a spike in the base''s poption, she needed to make sure everyone was contributing instead of just loafing around separating them into the base 7 division.


    <Star Base>


    Size: 115 hectares


    Poption: 553,312


    Guards Division: 30,500


    Administration: 3,000.


    Education Division Children: 62,496


    Elders: 18,681


    Farmers & Fish Division: 38,400


    Construction workers: 35,290


    Medical & Research Division: 1950


    Supply Division: 65,500


    Military: 178,500


    Unassigned: 118,995


    Evenr since the arrivals of the survivors from Surabaya and Madura city, The StarBase , has finally reach its limit. Now there was no more space to put the warehouses inside the base. Luckly, With the military has its own base outside theplex, the 100.000 more people were separated to stay in the militarypound.


    The beautiful middle-aged woman had no experience in what she was doing, but who in the world had "experience in dealing with Doomsday in their resume". Although she had a background in management, but what made her an effective leader at the moment was her status as the wife of the base''s leader. The man named Alex who created a sanctuary for all the people here.


    Since Alex left two months ago, Devita had been left in charge. Alex had assigned hand-picked people to help her manage; Tony construction manager, Doctor Rachel, and Jane the nt whisperer, but the one who helped her the most was Cahya the ex-governor who came 4 weeks ago with the refugees from Surabaya. This governor had the leadership skills and the experience of governing a city, he became the best advisor in building the base.


    "Finally, today''s job is done," she said as she stretched out her arms.


    Devita walked to the window and gazed into the setting sun. She touched her wedding ring remembering the time all four of them enjoyed their moment at the beach.


    "Alex," she whispered.


    She has always been an independent and strong woman; she never relied on anyone else, not even to her husband. Thest 13 years of their marriage has been about work and taking care of their children. They never realized that their life revolved around their kids, their romance was not as passionate as before.


    But the Doomsday was everyone''s wake up call. No one was safe, anyone could die at a moment''s notice. In the face of impending death, people looked after their loved ones the most.


    She wasn''t an exception, with everything that has happened, She grabbed the picture frame of all four of them sitting on top of her desk and held it. She realized his husband has never been away from home for more than 6 nights before, the 60 days he has gone suddenly felt like an eternity. Like the saying, "You only learn to miss someone when they are gone."


    Staring at the far sea, she had heard that her husband would return today.


    Her moment of thought got interrupted when someone knocked at the door. Two little figures entered, they were her daughters, Tiffany and Tiarra.


    Tiffany entered the room while caressing the small animal on her shoulder. It''s a beetle the size of a tennis ball with a red dot on its back. A mutateddybird. Tiffany had been training her abilities in thest 60 days. She found out connecting with a bug was much easier and took a liking to this cute lookingdybird bug. The bug has be her eyes and help her see.


    "Mother, is it true daddy would return today?" Tiffany asked.


    "Yes, but probably veryte."


    "Can we go see the ships at the port?"


    "No, it will be pretty dark soon. It''s best that the two of you wait here."


    "ButˇŞ"


    "No buts. Listen to your mother. As soon as daddy gets home, I''m sure he''ll want to see the two of you immediately," Devita said and smiled.


    As always, the two were unable to argue with their strict mother. Making their way unto their room, one of the guards passed them as he was rushing into their mother''s office.


    Tiffany connected with thedybug and eavesdropped.


    "A shipˇ­ the lookout spotted an unrecognized ship."


    "!!!"


    "It''s gotta be daddy!" An idea sparked in Tiffany''s head. "I''m gonna see daddy. Don''t tell mom."


    "But I wanna see daddy too!"


    "No, you stay here and act like normal."


    "I''m gonna go with you, it''s unfair."


    Tiffany thought for a moment and said, "Ok, but you''ll have to follow my instructions so we don''t get caught."


    "Unn!"


    As they snuck out of their room, the guards were running around.


    Tiffany went to a corner of the base and whistled.


    Pssssssuuuiiiittttt


    A momentter, a mutated cat as big as a tiger approached them. The mutated cat has a saddle and snuggled towards Tiffany.


    "Catty! You came so quick. Good girl," Tiffany said as she patted the mutated cat''s head.


    Tiffany tamed this mutated cat before Alex left for Java. She had used her ability with this cat multiple times and was now her personal pet. Therge mutated cat lowered its body and Tiffany hopped on.


    "Ok Tiarra,e on up," Tiffany said as she held out her hand.


    "You sure Cie(older sister)? Maybe we should ask auntie Vili toe along."


    Tiarra may be7 years old, but sometimes she was more mature than her 12 years old sister.


    "Yes, don''t worry I have been practicing for a while. Also, Catty can protect us but suit yourself if you don''t want toe, you can stay here."


    Tiarra fidgeted, but thinking about her father, she decided toe along. The two girls held tightly on the saddle as Catty quickly dashed towards the port. Some people noticed them running out of the base, but didn''t bat an eye since Tiffany often rides her mutated cat around the area.


    Tiffany saw the world as ck and white through thedybird bug attached to her shoulder. She switched her perspective to the mutated cat and saw the world with bright colors. She also felt the wind passing through them with her telepathic connection with the mutated cat.


    The mutated cat ran really fast and that it took less than 30 minutes for them to reach the port area near the Bay CIty.


    From the hill, Tiffany saw the ship not far from the beach and several small boats lying on the coast. Not thinking much, they dashed to the beach but when they arrived, Tiffany noticed that the ship''s shape was quite peculiar. It was something she wasn''t familiar with. It was different than any ship she ever saw before. It''s a very huge ship with airnes sitting on top of it.


    She ordered the mutated cat to stop.


    "What''s wrong Cie?"


    "Something''s wrong, we should head back!"


    As they turned around, a dozen foreign men in military uniforms fully armed appeared behind!


    "!!!"


    "Cie Cie, what should we do?"


    Tiarra buried her head on Tiffany''s back. Tiarra''s shaking and about to cry.


    Two jeeps suddenly arrived, they were guards from Bay city. They rushed here when they had seen two little girls on top of a beast heading towards the unknown visitors.


    The two groups aimed their weapons at each other, and the girls were in the middle. A crossfire wasn''t thest thing anyone could wish for. Especially more so for the Bay City guards as they knew who these girls are. The only deafening silence was heard as the two groups stared at each other.


    Breaking the silence, one of the Bay City guards slowly said, "Don''t shoot! Please miss, slowlye towards us!"


    The moment the mutated cat moved, an item was thrown in front of the Bay City guards.


    BAAAANNGGGG!!!!


    A bright light blinded the Bay City guards and the two girls with the mutated cat. The mutated cat thrashed causing the two girls to fall on the ground.


    From the forest, a dozen more uniformed men appeared and rushed towards the Bay City guards incapacitating them. Within just a few seconds, all guards dropped unconscious on the ground.


    When the girls opened their eyes, a man slowly walked towards them while cautiously eyeing the big mutated cat.


    He stopped a distance which he thought appropriate, not too close that the big mutated cat could jump at him. He noticed the older girl''s eyes to be all white, usually an indication of blindness. Thinking she might be blind, he then carefully said, "Hello my name is Kenny, what''s your name?"


    "..."


    The man didn''t look like a soldier. Tiffany looked at the crying Tiarra whose knees were bleeding because of the fall.


    "We don''t want to hurt you. Please let us help."


    The man crouched carefully approached her, but the mutated cat suddenly roared and bared its fangs towards the man.


    The soldiers were startled and surrounded the mutated cat aiming their weapons at it.


    Tiffany grabbed Tiarra and held onto the mutated cat and said, "Please don''t hurt Catty."


    The mutated cat felt threatened and snarled at the man named Kenny. The mutated cat prowled, getting ready to jump when a soldier suddenly opened fire.


    "BANG! BANG! BANG!"

 Chapter 145 - Armada

    Uss Midway Carrier


    Kenny, the CIA Analyst, spent thest 40 days with the delta force and had been on their worst mission. They had traveled from the east coast of the US to the west coast and passed through 11 different cities. They had encountered the undead, crazy mutated animals, even fellow humans chasing them for help. However, no matter how much they had wanted to help and stay, they had a mission. A mission that was the top priority and couldn''t be postponed.


    After 30 days of hell, they had finally reached the west coast where the carrier was sitting. They stood in front of the massive body of the USS Midway.


    Commissioned on World War II 1940, it was a battleship with 120 aviation devices of destruction, a supercarrier.


    Length: 295


    Beam: 41


    Discement: 60,900 meters.


    Speed: 33 knots


    Engine: 12 boilers, four Westinghouse geared turbines[2]


    Armament:


    18 ˇÁ5"/54 caliber Mark 16 guns,


    84 ˇÁBofors 40 mm guns,


    68 ˇÁOerlikon 20 mm cannons


    2 8-cellSea Sparrounchers,


    2Phnx CIWS


    The aircraft carrier could be considered a moving city on its own. It could hold 4,000 men and currently not one of them were non-essential personnel.Under the direct orders of the current president Elizabeth McCord, they had gathered the best of the surviving navy seals from the naval base of South Carolina and the remaining crew in San Diego. It had taken two weeks to select its personnel and to fill the supplies.


    The aircraft carrier was dmissioned and has been a tourist object for thest 20 years but with its old engine technology, it was a silver-lining that it became one of thest battleships still working after the EMP. Unfortunately, all of the 130 fighter jet on board of the cruiser were not usable.


    It finally reached Bali after crossing the pacific ocean.


    In the open helmmand center of the midway carrier, a bearded man in his 50s walked in, it''s the man-in-charge, Admiral Gerard.


    "Officer on board! Attention on deck!"


    A hundred men, all quickly standing up and gave a formal salute.


    "At ease. What''s the status of the delta force?"


    "Sir, they have encountered locals, but fire has been shot."


    ''!!!"


    "Who are they firing at?"


    When they had first arrived at the shore, they had tried to talk to the locals, however, that''s where things went south. Foreign men fully armed, an unknown ship,nguage barrier and the Doomsday, a misunderstanding was bound to happen


    BANG BANG BANG!


    The wounded mutated cat lied on the ground gasping for breath. The two little girls crying held onto it.


    "Hold your fire!" Kenny observed the wounded mutated cat, it was the first time he saw something like this. All mutated animals they had encountered tried to kill them. However, this mutated cat was traveling with the two little girls and seemed to be their pet. There is also a strange bug with red dots hovering around Tiffany. These made him confuse.


    As they were standing there, the ground trembled as if there was a heavy monstrous being heading towards them. The trees shook; the heavy thudding sound was getting closer and closer.


    Thud Thud


    "Iing!"


    The whole delta force created a defensive formation securing their nks and raised their assault rifles.


    "!!!"


    From the distance, A hulking shadows revealed itself. Monstrous mutated animal as big as a tank. It''s a mutated bear.


    GGROOAARRR!!!


    Seeing the monstrous figures, all the delta forces soldiers readied their finger on the trigger. They were about to clench the trigger when Kenny noticed a man sitting on top of the monstrous figure holding a steel spear on its hand. Kenny shouted, "Hold your fire!"


    The mutated bear''s humongous size, razor-sharp ws, and fangs made even the most elite of the delta force gulp and run cold sweat. A stage two beast''s dominating aura wasn''t to be trifled with.


    The rider checked the situation calmly, slowly moving closer, not afraid of the guns, he saw the two crying little girls and a handful unconscious local guards.


    Looking at the situation, the riders gripped their spears tightly and the bears bared its fangs at the foreign soldiers while gnarling.


    Tiffany wiped her tears and called out to the rider, "Uncle Rama!"


    Rama is the fire spiritual enhancer masters of the pencak st society. After the monkey forest battle, Rama''s injuries were severe that Rama was on treatment for days. He got left behind by Alex group. He decided to use his time to practice martial arts with his newfound peak stage mortal realm.


    Just before Alex leave, Tiffany able to use her power to a mutated cat and a mutated bear, but the bear was much harder to control for her. Rama took interest with the troubled bear and decided to help Tiffany to experiment with her ability and they sed. As time passed by, Rama grew close with the little girls and somehow be their guardian. When he heard about a girl with a mutated cat run out of the base, he decided to quickly follow.


    Kenny and the delta force soldiers have seen a mutated bear in the United States before, a mutated animal such as this able to withstand normal bullets. Also seeing a man on top of it...


    "Lower your guns," Kenny whispered. He held up his hands and said, "Hi! We represent the government of the United States. Wee in peace. We are on a mission toˇŞ"


    Suddenly Tiffany interrupts him... "Uncle Rama... They are bad people! They''ve hurt Catty!" and Tiarra crying turns louder.


    "!!!"


    The mutated bears roared, deafening the people. When the bears were about to charge, the honking of jeeps sounded. Three jeeps arrived and quickly surrounded Kenny and the delta force.


    Devita walked out of the jeep and saw her two little daughters. As a mother she couldn''t help but be angry, even so, she did her best to calm down.


    "Wee in peace!" Kenny shouted.


    Devita red at the man and said in a cold voice, "If you e in peace'', then why are there people lying on the ground? Why did youe fully armed? Is that your goodwill? If youe onto someone else''s house, would you bring a gun and wave it around?!"


    "IˇŞ"


    "If you trulye in peace, pleasey down your weapons."


    The delta force soldiers looked at it each other.


    Kenny understood her logic and said, "Drop your weapons, men."


    "But we will have no means to defend ourselves."


    Tut Tut


    At this moment, a radio from one of the delta force soldiers sounded. "Follow her orders, Admiral Gerard''s orders."


    The surrounded delta forces gritted their teeth and dropped their weapons.


    Devita walked closer to Tiffany and Tiarra and hugged them. Other than the wound on Tiarra''s knees they were fine. She breathed a sigh of relief.


    She then checked the mutated cat and saw that it was hurt so badly...


    "Stand back, hopefully, it will work. Devita took out a small serum and inject it to the dying mutated cats"


    In just a few moments The heavy breathing of the mutated cat calmed down as its wounds were recovering at a visible rate. A few secondster, the mutated cat opens its eye and slowly stood up, it seems slowly gaining its strength back.


    This is the panacea serum developed by Doctor Rachel from the sun pill. A few of the pill was send by Alex to Devita along with the letters when the Surabaya survivors came a few weeks ago. Since then a few more dosages of the panacea serum have been created. The serum exceeded all of the medical items the world had produced even before the Doomsday.


    "Catty!!"


    Tiffany and Tiarra hugged the mutated cat and it licked them back.


    Seeing the scene, Kenny and the delta force was dumbfounded.


    Devita turned to Kenny, the only man who seemed to be reasonable. "The sun is setting. There are kids here. Please, ept my invitation to our base as goodwill."


    Kenny nodded, this is what his mission is all about, he hopped on the jeep along with the other delta force soldiers.


    "Rama, please escort my daughters back to their room," Devita said and then turned to her two little daughters. "Tiffany, Tiarra, be obedient and follow your Uncle Rama"


    The two little girls nodded as they wiped their snot-filled faces.


    Devita nced at her guards and nodded.


    The two opposing groups watched each other carefully as they traveled. Some of the other delta forces soldiers thought it was wrong for them to surrender their weapons, but since it was an order from the Admiral, they had toply.


    On the way, Devita''s suspicions slowly disappeared when one of her guards mentioned that there were no casualties, the man was just knocked out unconscious. But to be sure, Devita didn''t actually take them to the starbase, rather, she took them to one of the smaller outposts near the beach.


    After a short drive, they finally arrived at their destination.


    Kenny and the delta forces soldiers were bewildered at what they were seeing. A five-star hotel that looked like the Doomsday hadn''t happened, the luxurious architecture, the windy white sand beach. there was no trace of undead, but instead, people moving around busy with their work.


    As they got off the jeeps and went inside the hotel, a few prettydies wearing traditional Balinese uniforms weed them with arge smile and even offered them fresh juice as a wee drink. Bali had been known for its hospitality, luxurious venue, mouthwatering dishes, and eye-pleasing entertainment. Devita kept its culture even in the Doomsday era.


    There were just too many survivors with the skill and talent to make this happened, and the leaders have been thinking such a venue will be usefulter, and just a few days after it''s done, VIP guests already arrived.


    On the other hand, hospitality treatment is one of the most effective ways to extract information other than putting one on-chain and interrogate them with torture.


    In the hotel''s meeting room, Kenny had noticed how Devita ordered people and how dignified she was from the moment she first appeared. He decided to exin and stated the purpose of their journey. "We''vee here looking for a man named Alex."


    Devita, being the smart woman she is, already guessed what''s happening. She simply sipped her tea and said, "You came a bit earlier than my husband. He''s currently out, but will be arriving soon."


    Tut Tut Tut


    Kenny''s long-distance radio made a sound. its Admiral Gerard from the USSMidway


    "Kenny, Beware!! We have iing ships. there are more than 10 ships and a few are destroyer ss. This is an armada of warships!"


    Kenny, being a CIA analyst, observed Devita''s action. Casually sipping her tea while smiling, he did not feel an ounce of maliceing from her. He was trained to collect and interpret information and that included reading people. She was either an excellent bluffer or a genuine person. He thought for a bit and decided to respond.


    "Admiral... They are friendly."


    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


    Hi doomsday pirs readers, I am sorry for unable to do a more regr update, been trying to make time (believe me) but there always be something else that needs to be done. Recently after longte hours work, I really have no energy to write. I went straight to sleep when I got home.


    With my working condition not improving and the novel also keeps the drop in rank, I am really sorry to inform you that a few days ago I finally reached out to WN to go premium.I hope by going premium, I will get more featured and i believe will also improve my motivation as well, on the other hand, thest few weeks WN has done so many updates that I now believe that WN could really able to create a good ecosystem for both readers and writers. I probably thest contracted writer to go premium, Please give your continuous support to Doomsday Pirs and WebNovel.


    Special Thanks for:


    Mark G - Kristina T - Fabian Z - Thomas W - Marc-A - Nichs B- Bnd R - Jose C - Atashkada - AstoryL - Ngaco - JJat - IWantMeat - Jagat - Light Reader - MattRyba -Drust - Volirik - Tarolee - Shintaro. And many more who has been supporting Doomsday pirs for thest 6 months.


    Yours sincerely, Avan

 Chapter 146 - Competition

    DDay +76


    Alex was sitting down at the center of the table on the terrace of a luxury hotel. There were several people sitting beside him; his wife Devita, Cahya, the former governor of Surabaya, James Randall the billionaire and Farell the ex military intelligence; while on the other side of the table were groups from the United States. Admiral Gerard, Kenny, and half of the United States army were also there. Even though Bali is a very zing and hot ind, but the cool tropical breeze made the atmosphere of the room at this time incredibly rxed. Moreover, several women came to serve a ss of fresh orange juice and traditional Indonesian snacks for the two groups.


    Admiral Gerard gave a sweet smile at one of the beautiful women who served his drink, and that smile made her blushed. Even though the Admiral was in his 50s, this white-bearded man still looked quite charming.


    "Ahh Bali is really a beautiful city, I heard it''s not only the beautiful ind that made the ind famous, but the locals are also very friendly ... indeed it''s been true to its name.".


    At the same time, after taking a sip of his orange juice with a smile, Alex answered the admiral''spliment.


    "Admiral, based on what you say, is this your first timeing to Bali? ... Did I hear it correctly?"


    "Haha, yeah yeah, it''s been a long time since I wanted toe for a visit, but I guess I am too serious in carrying out my duties and responsibilities in the navy. Now that the end of the world hase, I don''t think I''ll ever experience this beautiful ind as it should. But then I am truly grateful for the hospitality that you and your wife have prepared for us."


    The two parties suddenly saw some movement on the hill on the opposite side of the hotel.


    "They have arrived ...."


    In the distance small figures appeared from behind a hill running toward the top of the hill. The people on the terrace looked at the figure who ran at the front; it was a beautiful girl in ck uniform and also followed by several men behind.


    Seeing these people, Admiral Gerard was impressed. "Incredible, your team have won this round, Mr. Alex."


    "Your team isn''t far behind Admiral. Now there they are!"


    A few secondster, the second group appeared from behind and arrived at the designated area on the hill. They were only a few secondste, and could only let a beautiful girl part from Alex team took the g from the pole and raised it high.


    The spectators from the terrace showered the people on the hill with cheers and apuded.


    The day before, the aircraft carrier crew of the USS Midway of the United States finally docked and anchored in Bay City and unlike what they had in mind, they were surprisingly weed with great hospitality. They were served with five-star luxury hotel amodations while waiting for Alex and his fleet toplete docking and transfer all the people and supplies from their newly arrived ships. That night the situation and condition at the port of Bay City was very crowded.


    Finally at dawn, Alex and the Admiral could see each other. Unexpectedly, their discussion referred to a friendlypetition between their top fighters.


    At the time both teams were running apetitionmonly referred to as the capture the gpetition. Both teams, Alex''s best fighter, the special unit, fought against the United States Delta Force special unit. They hadpeted all morning. Thispetition was a group speedpetition to win the g after passing various obstacles. Maybe because Alex''s team knew more about the battlefield so they could win thispetition against one of the greatest special forces army teams in the world.


    Even though his group was lost, but Admiral Gerard did not look upset or disappointed he still smiled to congratte the winner.


    "Fabulous, there is even a girl in this unit."


    The Admiral suddenly realize, Devita Alex wife frowned at such a statement.


    "Hahaha, please forgive me, I apologize for any misunderstanding. Myment actually was intended to praise that woman''s excellence."


    Even though this admiral looked intimidating wearing the United States Navy''s uniform, but he did not seem arrogant, in fact his personality was very friendly.


    Alex responded again.


    "Thank you for thepliment Admiral, but we did lost in the first match of shooting contests. So let''s consider the results of thispetition to the draw."


    American soldiers were adept at using firearms, they are also equipped with the top firearms training, and the most sophisticated equipment. In terms of weapons technology, there might be no other country that could bepared to the United States.


    For the sake ofpetition, both teams had used the same firearms. Aria was one of the best snipers on the Alex team, maybe even in the entire Indonesia, but Aria could not win the match against the top notch sniper of Delta Force, they really deserved to be called the best special forces.


    "Mr. Alex, please forgive me but I could not ept such final results. I wish there is a real winner in everypetition. Can we do one more round ofpetition? What if they do a one-on-one close range fight ... it looks like it will be very interesting right?"


    "I don''t think that''s necessary, Admiral."


    "I insist, Mr. Alex, please."


    Alex caught the meaning behind this so-calledpetition. Thispetition was not just to kill time. This was an effective way to read the strength of the opponents and clearly determine which team was more dominant. Alex was also interested in knowing what the true strength of the US special forces who had reached the highest stage of mortal realm. Alex had confidence that there also spirit enhancer among the many US elite troops.


    Alex thought for a moment about it, weighing the pros and cons. In his mind, he understood the meaning behind thispetition, it might be important for a man, especially an American, to stroke his egoparing who has the bigger balls . But Alex felt something fishy, he was sure that this Admiral was not such type of person. It appeared like there was a hidden agenda, but Alex was uncertain, so he decided to ept the admiral''s wishes.


    Both sides waited for their soldiers toe down from the hill. A few momentster the group arrived at the terrace of therge hotel. Aria, was still holding the g, walked toward Alex and handed him the winning g.


    That action surprised Alex a little, should she do this in front of the crowd ... this is not like usual? Is she trying to make an impression to this American, or is she just trying to show how great a soldier she is. It appeared that Alex still couldn''t read this girl''s mind well. But still, however, Aria had given him the victory, so Alex needed to praise him


    "Good job, Aria!"


    The eyes of this Ice Queen glittered for a moment hearing Alex''spliment even though in a blink second, she returned to her usual t expression. Alex didn''t realize it; However, his wife, Devita as a woman she could read this situation better. This kind of situation is something that women usually more sensitive to get.


    Like other normal men, Alex didn''t really understand and didn''t give a mind at all. Aria had indeed done well on his duty so Alex will naturally praise him. Alex''s next action made his wife more surprised. Alex did not let Aria get back to his unit, but instead he asked Aria toe closer to him, Alex whispered something to Aria and not long after that, Aria slowly left the room.


    Seeing this, Admiral Gerard alsomented.


    "I thought she''s one of your best fighters, why don''t you ask her to join the nextpetition?"


    "Don''t worry, Admiral, there are still other fighters who can take it over."


    Shortly after the rest of the troops had gathered in the room, they were told that they would fight on a one on onepetition. Although closebat might sound like they only used barehand fist, the actual rules allowed the participants to use the close range weapons.


    Admiral Gerard gathered his dozens of elite army members and began to choose among them, while Alex started to sought volunteers from his special forces group.


    Alex at first didn''t really much care about the result of losing or winning in thispetition, but this might be a good practice for his men. When his first few volunteers stepped forward, Alex felt that the nextpetition seemed to be quite interesting as well. Alex briefly told them not to overexert themselves.


    The nextpetition began.


    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


    Hello readers of Doomsday Pirs,


    It''s been three months since myst update to the novel. firstly first i would like to say sorry for being hiatus for so long. I also would like to say thank you for your patience.


    Special note to chaotic mike, Mr_long_leg, Sanimah, Its RandomRemi, Daoistfmwaver. and iTitans who has been sending me so many review during my absence reminding me of my responsibility.. it''s hard for me to read it but it also pleased me that you all really care for this novel.


    Thest 3 months starting from family issue, working issue and other responsibility force me to take a break from writing.st two month i have started to slowly started to trante and finally finish the indonesian version. while tranting i realize other than all the top problem, i actually find it the real reason I lost the motivation is because i didn''t have enough material for the next volume. The descending of the pir need to be prepared carefully. I cannot rush it.


    I am happy to announce that I have finally finished all the main plots and have thought about the sort of ending that I want. this really motivates me to continue the story. The three months of watching movies and reading other novels really help me.


    Again please be patient with me. I previously nned to immediatelyplete volume 3 in 5 chapters. But after a lot of consideration these 3 months, I decided to follow the flow as how to make the best of the story. the n is still the same, I n to write the novel with minimum of 500 chapter.


    I have saved up some chapters and nned to publish 10-20 chapters before the end of the month. Also again i apologize for the next few chapters will feel like a feeler. The chapters were actually deliberately wrote to refresh the reader about the previous chapters story and characters..


    Therefore I actually find a way to make the chapter cheaper for the readers. the next 7 chapters i will make sure all chapters to be 30% cheaper than it should. (more words less coins)


    Thank you for your continuous support.


    -Avan-

 Chapter 147 - Delta Force

    After some time for preparation, finally the two groups moved to another location. This terrace certainly had a beautiful view but it was notrge enough to be set as a battle arena. The two groups of more than one hundred people moved to an open area next to the hotel. The vast ground was about twice the size of a basketball court surrounded by ornamental trees. This area was usually used as an outdoor wedding venue. After each of them took a face to face positions, the two groups finally began sending the first fighter.


    "Admiral do you need any special rules in this battle?"


    "Mr. Alex, I don''t think there are many rules, but since this is only a friendly match, I think both of us should try our best to prevent each of us from killing or getting someone injured permanently, and as usual from 5 matches, the group that wins 3 times means they win this round."


    "Alright ... I absolutely agree ....."


    The first round were going to start start soon. From Alex''s side, the fighter who was sent as an emissary was Oscar. He was one of the twins that in Alex''s previous life was known as The Lightning twin. Although Oscar and Oliver were still 19 years old, they were not ordinary fighters. They were spirit enhancers with special lightning elements. They also had gained a lot of experience following Alex over the past 3 months. Alex also wanted to see how much they made progress.


    Oscar came forth with the weapon of his choice as usual, a sword and began to swing it to demonstrate his ability in using it. On the other hand a special force who was part of the Delta force with nearly 2 meters tall, muscr body moved forward to represent the United States. This special soldier was unarmed, yet a dagger was still tied to his waist. He began to demonstrate his martial arts movement.


    Oscar was suddenly a bit annoyed


    "Hey you .. draw your weapon."


    "Fighting against a kid like you, I can just do it bare hands."


    Oscar felt disdained, seeing the previouspetition where this soldier was very good at shooting, He was beyond a shadow of a doubt that that person''s martial arts skill was mediocre. Oscar is even a spirit enhancer, he was capable of moving faster and had reflexes beyond other fighters. In his heart he increasingly felt he would give some lessons to this foreigner to stop looking down on Asians.


    The situation became increasingly stirring when both teams were cheering for their fighters to win.


    "The fight starts!"


    Oscar was impatient and immediately went forward to attack by swinging his sword vertically right above the delta warrior''s head.


    Whoossh!!!


    The speed of Oscar''s sword strike was off the chartpared to the other mortal realm top fighter and this was startling the soldier. However the soldier quickly turned around and dodged the attack. Oscar''s attack didn''t stop there, he immediately proceeded with a horizontal sh.


    Whoosh!!


    Calcting the speed of the Oscar''s attack, the soldier felt that he was unable to dodge perfectly. He immediately regretted his previous arrogance. But this soldier is a special forces veteran soldier. He immediately pulled out the dagger on his waist and used the dagger to fend off the Oscar''s sword.


    nk!!


    That dagger was a small one, less than 20 centimeters in size. However, it was precisely fending off the hard and fast shes from Oscar. What a great fighter. But the soldier''s next actions quite shocked all the spectators.


    The soldier did not retreat, but quickly moved closer to Oscar instead. He found Oscar off guard before he knew it, three straight attacks struck Oscar''s body in one fell swoop. A straight punch directly hit Oscar''s neck.


    THUMP!!!


    One direct punch hit precisely in the vital area of ??the neck immediately made Oscar in great pain and panic, he did not have time to think of attacking back with his condition. Suddenly ....


    THUMP!!


    Oscar missed a blow right in the middle of his nose ... His nose bled immediately ... Oscar took a few step back and ....


    THUMP!!


    One uppercut hit right on his chin and Oscar was thrown 3 meters back like a kite flying as its thread was cut off and immediately fell to the floor ... Before he tried to get up, the soldier had hit him and put his dagger on Oscar''s neck ....


    Oscar was defeated!


    Upon seeing this battle, Farell the smart officer was astonished.


    "Wow! Very good moves!"


    "Yes, it is actually a simple attack but it is very effective when it was used by veteran warriors like him ... There is no useless and direct movement to the critical area ... Great ... Great ...."


    "Looks like it''s Krav Maga''s martial arts"


    "Yes, that''s right, Krav Maga, a martial art that is quitemonly used actually."


    James Randall, the billionaire came along.


    "I thought Krav maga is just a kind of fitness ss ... Haha."


    "Yes, it is verymon self-defense technique from Israel. It is easy to learn but difficult to master. Oscar went down in defeat because hecked experience. This is a good lesson for him."


    The Soldiers and team from the United States proudly shouted and cheered from winning the first match.


    The next round, Oliver wanted toe forward to avenge his twin brother on the US soldier for taking him down. But a certain man held him back. A middle-aged man with a muscr body was very eager to trypeting abilities with this delta force special forces. This man felt that he had no less experience and technique, he was the captain of the most elite troops in Indonesia. Captain Donnie from the Deadsquad army and the squad leader of the tiger unit,


    Donnie came forth as the second fighter.


    Delta Force soldier against Deadsquad soldier, who would win the battle ....


    Donnie currently was used to wieldrge axes to fight monsters and zombies, but for this match, he decided to fight without any weapons. The second soldier chosen from the Delta forces seemed wanted to fight with his bare hands as well. These two men slowly moved forward to the middle of the field, shaking hands and paying mutual respect.


    "The second round of battle starts!"


    The two fighters began to present their own martial stance. Donnie as a captain and instructor of the special forces Deathsquad had mastered a lot of martial arts, but the technique that was exhibited at the day was abination of pencak st and merpati putih [pencak st and merpati putih are some of indonesian martial art] martial arts. It seems like now Donnie wanted to use special Indonesian-created martial arts to fight these foreign fighters.


    Both fighters were experienced veterans and they had both reached the highest stage of the mortal realm. Their physical strengths were on the same level, this battle was apletely battle between technique and experience.


    THUMP!! THUMP!! THUMP!!


    Punches, various insistent kicks, these two men seemed had no desire to give up. Pencak st martial arts attacks besides punches and kicks were also focused on sweeping and clipping movements. A technique of taking the enemy down by attacking their stance, which is kicking by sweeping or pinning the enemy''s feet, so that the enemy loses their bnce and falls helpless. However, Donnie seeded in bringing down his enemy for many times, yet he failed toy the finishing moves. The martial techniques used by the Delta forces always changed ording to conditions. Karate, Judo, Ju Jitsu and this made Donnie overwhelmed.


    Unlike the other special forces, Delta Force was not just soldiers who was good at shooting or fighting. Delta forces received extensive specialized training, aside from shooting, explosives exercises, and the one that made them different was espionage-rted skills. Delta forces troops were arguably not only as the most powerful soldier, they might be the smartest as well. That was why they were known not as soldier but operators instead.


    After more than ten minutes of fighting, their build and body began to hurt. Captain Donnie had to admit the rival''s martial arts techniques were better than his. And he finally admitted his defeat. The soldier, Donnie''s opponent, acknowledged that Donnie was not weaker than him, it''s only that this opponent had insisted on using the same technique.


    The second round ended with defeat on Alex''s side.


    Admiral Geraldughed loudly, proud of his men. He looked at Alex and wanted to tease him, but to his surprise, Alex casually sipped his coffee. Alex just sat up straight with a slight smile on his face.


    At first Alex only enjoyed the match and didn''t think too much about the oue of the match, but seeing the disappointment and depressed feeling from his troops, he began to be motivated to win.


    "Mr. Alex, the position now is 2-0, I wonder who you would choose next?"


    Alex looked in the direction of the special forces. Alex was believed that all his special unit members would be prepared to face the challenge, but most of them were not sure they would be able to win the match. They were afraid they would make their nation lose their face ....


    Alex thought to himself, howe a friendly match turned out to be a battle of national tournament as if it were an Olympic Games ....


    If Alex wanted to win, he had to send his strongest warrior, Colonel Arief, for example, a spirit enhancer from the Regent. Alex was confident that no one had anypetencies to beat him. There are also fire enhancer spirit fighters, like Rama, who also very strong in such one on one battles. When Alex looked at each of their faces, he felt that they were all too serious about this match.


    Suddenly there was one person who bravely approached Alex ....


    "Alex!! None of these guys are brave enough ... Let me do this ...."


    This woman always made him out of his mind ....


    #&#!!


    Before Alex said anything, Theo immediately pulled Cindy back so she wouldn''t cause trouble.


    Actually it might be interesting if Cindy took the stage. Not only she was a woman, she was not an Indonesian either. To be exact, she was a citizen of the United States.. Alex thought that maybe it would break the ice and reduce the tense ... After being lost in contemtion, Alex felt certain that Cindy had a low possibility to win the battle. It was lower than the possibility of a novelist wrote 10,000 words a day.


    Alex was also quite worried about losing the battle because making a wrong decision could make them question his ability as a leader ... Actually a person who was not an Indonesian might not be a bad idea.


    "Aha!"


    A name immediately appeared in his mind.


    Lieutenant Winter!


    A former special member of the United States Navy Seals. The nickname from his unit was LT, it stood for Lieutenant, hisst position when he was in the United States Army. A mission in Africa 5 years ago made him and all of his group members resigned from the military together and joined the private sector. Then it came to a moment when he met a billionaire, James Randal, 4 years ago and has be one of his men.


    Alex had seen Winter''s expertise in fighting back then in Surabaya, and Alex was convinced that Winter was also a spirit enhancer. His skill broke through the chart of mortal rank. It was likely that Winter could win this battle. But since Winter was James''s bodyguard, he could not order Winter arbitrarily and asked James for permission first.


    "So James, do you think Winter would give it a shot?"


    "Alex, are you out of your mind? Why don''t you pick an Indonesian?"


    "Yes, I have my reasons." Alex nced at Winter, "So, do you dare to go?"


    James interrupted Alex''s words


    "Come on Alex, don''t be ridiculous, pick the other one ...."


    Before James Randal finished his words, Winter spoke


    "I''m sorry Mr. Randall, if you don''t mind ... I would like to try my hand at this."


    "Great!!"


    Alex immediately agreed to it, making James lost for words. Alex was quite relieved that Winter epted this challenge, it was because whether Alex had saved Winter''s life once he had his own personal reasons. But Alex believed that Winter would try his best.


    When Winter came forth the center of the field, all the audience was silent, no one thought that non-Indonesian people were chosen by Alex. Almost each of everyone on the field was dumbfounded. What was on Alex''s mind? why did he send an Americans to fight in this deciding match?


    Admiral Gerard was quite confused by Alex''s choice. Aan African American soldier approached to whisper something that shocked the admiral.


    "You .. what''s your name, Soldier?"


    "My name is Winter, and I am not a soldier."


    "I know you are a former Navy Seal, you know there is a word: Once a navy always a navy."


    Winter looked at the admiral then saluted him then he answered.


    "There''s also a navy saying, nothingsts forever."


    Admiral Gerard was increasingly interested in seeing the figure of a man named Winter "Very good soldier" he then looked towards Alex.


    "Mr. Alex I''m very curious, why did you pick an American instead of Indonesian?"


    Alex answered with a smile, "I have my own reasons, Admiral, I think I will exin thister, let''s enjoy this fight first."


    "Great." The admiral felt Alex was a very unique person.


    Not long after, a Delta soldier came down to represent the Americans, this person was the man who whispered to the admiral before. And it looked like his face was familiar to Winter.


    "Hello Winter," said the soldier.


    Winter ignored the soldier''s words, but only stared into his eyes trying to remember his face.


    The soldier was with Winter back then at Navy Seals. He remembered how Winter had always been the best in their ss. Firearms, sparring, everything, he could neverpete Winter. It was until the day that Winter resigned from the Navy out of the blue.


    "I don''t know what you had gone through during that mission, but I will prove that quitting the military was such a big mistake. After you quit the navy, I was epted as a Delta member. This time I am confident that I can defeat you."


    Winter looked to this man indifferently. This man''s face was familiar, but he couldn''t recall anything.


    "Sorry i don''t remember.. Are we going to fight here or do you only want to have a chit-chat with me?"


    At the moment, James''s chief bodyguard was wearing a ck suit as custom when on duty. This outfit was not suitable for fighting. Winter took it off slowly. There were many wounds on his body from all the previous battles when he was still a soldier back then. He was a real veteran. There was one big wound in his abdomen, the wound he got in the war against ck zombies. No one would survive such injuries. If it wasn''t for Alex''s magic seruml, he wouldn''t have survived that day.


    "You don''t remember ...." The soldier clenched his fistˇŞ "I''ll make you do!"


    He shouted as he ran to attack Winter.


    The third fight begins.

 Chapter 148 - The Power Of Spirit Enhancer

    The hustle and bustle of the audience cheered for the third round that has just begun. Whenpared to international martial arts battles such as in Olympic games, this fight was considered on a different level. Every move, defense, stroke, and kick in a far different level.


    Since the end of time, the physical metabolism of the human body around the world had slowly mutated, even more so by consuming spirit stones. A magic stone that can increase the physicaltent abilities of humans.


    Muscle strength, reaction speed, hardness of flesh and bones, stamina, regeneration speed, all slowly increased. In the informationter found in Doomsday Pir, the limits were separated into 4 parts; Mortal Realm, Earth Realm, Sky Realm and Saint Realm. Each with levels that were divided into initial stage, intermediate, and high stages.


    In general, a person with trained physical abilities can make up for the initial stage and the intermediate stage were those who had honed their physical activity and extreme activities. Special Forces people such as the Deathsquad, Navy Seal or Delta force who spent most of his life in pushing his physique to be the strongest warrior of his time. The intermediate stage of Mortal realm had the speed of sprint runner like the gold medal holder Usain Bolt, the stamina of a professional mountaineer and the muscle strength of a heavyweight boxer. At the most only 7,000 of the 7 billion people in the world can reach this stage.. It was only 0.0001%.


    But since doomsday arrived and with the presence of spirit stones, humans can prate the boundary stage of the mortal realm and reach the high stage of the Mortal realm. At this stage, the strength, speed, endurance increased 3 times from the intermediate stage. No wonder this fight is so tense.


    In in view, the battle between the two Americans was lopsided. An African American representative from Delta continued to press Winter. If this fight was an official boxing fight, at this time Winter might have lost about 50 points. Although Winter''s hands remained firmly raised to form a stance and was able to fend off several attacks that would enter the head area, the punch and kick attack of the Delta soldier was still able to hit Winter''s body, If Winter really intended to stay at the start and nned to counterattack, he should have done it before. The current situation looks like Winter will never got a chance to strike back again. This middle-aged bald foreigner looked increasingly oppressed.


    THUMP!


    THUMP!!


    Once again a spinning kick from the Delta soldier made it into Winter''s shoulder ....


    But if you look very closely, the expression on the soldier''s face was unhappy even on the contrary even more visibly irritated, even slightly grimacing in pain. While the expression of Winter despite being insistent on receiving attacks still looked calm.


    The audience who were ustomed to watching the match witnessed that this fight was odd, while Alex was seen smiling in one corner.


    Every peak stage of Mortal realm''s attack was able to crack the walls or bend the iron. As strongest as the physical endurance of Winter, who was also a peak mortal realm, would not be able to withstand the impact of the onught of barrage. There was something different from Winter.


    The Delta force soldier did not seem to give up and seeded in swiftly conducting a swivel attack and with all his strength managed to throw a hard kick at Winter''s head.


    THUMP!!!


    A loud precisely aimed kick!


    Winter finally fell to his knees.


    Seeing that, Admiral Gerard involuntarily shouted.


    Good kick!


    The Delta soldier took a step back looking at Winter who was lying on the floor. This African American man really liked taekwondo martial arts. Martial arts centered on kick attacks. The kick that he just hit was his best kick. And the kick sessfully got into one side of Winter''s face, if not unconscious, at least the kick should be able to crack Winter''s jawbone.


    But the look on the delta soldier''s face seemed perplexed, as even though the attack was able to bring down his opponent, but on the contrary his foot which underlied the attack was so painful. He felt like kicking a hard concrete column wall.


    "...Who are you?"


    "..."


    The audience was confused to hear the delta soldier''s cry. Just a few minutes before the soldier had said he would make Winter remember who he was. But now the soldier does not recognize Winter.


    The soldier was more dumbfounded that for almost ten minutes of this battle over 50 of his blows had managed to hit Winter, but as a result, his legs and arms was in deep pain.


    Winter slowly got up. Out of the blood flowing from his nose, he looked fine. His gaze and expression hadn''t changed at all since the beginning of the battle.


    This suddenly made the Delta soldier feel depressed, the memory of the past where he could not beat Winter back in his mind. After all this time it remained unchanged, even more than that the man in front of him had turned into a scary figure. Fear and doubt can bring disaster in all missions, there is no room for doubt in the dictionary of special forces. He immediately rushed forward with all his strength issued a front kick attack.


    HIAATTT!!!


    Some battle experts who saw this could already told that this battle had finally ended. Right now the Delta fighter''s attack was too careless.


    And indeed, Winter also saw this opportunity, he shifted one foot to avoid the kick, then he put an elbow strike into the stomach precisely on target.


    THUMP!!


    The elbow strike was so painful, before the soldier reacted anything, Winter caught the soldier''s feet with both hands and with spinning of his body he mmed the delta warrior onto the floor.


    THUMP!!


    Winter calmly took two steps back, giving his opponent the chance to stand up. The soldier seemed unable to ept that defeat. Just one elbow but it hurt more than the bullet that he had received during his mission. With all his strength he tried to get up and Winter getting ready to fight again but ....


    "ENOUGH!!"


    The admiral raised his hand and stopped the fight. A Latin American soldier was seen advising the admiral.


    "Mr. Alex, this battle is won by your guy. Congrattions."


    The Delta soldier, although he did not seem to ept, but as a special forces soldier, he immediately let go of his personal frustrations and obeyed his superiors. Winter turned around and slowly turned back.


    "Lieutenant Winter ... Good Fight!"


    The Admiral praised him. Some people from the American side had a different view of Winter. It was undeniable that they initially denigrated Winter for quitting the army and entering the private sector. But seeing Winter''s figure that looked like a sturdy mountain that didn''t budge against the dozens of attacks, they were also bemused. It seems like American soldiers were quite simple, they did not give a shit about revenge or other dramas. They only care about a person true ability to achieve a given task.


    The admiral continued speaking to Alex


    "Mr. Alex. Congrattions it is 2 : 1. But before we continue the fight, can you exin what you did to the soldier? What''s the secret?"


    Alex quite appreciated the personality of the admiral who looked very friendly.


    "Admiral, we are all friends, I will surely exin."


    Alex exined a bit that Winter''s ability wasn''t his help or anything. But winter was one of the spirit enhancers. The ssification was defined by Doomsday Pir as the Evolved. If previously 7,000 out of 7 billion people were able to be selected as special forces with perseverance, Spirit enhancers were formed from birth. These spirit enhancers or evolutionists were those who from birth did have the talent to reach physical boundaries but also spirit boundaries.


    Alex has seen the potential of winter in the fight against the ck Zombie. But after passing through a critical period, it looks like the path to the sprit realm for winter has opened. Alex was estimated from the characteristics of the battle earlier, Winter was included in the category of Earth''s spirit enhancers. Winter has gained a hardened bone density. Looks like Winter''s skeletons have gone up one level. That was why he could easily withstand the impact of the attack and also made his elbow one of the hardest parts of the bone even more deadly. Winter was not only a spirit enhancer, he was a spirit enhancer who can show his talent when he was still in the mortal realm. He was a former member of the special forces. People liked him when he was well-prepared, he will be the backbone of human salvation in the future.


    Hearing this, the admiralmented,


    "Mr. Alex. I''m sure he''s an American, can I bring him back to America?"


    ''Haha ... admiral ... If it''s about that, you must talk to my friend here ... not me."


    The Admiral looked at James Randal with a smile.


    James said only two words.


    "No Way."


    The current score was 2 to 1. For the next round, if the Americans won, then this battle will still be won by the Admiral.


    Seeing the admiral''s reaction before who was not so surprised to hear Alex''s exnation about Winter, Alex then sure that there was a spirit enhancer, which was no less powerful than Winter in his special squad members. Alex''s attention was on the native American man who always stood close to the Admiral.


    Alex was interested in seeing the person''s abilities. After all, if Alex did not defeat the admirals strongest warrior, even though Alex won this battle, the effect of the dominance of the power he wanted to show would not be achieved.


    "Admiral, I''m sure you also have a spirit enhancer in your special forces, in the next battle certainly more exciting to see a battle between two spirit enhancers."


    Hearing this, the admiral thought for a moment, he nced at the native American fighter next to him, and felt the man was already eager topete. From the way Alex spoke he seemed to have a lot of spirit enhancer fighters.


    "That''s impossible". He thought to himself.


    The fighter next to him was a monster, was it possible that a small country like Indonesia has a lot of monster fighters like the person next to him?. Suddenly the admiral felt depressed, in the previous battle he was still in the upper hand. Just because of a one-time defeat suddenly the situation turned upside down by 180 degrees. Even though the condition was still 2 to 1. In the end the admiral refused to believe,


    "This is definitely just bluffing."


    At most Alex only had one fighter left. And to avoid his hidden trump card being revealed, he would not send the monster next to him.


    "Hahaha, Mr. Alex, all Delta warriors are monsters, they are the best of the best. The next person I choose is the best martial arts fighter who also won the UFC."


    Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is a body contact sport that allows a variety of fighting techniques, such as wrestling, kicking, and punching. In MMA, each practitioner was encouraged tobine techniques from various branches of martial arts to incapacitate opponents.


    Since ancient Greek, the concept of fighting simr to MMA has been practiced. In the modern era, the poprity of MMA skyrocketed when various organizations and global MMA promotion events began to appear throughout the world.


    The man who fought next was a special force and veteran martial fighter, the main martial artsmonly used were a mix of Boxing, Kick Boxing and Wrestling. This nearly 2 meter tall man stepped forward and was ready to fight.


    Who will Alex choose this time?

 Chapter 149 - Final Match

    The man who came forward next was a special force and veteran martial fighter. The main martial arts that weremonly used by this man were abination of Boxing, Kick Boxing and Wrestling. This nearly 2 meter tall man stepped forward and was ready to fight. Because this fighter was used to entering martial artspetitions, and was ustomed to the sensation of cheers of the match, he ran and shouted with enthusiasm. And supporters joined in screaming to enliven the air.


    This man was a member of the special forces and a former American national martial arts champion who consumed spirit stones to reach the peak of the mortal realm. The fighters here were not surprised if such a person could easily defeat a dozen red zombies by himself.


    No matter how exciting the atmosphere at the moment was, seeing the admiral''s chosen fighter didn''t satisfy Alex. He stood up and walked toward the group of special forces and called someone from the crowd casually.


    "You ˇ­."


    "....!!!"


    "Me?"


    "Yes, you .ˇ­"


    The atmosphere in the Alex''s side turned to icy and silent. The admirer was confused and noticed what was happening. One of the figures from the group approached Alex ... but a figure who took the stage despite wearing the same ck uniform as other fighters did was probably the smallest figure among all the fighters ... The admiral rubbed his eyes with his fingers somehow because of age, his vision became a little blurry.


    After he saw it clearly .. Indeed, the figure who approached Alex was a teenager. The teenager went over and Alex whispered a few things to his ear. As a western foreigner, the body size of the teenager was as a 10-year-old kid. It turns out that the fighter Alex chose was a minor and rather than a grown up fighter. It sent the admiral to disbelief.


    "Ahhh this kid may be his assistant to get something."


    "Or probably his son ... Yes right, the teen might be his son."


    "Oo ... There''s no way he sent his son to fight, right ...."


    The teenager Alex chose was none other than Tommy, a shadow spirit enhancer who was also able to perform his skill at the mortal realm level. It was because Tommy had joined the team not long ago, so little did Alex''s troops knew him yet. They heard and talked about it but throughout the journey from Surabaya, he was always close to Alex, it seemed that Alex noticed him and trained him specifically.


    After hearing a few words from Alex, Tommy without hesitation walked forward to the middle of the field, and immediately unsheathed his two daggers from his waist. Ready to fight. Suddenly the hustle and bustle painstakingly made by the UFC champion immediately turned to be silent as dead.


    Admiral Gerard was shocked to the point of being speechless, he did not know what Alex''s ns were.


    "Don''t worry, Admiral, don''t look at his small body. I won''t win if I fight with him "


    Amid the silence, the UFC champions felt like being fooled.


    "Is this a joke?"


    "How old is he? 10?"


    "I am 14." Tommy casually responded.


    Tommy was a teenager who spent his first two to three weeks alone in a shopping mall full of zombies. Currently this teenager had a calm and attitude that was inappropriate with his age ....


    "Don''t y around, Kiddo! You could get hurt or worse... die."


    Tommy was a little annoyed as he was called "Kiddo", as he replied, "Don''t be fussy. Let''s do this."


    "No No!! I want an equal opponent ... Don''t be ridiculous!"


    The UFC Champion didn''t give Tommy even a nce, though Tommy was holding two sharp daggers. He only expressed his objection to Alex''s camp. This flew Tommy into a rage.


    "Ok, then I''ll make my moves!"


    Tommy took a stance and was ready to charge. The UFC champion saw it but didn''t take it seriously. He was a special force who entered the battlefield for many times. Even though the eyes of the little boy in front of him looked serious and different from other children at his age, but what could he do anyway?


    When Tommy started to step forward. The UFC champion was ready to move when he realized something very strange happening ... his legs could not move!! Spontaneously he looked at his feet and footing.


    "...!!!"


    Something terrible holds his feet ... a dark shadow moved and formed a human figure, it had fingers and hands and climbed his feet up to the waist.


    The UFC champion was horrified and screamed abruptly!!


    AAAAaaaaaa!!!


    The shadow tried to pull him to the floor with all its strength. The UFC champion with all his power was trying to fight back and indeed the peak strength of the mortal realm was not that easy to hold. But before he managed to get rid of any creature that pulled him, suddenly from the other side, another shadow creature appeared and pulled him too. He could not stand and finally fell down on the floor with the shadow creature holding his entire body.


    Suddenly there was a figure lunging at him. The underrated little boy was already standing on him, ready to jab the two daggers towards his head. Right that time, the boy''s eyes looked very icy ....


    This was not the first time Tommy killed a man. It was in that small vige when they were surrounded and massacred by a group of crazy people, and when he once again attacked the headquarters of the crazy people. This dagger held by Tommy has already imed several victims. But in fact, long before that, even before Tommy met Daisy, inside a certain Mall, he stumbled upon the unfortunate incident that made him forced to kill a man for the first time.


    At that time at the beginning of the end of the world, a grown up sacrificed people around him to save himself. In a crazy situation at the end of time, humans showed their true predatory nature and the circumstances had forced Tommy to kill a person and that incident had changed his life.


    Tommy came closer to the beaten fighter without saying a word or expression on his face. It scared the helpless man to death.


    He was thinking ... Could this little boy has an abnormality .. I think there''s no other kids his age would have that such a skill. This is not normal ..


    "Wait ... Wait, I admit for defeat!!


    The knife flew toward the man''s neck like greased lightning.


    "No!!! Stopp!!"


    STAB!!


    The champ could feel a cold object right on his neck ... Was he dead? After he opened his eyes, it turned out .. Tommy''s dagger pierced the floor on both sides and stuck to his neck ....


    Tommy whispered,


    "I believe it means that I win, and you''re just beaten down by a kid."


    Then Tommy pulled out his dagger, and walked back while slowly making his shadow fade. The UFC champion lost without a fight.


    All the spectators were dumbfounded .... This fight finished in a blink of an eye, and they could see Tommy''s special abilities that were beyond theirmon sense. But soon the cheers resounded in the courtyard of the five-star hotel.


    In spite of losing the battle, the Admiral still enjoyed this match.


    "Congrattions, now we''re entering the final round of determination."


    Alex, who was initially not very interested in this match, unwittingly participated in it.


    "Come on, Admiral, I can see the fighter next to you want to join the fight. He has ants in his pants."


    Admiral Gerard finally admitted that he could not underestimate Alex. He began to feel the mission he was carrying woulde into a failure. But he could not give up, he had to get the maximum benefits. The admiral was very confident about the abilities of the monster fighters next to him and he would strike when the iron is hot.


    "Mr. Alex, seeing this battle would be ourst round, how about we make a bet?"


    Alex was quite taken aback. It seemed the admiral would finally reveal what reasons behind his visit, and the mission and intentions of America sending a Midway carrier ship across the Pacific Ocean, in the midst of end of days chaos.


    "Ok, I''m interested in betting, what do you want, Admiral?"


    "You Mr. Alex ... "


    "What do you mean?"


    "Our main missioning here is to pick you up and take you back to America."


    "..."

 Chapter 150 - Characters Update

    <strong>WARNING THIS IS JUST LIST of CHARACTER</strong>. i made the list for reader that need to reminded of the Doomsday Pirs characters. will delete this next week and put it in the beginning of the novel.


    (Its in Alphabetical orders)


    <strong>Adam</strong> - Student 19, Basketball captain, student council president. In love with Daisy. The son of General Rico. He was captured and experimented on


    <strong>Alex</strong> - Main Character 36 years old reincarnator. A family man who wants to repeat his past mistakes. Protect his family and friend, save the world.


    <strong>Andry</strong> - Colonel of Rico, going to Tangerange to Java with Rico


    <strong>Anthony</strong> - one of the nine dragons form Jakarta.


    <strong>Anton</strong> - Deathsquad Lieutenant, one of Suryo five little general nickname The Destroyer, weapon of choice :huge hammer


    <strong>Aria</strong> - Deathsquad Lieutenant, Ice Queen, Snipers, Spirit Enhancer, Regent Suryo granddaughter


    <strong>Arnold</strong> - United States senator


    <strong>Bayu</strong> - ck Snake Gang leader, 1.9-meter muscr bald man. Include Jerry, both are thest surviving ck snake gang leader.


    <strong>Benny</strong> - Bay city mayor right-hand man, turn into Alex one of trusted officials. a good administrator.


    <strong>Cahaya</strong> - ex Governor who once famous by going to prison for defending its citizen


    <strong>Cardinal Strauss</strong> - second in line for the next Vatican Pope, member of the Illuminati


    <strong>Chemist</strong> - mastermind behind the experiment that made the crazy people


    <strong>Christina</strong> - Alex close friend, known since Australia. Live in Singapore, fire spirit enhancer, leader of the Firebirds


    <strong>Cindy</strong> - Professor John assistant, blonde hair sses, weapon of choice : a whip


    <strong>Arief</strong> - Colonel of Deathsquad, Regent Suryo right hand man, metal spirit enhancer


    <strong>Corrie</strong> - Firebird, long hired crescent de wind type spirit enhancer


    <strong>Cynthia</strong> - 16 years Bali survivor/cadet


    <strong>Daisy</strong> - Student 19, orphan, art major, Spirit enhancer Psychic who can sense live like a radar


    <strong>Dario</strong> - Deathsquad lieutenant Surabaya


    <strong>Darius</strong> - 40 years old spirit enhancergravity, businessman who sae all his family died.


    <strong>Devita</strong> - MC Wife, Tough and loving mother of two. Taking care of Bali StarBase in Alex Absence


    <strong>Dion -</strong>high rank official in Surabaya


    <strong>Doctor Rachel</strong> - Researcher part of the medical team sent by James Randall to Bali


    <strong>Dominique</strong> - Philippines president


    <strong>Donnie</strong> - Captain, Deathsquad Foxtrot Company leader. Appointed as Tiger special forces squad leader.


    <strong>Dn -</strong>Bali Base new recruits, Same unit with Barry


    <strong>Elena Young</strong> - christina mother head of family.Elizabeth McCord - x secretary of state - president


    <strong>Erick</strong> - Bali survivor, Alex savior in the previous life


    <strong>Evan</strong> - MC friend in Perth Australia, ss president


    <strong>Farel</strong> - Captain, Intelligence officer, "The Strategist" Oxford graduated, good looking.


    <strong>Flea</strong> - James Randal bodyguard, Sniper


    <strong>Fuhrer Heinrich</strong> - Founder of Ahnenerbe organization


    <strong>Gerard</strong> - USS Midway Navy Admiral


    <strong>Governor Agung</strong> - Bali governor


    <strong>Hafiz</strong> - Heaven''s Gate terrorist group top leader


    <strong>Hans</strong> -mander Iron eagle squadron, Ahnenerbe organization


    <strong>Jaka</strong> - Colonel Bali police department


    <strong>James Randall</strong> - one of the indonesian 9 Dragons. (9 richest indonesian family), live in Surabaya East Java, was contracted with strange disease that made him live in wheelchair.


    <strong>Jane</strong> - Botanist, Spirit enhancer of earth. Taking care of Bali base botanic gardens


    <strong>Jenny</strong> - scar faced woman - psychic spirit enhancer, firebird


    <strong>Jerry</strong> - Bali smuggler leader, wind spirit enhancer


    <strong>Jorge</strong> - South Africa National Defense force General


    <strong>Jurgen</strong> - High ranking Mossad, Israel government


    <strong>Kaleb</strong> - christina 6 years son


    <strong>Karra</strong> - lieutenantmander navy second fleet,mander Tom XO, be the captain of Fathih destroyer aftermander Tom died.


    <strong>Kenji Shima</strong> - Japan Chairperson


    <strong>Kenny</strong> - CIA junior Analyst


    <strong>Lee Semo</strong> - Singapore prime minister


    <strong>Mahaguru Indra</strong> - Pencak St society grandmaster


    <strong>Major Sandi</strong> - Densus 88 police special force in Bali


    <strong>Max</strong> - American highest rank general


    <strong>Maxine</strong> - Firebird - tall girl earth spirit steel rods


    <strong>Melissa</strong> - Student 19, political major, mother a cab member


    <strong>Milo</strong> - Deathsquad private, good at karate


    <strong>Natahan and Nathalia</strong> - 19-21- siblings misfits


    <strong>Oscar and Oliver</strong> 19 years old the lightning twins


    <strong>Park Ji</strong> - North Korea minister of defense


    <strong>Rafid</strong> - Deathsquad sergeant, double sword fighter, one of Regent 5 little generals


    <strong>Rajesh</strong> - India ministry of external affairs


    <strong>Rama</strong> - Youngest pencak st master, spirit enhancer fire. Spear user


    <strong>Rangga</strong> - Deathsquad Lieutenant, Chinese ethnic, kung fu specialist


    <strong>Rano</strong> - Colonel of Rico first arrive at New JAva


    <strong>Red</strong> - good looking caucasion, bomb expert Regent


    <strong>Suryo</strong> - West Sumatra regent, 5-star general, leader of Deathsquad


    <strong>Riasa</strong> - 24. spirit enhancer singer


    <strong>Rick</strong> - Apartment 3rd floor, Jakarta survivor, misfits second inmand


    <strong>Rico</strong> - Brigadier General of Indonesia Government, Vice chief police department special forces. Later voted to be the President of the country


    <strong>Romi</strong> - misfits 20 - talkative


    <strong>Ronny</strong> - Colonel, Singapore - Christina ex husband


    <strong>Run</strong> - Madura fighter Russel - Frogmando lieutenant, the navy second fleet


    <strong>Sergei Jacob</strong> - Professional wrestler/entertainer. 2 meter tall. red hair, beard to chest. earth element spirit enhancer- friendly. cigar and alcohol


    <strong>Sidao Young</strong> - Christina uncle


    <strong>Silvia</strong> - cab member, Rico bed buddies, betray him and put in jail


    <strong>Sultan kartasurya the tenth</strong>


    <strong>Theo</strong> - Top medical student turn Priest, MC best friend 20 years


    <strong>Tiarra</strong> - MC second daughter 7 years old


    <strong>Tiffany</strong> - MC first daughter 12 years old Tommy - spirit enhancer - shadow


    <strong>Tony</strong> - MC Construction Manager, background engineering


    <strong>Vina</strong> - Erick daughter, help Alex for 7 years


    <strong>Vonny</strong> - MC sister inw


    <strong>Winter</strong> - Randal bodyguard, 40 years old lieutenant x navy seal. bald men.


    <strong>Yuda -</strong> Same unit with Barry ck Snake, runaway andter be the Bali base outcast


    <strong>Zee</strong> - 2nd inmand african american, James Randall bodyguard


    <strong>Zhao Fan</strong> - China 4 big families, powerful spirit enhancer who can sense future


    <strong>Zhao Wei</strong> - China 4 big families


    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


    <strong>Dead Characters</strong>


    Barry - Chief engineering Lieutenant of the navy second fleet


    Budi - Deathsquad Lieutenant, pencak st


    Captain Joko - Company captain, Jakarta survivor


    Commander Tom - Indonesian navymander second fleet


    Doctor Andy - Leader of the medical team sent by James Randall


    Eka - MC project manager


    Harris - Deathsquad Lieutenant, White dove


    Hendrik - MC younger brother, businessman, gambler


    Jacko - ck Snake Gang leader


    Jason - Student 19, Basketball team, muscr


    Jimmy - MC Older Brother, has a wife and 2 teen kids


    Keane - Student 19, Basketball team, point guard, talkative


    Keith - Jakarta survivor


    Kelly - Christina daughter


    Lea - Headmaster Jakarta survivor base


    Lt Leon - Densus 88 police special forces Lieutenant


    Major General Agus -Army 9th Division general in Bali


    Major General Zaki - Indonesian Army 1st Division leader


    Mike - Deathsquad Lieutenant, dark skin, boxing


    Mr. ke - ck Snake Gang Boss


    Nina - MC Finance Manager, known for more than 10 years


    Professor John - Harvard head of history, 20 years research on relics


    Rahel - Student 19, Drama major


    Rea - Victor girlfriend


    Rendi - Bay city Mayor, likes money


    Rina - MC Human Resource manager, background psychology


    Robert - Science of human civilization, Ahnenerbe organization spy


    Roby - Bay City police headz


    Roy - CIA deputy director


    Sally - Student 19, Business major


    Vicky - ck Snake Gang leader


    Victor - MC brother inw

 Chapter 151 - The Bet

    The Midway Carrier, led by Admiral Gerard, was probably the only one of all other aircraft carrier still functioning all over the American naval fleet. Only 2 months had passed since the Doomsday start and this ship has arrived in Bali. This was a proof of how important the mission carried by this fleet. When Alex recognized Kenny, the CIA agent, hade along with these troops, Alex had thought they woulde looking for him for some information.


    Today, America, one of the most powerful countries in the world, would try with all its efforts to cope with the crisis that has engulfed the country and the entire earth. Looked like "picking up Alex" was not the exact term. A fleet with more than 4000 personnel and equipped with Delta special forces. They came here to catch Alex by all means possible.


    But it seemed that once they got to the Bali ind, the situation they''re facing was far beyond their expectations. The Bali ind had been transformed into arge fortress and moreover the man they would ''pick up'' was the leader of this fort, this made their mission very troublesome.


    Alex thought for a moment and tried to find the best way to deal with this situation..


    "Admiral is this a direct order from the president? Who is the current president of America? "


    "Yes, the current president is President Elizabeth McCord. She is a former secretary of the state. This is a direct order from her."


    Kenny chimed in, "Yes Mr. Alex, I received this mission directly from President McCord."


    In Alex''s previous life, the American president in charge was not president Elizabeth ord, but a former general named Max. Looks like this was one of the butterfly effects that ur because of Alex. The history of America facing the end times has changed. Considering Max''s actions at that time, McCord''s leadership should be difficult. Because of Max, the American president in Alex''s previous life, was a tough and iron-fisted leader.


    (Max was the general whounched a bomb in Washington, outside of the President McCord''s authorization and then escaped from prison.)


    "Admiral ... Can''t we just make a long-distance contact with the president?"


    "When Midway departed from the American west coast, we managed to connectmunications with the American west coast. But it seems that to cross the Pacific Ocean is not possible unless the underwater cable or the satellites are working. Currently there is no single satellite are reachable"


    Alex felt something was still covered up by the admiral, but it was not the right time to force him. If the admiral dared to spill the beans in this gamble, it seemed like he was very confident on the fighter standing next to him.


    Alex continued, "Admiral, honestly I want to help, but I don''t have time to go back and forth to America now."


    Admiral Gerard felt that it was indeed impossible. If he was in Alex''s position, there was no way he would approve this bet ....


    The Indian American soldier standing next to the admiral finally got impatient and leapt forward to the center of the match field and eximed.


    "Is there no warrior here?!! No one dares?!!"


    Alex was a little surprised, from the simple jump that the man had just done, it seemed that this person''s ability was unusual, not only from the strength and speed of the jump but also how hended. Alex was sure that this man was a wind spiritual enhancer.


    "My name is Nathanael Hawkeye, I am the son of Chingachgook of the Mohican tribe, I am the best warrior in this unit. I challenge your greatest warriors."


    The American Indian man with reddish-brown skin, long ck hair tied around roughly thirty years old, was a descendant of a well-known and respected Indian tribe. Since the age of 17, he had left his Navajo Nation, a special American Indian territory in Utah, Arizona. This man, who grew up in an environment of Indian traditional culture and joined the American military until he was selected into the delta forces.


    Alex''s warriors who gathered around were amazed by the figure of a delta force member who looked very ferocious. Alex looked between his groups; Rama the talented Pencak St fighter, was ready to fight. Since the beginning, Rama was a Pencak St expert, certainly he was very interested in fighting this person. On the other hand, the one that caught Alex''s attention was colonel Arief, a middle-aged man who was a Deathsquad fighter and a metal spirit enhancer who seemed staring at Alex for approval toe forward. The one who used to be very quiet and rarely chimed in was even interested in fighting.


    Actually in Alex''s mind, these evolved ones were very rare, and having one or two members is really a fortune, Alex knew the greatness and strengths of those people who had some talents as spirit enhancers, and sometimes he felt jealous of their luck. Alex was not a spirit enhancer, sometimes he wondered why ordinary fighters like him were chosen to be reincarnated, was he really chosen or was this just a coincidence ....


    Nathaniel took off his military uniform and put on a red headband, and then took out two weapons; abat knife and a traditional small Indian axe. Seeing the fighter''s figure and the weapon in his hand in front of him, Alex finally decided to ept this challenge.


    Looked like the final battle is inevitable, Alex''s was cornered. He thought, if he could not back down, he might as well use this opportunity to gain more luck.


    Alex wrote a request on a piece of paper and handed it over to the admiral, who shook his head while reading the list. The paper contained a list of items that would be an American bet if Alex won this bet. Inside the letter was a list of types and numbers of most modern weapons of the American special forces, the most recentmunication devices.


    The more Admiral Gerard looked down the more he wiped his sweat


    84 pieces of Bofors 44mm machine guns,


    68 pieces of Oerlikon 20 mm canons.


    And plus 2 units of delta troops.


    "...."


    The request of thetest handguns andmunication tools was quite easy for Admiral Gerard to fulfill it, but the machine guns and canons listed by Alex were all machine guns and canons installed in the Carrier Midway. If he lost this bet, it could be said that the Midway warship would be like a beautiful woman who was stripped and ready to be devoured by the prey from all sides.


    "Mr. Alex ...are you kidding me?" ....


    But Alex just smiled, in his mind he hoped the admiral would be willing to risk the entire Midway warship. But there was a possibility that would not happen. An admiral without a warship would not be able to defend his admiral''s title.


    If indeed the Midway ship was not put at stake, Alex actually wanted to add 18 pieces of MK16 artillery which were the main and most powerful weapons of Midway, or the Sea Sparrow rocketuncher and the Phnx automatic rifle into the list. But these three types of weapons were too difficult to remove from the ship itself. So Alex was forced to have enough of that list.


    If the admiral could read Alex''s mind which was like a loan shark, he would fly into a rage. For the admiral, this list was quite a headache but he could get a recement at the naval base when he returned. At the very time his mission to bring Alex was more important. The situation in America was currently in turmoil, he wanted to quickly return to get involved in stabilizing the conditions there.


    The admiral asked to Alex.


    "Why do you need 2 units of delta forces?"


    Alex casually responded, "I need more instructors, we can treat them as the American ambassadors ce here to strengthen our rtionship. One year at most. And then they can return to America."


    Again the admiral thought, what he was talking about actually made sense, but it was hard for him to leave these people. However, seeing Nathaniel who was standing out loud in the middle of the field full of confidence, the admiral finally responded,


    "I approve half of this list, how about it?"


    "75% no less."


    The admiral felt he was being mocked by Alex at this time. This weapons and his soldiers were not like merchandise in stores that could easily be used as bargains. But never mind, he thought he was very confident in Nathanael''s strength, he also had other backup ns.


    "OK, agree."


    "Great, I''m sure you will not break a promise, Admiral!"


    "Don''t feel too much confident that you will win Mr. Alex, have you decided who is your chosen fighter?"


    Alex looked back between his fighters, Rama and Arief were ready to take part in the fight, but Alex turned back and looked at Admiral Gerard. Alex then raising his index finger, pointed it to his own face.


    "I choose myself"


    "...."


    "Yes, I will fight this time."

 Chapter 152 - The Eight Element

    It turned out that Alex was not joking, he would represent this final betting match.


    Alex walked forward step by step. Alex''s reaction was beyond everyone''s expectations, his wife Devita was also shocked so she didn''t have time to hold Alex back from fighting.


    Alex was a 36-year-old man who looked very ordinary. Many people didn''t expect that Alex was a fighter, even many of the members of the special forces had never seen him fight. His wife Devita had seen Alex fight against Jerry, the first spirit enhancer who was also the head of the ck Snake gang. Devita had seen Alex''s abilities but maybe either because Alex''s opponent this time was a special force or maybe because she didn''t get used to see this side of her husband ... she felt like she didn''t know her husband. Was this man really her husband?


    Rama walked over to Alex..


    "Alex, let me fight ..."


    "Rama, I see that you have achieved a new breakthrough in your fire spirit enhancer skill as well, but you may not be able to defeat this man. Keep your eyes close watch on it."


    Rama, the most talented martial arts fighter in his generation, looked very obedient listening to Alex''s words. He shortly returned to his position.


    The Admiral had read some information about Alex from Kenny the CIA agent who was standing next to him. Before all the disasters of the end of the world, things that happened to Kenny back in Singapore made him do a lot of research about Alex.


    The massacre of Japan assassins (ninja) and the Somali pirates on the coast of Singapore. Another Information gathered from Professor John about Alex''s actions against secret organizations in Mexico. Also some information which Alex managed to defeat one of Indonesia''s strongest special forces Deathsquad, the whole toon all by himself.


    Although thetest information had never been proven because the secrecy from the organisation, moreover this was something that was so embarrassing for them. At the end, the CIA reports conclude that Alex was a capable fighter.


    These two men, Alex and Nathanael, were now standing before each other.


    "Barehanded fight?"


    Nathanael asked about it because he did not want this fight to be unfair, he was willing to take off his weapon to fight against Alex barehanded. But right after his words left his mouth, all of a sudden the ring in Alex''s left hand shed a light and soon 2 Japanese katana swords were there in Alex''s grasp.


    This scene once again made the admiral more and more convinced of the importance of his mission to bring Alex back. This man seemed to have a lot of end-time mystery.


    "Interesting Magic," said Nathanael


    "It''s not a magic, it''s just a low level artifact, not less than yours"


    Alex spoke with a smile but Nathanael did not understand what Alex was talking about


    "Let''s get started ... Get ready" Nathanael directly moved forward to attack Alex.


    nk! nk!


    Nathanael''s attack was as quick as a sh. Swing the axe from the left and thrust of his knife from the right. His both hands were like having their respective goals. The attacks were quite unpredictable. Alex, with his two katanas, fended off and also counterattacked.


    Swisshhh !!!


    nk!!


    After 10 attacks or so, the two fighters were there face to face and the four weapons collided. At this time, they both were attacking and pushing each other with their strength and power. Both were fighters with realm mortal skill at peak level. But this time Alex''s opponent was a spirit enhancer. Not too long, he was bounced a few meters back.


    Nathaniel looked displeased ... Aside his opponent''s ability to use a sword that was quite well established, the speed of attack and the strength of the person he was fighting was no great shakes. Far from his expectations.


    "It''s all you can do?, bring out your real abilities"


    "I''m sorry I need to warm up a bit, thank you for not being too harsh"


    Alex took a deep breath, one foot stepped forward, this time with one sword in front in a position ready to parry and one drawing backward. Alex formed a stance that he had mastered for years. Hexagram Steps. A middle-level skill he got from Doomsday Pir in his previous life. Alex also started to emit the Hexagram breathing technique and soon he felt energy flowing throughout his body.


    Alex looked at Nathaniel ready to attack


    "Now you can also use your real abilities, please"


    Alex realized that Nathanael was also just ying around before. Now it''s time to be more serious. He wondered whether the hexagram technique could confront the peak level mortal realmbat enhancer.


    Nathanael once again moved to attack, this time his footsteps seemed to drift.


    With the hexagram breathing technique, Alex''s strength and speed was doubled. Alex began to show his skills using both katanas.


    nk!! nk!!


    Swish!! Swish!!


    nk!!


    Ten attacks collided, up to twenty attacks. This time their attack speed exceeded the previous fighter''s battle, some spectators who were not ustomed to see the battle could not follow the direction of the attack, only when the attack hadnded on Alex''s katana sword or Nathanael''s small de and axe, then their figure was clearly visible


    Following every sound, Devita who could not follow the direction of the fight started to feel her heart was beating very fast. Her husband was currently fighting with sharp objects, one mistake could threaten his life.


    nk!! nk!!


    Every sound was like stealing a second from her breath. Everyone would subconsciously took a deep breath when they felt very worried. It happened because when people were in a depressed condition, without realizing, their breathing rhythm became unstable. Every worry could take a second or two of breath so they''re forced to sigh excessively.


    At this time Devita realized things that seemed to be forgotten for a long period of time, it''s the sense of concern for her husband. Ever since they got married, Alex was a family man. He was very diligent at work and there was no activity his wife didn''t know, so Devita always felt secure. But since the end of time arrived until now he seemed unable to understand Alex at all. Worries slowly filled her heart ...


    Swisshhh!


    CRACCKK !!


    One of Alex''s katana swords was destroyed and Alex was immediately hit by a bacsh in the form of a direct kick from his opponent directly to his chest.


    THUMP !!


    Alex bounced a few meters back, this time Alex looks in pain. Devita was immediately startled!!!


    "STOPP !!"


    Alex looked at Devita with a smile. He grasped the remaining katana with both hands and resumed his attacking, swinging the katana at the opponent in front of him ..


    SWISSH !! SWISSH !!


    Ten attacks, twenty attacks. They returned to each other back and parry. Only this time everyone began to realize the speed of Nathanael''s attack gradually getting faster. It seemed that Alex was increasingly overwhelmed following the flow..


    Nathanael was a wind spirit enhancer, the same as the Jerry. Almost all of spirit enhancers, when they sessfully reached a breakthrough and manage theirtent abilities, would get special abilities.


    There are four basic elements in life: Fire, Water, Earth, and Wind.


    The Wind spirit enhancer, the expertise gained was rted to the speed of movement.


    The Earth spirit enhancer was rted to endurance of the body


    The Water spirit enhancer was rted to the body''s senses, an increase in reflex speed and concentration.


    The Fire spirit enhancer was rted to the power of attack or explosion of energy in the body.


    While the other four elements; Metal, nts, Lightning and Ice were secondary elements which were abination of two basic elements. Fire and Earth formed Metal, Earth and Water formed nts, Water and Wind formed Ice, and finally, Wind and Fire formed Lightning. As for spirit enhancer skills, the Psychic, the Shadow, and the Gravity, they were on different levels.


    Alex''s opponent this time was a Wind spirit enhancer. It had meaning that his special ability was focused on his speed. Alex saw his opponent could run like a bat out of hell. His hands movements were very fast. The Hexagram step indeed had a unique leg movements so it could avoid many of Nathanael''s attacks but their speed was getting wider in gap.


    SWISH !! SWISH !!


    Bit by bit Nathanael''s knife and small axe were able to scratch and injure Alex''s body ... blood began to emerge all over Alex''s body and finally he was cornered.


    SWISSSHHH !!!


    This time Nathanael attacked right on Alex''s leg using his small axe, not to sh but he pulled by prying his opponent''s leg. Alex lost his bnce and fell to the ground ...


    ARRGGH !!


    Nathanael did not stop there. Like a hunter who was ready to pounce on his prey, he continued his attack. The half a meterbat knife struck towards Alex who had fallen to the floor. Alex was forced to immediately fend off with his Katana sword.


    CLANK !!


    The imperfect and rushed rebuttal, even though Alex managed to block the attack and pushed Nathanael back, made Alex''s Katana sword bounced away.


    After being crashed a few steps away, Nathanael was ready to attack one more time but seeing Alex''s body full of blood and Alex no longer holding a weapon, he suddenly stopped. With a smile he said.


    "I admit that you are a great warrior ... But you will not be able to defeat me"


    Admiral Gerard looks very happy


    "We won!!"

 Chapter 153 - The Secret Of Hexagram Technique

    Nathanael was the best fighter of the Delta Special Forces. He was on a different level than the other special forces members. With such speed and power of the peak level of spirit enhancers, maybe only Rama, Arief, or Winter who could defeat him. Aria might not be able to defeat Nathanael as she not have as fierce and have less fighting experience as the other three. But why didn''t Alex, who was only a top-level mortal realm warrior, let the three of them to fight? Of course Alex had something that remains a secret. This was what in the head of the fighters who know Alex well.


    Alex was able to defeat dozens of members of the Death Squad because with the support of spirit stones at that time, Alex had a stronger physical strengthpared to them. This time, the average amount of fighters here had reached the peak level of the mortal realm, so Alex didn''t have that advantage anyone. Alex''s current strength is only in his Hexagram technique. Alex had used this technique once to defeat Jerry, a spirit enhancer who was also at the peak level of the mortal realm. But at that time Jerry had not yet reached a breakthrough and cultivated histent abilities. While Nathanael, the fighter in front of Alex, had reached the peak level of the spirit enhancer mortal realm. He was also a member of special forces and martial fighters who had more experience and variations in martial arts techniques from Jerry. If Alex wanted to defeat him, Alex needed something better than his Hexagram technique,.


    Nathanael was waiting for Alex to admit defeat. He looked at the admiral who was very pleased with the results of this match, but when he turned to Alex, he was surprised because Alex didn''t have any intention to give up. Alex executed his Hexagram stance once more.


    "Humph! Even though your move is quite unpredictable, but right now it''s not useful against me "


    Nathanael pissed off, but after saying his words he was dumbstruck. Alex was in the position of his eyes closed but a certain aura emanated from his body. Alex whispered a sentence.


    "Hexagram Technique - STAGE FOUR!!"


    The Hexagram technique was a special technique that Alex got from one of Doomsday Pirs as a reward when he made it to the Sky Realm level. This was a mid-level technique, one that was unique and very rare. Unlike other techniques which had only two or three levels, Hexagram technique had 6 levels. In his previous life, Alex acquired this technique in the third year since theing doomsday, and had mastered this technique to the second level for the next 7 years. And during these 7 years he had never made it through the third level.


    But how could he break through the fourth level this time?


    Hexagrams, which had been written in the oldest Chinese ssics, were acknowledged more than 4,000 years ago. The technique invented by Fuxi, one of the Three Legends at the beginning of this dynastic period, was the formation of six sets of 64 symbols, a total of 384 variations.


    Each level contains 64 symbols that needed to be memorized and mastered. Alex was able to master the first and second sets with a total of 128 symbols in his first year. But for the past 6 years, even though he had mastered the third set, he had never broken through the third level and never pass the second level. Even though Alex continued to learn and memorize all the 6 sets of formation with a total of 384 variations until the end of the destruction of the world he still could not break through the third level.


    After reincarnating, Alex began to be motivated again to find a breakthrough solution to level 3. And he identally came up with an idea to immediately try tobine sets 3 and 4 together with the first two sets. A simple solution that was unthinkable when he was hit by the pressures of the destruction of the world. Alex with luck managed to find the secret that the Hexagram technique could only be prated in multiples; 64 variations, 128 variations and the next 256 variations.


    Now with hexagram stage four. he managed tobine 4 sets of 64 variations with a total of 256 variations. Not only did he feel the 256 points in his body opened and canalized some energy, he also gained new enlightenment in hexagram formation. This was Alex''s secret of confidence. In the very moment, he didn''t need to be in the shadow of the spirit enhancers who were stronger than him.


    Alex''s body was currently full of inner strength. The opponent in front of him is a suitable opponent to test his new strength.


    Nathaniel felt a threatening aura from Alex but this did not frighten him. As a famous Indian tribal mohican warrior he could not retreat, instead the blood of his struggle boiled over.


    "AARRGGHH !!"


    Nathanael shouted a battle call and got back to the arena with his two weapons while Alex was ready to withstand empty-handed. At the time Devita didn''t know how to stop the fight and hoping that her husband wouldn''t get hurt was all she could do.


    Nathanael seemed as if he was floating and walking in the air and he was attacking fiercely ...


    The axe swung. SWISSHH!!! ..


    Alex immediately made a simple circr motion and suddenly he was behind his opponent.


    Nathanael was taken aback, but he was able to keep up with his opponent''s speed and jabbed his knife again ..


    But the onlookers seemed confused. Alex seemed to move only one step but could perfectly avoid Nathanael''s attacks.


    Nathanael refused to stop there. He was getting more and more vicious about carrying out several attacks again. Alex seemed to be able to avoid everything with simple steps, even more strange, Alex''s movements this time even looked slower than before. This fight looked very weird. The one faster one could not catch the slow one. Alex makes a round steps and hand movements that seemed to flow like water. Perfectly avoided the opponent''s sh moves.


    After making some perfect dodge moves, unexpectedly Alex made a very fast pounding counterattack with his fist directlynding right on the nathanael''s temple


    BAAAMMM !!


    Nathanael was bounced a few meters back ... even though he remained standing tall, visible blood began to flow from his mouth ...


    Seeing this, the onlookers from Alex''s side cheered excitedly. Automatically many members of the army were amazed at Alex''s actions. Rama, who was a martial arts expert,mented :


    " Alex''s Baguazhang move technics has evolved, looked more flowing like ..."


    Another fighter who was a kung fu expert from China interrupted :


    "Tai chi ... This movement is flowing like Tai Chi martial arts."


    "Yes it is"


    Tai Chi martial arts in modern times are very well-known not only as a form of martial arts but also health gymnastics. Many experts agreed that practicing Tai Chi could create a state of calmness and mental rity that was very good for the health of the body and soul.


    Both Baguazhang and Tai Chi are variations of martial arts originating from Wudang Temple. Both of these martial arts originated from one source, namely the understanding of the Dao. Tai Chi is divided into various "styles" but basically all of them came from one root and the basic concept was almost the same, but the form of movement was different. Tai Chi has hundreds of variations. One of the famous variations was the 108 San Feng Taiji move. One of the variations that were named after the creator; Zhang Sanfeng. A legendary martial arts leader from China in the 12th century. A Taoist priest and the founder of Wudang Temple.


    Some experts found evidence that Zhang Sanfeng himself lived more than 200 years and even some experts spected that he lived beyond that. Even though he had many disciples, in his entire life there was no one had ever been able to fully inherit his technique. Then how Alex could get the technique from Doomsday pir was a mystery.


    Back at this time the two men stood face to face, but this time it was Natahanel who looked doubtful ...


    As if he got what Natahanel was thinking, Alex said something that surprised him :


    "It''s time for you to unleash the full potential of your weapon."


    "!!!"


    Nathanael was again taken aback. How could this man also know about the secret of the small axe from his family''s inheritance. This axe was the reason Nathanael was called a monster by his army. Nathanael nced at the Admiral as if asking for approval, and Admiral Gerard nodded. It seems like the admiral was determined toplete his mission. He must bring Alex back with him.


    Seeing the answer from his boss, Nathanael felt more relieved, this time he could fight with all his strength. But before starting to attack he warned Alex.


    "Mr. Alex, my weapon is very dangerous ... if you do not dodge you will die"


    After Nathanael spoke, the little axe in his grasp seemed to sh little. The Indian man swung the axe toward Alex from afar and a loud sound was heard.


    ZZiiiinngg !!!


    The sh from the axe seemed to split the wind and create a strong energy towards the goal of the sh. Seeing that, Alex did not say anything as he dodged it immediately...


    KABOOMMM !!!


    The sound of explosions and smoke seemed to fill the air where Alex was standing. All the onlookers was amazed by this action.. Devita from one side was increasingly worried about her husband''s situation. When the smoke began to subside, Devita was relieved again because her husband looked fine. It looked like Alex managed to avoid the attack. But the onlookers were again amazed to see the ground where Alex had stood before .. The floor made of concrete stone looked like butter that was just scratched by a knife ..


    "!!!"


    Alex was quite surprised but he still looked at Nathanael, smiling.


    "Wow, that''s a great attack! Nice weapon you have there!"

 Chapter 154 - Fierce Battle

    The fight was finally reaching its conclusion. Alex had surprised the audience with his Hexagram martial arts technique. But Nathanael, apparently, also had his own trump card. A traditional small Indian ax.


    The mostmon weapon carried by the special forces was a knife and in the hands of a skilled martial artist, a knife was a lethal weapon at close range. Sometimes, there were also some members of special forces who equipped themselves with a small ax. But for Nathanael, he brought his personal ax for this mission.


    It was a small 60-centimeter ax not much longer than thebat knife.. This ax was passed down from generation to the next generation and was only given to the strongest warrior in his tribe.


    Ancient legends from his tribe told the story of its creation. At the beginning of creation,when the earth mother died, she had a son and daughter, the sun and its sister, the moon. The sun and moon together emitted alternating light which gave life back to the earth. The earth finally moved and scattered the stars in the sky. But one of the stars decided to settle on earth and form this small ax, which Nathanael''s tribe found.


    This ax, which only had one sharp edge, had a trunk made of solid ck wood with carved decorations. Seeing the engraving, Alex confirmed that the small ax was one of the artifact weapons. Nathanael was still in the mortal realm, but the attack he had just released with the weapon was very powerful. Alex suspected that the weapon was a medium-level artifact weapon. No less valuable than the stone golem that Alex gave to the Regent. This was the reason why Alex did not send Arief or Rama in this duel.


    An elite special force, a spirit enhancer who managed to cultivate his spirit enhancer abilities and also has a medium-level artifact weapon. It would not be wrong to say that Nathanael was currently the most powerful man on Earth. No wonder the members of his army considered him a monster.


    The Admiral saw Alex, lost in thought, finally spoke, "Mr. Alex, you are our mission, if you die, we will fail our mission. I suggest that you surrender. I''ve seen that ax cut through steel like a hot knife through butter."


    Alex looked around and saw that his members, who were previously so excited, had doubts. Devita also looked very worried.


    "Theo, he doesn''t want to listen to me, please help me convince him," Devita said.


    Theo was one of Alex''s closest friends, he was a psychic spirit enhancer who could read minds and he could feel that Alex was still far from despair. He knew he couldn''t persuade Alex to back down. Theo felt Alex''s change in demeanor too, he was very different from the Alex he knew. The Alex, whom he had known for a long time, was a calctive and carefull man and would not bet his life for the sake of apetition. He could not understand the new Alex, hence, he believed there''s nothing he can do to convince Alex.


    Alex finally spoke, "Stop? Give up? I am having so much fun! Why would I want to stop?"


    Admiral Gerard became a little furious to hear that, at a time like this, Alex was still full of jokes. The ax had no eyes and if Alex died, he wouldn''t know what to do. He suddenly thought thepetition might not be a good idea. Maybe he should proceed with n B instead of this. But while he was deliberating, Alex advanced to attack Natahanel.


    Alex began to control his breathing and pushed his body to the limits with the level four hexagram. He dashed forward like a bullet towards Nathanael.


    "!!!"


    Since Nathanael could not control the strength of the ax, he was hesitant whether to strike or not. In the end, he dodged and Alex punched the empty air. Alex returned to using hexagram footsteps and tried to chase after Nathanael, but the speed of his technique couldn''t catch up to Natahanel. A wind spirit enhancer''s advantage was their speed. Alex''s fists only hit the empty wind again.


    The level four hexagram may improve Alex''s physical abilities, but the strength of this techniquees from the formation of his footsteps. This technique could make his opponents confused. When it looks like Alex moves to the right, he actually moves to the left, when Alex steps forward, he actually stopped. With hexagram, Alex''s movements would be very difficult to avoid, but to chase a wind enhancer in the same ss as Nathanael proved to be difficult. Alex must predict his opponent''s movements precisely and find a gap to trap him into his formation.


    After more than a dozen attacks from Alex, he finally managed to trap Nathanael and hit Nathanael''s head.


    BAAMM !!!


    Nathanael was shocked, the heavy blow made him dizzy. It also pissed him so much. He couldn''t just let this man go. He was the greatest warrior of his tribe; he decided not to retreat anymore.


    Nathanael grasped the small ax and began to swing it again with all his might.


    ZZZiigggg!! ZIINnggg!!


    This time there were two sounds that were deafening to the ears of the people around. Alex immediately used his full strength and moved to the right to avoid the attack.


    KABOOOM!!


    One strike made a mark on the concrete floor of the field, the second strike cut toward the audience. Fortunately, this weapon had a limited distance. Alex estimated that the farthest was only about 10 meters, after that the shockwave would disappear and felt just like a strong wind. If the weapon had no limits, Alex would force the audience to disperse.


    ZZiinnggg! ZZiinggg !! ZZZinggg !!


    Nathanael swung his deadly ax again and Alex continued to concentrate fully avoiding the attack. Alex managed to avoid all three attacks perfectly. The fight carried and every attack from Nathanael left the audience breathless, but Alex never disappointed the audience to keep avoiding it. Nathanael just needed to wait for Alex to make a mistake, because at this time Nathanael''s relentless attacks didn''t open a gap at all for Alex to strike back.


    The fighter continued for several minutes. With the battle taking ce before the eyes of the audience, it opened their eyes to a new level of fighting. Nathanael''s deadly weapon and speed of movement, and Alex''s stride technique, all of these made the fighters received a burning desire to be stronger. Rama and Arief realized that they might not be able to defeat Nathanael. And those who believed they had reached the peak of their skills, were once again full of motivation to be stronger again.


    The fight had been running for almost 10 minutes. Alex was convinced that the attacks from the ax must have a limit, the attacks drained a lot of Nathanael''s energy. Alex could see from the reduced intensity of the attack and Natanael''s paleness. It seems like Nathanael would soon be exhausted. But Alex was also facing his own predicament, he was having a hard time maintaining the level four hexagram. As it turns out, the mortal realm body could notpletely handle this technique. Although this technique was notplete until he receives the original legacy from the Doomsday Pir, the middle-level level 4 technique was still strong for his current body level.


    Nathanael continued on swinging the deadly ax without falling; Alex decided to take some risks, he couldn''t lose this fight.


    Alex nced at Admiral Gerard and said, "Admiral remember not to break your promise."


    These words made the Admiral very worried, not because he was afraid of losing and giving up the weapons and equipment that were the ingredients of the bet, but he feared that Alex was going to do something stupid. He wanted to stop this match when then cheers suddenly rang out.


    Alex jumped in the direction of his katana and grabbed it from the ground. He raised the katana ready to attack. Seeing Alex with a weapon, did not surprise Nathael but instead made Nathanael more cautious.


    ZZZZIINggg!!!


    A vertical sh came towards Alex as he took a defensive stance with his sword, it seemed like he wanted parry the attack.


    "Stupid!! swords like that won''t be able to hold my ax!" eximed Nathanael.


    KABOOMM!!!


    Smoke covered the area Alex was standing on, but then Alex came rushing out while wielding the sword. Apparently, Alex was not trying to fend off the attack but to create a smoke with the shockwave while avoiding it. He then used the smoke to fool Nathanael and stole a few seconds to reduce the distance between them. Nathanael was a little surprised but didn''t panic. They were still six meters apart. He swung his deadly ax once more believe that there''s no way Alex could avoid this.


    But before Nathanael could release the shockwave, Alex threw the katana towards Nathanael''s face.


    SWIISSHSHH!!


    Nathanael turned his head easily avoiding the katana passing by, but as he turned to face Alex again, Alex was less than three meters away and with his fist ready to throw his death blow.


    Three meters... not too far, not too close... all of the audience felt as if time had frozen for the next three seconds. This attack would determine the oue of this match, whether Alex could throw a punch or if this would be Alex''s final fate. Devita could only close her eyes in prayer when Nathanael reflexively used his special abilities, his arms quickly swung the small ax one more time...


    "!!!"


    Rama and Arief could see that Alex waste, if Alex''s opponent was another peak mortal realm fighter, Alex would have seeded in throwing the blow, but Nathanael''s hand movements were too fast. Alex''s opponent this time was a wind enhancer spirit.


    Admiral Gerard yelled, "STOPP!!!"


    But it''s toote...


    ZZZiingggg!!!


    CRACCKKK!!!


    This time it was not just the shockwave, but the ax itself directly hit Alex''s chest...


    Alex did not try to dodge contrary to what people were expecting but instead continued to strike his fist directly at Natahanel''s chest.


    AARGGHHH!!!


    KABOOMM!!!


    The sound of screaming and explosion ensued as both bodies flew in opposite directions.


    "!!!"


    The two fighters, Alex and Natahaely motionless on the ground. The crowds immediately fell silent. Devita lost strength in her knees and almost fell. An attack so powerful that it could make the concrete floor shatter, directly hit Alex''s body. It was hard to believe that Alex could safely withstand the attack... almost all of the viewers arrived at the same conclusion.


    Admiral Gerard was worried not just to Natahanel but also to Alex. Theo immediately ran to give Alex one of the panacea serums that can cure dying people, which he had been holding. He hoped he was not toote. But before Theo reached Alex, Cindy held him back.


    "Hey! Are you stupid or are you stupid?! You don''t have to panic like that."


    Theo wondered what she meant, but as he turned to look at Alex''s body once again, he got his answer. With the battle finally reached its conclusion, Alex was the first to stand up. Everyone watching looked with surprise.


    Cindy mocked Theo again. "You only look smart on the outside, but have you forgotten that Alex has that?"


    Theo thought for a moment and remembered, "Oh yeah!!!"


    Alex stood upright with no visible injuries, other than the pain of being hit hard, he was fine. At this time, the sharpness and the explosive attack power of the ax was sessfully dampened within the low-level protective artifact clothing he was wearing. The protective suit that he got from Hans, the member of Ahnenerbe organisation.


    "Wow, the attack was truly powerful. With just one attack, the artifact''s protection effect disappeared. It will probably would take a few days to get this usable again."


    Alex walked toward Nathanael, who had not yet risen, and helped him to his feet. It seemed that Alex''s punch and Nathanael''s tired body made it difficult for him to get up. Once Nathanael was able to stand on his own, he paid his respects to Alex.


    "I am Nathanael, son of Changacook, the mohican, i respects your courage, speed and strength."


    What an interesting man, Alex thought. Having someone with abilities like him was a fortune, but Alex knew he couldn''t be greedy, he could only hope that Jerry would soon seed in making a breakthrough and be as strong as this man.


    Alex turned around and looked at Admiral Gerard, "Looks likei win the bet Admiral."


    The Admiral ran out of words. But before he could speak, a little girl came rushing and grabbed Alex''s leg.


    "Daddy, daddy... there are bad men trying to hurt us."


    Alex''s face immediately darkened as he red at the Admiral. Alex raised his hand and suddenly dozens of troops approached the field fully armed aiming at the American troops.


    Kenny saw this immediately startled "What is this?!"

 Chapter 155 - A Threat

    A little girl who ran away to Alex was his 7-year-old daughter named Tiarra. She immediately ran hugging him, but Alex''s reaction confused her...


    "!!!"


    "Noo!! ...Daddy! Your body is full of blood!!".


    At that time, some parts of Alex''s body were bleeding from a scratch from Nathanael''s weapon. But Alex''s pain reaction did not came from this external wound, but at this time Alex''s entire body was in pain due to imposing Hexagram level 4 techniques for a long time. But in front of his daughter, he still tried to look strong.


    "Easy girl, this little wound is not enough to bring down Daddy"


    Alex looked down while his eyes remained fixed on Admiral Gerrard and his troops who were ready to wait for his orders.


    "Tiarra, tell me what happened?"


    "Daddy, uncle Erik caught some unknown visitors who tried to sneak into our house just now..."


    Alex nced at the troops who increasingly surrounded the battle area. Now there are nearly five hundred of Alex''s troops encircling fifty American troops. Erik was seen standing between two little girls. Tiffany, Alex''s first child, and Vina, Erik''s child, because they were the same age, Vina and Tiffany were currently good friends. While Erik was appointed as the head of the guard squad of the family residence. At this time Erik was seen feeling guilty for failing to hold Tiarra to run closer to Alex.


    (Erik was the man from a small vige in Bali who in his previous life saved Alex, however, he and his whole family died in a zombie attack, except Vina)


    Two people approached Alex, Devita immediately took Tiarra away from the middle of the field, while Cahaya came to report on current conditions.


    Kenny, from the other side, was panicked


    "Mr. Alex, what''s going on? Let''s talk about everything carefully. There is a misunderstanding here."


    Hearing a response from Kenny, Cahaya gave a signal to one of the troops and soon they brought out a number of people in American Army uniforms who were bound.


    Kenny as a CIA agent could immediately read the situation. He immediately sought an answer from the admiral. But now the admiral''s face looks pale and speechless. It seems like the backup n expected by the admiral failed miserably.


    Alex asked Cahaya


    "Is anyone hurt?"


    "Don''t worry, they haven''t had time to do anything, everyone was caught while hiding. Thanks to that young girl. "


    At this time, everyone in the field was aware of what had happened, Admiral Gerard sent one unit to approach Alex''s family when they were busypeting. It seems that thispetition became the admiral''s strategy to attract the attention of Alex and the whole special forces to the arena and make the task of the special team easier to sneak. The reason why they did that seemed to make them as a hostage and threatened Alex toe with them to America. Luckily, Daisy, a teenage girl who was a new member of Alex''s Special Forces who had the special ability to detect, managed to find them before they could do anything.


    Alex took a deep breath.. The situation at that time was very clear, five hundred special forces of Alex was ready to fire while fifty troops of Admiral was ready to shoot back.


    "Admiral, I really didn''t expect you to do something like this ... a US admiral acted like a street thug, holding children hostage just toplete a mission?"


    The admiral went deep in contemtion and could not answer


    Kenny also asked "Is this true, admiral?"


    Finally Admiral Gerard answered unwillingly


    "Yes. it is true ... desperate situation requires desperate measure ..."


    "Kenny, don''t you see what was happening with the world today? When the apocalypse arrived, many naval soldiers decided to leave their posts to return to their hometowns looking for their families. Many of them choose to be deserters just like that. Do you think it''s easy to gather 4000 crew to carry out this mission? All of us whoe today are soldiers who remain steadfast in carrying out the mission even though they do not know the fate of their families. All for the mission ... and we will do anything for the sess of this mission ... I will not let us just go home empty-handed."


    Kenny was stunned...He hated that action, but he could understand why Admiral Gerard did it ..


    Alex kept going...


    "Your mission has failed, Admiral. You''re under siege, just give up."


    "No way ... Mr. Alex. I still have another trump card ... I don''t want to do this ... But I have to ... I''m sorry"


    The Admiral turned to his army


    "Troops, ready to take orders"


    "Sir, yes sir!!!"


    "What I''m going to do now will greatly tarnish our honor. But right now I need you to understand and be prepared to sacrifice your lives for this mission ... do you understand! "


    "Sir, Yes Sir" All 50 members of the American special forces on this field were seen to be united in following the admiral''s orders


    Kenny was increasingly worried about what the admiral nned...


    "What will you do, Admiral?"


    Admiral Gerard turned around and looked back at Alex ... he took a radio from his pocket ... Arge hand-held radio...


    "Skipper to Midwaye in ..."


    "!!!"


    "Operation is a Go!! Target all cannons right in this position ... ready to fire!! "


    "!!"


    Everyone was dumb founded ... if it was true that the Midway warship with its eighteen giant canons shot this area simultaneously, the hotel would be leveled to the ground.


    Kenny, who was standing next to him immediately cast his protest.


    "Admiral ... This is not a solution ...Please cancel this order ... We can find another way ..."


    The admiral was indisposed but he still stared at Alex...


    "As soon as I arrived and saw the condition of this ind, I realized without a specific strategy, it seemed like this mission would fail. My decision is unanimous. If you have nerves to even move, I will not hesitate to order the Midway ship to shoot... Mr. Alex, I promise not to hurt anyone on this ind if youe with us immediately. "


    The admiral tried to threaten Alex for the safety of everyone in the hotel, but when he looked ahead, he saw Alex was not worried at all ... Alex calmly answered.


    "You''re actually a good admiral, and I like your character ... But by trying to threaten using my family, you''ve made a big mistake ..."


    "I''m sorry Mr. Alex ... believe me I promise I will do my best to bring you back here as soon as possible."


    "It''s impposible" .. Answer Alex


    "Mr. Alex, do you think I''m just bluffing?"


    Alex was curious and nced at Theo, and Theo nodded. It seemed like the admiral was very serious about blowing up everyone in this field for the sake of the sess of his mission.


    "Impressive ... Very good... Such a great determination for your country ... truly amazing ... unfortunately for you, my paranoia has rendered your n unsessful"


    "!!!"


    The admiral was taken aback one more time ... he had only just realized that until now there had been no answer from the Midway Ship through his handheld radio. His face turned pale again with all balled up ... Soon after, a certain voice heard from the radio ... but it was a voice of a woman ..


    "Report, this is Aria.. We have taken over Midway.!"


    That voice ... The admiral recognized that voice ... It was the voice of a woman who had just won thepetition and brought the victory g to Alex..


    When Alex realized something odd he immediately sent Aria and Daisy. And it turned out to be true. Daisy helped Erik and easily caught the troops hidden near Alex''s residence. If indeed the American military was found to have secret operations, Alex had ordered Aria to immediately take the Midway battleship. Aria gathered some of the best deathsquad people to dive and sneak in to Midway ... with Aria''s special power, an ability to turn invisible, They didn''t realize Aria''s presence until it was toote. Midway''smand center then was in Aria''s hand.


    "..."


    Alex slowly approached the American troops who were ready to fire at any time ... but the firing order from Admiral Gerard did note down either. Alex slowly took the handheld radio from Admiral Gerard''s hand.


    "Another excellent job Aria"


    Alex tapped the admiral''s shoulder and said


    "Admiral Gerard you have lost ... I don''t see the necessity of having a bloodshed ... Do you remember when you asked me about the reason I chose Winter the American soldier to represent us? To put it simply, from the very beginning I never considered you guys as the enemy... we currently have the same enemy ... the end of time that threatens the salvation of humanity ... And now humanity needs you and your troops very much. There is no need for bloodshed here. order your men toy down their weapons and surrender. "


    The admiral has no other way out ...


    "Stand down soldier!!"


    Alex gave the order and every each of the American troops were bound and taken to a ce of detention ... before leaving, the admiral said,


    "Mr. Alex, although now this word no longer has a meaning, but believe me I never nned to hurt your family."


    Alex looked back at Theo and he nodded. Admiral Gerard asked again.


    "What are you going to do with us?"


    Alex sealed his mouth and let Admiral Gerard be taken away ...


    When all the American troops had released their weapons and started to be carried out one by one, Devita and Tiarra returned to Alex.


    "Daddy, when will you y with Tiarra?... Daddy has been gone for so long and hasn''t yed with Tiarra since you returned ... Daddy ... are you ok ...? ... Daddy?"


    Alex''s vision suddenly blurred, his arms and legs suddenly felt weak .. his whole body felt stiff .. It seems like this is a side effect of imposing a level 4 hexagram technique with an ordinary mortal realm body ..


    "I''m sorry, Tiara ... Daddy needs to have some rest for a little while ...:"


    Alex suddenly staggered to the point of falling, fortunately Theo caught him and immediately examined him ..


    "Daddy !! daddy !! "


    Devita was also waiting for Theo''s diagnosis worriedly ... Theo was a doctor before he became a priest, he could easily check Alex''s health ..


    "Don''t worry, he is just tired ... he needs to take a rest for a few hours. After that he will get better ..."


    Alex was helped to get back to his bedroom and took some rest .. his wife, Devita, looked at Alex who was sleeping with great concern.

 Chapter 156 - Denpasar Moon

    Suburbs of Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia


    At night a number of people were seen patrolling the streets of Denpasar city. There were around 10 of them. A small unit of Star Army troops, each fully armed.


    "Red zombie in sight!"


    "Good! Pay attention around you, there should not be unexpected attacks."


    "Yes, unit leader Dn!"


    "Alright everyone''s ready. Remember to not use firearms. That will call in lots of other zombies."


    "Reporting to the unit leader. Red zombies are seen entering the small alley.."


    "Hmmˇ­ It''s okay, let''s keep on following. Don''t take your eyes off them."


    "Yes, unit leader..."


    Dn had been a squad leader for more than 2 months, he had plenty of experiences. His unit members were at least in the mid-level mortal realm, some had even reached the high stage. The ten of them could easily kill the red zombie, but Dn had often seen many victims fall fromck of preparation or stupidity. A figure crossed his mind, a brave colleague died before his eyes.


    The ten members of the unit slowly followed the red zombies into a passageway between the two buildings. The reason Dn did not like to fight in the hallway was that their strength was their numbers. In a one against ten fight in a narrow alley, the bigger party would most likely be in disadvantages because they cannot surround their opponent. When ites to one on one fight with this red zombie, even Dn as the leader of this unit does not necessarily win the fight.


    The ten people entered the hall and when they finally reached the middle, they were shocked to find two other red zombies waiting.


    "!!!"


    "Pay attention to them. Move carefully as we slowly retreat back."


    "ROAARR!!!"


    "Unit leader! There are 3 other red zombies behind us!"


    "Damn it! Six against ten and we are currently surrounded. Keep calm everyone! Form five people on each side! Contact the nearest unit to call for help immediately!"


    "Yes, unit leader!"


    "ROOAAR!"


    "Everyone! Prepare yourself, they areing!"


    A total of six second-stage zombies attacked simultaneously, their bodies red like a skinned animal. Along with a long tongue, long ws and sharp fangs, their horrible appearance made some members of this team who were still inexperienced felt afraid. But seeing the left and right rows ready to fight together, they felt a little bit secure.


    "CLANK!!!"


    The sound of pounding resounded as the red zombie''s w and a spear shed.


    "Keep the formation dont let it loose!" Dn shouted.


    Dn, as the strongest fighter, did not hesitate to throw his spear at the red zombie in front of him. He then went forward with his sword to attack the zombie pierced by the spear. As Dn dove right in front of the zombie, the zombie countered, but Dn ducked and shed toward the zombie''s feet.


    SWISHH!!! SLAASSH!!!


    With the strength of a high-level mortal realm, the red zombie''s leg was cut off as it fell to the ground. Dn immediately followed up and struck the zombie''s head!


    One of the zombies on Dn''s side was now dead, a battle of five against two would be much easier because they only needed to concentrate between two zombies. The threat of his side was now reduced.


    Dn looked at the five people behind him but they could only defend and not strike back. The best solution now was to immediately finish the zombies in front of him and then turn around to help the person behind him. But the death of one of the red zombies only made the two zombies even more violent. It seems like it would not be easy to quickly kill these two zombies. Dn hoped that no one dies this time.


    "!!!"


    Footsteps from the entrance of the alley suddenly sounded.


    SWISHH! SLASSH !!


    "The reinforcements areing!"


    Dn rejoiced to see that a unit came to help quickly, but seeing who the leader of the group was, he began to have mixed feelings. In less than a minute, the three red zombies near the entrance died. With attacks from both sides, like a siege, it was quite easy to kill them. Behind the unit that just arrived, one figure stood out. A very prominent beautiful teenage girl was the leader of the unit.


    This teenage girl had just be 16 years old two months ago and she immediately joined the Star Army. Within just a few weeks, she showed her potential as one of the best new fighters and was immediately chosen to be appointed as the unit leader.


    Not long after the three red zombies died, thest two zombies were easily dispatched. Fortunately, no one was injured. Dn approached the girl and said, "Thank you for your help, Cynthia."


    Cynthia recognized Dn, but every time she saw this man, a memory buried deep tries to resurface to her mind. Cynthia returned Dn''s thanks with a smile that looked a little constrained.


    "Lieutenant Chris told us to get back to the meeting ce."


    "Ok..."


    The two units made their way to a broken-down restaurant. The restaurant was quite messy but the room at the back wasrge enough for them to gather. Two other units were already there and so was their toon leader, Lieutenant Chris of toon 077, 8th Battalion


    Lieutenant Chris weed them. "Good... Dn, Cynthia both of you have arrived. Everyone is here except for the Octo unit, they have not returned. We will spend the night here as part of your training. We will start patrolling again tomorrow morning. Give me a report of what your patrol results are."


    Dn and Cynthia provided their reports, the number of red zombies they killed, the number and location of zombie hordes (a collection of more than 1000 zombies in one location), the number of spirit stones they had managed to collect and finally, the location of potential food and drug supply areas to provide for the collection teamter.


    After giving the report, the two unit leaders returned to their respective units. Dn wanted to talk to Cynthia but felt like it wasn''t a good idea.


    The four unit leaders drew lots for guard duty. Currently, they were in an area that was categorized as a yellow zone. This yellow zone was a suburban zone of the city, it was not as dangerous as the red zone, but it provided to be a suitable training ground. Even though they were in a yellow zone, they must not be careless. After deciding which order they were to stand guard, the first unit proceeded to keep watch so that the other three units would rest and change guards in sequenceter.


    While Dn was sitting in the corner, the other soldiers began talking.


    "Hey, did you hear about the match at noon today?"


    "What match?"


    "Ahhh, it''s too bad that you didn''t hear. This morning..."


    Dn heard about how the American troops were defeated and how almost 4,000 people were arrested at once in one of the detentionplexes. It is a very interesting discussion, but right now, what really upied his mind was the girl sitting opposite to him.


    Dn felt responsible. If he was only stronger that time, then Barry would have not died... Barry talked about Cynthia a lot. Unexpectedly, that teenage girl was now a fellow troop in the toon. Dn determined himself to look after Cynthia for Barry.


    One of Cynthia''s colleagues noticed her uniform and asked confusedly, "Unit leader, since all troops have a standard uniform a month ago that separate military and civilians, no one using the armband anymore.. Why are you still wearing it?"


    Cynthia kept her silence as she held the red armband while thinking of the previous owner.


    Not long after, a loud noise was heard.


    "Help! Help!"


    "!!!"


    The whole toon woke up, rmed by the woman, as Lieutenant Chris immediately approached the blood-covered woman entering the restaurant.


    "Help, I''m from a scavengers group. My group needs help! They are trapped and the zombie hordes have them surrounded near the supermarket. Please help immediately..."


    "Calm down, tell me what happened..."


    The middle-aged woman named Rizka told how the collection team was being surrounded when a unit of troops came to help. One of the soldiers told her about this gathering ce to ask for more reinforcements. Hence, Rizka ran with all her might toe here.


    "Octo Unit needs help, let''s get going!"


    The 40 soldiers rushed to the location Rizka mentioned and stopped after running for about one and a half kilometers. Now they are standing in front of arge warehouse-like supermarket with blue and red logos surrounded by hundreds of zombies.


    Chris approached the woman named Rizka and asked, "Are they in the building?"


    "Yes! Yes! That''s right! Please help them immediately!"


    "I understand. Dn..."


    "Yes, Lieutenant?"


    "Arrest this woman immediately and tie her!"


    "!!!"


    The woman panicked and suddenly tried to run, but the forces behind her immediately caught her.


    "Now, tell me who you really are? And where is my unit?"


    "Sorry... I''m sorry, sir... I''m just doing what they told me too... Please... please don''t hurt me..."


    "I will not hurt you, I will even help you. But not now, tell me what really happened?"


    The woman named Rizka was one of the fortunate Balinese citizens who survived the gue and zombie attack. But her luck ended when she met a group of armed men who captured and threatened her to do many things. This time she was forced to lure Chris and his troops into this ce. Armed groups of more than 50 people were ready to trap them inside.


    "How did you know about it lieutenant?" Dn asked.


    "It''s not too difficult. First, why Octo had to ask this woman when he can easily contact via radio. Second, even if he has some problems with the radio, a blood-covered woman dared to walk a long distance alone at night looking for us? She clearly knew the area well and this was nned.. Finally, she imed she is a member of the scavengers team, but where are the pick-up trucks? I do not see anything outside this building."


    "Wow, you are very observant, Lieutenant... Then how do you think we should proceed?"


    "I am afraid that we''ll still have to walk into the trap they made. We need to save Octo and his unit. But this time we will be ready."


    "We''re ready for your orders, Lieutenant!"


    "All units, gather around. This is what we will do. Two units will stand guard at the front and back side of the building outside ready to provide assistance. Dn and Cynthia''s units wille with me inside."


    "Understood, Lieutenant!"


    "Ok. Go, go, go!"


    The four units swiftly attacked the crowd of zombies, who were besieging the building, but did not use firearms. There were some red zombies that attacked them but it wasn''t a difficult task for this toon. Also, Lieutenant Chris had reached the peak stage of the mortal realm, he could easily do a one on one battle with the red zombies.


    Halfway to the supermarket, the sound of gunfire rang out from inside the building.


    Tratatatatatatatatatta!


    Tratatatatatatatatata!


    Lieutenant Chris was surprised and immediately said, "There is something wrong! Dn and Cynthia units, let''s move faster!"


    The closer they got to the building, Dn''s heart started beating faster, it was as if there was some sort of pressure from inside the building making him feel worse. The gunfire and hysterical screams were now echoing as it got louder but once they reached the front door, it was dead silent.


    THUMP!


    Lieutenant Chris kicked the metal door wide open and troops from both units began to enter. But all they found was silence.


    "What is happening?"


    The twenty men with Chris stepped forward with caution. They soon arrived in a very darkrge room where they could barely make out the shapes of the empty shelves arranged one after another.


    "Everyone, prepare your firearms and turn on the lights on the weapons. The gunfires from earlier should have attracted the zombies toe here. We will have to use our guns. Remember, we can''t linger here."


    After a few steps, a figure suddenly ran closer to them.


    The figure of a man who looked very scared. Dn recognized the man and said, "You... you are Yuda! What are you doing here?"


    This man named Yuda was one of the toon members who was kicked out by Alex for disobeying orders. Before Dn trying to interrogate Yuda, the Lieutenant raise his arm.


    "There''s something strange here, Yuda. Tell us what is it?!"


    "Monsters! Monsters! Lieutenant, please forgive me... please. Run... we have to run!"


    The two units simultaneously aimed their gun lights at Yuda''s approach, and when they did, a pile of mutted human corpses were scattered on the floor. Puddles of blood were flooding the supermarket''s floor.


    Suddenly, a shadowy figure slowly twitched standing in between the pile of corpses. A figure as high as 5 meters. It slowly advanced with each of its heavy steps producing tremors throughout the building.


    Thud! Thud! THUD! THUD!

 Chapter 157 - RUN

    Yuda was a former member of the ck snake gang who joined in the star army. However, because he deserted, the result was the death of other troops, he was given the choice to receive military punishment or exile from the base. In the end, he chose to bring some of his closest colleagues out of the base. Thest two months, he went back to ck Snake Ind. But two weeks ago, when their supply was running low, he was finally forced to return to Bali.


    Not long after that, he began capturing and forcing several people with threats and gifts. One by one, his group became bigger and needed more weapons. Finally, the idea arose to trap and seize the equipment of the Star Army troops. He thought as long as with enough weapons he could easily move to another ind and be the king of that ind.


    But tonight, his fortune had finally ended. He had never thought this ce would be harboring such a terrible monster. This monster hadpletely decimated his 50 troops in less than 5 minutes. He did not know how many had survived.. How could humans win against this monster. But there was only one thing he could doˇ­ It was to escape.


    "Lieutenant Chrisss run! Run immediately!"


    Without saying anything more, Yuda immediately ran toward the stairs down to the first floor ... but Dn caught and tackled him down onto the floor.


    "Where is the Octo unit?"


    "Sorry, sorry, I didn''t mean too. But they areˇ­ they are dead... all are dead! Let me go! let go! It''sing! It''sing!!!"


    THUD! THUD!


    The giant ck monster, almost as high as the ceiling, was only dozens meters away from their position. Some of the new troops around Dn trembled.


    "Lieutenant Chris..."


    "Don''t shoot!"


    "If the monster in front is a third-level zombie, then ording to our intel, our firearms will not hurt it. Wait for my signal, all of you are to immediately run out of this room and call for reinforcements."


    Lieutenant Chris threw a grenade at the monster and either by luck or by stupidity the monster caught it.


    "Now!"


    Kabooommm !!!!


    The grenade exploded right in the monster''s hand and it screamed in pain as the whole unit ran toward the main door. But Dn saw Lieutenant Chris not running toward the stairs, instead, he ran the other way while shooting at the monster.


    Tratatatatatatat Tratatatatat !!!


    "Lieutenant!"


    Dn understood that his boss was trying to lure the monster away. Dn thought for a moment to help the Lieutenant, but Cynthia''s sudden shout made him discouraged.


    "Come on everyone!"


    Dn ran with everyone as he picked up and pushed Yuda to get out immediately. Before he walked down the stairs, he saw Lieutenant Chris throwing several grenades back at the monster while still running away


    Kaboomm!! Kaboomm!!


    This time, the ck monster avoided the grenades with ease. With the previous explosion destroying one of its arms, the monster looked very angry and ran after Lieutenant Chris. Lieutenant Chris who had reached the Peak Stage of Mortal Realm was the strongest fighter in toon 077. Only he can do this task.


    Dn and Cynthia, together with their unit, manage to get out of the supermarket. But the horde of zombies had increased to at least two or three times from before they had entered. Dozens of red zombies were also among the horde but facing them was far better than fighting the ck zombie. They should be able to use their firearms to escape.


    Tratatata Tratatatatat!


    The two unit leaders, who were outside, ran closer as soon as Dn and the others came out.


    "What''s the matter? Where is Lieutenant Chris?"


    "Call the nearest post immediately for help. Tell the threat of stage 3 zombies in this position."


    "!!!"


    All members of this team knew about stage 3 ck zombies. They just didn''t expect to find it in this yellow zone. Dn, the most senior in this toon, took overmand and looked for the best location to escape from the crowd of zombies.


    "There! We''ll take the small alley between the two buildings!"


    Six grenades were simultaneously thrown at the horde.


    Kaboomm! Kaboomm! Kaboomm!


    Grenades were actually not very effective against this horde of zombies, but the explosions of several grenades were effective enough to bring down dozens of zombies.


    "Cynthia, your unit lead the front, opening the way, the other teams will guard the right and left wings. My unit will guard the rear. Everyone, let''s go!"


    Tratatatata! Tratatatat!


    Dozens of red zombies began to surround them because it was agile and not easy to shoot.


    Tratatatata Taratatata


    "Watch your bullets, reload your firearms in turns."


    Dn could only despair seeing a growing horde of zombies.


    The distance between the supermarket and the road was about 100 meters. As all 40 armed people took turns firing, they finally arrived at the small alley after a minute. Dn heard a sound and he suddenly looked at the direction of the supermarket when a figure flew out of the window.


    "!!!"


    "Lieutenant!!"


    Lieutenant Chris was thrown from a second-floor window and fell in the middle of a crowd of zombies.


    "We have to help him!" shouted one of the troops. But before Dn could speak, another figure jumped out through the same window. It was the giant ck monster andnded near the Lieutenant.


    Cynthia walked over to Dn. "We have to help him."


    Dn was silent for a moment. Should they return to help the lieutenant or run? Before, they believed that Lieutenant Chris could escape by himself but the conditions this time were different. They could see clearly if they didn''t help, the Lieutenant would die. But if he did, he would endanger these 40 people.


    Because of the presence of the ck monster, no other zombies dared to approach Chris. The ck monster lifted Chris with the hand that was previously destroyed by a grenade. In less than 5 minutes, it had grown again as if nothing happened. The hand, which was as big as an adult tree trunk, clenched at the Lieutenant''s body.


    Lieutenant Chris screamed in pain as his bloodied body and bones felt the pressure from the grip.


    Dn noticed that the monster''s eyes were intent on watching him and his army. Lieutenant Chris was already in its grasp. Why didn''t it kill the Lieutenant immediately? It looked like intel on level three Zombies was correct. This ck zombie was not like other zombies.


    Level one zombies just attack without thinking, level two zombies followed its instincts like most wild animals. While level three zombies have high intellectual abilities. This level three zombie was luring them to rescue its prey. It was disconcerting.


    But Cynthia couldn''t take it anymore. "If you''re scared, then stay here!"


    "Cynthia wait!"


    Cynthia was already running, followed by four strongest members who possessed high-level mortal realm stage.


    Tratatatat tratatatat


    Cynthia and two people used firearms while the other two used melee weapons. Five people lunged forward to approach the ck monster. However, as soon as they arrived at a distance of 10 meters from the monster, Lieutenant Chris suddenly shouted loudly.


    ARRAGAHHH!!!


    The five people ran faster and did not pay attention to their surroundings. As Cynthia''s assault rifle ran out of bullets, she threw the firearm and reced it with two pistols attached to her thighs. She continued shooting at the ck monster.


    Bang! nk Bang! nk!


    Like shooting at an iron door, the monster didn''t budge.


    While the two people, who used guns, shot the zombies around. The other two pushed forward and used their iron rod and spear.


    Hiiiaaattt!!!


    The two attacked simultaneously the ck monster who was stronger and faster than a peak-level realm mortal fighter.


    Unexpectedly, the ck monster threw the unconscious Lieutenant toward the fighter who used a rod. The impact was so hard that it made the fighter with the rod fell several meters towards the horde of zombies.


    The fighter who uses the spear saw an opening and jumped to attack the ck monster''s head.


    nk!


    The attack did not hurt it at all. The spear fighter, still in the air, immediately regretted his action as arge hand came near his sights and pped him to the ground.


    BAAMMM !!


    As easy as pping a mosquito, the fighter never thought that this monster had such strength. He couldn''t move his body on the ground as he watched a giant foot hover above him. He could only close his eyes and thenˇ­


    CRAAKKK !!


    Seeing that terrible sight, Cynthia and the other two fighters felt lost. What should she do now? What can she do?


    The ck monster shouted.


    ROARRRR!!!


    It jumped high and fell right on the shooter standing near Cynthia.


    CRACKkKk !!


    That man was dead instantly. The other shooter tried to run but therge arm caught him.


    "AAaaaa!!! No No!!!"


    The unlucky man struggled but it was for nothing. The monster opened its mouth full of fangs like a crocodile''s mouth and bit his head.


    CRUNNCH!


    And then throw the rest like trash that you don''t need anymore.


    "!!!"


    Cynthia stood nkly, thinking her life would end here. She whispered a name that was always on her mind. "Barry... Looks like I''ll catch up with you quickly."


    Cynthia did not run. Instead, she walked toward the ck monster while firing both of her pistols


    Bang Bang Bang Bang Click!


    The moment her bullets ran out, the monster raised its hand to sweep her away. She wanted to avoid it, but her whole body could not move.


    Kaboomm!!!


    A sudden explosion at the foot of the monster made the monster fall as it missed its attack on Cynthia. A man then swooped over and carried Cynthia as they ran away.


    "Dn!"


    "Stupid girl! Do you want to lose your life? Do you really want to meet Barry so soon?"


    "...It''s because of Barry! Like Barry, I won''t run away, I''m not afraid!"


    "You''re really a stupid girl! Everyone feels fear, Barry too! But what you did was not courage, this is foolishness. Barry wouldn''t want you to throw your life away!"


    "..."


    Dn ran with all his strength among the crowd of zombies but not more than 20 meters away, he suddenly felt a pressure approaching towards him.


    "!!!"


    Dn immediately jumped sideways.


    BAAAAMMMM !!!


    The ck monsternded right where they were before. It was very close! But because of the sudden jump, they both lost bnce and fell on the ground.


    The monster was only 3 meters in front of them. Cynthia tried to stand up but her knees did not have the strength. Dn got up and immediately stood in front of Cynthia.


    What can they do against this monster? There is nothing! They can only hope in miracles.

 Chapter 158 - Die Bravely

    A man and a woman were standing right in the middle of a crowd of zombies ... but none of these zombies dared to approach them... they were all like waiting for the ruler in the area to act first.


    Zombies at stage 3 were in a much different level. With body size that was five times bigger, stronger attacks and faster mobility, these monsters also had a terrible regeneration ability.


    Dn had nowhere to escape ...They were currently lying on the floor .... this ck monster turned around and was ready to attack to kill its prey.


    One of the hands of this monster changed into a sharp object ... this was another unique ability of this monster. Simr to a giant ck machete. Ready to tear anything in front of it apart ...


    Bang bang bang bang bang


    Dn used up all the bullets on the gun he had to shot


    "It''s useless ... a bullet of this caliber isn''t strong enough to hurt that monster ..."


    Cynthia struggled to ovee her fear...Trembling, she tried to stand up and pulled a small sword from the belt on her waist...


    "Even if I die this time I will die bravely ..."


    The figure of Barry who fought to defend her at that time was still marked in Cynthia''s memory. Hearing Cynthia''s words, Dn also rose to his feet ready to face death...


    "!!!"


    Hooooooonk


    Suddenly a speeding vehicle appeared from a crossroads ...With a loud horn ...attracting attention and crashing into the crowd of zombies...With a very bright light beam, also shocking the ck zombie and then crashing it hard.


    BOOOOMM!!!


    With itsrge body, this monster restrained the jeep with both hands ...but the force of the collision of the car that was speeding at 100 kilometers per hour was too strong and knocked the monster a few steps back.


    When the collision urred, a figure in ck jumped out andnded near Dn and Cynthia.


    "Are you all right? I just happened to passed by and heard the explosion just now... stage 3 zombies in this area? ... You guys are really out of luck"


    Dn and Cynthia recognized that person ... why is this man here...?


    "Can you walk? That ck zombie would attack again soon ... you need to leave immediately!"


    It turned out that Cynthia''s leg was injured... She couldn''t run properly...


    "All right, you...take care of her. If you get an opportunity, take her away from here immediately"


    "Yes, Sir!"


    Dn had met this man while he was on trial ... and Cynthia had talked to him once at Barry''s funeral. Who didn''t know him anyway? This man was the supreme leader of the Star Army. The man named Alex.


    Roaaarrrr!!!!


    The monster got up and immediately threw the jeep with ease...This monster blew a fuse... His eyes fixed on the three people who stood not far from him...


    This time he immediately ran towards his prey... The ground around this area also trembled...


    THUD!! THUD!! THUD!!


    SHHHH!!!!


    A small object drifted towards the ck zombie ... because the monster was running like a sh so he couldn''t avoid itˇ­


    KABOOOMMM!!!


    SHHHH!!!


    KABOOOMMM!!


    Dn was surprised. Since when the man next to him was holding a rocketuncher ...


    Alex would not yed around against stage 3 zombies. And at the moment, he was alone ...


    "Too bad I only have two rocket bullets ... it doesn''t seem enough to kill that creature"


    Alex immediately put the rocketuncher back into his storage ring ... then he took out a weapon that was no less massive than a rocketuncher...


    The weapons with over one meter long, an M60 machine gun. The machine gun that had an ability fire 500 to 600 pieces of 7.62mm bullets per minute was a very lethal weapon. The size and weight alone made many soldiers think twice about bringing it to the battlefield. In many cases, this weapon was only used as a defensive weapon.


    Alex nced at Dn...


    "You can use this weapon, right?"


    "!!!"


    Before Dn answered, the big machine gun was already thrown at him. Alex then threw a M4 carbine action rifle with a grenadeuncher to Cynthia...


    "Ok, you hold the position ... I need a moment"


    "..."


    Alex immediately took a hexagram technique stance and perform the hexagram breathing...


    ROARRR!!!


    As expected, the ck monster was still alive even though it had been hit twice by the explosion directly from the rocketuncher. Dn could see two st was marked on the monster''s chest and shoulders ... but the wound slowly covered ... the monster, which was still on its knees, started to show its leg...


    Dn immediately took a kneeling stance and ced the M60''s machine gun on his back to reduce the beat and be able to set the uracy better. He immediately shot towards the ck monster


    Tratatatatat Tratatatatatat Tratatatatat


    Cynthia helped by firing other zombies who tried to approach them...


    Not long after, another shock urred, one of the troops who had just bounced off the body of Lieutenant Chris, came over to them and Lieutenant Chris was seen on his back. He put the lieutenant on the floor slowly.


    "Don''t worry he is still breathing..."


    This man, even though his body was full of wounds and looked in pain, he got to his feet to raise his iron stick weapon and helped protect the area.


    Five people ... were surrounded by a crowd of hundreds of zombies. Dn focused on shooting the ck zombie. Cynthia and the soldier that used an iron rod protected them from other zombie invasion. Lieutenant Chris was lying on the floor, not moving, and Alex...


    Roarrr!!!


    The ck monster was angry ... running here and there lunatically ... But finally the hundreds M60 bullets that were in Dn''s grasp ran out.


    "Leader, are there more bullets ..?"


    Alex just sealed his mouth ...


    The ck Monster finally realized the barrage of gunfire had stopped. Taking the opportunity, the ck monster decided to ignore all the bullets that were hurting its body and immediately focused on running fast towards the group...


    "No!! Watch out... dodge!!"


    But Alex suddenly opened his eyes ... "Hexagram level 4!!"


    Alex''s entire body was abundant with energy ready to be blown up. Alex took a weapon from the storage ring and immediately ran towards the monster


    The monster aimed the giant machete-shaped hand and immediately swung a lightning-fast sh horizontally towards Alex.


    SWISSHHH!!!


    The hexagram step worked ... Alex could avoid it easily ... not dodging away from his opponent, but immediately with maximum speed, circling the ck monster ... Alex entered into its blind spot and immediately jumped into the back of the ck zombie ... using all the power on the new weapon he got today. Nathanael''s small axe of mid-level artifacts ...


    With less ineffectual movement, Alex immediately used all his strength to swing the axe.


    SWISSHHH!!!!


    And the small axe immediately decapitated the ck zombie from behind...


    "!!!"


    With just one strike, the ck zombie was decapitated ... the 5 meter tall body immediately fell. Without a head, this monster can no longer regenerate. ck zombie Stage three was sessfully conquered.


    Dn and the others were immediately struck by how easily Alex defeated the monster ... they were immediately amazed at their supreme leader ....


    With the absence of ck zombies ... it looked like hundreds of other zombies were not as savage as before ...the four units in the corner of that location immediately returned to attack the middle of the battle area...


    "The fight is not over and more zombies will arrive because of the sound of the explosion, we should leave this ce immediately."


    Dn immediately followed Alex''s orders, and arranged the formation toe out together while holding Lieutenant Chris.Before leaving, Alex approached the ck zombie''s head. Alex splitted the monster''s head and he found another yellow spirit stone.


    Alex noticed the axe in his hand, even though Alex couldn''t use the hidden power of the axe ... but it was still a very strong and sharp axe ....


    (Each artifact has a bond with its owner. Unless the owner dies or hands over the artifact voluntarily ... the strength of the weapon will always be locked)


    After a few meters from the location they finally met another toon members who came as reinforcements. Finally they were relieved ... except Lieutenant Chris who was immediately brought to the medical center. There was Yuda who was captured, while the woman named Rizka has long fled and her fate was unknown.


    Dn approached Alex ... and told him what happened ....


    "So, what do you think we should do to this person?"


    Alex approached Yuda. Alex still remembered this man ... He still remembered the incident when he released this man ... Yuda was currently still traumatized after seeing dozens of his men died before his eyes


    "Geez ... geez ... forgive me ... I am willing to do anything ..."


    "You are no longer a member of the Star Army ... there is no second chance for you!"


    Alex didn''t think much ... He immediately took a gun from his storage ring...


    BANG!


    One shot right in the head of Yuda. The man died instantly with his eyes wide open... Alex turned around... and patted Dn and Cynthia''s shoulders...


    "Good fight ...."


    Alex took one of the jeeps brought by the reinforcements and drove away... Alex predicted in a few hours the sun would rise, it seemed like it was time he returned ... this time he did not return to headquarters but to the hotel where the meeting was today..

 Chapter 159 - A Different Person

    Alex walked toward the room where he nned to sleep after the fight. At the penthouse on the 2nd floor of the hotel facing the beach, a few guards standing in front of the door were surprised by Alex''s arrival at this hour.


    "Rx, men. Carry on."


    As Alex walked into the living room, he surprisingly found his wife, Devita, asleep on the sofa.


    Alex approached his sleeping wife and carried her to their room. Alex gentlyid her down and walked into the other room happy to find his two children fast asleep. Next, he slowly walked toward the hotel''s balcony; took something out from the storage ring, a cigarette box. He pulled a cigarette stick and lit it.


    As he smoked and stared at the beach, the gentle crashing of waves along with the breeze of the night wind made him think a lot. Tonight, he went out to just see the condition of zombies on the edge of the city of Bali not expecting the least that the yellow zone area would have a level three zombie.. He needed to build countermeasures.


    Suddenly, he heard Devita waking up. "Sorry, I woke you up." Alex then looked at Devita''s eyes filled with worry, sadness, and anger.


    "Where have you been?! Do you know how worried I was? You fainted with wounds all over you after fighting and then after a few hours you suddenly disappeared!"


    "Calm down Vi. I''m fine, I just walked around to breathe in the fresh air. I could not sleep."


    Devita paused after hearing Alex''s answer. She was full of anger, she wanted to scream and yell, but in the next second, tears began to drip from her eyes.


    "Youˇ­ who are you?"


    "Vi, what do you mean? I''m your husband."


    "Liar! You... you''re not Alex! The Alex I know is very different."


    Devita''s hand approached Alex, seemingly wanting to touch his face, but took the cigarette from Alex''s mouth.


    "Alex never smokes, he never liked it!"


    "Vi, the world is in ruins. There''s no way we are going to fight just because of a cigarette."


    "That''s not it. Youˇ­ it''s you that is different! You walk, talk, sound the same, I can see your sincere affection. But I don''t seem to recognize you. Alex, please tell me what happened? Have I gone crazy?"


    Alex understood what his wife meant. He certainly is different now. 10 years of struggling in the Day of Judgement. It was impossible to remain the same, in truth, even without the end of the world upon them, 10 years would naturally change someone. It wasn''t surprising that his wife, whom he shared his life with wouldn''t notice this difference.


    Before Alex only told her about he having an ability to foresee the future, but now, Alex finally decided to tell his wife everything. About his reincarnation and the 10 years that passed without his family. Everything sounded like a fantasy story. But for Devita,ever since the end of time started, seeing so many changes in this world. This fantasy may not seem as crazy as it might sound. It was enough to fill the questions in her heart and mind.


    After listening to Alex''s story, Devita finally fell asleep in Alex''s tear damped arms. Seeing his wife sleeping soundly in his arms. It finally hit him, he has indeed changed. He was a sentimental person who could cry over simple things or easilyugh with others. But those feelings seemed to have disappeared from him. Even tonight, seeing his wife cry, he doesn''t really feel much...


    Could he has forgotten what love is?


    The new day had arrived; the morning sun had risen illuminating the hotel''s window. As usual, his wife was an extraordinary woman. Although sleep was one of her favorite hobbies, Devita still got up early to take care of the family no matter how tired or sleep-deprived she was.


    "Tiffany! Tiarra! Breakfast is ready."


    Alex woke up to the smell of the freshly baked bread.


    Thest time they had breakfast together was about two months ago before Alex left for Java. Alex walked to the dining table and approached his two daughters who were already sitting there sweetly. His wife still busy preparing food. Omelette and chocte brownie bread with orange ice drink. A fairly normal food in the world. But not in the end times like now. Flour and chocte for making brownies were stillmon-ce. The milk used was UHT milk or milk powder. But the Fresh orange juice was amodity that was a little hard to find, but since Alex was the leader on the ind and his wife the head of the supply department, it was not difficult to get this fresh orange.


    However, what particrly caught Alex''s attention was the omelette on the te. Alex looked at it carefully and Devita realized what was on Alex''s mind and immediately said, "That is the result of the eggs from ck chickens that we maintain."


    In the beginning, when this headquarters was still being built, Alex told them to gather a type of chicken that would able to survive the end of time epidemic. This ck chicken was one of the mutated animals that were not aggressive, so it was suitable to be reared inside the base. Alex wanted to ask further questions, but Devita continued by saying,


    "Let''s start eating, we''ll talk about workter during the meeting."


    As their tradition, they opened the breakfast with a prayer. Tiarra presented herself with the spirit to lead. "Thank you God for the food and drink. Amen."


    Tiffany and Tiara ravenously enjoyed the breakfast.


    Alex was a little surprised to see adybug the size of a tennis ball resting on Tiffany''s shoulder. Alex heard about the insect from his wife; how it functioned as a pair of eyes for Tiffany and her most beloved pet.


    At first, Alex didn''t pay much attention to it but after thinking more deeply about his previous life, not many insects made it through the end-time gue. He recalled certain types of insects and those were generally high-level mutations. For Tiffany to be able to bond with it through her power, it truly was a fortune. Alex tried hard to recall more memories from his previous life, but he never seemed to have this kind of insect. Curiosity filled his mind and asked, "Tiffany, where did you find the insect?"


    "What do you mean, Daddy? Oh did you mean Cerri?"


    Cerri was the name Tiffany chose for the insect because of its roundness and the red dots on its body that reminded her of sweet cherries.


    "Yes, Cerri, where did you find it?"


    "Cerri found me, Daddy. She just suddenly appeared on the window at home and from that moment, she always apanied me."


    Alex looked back at the mutant insect on his daughter''s shoulder carefully but nothing seemed too special.


    Devita suddenly interrupted again and said, "We''re gonna bete, finish breakfast first and talk again."


    After enjoying the eggs, Devita divided the chocte brownies and distributed them. The middle par, filled with chocte, was given to Tiffany and Tiara. But as for Alex, he got the corners of the brownies, which was the hardest part of the brownies and no chocte.


    A memory almost forgotten resurfaced. Alex thought about his wife''s wordsst night. Ever since he was reincarnated, it seemed that he really was not paying too much attention to his family. A moment like this morning was something that was very valuable in these end times. This was the real reason Alex struggled and faced all the challenges of Doomsday. If Alex couldn''t protect his family again, then he didn''t deserve to even try and save this world.


    This was the reason he fought. To protect his family and their future.


    After breakfast, Alex hugged and kissed his two daughters.. And his wife of course...


    "Thank you for the breakfast."


    Now, Alex needed to get ready for an important meeting this morning. A meeting with the seven division heads who were taking care of this headquarters. Devita is one of the division leaders. She also got ready and followed him from behind.


    With the outburst of his wifest night, he was d that they were still able to walk together closely this morning.


    ''I have to pay more attention to my wife,'' thought Alex.


    But just as Alex opened the door, a beautiful woman was already waiting right in front of the door. "Oh, good morning, Aria."


    Alex graciously weed Aria, but Aria greeted him with a very serious face. Aria also did not hesitate to follow behind closely toward the meeting room. What''s wrong with Aria this morning? She looks upset. Alex couldn''t help but feel very awkward.


    Devita trying to break the ice asked, "Aria, your performance yesterday was so great."


    As usual, Aria answered coldly. "Yes, thank you."


    "Where did you learn your martial arts from?"


    "Deathsquad special forces"


    "..."


    Devita did not give up looking for a suitable conversation topic. "Thank you, Aria, you are always ready to guard my husband."


    "Yes, but it looks like your husband doesn''t need me!"


    "!!!"


    Alex was surprised to hear this response as well. Devita wanted to ask, but Aria continued, "Last night he went out fighting level three zombies by himself."


    "..."


    Devita had read reports about the level three ck zombie. As it turns out,st night, her husband did something dangerous again and kept it a secret! Devita immediately nced at Alex, visibly annoyed. "Couldn''t sleep and looked for fresh air? Huh! Smart..."


    This seemed to be the reason why Aria was upset. Aria was supposed to be Alex''s personal bodyguard, it was her duty and responsibility to guard Alex against danger. But for Alex to sneak out alone at night and fight dangerous monsters without her, of course, she would definitely be upset."


    Traveling from the hotel using a jeep to the meeting ce usually would take less than thirty minutes, but this time, it felt like hours to Alex when apanied by these two women grumbling about him.


    "..."


    Finally, they arrived. The venue for this meeting was none other than the Starbase itself.

 Chapter 160 - Star Base

    Today the star base is like a majestic fort. Surrounded by a four meter high concrete auxiliary wall, 13 kilometers around in rectangr shape. All of four gates are full of guards and machine guns. On the outside of the wall, along the east to the north adjoins the river Tukad, thousands of farmers were spoted busy picking potatoes. The 100 hectare agricultural crop which had been cultivated for more than three months had finally shown its results. Potatoes and yams, the perfect nts for facing the end of time. As far as the eye could see there were dozens of three-floored watchtower surrounding the headquarters.


    As soon as Alex entered the main gate of the headquarters, Alex was quite surprised. The headquarters with a total of 115 hectares had be a city with a soul. There was almost no empty field left. The thousand hangars project for the residence haspletely done and fully upied within three months. One hangar could amodate five hundred people. It means that there were five hundred thousand people lived in this entire headquarters area...


    Still inside the jeep, Alex went through a lot of people. At this hour, the farmers and the construction workers and also the soldiers should be outside the headquarters. Seeing the current conditions of the city, it seemed like there were still many unemployed people in this city.


    Alex passed by the most crowded ce. Devita exined that this ce was a market area. There were about 10 market locations spread throughout this 100 hectares area. This market was located in an open area and side by side to a giant storage hangar. In this ce, people were allowed to exchange their meal vouchers for all types of equipment; mutated meat food, weapons, clothing and daily supplies such as soap and others. This market also epted payment with spirit stone as a currency.


    Alex noticed that therge hangar, which was an iron factory, a botanical garden hangar that housed hydroponic nts, and also a medical and research center, was twice bigger than before. Alex couldn''t wait to see the details of its progress.


    Finally Alex headed to the location of the meeting, arge hangar downtown which was themand center of the Star Army. There were already dozens of people gathered. They all were familiar people. Alex sat in the empty chair at the forefront of the table, Devita sat in the opposite chair while Aria stood behind Alex.


    The seven leaders of the Star headquarters division that Alex had assigned before leaving were all there in attendance in this room:


    Supplies and Equipment Division: Devita


    Agriculture Division: Jane


    Development Division: Tony


    Health and Research Division: Rachel


    Educational Division : Agung


    Security Division: Major Sandi


    Administrative Division: Cahaya


    As for who was also invited to this meeting were:


    James Randall, Winter, Colonel Arief, Rama, Donny, Dario and Farell.


    Cahaya who was an experienced governor before was a suitable person toe for Benny who went on an expedition to East Indonesia with Commander Karra and the others.


    (Benny was the assistant regent of the bay city who was asked to help Alex to buy and in Bali before the end of time.)


    "Well, let''s start with the administration data of this ind first," Alex said


    Cahaya had came well-prepared.


    "In this situation, the residents of Bali ind have gathered at five different locations"


    Star Headquarters - Main Base


    Size: 115 hectares


    Poption: 553,312


    Military personnel: 209,000


    Civilians: 344,312


    Antiga City - Military Base


    Size: 45 hectares


    Poption: 55,572


    Military personnel: 50,000


    Civilians: 5,572


    Bay City - Naval Base


    Size: 55 hectares


    Poption: 15,755


    Military personnel: 10,000


    Civilians 5,755


    Gilimanuk Post - (West Post)


    Area on the west side of Bali ind which is attached to the Java ind.


    Size: 311 hectares


    Poption: 7,326


    Military personnel: 5,000


    Civilians: 12,326


    Pos Denpasar - (Central Post)


    Area on the north of Denpasar. The capital of Bali


    Size: 171 hectares


    Poption: 7,211


    Military personnel: 5000


    Civilians: 2,211.


    Total poption on the Bali ind: 639,176 inhabitants.


    Military personnel: 289,000


    Civilians: 350,176


    Alex examined the data. It apparently exined that the total poption of these four locations was even more than the total poption in the city of New Java. This poption explosion urred due to poption migration from Surabaya and Madura that reached more than 300,000 people. ording to the report given by Cahaya also showed the number of poption based on age, gender, previous upation and current upation. This data was useful as benchmark in making decisions rted to development regtion of this headquarters.


    As he notice how full the poption at this main Headquarters, Alex was very happy but it made him worried at the same time. This base was currently overcrowded. Alex expected that as the migrationing from the east they needed even more housing for them to live. Bali ind initially had a poption of more than 4 million people. If we didn''t count the number of migrants from Surabaya and Madura, at this time Alex was able to amodate 10 percent of this ind''s poption. Comparing to his previous life, this was way much better.


    "Cahaya, how do you see about this condition?"


    "People who came from Surabaya and Madura within this month have been able to adapt to the local poption here. The current conditions are much better than back in Madura ind. Even though this base is overcrowded, I am quite optimistic that they can contribute immediately. "


    "Alright ... we will have a lot of additional expansion in the next few weeks so we need help as much as possible. It is also important to think that unemployment would only rock the boat. Even though it is only a simple activity, make sure all residents can contribute. "


    Alex then gave a piece of paper to Cahaya, there were dozens of names of people written in that paper.


    "Do me a favor to find out if there are people with these names among the list of residents gathered."


    Cahaya didn''t probe any further and casually followed Alex''s order. This list of the names was the people Alex familiar with in his previous life. Alex had expectations to find them among these more than 600,000 residents.


    Next Alex turned to Major Sandi.


    "There are almost 300,000 fighters, almost 50 percent of the poption are fighters, this is a veryrge number, can you please give some exnation, Major?"


    Major Sandi, a middle-aged man, a former head of the Bali special forces, gave his report:


    Total personnel: 289.000


    Elite troops: 6,000


    1st Division soldier: 65,000


    2nd Division soldier: 50,000 troops


    Cadet: 70,000


    Militia forces: 98,000


    Elite troops were those who were chosen from the best. The martial arts experts, members of military special forces, and the veteran soldiers. All the members had already reached the peak stage of mortal realm.


    As exining about the next category, Major Sandi reported that the 10-day basic training, that was made at the start of the end of the period, was added to the 30-day additional advance training. Beside adding and sharpening self-defense training, this training also trained some techniques to fight back the provications of the zombies and the mutant monsters. And also for survival training to face the end-time world.


    The 1st division was the group of those who had sessfully passed the initial training and advance training. They also had been in battle for more than one month. On average, 1 st division troops had reached the high mortal realm stage.


    Whereas 2nd division troops are those who hadpleted initial training but even though they had conducted patrols and some kind of it, they had not yetpleted the additional training. Many of them were also fighters from Surabaya and Madura who joined the group not long before. Even though they had also reached a high level of mortal realm, these 2nd division troops did not yet have sufficient cohesiveness.


    Cadets are those who were still in training as fighters. At the moment, they were still under the supervision of Major Sandi and some selected trainers, such as Mahaguru Indra, the master of Pencak St.


    Thest but not least was the militia forces. They were a group of those who failed the initial training. Many of them were waiting to run through the initial training again. But they were currently assigned as the city guards as well as protective forces for the equipment hunting forces for the time being.


    "So, even though there are nearly 300,000 troops registered, half of them are still under some training and need some more time for additional training before they are ready to fight. and the main obstacle right now is that we''re out of trainers. Currently , Mahaguru Indra and I have more than 500 trainers, but that is not enough. Many are good at fighting but it''s just few of them have the talent to teach"


    Alex got the point. Ten days of initial training and 30 additional days were nothingpared to other military training. Ranger training in America took 61 days. While special forces required up to 1.5 years. Alex''s consideration of 30 days of training was more than enough, not to train physical and technical skills, but rather to form any sense of teamwork and unity. Ideology and unity was something that was very crucial in the early formation of a military. The rest, as for technical skill, Alex will relied on the uing pirs that woulde in less than 1 month.


    But Alex currently couldn''t wait for the all 300,000 people to be ready to fight. Last night situation with the emergence of the stage three zombies in the yellow zone seemed like that the zombies provocation in the city of Bali is threatening increasingly way more dangerous.


    "Major Sandi, I need you to gather all the elite troops and also all of the 1st division soldier tomorrow morning"


    "Yes, Sir!"


    "And also call the Wolf squad special forces back to Bali"


    (Wolf forces was special forces led by Jerry)


    Alex also gave special assignments to Aria and Rama


    Half a day had passed in a blink of eye as they had some review and discussion about these two divisions, and Alex suddenly frowned deeply as he nced at a pile of reports prepared by the other divisions.


    "Ok, for the next division, I want to see with my own eyes about its progress on the field. Today you all will apany me around. "

 Chapter 161 - Development

    The first ce Alex visited was the area next to themand center where the children and elderly resided. It was not different from the other hangars where other people lived. These buildings were shaped like a warehouse built from the mixture of prefabricated steel and iron. Each building was standardized to have a size of 200 meters x 20 meters amodating around 500 people. There were almost 100 hangars allocated in the special area just for children and the elderly.


    ording to the data, more than 80,000 children and the elderly collectively lived in the Starbase. About 13 percent of the total poption at present. But only half of them lived in this special area. The rest stayed with their parents or closest rtives. Those who lived in this area were mostly orphans who didn''t have families, they only have each other. Although the headquarters of the Starbase mobilized hundreds of workers to take care of them, the children and the elderly still looked after each other.


    Around a total of 30 hangars were used as learning and yground facilities. Every child who was outside the special area still came here to learn together..


    As they were children, they still needed to learn. For the smaller kids, reading and writing were things that couldn''t be abandoned. For therger ones, they still learned general subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry,nguage, art, history and geography, but all of them were only the introductions. Children aged 12 and older also have mandatory sses for martial arts, weapons handling, first-aid, how to survive in the wilderness and most importantly how to be able to work together.


    In Alex''s previous life, mankind had survived for 10 years, but this time, he believed they couldst longer and with this belief, the children are the future of human civilization.


    Although the children and the elderly couldn''t fight, they still contributed. With the help of the spirit stone, the average elderly regained energy and enthusiasm that would otherwise be impossible. Still, the majority of them contributed as teachers or guardians of the children.


    The former governor of Bali invited the group to one corner of the children and the elderly area. They came across an open field and a building that was shaped like a stage. Alex was quite surprised to see it.


    The former governor of Bali was preparing this area with the help of the children and the elderly to have a talent show in the form of dancing and singing. Of course, this would be the start of entertainment for the residents of this base. This activity was certainly not only for the children. They will also ask famous singers and music yers to also fill this stage.


    "Very good! When do you think this will be ready? "


    "In about two or three days."


    "How many people do you think can attend?"


    "Due to the limited area, it will be at most 5,000 people."


    "Good. Continue with the work, but after this stage, consider making another one with a minimum capacity at least ten times more."


    "Ten times more? We don''t have an area thatrge. Except for maybe outside the base."


    "Yes, make sure to choose a strategic location. The security of the ce will be the responsibility of Major Sandi."


    The Major was a little pale hearing Alex''s words. Making a theater for 50,000 people in arge field at the end of times. How many personnel would he need to guard such an event? Not only that, any event would definitely produce a loud noise.. Which could only mean trouble.


    Alex wasn''t too worried about such a n. Once the Doomsday Pir arrives, many things could make this possible, but it''s hard to exin now. Alex believed activities like these are very important for the development of his base. The morale of the fighters was definitely the top driver in staying alive.


    The next location to be inspected was not far from this area. They arrived at a special building prepared for medical and research purposes.


    This health center building was one of the special buildings that were not shaped as the other hangars. This was because some medical procedures required a closed and quarantined ce. A lot of the equipment must be sterilized and some patients needed privacy. For patients who are on the verge of dying, of course they have to be ced near for intensive care handling.


    At present, there are nearly 2,000 medical personnel. But only about 300 personnel are doctors. The surgeons are fewer, only more than 50 people. The rest are nurses and medical students who are training their skills.


    Rachel, the head of the medical division, guided the group to see the condition of the health center building. The conditions were no different from hospitals in general. Alex asked if the person he had fought withst night was here, and coincidentally he is here. Doctor Rachel then escorted Alex and his entourage to one of the emergency rooms. They soon arrived at the room and stood to watch from behind the ss window.


    On the other side of the ss window, two surgeons were operating on a patient. The name on the door''s information board listed as Lieutenant Chris. toon 077 Battalion 8.


    Not long after, one of the two doctors came out of the operating room, she approached the group. Doctor Rachel then introduced the 30-years-old woman, in surgical clothing, who looked like she hadn''t slept for a few days. "This is Doctor Diao."


    When Alex recognized the woman, he smiled. This woman named Diao had saved his life countless times before. Although she wasn''t a spirit enhancer, this woman was truly a special doctor.


    Doctor Diao was an active member of the Doctor without Border Organization. It was an independent international medical humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, people who do not receive health services and victims of natural disasters. This organization was founded in 1971 in France with its original name being M¨¦decins Sans Fronti¨¨res or abbreviated as MSF. However, it was better known by colloquial name as doctors without borders.


    When the end of times had arrived, not all doctors adapted to the mutations. Almost all of their medical knowledge contained in the medical books became irrelevant. But Doctor Diao with her vast experience of saving dying patients, with limited medical facilities, could be considered the best doctor at the moment.


    Doctor Diao immediately realized that Alex was the leader of this group but seeing the warm gaze of Alex, she was a little surprised.


    "Have we met before?" asked Doctor Diao.


    "Ahh no. Let me introduce myself, my name is Alex. How is the patient''s condition?"


    Before the doctor answered, two people tried to enter the room but the guards blocked them. Alex, recognizing the two people Dn and Cynthia, gave permission to let them in. It seems like they were also waiting for the doctor''s diagnosis.


    Doctor Diao told them that the patient named Chris condition is now very critical. The peak stage mortal realm body of Chris had increased the regeneration of all cells of his body. However, the injury he had received was too severe. The regenerative cells aren''t strong enough. When he had been delivered to this medical centerst night, almost all of his ribs were broken. This noon, thanks to the regeneration of the cells, the bone is almost healed. This was only possible because Doctor Diao spent the whole night intensively performing surgery by removing the bone splinters and shifting the bones back to its ce, what she did greatly helped the speed of the healing process.


    But what did not improve were the patient''s lungs. Four ribs had pierced the lungs causing the ribs to copse(deted) due to the four holes. After various attempts throughout the night, nothing had improved Chris'' condition. Right now, Chris'' life depended on the chest tube attached to his chest. He is still unconscious because of the injuries he went throughst night.


    Hearing this, Cynthia could not help but began to have tears in her eyes. It seems like another close person to her was about to die again. Ever since Barry''s death, Cynthia was determined to follow in Barry''s footsteps and decided to ask for help from Chris, who was Barry''s boss. At first, Chris refused because what he just saw was a teenage girl courting death. But as time went on, Cynthia''smitment and talent got through Chris and became willing to train her. In thest two months, Chris was like a big brother figure for her.


    "Is there really no other way, doctor?"


    Doctor Diao nced at Rachel. They understood each other''s thoughts, the only solution for this patient was the serum panacea. Dr. Rachel was in charge of the serum made from amulet of the sun that Alex retrieved before.


    Alex understood the meaning of that view and asked, "How many serum panaceas have you collected, doctor?"


    "In thest two months, the artifact has seeded in producing four new pills, and from that, we have concocted 20 new serums. I gave the first 5 serums to your wife in the event of an emergency. The remaining 15 serums are stored here. "


    "Are there other ways to increase the amount of serum from each pill that has been made?"


    "Sorry, but ording to our research, diluting it for more than 5 times greatly reduces its efficacy level. If we even go further than that, the serum bes useless."


    Doctor Rachel left for a moment and retrieved the 15 serum that she kept and gave it to Alex. Everyone in the room stared at the serum in Alex''s hands and thought about the dying patient''s life in the next room.


    Dn, watching Cynthia cry, decided to speak. He went before Alex and kneeled asking in a defeated voice, "Leader... please... give a serum to Lieutenant Chris..."


    What would Alex will do?


    xxxxxxxx


    Dear Doomsday Pir reader, sorry for unable to publish thest 3 days. I actually took 2 days off from work to do a mass release chapter. The target was 10 chapter. was really hoping to finish till the pir drop. But with the work and a tragedy in a family. i was only able to finish 7 chapter.


    Also if you unable to see the next 4 chapters. its because currently i am trying the new previlege chapter feature. the first 4 chapter can be unlock for 20 coin. while the next 3 with extra 30 coin. (warning not to purchase the 2nd tier at the moment as its not yet ready)


    aniway i wil publish the reason of this new chapter on the doomsday pirs discordto join:


    https://discord.gg/gjDSkjp


    Aniway, hopefully the mass release can be epted by the readers as my seriousness to ciontinue writing this story. thank you for the support.


    Avan

 Chapter 162 - Choices

    Currently this room was filled with the division heads and Alex''s closest people. A young man knelt before him and another one was still crying asking for Alex to give one of the Panacea serum for a critical patient there in a room next to theirs.


    Who was this person to Alex? Lieutenant Chris was one of thousands toon leaders in the Star army. And currently Alex only had 15 serums in his hands. Was it wise enough to give this serum for that person? The threats of End-time would be just augmented, even though this Panacea serum would be increased rapidly as well, but in this circumstances there were only 10 serums avable for every one month. Whereas, ever since the End-time had taken ce, the headquarters had grown from 2000 to 600,000 people in as short as 3 months. Everyone in the room was thinking about the same thing: How could Alex decide whose to give, whose not?


    "Leader, please give one serum to Lieutenant Chris!" Dn pleaded again


    At this time, a certain bodyguard walked forward and tried to take Dn and Cynthia away. But Alex got in his way. All of them were waiting for Alex''s decision silently.


    Alex finally said,


    "I cannot give this serum to a random person.. At the moment, I could only give it to those who had grant special contribution to the Star army. But in the end, since this serum is mine, it''d be my absolute prerogative to decide who it''sing to"


    Hearing Alex''s word suddenly made Dn feel depressed. If you think about it deeper, this serum indeed did not grow on trees, too valuable . This serum could determine a person''s life or death, then of course it would not be given away offhandedly. But seeing Lieutenant Chris, who had trained him, got injured in order to save him and also his troopsst night ... plus the sound of tears dripping from the girl next to him, all of this made Dn throw his logic far away.


    "Leader ... Please, give me one of those serums, I am willing to do anything for you ... I swear I will give my life to safeguard the Star headquarters"


    Alex felt obligated to save the man''s life actually ... But right at that time he wanted to keep as much of this serum as possible for his own family and for the spirit enhancer fighters. However, Alex had his thumbs up for this young man''s spirit and sincerity, as it reminded him that this young man had helped him in the battlest night as well, then he finally decided.


    "What is your name?"


    "Dn, Sir"


    "So Dn, you know that this serum is very limited and it is not easy to give it away offhandedly, but let''s consider it as a gift for helping me in the battle against ck zombiesst night."


    Alex handed the serum over to Dn, and Dn epted it delightfully. But Alex did not finish his words yet ... He looked at Dn sternly.


    "Dn. I give this serum to you because of your contribution you had given. Now,as it is yours, you can give it to anyone ... "


    Dn was about to give it to Doctor Diao to be injected immediately into Lieutenant Chris''s body but the what Alex said next took Dn unawares.


    "Before you make your decision straight away, please give it a thought, it might be your first andst serum you ever had ... you might never have it again. Are you sure you want to give the serum to that man?..."


    This word make Dn hesitate..


    "I see that you really care about the girl next to you, think about it and answer my question, if both of them were somehow situated in the same condition, who would you give the serum to? "


    Alex wanted to give this young man some little lesson so that he had the ability to make the right decision, and Alex was curious to about the decision he wouldmitted to.


    Dn gasped for a moment. The serum was still in his hands. But in his heart, he already knew what the answer to Alex''s question. Surely he would choose Cynthia. Dn looked at Cynthia and had no word spoken ... but suddenly something caught him off guard.


    Cynthia took the serum from Dn''s hand and gave it to Doctor Diao


    "Here it is, Doc, please give it to the patient immediately"


    "!!!"


    Alex smiled from ear to ear when he saw what the girl in front of him did just now.


    "What is your name?"


    "Cynthia"


    "Cynthia ... Tell me why did you do that?"


    "Leader, whoever Dn chooses, either give the serum to me or to Lieutenant, it still means that this serum would still go to Lieutenant Chris''s hands, because even if Dn gave it to me, I would choose to give it to Lieutenant Chris as well."


    "Interesting ... Then why don''t you hesitate at all giving it to him?"


    "Leader, I have no clue for what tomorrow would bring, but today this man right in front of me needs this serum. That''s all."


    "Good answer!"


    The girl who just cried could do that without thinking, it was very memorable for Alex. After seeing the serum was given to Lieutenant Chris, Alex and the group head to the next location.


    On their way to the next location, Devita''s heart suddenly sank. It''s just two days ago she gave the serum to Tiffany''s pet cat ˇ­


    "If Alex knew about this, would I drive him to the wall? ... Hmm ... It shouldn''t be... Tiffany is Alex''s beloved daughter ... the happiness of his daughter is absolutely on top of everything ... right?"


    Alex''s wife thought about it trying to justify her doings herself.


    The next location was right next to the medical center where the researchboratory was located. In this case, James Randall was very enthusiastic, but gloominess emanated from Doctor Rachel''s eyes.


    "I''m sorry, Mr. Alex, Mr. Randall. Even along with the best scientists, we haven''t made any progress in our research until this time"


    "Don''t worry, Doctor ... show me"


    The research about the spirit stone requested by Alex was came up with nothing. We had tested this spirit stone in any kind of way. We had heated it, freeze it, processed it in high pressure ... Yet this spirit stone wasn''t even scratched. The very interesting part was when it consumed with oral method as easy as it was. This spirit stone could be easily dissolved directly into the body ... we, scientists, believed that this spiritual stone was not just a mineral. But also something that was biological.


    "..."


    "That''s all I can exin for this time"


    James Randal walked toward Doctor Rachel.


    "Doctor. What about the analysis result of the new weapons I sent earlier, is there any progress?"


    Doctor Rachel took them into one certain room. There, on the table, was aser cannon gun taken from James''s office in Surabaya. It had been more than a month since the weapons, which used precious stones as energy material, arrived here. Doctor Rachel and his scientists team had also studied the blueprint design of this weapon.


    "We could apprehend and understand how to make this weapon, but our current research facility does not have sufficient equipment to replicate this weapon."


    James decided to stay for a while to discuss the progress details with Doctor Rachel while Alex and the group continued heading to their next destination, a block at one side of the west-end of the Star headquarters. A next giant hangar was at this location. The hangar which was a botanical garden where all kinds of hydroponic greeneries and others were nted.


    The location of the botanical garden hangar was next to the west gate. River gate, a door that faced towards the majestic mountain and also the river Tukad that flew alongside the agricultural fields covering more than 100 hectares.


    This botanical garden and agricultural rice field area was managed by an agricultural division led by Jane, a nt spirit enhancer. After 2 months of exploring his special strengths, Jane could more easily understand about the nts around her. She knew about the time to water the nts or when it''s too much water given. What fertilizer was more suitable and useful for the nt or when was the most appropriate time to harvest the nt. All she did was done without equipment or experiments. Now he could really be called a ''nt whisperer''


    The current one hundred hectare agricultural project was very sessful. The results obtained reached around 30-50 percent in quantity higher than the most experienced farmers had. The highly trained farmers generally could produce 20-30 tons of potatoes per hectare but the yields from the ntation under Jane''s supervision could reach 40 tons per hectare. A total of 4000 tons per one harvest time. This amount was enough to produce about 350 thousand pieces of potatoes per day. It seemed that Star Army residents need to get used to eat potatoes as their daily meal.


    As for the hydroponic nts showed some significant results as well. The botanical garden block was very useful for growing some nts for further proceed as food supplements or medicine.


    Alex saw many different kinds of vegetables and fruits in this botanical garden. Spinach, lettuce, tomato, broli, chili, orange and many more. Alex tried to pick a tomato, it was not too red, it still felt heavy when it plucked, the skin was tight and there were no stains. It was really tempting. Alex bit it without further dy.


    Craunch !.


    Very high quality tomato. After seeing the results of the reports from each nt, Alex realized Jane''s ability to take care of this botanical garden was far more impressive than the agricultural fields outside. The botanical garden was her specialty. Not to mention the maximum results, even the speed of growth of this nt was also double than normal. The seeding that usually need 40 days of work, could be finished in 20 days. Jane could maximize the growth of a nt that should require different nutrients and climate in one room together. Alex realized that Jane had also achieved breakthroughs and gained special abilities as a spirit enhancer.


    Ever since 2 months ago Jane had also been trusted to head this headquarters farm. As for the current livestock, other than ck chickens, it had been sessfully collected around 500 livestock products. It was insufficient amountpared to 500 thousand of the poption, but at this time, 80% of eggs produced were stored to increase the number of livestock. Jane estimated, the number of chickens would reach more than 20,000 head within 5 months.


    Alex was very happy to hear this. There was a unique mystery from this chicken that made him, thought about the importance for this headquarters to develop it. Consuming this mutation chicken gradually could increase the body''s resistance against fire. Even if it''s not too much, anything that could increase the level of human safety might be useful.


    One of the surprises was that the fish farming experiment project which had been running for thest two months had been quite sessful. Among the several types of fish, they found that many of the fishes were too aggressive and some of them could no longer breed. Finally, the experiment found a type of fish that was already familiar as livestock farming at this base. African catfish. The fish was quitemonly known and consumed by the people of Indonesia. Although it''s not the most delicious type of fish to eat, but in the End-time like this, anything would taste good. As the saying goes ''beggars can not be choosy''. Unfortunately this type of fish was not Indonesian local products, but imported fish from Taiwan. So, Jane and her personnels did not find too many samples. It''s only about 1,000 fish were now being cultivated. Jane hoped that this number would grow in the future.


    The next division was the supply department, seeing the food production, it''s time to make some calction, was it enough to support 500 thousand inhabitants through the End-time?

 Chapter 163 - Supply Warehouse

    Around 115 hectares ofnd in Starbase were dedicated to the 10 storage warehouses that functioned as a ce for distributing coupons, food and market supplies. But there was one location that served as the main supply warehouses. All of the collection team would bring their supplies there first before being distributed to the 10 smaller warehouses. This ce was the hub for all of the supplies entering and leaving the headquarters of Starbase.


    The supplies and equipment division did not look to be interesting and seemed less important than other divisions, but was in fact the most crucial and also the hardest to manage out of all the divisions from this base.


    This division employed more than 60,000 personnel, thergest number of people after the military.


    More than 30,000 scavengers personnel to explore outside the base to find supplies.


    More than 20,000 trader personnel for stock handling and the distribution of goods.


    More than 10,000 cleaning personnel to maintain cleanliness and provide other assistance..


    More than 5,000 other personnel such as chefs, tailors, craftsmen, and others.


    This was the division that maintained the stability of the headquarters, and with the explosion of poption that had urred, this division was also the most confused. Reading the report and seeing the condition of the warehouse full of organized workers, Alex appreciated his wife''s hidden talent.


    For all the inhabitants of the Starbase, it was miraculous that all their daily necessities were fulfilled. Food, health, shelter, clothing and safety. In return, each of the residents must contribute. Some functioned as farmers, teachers, soldiers and others.


    At the first week of the Doomsday, it was not difficult to manage the citizens who had just ran away and sought safety at this base, but over time, the residents started to look for other things beyond just a bed and a te of warm food. It is human nature to look for something more and for the survival of amunity, the system needed to be clearly defined and rules must be enforced.


    At present, dozens of trucks approached the storage warehouse. Hundreds of scavengers personnel brought back their findings. For mutated animal, they were taken directly to the back of the warehouse to be cleaned and processed. Other items would be passed to trade personnel to be organized and redistributed. These scavengers unit usually worked in a group of 100 to 200 people. They were also equipped with weapons and apanied by militia forces. At the end of the collection, one of the warehouse chiefs would give the group a number of coupons ording to the results they get. The collectors were seen very happy because they managed to get a bonus coupon for today.


    These coupons were the currency used by residents of the Starbase. At first, these coupons were only used for food exchange but as time went on the function of these coupons grew.


    Alex walked through the bustling market. Around were rows vendor stalls of food, weapons, clothing, medicines and others.


    1 kilogram of fresh orange: 6 coupons


    Thai rice 1 liter: 4 coupons


    Frog mutation Satay sticks 5 pieces: 1 coupon


    AK-47 Rifles: 9 coupons


    Ammunition box 556 mm: 20 coupons


    2 bottles shampoo: 1 coupon


    Lizard skin protective clothing (XL): 13 coupons


    Whiskey: 12 coupons


    Cigarettes 1 carton: 15 coupons


    Every resident, young and old receives two coupons every day, but for residents on probation or in punishment only receives 1 coupon per day. As for people with a higher position or people who contributed, they receive more coupons.


    Fighters, hunters and scavengers must give their findings to the headquarters. Items, mutated animals, spirit stones, etc. The more they find, of course, the more their contributions will increase. But if they are found embezzling their findings, then they will receive severe punishment. Of course, this rule only applies during their work hours. Anything they find outside of their work hours, they can keep it for themselves.


    In certain cases, such as an emergency, the members may consume the spirit stones with the permission of the unit leaders.


    Each resident contributes to produce equipment that can be sold, while each resident receives a coupon every day to buy this equipment. This is how the Starbase has run its economy for the past 2 months.


    Alex and the group entered the main equipment warehouse. The office where Devita works every day. Inside this building, Alex met two familiar people.


    The first person was Vonny, sister of Devita. Vonny was assigned as Devita''s assistant. She''s responsible for the ounting of all these supplies. The other person had a bulky body named Bayu, a former ck Snake gang leader. He was now the head of security for the inventory division. These two people were Devita''s right and left hands in managing this division.


    The main building was divided into several sections. This building, in actuality, was a ce for storing valuable items and Alex''s personal ordered items.


    Mutated animal storage room. This enclosed space held stacks of cans that contained the best mutated animal flesh. Devita didn''t know the level of various kinds of mutations, so she ced here most items she wasn''t familiar with. At present, she ssified most of them on how difficult the fighters and hunters ording to their reports. Only mutated animals, which proved to be difficult to eliminate were stored here.


    Alex read some of the descriptions listed on each shelf. After reading a few, Alex estimated that the meats stored here were mostly high level one stage animals; some were even level two animals. Alex believed that in order to get all these meats, dozens or even hundreds of men has suffered. The total collected was nearly 100,000 cans. This amount was enough to have 10,000 to 20,000 fighters reach the high stage or even the peak of the mortal realm.


    The next room was the weapons room. Special type long-range guns, thetest machine guns, rocketunchers, etc.. These firearms were stored for special circumstances and were not too many.


    "We have more or less the same amount stored at Antiga''s military headquarters."


    The total number of firearms in the report were not too many. With weapons that had been distributed to elite troops and first division troops, all that was left were only enough to arm around 60,000 personnel. Because of this amount, almost all of the new troops could only be given handguns while the cadets and militias were armed with melee weapons. The amount collected was actually a lot, especially more so when considering that firearms are very rare in Indonesia. Unlike in the United States, where weapons shops can be as numerous as fast-food restaurants.


    Knowing this need, the headquarters iron factory was incessantly producing melee weapons. Swords, machetes, spears, and shields. With the current speed of production, it was only a matter of time the residents would be armed with at least half-decent weapons, they would not have to fight using brooms and pans.


    Alex then paused to look at the weapons made by the craftsmen.


    "Next time, don''t make models like this again."


    Alex began to draw as he designed arge machete almost 1.5 meters long, and arge shield.


    Actually, with the arrival of the Doomsday Pirs, these weapons would be reced with artifact weapons, but artifact weapons were not easy to obtain. These manufactured weapons would only prove useful for the first year. These giant machetes and shields were not easy for ordinary people to handle, but peak stage mortal fighters would not find too difficult to use. When people start to break through the earth realm, normal weapons like these would be too fragile to use.


    The next ce to visit was the artifact armor section, this division have been producing protective clothing made from mutated lizard skin, hundreds of clothes that have already been made. But productions of these clothes were starting to be constrained because of the dwindling number of lizards found. Moreover, during thest two months, not one fighter had managed to find a mutated snake to use its skin for clothing.


    "What about the python''s skin? Is there any progress?" asked Alex.


    "We''re still holding off on using that. Actually, there isn''t a single weapon that can cut it, the skin is just too hard."


    When Alex went to the monkey forest, he and his group managed to kill 4 snakes. One mother snake and three child snakes. The tailors seeded in painstakingly making around 600 snakeskin armors from the three snakes which were then distributed between the Wolf Army led by Jerry and the Tiger Army led by Donny. However, the skin of the mother snake could not be processed at all. The skin of a second stage mutated animal would be very useful for increasing the defensive capabilities of the special forces.


    Alex turned around as he looked at Arief with a broad smile.


    "..."


    Arief, a deathsquad special forces colonel, a metal spirit enhancer with the special ability of increasing the sharpness and quality of the weapons he held. At that moment, the man was forced to carry out the task of helping the tailors.


    Next They entered a section of the hangar that was almost as big as a ser field. They passed through corridors packed with war vehicles, APVs, tanks, artillery vehicles, mortars, etc. Before walking to the next ce, Farell approached Alex.


    "We have not yet decided what are we going to do with the American troops and the Midway warship. I went inside and found many weapons we can use. Unfortunately, the dozens of airnes sitting on top of the deck cannot be used "


    Alex thought for a moment and said, "Just take what we have won from the bets, no more."


    "Understood."


    Thest room the group visited was a heavily guarded room inside the inventory building. As soon as Devita pushed the door, the rays of the sparkling spirit stones weed them. The room, which is about the size of a basketball court, was filled with spirit stones.


    Alex immediately asked the question everyone was waiting for. "How many?"


    Vonny opened her notebook. "81,864 spirit stones"


    "..."


    A veryrge number, but still very smallpared to the current number of troops. Alex needed as many spirit stones as possible. He had given the inventory division instructions before to buy any amount of spirit stones from the residents and never sell them back. In the future, these spirit stones would be one of the foundations for the sessful development of this base.


    "What''s the biggest obstacle right now?" Alex asked his wife


    "At present, 40 percent of the poption''s consumption is still dependent on the collection of goods, but after two months of constant scavenging, except at the red zones, almost all of the areas nearby have been sessfully explored. If we don''t find another solution soon, within 7-8 weeks we will start starving."


    Alex was not too worried about food, the Doomsday Pir had a way to fix the uing food crisis for residents in the future. But Alex did not want to be too reliant on the Doomsday Pirs in terms of food, instead, he wanted that they be independent on securing food. For that to be aplished, he took one more look at the reports and began to think about increasing the poption again in the future. Alex then asked to immediately expand the area of ??potato fields to triple of its current size.


    Also, Alex asked the goods search team to be increased 3 times as well. Alex nned for the goods search team to send out expeditions outside the ind in the future.


    It waste afternoon and there was still another division yet to provide its report.

 Chapter 164 - The Wall

    Thest division to report was the construction division led by Tony, Alex''s civil engineering manager who faithfully followed him from Jakarta. Tony was thest manager who was still with him.


    Suddenly, Alex remembered the other managers he had brought to Bali. Nina, his financial manager and Rina, his HR manager, both of whom did not make it through the gue. Tony was actually just an ordinary civilian and Alex understood Tony''s limited capabilities in leading this division. Alex trusted Tony''s expertise. Moreover, at this time, the headquarters did noteck talents.


    Tony first introduced the people who had been helping him. Physicists, mathematicians, mechanics and architects. Professors and scientists in their fields that had been included in magazines. But outside of these experts, Tony, who was still a field person, ced his hopes on the foreman, who was used to taking care of hundreds to thousands of people.


    After Tony finished building the 1,000 hangars, fortress walls and roads, the next thing focused was meeting the city''s electricity supply.. For two months, the Starbase relied on fire torches to light up the most of the areas inside the fortress and hangars. The electricity generator and sr panel generators that Alex prepared before the end of time have generated enough energy for the areas that needed it the most such as hospitals, food storage and themand center. The more people the more the need for electricity.


    To meet the need for electricity consumption, the good search teams were asked to collect sr panels on the roofs of people''s homes in Bali. Indonesian residents were people who used hot water for bathing. Almost one in ten homes in Indonesia had sr water heaters installed on the roof of their homes. All of the collected sr water heaters were then modified into additional sr panel power. At the moment, hundreds of sr panels were assembled and distributed to headquarters and other vital locations.


    For the headquarters of the Starbase, it was a fortune that they have a location to collect more sr panels. About 5 kilometers from the Starbase, almost close to Bali''s north coast, there''s an area called Karangasem which could generate 1 megawatt just from sr power. this was one of the first sr power nts built in 2013. However, due to a corrupted government, the power nt was rarely used which meant it was still in almost new condition. This sr powerplex had been secured 2 months ago, but they just seeded reviving it only a few days ago.


    The entire group was standing in the corner of the headquarters when Tony gave a signal to one of his personnel. "Turn it on!"


    At the same time, all the lights that had been installed inside the star headquarters simultaneously lit up. The 1MW power nt was strong enough to produce electricity for 600 homes. This 1MW of power generated enough power to provide lighting for around one-third of the Starbase.


    In Alex''s previous life, the people in Bali only realized the presence of this power nt a few years after the Doomsday, but that time, the destruction was already widespread and electricity was not a priority for them.


    With the sess of the sr panel project and turning on electricity at the Starbase headquarters, the next thing they needed to do was to develop the drainage and sanitation. The Starbase homed hundreds of thousands of people, so the importance of clean water and sewerage was a top priority. During rainstorms, in the areas where drainage and sanitation were poor, water flows above the ground causing feces, trash, etc. to pollute the water sources. This contributed significantly to the spread of diseases such as typhus and cholera. The newly made sr panel was able to turn on the water pump that couldunch this channel and avoid this problem.


    "Tony, now that the main problems have been resolved, we now have a lot of residents who still didn''t have assignments. It is time to raise a second wall around this base."


    Tony understood Alex''s intentions. Additional walls outside of the first wall. The second row of walls would be built with the same height and with a circumference of 13 kilometers. This project would be more difficult than making the first wall because Tony had to make it without the supply of prefabricated concrete like the first wall. A more difficult job. But this time Tony had a workforce of 10 times more than the first project. Given the importance of making this base a true fortress in the Doomsday, Tony could only say yes.


    "2 weeks. Finish the project in 2 weeks"


    "..."


    "I believe in you can do it, Tony! By the way, there is one more project that is also crucial, but I''ll tell you about it tomorrow. Make sure to bring your team."


    Finally, the night had arrived. But before dispersing, Alex invited everyone in his group for dinner. Many of them have just met, so a dinner is a good way to get them to know one another.


    A dining room for 100 people had been prepared. In addition to the division leaders and the war council, Alex invited several other people such as the grand master Indra, martial arts masters, battalion leaders, and of course his family and closest friends.


    Before the dinner began, Erik came into the room with several people. Admiral Gerard, Kenny, Nathanael and two high-ranking soldiers were brought before them, but they didn''t have cuffs on their arms.


    Alex, sitting at the host''s chair, weed and invited the Admiral and his entourage to sit. "Please, Admiral, eat first and then we''ll talk."


    Even though this American soldier had threatened them, Alex''s warm attitude and wee made the 100 people understood Alex''s intentions. None of them are concerned about the threat made by the admiral anymore. But with Alex''s lead, some people even approached and attempted a conversation. Rama was most interested in talking to Nathanael about martial arts. As for James and some of his bodyguards, they asked Kenny and the others about the current situation in America.


    After the dinner was over, Alex invited the Admiral and his entourage to one of the meeting rooms along with James and Farrell.


    "Unfortunately, I cannot help youplete your mission, Admiral."


    The Admiral was silent, not knowing how toment on this matter, he instead asked, "Mr. Alex, what will you do?"


    "Admiral, I am going to release you and your army."


    "What are the conditions?"


    "There''s no condition Admiral, you all are free"


    "..."


    "Tomorrow you and all 4,000 of your soldiers will be released, your weapons will be returned as well. Of course, we will take some of them because of our bet."


    "I-I cannot return empty-handed."


    "Regarding thatˇ­ Kenny, you received this mission directly from the President, right?"


    "Yes, that''s correct."


    "Admiral, I''m sure the President doesn''t need me personally. What you need is the information I have."


    Kenny thought for a moment. Although he wasn''t sure what President McCord needed from Alex, Kenny could say that Alex''s assumption seemed to be correct.


    "I can''t follow you to America, but I can give you the next best thing."


    Alex nced at James and James Randall nodded back.


    "You all know each other, this is James Randall, one of the richest people in Indonesia and my best friend. He will be apanying you people to America."


    James had talked to Alex about this before. At first, Alex had nned to entrust the Bali headquarters to James, but James''s answer easily countered Alex''s argument by saying, "Your wife is talented at managing people, you don''t need me here. I have many connections in America, I can help you from there."


    One of the reasons for James''s decisions was to establish a healthy rtionship with one of the strongest nations of humankind, another reason was that James nned to find a solution for hisser cannon technology. Since America was one of the countries with the best technological facilities, James ced his hopes in finding a solution for hisser cannon weapons, if he can''t the solution in this country, then he has to give up developing these weapons.


    James intended to bring all of his bodyguards, Winter included, which would be quite a burden for Alex. But Alex could not prevent it. James''s personal bodyguards were of course also concerned about the condition of their country and their rtives.


    "Rx, Admiral. James has all the information you need. With him, you will not be returning home empty-handed."


    Alex had nned to leave Bali to James for one year once Alex left for Australia. And because of that, for the past three months, Alex had been providing detailed information to James. Locations where the Doomsday Pir will descend, as well as other locations and how to get the most out of them.


    Admiral Gerard thought this would be eptable. It should be enough toplete their mission. Alex also provided Admiral Gerard additional information on how to use the potential of aircraft carriers during these end times, but the Admiral seemed to find it iprehensible.


    "Follow my instructions, Admiral. In time, you will understand."


    Lastly, Alex returned the artifact ax to Nathanael and gave some tips on how to use it to its full potential.


    "If you need food or anything else before you leave for America, please don''t hesitate to ask."


    After their conversation, the Admiral saluted to Alex and Alex responded with the same military salute. The Admiral would be leaving within the next day or two.

 Chapter 165 - Star Army

    Bali DDay + 78


    Antiga City, Troop Headquarters


    Starting from 7 o''clock in the morning, thousands of people gathered in this ce. All of them were fighters from elite troops and also the fighters who had entered the first division of Star army. There are more than 70,000 people in total.


    This ce was full of uniformed troops, an overwhelming sight. All of the troops here werebatants who had been trained for years or those who had passed initial training, advance training and also had sessfully passed the field test


    Somewhere among this crowd.


    "Leader Cynthia!!"


    Cynthia as the unit division head of the toon 077 of battalion 8 currently was being in this part of the group. Actually, she was one of the toons who had just graduated a day before and moved from 2nd division to 1st division . Afterpleting training for 30 days and finished patrolling for a week, 077 finally managed to enter the Division 1. A total of 36 people from toon 077 received a new badge for the uniform they had just received yesterday..


    "If only that Octo''s unit and others could be here..."


    "What about Lieutenant Chris? have you heard any updates about him?"


    "Lieutenant Chris is getting better, but he can''t do any activities for a week ahead yet"


    "Then who would lead the pack?"


    "So you don''t know, do you?"


    One of the people they knew came towards to this 36 people. This fellow soldier who they had known was now had an extra badge on his arm. A yellow vertical line.


    "Greetings to Lieutenant Dn"


    Dn was 18 years old. But all of these toon colleagues believe on Dn''s leadership skills. This humble man with a little nervous approached his toon colleague. Cynthia realized this action.


    "Please, Lieutenant Dn, hold your head up, our lives are in your hand now"


    Cynthia was veryfortable with Dn now, and she was now easy to pull his leg.


    Teeeeetttttt !!!!


    Finally, the sound of the siren was sounded. All of the troops got themselves set to line and gathered on the field. Soon, a group of people came in line, went forward to the stage and took a look of the troops lines. Dn managed to recognize the Peacock, a group he had met at the hospital yesterday. And the one who were standing at the center was Alex, the top leader of this army.


    "Salute to the supreme leader"


    "Salute!"


    Alex and his fellow colleagues next to him, the war consultant he had chosen: Sandi, Farell, Donny, and Dario,e along together to pay respect to the 70,000 troops before them.


    Alex himself did not fit into this formality, in contrast to the men standing next to him, he had never been in the military. But Alex''s experience in fighting the warriors for war is not inferior to them. Alex is also very important in militarymand so things like salute are needed.


    Alex watched over the troops. Everyone who was standing in the field had already experienced in fighting against zombies and mutated animals. They were 16 - 50 years old of age. From students to teachers who teach. All of them were people who had decided toe forward to fight on the battlefield to face the End-times. Seventy thousand was huge number. But remembering back in his past life, this quantity was still not enough. Alex thought about how many of them could still survive until next year ... or the next following years ... All these troops need to be ready immediately


    Alex moved one step forward ...


    "Star soldiers!"


    "It was beyond our expectation that almost three months had passed since the Doomsday epidemic hit the world. We''ve all lost many things ... our homes ... our families ... our friends ... our future ..., ... and now after these 3 past months we finally seeded in creating a new home for us ... new friends .. New family, and new future ... pay attention to our partners on either side ... these are our new family ... "


    Eighty percent of those who were standing here are right now were not fighters ... Many of them force themselves toe to the battlefield. At the first time they arrived in this city, they were full of sadness and despair. Without we realize it, after 3 months and seeing the progress of the development of this headquarters, they began to see the light at the end of the tunnel.


    Alex continued his words ...


    "As for that ... Let''s hand in hand fight for our future together, I ask all of you to save our home from threats ... Now it''s the time !! Let''s put an end to all the zombies from all over this ind together "


    "Are you ready?!!!"


    "YES SIR!!"


    They did not expect the short words from Alex would easily arouse their spirits. Its a call to arm for eradicates all of zombies from Bali ind.. They had been waiting for this moment for weeks ... Finally the liberation of this ind from the threat of zombies would begin. Eventually the results of their training would be tested.


    Alex had to go to Australia soon. Before he left, he wanted to reassure that the Bali ind was free from threats. Alex had already negotiated with Farell and the others regarding to the preparation of the zombie riddance mission. Alex''s priority was to ensure this mission could seed with minimal causality. For this reason, Alex asked his military consultant to start preparing the 70,000 troops lining before him.


    This fight would be different from the one back in Semarang. It is estimated that there were about 3 million zombies in the city center of the Bali ind spread from Denpasar to Kuta. Around 4 times more zombies than those in Semarang. It''s also the third month since doomsday started, Alex was surely this time there would be more red zombies running wild in the city, and who knows how many stage 3 zombies they would confrontter on .


    Currently, Aria and Rama along with the four strongest martial arts masters were conducting surveince in the red zone area. And while waiting for the results, Alex wanted to make sure that the 70,000 troops were on set.


    Farell took over the selection of members of this army immediately. All of these 70,000 troops would take part on special preparations for the next 3 days. In the initial training and additional training, they all had received tactics and formation training, but they had never done that in the formations of thousands of fighters.


    After that, Alex had agreed to give all of the 70,000 troops this high-level mutation meat store. But the distribution was given based on their performance in the uing 3-day preparation. This mutated meat would improve the overall performance of this army.


    Cahaya approached Alex along with three other people. Alex recognized these three people ... they were the ones on the list that Alex gave him earlier.


    The first person was a skinny, 150cm tall man named Ark. Even though this man''s physical appearance was akin to malnourished man, yet he, guy in 20s of age, was very active. Before the End-time, he was an unsessful rapper.


    "Yo ... I''m Ark ..."


    In Alex''s previous life, this man named Ark was an earth spirit enhancer who had the ability to control and shape the soil ... but it seemed that his ability was not yet visible.


    The second one was a quiet woman, in 20s of age, named Dinda. This woman was an Indonesian archery athlete, who won a silver medal in the Olympics. A fire enhancer spirit. She was in the same league with Ark, her fire spirit enhancer skill had still never been seen.


    Both of them were part of the Star army. Dinda was one of the Division 1 army. As for Ark, he came along with the migrant from Surabaya. He was pulled out from the Division 2. Both of them had some battle experience already.


    The third person Cahaya brought in confused the people around Alex. Even Cahaya looked doubtful, it seemed like he found the wrong person. It''s just that there weren''t many Indonesians with this kind of name. Roufgar, this 30-year-old man was born in France and had a French father. He moved to Indonesia to live with his mother 10 years ago.


    The reason why Cahaya felt unsure was because although he had tall and big physique, this always-smile man was very fat. Moreover, Cahaya did not find this man among the Star army. Instead, he was part of the Star headquarters kitchen crew ... He was a chef.


    This man named Raufgar in Alex''s previous life was a famous vanguard. But his fame was not heard until a few years after the Doomsday because he always busied himself taking care of the army''s nutriments.


    This smiling man looked very nervous .. He did not know why he was called to meet with the higher-ups of this headquarters .. Yet he had prepared himself.


    "Greetings to Leader Alex !! ... I prepared this for you ˇ­ please ept it"


    "What is this?"


    It''s wrapped in white package and as Alex opened it there were many chocte biscuits inside ...


    "Please taste a bite, Leader ... I made it by myself ..."


    "Hmm.. it''s not bad" Alex then gave it to the others ...


    Cindy who was standing next to Alex couldn''t help butugh ...


    "Hey !! You are trying to bribe the leader, aren''t you?"


    Hearing what she just said, Raufgar was a bundle of nerves, his face immediately lost its color ...


    "No! No! I didn''t mean it ... said ... Mama said we should share more often ... Especially because of Leader, me and mama could still be safe inside the Star headquarters ... "


    As he was increasingly nervous, Raufgar unboxed another white package unwittingly bag and began to open and eat it for himself ...


    "..."


    A fat chef and a mama''s boy ... everybody looked at Alex, puzzled ... Alex could only smile ... This man named Raufgar was a nt element spirit enhancer. He just didn''t realize it, but the reason why Raufgar was a great chef was because he could remarkably detect and taste all the herbs and nts.. This ability would be so valuable in the world before the Doomsday, but in warfare this ability only made him always being put in the back line. But Alex noticed Raufgar''stent abilities that would be useful in his future missions.


    With the addition of these three spirit enhancers, Alex then had a special unit of spirit enhancers; Raufgar, Dinda, Ark, Tommy, Daisy, Oscar, Oliver and Theo. Plus Cindy, the one who was not a spirit enhancer, but definitely won''t ept being taken out from the group. Everyone still needed to take part in training. luckily Alex had Aria, Rama and Arief who could lead them. However Aria and Rama were on a reconnaissance mission while Arief was currently helping to sew the armor... Donny and Dario were great trainers, but currently they were busy helping Farell preparing 70,000 troops. Because Alex still had many agendas, Alex had no other option but to trust this small group to be under Theo''s supervision, the person he trusted the most.


    Alex continued on the next agenda, but worries arose in his heart ..


    "Hopefully they don''t make a mess"

 Chapter 166 - The Safest Place

    While Farel was busy making preparations, Alex continued with the next agenda. Alex, along with Tony and several other division managers, went to a hidden location in the west of the ind of Bali.


    In an area full of hills, lies an ancient temple. The temple was like a gate of a valley with two hills on its side. The group walked therge road between the two rocky hills filled with trees.


    "What are we doing here?" Asked Tony, as well as Devita and several others, thought the same thing.


    Alex took them about 500 meters further and there they found a cave.. They entered the cave only to find a dead-end, but the ceiling of the cave seemed to be a sturdy stone wall.


    Alex turned around and said in a serious tone. "Listen carefully, this location will be an extremely important ce. Now that the Starbase is almost done, it''s time we ce our focus and preparing this ce."


    "What is this ce?"


    "Two to three weeks from now, this wall will be split. And behind this wall is one of the thousands of gates that connect the underworld and the surface world."


    "!!!"


    Alex had once shown a map of important areas to some of them, and this location was one of the ces that received a red marker. In fact, this was the only ce with a red marker on the ind.


    "Thousands and thousands of horrible creatures, worse than the zombies we''ve encountered, wille flooding out from behind this wall."


    Devita, who already knew and believed in Alex''s reincarnation, understood her husband and immediately asked, "Do you know the dates and times?"


    Alex shook his head. "No, nobody knows. Theye randomly."


    This was one of the unsolved mysteries in Alex''s previous life. But following his experience, the monstrous creatures began to appear not long after the Doomsday Pirs descended. The presence of these Pirs would also make the zombies more violent. So, not long after the Doomsday Pirs descent, zombie horde sieges would be more frequent. That''s the reason why Alex wanted to rid the ind of Bali of zombies before the arrival of the Pir, it was to ensure the maximum safety in this area.


    Two weeks were not long, so Alex together with Tony and the group they had brought immediately devised a n. The hills in the area were a natural fortress which meant it would be advantageous for defense. In general, those who control higher ground wins the battle. Capitalizing the elements in Sun Tzu''s Art of War was definitely not wrong. Tony suggested building defenses along the hills surrounding the cave. Alex liked the idea, but Alex exined that the types of monsters that wille out would have no difficulty climbing the hills, which meant that the defenses on the hills might not have much effect.


    However, a little advantage is better than no advantage at all. So, they built on that idea of defense and watchtowers will be prepared. All watchtowers will be equipped with Bofors 44mm automatic machine guns and Oerlikon''s 20mm cannons, the weapons they won from the Midway warship. A n for 100 watchtower locations will be prepared on this hill. Each of them will be no more than 30 meters apart.


    The next design they needed to build was to ce a fortress in front of the mouth of the cave. The cave''s mouth will be where the monsters wille out. Thick walls with a height of 4 meters will be made forming a half circle along a 1-kilometer radius. In addition to the machine guns and cannons, behind the wall, a defense post will be prepared to house more than 5,000 soldiers. The soldiers who will be assigned here will always be ready on a shift guard duty.


    Another huge project was handed to Tony. Although he didn''t have difficulty finding workers, there were only a few people have had experience making buildings like this. The biggest problem would be moving the materials, luckily, the mutated ox they brought from Madura would greatly increase their efficiency.


    As Alex was coordinating the development, the long-lost passion for designing and building things began to resurface. But when he was getting more focused, he realized his wife was watching him. "What is it, Vi?"


    "No, nothingˇ­"


    Alex realized that there were still many things that disturbed his wife''s thoughts. He then finished his work and walked over to his wife, who was also busy arranging supplies for this new base.


    "Let''s go back."


    "Where are we going?"


    "Family time."


    "But there''s still so much to prepare. There''s only two weeks and... andˇ­"


    "Don''t worry, they can handle this. Tomorrow we will do it again."


    Alex gave full authority to Tony and his team in preparing the new base. After that, they walked back and took one of the vehicles and drove with his wife back to the main headquarters.


    Alex told his two daughters that they were going to y at the beach, but when they heard the word ''y at the beach'', the two children immediately went out and invited friends; they asked Vina and her younger brother to join.


    "..."


    In an unexpected turn of events, the afternoon turned into a gathering of two families, his family and Erick''s family. For children, of course, the more the merrier. So for Alex, as long as his children were happy he didn''t mind. Together they went to the beach near Bay City, one of the safest beaches from the of zombies and mutated animals.


    The children yed and made sand castles. Tiffany and Vina, even though they''re 12 years old, yed with their younger siblings. Alex took the time to thank Erick and his wife for looking after his family.


    Erick had already reached the peak stage of the mortal realm. He may not be as great as the other fighters, but Alex trusted Erick''s integrity. Erick was ecstatic to receive an assignment that needed him to stay close to the family.


    Alex invited his wife to walk together on the beach. While watching the sun beginning to set. His wife started a conversation.


    "So, Alex... can you tell me again about the things you did for those 10 years?"


    Alex was silent for a while. For Alex, there wasn''t much to tell, the only things that were interesting were stories of his battles together with his fellow survivors. As for the rest, they were only death and suffering.


    His wife soon realized that this was a question that botherd Alex''s mind. She switched the question and asked,


    "Ok, then how about this. Answer me honestly. Were youˇ­ were you remarried?"


    "!!!"


    Alex''s eyes bulged as he heard the question... Devita smiled.


    "Surely you had a lover, right? Right? Don''t tell me it''s Aria! Was she your lover in your previous life?"


    "No, Vi... She wasnt.. i didnt"


    Alex answered with a smile, but Devita as a woman did not believe his answer. She secretly nned on getting Theo, ced him in front of Alex and repeated the same question.


    Alex had never been close to Aria in his previous life. At that time, Aria was a legendary figure. She was a spirit enhancer, deathsquad member and the granddaughter of the country''s most well-known man, the Regent, who fought in the forefront against the end of time. While Alex was just an ordinary fighter. As for a woman who became close to him in that 10 yearsˇ­ Alex thought about someone... but that woman also died. Even though that was a different time, Alex was wise enough not to tell his wife.


    The two of them enjoyed chatting and joking together. But the following question from his wife made him feel heavy.


    "I can see that you seem to be in a hurry to prepare everything here in Bali. Are youˇ­ are you nning to leave again?"


    The n for Alex to go to Australia was not a secret, but Alex had never told details of it to his managers or his wife.


    "Yes, I have to go."


    "When?"


    "Immediately."


    "How long?"


    "Approximately one year."


    "..."


    This news greatly disturbed her. Devita was very smart, but she right away knew that Alex would leave his family again... With the current condition of the Starbase, and the responsibilities she currently hold; more importantly their daughters. There were a lot of various reasons for him to leave his family in Bali. But she know in her heart, she wishes toe with him...


    "Can''t wee along with you?''


    Alex paused for a moment and reluctantly said, "It''s too dangerous, Vi. You and the kids will be safer here."


    "But there''s no safer ce in this world for us, other than being with you. We are at our most safest when we''re with you."


    These words etched deep in Alex''s heart, but still, he didn''t want to have his wife and two children entering with him to an extremely dangerous ce such as in Australia. Alex was about to say something when Erick suddenly came running.


    "Alex! The surveince team is back but they don''t seem too good. They''re looking for you."


    Family time had to be cut short. Alex hurried to the military headquarters in the city of Antiga. As Alex neared, Rama''s mutated bears was seen hurting in front and was being tended to. Inside themand center room, Rama in a bloody shirt stood up and the other ready to give a report.


    "What went wrong? anyone injured?"


    "One seriously injured.." Rama show one of the master hurting in the corner.. but fortunately not life threatening.. Alex order someone to take him to the medical center first.


    Alex immediately noticed that the returning surveince teamcked one person.


    "Aria? Where is Aria?!"

 Chapter 167 - Alpha

    Since the dawn this morning, Aria went along with Rama and the four master of martial art to go scouting on the red zone condition. Rama and the four pencak st masters knew the intricacies on Bali, while Aria had a special ability that can help him going easily undetected. They entered the red zone by riding the mutated bear. There were a ck mutated bear that Rama''s rode and five smaller mutated brown ones. The mutated ck one was a second-stage mutated bear, with Tiffany''s ability, Rama''s seeded in taming the ck one. and with the help of ck bear, younger brown bears were not too difficult to tame.


    This small group was the best choice for this mission. This mutated bear was insusceptible to the bites and attacks from the first-stage and second-stage zombies. Furthermore, with its size almost equal to tanks'', Rama and his partners on the back of the mutated bears was able to easily break in and pave the way to pass through the zombies hordes. The ability of these martial art masters in using the spear was also a deadlybination for all the approaching zombies.


    BANNGG!!


    "Crashhh!!"


    "Watch out behind you!".


    "Pa Pa Pa Pa Pa!!"


    "Come before they starting altogether here; we must get going!"


    After walking through the border area of Denpasar city for one kilometer away, they finally entered the red zone area. There were 3 million zombies in this area. As far as they viewed, the entire streets were packed with zombies, and almost one of ten zombies was currently the red ones. Although the attack of both types of zombies was much easier to deal with due to the bear they rid on. However, if dozens to hundreds of red zombies jumped to them at the same time, it was impossible for this group to survive.


    It has been a long time since thest time they entered this red zone area. Thest time was in the first week along with Alex when they were fighting in the airport. At that time, the ratio of the red zombie was still one out of one thousand ones. The situation was now very much different.


    "Do we have to keep moving to the red zone center?"


    "With many zombies following us, I am worried that we are not able to find the way back ˇ­."


    When they made a short stop to decide their direction ... five red zombies jumped from a three storeys building next to them.


    BANG!! BANG!! BANG!!


    Pa!! Swisshh!


    Ariaunched three shots from his AWP sniper rifle. Three shots ... three bullets of high caliber magnum went straight through the head of three red zombies. The remaining ones were easily defeated by other fighters.


    "Don''t stop! Let''s keep moving."


    The bear''s speed can easily exceed the speed of first stage zombies. As for the red zombies, however, if the group came to a stop for a minute ... All the red zombies that followed him can easily chase him.


    "Remember, get ready. It seems going to happen soon."


    Not long after Rama said that, from the hallway next to the road they were passing through ... a ck creature jumped toward them ˇ­.


    "!!! Watch out!!"


    The five bears were ready and dodged away from the ck zombie''s attack ˇ­.


    "One ck zombie was found in this location ˇ­!."


    "BANG!! BANG!! BANG!!"


    As for the n, once they found a ck zombie, Aria and the others would soonunch a long-range shot attack and jointly ran and left the ck zombies as soon as possible. Also, after sessfully dodging away, they will move out from the location. This tactic appeared very risky, but Alex dared to suggest this tactic, as he knew better the characteristics of ck zombies ording to his previous experience in life ˇ­.


    This ck zombie was an alpha zombie over the first and second-stage zombies. Also, just as the same as alpha in a pack of wolves, there will be no more than one alpha in a pack. When two alphas met together, they will fight for the new Alpha position. Most of defeated ck zombies will not be left alive by those who won the fight and if the loses survived, then the ck zombie will go find another herds of zombie.


    Thus the goal of Aria and Rama''s mission was currently identifying how many herds with alpha zombies were formed in an area. This information will be very useful for the battle to clean up Bali indter.


    However tonight, in front of Alex, Rama was telling him that their mission met with failure ... What was going on?


    "We were ambushed by two different ck zombies ... we cannot run and finally we were forced to fight. We manage to kill one ck zombie. But the other ones escaped ... we decided to return back to the base because one of us was injured, and it looked like this tactic ...."


    "Well I understand."


    Alex understood that Rama did not wish to me the tactics he has given him. However, Alex was directly haunted by fear in his mind. In his past life, there were zombies above third stage that were able to unite these herds and lead them all ... but the zombies did not exist untill at least one year ahead ˇ­.


    "Impossible!!" Alex said to his mind.


    "Then what about Aria?"


    Rama replied, "Aria decided to follow the escaped ck zombie."


    "...."


    Aria had a special ability to make her go undetected. She was also trained as a ranger in the Deadsquad troop. But she was all by herself in the sea of zombies... this make Alex concerned. Moreover, Alex was certain that Aria could not easily use her special power for a long time. With this information, the situation was currently turn much uncertain. The battle in three more days turned into very risky one. But Alex realized if the condition has worsened, then it was more important to immediately clear up all these threats as soon as possible, before the mutation make this zombie much stronger.


    "Immediately call for Farell and the Battle Consul!! Tonight we are going to prepare a strategy of clearing the Bali ind."


    Farell, Donny, Dario, and Sandi, all gathered to discuss the battle strategy ... until the morning they have gained most maximum strategy and arrangement of troops ording to capacity of the army from their observation today.


    Farell opened the map of Bali Ind, it appears that for thest three months, star army had cleared almost 90% of the north, west and east area of the Bali ind. Except the southern area was the most crowded area that has not been sessfully cleared.


    "This is the current strategy: Bali''s clearing campaign will be divided into 3 zones. The outer zone located outside the Denpasar area, the Yellow Zone within the Denpasar city and the red zone located in the southern part of Denpasar City and proceed to the area of Legian and Kuta, which is the most crowded area."


    The outer zone was currently centered in 7 areas, which was 7 small towns around northern part of Denpasar. These seven areas were: Krambit, Tabanan, Mengwi, Abiansemal, Ubud, Gianyar and Semarapura. There will be 7 posts of force mobilization that will besiege over the yellow zone.


    Thus, overall star troops will be divided into 7 regiments. Each regiment will consist of 1,000 elite troops, 10,000 troops of division 1, and 10,000 troops of division 2. All militia forces will guard the main base and the four posts and will not be involved in this battle.


    Farell exined and arranged specifically the strategy he had prepared. This time the battle was very different from that of the clearing of Semarang city. Not only it was almost five-fold in number and the ratio of level two zombies was getting higher, but also it should be noted that the battlefield area was much wider. The southern area of Bali was more than 10 times the size of Semarang city.


    In the Semarang battle, it was not very difficult to send 20,000 troops to surround the city area. But today, 100,000 more troops are not enough to cover the whole southern part of Bali Ind. And the most frightening matter in the battle against Zombie hordes was to be surrounded by thousands of zombies from every sides.


    Farell has prepared the detailed tactics from each of these seven regiments. Alex was not questioning the prepared tactics; even he was always amazed with Farell''s idea. But today his mind still put more concerns on the threat of two ck zombies that can work together....


    Alex needed to make sure that these seven regiments had enough power to be prepared in dealing with unpredicted things....


    Seven regiments: Alex currently had Donny, Dario and Arief, the three of them was the head of trained forces from Deathsquad troops. Donny has already had a special tiger squad that had followed him from the early days of doomsday. Dario was with the Deadsquad troops from Surabaya, while Arief was fitted with new troop that Regent Suryo had lent them. For the next four regiments, Alex can entrust one troop for Major Sandi and one more on the wolf troops led by Jerry that were going to arrive today. However he''s not sure he have any capable leader for the next two regiments....


    It was likely that both of them can be filled by Alex and Farell, but Alex hope that he and Farell could remained to be positioned in monitoring the battle and can adjust the conditions immediately.


    While Alex was getting carried away in this thought, suddenly someone got into the room....


    "Aria!!"


    Aria entered with very fatigue conditions, her body was full of sweat and her face looked very pale. It seemed like she had just pushed herself toplete this mission.


    "Report the reconnaissance mission."


    Aria handed over the previously prepared reports ... the map of Denpasar area that she had this time waspletely filled with analysis of the numbers of zombie hordes and ck zombies from each location. She had managed to move around at least two-thirds of the southern area of Bali. Alex could only imagine what Aria did in thest 12 hours.


    Alex can see that there were about 20 locations of hordes with ck zombies. But once Alex looked towards the bottom of the map....


    "What is this Aria ...?"


    "Yeah ˇ­ itˇ­ the data is correct."


    Alex saw one sign in the Kuta area of Bali Ind.... Seven ck zombies that should not work together gathered in one area.


    "... that numbers ... was likely inurate and could be more than that ... I was unable to get any closer, I counted the number from the amount I have seen from my long-range scope."


    "..."


    "it''s impossible"

 Chapter 168 - Regiment Leaders

    Alex and the others spent all night discussing tactics until morning. After they finished their preparation, Alex did not return to rest but continued to inspect the first division and the elite troops'' training.


    Humans, in general, could stay awake several days. But some can go to the extreme, for example, the American Randy Gardner holds the ''world record'' for not sleeping for 11 days and 25 minutes. As for those who were in the military, generally, they only get 2- 4 hours of sleep while on duty and even less when they were out on patrol. It was not umon for special forces groups who were on duty to only get an average sleep of 2 hours per day for up to 10 days. Sleep was still needed by those who are in Mortal Realm. And once they reached the Sky Realm stage, sleep no longer bes a necessity.


    The troops in front of Alex had been trained from the start to rest for only less than 4 hours every day. The main goal, of course, was to train them mentally to be ready to engage even if they were not in a prime condition.


    As for Alex, even though he could rest any time he wanted, he could not stop worrying about the news brought by Aria..


    All 70,000 first division troops had been prepared, all of the high-level mutated meat cans in the warehouse had been distributed effectively. The results of their physical and mental tests yesterday had concluded that about half of the first division troops had reached the peak of the Mortal Realm while the rest were still in high stages.


    Alex thought about sharing the spirit stones they had umted, but he hesitated. These spirit stones will be crucial once the Doomsday Pir arrived. Each high stage Mortal Realm fighter required an average of 8 spirit stones to reach the peak stage. The 80,000 spirit stones that Alex has would only help around 10,000 more troops. So he finally decided against it.


    Today, the entire first division troops looked more confident. Especially because today, they will train together with the second division troops. The second division troops, with a total of 50,000 people had just been reinforced with 20,000 carefully chosen cadets.The strength difference between the two divisions became more obvious. Now A total of 140,000 troops ready to be distributed in 7 regiments. They must be divided to get used to working together, familiarizing themselves with the area of ??their respective mission and, of course, getting used to the orders of their new leaders.


    Therefore, this morning, Alex must assign the leaders of each regiment. Alex''s choices were centered mostly on the Deathsquad''s senior troops.


    He inspected each of the Deathsquad lieutenants and captains who had gathered, but he had doubts whom to choose since there weren''t many who could match Arief, Donny, and Dario. These three were the main figures in the Deathsquad army. He wondered if he should prepare a regiment for Aria. Alex doesn''t really need a veteranmander. Farrel and the others were already experienced in regard to war tactics. What Alex truly needed were people who had the charisma to lead in the front. Someone whom Alex could trust to follow orders and not retreat once they''ve seen the hordes of tens of thousands of zombiesing toward them.


    When Alex was still studying the profiles of his potential leaders, someone approached him.


    "You seem to be thinking too hard. You knowˇ­ a good leader must be decisive."


    Alex was surprised to see this person and the other people next to him. "I thought you guys already left?"


    "We''re not gonna miss out on the fun."


    The man who approached Alex was James Randall and Admiral Gerard.


    "We were actually ready to leave this morning, but we heard about the scout''s reportst night. So, we decided to help and stay for now."


    Alex, still quite surprised, said, "Are you sure about this Admiral? This fight will take several days. Won''t your mission be dyed for too long?"


    "Don''t worry, America will be fine. Anyway, I haven''t had the chance to see the whole ind of Bali. I''ve heard that the Kuta beach in southern Bali is very beautiful."


    With Admiral Gerard and James Randall joining, it meant that the two people next to them, Winter and Nathanael, will also take part in the uing battle. Alex could already feel the burden being much lighter now.


    Alex then showed to the Admiral Gerard the 140,000 troops who were training. But not long after, he received another surprise. A group of hundreds of fighters, wearing the same uniform as Alex''s troops, arrived.


    "Jerry!"


    Jerry and his wolf squad, who had been carrying out rescue missions for thest three months in eastern Indonesia, have finally returned. Jerry was Alex''s spirit enhancer. His presence at this time made Alex even more reassured.


    "Haha, why does only Jerry gets a wee? What about me?"


    The person standing next to Jerry was one of the spirit enhancers who was part of the wolf army. Sergei Jacob, a 2-meters tall guy, with red hair and a beard. A professional wrestler who was also an earth spirit enhancer.


    "Alex, you still owe me a lot of drinks. Don''t break your promise."


    "Haha, don''t worry. We have a lot of them stashed."


    There was one more noteworthy man standing next to Jerry. A man in his 40s, named Darius, who had lost all of his family members in this gue. Darius was the master of a fairly rare element. In Alex''s previous life, Darius was one of the strongest spirit enhancers. He was the wielder of space, the lord of gravity.


    These three people were part of the wolf army and with their presence back, Alex became more confident.


    The 7 regiments were thenpleted for tomorrow''s battle.


    Regiment 1: Arief


    Regiment 2: Donny


    Regiment 3: Dario


    Regiment 4: Sandi


    Regiment 5: Winter


    Regiment 6: Natahanel


    Regiment 7: Jerry


    The 7 regiment leaders will have 1,000 more elite troops, and they will also be reinforced with 10,000 each of first and second division troops. Each regiment already has its own special force, which is their main force. Arief, Donny and Dario''s regiments were supported by Deathsquad troops, Winter were supported by James''s personal army as well as additional navy seal units from the Admiral. Whereas Nathanael with his delta force. Jerry''s wolf troops were abination of the strongest forces of the Deathsquad and former ck Snake gang members.


    Out of the 7 regiments, only the Sandi regiment seemed to begging behind. Even though Major Sandi was a former Bali special forces trainer, there weren''t much units under him. Alex wanted to ce Rama and all four martial arts masters, however, the mutated bears'' high mobility would be very useful for Farrell in issuingmands to the 7 regiments. So topletely reinforce the fourth regiment, Alex then thought about the newly reformed team of spirit enhancers.


    Hearing the word of the new unit of spirit enhancer, Jerry, Winter and Natahanel''s group interests were piqued.


    They together headed to one side of the Antiga military base. There they found 10 people who were practicing together. The first person that caught their attention was a fat man who was being pummeled by the two young twins. But even though this man was like a punching bag who couldn''t strike back, the man was smiling.


    When Alex''s entourage arrived, a blond woman wearing sses approached Alex.


    "Ahhh you came. Hi Jerry and Sergei. You, I seem to remember you. Oh right, you''re Darius! Wee back to Bali. Wait, you guys still haven''t returned to America, why are you still here?"


    "Hello, Cindy. Did you miss me?" Sergei answered.


    "Huh?! Who would miss a red-haired bear like you?!"


    Theo, who was standing not far, immediately ran over to Alex''s group. "Hello, all."


    "How''s their progress, Theo?" Alex asked.


    "Oscar and Oliver have improved, but they are still reckless. As for Daisy and Tommy, although they are young, they are very reliable and fast-learners. Currently, we are testing their abilities of the new guys"


    Ark was an earth spirit enhancer, he could form small lumps of rock made from the earth without touching the ground. The lump of stone could fly where he wanted it too, but it could only break a tree branch right now.


    Dinda was a fire spirit enhancer but was not able to demonstrate the ability to control fire yet. However, since he had been practicing bow master when he was 5 years old, he could use heavy bows and iron arrows with ease after reaching peak stage mortal realm. The strength of shots can pierce through tree trunks with a diameter of 30 centimeters.


    The one who had the most drastic change was Raufgar. This fat man had never consumed a spirit stone. But yesterday, he directly swallowed 16 spirit stones and slept for 20 hours. He just recently woke up.


    "..."


    "While everyone was practicing, he was sleeping soundly. We tried to wake him up, but he wouldn''t budge."


    Ordinarily, people meditated for a few hours and would still awake while digesting the spirit stones. This was the first time anyone slept through it.


    At present, the twins were testing out Raufgar''s physical strength and defense. As usual, nt and earth spirit enhancers received an increase in their endurance. Raufgar''s fat body did not appear muscr at all, but even with thebined heavy blows and kicks sent by the twin brothers, Raufgar didn''t seem to feel pain.


    After more than 15 minutes, Raufgar was finally defeated and the two brothers were exhausted. Not long after, Raufgar walked toward Alex and asked,


    "Is there anything to eat? I am hungry."

 Chapter 169 - First Blood

    The star troops had been preparing for three days for the war to cleanse the ind of Bali. To make sure everyone was fully prepared, Alex had added one more day of tactics simtion for all regiments in their guarded locations. After that, he made sure the whole army took a full day of rest.


    .


    .


    DDay +84


    At dawn break, almost 150,000 soldiers of the Starbase were ready to start the war against three million zombies. Sharpened wooden barriers, moats, traps, etc. were set up in the seven regions that stretched 30 kilometers to the north of Denpasar city.


    From the west to the east of Denpasar city, the regions of Krambitan, Tabanan, Mengwi, Abiansemal, Ubud, Gianyar, and Semarapura were guarded by the seven regiments, eachposed of 1,000 elite troops, and 20,000 of first and second divisions troops..


    The first regiment, led by Arief, guarded the Krambitan region.


    The second regiment, led by Donny, guarded the Tabanan region.


    The third regiment, led by Dario, guarded the Mengwi region.


    The fourth regiment, led by Sandi, guarded the Abiansemal region.


    The fifth regiment, led by Jerry, guarded the Ubud region.


    The sixth regiment, led by Winter, guarded the Gianyar region.


    The seventh regiment, led by Nathanael, guarded the Semarapura region.


    Each region had three lines of defense. The 1,000 elite troops were the first line of defense, which was nearest to the yellow zone. The 10,000 first division troops were the second line of defense situated 3 kilometers away from the first line. And the 10,000 second division troops were the third line of defense also situated 3 kilometers away from the second line, which acted as the rear guard.


    Fighting against millions of zombies couldn''t be won with just a frontal attack. Unlike humans, these zombies would not divide their hordes evenly against the seven regiments. There could be a location where the hordes would be greater in number than in another location. That regiment needed to make sure they wouldn''t be surrounded by thousands of zombies from all directions. So it was crucial for the seven regiments to coordinate and send reinforcements to where it is needed.


    The troops are ready to face the 3 million zombies in front of them. They felt like they were ants about to fight an elephant. But ants weren''t totally helpless against an elephant, they could defeat this elephant little by little.


    It''s almost time, the war against three million zombies on the ind of Bali is about to begin.


    .


    .


    .


    Tabanan Region - Donny''s Regiment


    10,000 first division troops were on full alert guarding the second line of defense 3 kilometers from the yellow zone. The area entrusted to them was one of the three main roads that led to Denpasar City. Shops and houses filled the road along with dozens of small alleys. The troops in this area were further divided into five key locations. Each location was stationed with 1 main battalion and 1 reserve battalion.


    At present, Battalion 08 was ced in the middle section facing the highway. Of the 10 toons scattered in the region of Tabanan, this area included the toon 077 led by Lieutenant Dn.


    toon 077 previously had only 36 people left, but it had been reinforced with 63 new recruits in order to form a full toon. But despite having many new members, Dn as a newly assigned toon leader wasn''t so worried.


    It wasn''t because he''s confident in his leadership, but it was due to one person whom had just joined this morning made him more confident. Lieutenant Chris, the former leader of toon 077, who should have been recovering, rejoined the army.


    Chris was more experienced and should have reced Dn as the toon leader, but since Chris had just recovered and hadn''t participated in the tactics simtions, he was assigned as second-inmand to Dn.


    The fight was about to begin in the first line, rows of ck-uniformed; fully armed troops were on standby ready to receive the signal.


    "Lieutenant Chris, why are we assigned at the scariest position?"


    "It''s because the leader believes that we are capable soldiers. We should be proud."


    Lieutenant Chris replied trying to calm the new recruits. He also added, "I think this is a very strategic ce. Don''t you know that other toons are positioned in the middle of a forest and some event ce in a paddy fields? At least here, we can easily shift our positions and we can clearly see the zombies advance. But more importantly, every zombie thates here will be decimated by the machine gun."


    Each toon was given two machine guns to use as their main weapon to defend an area against the zombies. Most of the soldiers were also given firearms. And in each toon, there were 30 selected men trained in melee weapons who were givenrge shields and long spears.


    "Why is Lieutenant Dn taking so long..."


    "He still hasn''t finished thest briefing withmanding officer Milo."


    Milo was one of the newer Deathsquad recruits, but he had been appointed as themanding officer of Battalion 8 which totaled 1,000 people.


    A few minutester, Dn returned from the briefing.


    "Get ready, my friends! The battle is about to start. We are just waiting for the elite division to lure the first wave of zombies. We can do this!"


    Lieutenant Chris was pleased to see that the young Dn leisurely led the troops. He also knew his recovery from his near-death experience was thanks to Dn and Cynthia. So he forced himself to join this fight to look after them.


    Dn then looked at Chris and said, "Lieutenant, please give us a lecture or two."


    Christ then turned serious and looked at the 100 troops in front of him. Out of these 100 people, only he had experience in a real war.


    "Listen up, men! In all of our missions, we have fought several times against hordes of zombies. But fight on this scale is very different. The path of winning this battle is formation. When hundreds of zombies are upon us, focus your attacks only on what''s in front of your eyes. Entrust your lefts and rights to yourrades! That''s the secret to win this. Do you understand?"


    "Sir, yes sir!" everyone shouted in unison.


    Not long after, rows of firework erupted in the blue sky of Bali ind.


    Banngg!!!


    This was the sign for the battle tomence. The sound of the radio in Dn''s grasp began issuing orders. Not long after, thousands of elite troops from seven regiments had entered the yellow zone and started the attack.


    Tratatatatatatatat!!! Kaboomm! Tratatatatataata!! Kaboommm!


    Gunshots and explosions could be heard up to where toon 077 stood on guard. The war zone was 3 kilometers away, so they still have to wait.


    Dn looked at Cynthia standing next to him. At the moment, Cynthia was more quiet than usual. Cynthia as well as the 100 toon members were entrusted to him. And Dn hoped that everyone can get through this war safely.


    30 minutes have passed and the sound of explosions and gunfires were getting louder.


    Tratatatatat!!! Tratatatattat!!! Kaboomm!!!


    Dn immediatelymanded, "They''re near! Prepare yourselves!"


    The two men operating the M60 machine guns set their sights on the main road. On both sides, the 30 troops holding spears and shields ready to block. The remaining troops stood in lines getting ready to fire.


    The vanguard of 1,000 elite troops finally arrived, and with them, were the first wave of thousands of zombies. Out of these 1000 elite troops, there were around 50 people running towards them. With the peak speed of the mortal realm, all 50 fighters could easily outrun thousands of stage one zombies and tens of red zombies behind them ... finally they arrived and marched with Dn and the toon.


    Dn noticed that these 50 elite troops were wearing dark green uniforms, the color of the Tiger special forces. Dn recognized the big man wielding a giant ax as the man walked towards him. It was Donny, their regiment leader.


    "Are you the leader of this toon?" Donny asked.


    "Yes, sir."


    "Ok, call for reinforcements to this area. We seem to have drawn a little too much."


    "..."


    "Get ready your men! The party is about to start!" Donny said.


    Dn didn''t know if he should be happy or sad. It seemed that toon 077 won the lottery jackpot for the first fight in the Tabanan region. Dn looked far ahead and the thousands of zombies were fast approaching.


    "Everyone!!! Ready! Aim! Fire!!!"


    Tratatatatatatata Tratatatatattaatta


    Trartatatatataat Taratatatatatataa


    The first series of shots rained heavily on the red zombies.


    Around half of the first division troops had already reached the medium stage Mortal Realm. Therefore, their shots were more urate than normal shooters. Within a few seconds, dozens of red stage two zombies fell. Some even tried to escape into the buildings and houses around the streets.


    "Machine guns! Focus your fire!"


    Dn nced at Lieutenant Chris and Cynthia. Understanding Dn''s intent, both of them bought one unit each to strengthen the left and right wings of their defense.


    Donny and his 50 new troops were quite impressed with Dn''s toon crity.


    Tratatatatatat Taratatatatatata!


    "We''re getting overwhelmed, Lieutenant!"


    A few minutes passed by and it was clearly visible that the zombies lured by Donny were indeed more than expected .. The 30 spear-shield troops holding against the waves of zombie hordes were pushed.. The defensive line is currently almost fall..


    As far as the eye could see, the number of zombies didn''t seem to never end. Donny immediately gave Dn another order. "This is a little early, but it should be worth it...."


    Dn nodded and ryed an order via his handheld radio. A few secondster, a loud deafening explosion thundered came about 200 meters in front of them.


    KABOOM!!! KABOOM!!! KABOOMM!!!


    The explosive mines they had prepared blew up hundreds of zombies and split the horde into two groups.


    Donny immediately shouted, "time to counterˇ­ Go! Attack!"


    --------------------------------


    Hello doomsday reader. Thest 2 days I was busy preparing idea for volume 3 finale. this volume will end with the Bali city cleanup war. hopefully you will enjoy thest few chapter of the volume.. after that we entered Australia and of course the pir descent.


    please check out our previlege advance chapters. there are now 6 chapter availble to read. Thank you very much.. all your coin is well spent tomission dommsday pis graphic illustration


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    Your support is much appreciated

 Chapter 170 - First Day

    8:00 a.m.


    First Day of the Clearing Battle in Bali city began. a Code firecrackers were fired in the air.


    The seven regiments of elite troops in each respective 1000 troops moved forward and entered into the yellow zone and began to jointly attack from 7 northern sides of Denpasar city.


    The seven regiment leaders of 1000 elite troops and special forces were Arief, Donny, Dario, Sandi, Winter, Nathanael, and Jerry. All of its troops were peak mortal realm fighters. And almost all of them already have had experience in warfare. More than 7,000 troops all had the power to lift chunks of cars weighing 500 kilograms, jump as high as 5 meters, and run 100 meters in 5 seconds. They also had good stamina to fight continuously for more than an hour.


    Currently 7 locations were filled with battles, gunfire, machete shes, and exploding grenades.. The condition of the yellow zone which stretched along 30 kilometers with an area of ??nearly 30,000 hectares was crammed with houses and high rise buildings. If these soldiers are not careful, they could find themselves trapped inside a house or building filled with zombies. A peak stage of realm mortal was no much stronger than level-two red zombies. Without weapons, tactics or special techniques, this elite force can lose its life.


    08:30 a.m.


    This was the appointed time to retreat to the second line defense in which the first division was on alert. For those who have faced up to tens of thousands of zombies, they were able to immediately return first. But at this appointed time, no matter how many zombies they found, they had to bring them back to the second defensive line. This was certainly to maintain ranks so that no hordes of zombies can attack from behind. All of these peak realm mortal fighters only needed less than 5 minutes to join the ranks behind them.


    Command center


    Not far behind these 7 troops on a hill in the middle of the forest, positioned about 5 kilometers behind the third line, arge tent was prepared.


    From this hill, several regiments were able to be slightly seen at the battle. But urate condition data was certainly obtained from scouts in the field and was provided via handheld radio.


    In the middle of the room, a table with a map of Bali ind covering the entire table has been installed. On the map, there were many carvings of green army troops and green monsters asmonly used by board games.


    The number and position of the troops were now assigned ording to the iing report via the radio and the little green carvings was also position along with it. The current battle situation was pictured on the table. The data was very useful for the people currently in the room, Farell, Rama, Alex, Aria.and few of the helping staff.


    "Arief''s regiment forces managed to pull one zombie horde into the second line. The horde target was trapped between two hills. And the second-line troop managed to ambush gracefully."


    Farrell the tactician was exining the situation of the map while moving the carving ording to the report.


    "What about Regiment 2, Donny''s troops?" Alex asked,


    "They are pulling in too many zombies ... at this time the second-like troops of the 2nd regiment looked quite overwhelmed."


    The number of monsters represented the number of monsters in tens of thousands. Every 1 green carving signified 10,000 thousand zombies. ording to the data provided by the scouts, 1 to 3 carvings approached each of the 7 regiments. While 5 carvings meant there were more than 50,000 zombies who moved forward to attack Regiment 2. Farell did not think too long and directly set the order.


    "The regiment 2 battalion reserve troops can immediately go forward to help!!"


    In all second line defense, the 10,000 first division troops were divided into 10 battalions. While 5 battalions guarded the front and 5 battalions became reserve troops. The goal was definitely to keep the line in check. In such a way, the troops guarding the row will always stand in fit condition throughout the fight. Thirty minutester the reports indicated that the second line of Donny''s regiment troops were in normal condition.


    9:45 a.m.


    Conditions in all 7 locations have begun to improve. The first wave of the zombies attack had begun to thin out.


    "Everyone is ready for the next round."


    As instructed, the elite troops moved back into the yellow zone. While the 2nd line troops can begin to change their positions with the troops reserve. The trap was re-prepared, piles of disturbing zombie corpses were removed. Spirit stones were collected and all weapons amunition began to be refilled. The whole regiment was ready to wait for the next attack ˇ­.


    10:30 a.m.


    The second firecracker was fired. It was a sign that a second attack was about to begin ... 7 groups of elite troops pulled back one wave of the next hordes. The sound of gunfire and explosions resounded in the yellow zone area. From this hill, Alex was able to see the explosive smoke fill the sky of Denpasar city.


    11:00 a.m.


    Elite troops retreated to pull in a new wave. The scouts provided information and green carvings were quickly deployed to 7 locations. Each regimen was ready with their respective traps.


    The Sandi regiment forces have prepared a pit filled with gasoline. When a horde of zombies entered this area, fire was ignited and its fierce mes instantly covered the pit and burnt hundreds of zombies in it.


    Winter regiments, with help of the American troops in the jungle area prepared holes filled with spiky woods, so when the elite troops safely passed by, hundreds of zombies behind them fell into the pit and immediately the fire burnt their bodies like satay sticks.


    Dario''s regiment troops were positioned near the rice fields. They prepared mud traps. When thousands of zombies entered this area, their movement became totally restraints. Dario easily shot and stabbed zombies that came out of the fields with spears one by one.


    1:00 p.m.


    The situation has abated again when all of them took a 30-minute break while cleaning up zombie corpses. They kept the ranks closed and sent the wounded to the back row.


    "What is the current status?" Alex asked.


    "There are dozens of victims who were seriously injured or dead, and hundreds of those who were slightly injured ... But victim data is not a priority at this time so it is still inurate. The good news is there are no ranks of defense that has broken, at this time the second division troops who are guarding the third line have not had time to take action yet."


    "It is good that they don''t even have to go down at the battle, it''s alright."


    The 70,000 second division troops were divided into 7 locations, many who were still in the middle stage of the mortal realm, many also had no experience killing zombies before. If they came to fight, Alex was worried that the victims were going to increase significantly.


    A jeep came to thismand room. A woman came into the tent. That woman was Devita, Alex''s wife. She approached Alex with a basket.


    "You have not eaten since this morning, I brought along some sandwiches for lunch ... I also have some extra for all of you."


    Farel was paying full attention right now and was still busy listening to the radio signal. Devita did not want to disturb him. Rama the pencak st master was like an uncle to Tiffany and Tiarra, she was close enough to Alex''s family. She epted Devita''s offer without hesitation ... A loaf of bread was also shared with Aria ... Aria received it without saying much.


    "..."


    Alex joined in and ate the sandwich slowly ... Actually, since thest 4 days Alex had no appetite. He had a bad feeling about this operation. This fight was dyed by up to 2 days due to the additional preparations that Alex prepared. But the longer he waited, he felt the conditions would be even more dangerous.


    Not long after round three began, Alex immediately refocused on the provided information ... After a few minutes, an emergency report came in ˇ­.


    "Report! ck zombie in sight ... I repeat, ck zombie in sight."


    "!!"


    "In which position? How many?"


    "Karambit Area, first regiment position, location of colonel Arief ... there is one ck zombie."


    Hearing the ck zombie, Alex and Farell immediately looked at Rama.


    "Ok. Ready ...!" Rama loudly responded and immediately took his iron spear out of the tent ... four pencak st masters with mutated bears were ready to wait in front ... These five people immediately rushed to the location.


    Alex was actually quite sure that Arief''s special forces would have no trouble fighting the ck zombie. But Alex did not want to take the risk, with this Arief can focus more on carrying out the regiment strategy.


    Seeing Rama went fast riding the mutated bear, Alex felt that he also wanted to go forward to the front row ˇ­.


    Devita was able to understand what Alex was thinking, then she realized that Aria was still staying in this ce too .. Devita asked,


    "You are not going with them?"


    "No."


    "Hmmˇ­you are an experienced soldier, I wonder why you don''t hold units or troops?"


    "I''m here protecting Alex."


    As usual, Aria''s answer was brief and concise .. Aria''s indifferent attitude made Devita a little upset.


    "I think Alex is already strong enough. He can take care of himself."


    Aria turned to see Devita and with a serious look answered,


    "Alex will definitely not be far from the most dangerous threat. He won''t stand still. That''s why I''m here."


    "..."

 Chapter 171 - Second Day

    Arief fought using a 2 meters long sword weighing up to almost 100 kilograms. The giant sword in the hands of Arief became the most sinister butcher sword. At this time Arief''s special power turned the huge iron sword shiny silvery... Each time the giant sword shed, more than 5 zombies split into two.


    SLASH !! SWISH !!


    Colonel Arief, as the highest-ranking soldier in the Death Squad, was apanied by more than 100 Death Squad special forces who had followed him since they were in Sumatra. Compared to these 100 special forces, the other 1000 elite troops were still inferior in fighting techniques..


    "ck Zombies Appeared!!"


    A five meters tall monster with a jet ck body showed itself from behind a high rise building ..


    ROAARRR !!!!


    "Colonel, what is your order? ording to the n we must retreat in two minutes.


    "Give order to all the elite troops to start retreat ... You Death Squad troops stay and be on alert at the back ... 2 minutes ... we got to dismiss the monster in 2 minutes"


    "Ready !!


    Tratatattaata tartaatattatat


    Current condition of this location was not only ck zombies existed but tens of thousands of zombies had filled the streets. A thousand elite regiment 1 troops had begun to slowly open the way back .. Elite troops had seen the gripping figure of the ck zombie stage 3. But they only followed orders and saw the colonel from behind, raising his giant shining sword, came forward attacking the monster ...


    Thud Thud Thud ...


    Not long after while walking backwards ... An elite army saw a group of mutated bears quickly passing them in the opposite direction.


    "Master Rama!!"


    Rama with the other four white belt martial arts fighter masters came to provide assistance to fight against ck zombies. But as Alex predicted, as soon as Rama and his bear troops came over to the ck zombie threat area, they only saw the colonel standing on a giant corpse, with one hand holding a giant sword and the other hand holding the ck zombie''s head ...


    Rama was amazed seeing the figure of the 40-year-old man .. The colonel took a yellow spirit stone and then threw the head ... he then jumped towards Rama


    "2 minutes have passed, let''s go back ..."


    "..."


    Round three ended at around 5 pm. Soon night started to rece the day, and the whole army was also very tired of fighting all day long. Alex decided that today''s battle was enough and would be continued tomorrow.


    As soon as the sun set, all the troops had retreated to the third line, the Division 2 troops now switching their shift as the 7,000 elite troops and 70000 troops of Division 1 were having some rest. Even though the entire army had stopped attacking, groups of zombies were stilling on and on because of the loud noise that had happened all day ... But at this time, there were only hundreds of them attacking at every regimental location.


    8:00 p.m.


    The battle was almost nowhere to be seen. This time the troops of Division 2 moved forward to the area of ??the first line. Not long after, thousands of workers came to clean the bodies of zombies .. Currently the situation was still dangerous, so workers were only able to pile up the bodies of these zombies to the nearest location. The main purpose of their arrival was to prepare a trap for tomorrow. Thousands of workers worked all night preparing traps in 7 locations.


    Command Center


    Currently Alex, Farrell, Rama, Aria, the 7 regimental leaders and also 70 battalion leaders had filled themand center tent. They reconvened to discuss the results of today''s battle.


    Farell started to present the reports based on the collected data.


    "It is estimated that from 3 attacks today we managed to kill around 500,000 zombies. The number of victims who died today were 62 people and there were more than 400 people seriously injured and could not continue the fighting tomorrow. With due concern for the victims today, I must say that the first day''s battle went very well "


    First day''s battle seems to went ording to n. With a cohesive cooperation and good defense forces, casualties are very minimal. When they got injured in the attack, colleagues around them could easily bring them back to a safe area. More than half of these victims were elite troops who were trapped and could not go back.


    Farell began to give some inputs that could escte tomorrow''s cooperation. Such as locations that needed to be avoided and strategic defense positions.


    "Tomorrow at the same time we will do this strategy over again, but this time the whole line will move forward 3 kilometers further. Tomorrow the elite forces will start entering the main zone of the yellow zone .. Pay attention! It is estimated that the waves of zombie attacks tomorrow will be 2 times more intense. So that the threat will increase several times ... also see the results of the surveince, tomorrow you will start visiting the area allegedly controlled by ck zombies ... be careful! "


    The meeting went pretty fast ... at the end of the meeting Devita gave the newly finished 200 pairs of special ck protective vest. This lightweight-looking shirt was able to hold special high-caliber bullets. This was the protective clothing of the mother Snake that was cut by Colonel Arief. The 200 vest were given to 7 regiments to be distributed ording to their respective authorities .. Devita also gave another 100 vest to Alex.


    Not more than 30 minutes, all the leaders had returned to their respective areas ... Alex did not give too manyments, Farell had done a very good job as a strategist .. After the meeting was over Alex got some information that something he was waiting for hade already ... He hurried away at night and returned the next morning with a much lighter heart.


    The second day


    8:00


    All the troops were set already in their respective positions ... And finally the signal that they had been waiting for was already floating above the sky ... A firecracker shot colored the blue sky above this ind of the gods.


    "Attaaackkkk !!!!"


    7000 elite troops moved forward over again to the yellow zone to enter the main area of ??the city of Denpasar.


    Tratatataat taratatatatata !!


    First round in the morning went pretty normal ... but in the afternoon when the second round started ... this time the Dario''s regiment, head of Surabaya''s Death Squad, was beaten back by nearly 100,000 zombies. Not only the sea of ??zombies they had to face ... But also one ck zombie that lead them. At the same time each location was also attacked by more than 50,000 zombies, so it was not easy for them to divide the troops away to help without damaging their own defense.


    Rama came to help fight the ck zombies, but Dario and his troops were still forced to retreat to the third line to survive. The attack cost hundreds of casualties to the second regiment.


    3:00 p.m.


    The seven areas were sessfully defended ... Although the previous attack was quite dangerous, Alex and Farell agreed to carry out another round of attacks. Dario did not give up, he resumed the ranks of his elite troops and again took a position to advance to the center of the city of Denpasar.


    In one corner area of the fifth regiment, ck uniformed troops were seen filling the streets of Denpasar city. They passed while checking the condition of every single house. If they moved too far and get attacked from behind, it would be very dangerous.


    "This house is empty"


    "The next house is empty ..."


    "!!"


    Tarataataataatatata


    "Dead red zombie ... 2 others jumped out ..."


    "Wolf 3 squads move forward, Wolf 4 cover from behind"


    This team entourage was the Wolf Armies formed by thebination of the remaining ck Snake and Dead Squad forces led by Jerry. The wolf squad had spent thest 3 months, almost never stopped in freeing the inds in the east of Bali. Each of them had killed dozens of red zombies.


    "I''ve managed to get 5 red zombies ... what about you?"


    Hearing the challenges from the colleague next to him, he turned more aggressive heading to the front


    Trataaaatata Taratatatatatat ... KABOOM !!


    "We have to go back soon !!"


    "A little bit moreˇ­. You see the group of red zombies there ... Let''s finish them off and then we will return afterward "


    SLASHH !! SWISSHH !!


    But indeed this special force, really had the ability .. Even without firearms they were able to easily face the siege of red zombies. One of the reasons that made them more confident today is the new armor given this morning.


    "Haha, this new protective vest is really much more powerful, I don''t feel any pain at all"


    "CAUTION!!"


    Theughing soldier was careless.. When the soldier looked back he didn''t expect the one standing behind him was a ck giant monster ˇ­


    "!!"


    The monster immediately caught the ill-fated warrior with both hands


    "ROAARRRR!!"


    The other colleague was stunned to see that the ck monster could move so fast .. But whatever they were doing now would be toote. The fateful soldier could only see the ck monster opening its mouth wide ... dozens of fangs like crocodiles ready to pounce on him ..


    AAAAA ... !!!! No!!


    Less than a second until this fateful soldier lost his head ..


    BAAMMMM !!!!


    Someone saved him. The ck monster was knocked to the ground and released the soldier ... A blow so hard that it could bring down a giant monster as high as 5 meters was definitely not from an ordinary fighter ..


    Standing with a smile on top of a red bearded figure, a fighterrge muscr fighter with a height of more than 2 meters.. He saw the ill-fated soldier


    "REMEMBER!! I just saved your life .. You owe me ... Hahah "


    This man was Sergei, the Earth spirit enhancer warrior, part of the Wolf Squad .. Sergei currently would not let go of the ck zombie just like that .. Sergei once again gathered all the strength in his arms .. The soldier was surprised to see Sergei''s arm size erged to double the size of a normal human ... Sergei immediately made a barrage of blows to the fallen ck monster


    BAMMM !! BAMMM !! BAMMM !!


    "Die!! Die!!"

 Chapter 172 - Special Technique

    As the elite troops got closer to the red zone, they encountered more hordes of zombies. In thest two days, hundreds of star troops had already fallen but they pushed forward and were now in border within the yellow zone and the red zone.


    The Wolf Army, part of the seventh regiment, was in this border when stage 3 giant zombies suddenly attacked them. Fortunately, Sergei, the muscr earth spirit enhancer, was one of the strongest fighters and fought it. He used his recently mastered ability to erge and harden his arm. But even with his 2 meters height, the arm turned so big it looked disproportion to his body.


    BAAAAM! BAAAAM!


    "Die! Die, you horrendous monster!"


    Sergei stood at the ck zombie''s head and repeatedly punched it with his erged arm. ck liquid sshed from the ck zombie as it was being crushed from the punch that could easily destroy an iron door.


    BAAAMM! BAAAMM!


    "What is this creature''s head made of?! Its head is very hard!".


    Sergei solely focused on crushing the monster, did not realize the creature''s hand slowly shifted into tworge des and attacked from Sergei''s blind angles.


    "!!!


    SWISSHHH!!!


    But someone swooped in and pushed Sergei from the giant de that only cut the wind. The ck monster slowly rose up, its face covered in ck liquid screamed with rage!


    RROOOOAAARRRRR!!!


    The man who helped Sergei was the head of the Wolf Army. Jerry the wind spirit enhancer. If it weren''t for Jerry''s swift movements, the former Russian wrestler would have tworge holes on his body.


    "Hahahaha! Thanks, you''re really great!"


    Sergeiughed was still cheerful even after he had just experienced a near-death situation.


    "Your attack is unable to finish him?"


    "Yes, if my big thing can''t kill it, then, of course, your small thing wouldn''t be able too."


    "..."


    Of course, what Sergei meant was the two knives in Jerry''s hands.


    Jerry ignored Sergei''s teasing. He was already used to dealing with this fussy man for the past 3 months. "We won''t know without trying."


    Jerry clutched his two knives. Although it was included in the knives category, Jerry''s two could also be considered as machetes. These two 60 cm short machetes were Jerry''s weapon of choice for the past three months.


    "Humph! You sure are stubborn," replied Sergei.


    Jerry rushed toward the right side of the monster while Sergei lifted a lump of rock the size of a basketball. Sergei used one hand and threw the stone with full strength. Sergei''s giant hand expanded and threw the stone like a giant bullet.


    SHUIISSHH!!!


    CRACK!


    The monster easily brushed the stone without a scratch. But the stone''s purpose wasn''t to injure it. With the ck zombie distracted, Jerry found an opening and attacked!


    "HIAATT!"


    Jerry stuck close to the monster andunched several direct blows to the various parts of the creature''s body.


    SLASHH !! SLASHH !! SLASHH !!


    ck liquid sttered from the creature''s body once more. But what''s interesting about Jerry''s attacks was that some shes did not touch the monster''s body at all, still, scratches urred. Jerry''s potential as a wind spirit enhancer was showing itself. Jerry then circled around the ck zombie''s blind spots. Although the ck monster was no less faster, Jerry cleverly positioned himself.


    SLASHH! SLASHH! SLASHH!


    Again, dozens of wounds filled the monster''s back. When the monster finally had enough, it held its hands together and mmed it hard to the ground!


    BAAAMMMM!!!


    The m caused an earthquake that could be felt up to 100 meters. The force and flying rocks from the floor flew in all directions and Jerry was forced to run back to find safety.


    ROAAAAAAAAARRR!


    The angrier the monster became, the more ecstatic Jerry felt. But his smile quickly disappeared as he watched the streaks of wounds he made quickly healed. It was as if those wounds had never existed.


    Sergei sneered at him. "Wow! Any other genius ideas?"


    "..."


    Sergei, adding salt to the injury, continued, "I heard that yesterday, the leader of the first regiment, Colonel Arief easily killed a ck zombie. Hmmm. Comparing it to the leader of our regiment, it''s like heaven and earth."


    "..."


    "WATCH OUT!!!"


    This time, the angry monster dashed and attacked the two of them. Jerry easily evaded. But speed wasn''t Sergei''s advantage as he was hit by the monster and flew 20 meters away.


    BAMMM !!!


    "Argh! This monster hits hard!" Sergei was thrown to the ground with just one attack.


    The stage 3 zombie was smart enough to decide and finish off the one who''s at a disadvantage. When Sergei hadn''t a chance to get up when the 5 meters tall monster had already run toward Sergei.


    Thud! Thud! Thud!


    But a small object came flying towards the monster.


    Swiiisshhh!


    KABOOMMM!!!


    RPG bulletsnded and exploded right on the shoulder of the monster causing it to fall on the ground. The shots came from one of the units of the wolf squad who had just arrived in this battle area. The leader of this unit was Darius, the third spirit enhancer of the wolf squad beside Jerry and Sergei.


    "KEEP SHOOTING!"


    Tratatatatatattata Tratatatatatatat


    Although these bullets didn''t have an effect against a stage three zombie, it was at least enough to distract the huge monster and forget about Sergei momentarily who had just stood up.


    Darius immediately called for Jerry and asked, "Should we retreat? It looks like we can''t kill this monster."


    Jerry didn''t want to admit it, but Darius''s words made perfect sense. Just when he was about to give the retreat order, thundering heavy steps came from their behind.


    Thud! Thud! Thud!


    "Is it another ck zombie again?"


    Luckily, Jerry''s guess was wrong, the one who arrived was Rama with his mutated bears. They hade specifically for this ck zombie.


    "Jerry, order the retreat for all of the seventh regiment troops. We will face this monster!"


    Jerry, Sergei and Darius looked at each other and rejected the order.


    "Nahhh! We want to see how you defeat this monster "


    The three of them and these martial arts masters were the first troops that Alex had invited to fight in the monkey forest. Although all of them nearly died fighting the mutated snake, it had been three months since they fought together, so the three wolf squad members were curious about how could Rama finish off the ck zombie.


    "Ok, watch carefully!"


    The secret of Rama''s group sess was because of the mutated bears they were riding on. These 5 mutated bears, even though they do not have the same strength as the ck monster, have very high endurance. They were able to dodge or withstand the attacks from the stage 3 zombie. What''s more, these five bears simultaneously ran in a circle around the ck zombie making it confused.


    Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!


    The martial arts masters beautifully jabbed their iron spears as they ran past it in speed. The monster tried to catch up only to be hit by another spear from behind it. These attacks were so quick as these four masters coordinated very well.


    Without therge creature realizing, tworge iron chains had entangled its body. It struggled to free itself.


    ROAAARR!


    Although the chain wasn''t enough to hold it for a good amount of time, it was enough to give Rama the opportunity he needed.


    Jerry had been wondering why Rama did not join the attack. But what he saw next was the answer to his question. Rama had been concentrating on the new technique he had mastered. He had only mastered this special technique after he had a breakthrough with his fire spirit.


    Rama held the iron spear tightly with both hands. A burst of energy flowed from his entire body into his hand and all gathered at the spearhead.


    HIAAATT!!!


    Rama jumped from the bear he was riding on towards the ck zombie and threw an exploding thrust that was focused on the tip of the spear. The monster had just escaped from its chain when the tip of Rama''s spear directly passed through the creature''s head.


    SPLLAAATTT !!!


    Brain fragments and ck liquid scattered. One deadly attack and the head of the monster shattered. Rama flipped himself on the air andnded on the body of the ck monster and casually took one yellow spirit stone.


    Rama''s deadly spears and these mutated bears were the reasons Alex entrusted the killing of ck zombies to Rama and the other masters.


    "That was awesome!" Sergei cheered.


    Jerry, Sergei, and all who saw were amazed. Seeing the powerful moves from their fellow spirit enhancers pumped up their blood.


    Out of all the spirit enhancers watching, only Darius had yet to awaken his special abilities. Alex had told him before that his ability was one of the most difficult to master. So Darius could only wait for the Doomsday Pir to arrive before he could truly show his strength.


    "Ok, it''s time to retreat. We have already passed the borderline asked of us."


    After the death of the ck zombie, the elite troops began retreating in unison as they pulled thousands of stage 1 and 2 zombies toward the second line.


    But seconds after Jerry saluted and praised Rama''s special abilities, Rama''s handheld radio rang again.


    "A ck zombie has been sighted!"


    "Location?"


    "The third regiment. Major Sandi and his team. They are trapped..."


    "Ok, we''ll be there soon."


    "Another ck zombie appeared! I repeat there are now two on Sandi''s regiment!"


    "!!!"


    Alex was also listening in the open channel from the Command Center. As he heard there were two ck zombies, he immediately walked out followed by Aria.


    They boarded a jeep and went straight to the location. As they were on their way, Alex suddenly remembered something. "Sandi''s Regiment. Hmm. The new spirit enhancers team is with him."

 Chapter 173 - Terror

    Tratattatatata Tratatatatatta


    "Retreat !! Back off !! "


    It could be seen that Major Sandi and dozens of elite troops were fighting against endless hundreds of zombies. Currently they were retreating gradually but they had already passed the setback time too long. All of the regiment''s elite toon troops had seeded in retreating to the second line, dozens of troops around this area were thest troops who had not managed to get out yet. They looked so overwhelmed by the hundreds of zombies that increasingly surrounded them ...


    "Look on the roof !! On the roof !! "Shoot! Shoot! "


    Tratatattatat Tratatattatat


    The major looked very pale at the time. Not only in his chest did the marks of the attack appeared quite deep, but because the major was very worried about their current condition. Dozens of red zombies had gathered at the top of the multi-story building around this toon. It''s not just their numbers were growing but they all did not attack right away .... It seemed like they were waiting for something ...


    "Retreat immediately !! ... Retreat !!"


    As they slowly retreated, another unit ran onto them from behind ...


    "Report, Major! Our retreat path is closed ... Hundreds of zombies are behind us."


    "!!!"


    This was the biggest threat using the strategy. In all 7 regimens, 7,000 elite troops carried out a concurrent attack forming a single line. Tens of thousands of zombies simultaneously attacked back ... And if there was one regimen left behind and broke out of the line, then the regiment would be surrounded from all directions. Sandi could only me himself for being injured and made the whole toon were forced to await him.


    Major Sandi was currently unable to think with ease ... he had to choose to force himself to break out or looked for a ce of defense and waited for some help ... He thought for a while but he finally saw that dozens of his members were injured then he decided to take the second option.


    "Immediately call for back ups ..."


    "Yes, Sir!!"


    Every second that passed, he felt increasingly ufortable. Until this moment, none of the ed zombies join the attack. Only the first-stage zombies kepting in... And their numbers were increasing ... The entire street around them had be a sea of ??zombies.


    Suddenly he heard a noise from one other side ...


    Tratatatatat Tratatattat!!!


    "Another unit ising!!"


    "!!!"


    "Which unit has a nerve toe approaching us the beleaguered one?"


    Major Sandi saw just a small unit approach, but for him every each of the additional force will be helpful... he saw a soldier walking in the front ... A very fat man holding arge shield and a club. He ran and kept crashing back into the zombies that blocked him .. There were 8 people running following this fat soldier .. Among them were 3 women and a child ..


    If other regimens saw this group, they would be amazed but not for this toon. Over the past few days this small unit had been quite well known. They were a newly formed spirit enhancer army.


    Two people rushed over to Sandi ... Theo, who was one of the closest people to Alex and a young woman who the Major did not really remember the nameˇ­ its.. Daisy. This young girl was a spirit enhancer who was famous for being able to detect monsters ... At the moment Daisy''s power would be very useful. But when these two people arrived right in front of Sandi, he realized their expressions were no better than him.


    "What''s wrong?" Sandi immediately asked


    "Major, I detected a very strong zombie nearby, and it''sing this way. We got to leave this ce immediately!!"


    "Type three zombie?"


    "Yes major ... I ... I ... detected there are more than one ... there are two monsters less than a kilometer nearby"


    Hearing the information about two ck zombies approaching them, Sandi called in special reinforcements right away .. Hopefully they could arrive on time .. But realizing that they were trapped between a sea of ??zombies, it seemed that reinforcements would note anytime soon ..


    He could not say anything ... two ck zombies .. If he did not face this threat appropriately, there would be many more victims down from this toon. Sandi finally decided not to wait any longer and broke through the zombie siege ... Sandi summoned several squad leaders and immediately opened a map.


    "Which point is the ck zombie be?"


    "One is here ... The other one is over here ... They will be here in less than 5 minutes ..."


    "Troops, go move up the wounded immediately!! We will break through the zombies crowd ... "


    "!!"


    Sandi chose to try his luck against thousands of type one zombies rather than waiting in ce to await the arrival of type three zombies. They took the path away from the two monster.


    There are around 90 people currently in the toon led by Sandi. However, only 60 more troops could run focus on killing zombies and opening the path .. Other forces were injured or helped bring injured colleagues.


    Tratatattaat Tratatatatt Kaboommm !!


    Machine guns never stopped firing and grenade explosions filled the area they were about to pass. The elite forces led by Sandi could not bepared to the Death Squad troops, but at least the most of them were soldiers or police before the Doomsday came. They could follow directions swiftly and were not daunted by the siege of thousands of zombies.


    Unfortunately, there were too many zombies in front of them .. Not to mention the red zombies who were still jumping up and down right and left of the buildings they passed ..


    In this condition, the spirit enhancer unit led by Theo looked very prominent. Raufgar, who held arge shield, opened the front path. Although he looked panicked, this big man was very reliable. Giant shields and clubs were suitable weapons for those who were not ustomed to violence. Oscar and Oliver apanied Raufgar on his right and left. The twins had fought several battles with Alex so they were very confident being in the front row. Both machetes and the speed of their movements made each of their attacks very deadly. In the back row stood Ark and Dinda both using long range attacks. Ark was with a machine gun and Dinda was with a giant iron arrow. Theo, Daisy, and Tommy were in the middle area with short range weapons while Cindy was right in the middle of this group who always looked excited with her whip attack.


    This unit was very different from when they were formed 5 days ago. Especially in thest 2 days they had participated in 5 big battles. Their cooperation and fighting abilities have increased greatly. In every second, dozens of zombies fell down facing the unit.


    But in thest 5 minutes, all of these troops could only go 200 meters far. And suddenly Daisy screamed ...


    "STOP!!"


    Major Sandi approached Daisy immediately. "What''s the matter? Are we misdirected? "


    "Major ... There''s another level three zombie in front of us ... We''re besieged ..."


    "!!!"


    "Is there another way? ..."


    Daisy concentrated hard, using all her abilities and trying to prate the range of 1 kilometer. The two ck monsters behind them were only less than 500 meters, and within the radius of 1 kilometer was only thousands of zombies. Reinforcements would not arrive on time ..


    "I''m sorry, Major, I have no idea ..."


    The conditions became very dangerous for these troops. The momentum of their current attack was lost when they stopped .. Sandi saw each second pass more soldiers drop death or heavily injured... Even at this moment, there were already two zombies jumping on Raufgar''s back and biting him ..


    "Go!!! Help!!"


    Cindy''s whip pulled one of the zombies and what was left was pulled by Tommy''s shadow creature.


    Major Sandi increasingly med himself for allowing this to happen to this toon. But as a leader, he must not give up .. He looked around, calcted and made a decision.


    "Everyone, follow me!!"


    Major Sandi chose a small school building right on the edge of the highway. The three-story building was filled with ssroom with front balconies that surround its 3 sides.


    "Everyone, we will stay here! 10 minutes I am sure that if we can survive for even 10 minutes, the help wille right away."


    "YES, SIR!!"


    The major immediately gave orders, all of them who got injured were brought up to the third floor of this school building. Those who were still conscious, were given firearms and took positions around the balcony of the 3rd floor. The remaining 50 people were divided for guarding 3 sides with melee weapons.


    The 2 meter high wall surrounding the school building was not high enough to block thousands of zombies who were very aggressive. There were so many zombies that amassed in front of the wall and finally hundreds of zombies began to overflow up the wall ..


    "Major, we cannot survive more than 5 minute under this condition!!"


    "Major ... our ammoˇ­ we don''t have much left!"


    Not long after that, the first ck zombie finally appeared before their eyes .. Many of them were seeing these giant monsters for the first time. The monster was getting closer. Every step of the giant monster shakes the wall of the school building,and also the soldier''s heart... A terror began to engulf them all.


    Thud !! Thud! Thud !!


    ROOAARRRRR !!!!

 Chapter 174 - Good Shot

    The situation was getting more chaotic.


    One toon consisted of 10 units with 10 fighters each. But currently, not even half of them were able to fight. 20 severely injured troopsy on the third-floor ssroom of the old school. All loaded firearms and ammunitions were brought on the 3rd floor''s balcony where the most aplished shooters took up position.


    Tratatattat! Traattatatatata!


    Among them, Dinda was also there using iron arrows. "Pull... Aim.... Fly true!"


    Each iron arrow he released prated two to three zombie heads. Dinda unequipped the quiver from his back and leaned it against the balcony in front of him. "Only 16 arrows left..."


    Dinda now needed to make sure each of his arrows would not be wasted. This time, he chose to target the more powerful monsters.


    "Dance... Aim... Take off!"


    ROAARR!!!


    Dinda''s iron arrows began to pierce the heads of red zombies that had gathered on the roof of the building opposite to them. 1 arrow, 1 red zombie died. Around Dinda, snipers with firearms also took aim at the red zombies on the roof.


    .


    .


    .


    At the school''s yard, 40 troops were engaging hundreds of zombies in a fierce battle but more kept on entering. Although 40 people included the newly formed Spirit Enhancers unit, they were starting to get overwhelmed. Every couple of seconds, one troop fell by the relentless attacks from the zombies.


    ARRGH!!! SWISHH! SLASSHH!


    "DO NOT GIVE UP!"


    Major Sandi, with a body full of wounds, raised his machete high trying to keep his toon''s morale steady even though he knew that the giant creature would soon arrive. Even now, there no signs of reinforcementsing. The Sandi knew he needed to do something soon, otherwise, everyone here would be dead before reinforcements arrived.


    The ck zombie was only 100 meters outside this school building; not far behind them was another sighting of the same monster. Major Sandi looked at the whole army that was fighting and decided on something. He approached the pile of weapons lying near him and found three RPGunchers as well as a bag containing three additional rockets. Major Sandi immediately took the three rockets and the backpack as he steeled his nerves to carry out his n.


    When the ck monster was only a few steps in front of the school''s wall.


    Shuuuhhh KABOOMM!


    A rocket flew and managed to hit it and made it stagger down! Major Sandi rejoiced at his fortune of hitting the abomination with the first shot. But everyone knew that the monster wouldn''t die because of just one rocket. He immediately shouted, "I need volunteers to help me! I have to go to that ce on the other side, but I can''t make it alone."


    The troops near him were in disbelief with the Major''s n to cross this sea of ??zombies. But seeing the giant monster trying to stand up and the other monster from their behind was near, Sandi knew he could not wait anymore as he immediately barged out with the sword in his hand. But in less than 5 steps, zombies surrounded and one jumped on him.


    BANNNGG!!!


    The zombie who jumped at Major Sandi was thrown away by a baton attack. Raufgar, the fat soldier, immediately took the lead and opened the way for the Major. Oscar and Oliver also didn''t want to be left behind followed immediately as well as the other spirit enhancers.


    "You guys..."


    Sandi knew how important each of these spirit enhancer troops was to Alex. He couldn''t let them die here. But if the n that he had in mind failed, everyone might still die.


    Each of these members was actually very worried, but they got carried with Raufgar''s action who was walking in front of them.


    Cindy shouted, "I don''t know if you are all brave or stupid!"


    Theo waved his ax as he looked at Cindy with a smile. "Then why did youe along?"


    "I just don''t want to miss the train. Anyway, there must be one smart person among you."


    Theo nced to the left and right and asked, "Who?"


    "You, stupid priest!" The more annoyed Cindy was, the faster she used her whip. Every release of her whip bounced off between three to four zombies.


    They had just walked only a few meters when the ck zombie had stood up but.


    Shuuuhhh KABOOMM!


    One more rocket hit the ck zombie.


    ROAARR!!!


    The ck zombie became more enraged and chased the small group that just came out of the old school ground. But Major Sandi did not stop there and fired one more rocket at the other ck zombie not far behind the first zombie.


    KABOOOM !


    Although the second shot missed the second zombie, the nearby explosion also provoked it and decided to chase the running group. Two stage three zombies ran towards Sandi''s group with a distance of 100-200 meters behind them.


    Major Sandi ran while reloading all three rocketunchers with itsst ammunitions. "KEEP RUNNING!"


    This entourage lured the two ck zombies along with thousands of zombies towards a building not far from the school. A gas station with a yellow and red logo. Seeing where they were, Major Sandi''s n was as clear as day. But the sess of this tactic would depend heavily on good execution.


    As they arrived at the gas station, Sandi immediately told the spirit enhancers to enter the small convenience store and take cover. To ensure the maximum st, Sandi needed the ck zombies to stand right above the gas tank. This n was full of holes and the possibility of failure was high. He hoped for a miracle.


    The moment the first ck zombie walked past right above the tank, Sandi fired the first rocket immediately.


    Shuuuhhh...


    But the ck zombie easily avoided it and the rocket continued to fly toward the zombie horde outside of the gas station area.


    "!!!"


    Having seen the rocket before, of course, the monster would not stand still taste that explosion once more.


    Major Sandi''s face began to pale as he watched the ck zombie preparing to jump. It would seem that his n would fail but out of nowhere, two human-shaped shadows appeared beneath the ck zombie and grasped its legs in ce.


    Tommy used his special ability from inside the shop.


    Not wanting to lose this good opportunity, Major Sandi simultaneously fired the two rocketunchers.


    Shuuuuuhhhh... SHuuuuuuhhh...


    One rocket flew at the ck zombie and the other went straight to the floor under its feet.


    It''s going to work this time! All the members were thinking of the same thing when a ck zombie appeared from the sky andnded in front of the first zombie as the rocket crashed into it.


    KAABOOMM! KABBOOMM!


    Whether it was due to dumb luck or the intelligence of these monsters, the n had failed. The explosion wasn''t close enough to the tank so it did not explode.


    The first ck zombie still couldn''t move because of Tommy''s shadow power and the second ck zombie was lying underneath the gas tank. It would now be a very good opportunity to blow up both of these zombies at once, but unfortunately, the rockets were all expended.


    Major Sandi looked at the eight people behind him hoping they had some idea.


    Tommy heavily said, "5 secondsˇ­ Majorˇ­"


    When Major Sandi''s eyesnded on the boy, Tommy, using all of his strength to keep this giant monster at bay, without hesitation, Sandi grabbed the grenades hanging from Ark and Theo''s waist.


    Theo could immediately tell what was on Major Sandi''s mind and shouted, "Don''t do it, Major!"


    They didn''t have time; Major Sandi couldn''t deliberate for too long. He readied himself to die for the safety of the remaining people here. Since he didn''t want to leave tody luck his throw to hit the gas tank above, he decided to blow himself up with the two grenades in his hands.


    "STOP! Major!"


    Major Sandi hurriedly ran and pulled out the safety pin. The grenades would explode 3-5 seconds the moment he released his grips, lighting the axis. Estimating the distance between him, the gas tank and his speed, he loosened his grip and ran with all of his strength.


    But unfortunately, the zombie horde had already arrived and prevented him from moving forward. Sandi struggled to break through the crowd of zombies but all he met was their ws and bites. The zombies scratched his back as let out a muffled gasp of pain. Finally, Major Sandi fell.


    The grenades rolled not far away and then it exploded and blew dozens of zombies around near him. The twin, Oscars and Oliver rushed forward to protect Sandi but with everything that had happened, Sandi regretted his failure.


    In front of his eyes, he watched Tommy''s shadow disappear as the other ck zombie stood up.


    The opportunity had passed. He failed.


    "!!!"


    Suddenly, something flew and struck the feet of the first ck zombie as well as the the tank above. An iron arrow. And attached to its tip, a released grenade.


    KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!


    A small explosion immediately followed by arger explosion from the underground, the whole 10 square meters produced massive fire and shockwave throwing hundreds of zombies away from the gas station. As for the zombies inside the 10 square meters, all were obliterated into ashes.


    The fire continually consumed the zombies as it emitted and covered the entire area of the gas station with thick smoke.


    All of the spirit enhancers held their ears as it buzzed from the deafening explosion. But as soon as the buzzing eased off, they came out of the store and started to dispatch the zombies that fell on the floor.


    Even though the smoke still blurred their eyesight, they all ran toward the direction of the school.


    "Good shot, Dinda!"


    Dinda was standing at the roof of the school''s third floor and from there, he watched and figured out Major Sandi''s n and helped the Major to seed.


    After they had arrived at the school, Theo advised everyone that they should retreat as soon as possible. They needed to leave before a third ck zombie came.


    Daisy then used her sensing ability to scout, but she couldn''t help but shout.


    "What is it, Daisy?" Theo asked.


    "Twoˇ­ noˇ­ three..."


    "!!!"


    "Theo, more stage three zombies areing towards us..."


    Daisy continued her sensing and then in the direction of the burning gas station, she felt two signs of lifeing out of the mes. The two ck zombies were apparently not dead.


    Slowly, the bodies of the two ck zombies that were burning were regaining its shape as before.


    "!!!"


    "What should we do?"

 Chapter 175 - Black Figure

    These past 10 minutes were the longest minutes for Major Sandi and his toon. After they returned from blowing up the gas station across the street, they realized there wasn''t even one ck zombie had died because of the explosion. It''s not the only matter, Daisy also detected that there were still 3 other ck zombies heading toward them. Fortunately the two zombies that had just emerged from the mes were staying still. Seeing their bodies that were almost destroyed and ck liquid that did not stop flowing at the whole ck zombie''s body, Major Sandi assumed that the stage-three zombies were regenerating their body. It couldn''t be predictable how long these two zombies would start attacking over again. The major had to use this opportunity as best as possible.


    There were more than 20 troops who were also seriously injured on the 3rd floor of the school building. While there were only 40 of the troops remain who were still in a good condition to fight. Major Sandi was also seriously injured because of the attack and bites by the zombies. Recognizing the current critical condition, the Major had only one final solution ....


    "Imand you to retreat.. immediately to save yourself ..."


    "!!!"


    "Leave us ... this is an order!"


    There were only 4 unit leaders left, they were all aware of their leader''s intention ... But before they could think much, Theo immediately gave an order and Raufgar immediately lifted the Major onto his shoulder.


    "At the moment, the Major is seriously injured, he can''t think clearly ... I will takemand! Everyone, lift up our injuredrades quickly .. We''re leaving immediately! "


    Theo, who usually quiet, suddenly changed his attitude in 180 degrees, which surprised Cindy who was next to him.


    "..."


    "Hey!! Stop daydreaming! We got to move right now! Leave all unnecessary things! "


    Daisy immediately used her special ability to choose the best solution. Any direction was better than this ce. Ark gave Theo an idea, and Theo agreed without any excuses, the twins helped carrying out the n.


    When the whole army began to retreat, Ark and the twin brothers Oscar and Oliver lured the zombies into the three-story school building. And after those hundreds of zombies entered the building, soon the three-level building suddenly copsed and killed all the zombies inside.


    "We did it!!"


    The three spirit enhancers ran out through the back door to join the group. Ark, as an earth spirit enhancer who was able to control the stone and everything made from the soil, managed in using his strength to dismantle the building''s supporting column. The result was not only the death of hundreds of zombies, but the smoke and rubble of the building also managed to provide a little distance between the troops that ran and the zombies who chased behind him.


    The whole army fought with all their might to break through the sea of ??zombies while carrying 20 more wounded troops. Not even 100 meters they walked.


    Thud Thud Thud Thud


    RROAAARRRR !!!


    The third ck zombie had reached behind them .. The monster jumped and immediately stomped to death one of the ill-fated troops that was running at the back.


    "!!!"


    At the same time dozens of red zombies who had joined the chase also jumped and attacked this group ..


    Tratatatattat Tratatatattaat


    Spill of bullets, arrows and shing whips, had managed to beat off some of the red zombies but some of them who had their way to go through immediately ambushed the other troops. Daisy was one of the red zombies'' targets. Daisy''s sword attack did not manage to harm the red zombies. Luckily the ck shadow of Tommy returned to protect her. It seemed that it was thest remaining energy of Tommy''s. The boy currently looked very pale.


    Raufgar realized that the situation behind be more critical. He immediately threw Major Sandi to one of the troops, turned to run backward and began to hit the red zombies and attacked with hisrge shield.


    After passing through several zombies, finally ... BANG!! Raufgar''s big shield managed to fend off the deadly attack of the ck zombie ... but Raufgar was also thrown down.


    SLASSH !! SSWISSHH !!


    All shes from these two spirit enhancers in seconds could get back before they knew it. While they were only able to avoid this ck zombie attack within a paper-thin distance ... they would not be able to hold this monster for any longer. Even if just one of these ck zombies attacks hit Oscar or Oliver, they would be seriously injured or might die right on the spot. .


    Stabb !!!


    Roaaarrr !!!


    Oscar finally managed to stab the ck zombie''s eyes ... but when he smiled happily, he let his guard down. The blind ck zombie managed to catch Oscar''s leg ... and immediately mmed Oscar to the ground.


    Baammmm !!!


    Oscar copsed right after that. And Oliver immediately pulled him back. Oliver couldn''t help but only stunned to see that the wound in the monster''s eyes got improved gradually.


    "It doesn''t make sense at all!! This monster is way too strong! "


    The monster only needed a few seconds to finally got its vision back again.


    ROAAARRRR !!!!


    The monster''s angry screams reduced the mentality of the troops. They couldn''t fight this monster ... plus that


    "!!!"


    Two ck monsters that were injured by fire has finally reached up and currently on the right and left side of the monster, 3 stage three zombies. The three monster did not wait any longer and attacked this group straight forward.


    Daisy, who had been silent for quite a while, suddenly shouted "Here ites!!"


    A figure crashed onto the frontmost monster until it fell down, then the figure immediately lifted the fallen monster quite easily and threw it crashing into the ck monster behind. The third monster decided to attack this figure. But this figure could dodge the attack and then cast a hard punch which repelled the third monster a few meters back.


    "!!!"


    There was no human in the world as strong as this one. Of course this figure was not a human but a ck stone golem. It was a ck golem that usually apanied Alex. But wasn''t this Golem given to Regent Suryo? Theo and some people around him thought ...


    Soon someone appeared before them. That person was their leader Alex.


    "Hopefully I''m not toote. You guys had gone too deep ... other reinforcements are pretty hard to get you ˇ­"


    This golem was a shipment that Alex receivedst night. Seeing the condition based on the informations from Aria, he immediately sent a message to borrow the golem back. Alex surely emphasized that Aria was the one who found this bunch of ck zombies. Regent Suryo was not just irritated by listening to the word ''ck zombies'' but also the word ''Aria found'' in the message Alex sent. Worrying about his grandaughter''s safety, the Regent could only obey Alex''s request.


    After Alex heard informations through his handheld radio about the appearance of more than 1 ck zombie simultaneously, he immediately rushed over to this area. Even though thousands of zombies got in the way, with the hexagram step technique, Alex could easily pass them.


    "Ok, everyone, the reinforcements wille in just a minute! Raise your weapons and banish all the zombies in front of you!! "


    "Siaapppp!!!"


    Alex realized that these troops had no longer use firearms, so Alex immediately took out all the weapons and ammunition in his storage ring to be distributed.


    The golem stone was still busy fighting against the three ck zombies, although the current position looked like it was three adults were fighting against 1 child, yet this golem was still able to continue to rise and counterattack. This golem was a mid-level artifact. Its main advantage was its strong defensive power. Unfortunately this golem did not have a lethal attack so this three-on-one fight became stagnant.


    Alex stood quietly behind preparing himself with hexagram stage four breathing while waiting for an opportunity. When the golem managed to push down one of the ck monsters, Alex immediately took out two giant swords he ordered from the Starbase workshop. Two swords were as high as 2 meters and weighing 100 kilograms each. With the power of hexagram stage 4, Alex did not feel the burden when lifting these two swords. Alex jumped on top of the fallen ck zombie and immediately attacked the ck zombie''s head with arge sword in a barrage. .


    PAKK! PAKK !! PAAKK !!!


    It''s like cutting a rib with a butcher knife .. The stage 3 zombie''s neck was so dense but it was finally cut off.


    Alex stood over the dead body of the third stage zombie who had not moved. With two giant sword des in his hand and a body covered in ck liquid, Alex pointed to the next ck zombie using a sword in his hand ..


    "Nextˇ­"


    This time with hexagram level 4, Alex could go head to head with the speed and power of this ck zombie. Every attack of Alex''s sword was not able to cut the body of this zombie, but every sh made arge wound, dropped or repelled his opponent. The current condition was two on two ... And it looks like Alex could outperform this battle. All the troops who previously lost their spirits had fought against thousands of zombies stage one and two around this ce.


    Bang! Bang!


    The team also realized another person.. a sniper helping them killing the red zombies from top of building not too far... each shot fire.. a red zombie head blews like a watermelon..


    Not long after the fight ...


    ROAAARR !!!!


    "There were two more ck creaturesing !!"


    But Daisy did not worry because not far away from them there were the bear troops had seen that followed by a dozen iron vehicles (APV) approached them


    "Trtaattaatatta Tratattata !! KABOOOMM !! "


    The fight currently escted to higher level. This group of reinforcements quickly opened the way and finished off hundreds of blocking zombies.


    "Put the injured in the APV immediately!!"


    The situation changedpletely. Rama and the masters managed to kill one more ck monster that had just arrived, while the golem managed to pull off the head of the ck monster he was facing. After Alex managed to kill the ck zombie he faced and tried to find thest monster, he realized that the monster had retreated from the battle.


    Alex saw with his own eyes that the monster had retreated. And this situation made Alex very worried. In Alex''s previous life, he had never seen this ck monster retreated ... unless ...


    After all the injured had entered the APV vehicle, Alex and the mutation bear troops also withdrew to the rear guard gradually..


    The sun had set. The second day''s battle was over.


    Alex said inside his heart ...


    "We have to run a different strategy for tomorrow ..."

 Chapter 176 - Second Phase Plan

    The sun began to set marking the end of the second day''s battle. All of the first division and elite forces, totaling more than 70,000 troops, formed a line stretching 12 kilometers across to make sure no zombies would cross to the north..


    Alex traveled around the streets of Denpasar; zombie corpses were scattered along the road. The asphalt floors and walls of the buildings of this city were painted with blood and littered with rotting corpses. From time to time, Alex heard battles in some areas.


    At this time, the first division troops guarded the line, whilst the second division troops cleaned the entire city of Denpasar. Before sunset, it is estimated that star troops will have seeded in neutralizing the center of Denpasar city.


    Although the city of Denpasar was in the center of the ind of Bali, the busiest location with a lot of people is still on the south of the city. The Legian and Kuta regions were the most densely popted areas on the whole ind of Bali. At present, more than 70,000 troops were stationed in seven outposts and took turns guarding the south. To strengthen their ranks, there were 100 tanks as well as other various iron vehicles..


    After the quick inspection of the parameter, Alex visited the newmand center that had been prepared in one of the buildings in the city of Denpasar. The leaders of the regiments, as well as a dozen other people, had been waiting in the room. A map of the Bali ind wasid on a big table with miniature green soldiers and monsters figurines installed ording to the information they had gathered.


    From the data collected, the second day''s battle ended with casualties ten times more than the previous day. More than 500 troops had lost their lives today and 2,000 more seriously injured. Among the seven regiments, the one which had the most casualties was the regiment led by Major Sandi and Dario.


    Today, they had sessfully eliminated almost 1 million zombies. In conclusion, with the six engagement within the 2 days, a total of 1.5 million zombies were sessfully killed by the Star Army. It was estimated that there were still 1 million more zombies left in front of the line.


    During these 2 days, they managed to kill 10 stage three zombies. One by Arief on the first day, and another on the second day. Nathanael with his Delta forces also defeated two ck zombies. Rama defeated three, and another three were eliminated by Alex and his golem.


    Compared to Alex''s previous life, for humans to be able to kill ten ck zombies before the Doomsday Pir arrived was truly amazing. But his worries weren''t at ease because ording to Aira''s report, there should be at least 16 more ck zombies.


    Alex read the detailed report about each encounter with the ck zombies and felt that they were still very lucky. Even for fighters with the calibers of Jerry and Sergei almost died facing this one monster. As he continued reading and got to Sandi''s Regiment report about their struggle fighting several ck zombies at once, it''s a miracle none of the spirit enhancer units died..


    For this reason, in front of the squad leaders, Alex decided to proceed with the next n. "Colleagues, we will initiate phase 2 of our n."


    Alex looked at the person standing quietly in the corner of the room. "Admiral Gerard, it seems like we will have to trouble you this time."


    Admiral Gerard, the captain of the Carrier Midway, was quite enthusiastic about Alex''s words. "Atst, I can join the battle."


    Simply put, the second stage n was rted to bombings. It was a strategy of consecutive bombings carried out fromnd and sea. Dozens of mortar will be prepared from behind the line, while from the sea, the cannons of the warships.


    The Star Army had received dozens of warships from the ind of Java, but only six of them were destroyer-ss ships that contained a cannon with high explosive power. The Midway Aircraft carrier on the other hand had 18 high explosive cannons, its a real monster of the sea. Therefore a total of 24 cannons will be fired from the ocean.


    Alex had initially nned to use this strategy after 4-5 days but seeing the irregrities in the movements of stage-three zombies that caused many casualties, he decided to carry out this bombing strategy immediately.


    There were three reasons why Alex did not use this strategy from the start. First was the area of ??attack was so broad and second was the limited explosive ammunitions. Alex wanted to reduce the target area as much as possible so that each explosion would st more zombies. Thest reason was that he wanted the 100,000 more star troops to have more experience inbat. This reason may sound absurd, but Alex had seen the threat that will be faced by humanity, so he needed this army to be better prepared mentally.


    After the six engagements in the past two days, Alex received reports about people who have begun to show special abilities. Surely there were more spirit enhancers from these 100,000 troops. These spirit enhancers would only further improve as they fight more pressured battles.


    "As for the new troops cements"


    The miniature green soldiers were moved from the top of the map to show the current position of the star troops. With a shorter defensive line, this time the seven regiments will be divided into 3 posts


    Post 1: Arief Regiment and Dario Regiment


    Post 2: Nathanael Regiment and Winter Regiment


    Post 3: Donny Regimen and Jerry Regiment


    Major Sandi, with a body still full of wounds, didn''t see his regiment''s name and was speechless.


    "Major, your regiment will be stationed at themand center along with me," Alex said.


    Major Sandi understood that he was the weakest link amongst the seven regiments, it became even more so with the loss of many fighters from thest battle. Another reason is that Alex did not want to lose his spirit enhancers army before Doomsday Pir came, he decided to ce them on the backline instead.


    Alex then assigned Rama and his bear squad on post 3 along with Donny and Jerry. With this, each post would have fighters who will be able to face ck zombies. Arief at post one, Nathanael at post two and Rama with his troops at post 3 while Alex will be at the center in case one of the posts is in danger.


    The strategy was carefully thought out. Sessive bombing attacks from the sea andnd, apanied by a full line of elite troops equipped with machine guns, armored vehicles and tanks. Alex took a moment to think of what else he could prepare. He asked the regiment leaders and Farell, but everything was prepared to their most optimal conditions. Alex then dismissed the meeting, but his feelings were still not calm.


    Theo approached him soon after and said, "The battle won''t start until tomorrow morning. Do you want to apany me to an event?"


    "Event? What kind of event?"


    "Juste along." Theo knew that Alex was not in the mood to do anything. Alex''s head was just full of the ck zombies that threatened his people. He''s been this way for thest five days, Alex couldn''t calm down.


    "Hooray! Leader wille along with us!" said the twins who are happy too.


    Alex joined Theo and walked into a park in the middle of Denpasar city. This area had been cleared of zombie threats and was about 5 kilometers behind the defensive line.


    As it was in the middle of the night, a garden that should have been empty was filled with dazzling bright candles. There was also a crowd of about 20 people that have gathered as well as rows of chairs and a small stage made of perfunctory that have been prepared.


    Alex was surprised and wanted to ask Theo, but a man in his 50s approached him first. The former governor of Bali and the leader of the education division, Agung.


    "Alex, I''m d that you''vee!" Agung was quite surprised to see Alex''s presence.


    "What is this program?"


    "Sorry, Alex, this is actually my daughter''s wedding."


    "!!"


    Agung told Alex about how his daughter who wanted to get married to a soldier from the first division forced him to prepare this immediately. The former governor was worried since he used his authority and connection so that this particr soldier could get permission out of the defensive line to undergo matrimony. The former governor also asked Theo''s help, who''s a priest, to lead the ceremony and bless the marriage of the two lovebirds.


    It was a ssic story of a woman and her lover who will go to war tomorrow faced with uncertainty and decided to get married. Alex certainly let the wedding ceremony go on. 30 minutester, the ceremony finally ended with the bride and groom kissing each other. Something beautiful in the midst of the chaos of the end times.


    Theo approached Alex. "So what do you think? Isn''t it interesting?"


    "Yes, it is..."


    Theo felt the burden on Alex''s mind eased a little. "Ok, good! Now let''s continue to the next event!"


    "There''s more?"


    Not long after, a jeep stopped on the side of the road and three men came out and walked toward them. The two men walked behind a bulky man with a red beard carrying arge box on his shoulder. These three people are Sergei, Jerry and Darius.


    "Ooiii, are you guys partying without inviting me?" Sergei said mischievously.


    Cindy immediately answered the giant man, "How can we party if the drinks aren''t here yet!"


    Sergei put down therge box and opened it immediately. Inside it were alcoholic drinks enough for at least 30 people present at this event. Sergei the Russian man then shouted.


    "Let''s get the party started!"


    "The first drink for the bridal family first ..."


    The former governor was ecstatic as he immediately went away with some people to bring food they had prepared in a truck. The quiet atmosphere became lively especially for Raufgar. After today''s deadly battle, food is the only thing on his mind. Sergei started throwing beer cans like a professional baseball yer, and Cindy started to berate him again.


    "Stupid red bear! You''ll ruin these drinks!"


    "Huh, if you don''t want it, you don''t have to!"


    Sergei started throwing cans at the beautiful women. First toward Aria and then Daisy.


    However, Daisy did not catch the beverage can and it fell on the grass in the garden. Alex, who had started to smile, suddenly flinched as he looked at Daisy''s expression.


    "Impossible!!!" Daisy eximed.


    Alex then felt a pressure approaching them.


    Thud... Thud... Thudˇ­ Thud...


    Suddenly, several giant figures appeared from the darkness. One of the giant figures threw something at Alex''s feet.


    It was the bloody head of the former governor Agung..


    "!!!"


    The stage three zombies decided to do a surprise attack during the night. Alex was not expecting this to happen. Finally, Alex''s foreboding had arrived. It seems like tonight will be the final decisive battle for ind of Bali.

 Chapter 177 - Secret Weapon

    Tonight''s excitement suddenly turned into a terror ... the bride in her white outfit finally realized that the object that was thrown at Alex''s feet was her father''s head.


    "AAAAAA !!!!!!"


    Hysterical screams deafened a quiet atmosphere ... all of the 30 people in the park finally realized the threat they were facing ..


    Alex shouted


    "Everyone, gathered up.... !!"


    Alex immediately pulled out a stone golem from the storage ring to stand guard in front. Then various firearms and sharp weapons and threw them on the floor. Alex gave a special weapon to Aria. Then finally Alex took a re gun and shot it straight into the air


    BANG !!!!


    A beam flying into the sky and exploding up in the air in the form of a red fireworks ... this is an emergency signal. The quickest way to summon reinforcements to this ce. Atst, Alex took several lightsticks to break them and throw them in various parts of the park. The garden which was previously only lit by fire candles now looks much brighter by the lightstick ..


    With the presence of this light, the shadow figures finally appear more clearly ..


    1 ... 2 ... 3 ... 4 ... 5 ...


    Five of type three ck zombies ... all of them were only around 200-300 meters in front of them. Standing still but looking ready to pounce on their prey ... but for some reason this ck monster had not yet made some moves to attack ..


    Alex had no idea how those ck zombies could make an ambush attacks at night ... and it couldn''t be just a coincidence for them toe to the ce where Alex was. Those zombies might havee for Alex. But how could that happen ...? How could they know that Alex was here? How could they pass thousands of troops undetected? The more Alex questioned it the more Alex felt anxious.


    The dark of the night made it difficult for humans to fight, and also at the time, his best spirit enhancers were not around. The situation was very unfortunate.


    Alex immediately looked at Daisy who currently is very pale.


    "There''s 5 ahead ... is there more?"


    Daisy nodded ... Before she could speak, 2 ck monster figures were seen on the right and 2 other on the left ...


    A wedding guest was shocked and immediately decided to run to the back .. 3 other people followed him ..


    Alex immediately shouted trying to stop them , but they were too panicked to hear and kept running. They had only run less than 100 meters, when there was a figure jumping down right in front of them ..


    "!!!"


    The ck monster''s right hand formed a machete and directly shed horizontally ...


    "AAAAAA help!!!"


    Swisshh !!


    The four people immediately split in two. Blood sttered and 8 pieces of body lying in the park with eyes still ring in disbelief of what just happened ..


    All the other guests immediately screamed hysterically ..


    Alex could not help them because in thest few seconds Alex was preparing the hexagram breathing. Alex calmly read the situation. Those 5 monsters were right in front of their face, the other 2 were on the right, and any other 2 were on the left, and another one was on the back. There were 10 type three zombies in total surrounded them ... but Alex''s choice was quite clear. The first thing he had to do was get out of the siege. Hexagram Stage 4 finally ready ....


    Alex immediately took out a rocketuncher and fired the 5 monster at the front right away ..


    Shhhhhuuu KABOOOMMM!!!!


    Before the rocket bullet even hit the target, Alex had immediately turned around screaming,


    "Everyone follow me, don''t fall behind !!"


    Alex ran at the back in full speed while holding two giant swords approaching the ck monster covered in blood before him. As all these groups ran, all the ck zombies that surrounded them also simultaneously moved...


    "!!!"


    The groom immediately carried his wife and took part in running with maximum speed of the peak stage of the mortal realm, followed by several friends of his troops who had also reached the peak stage. They were holding firearms, machine guns, shotgun, and grenadeuncher.


    The speed of movement of this stage 3 zombie was faster than the speed of the human in peak mortal realm. A little misstep could take anyone to be a victim in less than 10 seconds ..


    Taratatatatatata Tratatata


    As they ran these troops shot at the 5 monsters that were following them. But the shot was not enough to stop them, it just slowed down their movements a little bit instead. Luckily the golem was still standing at the back. The golem spun around and immediately crashed into one ck monster ... struck a hard blow to another one and pulled the other one hand which was almost missed and pulled then mmed it onto the ground.


    BANNGGGG!!!


    The golem managed to stop three ck monsters. But there''s two of them who managed to pass the golem, and each of them attacked the slowest group, it was the other 4 ordinary guests of this wedding. 4 more lives lost in seconds. All of them died with just one hit and a stampede.


    On the other hand, Alex managed to quickly hit his two giant swords to the zombie before his eyes.


    Craackkk !!!


    With that sh, the huge monster in front of Alex was sessfully dropped .. With no more ck monsters in front of them, all of Alex''s spirit enhancers made it through the siege. but the unfortunate troops who tried to retreat while firing became victims of attacks from both directions right and left ... 3 more people died tragically ..


    Alex did not waste any opportunity, right after the ck monster in front of him fell down, Alex directly, with all his strength, carried out a barrage attack to the neck of the zombie using 2 giant swords weighing 100 kilograms.


    Crakkkk !! Crakkk!!


    And he seeded !! The zombie''s head under Alex was finally decapitated. One ck zombie had gone down, three zombies had been detained by a golem , and now the remaining 6 were lined up just finished killing their prey and now ready for their next attack..


    Right after Alex had Daisy confirmed that there were no more surprises from behind, Alex decided to tell everyone beside him to run immediately ...


    "Theo, you lead the way. Daisy will be your guide. Bring everyone here along with you. Go!"


    Theo acknowledged that nothing they could do and immediately pulled them all back. All of them ran after Daisy. There were some people who decided to stay and help Alex. Aria, Jerry, Sergei, Darius, Oscar, and Oliver. Alex told the others to leave immediately.


    Before leaving, Theo pulled Cindy''s hand ...


    "Not this time ..." Theo seriously looked at Cindy, who was preparing to fight ...and Cindy finally decided to follow the other to retreat


    These six monsters moved forward side by side. But unexpectedly a certain light struck the head of one of the ck monsters.


    Baammmmm !!!


    The head of the monster burst like a melon. The five monsters were shocked and immediately scattered away.


    Alex looked at Aria


    "Another great shot Aria!"


    Aria currently holds the weapon given by Alex. This weapon was another key to win the fight against ck zombies. A unique-shaped weapon held by Aria was one of the prototypes of energy weapons from Randall''s researchpany. A weapon that was proved to be very strong unfortunately it needs time before they can be fired again.


    One more ck zombie was dead ... five more left


    These stage three zombies were so smart as they immediately splitted up and slowly started to circle the remaining 6 fighters facing them.


    Alex pulled out a gatling machine gun from the storage ring and gave it to Darius ...


    "This weapon may not be able to kill them but it should be enough to stop them"


    Darius immediately aim and pulled the trigger and the gatling machine gun immediately spun ..


    Dzzzzzzzziiiiiiiinggg


    Darius fired at the 3 zombies standing in the center, and made the three of them retreat and scatter ..


    The two remaining zombies, one of them attacked from the right while the other one did it from the left. Two monsters moved forward to attack together


    Sergei pulled out his ultimate moves, and his hands doubled in size. Sergei immediately made a fierce blow that managed to hold the zombies on the right. The three, Jerry, Oscar, and Oliver, simultaneously made a quick attack that confused the monster on the left. While Alex was ready at the center to hold the other three monsters that was about to attack Darius'' gatling shots


    This strategy was able to help them for a while but just a minuteter, Sergei finally bounced by a counterattack. Simultaneously other ck zombies had managed to pass through a gatling bullet attack and ready to attack Darius ..


    Alex got into a situation where he could only help one of these two people ...


    "!!!"


    Alex suddenly saw something that made him decide to choose and run to help Darius ...


    Sergei saw it and shout immediately,


    "Alexxx ...Dammn You!!"


    The ck zombie was standing next to Sergei, who was still lying down. A 5 meters tall monster ready to hit its final blow. The former Russian wrestler, Sergei''s whole body was still in pain due to the previous attack. Sergei could only attack the monsters with some harsh words .. #% $ # @ # $% $ ##


    Suddenly


    A certain shadow appeared next to the ck monster who was ready to kill Sergei ... Aria ... with her special ability could move next to the monster without being detected. Aria''s shot the energy weapon at close range.. A shot which certainly could not be avoided by the monster ..


    BAAMMM !!!


    One more ck monster was dead.


    But conditions on Alex''s side were no less critical. The three monsters managed to get closer to Darius ... and by chance the gatling gun bullets were running out...


    Click! Click!


    "Fuxxxxxx"

 Chapter 178 - Surrounded

    In just 30 seconds, Sergei the Earth Spirit Enhancer with his muscr body finallyid down helplessly. He got bruised all over his body. The stage three zombies were not just bigger, but they were also stronger and faster. If it wasn''t because of Aria''s help, the life of the former Russian wrestler mighte to an end.


    Aria had fired herser weapon twice already and every shot was very deadly for these ck monsters. Especially when it hit right in their head, the main weakness of these monsters. Aria put attention to how many spirit stones each weapon was spent on. At the present time the supply of spirit stones was not the problem. However, Aria could feel that the weapon in her hand was over heat. It seemed like the weapon could not be used very often.


    On the other side, the three spirit enhancer Jerry, Oscar, and Oliver ganged up on one ck monster. The twins'' sword attacks and Jerry''s giant knife were only able to make outside cuts. But at present there was hardly any part of the zombie''s body that was unharmed.. It made the zombie explode into a rage. But all three of these fighters were tough enough to avoid each of the monster''s attacks.


    At this time, Alex''s position was the most dangerous one. Alex with his 2 meters long swords tried to stifle three zombies by himself. While Darius was still on his effort to reload some bullets to the gatling weapon machine he held on his hands.


    Alexunched a hard hit on one of the zombies ...


    KREEEEKKKKK!!


    The zombie that was attacked by a 100 kilograms sword was pushed a few meters back. However this sh of attacks made a lot of cracks on the sword. The second monster attacked and pounced on Alex. Alex deflected the attack with both swords. And the result was ˇ­.


    BAMMMM!!


    Alex bounced back while the two swords were immediately smashed into pieces ...


    The smash was so hard that it made Alex vomit some fresh blood, despite the pain he felt, Alex could not stop just like that. He immediately ran over to Darius who was being attacked by the third monster.


    The attack of ck monsters was way faster than it''s expected. Darius immediately took out the shield and sword on his back. However the iron shield was unable to withstand the monster''s violent attack. Darius thrown back, his life survived but the gatling weapon was destroyed in the attack.


    The three ck monsters re-prepared to attack the two of them ... The three advanced to attack simultaneously. Although Alex still has reserves ofrge swords and machine guns, he knows these weapons will not be useful at the moment. Alex immediately pulled Darius who was almost unconscious to his back and immediately used hexagram steps techniques. With the unique stage four hexagram step, Alex managed to survive avoiding all the attacks .


    On the other side, with great effort, Aria helped the big bodied Sergei to stand up.


    "Ready to attack again?" Aria said


    "Which one should we help? Alex with the three monsters, or should we focus on the one attacked by Jerry?"


    Aria wanted to immediately help Alex who was in danger but she answered ..


    "Neitherˇ­"


    Aria pointed to a certain direction where three more giant ck monsters appear from the shadow of darkness.


    "Damn ˇ­ how can we beat them? Aaaaa!!! if only I knew that it would turn out to be this way, I should take some time first to have a drink first.. damn monsters!!"


    Aria check on the weapon he held once again. Although it''s been over a minute, the censor on the weapon indicated that the weapon was still not ready to be used, but Aria was still not afraid to face the three monsters that had just arrived ...


    "Be ready, Sergei. We''re not going to let those three monsters help the other ones ˇ­"


    "Ok ok.. at least we have that secret weapon ˇ­ we will win the battle ˇ­"


    "I''m sorry, Sergei, this weapon is unavable for the time being."


    "What the f**k!"


    The three monsters were running closer. Sergei had no other choice. He ran over and tried to stop the three monsters ...


    Thud thud thud thud


    Sergei seemed to realize that he will not make it this time. He can''t even survive fighting one zombie, let alone three of them. Sergei took out his special abilities and once again his hands turned to be twice bigger than before. At this time Sergei looked like a red-haired gori ...


    Sergei was ready to use his body to block the three monsters ˇ­ But suddenly ...


    A figure with extremely fast movements suddenly jumped in front of Sergei. It was a man with reddish brown skin and long ck hair. The man swung the small axe weapon he held several times and strong wind incursion hit the three ck zombies.


    Shuss shuss shuss


    Three shes managed to push back the three ck zombies. Some ck liquid was seen flowing through the bodies of the three monsters ..


    ROOOAARRRRRRˇ­


    The monster screamed in a rage. But before they went forward to attack, another figure ran quickly from behind and immediately approached one of the three monsters, and Sergei could see some ck liquid sttered from behind the monster''s neck. Then the monster fell sprawled ...


    Someone had managed to kill one ck monster with just one strike. The man held up a long weapon that shone silvery.


    Seeing the appearance of these two people, Sergei cried happily


    "Hahahahah finally you all are here!!"


    It was Nathanael, the American delta force soldier, and Arief, the strongest Deadsquad soldier. They were the two strongest fighters on this ind or maybe even the strongest on earth. W


    One of the two ck zombies that had just came was dead. Nathanael and Arief immediately faced the remaining two. The threat from the three new zombies that had just came in was sessfully ovee.


    Shortly after, Rama and his bear troops also joined in. Looking at the situation, Rama immediately helped to face the three zombies that surrounded Alex.


    Rama and the four martial masters could fight very effectively. The four martial fighters obstructed and disturbed the other giant monsters while Rama took chances and destroyed the head of a ck zombie with a deadly stabs from his iron spear ..


    The appearance of these fighters immediately changed the direction of the fight. In an instant, two ck zombies were defeated.


    Aria came back again out of the blue standing next to the zombies who were fighting against Jerry and the twins.


    SPLAAATT !!!


    Another shot that destroyed the zombie head once again. Aria''s uracy and her special ability that made her undetected, made this monster unable to avoid the shot.


    Aria''s attack made all the three fighters finally can have a rest. As usual, Jerry did not spout muchment even though he was annoyed not being able to kill even one of these creatures. Oscar and Oliver were quite happy to survive and managed to avoid some deadly attacks of the monsters.


    Five minutes after the back ups came, the fighters finally managed to defeat some other stage three zombies. With the help of Rama''s, the zombies that attacked Alex were defeated. Arief and Natahanel also seeded in killing one monster each. Finally, only three ck zombies were left fighting the golems.


    Alex knew that this stone golem had a very strong defensive ability so he was not worried about leaving this golem fighting against the three ck zombies at all. However, at this time, Alex was still feeling uneasy. He knew that at least there was still one more enemy that had not yet been seen.


    Except the golems who were still fighting, Alex immediately called everyone to gather around. Arief. Aria, Natahanel, Jerry, Sergei, Darius, Oscar, Oliver, Rama, and also the four martial masters.


    "Be careful, I am sure that there are still some hidden enemies ˇ­"


    Sergei, even though his body is full of wounds, answered with a smile.


    "With all the team gathered here, 10 more ck monsters won''t make us tremble."


    "That''s right," the twins answered in apact manner.


    If what they really had to face was ck zombies only, Alex would not be worried ..


    "Be careful ..."


    To get rid of the ck zombies who were currently fighting against the stone golems, Alex sent Rama and his bear troops along with Nathanael.


    The siege of the mutated bears and the fast attack from Nathanael were able to finish off the three zombies in less than a minute.


    Swiiisshhhh !!!


    Thest ck zombie was finally defeated by the artifact axe attack used by Nathanael.


    "Yes, the fight is over," Sergei eximed.


    The martial fighters began to descend from the bear mutation and began to extract the yellow spirit stone from the dead ck zombies lying in the park. At the moment the situation looked secured. Alex starts to feel that he might just overthink things.


    Suddenly ˇ­


    Tessssss


    Coming from behind Alex, a warning shot colored the night sky. Alex gasped. His mind was immediately fulfilled with the miserable fate of the spirit enhancers who had just escaped.


    Alex immediately contacted his handheld radio.


    Theo !! Cindy !!


    Alex, along with the others, immediately rushed toward the origin of the warning shot. Anxious and worried terrorized him along the way.


    Getting close to the location, Alex can feel the aura of death, the ce reeks of blood.


    .


    Dead bodiesy on the ground, some in pieces.. and he could recognize some of the faces ...


    .

 Chapter 179 - Corpses

    Not more than 20 minutes ago they were still having fun at a wedding. But now, there theyy on the cold ground mutted almost beyond recognition. The corpse of the woman wearing a white wedding dress was now drenched with blood while hugging the head of the man she just married. Around her were dozens more corpses that were severely disfigured.


    Amongst the pile of corpses, Alex recognized Ark and Dinda, the two new spirit enhancers among these corpses. The twins, who were quite close to them, saw their corpses and immediately threw up. They couldn''t handle that horrible sight.


    The scene in this ce made Alex remember the massacres in his previous life. Even though he was ustomed to seeing corpses like this, his heartbeat raced as he hurriedly ran towards the sound of the fight. It sounds no more than 200 meters. But that distance somehow felt so far away


    "!!!"


    In the middle of the journey, a figure of a bloodied man leaned on the wall of a house.. Alex easily recognized therge figure and immediately approached him.


    "Raufgar! Raufgar!"


    The big man was losing consciousness. Blood was flowing from the top of his head and soaked his entire face. He was dying. Raufgar felt a presence approaching him. He tried hard to talk.


    "Please... please... mama... my mom..."


    Even though he was suffering, Raufgar was still worrying about his mother who would be abandoned.


    Alex immediately summoned a panacea serum and injected it on Raufgar''s body.


    Alex didn''t dare to tarry long and asked Darius, who was also heavily injured, to stay with Raufgar. Alex and the others then left in a hurry.


    A few momentster, the group arrived in front of a multi-story building. Alex was about to head in but a figure ran out.


    "Daisy!"


    Daisy was also injured while carrying the unconscious Tommy on her back. She anxiously looked at the newly arrived group of fighters.


    "We need to run! This monster... this monster. It''s different!"


    Alex immediately checked Tommy''s condition. Fortunately, it looks like Tommy just fainted.


    "Daisy! Where are Theo and Cindy? Where?"


    Daisy looked at one of the third-floor windows behind her and said, "They''reˇŞ"


    An explosion unexpectedly crashed behind the third floor''s window as two bodies flew out.


    "!!!"


    Nathanael, who could run the fastest, immediately catched one of the figures. A blond woman, it was Cindy.


    While Alex approached another figure at once. It was a man whose entire body was covered with blood and burns. Alex knew this person extremely well. "Theo!"


    Alex, in a sh, gave Theo a panacea serum and right away inspected Theo''s pulse.


    Although Cindy was covered with wounds, she didn''t look as ragged as Theo. She quickly ran to Theo, who was shaking violently, as blood permeated his clothes.


    Cindy was panicking. Even though this woman liked to joke around a lot, her real, deepest emotions were unraveling. For the past three months, Theo was the person she most often teased. She screamed at the top of her lungs.


    "Theo!!! Stupid man!!! Why did you act like a hero huh?!"


    Her throat hurt, but she kept on calling for him.


    "Stupid man! Theo! WAKE UP!"


    Cindy looked at Alex, who was checking Theo''s pulse. But then, he let go of his grip and stood quietly silent with a grim face.


    Cindy shouted again. "Alex!!!"


    Alex couldn''t say it, no... he didn''t want to say it. He could only shake his head. The serum did not save Theo... Theo was dead....


    Everyone watched Theo breathe out hisst breath. Theo had always been a friend to all of them. His death weighed heavy for each and every one of them.


    But they didn''t have the time to mourn as they thought of the thing that killed him. They then felt an intense pressure as if something was choking them. The five mutated bears became restless when a figure jumped down from the building.


    A pale white humanoid figure, not much bigger than an average human, stood before them. His blood red eyes looked directly at Alex.


    Stage four zombie!


    Alex had survived Doomsday for more than 10 years. He knew all of the uing monsters that would challenge humanity in the next 10 years. The doomsday disease kickstarted evolution for all living beings. As for the 80 percent of people who didn''t get past the gue, they all died but rose again bing zombies. This zombie was the result of evolution.


    Stage one zombies were ordinary zombies who had the same power as ordinary humans. The next evolution was the second stage zombies who had experienced forceful physical mutation that ripped the muscles breaking the outer skin making their entire bodies appear red. It also affected other parts of the body such as the finger nails bing a w, teeths bing sharp. Stage two zombies mutated to have the power and speed of peak stage mortal realm.


    In a few months time, this second stage zombie will enter the next evolution. Like a metamorphosing butterfly, an evolving second stage zombie will start an incubation period for several days inside a cocoon. The monster that wille out of the cocoon bes a giant full of physical strength that exceeded the mortal realm''s limit. This ck monster was what prompted humans to seek protection and help of the Doomsday Pir.


    The ck zombies were supposed to be the main threat in the first year of Doomsday, before the presence of new threats from underground.


    As for its next evolution, there had been no records of stage four zombie sightings in the first year. The earliest Alex had heard of this white monster appeared was in the 13th month of Doomsday in one of the cities in Europe.


    This stage four zombie couldn''tpare in size with the third stage. The ck liquid that had once flowed all over its body had been condensed and absorbed in every cell in its new body. This type of zombie didn''t look bulky but instead appeared to be very thin with white skin.


    Although this monster wasn''t much stronger and faster than stage three, its biggest threat was its high intellectual capabilities and its ability to control all other zombies. As for the fifth and final stage of zombie, the final zombie evolution. No fighter under the sky realm could ever defeat it.


    Once the third year arrived, there would be no more stage one zombies in the whole world. The stage two zombies would be the average troops, stage three zombies were the elite troops, stage four zombies were the chief of troops and stage five zombies were considered as generals.


    Alex couldn''t think of a reason why a stage four zombie would have appeared already. Especially more so on this ind of Bali. Alex had already suspected this existence after hearing the surveince report from Aria.


    Although the appearance of a stage four zombie was very worrisome for Alex, he knew killing these zombies was something not impossible. Stage four zombies could make a horde far more sinister, but when alone, the strength of a stage four zombie was onlyparable to a peak stage earth realm,parable to the power of the stone golem, which is why Alex immediately summoned the golem.


    Alex had no idea how this zombie could stage an ambush at night. Even to be able to find Alex''s exact position, this mystery kept running in his mind.


    Alex red at the white creature in front of him with hatred. He wanted to rush in and vent his anger. But Alex had often faced this stage four zombie before and understood he shouldn''t be careless. Or else, more fighters will die.


    This white monster kept staring in silence.


    "Daisy." With just one word, Daisy knew what Alex needed.


    Daisy immediately checked the surroundings. "There are no other zombies within a 1 kilometer radius."


    Hearing this, Alex couldn''t help but get more worried. In his previous life, these stage four zombies always took shelter behind dozens of ck zombies. What was this creature''s nning?


    Alex needed to be more careful. He asked Arief and Nathanael to join the fight with him and the golem. Rama, the bear squads and the others stand behind, protecting the wounded fighters.


    The white monster smiled with satisfaction.. It appears to lure Alex and the others to attack.


    Alex shouted


    "Attack!!!"

 Chapter 180 - Opportunity

    Alex along with his two strongest fighters Arief, a Deathsquad leader with a giant sword radiating silver light, and Nathanael, an American special forces delta force fighter with his small ax, went forward for a three-pronged attack.


    Nathanael, the fastest among them, moved in and attacked first. He understood that the monster in front of him was very dangerous and immediately issued his strongest attack. Three deadly shes split the wind from his artifact ax.


    Shuiissh shuiiss shuissss


    These three attacks released a very strong gust of wind and when the monster felt the sharp air approaching closer it immediately dodged but one of the attacks managed to cut its shoulder.


    Although Nathanael''s attack wounded it, the monster did not retreat. It insteadunched a counterattack toward Nathanael. The monster''s ten white fingers morphed into 10 sharp des as it charged at Nathanael


    Nathaniel tried to avoid the attack, but this monster easily matched his speed, actually, it was even faster! Nathanael managed to narrowly avoid the scratch, but its second hand grabbed the chest of this American fighter.


    SCCRRAATTCHHH!!.


    Fourrge strokes pierced through his protective clothing and fresh blood gushed out. If it weren''t for the snake-skin protective suit that Alex had just shared, Nathanael would have been seriously injured right away. The mutated snake''s shirt had saved his life.


    Nathaniel groaned in pain and fell to his knees. But the white monster wasn''t done followed up for a third attack. Nathaniel could feel death''s door approaching fast.


    But then an approaching figure arrived and helped him avoid the attack. Alex, with his stage four hexagram, had a speed that was not inferior to Nathanael. Alex had already taken out two grenades. But these were not the ordinary explosive grenades but were sh grenades.


    Two sh grenades exploded in front of the white creature.


    BAANNGG!!!


    Alex had already fought this stage four zombie in his previous life, an ordinary grenade wouldn''t be able to hurt it. But this zombie had a heightened sense of perception, hearing, and vision. The sudden explosion of the sh grenades blinded and temporarily stunned the white monster.


    In that instant, the stone golem grabbed the white monster from behind. The two giant stone arms revolved around the monster''s body. Even though the monster could see again, it could not move.


    Arief did not waste this opportunity and wielded the glowing giant sword with all his might straight at the stage four zombie''s head.


    CRAACKKK!!!


    Unfortunately, the heavy attack did not seed in splitting the head of the white monster. Once again, Arief raised his sword andunched the same attack with all of his strength.


    CRAACKKK!!!


    This time, Arief''s giant sword split into pieces instead.


    As the sword shattered, Aria also grabbed the momentary opportunity and revealed herself a few meters from the white monster. She aimed and fired her weapon. Theser beam urately hit the monster''s head.


    BAAMMM!!!


    A small explosion urred right at the head of the monster. But as soon as the smoke faded, a majority of its head was still intact as white liquid dripped from the wounded area. The monster then screamed.


    RROOOOAARRRR!!!


    Its scream deafened the ears of everyone in the area. After shouting, the monster gathered its strength and broke free from the grasp of the stone golem. The white monster grabbed one of the golem''s arms and threw the hundreds of kilograms golem, crashing into one of the multistory buildings.


    The white monster raged as it searched for the person who had just fired a weapon into its face But it didn''t find anyone because Aria had already returned to using her special ability to get out of the monster''s detection.


    Unable to find the person, the monster turned its attention toward Arief, the man who hit its head twice, and attacked. Arief was startled to find the monster jump right next to him and five sharp fingers pierced through Arief''s chest.


    "ARRGGGHH!!!"


    Fortunately, it hasn''t stab too deep as Alex and Nathanael approached the monster from two different directions. When the monster felt the iing danger it immediately jumped backward.


    Alex approached the injured Arief. "How''s your wound?"


    "I''m fine. Give me a few seconds and I''ll be ready to attack again," Arief said while holding his chest.


    "Good." Alex summoned another giant sword from his storage ring and gave it to Arief.


    "It seems that my strength is not enough to kill him," said Arief.


    "Get ready, you will know when it''s time."


    Alex, along with Nathanael and the golem this time, pursued and attacked the white monster. These three were faster than all of the other fighters, but their continuous attacks weren''t able to hurt it as this monster was always able to dodged.


    The fighters standing behind watched the battle as feelings of awe and fear filled them. None of them would be able to take part in this fight.


    The fight had been going on for several minutes and Alex was beginning to worry that the opportunity he was waiting for would note. He will soon reach his limit in using his hexagram technique. He needed to end this now.


    But then, a shadow appeared under the feet of the white monster and immediately wrapped around its feet. Tommy had just woken up and seeded in creating an opportunity. Although Tommy''s strength was still very weak, the shadow seeded in creating that one second Alex needed!


    Alex immediately shouted, "Now!!!" And threw another two sh grenades.


    BANG! BANG!


    Aria immediately reappeared from her hiding spot not too far and fired one more beam attack. Nathanael also threw his ax with everything he got.


    BAAMMM!!!


    SWISSHHH!!!


    But the white monster was not fooled for the second time. It managed to dodge the two attacks from Aria and Nathanael but before it could smile, Alex crashed into the monster.


    One of the unique features of the hexagram was that it could read the direction of the monster''s avoidance.


    Alex''s sudden and strong crash made the monster bounce right into the direction of the stone golem. The golem immediately grabbed the white monster again, and Arief showed up aiming for the monster''s head once more.


    The monster was just about tough because its opponents were using the same tactic. But then, it realized the weapon held by Arief was different from before. Arief wasn''t holding a giant sword but the small ax that belonged to Nathanael.


    When Nathanael had attacked, he apparently threw his ax toward Arief. As soon as Arief received it, he immediately knew what he had to do.


    The white monster was not stupid and felt the dangering toward it. It quickly used all of its strength to escape the golem''s grasp. And even though the golem was suppressing the white monster with all of its strength, the golem''s arms finally loosened.


    But it''s toote. Arief had used all of his strength to make the middle-level artifact ax shine silvery.


    SWWIISSSHHHH!!!


    SPLLAATTT!!!


    Finally, an attack that could split the white monster in half! But in thest tenth of a second, it was able to dodge leaving the ax only splitting the white monster''s left shoulder. The monster left side body and arm was cut off.


    RROOOAAARRR!!!


    The monster was in pain and took a few steps back. Arief followed up with a second attack, but the monster was much faster than Arief and kicked him back a few meters.


    All of the fighters who were watching cheered in their hearts. "We can defeat this monster!" all except for Alex.


    The monster stepped back a few more steps as it screamed in pain. But then, its screaming slowly changed to augh.


    "Kekekkekekeke..."


    "!!!"


    "Kekekekekekke..."


    Everyone watched as the monster''s left shoulder spit out a white liquid and began to shape an arm.


    Alex wasn''t sure if they could get the same chance again. He racked his brain for a way to defeat this white monster.


    Suddenly, a loud noise sounded about 100 meters from Alex''s right side. He saw several giant iron barrels aiming toward the white monster and then...


    DUMMM! DUMM!!! DUUMM!


    KABOOOMM!!! KABOOOMM! KABOOOMM!!!


    Three giant canons sted from the three tiger tanks. The biggest tank in Indonesia''s military forces with a 105mm cannon. Three secondster, the tanks fired again.


    DUMM!!! DUMM! DUUMM!!


    KABOOMM! KABOOMM!!! KABOOOMM!


    The three tanks moved a few closer a few dozen meters and fired the third time. Not long after, two people came out of the tank. They were James Randall and Winter.


    "I heard someone needs help!" James said.


    The arrival of James and the high-explosive cannon shots made Alex re-calcte their chances. the high explosive barrage shoud be enough to kill the monster.


    A few momentster, the multi-story building behind where the white monster was standing copsed to pieces. Thick smoke filled the area where the monster stood. But when the smoke subsided, Alex couldn''t believe his eyes as a golden light shone from behind the smoke.


    "!!!"


    "Kekeekekeekkeeˇ­"


    "Impossible!"

 Chapter 181 - Final Evolution

    The multiple cannons from the tanks really make a lot of smoke, but Alex startled to see the golden rays piercing from the smoke of the ruined building.


    Nathanael, as a veteran delta force fighter, wouldn''t want the opportunity wasted. He couldn''t let this monster recover or run away. He believed that the monster must be either dead or at least in a critical condition. He immediately ran towards Arief and retrieved his artifact axe. He then quickly moved toward the monster and wielded the axe, splitting the smoke in half. But when Nathanael was about to swing the axe again, two red eyes appeared from the smoke staring nkly at him.


    "!!!"


    "Pwuah!"


    Something quickly grabbed Nathanael''s face. Even though Natahael was the fastest among them, he was unable to see nor avoid it at all. A sturdy golden-skinned hand grabbed his neck and locked him in ce..


    "Huufff huffff"


    Nathanael gasped for breath as he used his axe to strike the burly hand.


    nk nk!


    The sh did nothing as it bounced back as if the axe in Nathanael''s hand hit solid steel. Nathanael wriggled in pain when the monster began to harden its grip.


    "Aarrrghhh!!!"


    Alex froze in disbelief while watching the figure emerged from the smoke. A gold-skinned zombie with a height of almost three meters. The strongest zombie. The perfect zombie evolution.


    This time, Alex was convinced that there''s something special that brought this zombie here. This stage of zombie shouldn''t even exist yet! Moreover, this zombie was something even he couldn''t defeat even in his best condition in his previous life.


    Alex finally woke up from his disbelief as he heard Nathanael screaming in pain but a momentter...


    Brackkk...


    Nathanael''s neck broke as his head flew up several meters and his body dropped, bing separate from each other.


    "!!!"


    "Kekekekekeke..." The golden zombie resumedughing while it licked its bloody fingers.


    Everyone took a step back as the hands of terror gripped their hearts. They just witnessed this horrifying monster kill one of the strongest men as if it just patted a mosquito to death.


    Alex immediately shouted, "EVERYONE, RUN RIGHT NOW!!!"


    Everything was beyond Alex could have ever imagined. The only thing he could do right now was to reduce the number of casualties. Alex immediately summoned the rocketuncher from his storage ring and even though he knew this rocket wouldn''t be able to hurt the monster, the rocket should be able to buy the others time to run away.


    But before Alex could shoot it and all the people in that ce even had time to move. Golden rays shot out from its body exhibiting a tremendous amount of energy causing the ground to tremor for several kilometers. The monster sucked in the air deeply with its mouth and exhaled a barrage of fireballs toward the three tiger tanks.


    "!!!"


    One of the fireballs flew near James. Since James had a defect in his legs from the start, even with the consumption of spirit stones, he could never run as fast as the other fighters.


    "JAMMEESS!!!" Alex shouted.


    KABOOOOMM!!! KABOOOOMM!!! KABOOOOMM!!! KABOOOOMM!!!


    All three tanks exploded and shattered into pieces. Since James was standing near the tiger tanks, the explosions blew him several meters. .


    James did not think he could survive the explosion. But as he groaned in pain and slowly opened his eyes. He saw the reason why he is still alive. In front of himy the figure of a man with a destroyed body. Some parts of this man''s body were gone. It was Winter, the spirit enhancer with an extremely hard body had been blown into pieces. A great spirit enhancer and bodyguard died protecting him.


    "ARRGGHHH!" Alex shouted loudly while firing a rocket at the monster.


    SHUUUIIHH SHUUUIIHHH


    KABOOMM! KABOOMM!


    But Alex knew that his efforts were just that, the monster avoided the rockets easily and ran toward the group of fighters who were trying to escape with the mutated bears.


    "Golem, stop that creature!!!"


    The golem quickly obstructed and tackled the monster into one of the buildings


    CRAASSSHHH!!!


    The golem then picked up a vehicle next to it and mmed it at the monster repeatedly.


    BANGG! BANGG! BANGG!


    All of the fighters immediately prepared to run away. Daisy, Tommy, Cindy, Oscar and Oliver boarded the five mutated bears along with the martial arts masters.


    "Go, go!" Jerry shouted.


    But in less than a few seconds, the golden zombie counterattacked. It got up, smashed the golem down.. grabbed the golem''s feet and easily ripped it apart.


    SNAAPPP!


    The monster then turned toward the running fighters.


    Jerry noticed this and knew what he had to do. He nced at the big man next to him. "Sergei!"


    Sergei and Jerry both decided to block the horrifying monster. Sergei didn''t waste time and erged his hands, as well as Jerry who readied his tworge des. They both knew there was nothing they could do to defeat the monster. But if they could hold the monster for a few seconds, maybe the other fighters could escape.


    But regardless of their n, the monster passed through them like a sh of golden light. This monster was dead-set to not let anyone escape and be held down again. The golden monster moved so fast that it immediately appeared in front of the 5 mutated bears.


    The monster stood still facing the five mutated bears while smiling.


    Kekekekekekekek


    Looking at the gold monster suddenly standing in front, all the fighters lose hope. A speed ??that could easily outmatch Nathanael''s, a long-range fire attack that could destroy tanks, as well as a physical strength that could effortlessly rip apart stone golems. No one could defeat this monster.


    Seeing the creature standing in front of them, the five mutated bears immediately stopped. Sitting on top of a ck bear, Rama said, "Cindy, the bear will help you escape."


    Hearing Rama''s words, Cindy immediately shouted, "No, I will fight him! I''ll avenge Theo''s death!"


    Rama replied, "Even a rocket bullet can''t hurt it. There''s nothing we can do."


    Rama patted the bear''s neck and the bear understood. Cindy, sitting on top of the ck bear, as well as the other four bears that carried the others scattered in five directions.


    Rama immediately jumped and focused all of his strength on the tip of his spear. The vanguard of the spear shone brightly as he threw it with all his might.


    "Pa!"


    The spear flew toward the monster''s forehead, but the monster easily grabbed it mid-air and swung it against Rama.


    BAMMMM!!!


    Rama, who had justnded, got his ribs and shoulder broken. But he gritted his teeth against the pain and advanced instead to try and embrace the monster. But it was useless. The monster kicked Rama, sending him away several meters.


    All of the people on the bears didn''t have to look back to know the ill-fate Rama had faced.


    Alex couldn''t think of any solutions. Will all of the greatest fighters die here? Is this where his second chance ends? Seeing the five bears move away for several meters away was the only thing Alex could say was a fortune.


    But then, the golden monster startedughing again.


    Kekekekekekek...


    The monster once again let out a golden glow. And then suddenly, a tremendous amount of pressure pushed down Alex and everyone in the area. It was as if their bodies were being dragged toward the center of the Earth. Everyone fell to their knees even the mutated bears!


    "Impossible! I''ve never heard of this!" Alex blurted out. He had never seen this kind of ability from this stage five zombie in his previous life.


    Theughing golden monster''s crimson eyes then shone as a pair of horns started growing out of its forehead.


    "!!!"


    Alex had never seen anything like this in the whole ten years he had struggled after Doomsday. Stage five zombies didn''t have horns. But next thing this creature did shook Alex to his core. The monster let out a sound. It was unintelligible at first, but it gradually became clearer.


    "Aaa..exxx"


    "!!!"


    "Allexxx..."


    The creature spoke! Alex tried to withstand the pressure and terror filling him...


    "Wha-what are you?"


    "Kekekekkekekekeˇ­ actttuaalyyˇ­ Alex.. I.. Also wonderˇ­ whooo are youu?"


    "!!!"


    Just when Alex thought things couldn''t get any worse, this monster spoke his name! This monster even recognized him. What kind of a monster is this?


    ------


    Author Note


    over the months I read many people''s disappointed with the chapters, but please read it till the end of the volume which is only a few more chapters before deciding to drop the novel.

 Chapter 182 - Giving Up

    The monster in front of Alex wasn''t part of the zombie''s evolution. It''s a different monster, a monster that could talk and recognize Alex was something he had never encountered in his previous life.


    "Kekekekekeke..." The monsterughed, it slowly walked around the people who were hard pressed on the ground struggling to move.


    Alex barely raised his head and asked, "What do you want?"


    The monster''s crimson eyes red at Alex and replied,


    "Kekekeke... Tell me who you are, Alex.".


    "..."


    "I see what you have done to this indˇ­ tell me how do you know about the end times?" The monster asked as it titled its head.


    Alex was as silent as a thousandnguages.


    "Kekkeek... It sounds like you need encouragement."


    The monster raised its hand and then a sudden strong burst of energy emanated from the monster slowly dragging everyone on the floor toward itself.


    In just a couple of seconds, the martial arts masters, Daisy, Tommy, Cindy, Oscar, Oliver, Jerry, Sergei, Arief, and even James and Rama, who were critically injured, were all dragged a few meters from it. As for Alex, he was specially ced right in front of the monster in a kneeling position.


    All of them tried to break free from its control, but all of their efforts were in vain. They were like pigs struggling to be freed, but they were lined up to be ughtered.


    The monster then nced at a corner of a building.


    "Aaahh. There''s one more." It smirked; it then waved its hand and a female figure holding an energy rifle appeared out of nowhere.


    "!!!"


    Aria''s special ability wasn''t able to fool the monster.


    Aria then pulled the trigger. The energy rifle hummed and was about to fire when smoke suddenly rose from its barrel. It began to tremble and then a trail of electricity burned Aria''s hand causing her to let it go. The weapon was used so frequently that it finally blew up.


    After that, Aria could no longer control her body and slowly floated toward the monster..


    Alex tried to stand but the unknown force from the monster didn''t allow him to move more than an inch. This monster''s powers were very different from the other zombies.


    The monster enjoyed Alex''s reaction and crept up a smile. "Kekeke. Looks like you care a lot about this one, Alex."


    Once Aria was close enough to the monster, it then grasped Aria by her throat.


    More will die if Alex didn''t do something. Alex looked at everyone using all of their strength to get up. He then felt the power of the Hexagram''s fourth stage nearing its limit. He had been using it for too long. In desperation, Alex thought of only one solution. He opened his storage ring and summoned a yellow spirit stone. Alex once more revolved the power of stage four Hexagram inside of him to its full potential momentarily making him move enough to swallow the stone. "ARRGGGHHHH!!!"


    The monster watched Alex with great interest.


    The human body under the mortal realm actually couldn''t handle the essence of the yellow spirit stone. Although consuming it would grant Alex more strength for a few minutes, it would then paralyze him or even kill him. Alex knew this, but he didn''t care.


    Alex screamed as every veins in his body swelled. And with each time his heart pumped, the essence of the yellow spirit stone caused him pain throughout his whole being as if a thousand needles pricked him every half-second. But this pain came with great strength.


    Alex broke the shackle of the unknown force from the monster and stood up. He then mmed his fist at the monster''s head with the full force from the stage four hexagram.


    BAMMMMM!!!


    His fist hit the monster''s head and made it step back and released Aria from its grip. Everyone then felt the powerful force holding them down vanishedˇ­ But that was all Alex''s punch did.


    "!!!"


    The monster grinned with anger as it looked back at Alex, it clearly wasn''t expecting this human to defy it. The monster then grabbed Alex''s throat and lifted him up. Its crimson eyes zed ready to kill its prey. The monster pulled Alex closer and asked, "TELL ME NOW OR I''LL KILL EVERYONE!"


    But before Alex could say anything, the monster immediately pulled a big man who was lying nearby.


    "Sergei!!!" Alex eximed.


    Sergei was still fearless as he made use of the momentum of the pull to m the golden monster with his giant hands. But the two giant fist from the former Russian wrestler champion faced a counter punch from the monster.


    Brrrackkk!!!


    Sergei''s giant arms shattered as the monster''s punch pierced through Sergei''s body. He coughed out blood right next to Alex and the monster pulled back its arm. Sergei fell on the ground with lifeless eyes. The spirit enhancer who was always cheerful finally breathed hisst.


    "SERGEIIII!!"


    "Kekeke, still not enough?" The monster waved its hand again and pulled Oscar at its feet. The monster then stomped Oscar''s head causing it to explode!


    Stt!!!


    Oliver screamed as he watched his brother die. The monster looked at Oliver and he ended up with the same fate.


    Satt!!!


    Oscar and Oliver, the twin spirit enhancers, just died. Pretty soon, everyone would also die and Alex couldn''t do anything.


    "AAARRRGGHH!!! Fuuxxxxˇ­!! WHAT DO YOU WANT!"


    "Kekekekke..." The more desperate Alex became, the more the monster felt happy. "Like I saidˇ­Alex.. Tell me how do you know about the end times?"


    "Iˇ­.."


    Alex understood that this monster was really going to kill everyone. He looked at his surroundings and gritted his teeth. Maybe if he did tell this monster what it wanted to know, would it somehow release them? Alex finally gave up.


    Alex slowly talked about his 10 years of doomsday experience and his reincarnation... Alex''s exnation shocked everyone as well as that monster.


    "Huh! The power that prates time and space!" the monster eximed.


    The monster thought for a moment and then said,


    "Now here''s more reason for you to die right now. This time, you''ll die forever. Goodbye! Kekeke."


    The monster raised its fist ready to smash Alex''s head when a strong aura suddenly covered the sky of the ind of Bali.


    KKYAAAHHHH!!!


    A giant bird appeared from the darkness of the night and immediately lunged at the monster.


    Ssswoooossshhh!!


    The golden monster jumped back managing to avoid the bird''s attack.


    A strong wind covered the whole area and a magnificent 5 meter length brown feather bird, the legendary bird.. Garudanded next to Alex. The high-level mutated animal which dwells in the Bali mountain unexpectedly appeared.


    THUMPP!


    Tonight was full of surprises after another. Not only did this Garuda saved him, another figure of a little girl descended from the bird back.


    "Tiffany!" Alex eximed.


    Tiffany didn''t respond but instead walked toward him. Thest time Tiffany managed to control this mythical creature, she only did it for a few seconds. But now it seemed like the Garuda was under her control or maybe it was the opposite.


    Once Tiffany was beside her father, the Garuda pped its wings and attacked the golden monster.


    The Garuda and the golden monster shed as wind and explosion resulted in each exchange. The Garuda''s wings and talons were as sharp as a sword. Each flicker of its wings managed to scratch the golden monster, but the golden monster had great regeneration ability and all of its injuries healed immediately. The two monsters were fighting fiercely that everyone could only watch.


    In the midst of explosions and wind roaring, Alex''s attention was fully focused on his child''s safety. "Tiffany.... Why are you here?"


    Tiffany''s white eyes directly looked at Alex and said, "Don''t worry, this child is going to be fine."


    "!!!"


    The manner of speech was different. This wasn''t Alex''s daughter. "What? Who are you? What did you do to my daughter?!"


    Tiffany was about to answer when she looked at the direction of the battle. "This is bad!"


    As the battle between the golden monster and the mighty Garuda continued, the golden monster was starting to win. The Garuda''s strength mainly relied on its extreme speed and mobility, but the golden monster started to release golden rays once more and several fireballs.


    Husshhh hussshhh hussss Kaboom! Kaboom!


    Although only two fireballs hit the Garuda''s neck and wings, it was enough for the Garuda to cry out in pain and lose its bnce falling to the ground.


    Tiffany could tell that Garuda''s not gonnast longer and said,


    "Apparently we cannot win"


    Suddenly, the Garuda screeched!


    Kkkwwaaakkkkk!!!


    The golden monster ripped the Garuda''s wings. The Garuda knew it couldn''t defeat the golden monster but didn''t give up as it pecked the shoulder of the golden monster.


    PAAAA!!!


    Golden red blood sshed from the golden monster''s shoulder but it wasn''t enough to kill it. The golden monster then jumped and stomped the neck of the eagle. The monster''s hands transformed into long golden des and shed the neck of the Garuda. Finally, the mighty Garuda died.


    Alex had never been friends or had any rtionship with the Garuda. But after watching the magnificent creature try its best to save them and die in the hands of this abomination like this. Alex too couldn''t help but feel depressed.


    Tiffany then said, "Hmmm. It seems useless. There isn''t anything in the world today that can defeat that golden monster."


    The monster felt pleasure in killing the Garuda. It smiled at Alex and then rushed toward him. Alex immediately stood up and jumped in front of Tiffany. It didn''t matter if there''s someone controlling his daughter. As a father, he wouldn''t want to have his daughter hurt.


    The golden de was only an inch away from Alex''s head when it suddenly slowed down. Alex then looked around the surrounding area and noticed that everything became gray and moved at an extremely slow pace.


    "!!!"

 Chapter 183 - Space And Time

    Alex had fought hundreds of battles and had seen thousands of hisrades die for thest 10 years in his previous life. He had grown ustomed to people dying and never thought he would care again. But the reincarnation changed him and within thest few months, he started having hope again as he connected with people. The deaths of Theo, Winter, Nathanael, Sergei, Oscar, Oliver and even the new recruits, Dinda and Ark, ced a heavy burden in Alex''s heart. All of them had died within thest hour and those who were still alive might not be able to escape this cmity.


    But as the monster golden de descended on Alex''s head. A strange thing happened. The movement of the de became extremely slow. In fact, all the surroundings slowed down. The rubbles falling from the building, the stream of water bing droplets, the whole world actually decelerated.


    A sudden ray of light appeared between him and the monster''s golden sword strike. The point of the beam created a ripple in the air that spread like waves and like a wall, the light deflected and bounced back the monster..


    DAANGG!!!


    The monster slowly bounced back with a look of surprise. And then a loud voice resounded.


    "Oooooooooo..."


    Everyone covered their ears as the deafening sound continued. Alex''s head began to hurt and vision became blurry. A momentter, the surroundings returned to normal but the beam of light remained floating.


    The monster looked confused mixed with rage as it shouted,


    "Ggggrrraahh! Who are you?! Show yourself!"


    The light grew and then a figure dressed in gray robes appeared. At first, it was a silhouette but it became clearer. His presence came with the loud sound again making everyone in the ce hear ringing in their ears.


    Seeing the figure of the man in gray robes, Alex immediately recognized him. It''s the man responsible for his reincarnation. Alex meticulously studied the man. It was an old man with a short white beard dressed in gray robes. Even though he looked old, his body was still well-built. A broad back; thickly muscled arms, there even seemed to be an aura radiating from his body.


    When the old man appeared, the monster put up his guard and asked, "Who are you?!"


    But the old man maintained his silence, raised his hand and a rift ripped in space. Waves started going in the rift and the old man reached inside. He then pulled out a shiny object and metals grating resounded in the whole area like a sword pulling out of its scabbard.


    ZIIINNGGGG!!!


    The sword''s handle was embroidered with gems with a crystal body and the de was engraved with the same writings within the Pirs. The whole sword also exuded a great majestic aura making everyone stare at it with awe. It''s the most beautiful sword one could have ever seen.


    The golden monster took a step back as it recognized the majestic sword.


    "AArrgggghhh! Th-that sword''s... Caliburnus! You.. its you!!, how dare you interfereˇŞ"


    But before the golden monster finished his words, the old man raised his sword toward the sky and a bright light descended from the heavens targetting the golden monster. The golden monster tried to move but the light seemed to have frozen it.


    ZIINNGGGG!!!


    The old man did a powerful sh attack with both hands and Alex saw a gold-bodied creature easily splitting in half. With just one attack, this monster died


    Alex watched the old man in amazement. He had never seen such a powerful attack in the 10 years he had lived through the end of times. The monster that terrorized his whole team was finally dead.


    The old man summoned the rift once again and ced the sword back. He then turned around, looked at the fighters dead bodies, the Garuda corpses, and the survivors before pausing at Alex. The old man''s eyesnded on the little girl behind Alex watching with interest.


    "Hmmm. This is interesting."


    The man then looked behind Tiffany, waved his hand and pulled something into his palm.


    "Bzzzzztttt"


    A creature as big as a baseball with ck and red dotsnded on the palm of the old man trying to fly away. It was Tiffany''s pet beetle. The old man stared at the beetle and said,


    "Whatever you are doing to that little girl, stop it!"


    Tiffany suddenly fell unconscious and Alex quickly caught her. "Tiffany! Tiffany!" Alex shouted.


    "Don''t worry, she''ll be alright."


    The old man then let go of the beetle and it immediately flew away.


    "Calm yourself. It looks like the beetle didn''t have malicious intent. Interesting. Interesting."


    As Alex hugged Tiffany tightly, he asked, "Who are you?"


    The old man didn''t answer but instead looked around at the remaining people alive. He again extended his hand and a wave of energy spread. Everything became still and gray which meant time had stopped once more.


    "What are you doing?!" Alex questioned the old man.


    The old man simply looked at him and a voice entered Alex''s mind. The old man said, "This is the power of space and time."


    Alex''s eyes widened as he couldn''t believe such a power existed.


    This old man slowly walked at Alex and said, "Do you know how much energy it takes to bring you back 10 years?"


    "...."


    Alex answered with silence.


    The old man stopped walking a meter in front of Alex and said,


    "Too much."


    The old man then looked at the golden monster and shook his head. "This is very unfortunate. It seems like we are out of luck. Let''s just say this is a consequence of messing with time and space."


    "What do you mean?" Alex couldn''t understand what this old man was saying.


    "Alex, I can''t stay here any longer. I need to return immediately. Tonight''s misfortune was truly unexpected. I didn''t think he would find you this fast."


    "He? Who is he?"


    "I don''t have enough time to exin it. Alex, listen carefully! What you have done for thest three months is far from enough to save humanity! You need to try harder!"


    Alex looked at the dead bodies of his friends. They were the best people he had found. And since they''re gone, he wasn''t sure how he could do things better.


    The old man seemed to be able to read Alex''s mind and said, "No need to worry. I''ll use my remaining strength to turn back the time. Hopefully, it''ll be enough until before this tragedy starts."


    Hearing that, Alex immediately felt very relieved.


    "Controlling space and time is not as simple you think, Alex. This is probably thest time I can do this. Since your friends are still in the Mortal Realm that wouldn''t be too difficult. But as for this bird, it''s a high-level mutated animal. I can''t help her."


    "..."


    "I shouldn''t havee and helped you tonight. This haspletely ruined my ns and because of this, I won''t be able to help you anymore. To be able to get past this end of time, humanity must unite."


    The old man then stared firmly at Alex and said, "Alex, remember this name. This is very important! There''s someone who can help you. Find a man named Geoffrey in Ennd before the third tribtion but only after you break through Saint Realm or else it will be useless."


    Alex suddenly shocked


    "Reaching the Saint Realm before the third tribtion?! Th-that''s impossible!"


    The old man understood what he was asking for was almost impossible. He thought for a second and said, "I''ll give something that''ll help you.. a sword.. Hold out your hand, Alex." The old man waved his hand again and a rift opened.


    ''Alex immediately thought of the crystal sword and his heart raced. He expectantly extended his arms with palms wide open, but then to his surprise, It''s an ordinary-sized sword made of wood.


    "..."


    the sword slowly floated down on his palms, Alex stared at the gift and thought to himself,


    "A wooden sword. #$%!&*... seriously..."


    The old man was amused by Alex''s reaction and said, "This wooden sword actually is a very unique artifact. Moreover, I can see you have a connection with its previous ownerˇ­ hope you are destined to have it."


    Alex took the sword and ran it through his fingers. But it still felt like just an ordinary piece of wood. He then held the sword with both hands as it suddenly became heavy... a strong gust of air began converging around Alex and the wooden sword. it''s such a weird feeling for Alex.


    The old man smiled and said, "Good, at least the sword doesn''t reject you. Interesting. Interesting."


    The wind began to calm and the wooden sword returned to its normal state. Alex looked at the old man, but the old man''s figure had already be blurry. The old man didn''t have much time but there still many questions in Alex''s mind. Alex quickly asked, "Please tell me who are you? Why did you choose me?"


    The old man simply smiled and said, "Do you believe in destiny, Alex?


    Alex asked, "What do you mean?"


    But the old man could answer, a bright light exploded and blinded him. His ears began to ring again. And when the ringing finally stopped, Alex opened his eyes. He was somewhere else. He looked down but Tiffany was not there. Alex shifted his attention to the surrounding area trying to recognize where he was.


    Candle lights, chairs, flower decorations, and people filled withughs were surrounding Alex. Then suddenly, arge figure carrying arge box called out to Alex.


    "Ooiii, are you guys partying without inviting me?" a man said mischievously.


    Alex was surprised to see the man. "Sergei!"


    Alex finally realized he had returned to the moment just after the wedding ceremony had ended. Alex fought the urge to smile widely as he saw Jerry and Darius as well. Oscar and Oliver were also on the side joking around. He then saw Cindy nearby with eyes swelling and suddenly ran at the man beside him.


    "Theoo!" Cindy hugged Theo, visibly confused.


    Alex finally saw Aria with her hands on her chest and confused eyes while staring at him.

 Chapter 184 - Egyptian Doll

    The situation turned very confusing. It seemed like the fighters who had died did not have the memory of that fight at all, while those who had survived the tragedy were currently confused.


    Cindy hugged Theo tightly making him embarrassed. Theo did not understand the American woman''s way of thinking. Could it be she was touched by the wedding he had led?


    Cindy hugged Theo for a while as tears dripped from her eyes, but a momentter, the woman''s attitude reversed 180 degrees. She started hitting Theo''s chest wet with her tears and said,


    "Seriously! If you don''t have the power, then don''t act like a hero, you stupid man!


    "..." Theo was speechless at Cindy''s sudden outburst.


    The people within Alex''s vicinity noticed the atmosphere became heavy.. Alex, Aria, Cindy, Jerry, Daisy, and Tommy still clearly remembered everything that had happened, but Sergei and Raufgar, although not victims, didn''t. The power of the spirit of space and time was way different from the elementals. Alex couldn''t understand it.


    As Alex watched the smiling faces of everyone else who attended the wedding, he couldn''t help but think what''s the purpose of the old man. This was the second the man in gray saved his life.


    While Alex was lost in thought, Rama, as well as his martial arts masters, Arief, James, Nathanael, and Winter, arrived also confused.


    Everyone approached Alex searching for answers. They couldn''tprehend the things that had just happened.


    But suddenly, a bright ray fell in the south. Right in the deepest and most crowded zombies. All of them including Alex were mesmerized by the light. They wanted to know what was happening.


    Arief stared at Alex waiting for orders.


    Alex nodded in agreement and he decided to send the best fighters along with the bear squad to investigate in the area where the beam fell. Alex wants to go with them, but currently, he''s very concerned about her daughter, so they split into two groups. "Remember to be careful. the first sign of trouble, retreat immediately."


    "Get ready!" Arief shouted.


    Most of them made their way where the beam fell while Aria, Cindy, and Theo apanied Alex back to the base.


    The darkness enveloped the night as Alex rushed back to his family''s residence. He opened the door strongly and surprised his wife.


    "What is wrong?" Devita asked.


    Alex didn''t answer and went straight to his daughter''s bedroom only to find her fast asleep. Alex heaved a sigh of relief. He then searched for the beetle but it wasn''t here. So he decided to wait and guard in the next room.


    Aria, Cindy, and Theo also waited. Not long after, Cindy and Theo began to feel drowsy due to all of the fighting earlier this day. Devita stood up and prepared a warm tea for them.


    While waiting, Alex inspected the wooden sword he was holding all this time. He tried to put it in the storage ring but it didn''t work. In his previous life, he had heard that there were some high-level artifacts that couldn''t be stored in the storage. It seemed like this wooden sword was a very valuable item.


    This sword looked ordinary. It stretched for about a meter long with a handle that appeared to be a little Chinese sword-shaped rod. Although it looked simple, the sword was actually quite sharp. Apart from its sharpness, Alex couldn''t find any unique points of the sword.


    like a magician Devita quickly made a belt from an old bag so the sword could be hung on Alex''s back.


    "Perfect!" Alex smiled


    Aria watched the closeness of the two and she suddenly became ufortable and decided to wait outside the room.


    Devita noticed this and said to Alex, "It seems like Aria likes you."


    "Haha. Are you jealous?"


    "..."


    "Yes, I am. You have been single for thest ten years, right? Of course, I''m worried," said his wife in a joking manner. But Alex''s face became dark, making her regret her joke. For thest 10 years, Alex had lived a life like in hell and couldn''t even joke about it. Alex did, however, understood his wife''s good intention and tried to smile, but Devita hugged him.


    Her tight hug and kiss made him forget the hardships of the end times momentarily. Not long after, Devita also fell asleep on Alex''sp.


    Three hourster, the first-morning sun illuminated their room and Alex felt an auraing from Tiffany''s bedroom...


    "!!!"


    Alex sprinted into the bedroom and encountered an oddly dressed little girl.


    The little girl standing had ck hair with a beautiful dark bronze-skin wearing old-fashioned clothing. She looked like an Egyptian doll.


    "Calm down, I don''t have any malicious intentions." said the little girl as she looked at Tiffany sleeping soundly.


    Alex recognized that voice. It was the voice of the beetle who had possessed his daughter. "Is this your true form?"


    "No, the beetle is my real form. But I transformed to a human so I could easily talk to you."


    "Who are you? What do you want?"


    "I...I have almost forgotten my name. It''s been a long time... I think I was called by the name Khepri."


    "Khepri..."


    Cindy, who was an expert archaeologist, immediately knew the name. Khepri was the name of an ancient god. God in the form of beetles that were worshiped by the people of Egypt long ago. The strange girl in front of them today was that mysterious beetle. a mysterious powerful beetle with the same name, could this Khepri is that same god?


    Khepri continued and said, "It was by ident that I found this girl had the ability that controlled the animals. I deemed it interesting and dangerous at the same time but as I get to know this human more, I started liking her. That''s why I helped you."


    Alex still couldn''t trust the creature in front of him. Although this creature appeared harmless, Alex knew the strength of the mutated animals from Riau ind and this creature was able to make the Garuda submit. He needed to be careful.


    Alex replied, "Whatever your intentions are, I can''t let you possess my daughter''s body!"


    "Humans... It''s very interesting how humans care deeply about their children."


    "Isn''t that the same for all parents?"


    "That may be so for the majority of all species. But for us beetles, we don''t understand it. We can kill or even eat our own disobedient children." The way the creature say it give such a dangerous aura that made Alex unconsciously drew the wooden sword


    When the strange girl saw the wooden sword in Alex''s hand, she was reminded of the old man''s strength.. she decided to quickly do what she came to do. The strange girl walked toward Tiffany and Alex tried to stop her actions but a strong force stopped him from getting closer. Seeing the girl getting close to his daughter, Alex''s heart beat faster.. he panicked.


    "What are you doing?!"


    The strange girl ignored Alex, pulled out a strange bottle, and opened its cap. A strong fragrant smell filling up the whole room.. the girl took out a pill from the bottle and pushed it into Tiffany''s mouth.


    "!!!"


    A few secondster, the strong force seemed to have disappeared and Alex rushed in. But the strange girl had already retreated a few meters away from the bed.


    "What did you do to my daughter? Alex quickly hold her daughter in his arm


    "Calm down, I gave her a very rare pill. It''ll help her."


    Alex didn''t trust the strange girl in front of him and was starting to get enraged when he suddenly heard something.


    "Cough! Cough!"


    "Tiffany! Tiffany!"


    Tiffany slowly opened her eyesˇ­ everyone in the room suddenly startled. Alex too, Something has changed with his daughter,


    "Tiffany.. your.. your eyes.."


    To everyone''s surprise, Tiffany''s eyes seemed to have returned to normal. "Da-daddy?"


    Tiffany blinked several times as she looked around the room with arge smile on her face.. and quickly her eyesnded on the strange girl a few meters away from her bed. She tilted her head and asked, "Cerri?"


    "..."


    Tiffany sat up and felt that her whole body was thoroughly refreshed. She looked around and couldn''t believe what she was able to see again. Tiffany''s eyes started to well up.


    Alex saw his daughter''s reaction and responded positively to this. His family''s safety was very important to him.


    Alex questioned the strange girl once more, but this time a little more calmly,


    "Tell me.. What is your purpose?"


    The strange girl briefly looked at Alex before turning to Tiffany with hesitant eyes. "I-I want to be friends with Tiffany. Can-can we still be friends, Tiffany?"


    Tiffany answered without hesitation. "Of course we can... we already are, Cerri!"


    Tiffany''s reply made the strange girl happy and said, "Tiffany, let''s y again next time! I have something to do for the moment, but I''ll stop by once a while."


    After that, the strange girl transformed back into a beetle and flew away.


    Tiffany waved her hands and said, "Bye, Cerri!"


    Alex couldn''t do anything against the beetle''s power. It seemed that unless he reached the Saint Realm he wouldn''t be able to do anything. He still didn''t trust the beetle and couldn''t tell if what had happened would be a fortune or a disaster for his little girl. But at the very least, he had witnessed this beetle help his daughter to see again. Alex believed at least at the moment the beetle did not mean harm.


    Not long after the beetle had left, a few people arrived in Alex''s residence. It was Arief and the others, they had finished their surveince and hade to report immediately.


    "How was it? What did you find?" Alex asked.

 Chapter 185 - Deciding Day

    Dday +86


    Before the sun rose above the sky of Bali, 70,000-star troops holding weapons of war were already ready to charge. Theywere determined to free the ind of Bali from the threat of the zombies.


    In the front line, toon 077 battalions 8, Dn, Cynthia and Chris were standing next to each other while holding the weapon of their choice. Earlier in the briefing with Commander Milo, it''s decided that today will be carried out with a full attack and it will be the deciding day.


    The sun struck like an arrow as beads of sweat ran down on Cynthia''s forehead. The 16-year-old girl stared deep into the direction of the zombie. Every time before the fighting started, she touched the red cloth wrapped around in her arm.


    "Barryˇ­ Today is thest day. Please watch over us."


    The battle against the undead was once again about to start as hundreds of thousands of zombies slowly approached toward the first defensive line.. The hordes of zombies seemed endless since there were at least a million more zombies remaining in the central area of the ind of Bali.


    A few momentster, fireworks shot to the sky..


    Tesssssss TAR!!


    The elite troops were supposed to charge at the signal but this time everyone stood their ground and waited. A momentter, booming noises resounded around the ind of Bali.


    DUUMMM!!! DUUMMM!!! DUUMMM!!!


    The sound came from behind the star troops followed by a row of sessive explosions right at the center of the zombie hordes in front of them.


    KABOOMM!! KABOOMM!! KABOOMM!!


    Not long after, a louder eruption came from the direction of the ocean.


    DUUMMM!!! DUUMMM!!! DUUMMM!!!


    Thetter attacks came from the dozens of destroyer warships and midway carriers. The long shell cannon from this mighty ship spewed highly explosive cannon bullets.


    KABOOMM!! KABOOMM!! KABOOMM!!


    Artillery mortar fired from behind troops and cannon fired from warships at sea made the area of ??Kuta Bali filled with a sea of ??fire.


    These bombardments are the second phase attack.


    .


    When Arief and the others had arrived at Alex''s residence at dawn, they reported something surprising. After they had managed to infiltrate the hordes of zombies and arrived at the location where the bright light appeared, they found a dozen of ck zombies and one white zombie dead corpse. But strangely none of these corpses show any visible signs of injuries on their bodies.


    As Alex listened to the report, he could only assume that these zombies were killed by the old man. Alex couldn''t exin any of these with his understanding.


    Arief and the others had collected a dozen yellow spirit stones and one red stone from the dead zombies. The red stone was a high-level spirit stone. But what caught Alex''s attention was the strange artifact obtained from the corpse of the white zombie. It was a small statue as big as Alex''s hand. It''s a shiny ck stone statue of a strange creature with short arms and a big belly. But it had cracks from top to bottom almost splitting it in two. Although the statue looked ordinary, Alex believed that this statue had a special connection with the terrible creatures. He would not dare leave this statue at the headquarters near his family, so he decided to keep it.


    With the confirmation of the ck zombies and their leader the white zombie dead, Alex was sure that purging the city of Bali would be much easier. Still, with everything that had happened, Alex didn''t want to rest and underestimate today''s attack. So he continued with the second phase of the attack to immediately rid Bali of all threats.


    .


    KABOOMM!! KABOOMM!! KABOOMM!!


    The bombardments continued for almost 30 minutes before finally stopping. The 70,000 troops readied their weapons and slowly advanced in unison toward the hordes of zombies. The tanks and jeeps mounted with machine guns opened the way alongside the troops..


    TRATATATATATATA!! TRATATATATATATA!!


    The troops holding firearms formed a perimeter around the steel tanks and vehicles while the melee troops formed small units to protect firearm troops and entered the buildings one by one.


    From the sessive artillery attacks in a fairly narrow area, they estimated that at least a third of the zombies have fallen. The loud explosions and firearms made the stage one and two zombies, which were sensitive with sounds, became disorganized further as they followed their instincts.


    Even though there were at least one million zombies left, without the ck zombies leading them, their threat significantly decreased which directly affected the battle.


    The road where the troops were treading used to be a tourist spot with a lot of shopping buildings. But now, this road to the Kuta beach has now been filled with 70,000 troops.


    And finally, five hourster, just before the day ended, loud cheering resounded in the whole of Bali. The ind had finally been purged of zombies.


    Alex issued the order that the battle was over and 70,000 troops were finally able to rest after the three days battle. He then gave additional instructions for the hundreds of thousands of workers and 70,000 second division troops to maintain security, salvage and carry out the final cleanup.


    Alex read the casualty report of the battle with a smile. Out of the 70,000 troops fighting a million zombies, there were hundreds injured and dozens seriously wounded but there were no casualties. It was great news. The hundreds of artillery shells used were not in vain.


    In the evening, the leaders of the division, as well as elite troops totaling around 100 people, gathered at Star Army''s Headquarters. Alex gathered these people so he could exin what happenedst night, especially with dozens of people hearing about his secret of reincarnating. He couldn''t keep this in the dark anymore.


    "Reincarnator!" eximed Sergei, astonished.


    Theo, Sergei, and several others found it hard to believe such a ridiculous story. They have heard his story about seeing the future but now he was telling them that he came from the future. Those two ideas were very different things.


    The world was already in chaos, now adding a humaning from the future surely invited many questions. Admiral Gerard came up and asked, "Do you know how it works, Alex?"


    Alex looked at the Admiral and thought for a while.


    "honestly... I really don''t."


    Listening to this, Cindy, who was always the most fastidious, stepped up and presented a hypothesis.


    "From the story of Alex and what some of us experiencedst night, it seems like only our consciousness returns to the past, but our physical body doesn''t. But the old man was able to kill the monster and gave objects to Alex. Hmmˇ­ This is really interesting."


    Alex then continued to tell a summary of what had happened in his previous life and how humans had lost within a few years until finally exterminated in the tenth year.


    This news made everyone in the room speechless. The skeptical billionaire James wouldn''t believe it if he hadn''t experienced it himself. He is still able to recall vividly how Winter sacrificed himself to keep him alive. In the end, James finds the news given by Alex as something positive.


    James told the other his thought.


    "Why are we worried here? We know that Alex has already experienced this and his knowledge will be helpful in the future. With Alex and the old man, we can avoid the same thing from happening again!.. Things will be different this time!"


    For a moment their spirits were lifted again but Alex said,


    "The truth is I don''t know the old man. I must tell you all that he mentioned that he will not be able to help anymore. and He did say whatever we have prepared so far is far from enough."


    Everyone in the room became silent once more until Admiral Gerard broke it byughing.


    "What do we need to worry about? What will happen, will happen. It is in our nature as a human being to resist. I have participated in several wars before and what we are facing now will unite humanity against those that threaten our existence. Also Alex, you have done great things here. this ind is like heavenpared to the chaos in America. Also before the end of time came, the American government received intel that there were many suspicious movements in several countries in Europe, Russia, the Middle East and especially China."


    "China?" Alex asked.


    "Yes, did you know that China suddenly locked down all of its cities three days before the storm? At first, we thought the EMP was an attack from China."


    Hearing this, Alex felt hope was still there. The action of these countries should be the result of his doomsday video and announcement. Alex hopes out there somewhere other people also prepare for theing threat.


    Tonight will also be thest night for him to see James and Admiral Gerard''s entourage. They have prepared to leave first thing in the morning..


    Alex turned to the calendar on the wall and said,


    "Only two weeks left until the Pirs descend.."

 Chapter 186 - Not For Everyone

    D''Day + 87


    In the morning, the USS Midway docked off the harbor of the ind of Bali. Inside themand center, Admiral Gerard patted the shoulder of the officer next to him and said, "Take her to the sea and set sail!"


    The USS Midway finally departed from the ind of Bali. Inside it were Admiral Gerard, the crew, along with the CIA Agent Kenny and Nathanael. James Randal and his escorts as well as Doctor Rachel and several scientists involved in the energy weapons development team joined.


    America is one of thergest countries in the world. Alex couldn''t tell how much the presence of James and his entourage would affect the fate of the country in facing the end of times, but he can only hope for the best.


    On that same day, except for the mutated animals in the mountains and forests of Bali, all urban areas in Bali had been cleaned from any threats.


    The defense post that was stationed outside the city of Denpasar had been repositioned in the area south of Denpasar. A portion of the Star army, as well as tens of thousands of workers, were assigned in the city of Denpasar to tidy it up. The south of Bali ind could finally be revived..


    Denpasar Post to the south, Gilimanuk Post to the west of the border area with Java Ind. Bay City east of the main port of the Star Army and the Antiga military headquarters. These four locations serve as the headquarters of the Star Army.


    Other than these four locations, Alex paid extra attention to the new fort built located on the west of the Starbase Headquarters. This fort wasn''t built to protect itself from the outside but from the inside. The fortress'' task of safeguarding the cave inside, where the new threats would emerge, was crucial.


    Alex made a final inspection in equipment and, in particr, the condition of the star troops. After 3 days of fighting, many of these troops'' training began to pay off. Some even showed their hidden potentials. But Alex didn''t forget that for most of them, this was their first battle.


    In front of tens of thousands of troops, Alex reminded, "This battle is just the beginning. There are still many threats that wille in the many years toe. You must be even better!"


    The star troops roared back in unison as they heard theirmander gave them encouragement.


    More than 7,000 elite troops, 150,000 trained troops from divisions one and two, included the 50,000 cadets who have not yetpleted training. In total, there are more than 200,000 star troops. Because of the victories they experienced, most of them felt more confident but there were also those who withdrew from the Star Army and chose to join other positions.


    Death and terror of the battle are really not for everyone.


    Time flew by and it was now evening. The Star Army''s headquarters was filled with bright light since tonight was a special night. The area around the stage was filled with thousands of people celebrating Bali''s liberation.


    There was an abundance of food, liquors, dances, and songs. A beautiful woman, who was a famous singer and Spirit Enhancer named Raisa, performing a song on the new stage. Her voice was like a siren that was able to release all the worries of the doomsday. Tonight, theughter and joy made those present feel like everything was back to normal.


    Alex and the Spirit Enhancers gathered in a corner of the VIP area. Alex briefly smiled as he watched the ex-Governor of the Bali, Agung, dance wildly and raucously with the event he, himself, prepared.


    But suddenly the memory of the governor''s tragic death that night took the peace out of Alex''s heart.


    Arge shadow of a man approached him interrupting his thoughts.


    "Mr. Alex..."


    "Yes... Raufgar?" Alex noticed the heavy breathing of the big man. "What''s wrong Raufgar? Is everything okay?"


    Raufgar was fidgeting with his fingers as he asked, "Mr. Alex, I''ve heard that we''ll soon be leaving for Australia for a long time?"


    Alex nodded and said, "That''s right, Raufgar."


    Suddenly, the fluffy man''s eyes began to swell and started bawling. Some fighters didn''t expect the sudden outburst. "Mr. Alex... I''m sorry... I-I can''t follow you anymore. I can''t leave my mother alone. I-I''m sorry..."


    After Raufgar said what he wanted to say, he turned around and ran away. Some people tried to chase after him, but Alex shook his head.


    Alex felt dejected as he walked toward the table, grabbed a beer can, opened it and drank it.


    In Alex''s previous life, Raufgar was one of the most valiant fighters, but obviously, he''s currently a different man. Whatever changes this man experienced in Alex''s previous life has not happened yet. At this moment, this man''s mind was only filled with worry about his mother.


    Raufgar was one of the few fighters who survived that tragic night. He suffered critical injuries causing him to feel extraordinary fear, and Alex understood Raufgar''s feelings very well. The fear of not being able to look after loved ones. So even if Alex needed all Spirit Enhancers to follow him to Australia, he wouldn''t force them.


    After Alex finished the can of beer and threw it to the bin, he decided to return to his residence and spend time with his family.


    When Alex was about to depart, Aria tried to follow him, but he stopped her and said, "Don''t worry, you''re off duty today, Aria."


    Aria''s emotions faltered, but she soon withheld it as she understood Alex''s intentions. She stayed put as she watched Alex''s back slowly vanishing amidst the crowd. Her gaze was then interrupted when Cindy pulled her over back to the party.


    ---------------------------


    Alex spent time ying with his daughters until the evening. With Tiffany being able to see once more, Alex''s heart was filled with joy. After reading a bedtime story to his daughters and tucking in the bedsheet for them to sleep soundly, Alex finally had time alone with his wife.


    Devita approached Alex, who was sittingfortably on the sofa, and asked. "Have you decided when to leave?"


    Alex looked into his wife''s eyes. "Yes... the day after tomorrow."


    Devita understood that her husband would be leaving for a long time. Hearing him confirm it, she leaned back at the sofa and blurted out, "I wish I could apany you ..."


    The words were said unintentionally, but a reply from Alex didn''te out. Both of them knew it was impossible.


    Alex hugged his wife tightly, gently looked into her eyes and kissed her. That night, their love was rekindled.


    ---------------------------


    The next day, Alex coordinated with every division to make final preparations. What the old man said to him still haunted his mind. Although Alex felt he had done many things, the old man said that all the things he did still wasn''t enough.


    Inside the meeting room, Alex and the others who remembered that night were trying to deduce that old man''s identity. Who was that mysterious old man, was on everyone''s mind.


    Cindy stepped forward as she remembered a word from the monster that became a clue. "Do you remember what the monster said before it was killed by the old man? The monster shouted Caliburnus."


    "Those were thest words of the monster before being hacked to death by the old man," Alex said.


    Cindy continued, "I tried to find the books that were left from the Bali City library and guess what I found. Caliburnus is the Latin name of the sword of legend which is very famous."


    She smiled and eximed,


    .


    .


    "The Excalibur Sword!"


    "!!!"

 Chapter 187 - Voyage

    Excalibur was the sword of legend in the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Historically, King Arthur was a legendary British leader who led the British defense against the Saxon invaders in thete 5th and early 6th centuries. In modern times, however, many historians believed that the details of King Arthur''s story had be overly romanticized and became more of a fiction.


    Still, the facts of the Latin word for Excalibur and the old man''s instructions of Alex going to Ennd, might mean that the legend of King Arthur and the knights of the round table weren''t just a fairy tale.


    Alex had never heard of the existence of this sword in his previous life nor someone named Geoffrey, but at least Cindy''s guess may have opened a little clue about the old man''s origins.


    ---------------------


    Today''s morning meeting will be thest meeting before leaving for Australia. With the departure of Doctor Rachel and his team, the medical and research division of the Star Army was handed over to Doctor Diao, the famous doctor, whom Alex had known so well in his previous life. Alex also made Vonny, his brother-inw, the head of the equipment division.


    After the liberation of Bali''s main city, The Star Headquarters retrieved arge amount of equipment and other types of supplies obtained from houses and buildings that the collectors were unable to ess. Food, equipment, fuel and amongst many other things, the headquarters will be very busy within the next few days, but once they''re done registering the items, the market at the main base will overflow with goods.. Still, the most valuable item they had retrieved in thest few days of battles were the spirit stones. The amount of the spirits stone had increased at least five times, from 80,000 spirit stones, their most recent count was 500,000 spirit stones!


    Alex nned to bring 50,000 of the stones with him to Australia, as for the rest, he gave specific instructions about what the Star Headquarter should do with it.


    In the meeting, Alex appointed his wife, Devita, as the main leader while he''s gone. Although Devita was a little surprised by the decision, none of the people present had any objections for they have seen the dedication and wisdom Devita have shown in the past three months.


    Alex then formed two special expeditions. The first expedition group will be led by Farell and Donny, as the headmanders of the newly formed Tiger Army. This group will be the force that helps the liberation of Pirs on the ind of Swesi in the northern part of Bali. Alex entrusted the expedition with 80,000 people, consisting of 2,000 elite troops, 60,000 trained troops from divisions one and two, the rest were workers.


    The second expedition group consisted only 1,000 elite troops and around 4,000 workers led by Sandi. Cahya and Jane, the spirit enhancer known as nt whisper, were also assigned in this group. This group was tasked with a very special mission. Alex handed Sandi a note with detailed instructions under the aim of doing a round trip from Maluku Inds to the Philippines. Alex ced a lot of hope in the special mission given to Cahya, Jane and Sandi.


    With Sandi and Donny will be leaving the Bali ind, Alex tasked Rama and his martial arts masters with the responsibility of the safety of the Star Headquarters and appointed Erik to be the personal guard of his family. The rest of the spirit enhancers and 1,000 elite troops will follow Alex to Australia.


    After giving out the tasks, Alex suddenly realized and asked, "Where''s Rama?" It was unusual for Rama not to attend meetings.


    "Earlier this morning, Tiffany asked master Rama to apany her to the mountains." Erik said.


    Although Rama had grown fond of Tiffany, he wouldn''t miss important meetings. Unless Tiffany had begged him to go with her because of something important. Alex then decided to immediately finish the meeting and invited Daisy to find Tiffany.


    In less than two hours, with Daisy''s ability and Aria''s expert scouting and tracking skills, they found Rama and Tiffany on one of the highest peaks of Mount Agung, thergest mountain on the ind of Bali.


    Alex found Tiffany crying over the Garuda''s body. It seemed like the fate of the mighty mutated animal was in ordance with what the old man had said. The gray feathered giant eagley dead on the ground without a wound on its body. One of the victims of the mystery of the anomaly of space and time.


    "Daddy!"


    Tiffany cried as she asked her father while hoping for a miracle, but there was nothing Alex could do. To be honest, if his daughter wasn''t here, Alex would have ordered for this high-level mutated creature to be brought back and processed into canned meat. He would have also searched for a possible high-level spirit stone without second thought. But as he watched Tiffany''s grief and the fact that this creature had attempted to save his life, Alex decided to bury the eagle.


    Tiffany held her father''s hand during the burial process, it seemed that the events of that tragic night had created a special bond between her and the eagle. After burying the Garuda they were supposed to return home, but Tiffany suddenly felt a faint energy not far from them. Something that even Daisy couldn''t detect. About 500 meters from the location of the eagle, they found a cave.


    Tiffany led them about 500 meters from the burial site and found a cave. Alex cautiously walked in front, along with Rama, as they entered the cave. Several scratch marks on the wall and feathers littered the ground. It seemed to be the residence of the Garuda. In a corner of the cave, Alex foundrge shards of yellow egg and ck eggs.


    "!!!"


    Alex recognized the ck eggs. It was the eggs that had brought disaster to the Star Headquarters three months ago.


    "Look, Daddy!" Tiffany eximed as she pointed at the back of a stone.


    Behind the stone, a white ball of fur with the head of a miniature garuda appeared to be sleeping. It''s a baby garuda with the size of a human child. With just one look, everyone knew this was the offspring of the Garuda.


    The baby garuda may look cute and harmless right now, but Alex didn''t know how strong this creature would getter. He was a bit worried about the future but before he could do anything, Tiffany tugged his sleeves and saw her pleading eyes.


    "Daddy, she''s so poor. She''s alone now... Can we take him home please, Daddy?" Tiffany''s eyes seemed to tear up.


    Alex didn''t reply and the baby garuda woke up. At first the baby garuda was confused at the surrounding people. But then, it let out a soft cry. "Kyaaahh?" It looked around searching for its mother, but she wasn''t there. It then looked at Tiffany and let out another soft cry. "Kyaaahh..."


    It got up and tried to walk toward Tiffany but stumbled due to its baby feet. Tiffany slowly walked towards the baby garuda and reached out. Alex and the rest readied themselves in case it attacked but something unexpected happened. The baby garuda stayed calm at Tiffany''s approach and snuggled at her extended hands. It cried out once more, but this time it sounded like it was crying.


    "Please, Daddy. Can we keep her?" Tiffany said to her father as she hugged the big ball of fur.


    Alex thought that this may be due to his daughter''s ability. He finally relented and said, "Okay, but you have to take care of it seriously."


    Tiffany''s eyes lit up and said, "Thank you, Daddy." She turned at the baby garuda and said, "You won''t be lonely now. Because your fur is so white, I''ll call you Snow."


    Alex and the rest took a long time returning to the Star Headquarters. It was finallyte in the evening but there still a lot of people were in the streets spending theirst night with their friends and families before heading off to Australia. Alex also decided to spend the night with his family.


    --------------------


    On this night, a young woman was staring at the stars as she held a daisy flower hairpin.


    A boy approached her and called her attention, "Sis Daisy."


    Daisy turned around and saw Tommy walking toward her. These were the two misfits whom were asked to follow Alex.


    "Are you thinking about Adam again, sis? Have you talked to him yet? I think if you asked Alex, you can borrow the long-distance radio at the station."


    Daisy smiled and patted Tommy''s head due to his concern for her. She treated him like a younger brother, and so did Tommy treated her like an older sister. "I have, but President Rico said that Adam is currently on a special mission."


    "But sis, we''ll leave tomorrow. We''re going to be gone for a long time."


    "I know, but it''s going to be okay. Don''t worry..." Daisy held the hair pin tightly, although her heart was actually worried, she believed in Adam''s promise that they''ll meet again.


    --------------------


    Before the sun rose, the elite troops had already boarded the ships. Devita, Tiffany, Tiarra and many others escorted their loved ones at the dock to see them before Alex''s voyage. Arief and Dario brought the Deathsquad troops, Jerry with his Wolf Squad and the spirit enhancers; Sergei, Darius, Oscar, Oliver, Ark, Dinda, Daisy, Tommy, Theo, Cindy and Aria.


    When they were about to board the ship, amotion urred due to a big man running toward the ship carrying a backpack that was not less than his big body. Upon closer inspection, the backpack was carrying a lot of cooking equipment on its side.


    Daisy shouted, "Raufgar! You''reing?!"


    Raufgar tried to catch his breath while speaking. "Yes... Sorry friends... Is it ok if I join you all?"


    "What about your mother?" Alex asked.


    Raufgar scratched his head like a kid exining. "Well... my mama scolded me saying that I shouldn''t be selfish and worry too much about her. I''m more needed here, she said." He bowed at Alex and added, "Mr. Alex, please let me join. I promise I''ll contribute well, please help me to be stronger too."


    Alex patted Raufgar''s shoulder, he knew this trip would be very dangerous, but seeing the man in front of him determined to be brave, this made Alex believe that the trip would be smoother.


    Raufgar''s likeable presence encouraged all the members. "Oooh right! Mama told me to share this food."


    Raufgar dropped the big back up, which seemed to weigh around 50 KG and rummaged on its contents. He finally found the box and opened it while extending it to hisrades.


    "Raufgar... It''s empty..." Alex said.


    Raufgar then checked the empty box and scratched his head once more. "Ohh. Sorry. Hahaha. I forgot that I already ate it on the way here."


    "Raufgarr!!!" Alex grinned as he smacked Raufgar''s head.


    After everyone finished boarding the ships, it slowly departed the Bay City. The people on the dock waved goodbye as they slowly watched the ship sail east, toward the horizon as if being swallowed by the rising sun.


    --------------------


    Before heading to Australia, the ship stopped in the town of Kupang in East Timor. The ce where one of the star troop posts had been built. There, Alex met with Karra, Benny, Adnan, and Russel and reported that they have seeded in evacuating the inhabitants of East Nusa Tenggara and Timor. He then asked them to prepare to go to Papua, which was one of the locations in Indonesia where the Doomsday Pirs will descend.


    Alex continued their journey, and a dayter, they finally arrived at the Continent of Australia. More precisely, the City of Darwin, Northern Australia. Three months after Doomsday, the Darwin port had be a graveyard. Only corpses of the zombies roamed this ghost town. Alex was disappointed that he was unable to find Perth, his friend, in here. It seemed like they didn''t follow his warnings. Not everything would always go as nned.


    Alex and the thousand elite troops docked at the port and unloaded the dozens trucks and armored cars. They came prepared. After unloading every supply and equipment, all troops drove south toward the center of Australia. Alex led the way while sitting in the front armored-vehicle facing Australia''s red desert. The trip would take a few days, hopefully he would reach his destination in time.


    --------------------


    DDay +100


    Australia, Asia, Europe, AmericaˇŞsurvivors around the world stared at the sky. They were in a trance as they witnessed hundreds of bright lights appear out of nowhere and dropped in a perfect straight line into the world. The massive objects slowly descended and struck the ground. The Doomsday Pirs had finally arrived.


    The end of volume 3.

 Chapter 188 - Restless

    Three months have passed since the gue struck, the global pandemic that killed at least 80% of the world''s poption first appeared. On that day the whole world underwent a change. The gue brought death and rendered electronic items useless, causing mass confusion amongst the people. Just when the people thought it couldn''t get any worse, the sudden rise of the gue''s victim attacking and devouring live human beings cemented that Doomsday had arrived.


    Hong Kong Ind


    It was a sunny day in the hilly area of Pok Fu Lam, west of Hong Kong Ind. Four kids, withrge backpacks, were walking on the road filled with empty cars.


    "Ma Sing.... Are you sure this is the way?" The person asked, exhausted..


    "Fatty, you didn''t have to join me, you know."


    "Are you crazy? We can''t let you go all by yourself!" Fatty replied.


    "I had to go or everyone will be hungry, the houses around the beaches should already be empty. But I think we might still find some supplies and food in the houses on this hill," Ma Sing said.


    "Shhh. Don''t be too loud. There still might be zombies hanging around. Be careful, friends," Someone said.


    "Okay, look! There''s a shop! Let''s check it out!" Ma Sing said softly to his friends.


    The four kids entered the small shop but after a couple of minutes searching, they couldn''t find anything. Three months had already passed since the gue, this shop might have been ransacked by those who used to live nearby.


    "Wow, even the shops on this hill are empty." Ma Sing shook his head.


    Ma Sing, a 12-year-old teenager who seemed to be the leader of the group, didn''t give up and searched the other rooms in the shop only to find expired food or empty cardboard boxes.


    "Ma Sing... We''ve been out too long... If we got caught by auntie, she''ll be very angry," Fatty said.


    Ma Sing clicked his tongue, but the sun was about to set, so he listened to his friend''s advice. As soon as they walked out the stall, a roar from afar shocked them to their bones.


    ROOARRR!


    The four kids stopped their tracks. They slowly turned around and saw a creepy creature with red skin and sharp ws. They froze on the spot, their hearts raced and sweat escaped from their entire body.


    "M-M-M-Ma Sing. W-w-we''re finished," Fatty said, trembling.


    Ma Sing couldn''t believe what he was seeing. This ind should be emptied of the zombies, howe there''s a stage two zombie here. He cursed his luck, they wouldn''t be able to outrun this monster.


    Ma Sing tried to think of a way how they all could be safe and the only thing he could think of was for them to run in different directions but that meant whoever gets chased by the monster would die.


    The red zombie opened its salivating mouth. Its sharp fangs and long tongue ready to devour its prey.


    Trembling, Ma Sing breathed-in and said, "Run in three directions!"


    Ma Sing''s three friends ran without hesitation. One of them nced back at the monster and was shocked to see Ma Sing was still standing there.


    "Hey, you ugly monster! Your opponent is me!" After Ma Sing shouted, his legs went limp and fell to the ground. At least he had paid for his recklessness, he thought. At thest moment, the image of his younger sister came into his mind, he muttered, "I''m sorry, Mei Ling."


    The red monster didn''t wait any longer and pounced toward Ma Sing. Ma Sing closed his eyes.


    SPLLLAAATTTTT!!!


    Warm liquid soaked his arms and face but strangely, there was no pain at all. Ma Sing opened his eyes and saw that the red creature was already split into two surrounded by three women.


    "!!!"


    The three women approached him. One had fiery red hair, one had short hair, and the other had very long hair, holding a spear. These women were beautiful, but as Ma Sing recognized them, he felt like he had juste out of a tiger''s cage into a lion''s den.


    Ma Sing stumbled and quickly assumed a kneeling position. "Sorry.. Sorry auntie!"


    The red-haired woman scolded Ma Sing, terrifying him to his core.


    "The three of you! Come here!" The red-haired woman called out to the running children and as soon as they heard her, the three hastily ran back and also bowed with Ma Sing.


    "You bad brats! I''llˇŞ" The red-haired woman was stopped by the short-haired woman''s hand sign.


    The short-haired woman helped up the snot-filled Ma Sing and wiped off the blood on his arms and face.


    "A-A-Auntie. We just wanted t-t-t-to help," said Ma Sing as he cried.


    The short-haired woman slightly smiled and said, "Ma Sing, you''ve grown up. Auntie is d that you''ve be a brave man. Still, you have to obey Auntie''s words okay?" the woman slowly wiped the snoting out of Ma Sing''s face.


    Ma Sing''s friends also started crying at the woman''s words offort. This beautifull and kind auntie looks like an angel to them.


    "Come on everyone. It''s not safe here. Join your Aunties here back to headquarters."


    "Yes, Auntie." The four kids said in unison.


    The red-haired woman still had a frown on her face seeing that these children weren''t disciplined. She looked at her friend and said, "Corrie, help me out here. At this rate, I''ll look only like a demoness to these kids."


    Corrie chuckled. "I think you fit that role perfectly, Maxine."


    "WhaˇŞ"


    The short hair woman interjected, "You''ve seen Ma Sing''s brave actions earlier, how can I be angry at that? Anyhow, let''s head back to the headquarters immediately and report what we''ve found."


    "Yes, sister Christina," The two women said in unison.


    These three women were Christina and her Firebirdsrades. Around two months ago, Christina and her group had left Singapore on a ship to carry out the mission given by the Prime Minister of Singapore. After they had arrived in Hong Kong City, the unit supposed to bring them to China did not arrive. As they waited, the situation in Hong Kong City deteriorated, forcing the residents and the Firebirds unit to take refuge on Hong Kong Ind, the separate ind located south of the city.


    After a half an hour walk, Christina''s entourage and the four kids finally arrived in front of a small building. A little girl with braided hair was standing in front hands on her hips and said, "Ge ge(brother)! You must be making trouble again!"


    Ma Sing immediately hid behind Christina. "Please Auntie. Please help exin to Mei Ling."


    Christina answered with a smile, "Sorry, Ma Sing. This is out of my control."


    "Auntieee..." Ma Sing cried.


    Mei Ling, a 9-year-old girl, ran over to Christina and bowed her head. "I''m sorry for my troublemaker brother, Auntie. I''ll teach him well." Ma Ling turned to her brother and jumped to try and grab him by the ear, but she''s too short, so she dragged him by the arm instead.


    "Come here, youˇ­!! You are so dirty and smelly, go take shower now!!"


    Christina chuckled as she watched the younger sibling trying to be more mature than her big brother. But her smile soon disappeared as Mei Ling reminded her of Kelly, Christina''s daughter who had died because of the gue, as well as her son Caleb, whom she had no choice but to leave in Singapore.


    A momentter, an old woman came out from the building and thanked Christina for bringing back the four children.


    The building was a shelter for children whose parents hadn''t made it when the gue started. For the past month, Christina had been visiting this ce to check the children''s well-being, so it wasn''t surprising she became close with the kids. The old woman asked Christina toe in and greet the children, but she couldn''t dy longer and had to return to the headquarters to report their findings.


    Hong Kong Ind had been isted from the main ind of Hong Kong. They were separated by a strait about 1-kilometer apart. Although there were four locationsˇŞthree underwater toll road tunnels and one subway tunnelˇŞwhere they could ess the city. These locations were closely guarded by the remaining government forces, elected residents and Christina with her Firebirds warriors.


    Christina and the Firebirds were tasked to guard the subway tunnel and had been having a rtively easier time. Today, however, the zombie attacks seemed fiercer and the numbers of the red zombies were more than usual. Because of that, several red zombies had managed to slip past them and had to chase the monsters down, the one that tried to attack Ma Sing was thest of the escaped zombies.


    As soon as Christina entered the headquarters, she went straight to Colonel Chan, the current highest military leader in Hong Kong''s government, and reported today''s encounter.


    "What are your suggestions then?" Colonel Chan asked.


    "I rmend that we close the train tunnel immediately. This tunnel leads straight into the middle of the main ind, so if more red zombies manage to escape us again, it''ll endanger the residents."


    The colonel frowned, highlighting the sacks on his eyes only further. It had only been two weeks since he became the Supreme Commander, recing the general who had departed with the fleet into Hong Kong City but never returned.


    "Colonel, what is your order?" Christina asked.


    "Miss ChrisˇŞI mean, Commander Christina. Proceed with the destruction of the underground tunnel, and after that, reinforce the other tunnels."


    "I understand, Colonel." Christina saluted and left the headquarters.


    Without dy, Christina immediately returned to the guard post at the mouth of the underground tunnel. She asked Jenny, one of the Firebirds spirit enhancers expert in weaponry, to blow up the entrance. At midnight, the sound of explosions and small vibrations could be felt around Hong Kong Ind. Thousands of zombies were trapped and crushed inside the tunnels, the rest were carried by the current of the ocean.


    The next morning, Christina and her 200 troops, as well as the Hong Kong militias under hermand, joined with the guard post stationed at the toll tunnel in the Causeway Bay area.


    From the edge of the pier facing Hong Kong City across, today''s morning sky appeared different from the usual reddish-orange ray of the sun hiding behind the gray clouds. Christina stood by the pier as she watched thousands of zombies gathering at the opposite bay. Her heart''s been feeling restless ever since she woke up. Like the feeling of something bad wasing their way.


    A man in uniform approached her, breaking her thoughts.


    "Commander Christina! Colonel Chan needs your attention immediately!"


    "Understood!" Christina made haste to the headquarters. It seemed that her gut was right, something bad was about to happen. On the way, Christina had a sudden thought and asked Corrie next to her, "What date is it? I mean, how many days has it been after the gue?"


    Corrie counted for a second and said, "Today''s the hundredth day."

 Chapter 189 - Hongkong Undersiege

    Hong Kong City was located in Asia with over 7.4 million people of various nationalities in a 1,104-square-kilometre (426 sq mi) territory, Hong Kong was one of the most densely popted ces in the world.


    When the first sign of Doomsday appeared three months ago, the society of Hong Kong City immediately descended into chaos. People went to the hospitals, the streets, the malls, each with their own agendas. Tensions were high at all times; there were even moments when people went out on the streets and fought with one another, ming or defending the government and such. The government had tried to put back stability but due to the tense situation, some people didn''t listen, rioted and even attacked the police and military. Tension grew, and some people hid in their houses. But as the dead rose up, many people regretted their decisions.


    On the second day, the corpses of the people with red eyes became zombies. Since a lot of people didn''tply with the government, they stayed in their high-rise apartments which were mostly densely popted areas. Due to that, it became a feast for the zombies and a lot of people died when they tried to escape. The government and military tried to take control of the situation again, but with their reduced forces, they were soon overrun by the zombies until they had no choice but to retreat south to Hong Kong Ind..


    Three monthster, the Hong Kong''s Military, Police Force, Christina''s Firebirds and the militias had been defending the tunnels connecting Hong Kong City and Hong Kong Ind from the multitudes of zombies.


    As soon as Christina received the order, she immediately rushed toward the headquarters. The noise from the meeting room could be heard from the outside, they were clearly having a heated discussion. Christina stepped into the room, there was a long table with several seats divided amongst five groups. The leaders of the five groups sat in the front seat. Colonel Chan, representative of the Hong Kong''s Military and currently themander of thest surviving Hongkong government.


    The other four of the five groups are; an old thin man with sses, representative of the Hong Kong''s Police Force; an old man with clean cut hair, he''s a politician and the wealthiest man in Hong Kong; an intimidating man with a long wavy hair, surrounded by a group of people showing off their tattoos on their arms, this man was part of the Hong Kong''s Triad;stly, Lt. Choi, sitting on the far end corner, representative of the people who came from Singapore with Christina a month ago.


    The noisy discussion halted for a moment when Christina walked in, but it returned immediately. Christina walked toward Lt. Choi, the military officer who came with her from Singapore, and took a seat along with JennyˇŞone of Christina''s Firebirds members.


    "Does anybody have suggestions? The zombies'' activities are increasing. We''ve also received reports that ck zombies areing closer! Hong Kong Ind is ourst defense! " Col. Chan said.


    Li Song Ki, the wealthiest man in Hong Kong, said, "Why don''t we blow up the other tunnels then? Our foreign female friend here thought it was a great idea to destroy a billion-dor project because she let a couple of those damned things inside Hong Kong Ind."


    Christina said, "It was a tactical decision approved by Col. Chan."


    Li Song Ki snorted.


    Lt. Choi, starting to get a headache, said, "We understand the repercussions this would have on your business, Mr. Li. But the lives of the Hong Kong citizens, as well as our soldiers, are at stake. Hence, that tactical decision is fully supported by our team as well as the Colonel."


    Li Song Ki said, "Those things are attracted by loud noises right? The explosionst night was so loud that I could even hear it from my house! It''s not surprising more of those things would be attracted toe here. Today''s increased activity of those things was because of that woman''s stupidity!"


    Kris Tang, the head of the police, said, "It''s not the time to point fingers, Mr. Li. We have a more pressing matter, and we need toe up with a n to deal with them! The zombies'' activities have indeed been increasing since a few days ago!"


    Still upset, Li Song Ki waved his hands and said, "If that''s the case then just blow up the other three tunnels! Keeping them out is better than letting them in. We''ll just wait it out until those things die from hunger or something."


    Kris Tang said, "We can''t do that. I''m sure there are still people hiding in Hong Kong Maind. We can''t abandon them. If the tunnel gets destroyed, we will have a hard time doing rescue missions once we eliminate these zombies. Also, we have to consider how the General and other resources wille to this ind.


    "You must be crazy if you still believe any of them are still alive by now!!"


    Li Song Ki looked at Christina and said, "We have functional ships, don''t we? Most of our ships in the harbor aren''t still working, but her ships are working. We can use those to sail to Singapore. I''ve heard that the situation there is not as bad here."


    Christina shook her head. "There are already hundreds of thousands of people living in Singapore, and we have limited resources there. Also how long do you think it would take to move everyone over there by one ship, especially the children and elderly, with limited fighters. They''ll surely suffer."


    Li Song Ki crossed his arms and snorted. "Hmpf!"


    Nam, the triad leader, who had been quiet all this time, stood up. "This discussion is pointless... My brothers are risking their lives on the frontline. I don''t need to be here."


    10 years ago, Nam had been a small street gangster. But he rose through the ranks along with his four sworn brothers and became a famous figure in Hong Kong Causeway Bay. When Doomsday had started, the Hong Kong''s Triad yed an important part in ensuring the people''s safety.


    After he left, Christina''s group, as well as the police group, exited the meeting room. Col. Chan wasn''t sure what to do and stood up, deliberating. As for Li Song Ki, he leaned back on his chair and smiled. He seemed to have thought of an opportunity.


    A momentter Christina arrived at Causeway Bay Tunnel. Hundreds of zombies were crawling their way out from the pile of corpses littered from the mouth of the underground tunnels. The soldiers and police, who were using firearms, stood on a tform shooting down on the zombies, while the melee fighters were on the ground around 50 meters away from the mouth of the tunnels; they had been defending this area for a couple of days, so the rusty smell and rotting stench from the corpses were starting to be unbearable.


    A thin, tall man with short silver hair, wearing a scarf, walked up to Nam and said, "Nam! Our brothers are having a hard time! We need you!"


    This man was called Chicken, Nam''s most trusted sworn brother in the Triad. They had been together since they were kids and had been through thick and thin. Behind Chicken, there were a hundred men from the Triad, they all bowed at the same time to greet their boss.


    "Boss!"


    "Get ready!" Nam said. He took off his leather jacket and revealed the fearsome dragons tattooed on his right shoulders. He grasped his saber and said, "Let''s go!"


    Nam charged with his brothers from the Triad and led the defense. Seeing the intense battle, Christina and the Firebirds joined the battle.


    Because everyone was too upied with the fighting, none of them realized the changes below their feet. Multiple small tremors were shaking the blood-soaked ground.


    Something wasing.

 Chapter 190 - Its Here

    The Triad was the Chinese version of the Mafia. The Triad engaged in organized crimes achieving illegal control over local markets, and receiving police protection. When the head of Hong Kong Triad died because of the disease, there was chaos within this gang of criminal syndicates. Through blood and bravery, within the first week of disaster, Nam was voted as the sessor and became the leader of the remaining hundreds of the Hong Kong Triad.


    The hundred members of the Triad charged alongside Nam and his sworn brothers. Around dozens of them were at peak-stage Mortal Realm and with Christina''s Firebird, even the men using firearms weren''t as effective as the two groups. Blood sshed as the zombies'' numbers thinned. Zombies left and right were being killed, creating stacks of corpses. The Triad members wielded sabers, rods, and other pieces of metals.. They were starting to push back the zombies, but then, a horrifying roar sounded from inside the tunnel.


    GRROOAAARRR!


    A pitch ck, zombie emerged from the tunnel through the pile of corpses. The stage three ck zombie had appeared!


    The police and military soldiers from above the tform immediately shifted their attention to it and fired their guns.


    Tratatatatata!


    But the skin of the ck zombie was too tough for the bullets to prate.


    GRROOAAARRR!


    The ck zombie was enraged as it picked up a car and threw it to the soldiers and police on the tform, killing them.


    Nam and his sworn brothers, along with Christina and the Firebirds, made their way to the entrance of the tunnel while the rest of the Triad members eliminated the surrounding zombies.


    This wasn''t the first time they had fought and defeated a ck zombie, but each time one of this humongous abomination emerged, dozens of top fighters would fall.


    Christina and the Firebirds were always cautious whenever they saw this ck monster, but the triad fighters carelessly rushed the fight like there''s no tomorrow.


    Looking at the Triad members fighting, Christina sighed.


    "Is it bravery, foolishness or is it just a man''s pride."


    Although the Triad acted rashly, they were peak-stage fighters and a force to be reckoned withˇŞespecially Nam and his four brothers. A dozen of them managed to contain the ck monster. Each time one of the brothers would get hit, Chicken, with his incredible speed, would rush in and save them. But the strongest among them was Nam. Surprisingly, Nam was able to fight the monster with his bare hand. Nam''s muscr body seemed to glisten, making his muscles as hard as an iron. Nam focused his martial art technique on his fist and was able to damage the ck monster.


    Maxine, the red-haired Firebird, appeared excited seeing him fight. "I love a man with a tattoo."


    "This is no time for joking, Sister. We must always be cautious," Christina said.


    GROOOAAARRR!


    The ck zombie fully enraged, issued an ear deafening roar. It seemed to be calling something and the people were starting to notice the shaking of the ground in a rhythmic pattern.


    GGRRROOAAARRR!!!


    The shock wave pushed almost everyone away, including the stage one zombies. More zombies rushed out of the tunnel as if it were answering the ck zombie''s call. But then another two more roars sounded from inside the tunnels.


    GROOOAAARRR! GROOOAAARRR!


    Two more ck zombies wereing their way!


    Christina finally realized the increasing tremors from the ground, on top of that, this was going to be the first time she would have to fight more than one ck zombie let alone three. The situation was escting rapidly and Christina had to make a quick decision.


    Christina shouted to Jenny. "Destroy the tunnel!"


    "On it!" Jenny opened a huge green box and lifted a rocketuncher.


    Lt. Choi was next to Christina and seemed worried with her decision, but he needed to trust her judgement.


    The rocket flew inside the tunnel.


    SSShhhhhh... KABOOOMM!!


    It only managed to copse a part of it. The tunnel was too big. When they blew up the smaller train tunnelst night, they had used a dozen of c4s. A rocket definitely wasn''t enough. Fortunately, the copsed tunnel seemed to be able to stop one of the ck zombies.


    Christina needed to buy time for Jennie to prepare more rockets, therefore, Christina needed to finish the first ck monster before the second was able to get through.


    Christina used her ability and concentrated to fire up the saber in her hands. "Corrie, distract it for a second! Maxine, clear the way for me!"


    "Yes, Sister!" Maxine rushed as she smashed the zombies nearby with her iron rods while Corrie with her crescent spear and speed managed to get the zombie''s attention.


    Christina sneak behind the distracted ck zombie and stab her ming saber. One stab, however, wasn''t enough, Christina and Corrie continued working together. Finally, a few minutester, the zombie''s head exploded with fire.


    SWWOOOOSSHH


    Nam and his sworn brothers stared in amazement at Christina. Although they could finish a ck zombie as well, they still had trouble fighting it.


    Jennie fired another rocket, and with her psychic ability, she directed the rocket deeper into the tunnel hoping this time it would copse it entirely.


    KABOOOMM!!!


    But again it was unsessful, instead, the huge ruble that blocked the tunnel''s entrance was pushed by the ck zombie. And behind it, thousands of zombies had gathered running amok.


    Christina watched the hordes of zombies nearing them. She was beginning to despair as she could feel the tremors getting stronger. Christina issued amand. "There are too many zombies! We need to retreat!


    THUD!! THUD!!


    Suddenly the ground shook hard.


    "!!!"


    Everyone, who was fighting, were startled.


    THUD!! THUD!!


    "Earthquake!"


    The huge tremors continued and a deafening crashing sound sounded from the tunnel''s entrance.


    "RUNN!!!"


    The tunnels'' ceilings had cracked andrge pieces of concrete fell on the entrance, blocking thousands of the zombies once more.


    The tremors became stronger making the people on the ground lose their bnce. Water rushed in, flooding the tunnels. Christina and Nam''s group tried to run as fast as they could, and they could hear the creaking stones inside the tunnel. Finally, the tunnels copsed, sweeping away the ck zombies and the normal zombies, along with the corpses that had been on the mouth of the entrance for a couple of days into the ocean.


    The ground beneath Christina and Nam''s group started cracking and water poured out from the ground. They ran as fast as they could, jumping between the shifting rocks. Finally, they managed to step on higher ground.


    Thousands of zombies and dozens of fighters had fallen into the space in between the shifted ground, as if they were pulled by the ground. Dozens of red zombies survived and tried to attack, but dispatched by the hundreds of fighters left, and just like that the fight had ended. The earthquake killed a few of the fighters but everyone left realize that without the earthquake many more would fall. Now thousands of zombies have been crushed by the tunnel and drowned.


    Nevertheless, the sudden calm of the ground and the quiet surrounding didn''t stop Christina''s fast beating heart. She unconsciously looked at the sky, the same with everyone else.


    "!!!"


    The sky was changing.


    The gray clouds that were covering the whole sky instantly disappeared. shes of white lightning swimming across the clear sky like dragons. The white lighting travelled the heavens apanied by soft rumbling, that sounded like a melody..


    It was the weirdest storm in history.


    But then, above the white lighting, hundreds of slits of light appeared out of nowhere and began descending. It was as if meteors were entering the Earth''s atmosphere.


    The ground had already stopped shaking, but the wind started roaring. Christina the others covered their faces and rushed to a corner of a building to protect themselves from the wind. Christina looked up once more and noticed that one of the things descending from the skies was heading toward themˇŞto Hong Kong Ind!


    As it neared Hong Kong Ind, Christina could clearly see that it wasn''t a meteor, but a vertical structure, like a pir, descending. The Pir''s descent caused the wind to be even more powerful, Christina and everyone felt like they were being lifted by the wind, so they grabbed onto a railing to avoid being swept away.


    The Pir''s structure covered the sun, it was a gigantic figure as tall as the world tallest skyscraper building. Finally, the ground quaked once more and a loud boom resounded as the Pir nted itself in the middle of the ind.


    Finally, the Doomsday Pirs had arrived.

 Chapter 191 - Vanished

    Ever since the dawn of civilization, humanity had been wondering if they were alone in the universe. Was Earth the only hosting life in the vast gxy? Countless scientists and technologies had been invented in the world but still couldn''t prove it. Today, however, the answer had presented itself before the eyes of all humans on earth.


    On the 100th day of the deadly gue that brought the end-time chaos; finally, the question that had always eluded humanity was answered.


    From behind the terrifying storm, 1008 extraterrestrial objects simultaneously entered the Earth''s atmosphere. Instantly, the sky ripped open and the giant pirs descended, forging a fierce wind that swept almost everything in its path.


    1008 giant pirs rooted themselves in the seven continents; Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, South America, Australia, and Antarctica. In the middle of a city, deep in the forest, on a hill and others. Every human who had survived fixed their eyes on this unknown object. Fear, anxiety, uncertainty, haunted all humanity.


    There were a few who were filled with hope..


    Hong Kong Ind


    Six days after the extraterrestrial objectnded on Mount Cameron, all routes to and from the hill had been locked down and posted with guards. Although the Hongkong survivors are curious by the object, the months of disasters made them afraid to go near it.


    That afternoon, however, Christina who was having a meeting with her Firebird leaders were shocked by the noise from outside the room.


    "LET GO! LET GO!"


    Shouted the four children who were being carried by a couple of uniformed soldiers.


    "Reporting, Ma''am! We have caught a number of children trying to infiltrate restricted areas!"


    Seeing the four children''s identities, Christina sighed and shook her head. Meanwhile, Maxine frowned. Christina said to the soldier, "Thank you, just leave them here."


    "Yes, Ma''am!"


    The four teenagers were Ma Sing and his three friends.


    The moment the soldier had left, Maxine mmed the table. "NAUGHTY CHILDREN SHOULD BE DISCIPLINED!"


    Ma Sing and his three friends trembled.


    But before Maxine could do anything, Christina said, "Stop it, Maxine."


    "But sister Christina, these children must be taught a lesson!"


    Christina kept quiet and walked toward the four teenagers before kneeling to face the scared kid. "Ma Sing,"


    "Y-Yes, a-auntie?" Ma Sing stuttered, afraid of being punished, but when he met eyes with the smiling beautiful woman, he stopped trembling.


    "Ma Sing, are you curious to see that thing up close?"


    "Yes, auntie..." said Ma Sing in a small voice.


    "You should have told auntie. You shouldn''t go alone."


    "I''m sorry, auntie."


    Christina stroked Ma Sing''s hair and said, "Auntie knows you''re a good boy. Behave yourself next time, okay?"


    "Yes, auntie."


    "How about this, we''ll pass by therge object before we head back to the base. Would you like that?"


    The faces of Ma Sing and his three friends immediately glowed with joy.


    Christina, Maxine and Corrie, along with the four children, took a van and parked on a hill about 3 kilometers away from the location of the extraterrestrial object. From this hill, they could still clearly see the colossal pir.


    A solid ck structure as tall as a 100-story building. Although it was shaped like a skyscraper, it''s surface was ragged and abstract. The whole structure was also emitting trails of lights along its body. Although the building looked mysterious and ominous, strangely enough, Christina didn''t feel any threating from the unknown structure.


    "Auntie, is it true that someone has tried to enter it?"


    From behind the children, Christina nodded. Three days ago, one elite Hong Kong police force led by the police chief had entered the foreign building. But until now, there was still no news about their return.


    "Are they going to be okay, auntie?" Ma Sing asked.


    Christina smiled again. "Yes, I''m sure they''ll be fine."


    Christina remembered her friend who had predicted the presence of this extraterrestrial pir and how it would be the solution to face future threats against humanity.


    "Doomsday Pirs..." Christina muttered.


    "Eh! What''s that, auntie?" Ma Sing asked, astonished.


    "It''s the name of the giant pir in front of us."


    After that Christina, escorted the four children back to the shelter. And as usual, Mei Ling was waiting at the gate, ready to punish her naughty big brother.


    Dusk had already arrived, but Christina and her Firebirds still didn''t have time to rest and made her rounds visiting the various guard''s posts. Six days ago, the underwater tunnel connecting Hong Kong Ind to Hong Kong City had copsed due to the powerful earthquake. And since that day, the threat from zombies had subsided. Still, the troops remained on guard at several posts alongside the sea watching hundreds of thousands of zombies from afar.


    Thest ce Christina visited was a new guard post made six days ago. The powerful earthquake had caused countless cracks and shifted terrain. And specifically, on the east side of Hong Kong Ind, a temple had sunk beneath the ground because of a giant sinkhole.


    Due to the copsed underwater tunnel and the descent of the Pir, the government didn''t find the copse temple and sinkhole as something unusual, but Christina still requested a guard post to be ced at the temple''s location.


    "Okay,st post. And after that... we can rest," said Maxine, who was driving the van.


    The others agreed in silence.


    "There should be a guard at this gate," Maxine said. She pressed the van''s honk.


    TETT!! TETT!!


    "Wow! Don''t tell me they''re sleeping!"


    TETT!! TETT!!


    "Maxine, wait!" Corrie said as she leaned into the window. "Something''s off!"


    Christina suddenly had a bad feeling. The three of them got out of the van with their weapons ready.


    "Zombies?" Maxine whispered.


    "It''s too quiet... very strange," Corrie said.


    Slowly, they approached the temple''s ruins, but they didn''t find anyone.


    "Is it possible that Colonel Chan moved them?" Corrie asked.


    "That''s impossible. I''ve ced two of our members here. They would have told us if they were given other duties," Christina said.


    "Corrie, how many troops are stationed at this post?" Maxine asked.


    "There should be almost 30 soldiers," Corrie replied.


    "It''s impossible for 30 people to disappear suddenly without reporting to anyone. Maxine, report it immediately to headquarters," Christina said.


    "Sister Christina!" Cor?ie eximed, pointing to the small puddle of blood on the ground.


    "..."


    Christina withdrew her saber and lifted an object in the middle of the pool to take a closer look. "It''s a human eyeball!"


    "!!!"


    On the sixth night, 30 soldiers had vanished without a trace. There were no signs of fighting and nothing was left. Hundreds of soldiers had been sent to investigate the surrounding area only to find nothing except for scattered pools of blood. Just like that, 30 people suddenly disappeared from the face of the Earth. Of course, they suspected the sinkhole, but it was like a bottomless pit. Not to mention, they didn''t have the proper equipment to go down and back up the hole.


    But that wasn''t the end of the increasing anxiety and threats to the residents of the city of Hong Kong. The next day, bad news arrived at the meeting inside the main headquarters. At dawn, Colonel Chan and Li Song Ki the wealthy businessman and his entourage had left HongKong ind with the only ship that still functioned. Christina ship from Singapore.

 Chapter 192 - Worthy

    Not more than 24 hours had passed since Colonel Chan left Hong Kong Ind. Unrest and chaos had already begun amongst the 100,000 Hongkong survivors while thebined police and army number no more than 5,000 people.


    News about how the colonel had run away with the richest man in Hong Kong including their elite troops stealing the only functional ship made the residents panicked and angry. Thousands of people were walking down the streets and venting their anger by burning buildings and rioting. Dozens of people had already died and few of the supply warehouses were looted.


    Christina had tried to mobilize the Firebirds and the army troops that came with her from Singapore but there wasn''t much they could do since there were only a few of them. She had tried to ask for the Triad members to help, but when the riot first happened, they holed up in their headquarters at the Causeway Bay. Due to this, many people had been suspecting Nam and his Triad members were responsible for the incident. They might even be the first to loot the warehouses.


    Inside themand room, Christina was discussing what they could do together with one of the army officers who had been left behind.


    PAAKKk!.


    Maxine mmed the wooden table, cracking it, and said, "You''re police and soldiers! Why aren''t you helping us defuse the people''s anger immediately!"


    The soldier stuttered as he tried to exin their side. "We-we were ordered to wait, Ma''am. I-I-I''m sure Colonel Chan will return s-s-soon. We''re ordered not to leave the c-cmand center und-d-defended."


    "Stupid! You''re sworn to protect the citizens! Not this damned building!"


    The captain kept silent as he wiped out his dripping sweat while shivering.


    Cristina, who was silent, finally spoke. "Captain, is there any news from the elite troops who entered the alien structure?


    "N-N-No... nothing. Five days have already p-passed but n-n-none have returned yet. I-If only Inspector Tang didn''t go there and was still here, he would know how to handle our current situationˇŞ"


    "Excuses!" Maxine kicked and broke a chair.


    "Maxine, calm down!" said Corrie as she grabbed Maxine by the shoulder.


    Christina sighed and asked another question, "How many days worth of food do we have left?"


    The captain exined. "T-T-The looters have stolen a l-lot. We''ve estimated there''s only t-two weeks left."


    "YouˇŞ"


    Before Maxine was able to say something to the scared captain, Christina got up and walked toward the door before saying, "Captain, I need you to do everything that you can to calm the residents."


    "W-W-What about you Miss Christina? What are your ns?"


    "I''ll enter the alien structure to investigate and search for Inspector Tang and his men."


    Christina was hoping if they did find the police inspector alive, then maybe the situation of the mass riots would be eased. But deep down in her guts, she also had a feeling that this strange building could provide a solution to their other problem.


    Aside from the rioting of the Hong Kong residents, the sinkhole where dozens of guards had disappeared began exhibiting a strange behavior. Hot steam rose from the pit and its surrounding trees and nt was slowly dying. The continued riots, threat of famine, and uncertain situation at the sinkhole made Christina feel the urge to immediately explore this extraterrestrial structure that descended from the sky.


    The next morning, Christina, 30 of her Firebird members and 50 elite troops from Singapore, arrived in front of the pir that stretched to the sky. Inspecting their weapons onest time, they were ready to enter when cars and rovers approached them.


    Almost a hundred people came out in an orderly fashion, waiting for their leader to take the lead. They were the Triad members.


    Nam got out of the car, followed by Chicken and their brothers before approaching the Firebirds members.


    "Don''t tell me you''re gonna go in and not invite us to the party, right?" Chicken waved.


    Maxine said, "Why are you here!"


    Chicken didn''t mind her but simply smiled at Maxine and said, "Wow! You look prettier when you''re angry!"


    "You piece of [emailprotected]</a>#" Maxine was about to pounce on him when another voice called out.


    "Chicken!"


    One call from Nam made Chicken stop his provocative actions.


    Chicken clicked his tongue before whispering to himself, "As always, you''re no fun..."


    Nam greeted Christina and said, "We''re in the same boat. Let us help."


    Christina thought for a moment since she wasn''t sure whether this Triad leader would truly help or had an ulterior motive, but in the end, she needed all the help she could get. Not to mention, Christina had no reason nor authority to reject Nam and his fighters.


    Two hundred Peak-Stage Mortal Realm people gathered in front of the humongous pir''s entrance wielding various weapons and firearms.


    "Let''s go!" Christina said.


    Together, Christina and Nam''s group approached what seemed like the pir''s entrance which had a symbol carved on top of a full arch, looking like a gate. This was the area where Chief Inspector Tang and his troops werest seen five days ago.


    Christina stared at the giant gate for a moment, before hesitantly touching the ck wall under the arch, which had a smaller engraving. The solid wall transformed into like a white-translucent wall, and Christina''s hand was able to pass through and out.


    Christina steeled herself and stepped forward, soon her whole body was engulfed by the white light and disappeared. Maxine, Corrie, and Jennie, Christina''s most trusted sisters, immediately followed her. Not long after, Nam and the rest of the fighters entered one by one.


    Christina re-appeared on what seemed to be a long hallway. The insides of the pir was also riddled with ck walls and lines of light running through everywhere inside the wall, just like how it looked like outside. She searched her surroundings but her friends were nowhere to be found. In the distance, Christina could vaguely hear dripping water. What a unique sensation, it was like being inside a cave.


    As Christina followed the hallway, she soon entered what seemed to be arge hall. The hall was also made with ck walls full of carvings with running lights. There, she found the rest of her people, it looked like all had sessfully entered the strange building. Although there were two hundred people inside the hall, only one-tenth of the room was filled.


    Christina had hoped to find the chief inspector in this room but no trace was seen at all. This was just a mere empty room.


    Inside such an unexinable wonder, the two hundred men were both excited and worried.


    In the middle of therge hall, there was arge cube sitting atop a vertical rock.


    Zzzzzingggg...


    A zooming sound echoed in the room, and the cube began to glow even stronger as well as the engravings inside the hall, startling everyone as they readied their weapons.


    Beams of light struck the air above the cube and formed shapes that seemed to look like words.


    "What does this mean?" Asked Chicken.


    Everyone had the same thought, but a momentter, a voice rang out in their minds.


    The voice said, "Are you worthy?"


    "Worthy? What''s this thing talking about?" Chicken asked his brother next to him.


    The voice replied with a series of other small words in a consistent interval. Its sounds were unique, not any of thenguages they had heard before, but somehow they could understand it.


    "Seven, six, five..."


    It was a countdown. Christina looked at her Firebirds member, hoping her choice to bring them here wasn''t a mistake.


    "One."


    As soon as the ''one'' was spoken, the running lights inside the ck hall shone so bright that no one could see the person next to them.


    A few secondster, the light faded and they were all able to open their eyes. But they were no longer in the same room.


    "What''s happening! Where are we!" Chicken said.


    When their visions had finally returned, what they first saw was the vast, unending, snow-filled mountains and dense forest as far as the eye could see. The walls and ceilings were no longer there and were reced with white and blue sky.All the fighters were in awe.


    As all the two hundred men were still confused, Christina''s gaze was fixed on a shining object buried in snow.She made her way over and tried to pick up the object. And as soon as she lifted it, the object revealed itself. It''s a 9mm handgun, but surprisingly, it felt heavier than usual.


    "Ahhh!" shouted one of the Firebirds members, who was standing not far from Christina,


    The handgun that was pulled from the snowy ground had a severed hand still holding it.


    "!!!"


    What kind of hellhole she has gotten them into?

 Chapter 193 - Anxious

    The 180bined entourage of Firebirds and Hong Kong Triad didn''t know where they were. Obviously, they weren''t in the same ce.


    "Where are we now?"


    "What just happened?"


    "Did we teleport?" asked one of the Firebird members. As far as they knew, teleportation only existed in science-fiction and games. It''s somehow easy to imagine, but to experience it is still a very unique experience for each of them.


    "Maybe this is an illusion or dream! Whoever or whatever is talking in that room is ying with our minds!"


    Each group had their own theory. Christina was quite surprised that even the Triad hade up with a theory and had a wild imagination.


    Christina carefully studied their surroundings. The severed hand she had found proved they were in a dangerous ce.. She felt the need to immediately find out why they were in this ce.


    ''Are you worthy?''


    That was thest word they had heard before being transported here. That could mean they were being tested like an exam or a mission. Christina began to search for any signs or hints and handed over the gun to Jennie.


    After Jennie had examined the handgun, she said, "I can confirm this is a weapon from the police force."


    Nam and his brothers came over and took part in examining the weapon.


    Christina looked back at Jennie and said, "What else did you find?"


    Jennie exined how the hand wasn''t cut by a sharp object but rather as if it''s being torn apart by an animal. What she found rming was how the finger was still in the trigger and the gun still had all its bullets. Either the attacker was so fast, or this unlucky fighter was a coward.


    "Ha! Hong Kong''s police have always been the same!" said Chicken, showing his disdain for the ipetent police.


    Unbeknownst to Chicken, what he said slightly dampened the atmosphere especially the Triad members. Christina knew Inspector Tang had only brought in veterans who had consumed spirit stones. This made Christina more rmed.


    "So any guesses where we are? As far as I can see, only snow hills and pine trees... I think we''re in Canada," said Chicken.


    "Wow, you''ve been to Canada? You''re so ssy!" said one of the Triad members, making Chicken''s ego bigger and further believing they had been teleported to an area around Northern America.


    Christina stopped listening to their nonsense because she knew they weren''t in Canada. Christina had traveled a lot due to her family and their businesses. She knew with certainty that even though this tree was simr to a pine tree, she was sure this tree was as strange as the extraterrestrial building they had entered.


    Christina debated in her mind if she should tell this to the group. But before she could make a decision, Nam approached her.


    "We found a trail to the west of our position that seems to have human footprints. The trail is quite long, and we think this was made by Inspector Tang''s team. We''ll try to follow it. How about you? Are youing?"


    Christina thinks that blindly entering the forest was a stupid idea. "We need to gatherinformation first."


    Christina looked around and pointed to one of the closest hills. "There!, I suggest we go to the teau for a vantage point and familiarize ourselves with the area first. What do you think?"


    "Christina, you saw how that gun had an arm still holding it. That means Inspector Tang needs immediate help. If we find him, we can help him and also get the information we need."


    "30 minutes, just give us 30 minutes," Christina answered. "After 30 minutes if I don''t find anything, I''ll follow your idea."


    Christina''s instincts were at an all-time high.


    Christina invited Jennie and several other Firebird members while Nam told Chicken to apany them. Maxine and Corrie stayed with the others to keep watch.


    Christina and her entourage reached the hill without obstacles but even from the top of the hill, all they could see were hills, snow, and trees.


    From the top of the hill, the cold wind hit her skin and at that moment Christina began to feel anxious. She began to believe her decision to enter this alien pir was something of carelessness and now she was endangering the lives of dozens of Firebird members she had invited.


    "There''s nothing here, let''s go back!" said Chicken.


    "Wait, sister!" Jennie replied. She pulled the automatic rifle that was always on her back and aimed it at a corner of the opposite forest. She looked through the sight scope and discovered something.


    "I can see something! It''s a little unclear but I''m sure it''s smoke!"


    "Yes, there''s something or someone there!"


    Christina quickly made a simple sketch of the surroundingndscape and made a sign of the location of the smoke. "Okay! Let''s go back!"


    As they made their way down surrounded by tall trees, Christina and the others could vaguely hear some rustling. A shadow passed by on one of the trees.


    "Over there!" Christina immediately chased after that shadow, but Chicken was the fastest among them and managed to get close first.


    The shadow noticed Chicken''s presence and spun toward Chicken''s direction.


    "!!!"


    SLAAATTTT


    Blood sttered from Chicken''s neck!


    "Chicken!"


    "I''m fine! It''s a shallow wound! What was that!" said Chicken as he held onto his neck.


    In front of their eyes, the creature looked like a wolf; but it had no fur on its skin. It appeared to be thin, but its muscles were clearly visible.


    The creature moved back slowly while looking at its left and right, watching everyone''s movement.


    While Christina and others were still stunned to see the strange creature, the creature suddenly jumped quickly toward Christina.


    BANGG!


    A high caliber bullet from Jennie''s handgun struck the creature''s body. The shot managed to stop the creature''s attack but it wasn''t enough to paralyze or kill it.


    Christina drew her sword from the sheath bound from her waist. But the wolf raised its head to the skyˇŞHOWWLLLL!!!ˇŞbefore running back into the forest.


    Chicken tried to chase it but Christina stopped him.


    "We should immediately return to the group!" Christina said.


    Together, they ran back to where the group was, and Christina''s heart was beating fast. The worries became more and more so when she heard the sound of gunfire from the direction where the troops had gathered.


    Tratattatat Tratatatatatt Taraattatatata!


    Dozens of Firebirds members were fighting fiercely against dozens of creatures like the wolf.


    Christina didn''t think much and immediately drew her sword and entered the battle.


    nk! sh!! sh!! Tratatata!! sh!!


    The wolves were moving so fast that the Firebird members were being overwhelmed. A few of them had already fallen and the white snow began to be filled by red blood.


    A few minutester, when almost half of the creatures were defeated, the remaining wolves ran away.


    "Corrie!"


    Corrie, one of the strongest Firebird fighters, had her back ripped by one of the wolves. "Cough..."


    Maxine, Jennie, and Christina approached her and Corrie simply smiled. Corrie was wincing in pain. Having one of their strongest fighters being injured made Christina more worried.


    Maxine said, "Five people had already died and eight had been seriously injured."


    It hadn''t been an hour since they had arrived but there were already casualties.


    "Where are Nam and the Triad members?" Christina asked.


    "They chased the same creature into the forest. But who would have thought shortly after they left dozens of these creatures came to attack."


    Christina fell silent. These creatures were strong, fast, and appeared to have intelligence. Christina immediately thought about the next step and said,


    "Nam and the others are in danger!" She quickly decided to bring the group into the forest.


    After two kilometers running through the tall trees, they saw a terrifying sight. The area was full of blood and dozens of corpses were torn apart. They were the bodies of the Triad members.


    Many Firebird members immediately turn pale at the sight.


    "No! My brothers!" shouted Chicken. Everywhere was just full of corpses of the creatures and the Triad members. Chicken was very afraid to find his four adopted brothers among the corpses.


    They continued following the trail of corpses and at the end of the forest, they stopped. There was a creature standing on top of the bodies, it was simr to the wolf-like creature, but it was three times bigger and it stood on two legs.


    Chicken and the creature stared at each other. Its zing red eyes looked directly at his eyes, making Chicken tremble and froze on the spot. But the creature appeared indifferent before returning to the pile of corpses nearby.


    Christina gently touched Chicken''s shoulder and whispered, "I understand that you''re concerned about your brothers, but we must regroup and leave this ce immediately."


    Their situation was dire. Only a short time had passed and they already had casualties.


    Chicken could only look down and follow Christina''s words. They slowly backed away and left the area. Still shocked with the sight, Christina can only choose to head toward the ce she had marked from the top of the hill.


    Dozens of Firebird members were close to breaking down, especially Christina. She didn''t expect this to happen. Wasn''t this pir supposed to be the solution that would help humanity?


    Christina muttered to herself thinking about her friend who told her about the pirs. "Alex, what did you bring us into?!"

 Chapter 194 - Barricade

    Barricade


    SLASSH! SLASSH!


    SPLATT!


    Tratatatatatatat!


    "Watch out to your right, Maxine!"


    "Thanks!"


    "Christina! More areing from behind! We''re getting surrounded!"


    Jennie''s warning only made Christina feel more despair. Ever since they had entered the forest, the attacks from the wolf-like creatures didn''t cease. They had experienced four waves of attacks including this in thest two hours.


    The number of creatures seemed to increase with each wave. They had just finished defeating the fourth wave of beasts but a dozen more approached from behind the trees.


    Jennie, Christina''s second-inmand and also a former special force soldier, immediately gave an order to divide the troops into three lines. The melee troops guarded the front and rear, while the firearm troops stood in the middle, standing on an elevated ground.


    "Fire!!!"


    TRATATATATATATATA...


    zing bullets escaped the muzzles of the machine guns and rained down on the advancing beasts. They knew these bullets were only capable of external injuries but bombarding these beasts with enough bullets still caused them to fall in pain, and as a result, the peak mortal realm fighters had an easier time finishing them off.


    Maxine stood on one side, leading at the front with her two giant maces. And as the beasts reached their front line, she waved her maces and mmed those beasts as big as a tiger against the trees.


    BAAMMM!!! BAMMM!!!


    "AAARRGGGHH!!! You vile beasts!!! Die you! Die!"


    On the other end, Christina with her ming swords started piercing and splitting each monster that approached the front line.


    SPLAATTT!


    Christina stabbed a beast''s head and mes zed out from its ears, eyes, nose and mouth. She tried to pull back the sword but...


    CRANCCK!


    One more of Christina''s swords shattered. Although she had managed to control her power to the point where the sword wouldn''t melt immediately after its capabilities, the sword nevertheless still melted. Christina grabbed thest sword hanging on her back, brandishing a sword in the right hand and a handgun in the other before shouting "Attack!!!"


    TRATATA!! BAANNGG!! SLASSHH!!


    A few minutes had passed and finally, they managed to finish the remaining monsters.


    With a gasping breath, heart beating fast, and sweat pouring down her forehead, Christina looked over what''s left of them. The repeated attacks of the beasts downed them to no more than 40 fighters. A lot of their fighters had been injured and Corrie was one of them.


    "Corrie, how''s your wound?" Christina asked.


    "Calm down, sis. I''m fine..." Corrie said with difficulty.


    Although Corrie said ''she was fine'', Christina could clearly see how pale Corrie''s face was. In fact, not only Corrie, but everyone had devastated faces. Only half of them had survived the ongoing attacks but what about the next one. Christina bit her lips, but she didn''t have enough time to regret her actions, she needed to think of ways to save everyone.


    "What''s the n, sis?" Maxine asked.


    Christina grabbed the scribbled map she had made from her back pocket and said, "If we continue heading west, we''ll arrive where the smoke was rising, but if we head north, about 15-20 minutes we''ll be out of the forest."


    Christina had nned to approach the smoke area in hopes of finding more people, but as she looked at her people, she decided to find a way out of this dangerous forest first.


    Chicken approached Christina and said, "Let''s go back! Maybe some of my brothers have survived!"


    Ever since Chicken saw the corpses of his brethren, he couldn''t get back to his normal sense. Thoughts of his brothers and that monstrous thing kept on running around in his mind.


    Christina was also hoping to return and find Nam and whatever was left of the triad gang. But she knew she couldn''t risk it, not with their current state. They needed to get out of this forest first.


    As Chicken and Christina argued, a sound from a distance entered their ears.


    Hoollll!!!!!! Hooowwlll!!!


    "!!!"


    It hadn''t been five minutes since thest attack, but it looked like another wave of beasts was about to arrive. And based on the howling, it seemed to be more thanst time.


    Everyone stood up but morale was at an all-time low. Christina knew if they fought, they might all die or at the very least suffer massive amounts of casualties.


    "Ugghhukk!" Corrie coughed blood. She wouldn''tst long if she doesn''t receive medical attention or rest.


    "We have too many injured people, we can''t stay here," Jennie said. She then went over to Christina and whispered.


    Christina closed her eyes before looking at everyone and said, "Very well, I guess that''s the best we can do."


    Maxine observed her two sisters and said, "Don''t tell me you''re nning toˇŞNo! I will not let that happen! Let''s all run right now!"


    "Look around, Maxine. You know this is for the best. Bring Corrie and those who are injured out of this ce right now. This is an order!" Christina said with determination.


    Corrie and Maxine wanted to protest but with the very little time they had, they epted with a heavy heart.


    Christina went over to Maxine and hugged her before saying, "The longer you''re here, the more dangerous it bes for those who are left. Don''t worry, we''ll see each other again."


    Maxine wanted to burst out but held it to herself. She lifted Corrie with a heavy heart, looked back at her sisters one more time before, and ran with the others who were also carrying the wounded.


    Christina let out a big sigh as she watched them leave. After they had left, there were only Christina, Jennie, Chicken, and ten more people from the Firebirds waiting for the beasts to arrive. The snow on the trees was starting to fall as the rumbling, gnarling, howling grew stronger. Not long after, Christina turned around, drew herst sword, and swung it with all her might.


    SLAAASSHH! SLAASSHH! SLASSHH!


    Dozens of trees fell forming a barricade. The others helped and created a barricade of trees that stretched for almost 100 meters except for the few meters gap in the center to funnel the arriving beasts.


    "We''ll focus our fire and defend this gap with our lives!" Christina said.


    Chicken looked at their strategy and voiced out his thoughts, "But those monsters can jump these trees easily!"


    In response, Christina raised her sword high. Bzzzzz. zing fire filled the sword and Christina began to burn the pile of trees.


    "Great idea!" eximed Chicken before adding, "But what if those monsters decided to turn around the tree and attack us from behind?"


    Christina and Jennie fell silent. They knew that was the biggest weakness of this strategy. But this was the best they coulde up with and prepare with limited time.


    "Let''s hope they aren''t that smart..." Christina said.


    "..."


    Hooowwllll!!! Howwlll!! HOWWllllll!!


    The beasts were close. The branches of trees in the distance were wobbling. At least a dozen of those wolves came this time.


    Christina''s heart was beating against her chest. At this moment, Christina thought about Caleb, her son, who was waiting for her in Singapore. As she imagined his hopeful face, her fear vanished. Christina took a deep breath and gripped the burning sword in her hand.


    "10 minutes. We only need to hold on for 10 minutes. That should be enough to give the other a chance out of this forest," Christina said.


    Not long after, dozens of wolf-like beasts appeared behind the mes.


    100 meters...


    50 meters...


    30 meters...


    "Fire!!!"


    Tratatatatata Tratatatatatata


    Jennie and two firearms troop began firing their machine guns at the beasts who tried to jump the mes. Fortunately, most of them indeed made their way through the open gap in the center.


    Pa!! Pa!! Paa!!


    The first two monsters passed through the gap only to be met by a line of spears from the firebirds. Although the next monster managed to dodge the spears, Christina was waiting in front and split the monster in half.


    SLASSH!!! SLAASSHH! SLASHH!


    In an instant, the three monsters had copsed on the ground.


    "!!!"


    Without a moment''s rest, several monsters mmed to the barricade, setting themselves on fire and only two managed to enter the gap.


    Christina managed to stab the first with her sword and the others directly struck the same monster from the side. But the other managed to pass them and was about to pounce on Christina.


    BANG!!! SPLATTTT!!!


    The head of the monster shattered as blood sttered in all directions.


    Jennie was walking up to her while firing a high caliber sniper weapon.


    BANG! SPLATT!


    One more victim of hot lead bullets from her rifle.


    This long-range gun required precision and special preparation before firing from the handler. And because it had a strong recoil, it wasn''t suitable for short-range engagement. But since Jennie was a former member of the special forces with her telekinesis ability that allowed her to guide her bullets, she managed to hit the vital areas of ??this monster.


    BANG!! BANG!!


    Chicken joined the fight using a machete and started brutally hacking the heads of the beasts. "OFF WITH YOUR HEADS! Hah! This is for my friends! Die! YOU PUKK GAAI!!"


    The wave of beasts kept oning.


    "Dozens more areing!"


    Jennie and Christina noticed the new arrivees splitting toward both sides, it wouldn''t be too long before they got nked and surrounded.


    "It seems we''ve underestimated them. They''re not an ordinary beast."


    It hadn''t even been 5 minutes and yet, it looked like their strategy would soon copse.


    "Aaarrrrghhh!"


    A beast caught one of the fighters off guard and pounced him on the ground. The person beside him tried to help but another beast had bitten him on the shoulder.


    Their situation was bing dire, so Jennie immediately shouted, "Christina! Retreat!" She pointed to two firebirds members and added, "You! You! And you, Chicken, immediately go after the others!"


    "No!" Christina said, "We''ll retreat together.''


    "I''ll bait them away for a few minutes!"


    "No, Jennie, we''ll be safer together!"


    Jennie held Christina''s shoulder and said, "I owe you and your family a lot. Let me do this. It''s my duty. Remember, Caleb is still waiting for you."


    Christina felt as if she was doused with cold water. Her son was waiting for her in Singapore.


    "Go, now!" Jennie insisted.


    Christina''s heart and mind were in conflict but before she knew it, she had already turned around and started running.


    Running, she was running as fast as she could along with Chicken and five other Firebirds members behind her.


    The two injured, as well as Jennie and her two shooters, stayed behind to buy time for them.


    As Christina ran, the sound of the never-ending gunfire behind gradually faded. She could only pray now Jennie and the others had time to save themselves.


    But not long after, the sound of gunfire suddenly died. Christina stopped her tracks and looked back. Their distance was about 300 meters apart, but she could clearly see how the beasts had surrounded the area where Jennie was.


    "No! Jennie!" Christina gasped.


    Suddenly...


    A bright light exploded from where Jennie wasst seen standing.


    KAABBBOOOOOMMM!!!!!


    The loud explosion shook the ground beneath Christina''s feet. She fell to the ground; she just realized Jennie had nned this from the start.


    Not wanting to make Jennie''s sacrifice in vain, Christina picked up herself weakly and ran with tears flowing down her cheeks.


    Jennie was a woman in her 40s, she grew up with Christina and had been her family protector ever since she had been discharged from the army. Christina regarded her as a friend; an older sister. Countless times she had been saved by Jennie, and without her, there was no way Firebirds would have been formed.


    Christina kept on running, her mind was in chaos. And due to that, she didn''t realize the beast on her tail until it jumped at her!


    BAMMMM!


    Christina fell and hit her head on a stone.


    "Christina!"


    Christina groaned, her vision was blurry, but she could make out a silhouette of a man wearing a hat.


    SLASSHH! SPLAATT!!!


    The man killed the monster that crashed into Christina before approaching her.


    "Miss Christina, are you alright?"


    "I-I-Inspector... Tang..." said Christina with difficulty, barely keeping her eyes open.


    "You''re bleeding and appear to have a concussion. Come on, you must stay awake!." The person lifted her up and said, "Keep your eyes open, I''ll bring you to where the others are."


    "The others?"

 Chapter 195 - A Quest

    "Jennie... Jennie..."


    "RUN!"


    "!!!"


    "NO!!!"


    KABOOOMMM!!!


    "!!!"


    "...."


    Christina sat up, a bit drenched from her sweat, as she woke up from her dream.


    "Christina, you''re awake," cried a big woman with red hair.


    "Maxine, you''re alright... What about the others? Where is this?" asked Christina, she looked around the room which seemed to be a cave with people standing not far from where she was lying. She tried to get up and recognize their faces.


    "AArrggghhh!" Her head throbbed in pain, making her sit down again.


    "Don''t move too much, sis. Rest for a while, we''re safe here," said Maxine while assisting Christina sit.


    "How long have I been unconscious?"


    "Almost three hours, sis" replied Maxine.


    "Where are we? What about the others? Were they able to escape?"


    "Calm down, sis."


    "Jennie... What about Jennie? Is she okay?"


    Maxine fell silent at Christina''s inquiry, and with that, Christina knew the meaning of her silence. But not long after, a few people came over.


    "Nam? Nam! You''re safe..." Christina eximed.


    Nam appeared more silent than usual, it seemed that not many of his brothers survived the attack in the forest.


    "Yes... If Inspector Tang hadn''t found us, maybe we''d suffer the same fate as my fallen brothers."


    Christina was somewhat relieved some of the Triad members had survived, especially Nam who was the strongest among them. She then noticed the old man at the back who was smiling at the sight of her.


    "Inspector... Thank you for saving us. Could you tell us more where we are?"


    People from both groups gathered to try and hear what information Inspector Tang had gathered by the time he was missing.


    Inspector Tang recounted the things they had experienced during the six days that had passed while stranded in this strange ce. Simr to Christina''s group, the elite Hong Kong police force had been continuously attacked by the same beasts, and only a few of them remained.


    While Inspector Tang was exining, Nam interrupted and said, "Inspector Tang, with all due respect, we had more people than your group when we arrived here but a lot of us were killed in just a few hours, I find it hard to believe your troops can survive for 6 day."


    Nam''s words seemed to undermine the ability of Hong Kong''s elite troops, but the inspector wasn''t offended at all. He simply raised his hand and pulled the sleeve of his shirt.


    "!!!"


    Around the inspector''s wrist was a unique bracelet coiled like a snake, surprising everyone. The bracelet was as big as a clenched hand and seemed to be made of ck iron, but the texture of the metal looked very foreign.


    The inspector touched the bracelet, and suddenly, an alien engraving glowed on its surface.


    "What''s that thing, inspector?!"


    "I got this from the rock in the middle of the strange room. The voice in the room told me to put this on. And after that, we were transferred to this ce."


    The inspector swiped the bracelet multiple times, and everytime he had done so, the alien engraving changed.


    "Inspector Tang, do you understand how to use it?" Nam asked.


    The inspector took a deep breath. "I... don''t know how to exactly exin this. In fact, I don''t even recognize these symbols, but when I touch this, it feels like it''s speaking to my mind and I understand it."


    "..."


    Christina tried to stand up again but couldn''t bnce herself. "Inspector Tang... Do you know why we''re in this ce?


    The inspector swiped the bracelet once more and the engraving changed. "We''re here for a quest."


    "What quest?"


    Inspector Tang began to read what he saw from the bracelet.


    <em>"Much I have travelled, much I have tried out, much I have tested many fierceness; Under the full moonlight, the wolf Fenrir and the warg pack will destroy the world."</em>


    [Quest : Kill the Fenrir Wolf]


    Time Limit: 7 days


    Difficulty Level: D]


    "..."


    Everyone was stunned by what they had just heard. A mission... A mission for what? What''s the purpose of this mysterious pir? In silence, Inspector Tang continued and said, "With this thing, I''m able to find where''s the location of our mission. The wolf Fenrir, the giant Alpha wolf. The one that killed most of Nam''s people."


    Christina remembered the giant wolf-shaped monster she saw among the piles of corpses in the forest. She unconsciously looked at Nam who was unknowingly clenching his fists.


    Inspector Tang exined further, "Because of this bracelet, we''ve been able to avoid the beasts for the past six days. But we couldn''t hope to defeat the Fenrir. With just its pack, we''re already having much trouble. So, as each day passed, our casualties increased. The bracelet had told me when you guys had arrived here, unfortunately, we were toote."


    Christina tried to absorb everything Inspector Tang had said despite the throbbing pain in her head. Fenrir, that name sounded familiar. She remembered that it was a name from Norse Mythology. She couldn''t decide whether this was a coincidence or not but this revtion made her more curious about finding the secret or the meaning behind this extraterrestrial pir. But this wasn''t the time to think about this.


    "Inspector... does it say anything in case we didn''tplete its mission?"


    "None. The only thing it mentioned is there''ll be a valuable treasure if wepleted it."


    After hearing this, some of the people''s faces seemed to light up especially the Triad members. But as for Christina, no amount of rewards would ever be the worth of the lives of her friends, especially Jennie.


    Christina then told Inspector Tang the current conditions on Hong Kong Ind. The food shortage, riots, and betrayal of Colonel Chan.


    "Inspector Tang, what do you suggest we do?" Christina asked.


    The inspector could only sigh. "What can we do? I''ve seen the Fenrir''s nest and there are at least more than 500 wargs staying there. But even if we manage to get past its pack, will we have the strength to defeat the alpha wolf Fenrir?"


    The Inspector looked around, inspecting those who might be able to fight, but he could only find about 60 people in good shape.


    "..."


    "Are there any more troopsing to this ce?" Inspector Tang asked.


    Christina looked at Nam and shook her head.


    Inspector Tang sighed again. "Then there''s nothing we can do. Right now, I''m hoping that once seven days have passed and our mission has failed we are to be sent back to Hong Kong Ind."


    It was a decision that was hard to ept. But what could they do? There were hundreds more of those fearsome beasts that killed theirrades. Everyone was just silent.


    Christina didn''t want to ept this but her head throbbed another head-splitting pain making her dizzy. Maxine forced her to lie back and rest. There was nothing she could do in her current condition. Finally, Christina fell asleep again.


    ---------


    That night Christina dreamed of her son Caleb and thest words of Jennie once more. Her worries about Caleb being the cause of Jennie''s death, things might end differently if she had stayed with Jennie at the time.


    The morning sun shone into the cave''s entrance. With adequate rest, the body of a peak stage mortal fighter could easily regain its prime.


    That morning, Christina got up and equipped her gear.


    Corrie, Maxine, Nam, Chicken, and Inspector Tang seemed to realize what Christina would do.


    "Friends... I still don''t exactly understand the purpose of this mission. But there''s one thing I know for sure... We''ll achieve nothing if we don''t do anything. And even if we return to Hong Kong safely, we''ll only face other problems too. I don''t want to just wait, I''ll try toplete this mission! Inspector Tang, lend me the bracelet. I''ll search and kill the alpha monster."


    "..."


    Inspector Tang took a moment before smiling in admiration at this beautiful woman, who was full of determination, before handing over the bracelet to her.


    Maxine approached Christina and said, "Sis... don''t forbid me. I''ll apany you."


    "Miss Christina, me, and the Triad members will also help you," Nam eximed.


    Like a fire spreading, unknowingly, her determined spirit lit up the people as one by one, the Firebirds members and Triads joined in preparation.


    Inspector Tang shook his head unable to decide whether this was courage or stupidity.


    "Goodness gracious... Miss Christina... I''ll support you. Even if we all die today, let''s make sure we don''t give up without a fight."


    Inspector Tang opened up a note containing all the information he had gathered about the Fenrir and its pack for the past 6 days and began to prepare a strategy.

 Chapter 196 - Trap

    Tap tap tap tap tap


    In a forest full of trees and filled with snow, a man was running as hard as he could.


    Behind him, roars of savage beasts followed him not far.


    Wargs, creatures that appeared simr to wolves. Not only its physical attributes but as well as their motif of hunting in groups. Their sharp ears and sensitive noses could easily find and hunt their prey.


    30 wargs were chasing a tall, thin man with short silver hair. This man was Chicken, one of the four sworn brothers of the head of the Hong Kong Triad. But even though he appeared to be in danger, Chicken wasughing as hard as he could.


    "Smelly beasts! Chase me, I''m over here! Smelly beasts! Don''t tell me you''re that slow!"


    Chicken was a wind spirit enhancer and could run the fastest among all his brothers.. And although the forest was full of fallen trunks,rge rocks, and gigantic trees, he easily managed to keep his distance from the creatures chasing his tail.


    A couple of minutes passed by and Chicken stopped his tracks. He turned around with a smirk as the closest warg lunged at him.


    Ssshhttt... Pa!


    A spear shot down from above the tree and pierced the head of the warg an inch away from Chicken''s face.


    Chicken stared at the back of the tattooed man holding a spear.


    "Ta Ke(brother), wahh... if you were a secondte I would''ve lost my head!" Chicken said, wiping off his sweat.


    "Hmm... Headless Chicken... that seems a more suitable nickname for you."


    "Ta Ke, how could you!"


    The rest of the wargs lunged at Nam and Chicken, but they all met the same fate as dozens of fighters simultaneously attacked from the top of the trees.


    Christina, Maxine and the other peak mortal realm fighters.


    shh! Satt!


    Christina with a sword sh, Maxine with her iron staff and Nam with his spear. Under the siege and ambush of these fighters, the 30 beasts who had been chasing Chicken were all dead in less than five minutes.


    After the battle was over, an old man wearing a police uniform pulled his notes from his inner pockets and showed them a location.


    "Okay, you already know what to do next."


    "Yes, Inspector Tang!"


    Without wasting time, the rest of the fighters immediately prepared for the next ambush.


    Christina walked over to Chicken and said, "That''s the fourth group. You better take a breather and I''ll sub for you."


    "Waaa, Miss Christina, I am overjoyed that you care about me. Looks like you were fascinated by my charm already," eximed Chicken with a naughty smile.


    Maxine popped a vein and said, "Filthy pervert! Don''t be impolite!"


    Nam stepped in and said, "Miss Christina, leave it. Chicken''s our fastest runner. Besides, you need to save your strength for the next fight. We need you at full strength if we are to face the Fenrir in the next ambush."


    "I understand."


    Since dawn, thebined fighters of Firebirds, Triad, and the Hong Kong Police had been using this tactic against the beasts and had eliminated over a hundred wargs with minimum casualties thanks to the aromatic herbs they had found in the forest.


    They had covered themselves with these herbs, and the herbs'' scent masked their smells effectively negating the wargs sense of smell. Thus, the beasts kept on falling into the trap they had prepared. It was also because of this nt that Inspector Tang and his men were able to hide from the wargs for the past 6 days.


    "How did you know about this nt, inspector?"


    "Haha, it''s just a coincidence. Of course, being at my age has its own advantages," smiled the old man.


    "Come on, we can''t stay here for long. Spread out before the next group of wargs finds us."


    "Understood!"


    The rest of the fighters moved toward the new location of the trap while Chicken was back on duty to lure the next group of wargs.


    Time quickly passed and afternoon had arrived. They had sessfully killed over 200 wargs. Inspector Tang seemed to believe that they had seeded in killing nearly half of the total wargs in this forest.


    In each fight, Christina had constantly kept an eye on the strange bracelet coiled around her arm. Eight battles had already passed, but the alpha''s position on the sensor hadn''t even moved an inch.


    "Why is it not moving?" Christina said to herself. She then looked at Inspector Tang and shook her head.


    After facing sess after sess, the morale and spirit of the fighters were at its peak. However, Christina knew that as long as Fenrir their real objective was still alive, each battle was somewhat futile.


    Christina looked at her tiredrades. Even though they were peak mortal realm fighters, fighting these wargs were not a walk in the park. Dozens of fighters had already fallen unconscious, some unable to fight due to injuries, and some needed to rest.


    She touched the strange bracelet and checked the mission objective. They only had four hours left to kill the Alpha Fenrir Wolf andplete this mission.


    "I wish we had more time," Christina said as she sighed.


    "Miss Christina... I suggest we stop this," said Inspector Tang.


    "..."


    Inspector Tang is a very careful man, seeing the condition of the injured and tired fighters, he feels too risky to continue the fight.


    "Miss Christinaˇ­ looks like Fenrir isn''t such a simple creature, pushing ourselves at this point is too risky.. We did our best. But it''s time for us to give up "


    Hearing this, Chicken immediately eximed ..


    "Give up!! POKAI !! No No No! "


    Not only Chicken, the other triad members were also upset ..


    Inspector Tang shook his head and looked at their leader Nam ..


    "Inspector .. My brothers are not willing to stop now. We haven''t quite got enough revenge on those who have died"


    "Brother Nam .. you need to be wiser in leading your members. There are only a few of you strong enough to fight. Do not send their lives to the hereafter "


    Hearing this, Nam''s usually calm expression changed ..


    "... We are fine on our own.. We always did"


    Nam clenched his fists tightly remembering his childhood being the victim of corrupt police. His father who was a member of the police was betrayed by his colleague and then brought disaster in his family so that he had to grow up on the streets. Since childhood, he used to try his luck with his brothers and he never needed police help.


    "If you are afraid to die ... you guys should juste back .."


    These words provoked the members of the police force, but Inspector Tang held them back.Nam turned to look at Christina ..


    "How about you Miss Christina .. Are you going to continue ore back?"


    Christina thought for a momentˇ­ she realized their current state and supported the inspector''s idea. But Christina is also worried that Nam and his brothers would do something reckless ..


    On the other hand, there was a voice in her heart that wanted to know the secret behind the mission given by the foreign pir. Until now she still didn''t believe that this foreign pir would only bring them cmity.


    "We''d better not split up ... but if we have to choose, I agree to keep trying until the end ... Inspector can I entrust those who are injured to you?"


    "Very well. Miss Christina, be careful ..."


    Christina can see that Nam''s face has immediately brightened up, behind his indifferent attitude, Nam actually needs the help of the firebirds to continue this mission.


    Only 30 more members continue the mission. This time following the direction of the foreign bracelet''s directions, they slowly approached the alpha Fenrir''s location.


    After walking for more than 30 minutes they finally found the monster''sir.

 Chapter 197 - Wolf Den

    Christina, Nam, and more than 30 fightersbined from the Firebirds and the Hong Kong Triad finally arrived at their destination. The closer they got to the Alpha, the more often they encountered groups of wargs patrolling the woods. If it weren''t for the smell of the herbs camouging their bodies, surely a fierce battle would have already urred and many fighters would have fallen victim again.


    "We shouldn''t be far away," Christina whispered, watching the strange bracelet on her arm.


    As they slowly approached their destination among the trees.


    "!!!"


    The group was surprised to see what was waiting for them. In this forested area, there was a strange rock formation hiding beneath the snow that looked a bit like a smallplex. The snow-covered building seemed to have purplish rocks covered by the heavy snow and small light veins shining as it formed a small hill. Although it looked natural in its environment, one could tell this was an artificial building of intellectual beings.


    Christina didn''t expect such a structure in this foreignnd.. She had thought this wolf-shaped monster was a wild animal like how wolves have alphas in their packs. The existence of this structure made her wonder, however, whether this creature was an ordinary monster or another story behind this.


    Nam peeked from behind the trees and noticed a cave entrance that looked like ess to the building. Nam, not wanting to waste time, called the others to follow him.


    "Nam, stop! Wait a minute!" Christina said. "Do you have any ns?"


    Nam answered with a nk expression, "We go in, find Alpha Fenrir, and then kill."


    Christina was speechless, going to battle without a strategy was akin to suicide. "Any other ideas?"


    "Enter and search. What else are our options?"


    "Nam, we need to consider this with caution. We still have three hours left. I think we should scout around the hill first before charging in."


    Even though there weren''t many wargs near the entrance at the moment, it wouldn''t hurt to be more careful. Thus, they cautiously circled around the hill from behind the rows of trees.


    After searching the perimeter for about an hour, they discovered dozens of cave entrances around the hill where asionally groups of wargs came in and out.


    "We can confirm this is their den," Chicken said.


    "From the number of beasts entering and leaving, if we are not careful, hundreds of wargs can surround us within minutes," said Maxine.


    "Don''t you worry about it. We only need to kill the old wolf are we not?" said Chicken with a smirk on his face


    "Youˇ­! do you think it''s easy?!"


    Chicken and Maxine bumped heads as usual.


    "Stop, Maxine," said Christina.


    "Chicken..." said Nam.


    Both stopped as soon as both their leaders asked them to.


    Christina looked at Nam. "I won''t let my sisters charge in recklessly. At least, tell us a little about the Fenrir''s abilities. You''ve fought him before, haven''t you?"


    Nam recalled the battle with the Fenrir where most of his brothers died within a matter of minutes. "That monster''s main advantage is its speed. If we manage to injure its leg and slow it down, we may be able to defeat it somehow. Miss Christina, I''m sure with our abilities, we can deal a decisive blow as long as the others are keeping the wargs busy."


    Christina had witnessed Nam''s power before, even though Christina was able to defeat the ck zombies, she wasn''t sure she could beat them alone like Nam. The head of this triad was the strongest fighter among them.


    "Alright, Nam. We''ll try. But if the situation is out of control, I hope we can immediately withdraw."


    "Sure..."


    Before they went in, the group rested for a moment and prepared their equipment. The remaining weaponry they had, however, was limited. Two grenades, 3 machine guns, and a dozen cartridges. For melee weapons, they only had a dozen swords and machetes; the rest were forced to make sharp makeshift spears as weapons. Since Nam knew Christina''s special power, Nam gave her two swords.


    "Okay, we have about an hour left. A group of new wargs just came out of the hill. I believe this is the best time to strike."


    More than 30 fighters dashed as fast as they could and entered the cave entrance. All of them were peak-stage mortal realm fighters and had abundant experience in facing the onught of the undead but every step of the way down this passage was still heavy. They knew this wasn''t going to be an easy fight.


    As they entered, the inside of the cave looked like a passageway, and they continued for about 100 meters until they finally arrived at arge hall about half the size of a football field. Even though the room was dark and the odor of the beasts lingered, the ceiling of the room let in some light from the outside, providing little lighting. The room was also full of simr passageways.


    "..."


    "Watch your step and don''t make a sound," whispered Maxine.


    The moment their eyes adjusted to the surrounding darkness, several wargs could be seen lying on the ground.


    "Are they dead?" Chicken asked.


    "No, listen to their breathing. It''s rhythmic, they seem to be asleep."


    "Lucky..." whispered Chicken.


    Just as Chicken pulled out his sword, ready to stab the beast lying near him, Nam gestured to him to stop. They looked around further and found dozens more wargs who were all sleeping soundly. One misstep and they would risk waking all of these wargs.


    Christina''s eyes focused at the center of the room. ording to the bracelet''s information, the Alpha Fenrir was right in the middle of this room. And indeed, there was something that seemed to expand and dete in the middle. It was the Alpha Fenrir also asleep. After assessing the situation, this was a very fortunate event for them.


    In general, wolves only needed a short sleep. And with all of them resting the moment Christina and Nam entered warg''s den, it was truly a golden stroke of luck. These beasts may not be a wolf but their simrities were almost identical.


    An opportunity that should not be wasted.


    Nam looked straight at Christina and made hand gestures. "Quickly kill the wargs and then take on Fenrir" was what the gestures meant.


    Nam tried to fight the urge of thrusting his spear to the Fenrir''s heart, but thankfully, he''s not that stupid. He wasn''t sure if he could finish off that monster with just one hit. So, the best move to make was to finish off the sleeping wargs first.


    The rest of the Triad and Firebirds cautiously approached the sleeping wargs near them and swiftly stabbed the wargs'' vital areas. The beasts died instantly without making a sound.


    Only a few minutes had passed and more than half of the wargs were already eliminated. But it was soon cut short when a snarling of the wargs resounded from one of the tunnels, a group of wargs had arrived.


    "!!!"


    They only had a few seconds'' windows left before their presence was discovered. Christina looked at Nam and immediately came to an understanding as they rushed toward the center of the room while the others hurried to their closest respective wargs.


    Christina didn''t hesitate and made her sword burst into mes with Nam following behind her with his sharp spear. She put all her strength on the sword''s tip and stabbed the sleeping creature.


    STTTAABBB!!!


    The sword prated the thick leather of the beast''s chest, waking it up as it roared with rage.


    RRROOOOOAAARRRRR!!!!


    The Fenrir iled its arms in a split second as soon as it saw the human holding the sword in her hands to deal a very heavy blow. Christina let go of her sword and raised her hand to block and resist Fenrir''s attack.


    BAMMMMM!!!!


    Christina was thrown several meters and rolled on the ground. The monster was furious and intended to continue its attack on Christina but a spear shed by the corner of its eyes.


    SSHHHHTTTTT


    The spear shot straight at the monster''s head but unfortunately, the Fenrir swayed its head in the fraction of a second resulting in the spear only scratching its face. Blood thirst and fury erupted from the Alpha Fenrir''s eyes as it bit Nam''s spear and crushed it with his fangs.


    RRROOOOAAAARR!!!


    Nam jumped back a few steps toward Christina who was trying to stand up.


    "Are you okay?"


    "Y-Yes," Christina said as she tried to suppress the mouthful of blood she was about to cough.


    Chicken, Maxine and the 30 fighters got into formation as they steeled themselves to fight against the remaining wargs and the Alpha Fenrir. Even though the attack on the Fenrir failed, Nam revealed a slight smile on how they had managed to eliminate dozens of wargs and injure the Alpha.


    Nam pulled out his second spear from his back and prepared to advance toward the Alpha Fenrir. He took a deep breath and focused to release his deadly move but the slight smile on his face disappeared as he witnessed what the opponent in front of him did.


    Fenrir broke the sword in half stuck in its chest. And even though a part of the sword was still lodged in the chest, it didn''t seem to be in pain. The opening wound as well as the scratch on its face were also visibly disappearing.


    "Shit! This monster seems to have the power of regeneration like the ck zombie!" Chicken said.


    Alpha Fenrir slowly stood on its two feet with a height of nearly three meters. Although it wasn''t bigger than a ck zombie, it''s well-defined muscles, broad shoulders, giant ws, sharp fangs, made it appear extremely intimidating, making the fighters break out in cold sweat.


    HOOOWWLLLLL!!! HOOWWWLL!!!


    "We have to kill this beast now before all of its pack gather here and surround us!"

 Chapter 198 - Fury

    In the middle of the cave, Christina, Nam, and the Firebirds and Triad fighters were gearing for a fight. Dozens of wargs were surrounding them and with every second passing, the number of these wolf-like monsters grew.


    Of course, the biggest threat was the Alpha Fenrir, a 3-meter hulking figure facing Nam with eyes full of bloodlust.


    Christina withdrew herst sword. She, together with Maxine, Chicken, and the thirty fighters divided into three groups forming a triangle around Nam and the Alpha Fenrir. Apart from forming a defense line to face the wargs'' siege, they made sure to look for opportunities they could find to provide assistance to Nam.


    They divided the fighters who were holding the machine guns and got ready to rain down bullets at the beasts who would dare approach them. As for the wargs who would manage to dodge the rain of bullets, they would be met with lines of sharp spears head-on.


    Some of the wargs began snarling before proceeding to dash toward the defensive lines.


    Tratatataatat Tratatattatatata.


    Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!


    Machine-gun bullets were scarce right now, and Christina knew the line would onlyst a few minutes at most before being overrun. Hence, her full attention remained focused on their main objective.


    Nam let out a shout, indicating he had released his special ability. If a person looked closely at his back, they could faintly see his solid muscles and dragon tattoo shining like polished jade. Under this state, Nam radiated pressure and energy beyond the peak stage mortal realm.


    ROAAARRRR!!


    Sensing Nam''s changes, Fenrir charged forward with the intent to kill.


    The Fenrir far exceeded Nam''s speed, but Nam somehow was able to keep up by using martial arts steps he had learned throughout the years. But in the situations where he couldn''t avoid the attacks, Nam prioritized parrying and protecting the vital areas of his body.


    BAMMM!! BAAMMM!!!


    AARRGHHH!!


    Nam parried the Fenrir''s m but not without taking damage. The strength of the impact from this Alpha wolf was so strong, twice as strong as the force of the ck zombie. Other peak stage mortal realm fighters would surely die the moment they got hit.


    Nam couldn''t help but feel humiliated and embarrassed remembering his cockiness in regards to defeating this monster.


    "!!!"


    BAAAMMM!!!


    Hispse of judgment and concentration caused him as the Fenrir''s arms managed to hit him in the stomach.


    "Uhukkk!!" Fresh blood came out Nam''s mouth.


    Although he stood his ground, he knew his body wouldn''t be able to endure such another heavy blow. Nam took out two knives and gripped them tightly in his hands, forming fists.


    ROOOAARR!!!


    Alpha Fenrir''s attack came after. This time, a wave with its sharp w.


    Nam swiftly lowered his head, sessfully dodging its sweep, and hurriedly dashed beneath the warg''s thigh stabbing it several times.


    ROOAAAARRRR !!!!


    The Fenrir opened its maw and tried to pounce Nam with its razor-sharp fangs, but Nam managed to jump behind the Fenrir and stab it.


    HOOWWLLLL!!! HOOWWLLL!!!


    The stabs from the two knives, however, weren''t enough to critically wound it. The Fenrir let out an ear-deafening howl to show its rage as it iled around, trying to shake off Nam.


    Nam, not daring to waste this opportunity, pulled out the knives in session and stabbed the Fenrir once again as he firmly stayed on its back.


    He was truly a brave street fighter, his recent stunt lifted the spirits of the other fighters.


    Although some of Nam''s attacks were sessful, Nam knew this was far from enough and they didn''t have much time. Slowly but surely, they were being overrun by the flow of wargsing in from outside the hill.


    The Alpha Fenrir tried to grab Nam, but it''s broad shoulders and torso became its weakness as it couldn''t reach Nam hanging from its back.


    ROOOOOAAARRRR!!!


    With its anger reaching its peak, the Fenrir threw itself down and rolled on the stone floor.


    AARGGGHHH!!!


    Nam couldn''t bear the Fenrir''s weight and was forced to let go as he pulled back his knives.


    Enraged, Fenrir''s attacks were getting even wilder! The Fenrir waved its first w, narrowly missing Nam, but the next w strike hit Nam''s chest hard.


    SPLLAAATTT!!!


    Blood spilled as three lines appeared on the triad chief''s chest. Nam ignored the burning pain on his torso and decided not to jump back, but rather move closer instead. He knew he couldn''tpete with its speed and widening the distance was an open invitation for the Fenrir to use its overwhelming speed. Hence, he decided to take advantage of the Fenrir''srge body and wide range by sticking close to its body, making it difficult for the Fenrir to wave its arms.


    In the slight surprise of the Fenrir, Nam saw an opportunity and jumped...


    SPLAAATT!!!


    Nam''s left knife pierced straight the Fenrir''s right eye.


    RROOOOAAARRRR!


    But the Fenrir also saw this as an opportunity and managed to have its two giant arms hug Nam!


    "!!!"


    Nam was locked on the Fenrir''s grasp and could feel his bones being crushed.


    AARGGHHH!!


    Again, fresh blood dripped from his mouth. This time, Nam struggled to break free from its grasp but unable to escape from its powerful grip.


    The Fenrir opened its jaws filled with drool, getting ready to bite off Nam''s head. An inch was all the Fenrir needed when its head swayed to the left by a powerful blow from the hard two iron clubs struck from the right where its eyes were injured.


    ROOOAAARRRR!!


    Distracted by the iron clubs'' attack, a sword stabbed to its right thigh immediately followed, making the Fenrir fell to its knees.


    STABB!!!


    ROOOAARR!!! ROAARRRR!!!


    In that pain, the Fenrir''s arms slightly loosened as Chicken appeared from another side and hacked one of the Fenrir''s arms, making it finally lose its grip on Nam. Chicken immediately grabbed Nam and jumped back.


    Christina said, "Let''s retreat! Now!"


    "No! Its leg is injured! Now''s the chance to finish it!" said Nam as he tried to recover his breath.


    Christina looked around the hall and the number of wargsing in was increasing, if they didn''t leave now, they probably wouldn''t have another chance of escaping alive!


    "Namm!"


    "Just a bit more! A little bit more!"


    Nam stood and got ready to make a quick attack. Right now, the wolf was still wallowing in pain. It only took a moment before Nam decided what his next target would be and decided on the Fenrir''s left eye. With its injured leg and if you add the two blind eyes, then they could definitely finish this warg once and for all.


    "Chicken!" Nam gave a signal.


    Nam and Chicken both dashed toward the right side of the wolf. They thought with its injured right eye, the Alpha Fenrir''s reaction would be slow.


    They both jumped at the same time.


    "!!!"


    SHHHTTT!!


    Unexpectedly, the wolf had been expecting their attack and waved one of its arms heavily mming Chicken, who was in front, down on the floor before waving its other arm. Since Nam was in the air, he wasn''t able to dodge and got knocked back as well.


    Christina and Maxine rushed forward, but Fenrir picked up Chicken and threw him toward Christina and Maxine. Chicken doesn''t have Nam strength, with just that one m he is already half unconscious.


    Fenrir turned around to look at them.


    "!!!"


    Even though Fenrir''s right eye was bloodshot with blood dripping, the Alpha Warg kept its eye fully opened as if it didn''t bother him at all. It then proceeded to grab the knife and easily pulled it and before crushing it with its arm. Next, Fenrir drew the sword stuck in his thigh and did the same thing.


    Even though blood was pouring out of his eyes and thighs, the wounds immediately closed.


    ROOOAAAARRR!!!


    "Impossible!" Nam said in disbelief.


    Christina and Nam now finally realized the Fenrir''s wasn''t screaming out of pain but rather out of fury.


    AARGGGHH!


    Screams from Firebirds and Triads soon entered Christina and Nam''s ears, they noticed their defensive lines were slowly falling apart along with casualties.


    "NAM! We have to retreat now!"


    Nam gritted his teeth. Humiliation, embarrassment, and regret somehow welled inside him. In one way or another, he wanted to restore his pride and keep fighting, but seeing how Chicken was gravely injured, as well as his other brothers starting to fall. He decided that Christina was right. He shouted, "Fall back!"


    Nam took out an item he had been keeping and threw it at Fenrir.


    KAABBOOMMM!!!


    The grenade was their signal to retreat and to block the Alpha Wolf.


    Maxine picked up the gravely injured Chicken. Meanwhile, Christina led the way toward the tunnel with the least iing of wargs!


    Christina also took out the final grenade and threw it at the blocking beasts.


    KABOOOOMMM !!!!


    "Everyone, move !! Now!!"


    The explosion caused the wargs on the route to move away, clearing the line straight to the passageway clear. All the fighters headed toward the tunnel Christina was running toward.


    "Hurry up! Hurry! " shouted Christina.


    Christina cleared the front, opening a path, while Nam was at the very back, watching the smoke where the Fenrir was in order to track the Fenrir''s pursuit.


    But as soon as the smoke subsided, the wind behind Nam was cut in half as a silhouette of a figure zed past heading straight toward Christina.


    "No! Christina! Watch out!"


    Christina felt an ominous presenceing from behind and as soon Nam''s shout entered her ears, she jumped!


    SPPPLLAATT!!!


    Christina''s shoulder felt like it was burning as blood gushed out. If she waste by even a millisecond, it would have been her neck that would have been gushing out blood. She looked forward and saw the hulking figure of the Alpha Fenrir blocking their path to escape.


    It stood there with its eyes burning with rage, drool flowing from its jaws, ws dripping with fresh blood, and staring directly at Christina as if it were saying, "You shall not leave here alive, prey".


    "No!!!"

 Chapter 199 - Ultimate Skill

    The situation just kept on getting worse. The Firebirds and the Triad''s path of escape were cut off. And with each passing second, the number of wargs kept on increasing.


    Fenrir, guarding the passage to exit, walked from left to right in front of Christina not seemingly in a hurry to attack. As if it was toying with its prey during its hunt.


    "We''repletely surrounded," Nam said as he stood beside Christina.


    Not only were they unable to defeat the Alpha Fenrir, it seemed all was lost because they couldn''t escape with more than 100 wargs filling the room. Nam clenched his fist feeling regret while ming his cockiness and said, "I''m sorry, Ms. Christina. This is my fault."


    Christina took a deep breath trying to find a way out but nothing came into mind other than making ast stand here.. Her eyesnded on the strange bracelet and said, "15 minutes! That''s all the time we have left. I... don''t know if it will actually transport us back to our world, but this is our only hope!"


    "Very well!"


    15 minutes didn''t sound like a long time, with the current situation, however, it felt like forever especially when the Firebirds and Triad only had several fighters capable of fighting. The machine guns'' ammunition and grenades were also used up and only a few sharp weapons were avable. Hence, many fighters were forced to fight using their bare hands.


    "Everyone, tight formation! Close ranks!"


    "Ready!"


    "ATTACK!"


    Waves of attacks were executed by these wolf-shaped monsters, making sure to take turns.


    Pa! Pa! Pa!


    ARRRGHH!


    As time passed, the wargs pulled out the Firebirds and Triad fighters one by one out of formation before proceeding to feast on the defenseless fighter.


    The screams resounded in Christina''s mind as she recalled the same despair they had felt when the first sign of Doomsday had arrived. Tears fell down her cheeks. "No! No! No!"


    Even without the Alpha Fenrir''s intervention, it seemed like they wouldn''t be able tost more than 10 minutes.


    Chicken screamed in pain when the defensive formation loosened and a warg managed to grab his leg and pulled him out of the formation. Nam heard Chicken''s cry and immediately lunged to try and save his sworn brother.


    Baammm !! Baammm !!


    Nam punches threw the beast dragging Chicken a dozen meters away only for the other wargs to show up and take turns to pull out Chicken every time one of them was killed. Eventually, the wargs tried to attack Nam too, making Nam unable to save his brother no more.


    AAAAAAAARRRGGHH!


    Only 5 minutes had passed and just half of the fighters remained.


    Despair hit everyone. But a sharp sound and bright light-filled a corner of the room.


    Kaaabooommm! Kabooommm!


    Tratatatatatat Tratatatatata


    The explosions and machine guns'' roars grabbed Christina''s attention and as she looked around, she noticed an old man and a beautiful long-haired woman cutting through the sea of wargs making their way straight toward them.


    "It''s Corrie! Inspector Tang! Reinforcements areing everyone! Stay strong!" Christina shouted.


    Corrie was heavily injured when they had left this morning, but she seemed to be almost back to prime state a few hourster. Since humankind started consuming spirit stones and broke through normal limits, the body''s cells'' ability to regenerate had elerated. The beautiful, long-haired woman Corrie brandished her cleaver, splitting the wargs blocking her way into two.


    SPLLAATTT!!


    "Sister Christina! Come here!"


    The two groups were about 20 meters apart, but dozens of wargs were blocking them. Fortunately, the explosions and the rain of bullets helped immensely to pave the way for the two groups.


    Christina grabbed the machete on the floor from one of her fallenrades and summoned her special ability. The machete erupted with mes and burned the warg closest to her. Christina raised her machete and attacked in a circr fashion like a dance before saying, "Forward!"


    Maxine and Nam ran behind Christina but Nam''s gaze remained focused on the Alpha Fenrir. He was sure that Fenrir wouldn''t let them go.


    And as Nam had expected, the Fenrir, who had been standing still, flinched and prowled toward the fighters who had just arrived.


    "Careful!!!" Shouted Nam.


    Inspector Tang immediately ordered the entire armed forces to focus fire on the Alpha Fenrir. Even though the rain of bullets was not able to injure the alpha, it was enough to put a stop on its tracks and make it dodge.


    Inspector Tang then threw two grenades he was holding.


    KABOOOMM! KABOOMM!


    The explosions managed to knock down the Alpha Fenrir.


    "Hurry up! That''s thest grenade!"


    Because of that brief window, the remaining fighters managed to make their way to the reinforcement group in front of one of the passageways. But after Christina''s final fire machete strike, she fell to her knees and her vision became blurry. She ran out of energy. Maxine carried her while Corrie protected their backs and hacked away the attacking wargs wildly.


    Nam was the first to appear in front of the inspector, but he stared at the inspector with a mixture of joy and shame. Theirst conversation had ended with him calling the inspector a coward.


    Nam looked at the inspector and muttered, "Thank you..."


    Even though it was close to a whisper, Inspector Tang heard it and understood the sincerity of Nam''s gratitude, but his smile suddenly changed when a blue light behind Nam shed in the smoke.


    "What is that light! No!"


    The blue light became a beam heading toward them and a violent wind followed.


    SSHHHHHHH


    Inspector Tang pushed Nam away but he, himself, couldn''t avoid it.


    Christina and Maxine could only watch the energy beam crash into the passageway with the dozens of fighters gathered in front of it. The other fighters who were standing nearby were also pushed by the fierce wind and fell.


    ZZZZAAAPPPPPP!!!


    "!!!"


    The wind in the hall became chilly as the violent wind dispersed. The temperature in the hall had dropped as they could suddenly see their breaths.


    "Get down!!!" Christina shouted as she saw the people near the passageway covered in ice.


    She couldn''t understand what was happening when the strange bracelet shed a small light and a message appeared in her mind.


    [Ice Breath - Fenrir''s ultimate skill]


    The dozens of fighters turned into ice sculptures and the passageway was blocked withrge chunks of ice.


    Christina and Maxine stood dumbfounded. They had never expected that the Alpha Fenrir would be way out of their league.


    Corrie and the other fighters who were sted away slowly rose to their feet all filled with unbelief.


    "AARRGGHH!" Nam''s scream broke the other''s trance. His entire left hand was frozen along with a stabbing pain on the inside that kept on reverberating. He turned to look at the ice sculpture of the old man who had saved him. Inspector Tang had pushed him to save his life.


    Nam shouted once more and everyone could feel his anger and helplessness while the Alpha Fenrir crept toward him in a rxed manner. The being that wasn''t their opponent to begin with.


    Even Christina stood motionless. Thoughts of how ridiculous this mission was kept circling in her mind. Did the extraterrestrial pir only send them all here to die?


    Tap Tap Tap Tap


    Fenrir towered over Nam who had lost all hope and grabbed him.


    "AARGGGGGHH!!!" Nam''s frozen left hand shattered and its pieces fell to the floor. The man whose body was able to withstand a ck zombie''s attack now looked like a soda can being easily crushed by the Fenrir.


    KKRRAAKKK


    The sound of Nam''s bones cracking pulled Christina from her trance. She took Maxine''s two iron rods and advanced to attack.


    AAaRRRGHGH!!!


    "Sister!!"


    Corrie and Maxine both ran after Christina ready to support Christina in any way they could.


    Christina had managed to stab the Fenrir twice, but the Alpha Fenrir had learned from it and wouldn''t let that happen again.


    Fenrir let go of its broken prey and pounced toward Christina.


    Tap Tap Tap Tap


    The two were a meter apart as Christina summoned thest bit of her strength and swung the rods at the Fenrir.


    SSWWIISSSHHH !!


    But Christina just hit the empty wind.


    "!!!"


    Fenrir had leaped over Christina and targeted the two women following behind.


    Christina''s expression changed rapidly into fear and as she turned around, her heart fell out of her chest


    SPLAATT SPLLAATTT


    The two strikes of Fenrir''s wspletely shed Corrie''s neck and Maxine''s chest ...


    ˇ­


    A deadly attack ... Corrie and Maxine, her two siblings fell limp with full eyes on Christina ... even in this condition both of them still worry about her sister''s safety.


    ...


    "Sister ... Savveee ... yo..ur ... self ..."


    Sorrowful tears flowed from Christina''s eyes. She reached out and tried to scream, but her voice couldn''t escape her throat.


    The beast grinned and looked at Christina directly. It raised its w; licked it with joy before inhaling and letting out its excitement.


    HOOWWWLLLLL!!


    A cry of victory.


    Christina''s legs lost its strength.. she drops the rods on her hand.. as she lost all will to fight.


    Tap tap tap Tap


    The wolf crept up to Christina, who had a nk expression, opened its jaw stained with the blood of her sisters before grabbing her shoulder.


    Inch by inch, the jaw of the Fenrir closed on her head. Its chilly breath touched her and she could feel her cheeks slowly freezing. And then... Blood sshed all over the floor.


    The bracelet on her hand glowed again and transmitted a message.


    [Frost Bite - Fenrir''s Ultimate skill]


    Christina''s body instantly covered with ice and she starts losing her consciousness

 Chapter 200 - Challenge Completed

    Blood sshed across the floor.


    Darkness was all that Christina could see.


    Thump Thump Thump...


    The beating of her heart reached her ear, but its sound faded away like an echo.


    Cold...


    The Fenrir''s cold breath ran across her cheeks, prating her skull..


    ''Where am I? Am I dead? Is this what death feels like? It''s cold and dark here,'' she thought to herself. "No... this coldness..."


    The strange bracelet shed a message in her mind.


    [Frost Bite - Fenrir''s Ultimate skill]


    ''Ahh, yes... Now, I remember. I died facing that unbeatable monster. Every one of them... dead. No one survived.''


    The two figures of her sisters appeared; the look on their faces as they died filled her mind. ''Corrie, Maxine. I''m sorry I let you down.''


    More images of her sisters andrades appeared. ''Jennie, you sacrificed your life to save us, but I... I wasted it. I''m terribly sorry... Nam, you were strong, but this monster was just too much for us to handle.''


    She recalled the time before the world descended into chaos. ''Why me though? What do they want from me? I''m just your ordinary woman. I lived day to day life normally. I''m only a mother caring for my children.''


    ''Kelly, my daughter, please forgive mom for not being able to save you from the gue.''


    ''Caleb, my son, sorry that mom has to leave you so soon. I''m sorry...''


    ''Mother...''


    Thump Thump Thump...


    The chill hadpletely covered her heart and the sound of her heartbeat was like an echo from a faraway distance. But in the center of her heart, a small me zed, melting the ice that was slowly eating her entire being.


    Thump Thump Thump...


    The image of her son waiting for her appeared. Her daughter also appeared and hugged her. Kelly''s warm embrace, Caleb waiting for her hug. ''No, no, no! I can''t die here! The gue took my daughter and my son is awaiting my return! Kelly! Caleb!"


    Christina''s nk eyes regained their life as she woke up from her trance. The Alpha Fenrir was right in front of her with its fangs only an inch away. It''s cold breath still touched her cheek while its w tightly gripped her body which was almost filled with ice.


    However, despite the freezing cold, she could feel her body emitting a warm sensation that was slowly getting stronger by the second. Christina was familiar with this feeling for this was the same heat she could transfer to her weapons igniting it with mes, but this time, the heat was all over her body.


    A momentter, Christina felt the warm sensation expand and explode!


    Crackk! Crackk! Booom!


    The ice that had covered her body melted away and evaporated into the air. The moment Fenrir had felt the warm sensation, its instinct took over, and had to let go of Christina.


    ROOAARR!!!


    Christina managed to get up and escape from Fenrir''s grasp. With her newfound power, she believed this may be an opportunity topletely eliminate Fenrir, but right now, she still needs a weapon.


    "!!!"


    And as luck would have it, right before her eyes was the protruding broken half of the sword she had pierced into the Fenrir in their fight earlier. She didn''t have time to think much, so she dashed forward grabbing the broken body of the sword and transferred the zing energy coursing through her entire body.


    "AAAAAAAAAAA!!!" Christina pushed the sword as she put all her anger and hope into this one attack.


    Boom!


    The mes burst inside the Fenrir and escaped through its orifices!


    RRROOOOAARRR!


    The Fenrir was still alive, but its roar had a different tone this time. Christina''s attack seemed to finally inflict a considerable amount of pain on the Alpha Fenrir.


    Surely this predator wouldn''t let such humiliation from its prey. It waved its two giant arms toward Christina from two different sides. It''s sharp ws and powerful strength was still something Christina could neither parry nor dodge!


    Ssppplattt!!! Sppattt!!!


    Blood sshed on the ground, but it wasn''t her blood. She looked to her side and saw that Nam was on the left while Maxine was on the right. They were still alive, but they were clearly gravely injured.


    They had woken up due to Christina''s st and managed to summon theirst strength when they saw the injured Fenrir trying to crush Christina. They had tried to block the attack by lunging their bodies in the direct path of the Alpha Fenrir''s sharp ws, lodging its ws tightly on their torso.


    Nam spat out more blood. He looked at Christina with his pale face and said with great difficulty while holding the Fenrir''s w, "Finish off... this bastard monster!"


    "You can do it... Sis!"


    Christina didn''t have time to ponder where her strength wasing from, but she poured all of her wills to break through the limit of her body and push the melting broken sword to kill the Alpha Fenrir in front of her.


    "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"


    The zing mes once more spread throughout Fenrir''s body and exploded!


    BOOM!!!


    ROOOAAAARRRRRR!!!


    The Fenrir tried to m the two humans holding its w but it was toote as another wave of ze entered its body. Its insides were boiling and a third explosion urred!


    BOOOM!!


    ROOOAAAAARR!!!


    "DIE!!!" Christina screamed as she pushed and gave her all being into her final attack! And then the Fenrir''s gigantic body expanded before bursting into shreds!


    KAAAAABOOOMMMM!


    Sess! They managed to kill the Alpha Fenrir!


    Christina fell on her back not able to feel her body anymore. She stared at the ceiling that was full of cracks and soot, getting ready to crumble and crush her.


    "Caleb... it seems mother.. iˇ­"


    Christina didn''t even have half the mind to think further when the strange bracelet shed and a series of messages entered her mind.


    [The Alpha Fenrir has died]


    [ss D Mission Tribtion Seeded]


    [Time Remaining: 5 Seconds]


    [Congrattions. You and your party have sessfullypleted the first challenge.]


    [Congrattions on killing Fenrir]


    [Congrattions on sessfullypleting the mission in the first opportunity]


    [Congrattions you received the highest score]


    [Your sess ranking is Rank: A]


    [You are entitled to the reward ording to your rank]


    [Participant will return to the Doomsday Pir]


    "..."


    Rows of messages rushed through her mind. She didn''t have the time to digest them when a re of light blinded her eyes and as soon as she opened her eyes she was in another ce.


    "ThisˇŞ"


    She was back in therge hall with ck stone walls filled with lighted carvings. Therge tform in the shape of a cube was right in front of her. Christina recognized this ce as the location where they had been transported from. Looking around, however, she was alone.


    Christina noticed her injuries had disappeared before searching high and low, left and right; a tear dropped to her cheek. Her sisters, her team, herrades in arms. They didn''te back. She was the only one left. "Maxine, Corrie, Jennie, I''m sorry I wasn''t able to save anyone..."


    Christina stared at the ground while wiping her tears. A moment passed and then the cube suddenly shed and rang.


    ZZzzziiiinggggg


    A deafening sound covered the hall and a beam of light was projected from the cube forming the unfamiliar letters. It was the same event they had experienced before being transported to the snow forest.


    Christina took a step back because she vaguely recalled the words ''first challenge''. A follow-up mission might appear as she readied herself.


    "!!!"


    The strange bracelet in her hand lit up and tranted the message before her.


    [Challengepleted, total participants 235 people, all participants will return in 10 seconds]


    [10...9...8...]


    Christina couldn''t believe what she had just read. Was this true? She clenched her fists in the hope these words weren''t lying. Those few seconds that felt like a very long time.


    Zap! Zap! Zap!


    Hundreds of rays of lights appeared in the hall. Christina looked at the lights and indeed people appeared. She looked around and in one of the rays, she saw a familiar figure. She ran and unhesitatingly hugged the person who had just appeared. "Jennie!"


    Jennie was confused. She also looked to her surroundings and saw the other Firebirds'' fighters, as well as her sisters Corrie and Maxine. Of course, along with them; Nam, Chicken, the Triad members, and Inspector Tang and the Hong Kong police special forces also appeared.


    Every one of them was confused and many of them were still in a state of fear. Theirst memory before reappearing in this room was the terror of death.


    Nam approached Christina. "Miss Christina .. Did you manage toˇŞ."


    Christina smiled and said, "Yes, we did it..."


    Over 200 people had just gone through the weirdest moment in their lives. Laughing started to erupt for they were happy to theirrades whom they thought were dead.


    Inspector Tang stared at Christina before pointing to the projection because the letters seemed to have changed. This time though, everyone was able to understand what was written.


    [Congrattions onpleting the initial challenge, please ept your rewards!]


    [First Floor Hall Level 1 Facility ess have been activated]


    The ground they were standing on shook and two new cubes of stone were raised in two corners of the room. Just like the first cube, these two cubes also glowed with the same strange letters, but they could understand it.


    [Store]


    [Training Hall]


    When Christina finished reading the detailed information from the two cubes, she clenched her fists in excitement like a child who had just received the most expensive toy from their parents.

 Chapter 201 - The Store

    100 days after the gue had started, the whole world witnessed an even more unbelievable sight. Alien structures descended from the sky and one of them rooted itself on Hong Kong Ind. This structure revealed itself in the form of a pir that stood erect hundreds of meters into the sky from the ground. Anyone who saw it felt fear and wonder.


    Everything about this building was not of this Earth. Its ck walls traced veins of light running across, and what seemingly an animate object, transmitted messages directly into the minds of a human.


    After Christina and the others hadpleted the almost impossible mission, the Pir hosted a new surprise.


    The two newly erected tforms with cubes were shing lights with writing.


    [Store] and [Training Hall]


    "Waaaaa!!! Brother, are you seeing this? It says shop and training hall right?" said Chicken as he inspected the cube from top to bottom..


    "It''s like a game!" Chicken touched the cube and shouted ''Store!'' but no reaction urred. "Is this thing broken? It''s not doing anything!"


    Suddenly a voice spoke in his mind to approach the cube and suddenly above the cube appeared a bracelet .. identical with the one that Christina was using right now ..


    Seeing what happened, Inspector Tang says "Chicken, put it on and try touch the cube once more,"simr incident happened to the inspector 7 days ago when he first entered the pirs and touched the cube"


    Chicken tapped the cube once more and a light covered his body and disappeared.


    It seems that everyone can get the same bracelet from this cube. It appears that this bracelet is the key to unlocking Doomsday''s pir secrets. Inspector Tang thinks that if everyone obtained these bracelets before the mission began, it could really help them with the mission.


    "Christina, you try now," said Inspector Tang.


    Christina approached the tform with the word [Store] and once she touched it, a message entered her mind.


    [Enter?]


    "Yes..." She believed the Pir was somewhat trustworthy, after all, they had gone through, bringing back herrades as well as what Alex had mentioned, she wasn''t afraid of the Pir anymore.


    As soon as Christina agreed, a light beamed from the ceiling blinding her and when she opened her eyes, she had already moved to another location.


    The hall she arrived at was filled with rows of panels with light carvings..


    Chicken was standing at the far side of the corner when he saw Christina appear from the beam of light. "Christina! Look at this!"


    He touched one of the carvings and the wall panel pushed itself. It then assembled and revealed a machete with a Damascus pattern. "This is a beauty! Look, look!"


    Chicken looked like a kid at a store and not long after, one by one Maxine, Corrie, Nam and the fighters began to appear in this room, all wearing the same bracelets on their wrists. She didn''t hesitate any more and began to stand in front of the wall panels.


    [Melee weapon]


    A number of images and descriptions shed in her mind. She swiped through the gallery and selected a category. Dozens of different swords with different models appeared. A particr one caught her eyes and pulled it up.


    [0131 - Sword - Tier 1]


    [Length 90 centimeters, width 13 centimeters, weight 12.5 kilograms]


    This is the most beautiful sword she had ever seen. Its shape, weight, and stability was a perfect fit for her. Christina ran her fingers through the de and could feel its sharpness. She gave it a few swings before the sword lit up and disappeared.


    "!!!"


    Christina re-read the description of the sword, and then she noticed a number emzoned at the bottom.


    [200 spirit stones]


    "..."


    Chicken screamed out of nowhere, startling Christina. "WHAT!!! 300 spirit stones! We have to pay for this stuff?!!"


    Nam patted his face, he was used to Chicken since they had been together for years, but he would still get embarrassed.


    Inspector Tangughed and answered, "Hahaha. Why are you surprised? We''re in a ''Store''."


    Chicken clicked his tongue and put on the best pity face he could muster at Nam. "Big brother! Can I have the spirit stones? Please?"


    Nam feigned indifference and answered, "No."


    Christina understood that nothing was free in this world, a sword as good as this couldn''t be without cost.


    She strolled around the panel area and noticed it only held melee weapons. Spears, knives, axes, clubs, even melee weapons with shapes she had never seen before. There may be hundreds or even thousands of types stored in this room.


    She then reached another area and the panel area held a different category.


    [Protection]


    [0577 - Shield - Tier 1]


    [One-handed shield, weight 11 kilograms]


    [400 spirit stone]


    [0029 - Cuirass Set - Heavy armor - Tier 1]


    [A set of body armor, weight: 33.5 kilograms]


    [Set item - extra damage resistance]


    [1500 spirit stone]


    Christina noticed that the average for protection required more spirit stones than weapons. Especially for a set of body armor.


    "Sis, Christina!"


    Corrie and Maxine walked over to Christina and then immediately pulled her away.


    "Come here, sis!"


    "What is wrong?" Christina asked seriously.


    "Look at this, sis!"


    [2114 - Jacket - Tier 1]


    [Leather jacket, light armor - weight 1.1 kilograms]


    [Extra heat protection]


    [200 spirit stones]


    "Look, look! This looks perfect on you!" Corrie said as she showed Christina a long-sleeved jacket with ck and dark red ent and immediately put it on Christina. "It suits you, sis!"


    At the same time, Corrie and Maxine also wore the same jacket as well as other several members of the Firebirds too.


    "Wow, matching attires are really fun," eximed Maxine. "We look more like a group with uniforms."


    Christina smiled, she knew how her two sisters loved to try on clothes. Well, it wasn''t surprising since they were women and liked to wear something pretty. Christina continued smiling as she noticed her sisters seemed to have forgotten the terrible incident before this and like they were back in the past. She wanted this feeling tost.


    "Ehem!"


    Jennie''s sudden cough made Christina wake up from her daydream. She did this because Jennie was the one responsible for storing all the spirit stones their group had managed to get.


    As soon as Christina saw Jennie''s serious face, she had no other choice but to reel in the others as well as her feeling of joy in order not to do any impulse buying. After all, while they were in Singapore, all the spirit stones they had obtained were given to the Singapore government and while in Hong Kong, the Firebird hadn''t been assigned to the front lines where the heaviest fighting took ce, so they didn''t have too many spirit stones.


    Now that she thought about it, providing this jacket for 30 Firebirds members, which cost 200 spirit stones each, would mean a total of 6000 spirit stones. The spirit stones they had were less than half of that but even if they had that amount, would it be appropriate to use them all on the jacket protectors? What about guns, ammo, swords, etc.? What about the 50 members of the Singapore police force who came with them?


    Christina had no choice but to not indulge her sisters. Hopefully, next time, once they had more.


    She then took the time to walk around the area. The average weapon and armor value ranged from 100 to 1000 spirit stones. Finally, she arrived at another panel area with a different category. One of them particrly caught her attention.


    [Consumables]


    [Spirit fruit]


    [Consuming this can meet the nutritional needs of the body]


    [100 spirit stones]


    "..."


    "Crazyˇ­" 100 spirit stones for a fruit that was as small as a cherry... She wondered what other kinds of functions or help would it actually do to the human body. As she finally had enough of walking, she listed three things specifically.


    [Energy gun - Tier 1]


    [Length 110 centimeters, weight 22 kilograms]


    [Long range shotgun, requires spirit stones as ammunition]


    [3000 spirit stones]


    [Stone golem - Tier 1]


    [290 centimeters high, 310 kilograms weight]


    [The stone golem can bemanded via telepathy, requires spirit stone as energy]


    [2000 spirit stones]


    [Storage ring - Tier 1]


    [3 cubic meter storage space]


    [300 spirit stones]


    Christina had gone through many items within the 15 minutes and noticed all that they had seen had a Tier 1 category. She assumed this was the lowest category and not everything was shown to them. This Pir still had a lot more secrets waiting to be unraveled. She said to herself, "Even the lowest category requires thousands of spirit stones, so what about the higher tier items?"


    "Yesss!!!" Chicken screamed so loud, startling everyone. He was raising hands like a child who had won approval from his parents. It looked like he managed to persuade Nam to take the machete after ceaseless pleading.


    Christina ignored him and then proceeded to discuss with Jennie on how they would not buy anything before knowing more about this extraterrestrial building called Doomsday Pirs. At least, they had to check the other room first.


    Christina then led the way along with the members of the Firebirds toward the other cube. They went to where they had appeared and got transported back to the main hall before checking out what was the other room.


    [Training Hall]


    She walked in front and touched the cube in the middle of the room and several options appeared in her mind.


    [Solo] [Team]


    "Team!"


    There were two options on whether to go solo or team. But Christina led all the Firebirds here, it was only right to select the team option.


    They were once transported to another hall roughly the size of a basketball court. Another cube was ced in the middle of the room. Christina went ahead and touched it.


    [Check status]


    [Skill Library]


    [Practice]


    [Realm Enhancement]


    "Realm Enhancement?"

 Chapter 202 - Skill Library

    The human body was full of mysteries. Scientists in modern times still hadn''t answered everything about the secrets of the human body.


    Everyone had fingerprints that were different, even identical twins had different fingerprints. It is the diversity of bodies where no one was the same.Some people had dominant hands such as the right and or the left. Some were ambidextrous but still preferred one hand better than the other. People were also born with different talents, such as being able to hear distinct sounds and y musical instruments well but some others were born without musical talent even though their parents were music maestros. There were people who had excellent motoric skills, thus they were extremely skilled in sports and some were able to paint an art spectacrly.


    What about blood type?


    There were eight main blood groups, but many people didn''t know that in these eight blood types, there existed different variations not mentioned often!


    Type A blood, ording to research, was considered the most ancient. Type B and Type O developedter due to mutations in the gic code as humans proliferated and crossed continents..


    Scientists in modern times were able to research the ancestry of a human-based on DNA. But that result could only be found in 2% of the total DNA collected. Then what else could they find in the remaining 98%?


    Some scientists are still researching the function of DNA as a whole. But in the end, they still did not find precise, urate, and scientific information to answer everything.


    Could the Doomsday Pir has the answer to this mystery?


    Four messages popped into Christina''s mind as she stood on top of that glowing circle.


    [Check status]


    [Skill Library]


    [Practice]


    [Realm enhancement]


    "Okay... Check Status!"


    A glowing inscription appeared in front of her.


    [Christina]


    [Female - 34 years]


    [Mortal Realm Level 30 - Peak Stage]


    [You have reached the peak stage of the mortal realm. You are eligible for a realm upgrade.]


    [Upgrade to Earth Realm?]


    "Earth Realm Enhancement? What''s that?" Christina was excited to see the message in front of her and agreed immediately but the next message made her squint her eyes.


    [10 spirit stones required]


    "..."


    She couldn''t help but think this Doomsday Pir was like a cash grab mobile app. Everything they offered seemed to have a cost upfront. Luckily though, only 10 spirit stones were required. After asking Jennie for the spirit stones, Christina held out the spirit stones to the cube and it disappeared.


    [Mortal realm upgrade to earth realm processing]


    A bright circle light appeared from Christina''s feet, making her float as a pressure seemed to have covered her body. Then, Christina felt her skin as if being pricked with hundreds of tiny needles touched her skin, making her whole body shake.


    It wasn''t painful though for it was like the small bits of electricity one would feel when being in an acupuncture clinic. Christina could feel energy rushing through her entire body. If she had been familiar with traditional Chinese medicine, then Christina would understand that her entire meridian circtionwork was being stimted.


    Just like how blood and nerves had its ownworks, energy also had its own in the form of meridians.


    Meridians were located in the body with varying in location depending on the path of the energy circted. Some meridians existed through the bones, some were between the muscles, and because of their unreal form, some prated or enveloped organs.


    Christina could tell the energy was targeting specific spots in her body; she didn''t know those were her 12 main meridians. They felt warm but at the same time, she could tell something was exiting her body. Those spots were like a dripping tap opened wide.


    The feeling of electricity coursed through every part of her body down to every joint and strand of hair. It was an extraordinary feeling.


    After the process had ended, Christina closed her eyes and also felt the fire energy in gut gathering and hardening.


    [Realm upgrade sessful]


    [Status update]


    [Christina]


    [Female - 34 years]


    [Earth realm level 1 - initial stage]


    [Spirit affinity found - Fire - initial stage]


    [Spirit Talent - level A]


    Maxine, Corrie, Jennie, and the other were looking at Christina wanting to know what had just happened to her. Christina gave a smile and said, "Try it out for yourselves."


    Jennie stepped forward, and not long after, Maxine and Corrie followed.


    [Jennie]


    [Female - 38 years]


    [Earth realm level 1 - initial stage]


    [Spirit affinity found - Psychic - initial stage]


    [Spirit Talent - level B]


    [Corrie]


    [Female - 24 years]


    [Earth realm level 1 - initial stage]


    [Spirit of affinity found - Wind - initial stage]


    [Spirit Talent - level B]


    [Maxine]


    [Female - 27 years]


    [Earth realm level 1 - initial stage]


    [Spirit of affinity found - Ground - initial stage]


    [Spirit Talent - level B]


    The three were surprised to have experienced the upgrade. They asked the rest of the Firebirds members to do the same. The result was, from the 30 firebirds members, 5 people had talent spirit level C, 10 had talent spirit D and the rest got the message.


    [No Spirit talent found]


    Christina and her sisters wanted to know more about what the effect of spiritual talents had on their bodies, but they seemed to have noticed those who do have it, were the members who were contributing the most in their battles. The thing they could tell for sure though was that they could fill a new sense of energy within them. They wanted to try it against the zombies outside. However, there were still facilities from the Doomsday Pir that hadn''t been inspected yet.


    Christina returned to examine the cube.


    [Skill Library]


    [Battle arts - empty handed]


    [Battle arts - weapons]


    [Inner power manual]


    Her eyes widened seeing these options. Then it made sense to her, the store sold items while this ce sold knowledge. She scrolled through the list of categories and selected the knowledge she was most interested in.


    [Sword art]


    She excitedly read the list and once again there were also many variations.


    [Short sword] [Long sword] [Broad sword] [single edge sword]


    Christina chooses one of them.


    [Long Sword Art - basic]


    [20 spirit stone]


    Since it didn''t require a lot of spirit stones, Christina immediately bought them.


    The technique she had chosen was a long sword art, a type of swordmonly used in Chinese martial arts. Although the description had said this was a basic art manual, it contained a lot more information than she had expected. She looked into her newfound knowledge andpared it to those lessons she had taken, the private sword dance lessons, and its teachings, and she was now able to answer many basic movements she had not understood before. The various parry movements, sweeping movements, aerial attack movements, and many more.


    200+ basic variations in using the long sword entered her mind like a stamp engraved in her memory. She felt she became an expert in using long sword but still she knew that theory and practice were two different things. To truly master this knowledge, she needed to use and train these.


    She then looked to the other option that caught her eye [Inner power manual]. In contrast to bare-handed martial arts and weapons that have a wide variety of choices, internal power manuals only gave her one option.


    [Fire spirit manual - initial stage]


    [100 spirit stones]


    It seemed Christina had no choice but to buy it. Since only a dozen of them had spiritual talent, only they received the option to have the manual. After she had bought it, they didn''t have much spirit stones left to buy other things. But Christina believed strengthening oneself from the inside was more important than external weapons or equipment.


    When the manual entered Christina''s mind, a new wave of knowledge entered her mind forcing her to sit. An enlightenment period urred in her head and it essed the energy stored in her body. Without realizing it, she had already spent an hour sitting and if Jennie hadn''t called her repeatedly, maybe she would have been stuck transfixed about the manual for the whole day.


    "Yes, Jennie? Sorry, I didn''t notice that time had passed quickly. What about you? Did you also get something from the manual?"


    "Honestly, It''s very hard for me. I don''t really know where to start. Maybe I''m not smart enough." Jennie continued, "Sister, we''ve been here for 2 days while Inspector Tang''s group has been a whole week. The outside may still be rioting, I think I should see what''s the situation outside. What do you think?"


    "Yes, yes, of course. I will go too. Let''s go."


    Jennie shook her and pointed to Corrie and Maxine who were also in a transfixed state.


    "I suggest you continue what you were doing, understand the manual first. I have a feeling it will greatly help us once youe out. I will invite the other members out though as well as Inspector Tang and we''ll go return if there''s something urgent."


    Christina nodded and sat. She closed her eyes and imagined the manual in her head. Not long after, she was lost in thought again and without realizing it, several hours had passed and even a few nights had passed.

 Chapter 203 - Fire Spirit Arts

    Dday +112


    Hong Kong ind


    100 days had passed since the end of times started and 12 days after the Doomsday Pir had descended. Christina hadn''t realized she had spent 5 days in the Pir''s training hall cultivating the internal power skill, which was something new not only to her but to almost every person in the world.


    This inner cultivation was divided into breathing, posture, meditation, andprehension. Each step benefited each other like cogs in a clockwork.


    During the 4 days that had passed, eachprehension she had gone through went smoothly but when she felt something akin to an obstacle, Christina would take the time to let go of her meditation and started practicing the sword art she had acquired.


    Finally, on the 5th day, Christina felt a breakthrough in herprehension of the power in the spirit of fire. She noticed the lump of energy solidified in her inner heart and sessfully created a tightwork with the 12 meridians in her body.


    [You have mastered the initial stage of fire energy spirit]


    [Status Update].


    [Christina]


    [Female - 34 years]


    [Earth realm level 1 - initial stage]


    [Spirit energy - fire - intermediate stage]


    [Spirit talent - level A]


    Her previous status hadbeled her spirit energy as initial stage but now it showed intermediate stage. Christina definitely agreed with that as she could tell her quality of control and the energy of coursing had significantly improved. She could feel she could transfer the power throughout her body or make it explode at will.


    After her breakthrough, a new message appeared on her mind as she faced the cube in front of her.


    [You can continue learning power in the next stage of fire spirit]


    [Power manual in fire spirit - intermediate stage]


    [500 spirit stones]


    "..."


    As much as Christina wanted to continue cultivating and feel the difference between the initial stage and the intermediate stage, right now, however, she didn''t have that many spiritual stones. Hence, Christina regretfully refused the offer. But as soon as she pressed the close option, another message appeared.


    [Initial stage fire spirit discovered]


    [Skill library ess renewed]


    [Empty-handed Martial Arts]


    [Martial arts weapons]


    [Inner power manual]


    [Initial stage Fire Arts]


    "!!!"


    [Fire Maniption] - 50 spirit stones


    [Fire Detection] - 50 spirit stones


    [Heat Touch] - 50 spirit stones


    [Heat Resistance] - 50 spirit stones


    Four additional manuals were unlocked and based on the names, it seemed to be the basic functions she could do with her early-stage knowledge of the fire energy spirit. Again, however, all of these manuals needed spirit stones she currently didn''t have. After all, the Firebirds had spent a lot of their saved spirit stones.


    She looked around to count the remaining Firebirds members apanying her, previously there were several members, but as of the moment, only Corrie and two other members with C level talent were still practicing.


    Christina felt she had already spent too long in the Doomsday Pir and Hong Kong Ind. She after all hadn''t nned to stay here for a long time and began to miss her son, Caleb, with each passing day. It had been two months she had parted with him.


    She recalled Hong Kong''s condition before she had entered here, and based on that, she thought she couldn''t continue her mission further. She had already done her part here and wanted to consider her mission as a failure as long as she could be with her boy the sooner, she dared to take the consequences.


    Not wanting to disturb Corrie and the others still practicing, Christina walked toward the cube, touched it, and returned to the first hall. She had already experienced it a few times but it was still unbelievable for her.


    When she returned to the main hall, Christina was taken aback. The room that was previously dark and mysterious hadpletely changed. Lamps had brightened the room and the hall was filled with several tables and fixtures. Dozens of people were moving around the room.


    An old man approached her with a smile.


    "Inspector Tang, this isˇŞ" Christina asked.


    "Miss Christina. Finally, you''re back. How''s the training?"


    "It went well. But what''s happening here, Inspector Tang?"


    "Ahh yes. In the past few days, we''ve gathered the remaining intellectuals from the survivors and asked them to help us learn as much as possible about the Doomsday Pir."


    Christina looked around and confirmed that indeed most people were studying the walls and were recording stuff on paper.


    "How about you, Miss Christina? Did you sessfullyplete the initial training of energy in the spirit?"


    "Yes. I just finished."


    "Good, good. 5 days and already finished. Good." Inspector Tang nodded thoughtfully.


    "Have you found something, Inspector Tang?" Christina asked, raising her eyebrow.


    "For the past 5 days, we''ve been busy exploring the secrets of this Pir. We have had 100,000 Hong Kong survivors and 5,000 fighters to interact with the cube. Currently, there are only about 100 people who have talents in spiritual power. Out of the 100, only you and Nam have talent A, a few have talent B, and the rest, including myself, are C in the lowest talent category."


    While Christina was drifting into thoughts on how people were divided into the talents, a sound erupted loud enough to startle her and Inspector Tang.


    Bbbrrrrrbbb


    Christina blushed because it was the sound of her stomach. She had only one meal throughout all the time she had been practicing.


    "Hahahaha. Miss Christina. It seems you can help with this matter."


    "?"


    Inspector Tang grabbed a small box from the desk nearby and showed its content. Inside were objects smaller than a cherry.


    "Is this?"


    "Yes, it''s the spirit fruit. As you know, 1 box is worth 100 spirit stones but it has 10 pieces inside. Please, give it a try."


    "That''s 10 spirit stones a piece..." she muttered to herself as she picked one of them. She lightly pinched the green-colored fruit and found it hard but after it had entered her mouth, the sweetness spread to her mouth and its sudden softness surprised her as it melted like a grape.


    She hadn''t thought that a small fruit could produce such a taste and by the time she had finished it, she felt full. Still, for Christina, the price needed to be paid for each fruit wasn''t worth it. Hence, Christina didn''t know what toment.


    "Inspector Tang, do these fruits have other benefits? I feel like it''s too much to spend 100 spirit stones for this just to fill an empty stomach."


    "I had hoped there''ll be something I can discover from you after eating it. But from what we''ve found so far, anyone who eats this fruit has not felt hungry. it''s been 5 days.. Let see how long it wouldst.. Other than that, it seems there are no other benefits."


    Inspector Tang then continued to remind Christina that the biggest crisis Hong Kong was facing right now was theck of food. This spirit fruit could''ve been the solution, but he did agree it was too expensive to be a solution. After all, to feed the 100.000 survivors they would need 1 million spirit stones.


    After seeing the facilities of the Doomsday Pir, in thest few days, the fighters with their new powers decided to carry out special expeditions every day across to the city of Hong Kong to find food supplies and spirit stones.


    After hearing the updates Inspector Tang had to offer, Christina decided to go outside and look for her sisters


    "Miss Christina, if you meet Nam, I hope you can bring him here soon. I have something that I need to discuss with both of you."


    "Ok, Inspector."


    ------------


    On the banks of the river, three small boats were getting ready to leave the Victoria harbor. Each boat could amodate a maximum of 10 people, and the boats were filled with a total of two dozen people. They were the Firebirds members.


    They were about to untie the boats'' rope on the harbor when a woman arrived.


    "Is there room for one more?"


    "!!!"


    "Sister Christina! You''re finally here, we missed you!"


    Everyone''s faces in the Firebirds lit up because Christina would be with them today. Jennie and Maxine were even more excited. Other than Corrie and the others who were still training, all 25 Firebirds members were here. This time, Lieutenant Choi again was left out to defend the headquarters with his Singapore soldiers.


    The distance between Hong Kong Ind and Hong Kong city was only about 800 meters. It took them less than an hour to row the boat across.


    Their main goal was to loot the warehouses by the river. If they weren''t careful, they could be surrounded by thousands of zombies.


    In thest few days, Jennie had been leading them with caution. Whenever she felt the situation bing more tense, they immediately left. They had agreed to do the same today.


    This time, they docked at the jetty close to Kowloon Park. When they reached the other side, before they got off, Jennie handed Christina something.


    It was the beautiful sword that Christina had tried in the Doomsday Pir''s store. Jennie may sometimes not look it, but she had been looking out for her sisters.


    "This..."


    "I know you''ve had your heart set on it the moment you saw it. Anyway, you need a good sword to fight, I just hope this sword won''t meet the same fate as the others."


    Christina smiled and epted the sword.


    Everyone who had participated in this mission were all Earth Realm fighters. Today, they would fight alongside their leader. Christina then wondered how they had been faring against the zombies after they had upgraded.

 Chapter 204 - Kowloon

    The 25 members of the Firebirds split into three groups and searched around the area on Kowloon''s wharf.


    "Aren''t we better off together?" asked Christina.


    By scattering into three groups, this meant there would only be eight people in each. Facing hundreds or even thousands seemed too risky if they stick with thisposition. Moreover, they were at the pier right next to the center of Hong Kong.


    Maxine dispelled Christina''s doubt by saying, "We''ll be fine, Sis. This is the fourth time we''ve done this and if danger everes, we can do this..."


    Maxine touched the bracelet she received from the Doomsday Pir and Christina''s bracelet shows a new message..


    When they were in the Pir, the bracelet only provided the Alpha Fenrir''s position. But as it turned out, it could also be used as some sort of a radar between people who have it.


    "I''m a little bummed though why the cube didn''t give us technology as good as a smartphone. Ahh, I miss holding a smartphone," Maxine said as she let out a sigh.


    At least, they had figured out two functions of this bracelet. Apart from it working as a trantor and ess to all the Doomsday Pir facilities, this bracelet could also act as a GPS.


    "Oh, by the way, sis. We''re able to check our personal status using the bracelet. Check this out!"


    [Maxine]


    [Female - 27 years]


    [Earth realm level 4 - initial stage]


    [Spirit of affinity found - Ground - initial stage]


    [Spirit Talent - level B]


    Maxine''s bracelet showed a hologram, which she could show it to others.


    Upon reading it, Christina noticed something and blurted out, "Level 4?"


    "Yes, sis. It''s because of the spirit stones," Maxine answered. She then exined that consuming spirit stones would increase their level. However, after being upgraded to earth realm as well as stepping on level 3, the white spirit stones didn''t seem to have an effect despite using a dozen of them.


    "Then how do you get to level 4?" Christina asked.


    Maxine whipped out a slightly different spirit stone and proceeded to exin. "It''s because of this, sis. these the yellow spirit stones that we sometimes get when we eliminate a ck zombies."


    Jennie then interrupted "It was Nam and his Triad members were the first ones who tried it and apparently, their guess was right. After entering the earth realm, the white ones don''t do much anymore." Jannie added, "Actually, our mission this time isn''t only to find food supplies for Hong Kong residents but also to find more yellow spirit stones."


    In the previous challenge battle in the snow forest, Jennie felt helpless as she had seen her fellow sisters die. She felt she was too weakˇŞno... they were too weak, to protect Christina. Therefore, since thest few days, Jennie had been searching for ways to improve their ability as a whole to increase their survivability in these end of times.


    "Very well, I''ll trust you," Christina replied with a smile.


    They then proceeded to split into 3 groups and started scouting.


    If one went up to a rooftop, one would know that as far as the eye could see, every street in the city of Hong Kong was filled with zombies. And within those zombies, it seemed the red zombies had evened out in numbers with the normal zombies. So, to prevent the horde from crowding in their locations, the Firebirds members only attacked with melee weapons.


    SHHHTTT SPLAATT


    The red zombies were torn apart by the Firebirds member''s sword strike. After breaking through the mortal realm, their muscle strength, reaction speed and endurance increased. Small groups of 8 people could now fight dozens of red zombies easily.


    Christina didn''t even have time to show her abilities at all.


    3 hours had passed but apart from killing zombies, they didn''t find much food. It had been 4 months since the gue started so most of the food stored had either gone moldy or had been plundered by other people. Still, they were able to gather some dry food, canned food, and some snacks from the vending machines.The three groups gathered three bags full of food.


    Jennie touched the ring on her finger and all three bags disappeared. It was the storage ring being sold from the Doomsday Pir''s shop. It was really practical because they didn''t have to carryrge luggages anymore.


    "This is far from enough, but the sun is setting. We''ll continue tomorrow and try the other side of the pier," Jennie eximed.


    Maxine wanted toin, which was evident by her crossed arms, because three bags of food were not enough considering the time they had spent, but she followed Jennie''s order. Christina, on the other hand, always believed in Jennie''s judgment. Her oldest sister spent a dozen years in the army after all..


    As they were heading back toward their boat, gun fires resounded from the distance.


    Tratatatatataat!


    "Who''d be stupid to fight using firearms in the middle of a city like this!" eximed Maxine.


    Hong Kong was one of the densest cities in the world, thus a lot of zombies also had risen here. Loud sounds could attract tens of thousands of zombies in no time.


    Jennie thought about the situation and felt this was odd. This city had been riddled with zombies for nearly 4 months. So, it wasn''t very likely that there would still be people living in these areas. Could it be Nam''s group who was firing? No, she abandoned that thought since the Triad didn''t favor using firearms.


    While Jennie was contemting, however, Christina had already run toward the sound.


    "Christina! Wait!" Jennie said as she ran to help Christina. She then came to a realization as she looked at Christina''s back. Christina was right. Right now, there were people who were in need of help. This is a priority".


    25 Firebirds also followed Christina. In order to quickly avoid all the zombies on the streets and alleyways, Christina went to a rooftop of a nearby house and started hopping on top of buildings to another. She wouldn''t have dared to do this before, but this time, she could feel her body was as light as the wind.


    Jennie, Maxine, and the other Firebird members, unwilling to fall behind, followed her hopping through the roofs while killing all the red zombies who chased after them.


    A few momentster, they arrived atop a three-story building next to Kowloon Park Mall.


    "Over there!" eximed Christina, pointing to a mall with thousands of zombies gathering.


    The zombies were flooding into the mall but Christina and the Firebirds could clearly hear the rattling of the firearms inside the building.


    TRATATATAT TRATATATATA


    Jennie pulled the long rifle from her back and looked into its scope.


    "That''s the Hong Kong army uniform!"


    It truly was suspicious. The Hong Kong army had already been given the order to move to Hong Kong Ind, howe there would still be some here and alive.


    Jennie adjusted her scope and scouted outside the mall; she saw at least a dozen soldiers were fighting outside, but couldn''t tell how many were inside. She looked around further and noticed the smoke billowing from the distance. The horde wasing and there were at least a dozen ck zombies in it.


    Christina stared at Jennie and Jennie nodded back. Jennie knew there was no way Christina would just hang around.


    "My suggestion.. Get in and get out as fast as we can!" Jennie said


    "Let''s go! Sister Christina finally has a chance to draw her new sword," said Maxine, pulling out her iron rods.


    Twenty-five female fighters jumped from the top of the multi-story building andnded on the street before charging straight for the mall''s entrance. They had to rush and save the troops inside before the zombie horde arrived.


    Most of the Firebirds fighters used swords as their main weapon, some though wielded spears but only Maxine brandished clubs.


    Thousands of zombies were blocking their way, but they cut through a straight line as if the zombies weren''t bothering them a bit. Christina led the vanguard and swung her sword left and right, not stopping even for a moment.


    SWISSSHH SWISSSHH!!


    Like a hot de against a butter, the dozens of zombies who had been felled by Christina seemed to have burnt marks. In less than a minute, they had made it to the front of the building.


    ROOOAARRRR ROOOAARR ROAAARRR


    The roar of the ck zombies. Three ck zombies blocking the way...


    "AARRRGGGHHH!!! HELP!!!"


    Christina felt doubtful if they could face three at the same time even though she could tell she was much stronger than before. The ck zombie was still oozing out an incredible feeling of intimidation before her. She decided to be careful while fighting these three ck zombies. If this had happened before they had entered the Doomsday Pir, she would have most likely asked her sisters to escape.


    Her train of thought, however, was put to a pause when Maxine stood in front of her. "Sis, you go check inside. Leave these three monsters to us."


    Christina was about to say something, but Maxine had already darted forward.


    Maxine ced all her on the two iron clubs behind her and jumped to the one in the middle.


    BAMMMM!!!


    The ck zombie mmed to the floor with its head cracked open!


    BAAAMM!! BAAAMM!!! BAAMMM!!


    Maxine then made three more swings and the monster got stuck on the ground. Every attack Maxine had made carried a weight enough to make the monster scream in pain.


    Christina stood in amazement as she watched Maxine wipe the floor against the ck zombies. Jennie then pulled her to cross the empty pathway and headed straight into the hallway passing through a group of tired soldiers.


    ROOOAAARRR !!


    Apparently there is another ck zombie roaming inside. Looking around, the giant zombie had ughtered a dozen people in the mall atrium.


    The mutted bodies of soldiers were all over the ces.


    The ck zombie''s arms were in the form of sharp swords. And in that moment they had arrived, it had just stabbed another person.


    Christina and Jennie immediately recognized the person.


    The dying man was none other than Colonel Chan. The supreme leader of the Hong Kong army who had stolen Christina''s ship a week ago.


    "Why is he here?" Christina muttered.

 Chapter 205 - Greed

    Last week, Hong Kong Ind had experienced chaos. Colonel Chan, who was the highest-ranking military officer in Hong Kong disappeared along with the richest businessman, Li Song Ki. They had carried with them a bountiful amount of supplies as well as the only functioning ship, which was brought by Christina from Singapore.


    Colonel Chan was coughing blood as the ck zombie''s sword arm lifted him high in the air.


    Christina lunged.


    Swwissshhh!!! Crkk!!


    Christina''s new sword cut through the ck zombie''s arm that was harder than a stone with ease.


    Jennie caught the falling Colonel Chan and dashed to a corner to inspect him.


    It didn''t look good for the colonel. His chest was pierced through and hollow.. He tried to breathe, but he kept getting choked by the blood pouring out of his mouth. The colonel couldn''t say anything as he stared at Jennie. Within his eyes, Jennie could clearly see his regret and anger, reflecting in his dted pupils before he breathed hisst with eyes opened.


    Jennie wiped Colonel Chan''s eyes closed and then a scared, shaking voice called out to her.


    "Y-Y-You... you''re here! Good, good. Save me."


    A fat man, wearing a luxurious coat, was shivering in the corner wall. He was Li Song Ki. One of Hong Kong''s most influential figures and its richest man. He appeared here after he had left together with Colonel Chan.


    Li Song Ki''s appearance was rugged and had blood stains all over. His shoulder had been ripped but it had already dried. He was limping as he walked over to Jennie with his arms tightly wrapped around a suitcase.


    "S-Save me, woman! I-I have money! I''llpensate you so that you''ll never have to w-work again!" He was stuttering along with his shaking limbs.


    Jennie looked over where he had been hiding, only to notice the dozens corpses of the soldiers. It looked like they all died trying to protect him. Li Song Ki may still be alive, but he was barely hanging on.


    "Let me check your wounds first, Let go of your suitcase," Jennie said as she extended a hand.


    He was dying when he had called out to her. But the moment Jennie mentioned the suitcase, he turned heated and eximed, "No! No! No! Don''t touch my suitcase! This is my treasure!" he then coughed off blood. His wound seems to have worsened.


    Jennie shook her head. This man valued his possessions more than his life. She wanted toment about his greediness but decided to hold her tongue.


    Christina, on the other hand, was still busy fighting the ck zombie. She was actually gauging and adjusting to her newfound power. Fortunately, the power of the early stage earth realm was able to match the speed of the ck zombie. Her reaction had also be faster allowing her to easily predict the direction of the monster''s attack. She thought that if she faced this ck zombie alone, she was sure she''d be able to dodge all of its attacks with ease.


    Christina let out a small smile as she kept testing the new sword against the ck zombie. She was extremely satisfied with how light in addition to how well it could cut through the ck zombie''s limbs. Still, the ck zombie''s regeneration was still absurdly high. Each limb she had hacked, a new one appeared in just seconds.


    She recalled Jennie''s warning not to linger. Hence, Christina released her spiritual energy, passed it onto the sword, and lit it up with bright yellowish-red mes.


    She kept on dodging using the footwork she had learned from the sword art manual she had bought. Christina dodged the ck zombie''s attack on the ground where she stood and ran up to it. She jumped, making a reverse-somersault, and shed the ck zombie''s head in half!


    Spattt!!!


    The giant monster fell to the ground, motionless.


    After Christinanded, she gave a moment to look at the ck zombie''s head, and luckily, she found a yellow spirit stone. Christina picked it up and stored it.


    "Good sh!" eximed Jennie.


    "How is he?" Christina nced at the man in the suit who was already unconscious ..


    Jennie walks over and feels his pulse.She then shook her head and said, "He''s dead..."


    Christina sighed.


    Jennie said with an unpleasant face, "You shouldn''t feel guilty about this greedy man. Even in hisst breath, he only thought about his wealth."


    Jennie grabbed the suitcase from Li Song Ki''s corpse, threw it to a wall. "All the money in this world is worthless! Stupid man!"


    The suitcase sprang open and its content spilled out. Without bothering to look at it, Jennie said, "Come on, let''s leave this ce."


    Christina spared a nce at the suitcase and pointed at it. "That''s..."


    As it turned out, Li Song Ki''s suitcase wasn''t only filled with several diamonds but also a lot of spirit stones.


    "Of no value?" Christina remarked.


    Indeed Li Song Ki was a man with business acumen. He was able to see the value of these spirit stones from the beginning, so he had ordered his men to collect spirit stones. The number of spirit stones on the ground seemed to have filled the suitcase to the brim. Without saying much, Jennie gathered them, ced them back into the suitcase into the storage ring.


    Why Li Song Ki and Colonel Chan were here though was still a mystery. From the information the Firebirds had gathered, Li Song Ki and Colonel Chan sailed to the direction of Macau, west side of Hong Kong Ind. Moreover, where was the ship?


    Fortunately, there were still some soldiers outside who should be able to answer this question. Right now, they had to leave before this ce turned into a zombie yground.


    Christina rushed outside and the 25 Firebird members were still fighting fiercely. They had defeated the three ck zombies but hundreds of zombies slowly pressured them and thousands were still on the way from the Kowloon Park. At least a dozen more ck zombies silhouettes could be seen in the crowd.


    "Retreat!" eximed Christina.


    There only dozens of Hong Kong army troops left and half of them were seriously injured. The one injured were assisted to run.


    "Let''s go! Move!" Maxine opened a path in front while Christina and Jennie guarded the back row.


    "Watch out!!!"


    As they ran while supporting those who were injured, the roofs of the two buildings nearby came hundreds more zombies.


    "!!!"


    Christina utilized her energy to her legs and sword before leaping to face the falling zombies.


    SSSWWIIISSHH! SPLLLAATT! SPLAAT!


    Christina made graceful movements in the air as she spun with her ming sword eliminating tens of zombies with each sh. It was beautiful. She truly was like a fierce firebird.


    "Hurry! The boat isn''t far away!"


    They neared the port but unfortunately, hundreds of other zombies had also made their way there.


    "Aaaa. We''re surrounded!"


    Two buildings on the side, while there were two hordes of zombies in front and their back. They were surrounded. They could go inside multi-story buildings and hop as they did before to find a different way to the pier, but they wouldn''t be able to do that while carrying the injured people.


    Maxine said, "They left us to save themselves! Let''s do the same thing to these bastards!"


    Christina agreed what they did was despicable, however, she wasn''t like them. She eximed, "Get into formation! Close ranks! Fight in groups and look out for each other!"


    Sattt !!! Swisshh !! Pa pa!


    All 25 Firebirds members were earth realm fighters. The red zombies were no longer a threat to them, especially ordinary zombies. And with their efficient coordination, they were able to survive.


    2 minutes... 5 minutes... 10. minutes...


    Facing hundreds to thousands of zombies were still too much for just 25 people. Slowly, they were receiving injuries because of the exhaustion.


    "We can''t stay here. We are not nning to wait for the whole millions of Hong Kong zombies toe here right" Maxine said, wiping her sweaty face.


    "Maxine,e with me. We''ll open a path together," said Christina.


    "Okay, sis!"


    Maxine gathered her strength and waved her clubs with the power of earth realm level 4. Several zombies flew away and finally, a gap opened. Christina rushed at the opening with her ming sword.


    Swisshhh swissshh


    "Now! Follow mˇŞ"


    ROOAARR!!!


    "!!!"


    Two ck zombies appeared from the top of the buildings and knocked her back to the wall.


    BAAMMMM!!!


    Christina crashed to the wall, coughing fresh blood.


    ROAAARRRR


    Three more ck zombies appeared from the direction of the Kowloon Park.


    "[emailprotected]</a>#! Damn it!!! Since when did ck zombies be this many!" Maxine stomped the ground.


    After saying that, the nearest ck zombie also managed to hit more one firebird member and injure her terribly.


    "Damn it!" Maxine screamed as she rushed nearest the ck zombie.


    A loud scream from a nearby garden, however, stopped her tracks.


    "Hhhhoooaaaaaa!!!!!"


    "!!!"


    Dozens of fighters appeared from the other side of the buildings. All highly trained fighters. Most of them had tattoos either on their arms, torso, and faces. The leading man, however, was the most eye-catching because of the fierce dragon tattoo on his back.


    "Reinforcements!" shouted Maxine.


    They were Nam''s Hong Kong Triad brethren. Nearly a hundred people flooded into Kowloon Park.

 Chapter 206 - Reward

    More than 100 triad members marched like the street thugs they were weapons, smashing the zombies to a pulp with their rods, spears, and swords.


    "ATTACK! BEAT THEM UP!!! PUKAI!"


    They fought without any coordination at all. Some of them fought three red zombies alone while some ganged up against one red zombie. They really were fighting as if they were having a gang war; it wasn''t conventional and inefficient, but they were a pleasant sight for sore eyes.


    Christina noticed that some of the Triad were already using weapons from the Doomsday Pir. Some also were even wearing special body armor. This was evidence the Hong Kong Triad had a lot more spirit stones than them.


    Chicken, in particr, was the shiest. This perverted, entric man with white hair keptughing as he swung his beloved de with Damascus pattern.


    Sssishh!! SPatt!!.


    He fought against the ck zombies on his own as he kept moving around with astonishing speed. After he had be an earth realm fighter, his already agile movement became even faster!


    [Chicken]


    [Male - 30 years]


    [Earth realm level 5 - initial stage]


    [Spirit energy - Wind - early stage]


    [Spirit Talent - level B]


    Earth realm warriors armed with Doomsday Pir artifact weapons were like lions given a pair of wings to fly. Their fightin capability couldn''tpare when they were in peak mortal realm with no Doomsday Pir weapons.


    But among these Triad fighters, Nam was the strongest and most prominent fighter.


    [Nam]


    [Male - 34 years]


    [Earth realm level 7 - initial stage]


    [Spirit energy - Metal - early stage]


    [Spirit Talent - level A]


    Everyone knew Nam and his special ability to have his body shine like metal. Even before upgrading to the earth realm, he was able to solo a ck zombie. And this time, Nam looked absolutely domineering as he stood in the midst of red zombies and pounding them to the ground all by himself. He attacked with bare fist but that was already enough. Every punch he made blew a zombie''s head.


    BAAMM!! BAAMMM!!


    The zombies tried to overwhelm him with numbers but each blow of his fists made the zombies fly all over the area.


    As soon as one of the ck zombies was distracted by Chicken, Nam grabbed one of its legs and threw it to the ground. He then jumped on its head and pummelled it t, making the ck zombie truly helpless.


    Nam''s strength wasn''t only due to his level and his special ability. If one looked closely, he was wearing a ck glove that had several engravings on it.


    100 triad troops finally managed to open the path and gather together with the firebirds. With them joining, their defenses were much tighter and they were able to withstand the attacks of thousands of zombies.


    "Thank you for the help," said Christina


    Although it looks like the firebirds members are out of the woods. However, thebination of these two groups will notst long.


    "Christina, everyone,e with me."


    Nam took the lead and paved the way with ease. His fists truly had tremendous power andbining it with the martial arts he had mastered, nothing was able to hurt him.


    They walked into the office building and exited through the back door.


    Not far from where they were, a group of people was shouting attracting the zombies. Nam had tasked a couple of Triad members to bait away from the zombies so that the injured Hong Kong army as well as Christina''s Firebirds would be able to escape with ease since they would be facing a lot fewer zombies.


    "Don''t worry about them. They know what they''re doing," Nam said before Christina was able to speak up.


    In the past few days, this tactic of diverting the horde to a different location while the main group moved to a different area proved to be extremely useful.


    Another group of fighters scouted inside the houses and buildings and killed the zombies first before the others went inside.


    "Be careful! Hurry. Don''t get left behind."


    Several buildingster, they finally made it back to the docks where their boats were waiting. There were still some zombies chasing them, but it was already manageable.


    After checking the wounds of those who were injured, Christina gathered the Hong Kong soldiers in one boat and began questioning them.


    "Could anyone of you tell me what happened?"


    The Hong Kong soldiers looked at each other, still a bit hesitant. Until the youngest soldier in the back decided to speak up and divulge everything that Colonel Chan and Li Song Ki had been doing in the past week.


    Last week, more than 200 groups of soldiers selected by Colonel Chan and some of Li Song Ki''s personal guards stole the Singapore warship and sailed toward Macau. However, as it turned out, they had been prohibited from anchoring in the city. The city of Macau was under lockdown and forbade anyone from entering and leaving. Colonel Chan disregarded their warnings and forced themselves tond. But the moment they were a few kilometers away, Macau''s government opened fire and damaged the warship, which ended up being stranded at sea. They were able to escape by using the safety boats and board.


    "It didn''t look like they were 200 of you when we arrived. Where are the others and how''s the condition of the ship?"


    The young soldier looked full of regret. His face had already given them the answer about the others. Not everyone made it to the boat and those who were able to board, it began a conflict against those who were yet since there were only a few safety boats.


    "...."


    Christina and the others were disappointed even though they didn''t expect much from the colonel who betrayed them. Looking on the bright side though, if more people became aware of their condition in Hong Kong Ind, there might be hope that help would eventuallye.


    After readying the boats, Jennie, along with some Firebirds members were tasked with escorting the wounded soldiers back to their shelters.


    Christina and Maxine decide to follow Nam''s group and return with their group instead. On the way to the docks where the Triad members'' boats were parked, they still had to deal with hundreds of zombies, but with Nam and Christina in the group, they passed through with ease.


    On the boat, Christina finally had a chance to ask Nam about his gloves.


    [Metal Gloves - Tier 2]


    [Gloves - heavy armor]


    [Weight: 5.5 kilograms]


    [Unique properties - increased physical strength]


    "!!!"


    "Nam, this is a Tier 2 artifact, doesn''t the shop only sell Tier 1? Moreover, this glove has a unique property. Wow."


    "Yes, these gloves appeared to be chosen for me specifically. How about you, Christina. What did you get?"


    Christina tilted her head to the side, visibly confused.


    "Don''t tell me you haven''t checked?"


    Nam then told Christina to go back to the cube in the main hall of the Doomsday Pir and check the reward for their sess in the mission against Fenrir. He went to exin how the glove had abel as a rank C prize but the other members didn''t receive anything. Nam let out a thoughtful smile because he was sure Christina would get a much better prize since she was the one who killed Alpha Fenrir.


    Christina vaguely recalled that when she defeated the Fenrir, there was indeed a message about a reward. But because so many things had happened, as well as how she was overwhelmed with emotions, she had forgotten about it.


    Maxine heard that immediately smiled


    "Sis ... if you don''t want,.. you can just give the reward for me... heheh"


    "Me, give it to me" interrupted Chicken.


    "Huh! Who are you! Shameless! Go away, skinny chicken!" Maxine gestured for him to leave.


    "What did you call this handsome man?" said Chicken, pointing at his face.


    "Handsome? Hoeeekkk... You''re disgusting!" Maxine crossed her arms and pretended to hug herself.


    Christina sat thoughtfully as she remembered how they had won that mission. She was thankful for that sudden burst of fire energy, but at the same time, she found it strange. If it weren''t for that though, they wouldn''t be able to win that battle. Moreover, she was able to receive the rank A reward.


    She shook off her thoughts and decided to check her reward first once she returned with Nam. Christina then told Nam that Inspector Tang was looking for both of them.


    After arriving back at the pier, Christina, Nam, Chicken, and Maxine boarded one of the vehicles that had been provided at the guard post nearby and headed toward the Doomsday Pir.


    On the way, the short-range radio in the vehicle suddenly rang.


    Tit! Tit! Tit! Tiiiit! Tit! Tit! Tit! Tit!


    "It''s an SOS!" eximed Maxine. "It''sing from Shelter D! Only a kilometer from here."


    The four of them then had the driver switch the destination toward shelter D. This was truly unexpected. All-ess to Hong Kong Ind had been cut off and all zombies should''ve already been eliminated. There shouldn''t be a reason for an SOS. Could it be perhaps the people were rioting again?


    It only took Christina a moment to realize that Shelter D was the closest shelter to the strange hole where a lot of its guard had disappeared. Her heart then began to worry because Shelter D was also where Ma Sing and Mei Ling were staying at.

 Chapter 207 - Critters

    Tratatatatatatatat Traatatatatata


    Gunshots were roaring as they neared Shelter D. As soon as the vehicle came to a stop, Christina, Nam, Maxine and Chicken jumped out of the vehicle and dashed toward the shelter. "Let''s go! Hurry!"


    Several residents with blood and dirt all over their clothes ran past them. Nam grabbed one of the fleeing people and said, "What''s happening here?"


    The middle-aged man covered his face shivering before recognizing it was another human before him. "M-M-Monsters! T-T-There are monsters!"


    Christina looked around the running residents and some also had injuries. There were also people on the ground, struggling to get up, and some lie motionless with their guts ripped out of their bodies as if it was torn apart by animals.


    Nam wanted to ask the man further but he was cut off when a scream resounded and Christina ran over to where the cry of help was.


    Taratatata Tratatatata


    The raining of bullets once again resounded in the area and Christina arrived where the police and the army were at.. They were having a hard time hitting the dozens of fast moving ck and round objects, which was as big as a basketball, that were rolling against the dead bodies of the residents with its sharp fur like a hedgehog. One of the same monsters was using its short arms and legs to devour a resident with itsrge mouth full of fangs, which almost stretched to its whole body. That monster finished its meal and when her eyes met with the monster''s bloodshot eyes, her bracelet issued a message.


    [Critters]


    [Minion of the abyss]


    "Wait, what?" Christina eximed with surprise.


    The Doomsday Pir''s bracelet knew what this monster was. She tried to make sense of it and remembered that when the Doomsday Pir fell from the sky, a giant crater formed in Hong Kong Ind nearby where she was standing and its guard disappeared overnight.


    Although allnd ess to Hong Kong Ind had been cut off and its 20 shelters had been equipped with an adequate amount of defense personnel and machine guns, not all the guards were on peak stage mortal realm but they were experienced since the majority of them came from the army or police.


    Tratatatatatat Tratatatatattaat


    The pistols and rifles seemed only capable of injuring it. Fortunately, high caliber shell of machine guns were able to stop the critter monsters in its tracks and were somehow able to injure them.


    "!!!"


    Hundreds of ck balls of critters appeared jumping and rolling toward the firing squad. With their number, the guns weren''t enough to kill all of them and once they arrived at point nk, the firearms of the soldiers and police became ineffective as the fast creatures bit the firearms and defense force alike.


    Christina, Maxine, Chicken and Nam. Jumped to try and save the soldiers before more casualties ured.


    PA! PA! Swissshh! Stt!


    Christina and Chicken''s sh attacks proved to be effective, especially Nam with his tier 2 glove. Only Maxine found it difficult to use the iron clubs against these small critters. So, Maxine helped the fallen soldiers instead by hitting the critters while they were about to devour a soldier.


    sshh spttt !!


    "Be careful! These creatures aren''t that difficult to kill but take care of yourselves to not get surrounded by its fast movements and sharp teeth!"


    With each wave of Christina''s sh, tens of critters died split in half and burnt. Still, she had to be extremely careful as she noticed one of the critters being able to bite Nam and leaving a bite mark despite his tough body and ability to strengthen his muscles.


    It didn''t take a long time for reinforcements to arrive and fortunately, they were earth realm fighters from the police and army who were prepared for emergency assistance. Together with Christina, Nam, and Chicken, it wasn''t long before the hundreds of monsters were sessfully eliminated leaving only a few that were running away.


    "Chicken!"


    Chicken ran forward with his amazing speed and killed all the remaining monsters he could while Nam along with several soldiers got on a vehicle to join the chase. Christina, Maxine and the rest of the soldiers, on the other hand, went to the shelters to make sure there were no more left in the area. They couldn''t risk even just letting one monster remain alive, which could kill ordinary citizens with ease.


    Aside from that, there was one more thing that Christina was focused on. The children living in this shelter. Christina ran through the street of the shelter. She witnessed the ughter done by the critters as she ran. Pools of blood, torned, iplete human bodies were everywhere. Her heart paced faster and hurried toward one of the smaller buildings, the residence of the orphans.


    When she arrived, the building''s front door was wide open. She went inside with heavy steps, walking on the ground filled with pools of blood.


    "No, no no. Oh my god. Don''t please. No. Not them. Noˇ­"


    Dozens of small children were lying motionless, torn apart with horrified faces, all of whom she was familiar with. Her heart broke as tears dripped down her cheeks.


    She stared at the frightened faces of the poor orphans while remembering their smiles, their naughtiness, their bad jokes. Her chest tightened, her breath shortened. These children reminded her a lot of her daughter Kelly and son Caleb. She cared for these little kids.


    "I''m sorry. I''m sorry..."


    Her chest felt even more constricted and the spirit energy suddenly red up. Christina vomited fresh blood as she knelt on the ground.


    "Sis, sis, control yourself, sis. Please, don''t me yourself."


    Christina fell silent while thinking of their smiles. These children didn''t deserve this. They didn''t deserve to die and be ughtered like animals! They already didn''t have any parents, and now they are like this? If there was a God in this world, you would be the cruelest of all!


    She walked in silence, approaching the end of the room. There she found the person she was looking for. A little girl with a ponytail.


    "Mei Ling..." she muttered.


    Suddenly Christina heard a shout from outside the door.


    "Let me in! Let me in! Mei Ling! Mei Ling!"


    Christina recognized that voice. She turned around and saw the big brother of this little girl struggling to break free from the soldier guarding the door, Ma Sing.


    "Let go of me! Mei Ling! Ge ge is back! Mei Ling!!!"


    Ma Sing slipped underneath the soldier and ran to where Christina and Mei Ling were. And as soon as he arrived, he froze.


    "Mei... Ling?" Ma Sing''s voice broke. "Hey, M-M-Mei Ling... please... Please don''t..."


    He walked with trembling steps, his voice was shaking, his eyes were welling. "Mei Ling! No!!! Aaaahhh!!!"


    Ma Sing''s scream filled the whole building. He knelt on the ground. Christina walked up to him and hugged him tightly.


    "Auntie... Auntie... Mei Ling! She, she''s! I''m sorry! Ge ge was naughty again today. Mei Ling, please move! I''ll be good now! Please scold your ge ge. Please..."


    Christina could only imagine what he was going through. She didn''t want him to see the horrible sight anymore, so she picked him up and tried to carry him outside the room.


    "Let me go! Mei Ling! Mei Ling!"


    As Ma Sing struggled hard, the pain in his heart made Christina unable to stand it and they both fell just in front of the old building. Ma Sing wanted to go back inside to see his sister, But his body was unable to move, he only dared to look from the outside...


    The other soldiers starteding in and out to pick up the dead bodies. Both Ma Sing and Chirstina just stand there both in silence.


    An hourter, Nam and Chicken returned to the shelter.


    Nam approached Christina. "It looked like they came from the sinkhole that happenedst week. The Hong Kong army and police have deployed more guards there. It will not happen again"


    Christina looked at the sky and sighed. "Nam, before all of this happened, did you hear on the news about the people who predicted the doomsday?"


    "I''ve heard about it but didn''t watch it. If I''m not mistaken the person who pushed all of that was a professor from Oxford and a person named Alex?"


    "Yes. Everything they''ve said ising true. The guy named Alex also mentioned that this is only a start and things will get worse as time passes."


    "..."


    "Nam, those guards won''t be enough. We have to get stronger."


    Nam now finally understood what Christina meant when she muttered that the Doomsday Pirs were what we need..


    Hearing what Christina talk about, Ma Sing decided to speak.


    "Auntie..."


    "Yes, Ma Sing?"


    "I also want to be strong... I''m alone now... Can you teach me how to be strong?"


    "Okay, Ma Sing. And also, you''re not alone. Auntie is here for you."


    Christina hugged Ma Sing again. The boy who always tried to look tough cried so hard in her arms again.


    On this night, everyone who had died was buried together in a mass grave. Four months had already passed, but these events were still amon urrence. But that wasn''t an excuse for Christina nor anyone, this was a reminder for her to be stronger


    The next day, Christina took Ma Sing to the Doomsday Pir.

 Chapter 208 - More Bad News

    The attack of the monsters called Critter yesterday was another blow to the already suffering residents of Hong Kong Ind.


    Not long after the attack had urred, Christina, Nam, and several earth realm fighters had gone to the sinkhole. The area around the hole had changed a lot. Every greenery had died and the ground was dried and cracked.


    They had readied a crane and proceeded to go down the hole. They reached the bottom after 500 meters and found a giant wall. The material on this wall weren''t anything like they had seen on Earth. It had an open crack that was about 10 meters high. They tried to shine light on it but all they saw was never-ending darkness. If they would take a guess, they believed the critters had spawned out of this wall.


    Nam walked closer and tried to enter but there seemed to be an invisible wall preventing him. He tried to touch it and the bracelet in his hand again gave a message..


    [Gate of the Abyss]


    [Status - Open - stage 1]


    He punched the invisible wall, some tried to fire their gun at it once but nothing they did was effective. It appeared to be a one-way path. So, Nam had asked the Hong Kong army with them to heavily guard the area. They had done so and ced dozens of machine guns and earth realm fighters ready to guard the entrance in case anything tries toe out.


    Once again, the Doomsday Pir seemed to have the answer regarding the Abyss Gate.


    This morning, Christina revisited the Doomsday Pirs with Ma Sing in tow. And the first thing she did was to take Ma Sing to the training hall.


    [Ma Sing]


    [Male - 12 years]


    [Mortal Realm - level 9 - Initial Stage]


    Christina handed over Ma Sing to Corrie and asked her to guide him with some physical training. Christina didn''t want Ma Sing to take any spirit stones at the moment because this kid was still in his adolescence and might suffer negative rebounds to his physical development. So, Christina only allowed Corrie to watch his progress step by step.


    "Wee to the Firebirds, Ma Sing. You''re the first male member," said Corrie with a big smile.


    Ma Sing, however, was silent.


    They had met each other before and had shown his cheerful attitude. But none of that had been shown by Ma Sing today. This once happy child had changed. Corrie didn''t force it though because she had heard what he had gone through yesterday. She felt sympathy for the child.


    After leaving Ma Sing at the training hall, Christina went to where Inspector Tang was.


    She arrived at one section of the main hall where Nam, Jennie, Chicken and Maxine were waiting. At that ce, there were several white coats still writing, recording and discussing things they had found.


    "Sorry for the wait, everyone. Inspector Tang, what was it that you want to show us?" Christina asked.


    "You''re right one time. Take a look at this," Inspector Tang said, presenting the two body armorid down on the table. Both of them were artifacts from the Doomsday Pir.


    Christina raised her wrist and examined it with the bracelet in her hand.


    [0089 -Leather armor]


    [Medium armor - Tier 1]


    [Weight 4.1 kilograms]


    [Leather Armor]


    [Medium Armor - Tier 2]


    [Weight 4.1 kilograms]


    "Inspector, how''d you also get a Tier 2 item?" Christina asked, dumbfounded. Could it be that the inspector also got a reward against Alpha Fenrir?


    "I''ll exin it to you in a bit, first I''d like to see the difference between the two."


    Inspector Tang had an assistante over and had him equip it to two earth realm participants that were on standby. After the two people stood in a corner, Inspector Tang whipped out a gun and shot the two participants in the chests.


    He was actually conducting a test between the two armors and the test results showed that the Tier 1 armor could withstand 3 shots from a gun before the participant got pushed on the ground on the 4th shot. Meanwhile, the Tier 2 armor withstood 10 shots before the same thing happened.


    From the results of this test, the scientists concluded Tier 2 armors had 3 times the defensive power against the Tier 1. And upon closer inspection, these armors'' defensive capability didn''te from its material. Rather, from an invisible repulsion-repelling engraved in the armors, protecting the wearer.


    "Ohh, is that like some kind of force field just like in video games?" said Chicken, rubbing his hands in excitement.


    People had been used to Chicken''s useless terms and references. But this time, he appeared to have the right idea.


    The scientist coughed a little and exined, "Yes. And like other objects from this pir, it requires energy to activate it."


    "Let me guess, spirit stone," Maxine eximed.


    "Smaartt," Chicken replied with a sneer.


    Maxine frowned, she wanted to say something but kept to herself after seeing Jennie''s gaze.


    "Fortunately, these armors are able to recharge by themselves as time passes. Still, if you need to activate its functions immediately, you may use spirit stones.


    Spirit stones again. Truly, spirit stones would increasingly be the most valuable currency.


    Next, the scientist exined the final differences between these two artifacts. "Tier 2 items require a bond with its wearer. You''ll have to ce a drop of your blood on the item to form a bond with it. In case you''d like to give up your ownership of the item, the current owner must mentally give up the bond."


    How that worked was beyond the understanding of these scientists. In fact, force field technology was already a stretch even in this century. So, creating a technology using mental connection where they would be the only people able to use it was like in the realm of science fiction.


    After exining all the details regarding the two protective artifacts, Inspector Tang took over and said, "Now, I''ll exin where I got this Tier 2 armor."


    Inspector Tang led the others toward the main cube in this room and touched the engravings of the stone. Light then emerged and formed arge sphere. Blue oceans, green and brownnds appeared on the sphere and a momentter, the rest recognized what they were looking at. It was a view of the Earth. In that image, there were hundreds of green and red dots in different countries. Collectively, there were thousands of light points.


    Inspector Tang said, "We have actually counted and there are a thousand green dots. As for the reds and cks, we estimate the reds to be around thousands, and at least ten of thousands for the ck."


    Inspector Tang raised his wrist and did some motion. Then the image of the Earth focused on Hong Kong Ind.


    "The green dots are where these Doomsday Pirs stand. We can safely assume there are another 999 pirs that have descended on Earth. The red dot is at the exact location where the sinkhole appeared and where the critters seemed to havee out of. Yesterday, while exploring the area following the ck dot, we managed to find this tier 2 protective artifact."


    It wasn''t difficult for people to draw conclusions from the information they had found. Nevertheless, finding out how all this worked wasn''t easy. And even if they had information before the pir fell and what was in store in it, it would still be very hard to believe it. But the fact was right in front of them. There was no way to deny it.


    "1,000 pirs. There are 1,000 of this structure scattered all over the earth?" Christina said underneath her breath.


    Inspector Tang continued to exin that the protective artifact was found hidden under an old temple. And the bracelet they wear was the key to open it.


    "Unfortunately, there is only one position of this green light in Hong Kong ind. If you look at the map, the next closest location is in the middle of Hong Kong city and there is also across Lantau Ind in the position of where the giant Buddha statue is."


    Inspector Tang was eager to search for these artifacts but then he remembered what Colonel Chan had done. They didn''t have Christina''s ship any longer. If only they still had that battleship, they could search and collect these artifacts one by one.


    The more Christina listened to Inspector Tang''s exnation, the more questions appeared in her mind. "Inspector Tang, do we know yet why our world became like this? The Pir seemed to be able to interact with us in some ways, but has anyone tried to ask the cube directly to know what they want from us?"


    The inspector fell silent. A scientist tried to answer her question because they had indeed attempted to do just that, but all the cube had was information like a manual, instructions only.


    The Doomsday Pir''s technology was above and beyond Earth''s current technology, but they were sure there was no intellectual figure behind this cube, machine, or otherwise. Apart from the stone cubes, they also tried to study the carvings around the building. However, the bracelet refused to trante those carvings. A historian was somewhat familiar though with these writings as he had seen before in Earth''s ancient writing, but he couldn''t decipher it either. .


    Inspector Tang then touched the cube once more and a new message came out. Everyone looked at the long figure of numbers that kept on decreasing.


    "This is the real reason I invited you guys over. We''ve found something that needs your input."


    [33,436,800] [33,436,799] [33,436,788]


    "Is that a countdown?" Christina asked.


    "Yes, right," Inspector Tang replied, nodding.


    "That is in seconds. About... 400 days?"


    "Exactly 387 days," replied a scientist.


    "I don''t like countdowns. No countdowns were ever a good thing, fuxxx," said Chicken.


    "What does this mean, Inspector?" Christina asked.


    "We don''t know either. But like Chicken said, it''s better to assume that something bad will happen in 387 days even if we don''t have enough information to back it up."


    When they thought things couldn''t be any worse from being stranded on this ind, shortage of food, the threat of that hole, now the Pir was probably telling them there would be another threating in 387 days, they really couldn''t feel rxed even for a second.


    "There is one more thing I need to show you," Inspector Tang said, breaking the silence.


    "Is it another bad news?" asked Chicken.


    Inspector Tang touched the cube stone again and another message came out.


    [Doomsday Pirs 0144]


    [Initial challenge has been sessfullypleted]


    [Ready to open the staircase gate to the 1st floor?]


    [Yes?]

 Chapter 209 - The 9 Suns Manual

    Day 120


    [Doomsday Pir 1st floor]


    [Initial challenge has been sessfullypleted]


    [Ready to open the staircase gate to the 1st floor?]


    [WARNING - This is not a simtion]


    [Proceed?]


    A week had passed since Christina and the others saw the message regarding the stairs leading to the next floor. They had decided not to proceed and instead prepare themselves to the best they could. All of them had experienced the simtion that was nearly impossible toplete and almost everyone had almost died in the snow forest and the battle against the Alpha Fenrir. That was one of the reasons but their main concern was that they had no information about the next challenge.


    This was the first time the Pir had issued a warning. That could only mean the new challenge would be more difficult than thest and if they were reckless again going to a battle without information, they all would be dead for real this time. Therefore, Christina, Nam and Inspector Tang had agreed to prepare first and foremost before opening the gates..


    Thest time they were in the snow forest, they had spent seven days inside. The Hong Kong survivors had somewhat ample food when Inspector Tang had entered but with what Colonel Chan and Li Song Ki had done, they didn''t have much food supplies left for the 100,000 people in Hong Kong Ind''s shelters. Even though the fighters went on expeditions near Hong Kong City every day, it wasn''t nearly enough. Each resident was only receiving one ration per day just to make the current stock of foodst for a week.


    The Firebirds, Triads, Police and Hong Kong army soldiers had indeed gotten stronger after stepping in the earth realm. But they only carried out expeditions in the suburbs since they weren''t ready to fight against tens of thousands of zombies simultaneously.


    During the past week, these elite fighters took turns in guarding the holes, carrying out expeditions to the city''s suburbs, and cultivating in the Doomsday Pirs training hall.


    Christina had received the rank A reward she had obtained for killing the Alpha Fenrir after they had decided not to proceed by essing the main cube herself. She received the following message from the cube.


    [Congrattions, you are entitled to a prize ording to your rank]


    [Your sess ranking is Rank: A]


    [Processing rank A rewards]


    [You receive The 9 Suns Book of Power]


    [Tier 3 spirit energy book]


    [Requirements - Fire spirit talent]


    ording to the world''s legend, the book of 9 suns was one of the books of inner power owned by the Shaolin temple. This book was written by Bodhidharma, one of the founders of Shaolin who came from India in the 5th century. This book had be a Shaolin heirloom, but in the next century, this book was lost.


    The manual appeared on Christina''s mind. She noticed the book had been divided into 9 parts. In it, it said that the more parts she mastered, the more her fire spirit would be stronger, but of course, each part was harder than thest. Ever since she had received this manual, Christina began spending all of her time in the training hall.


    Seven days had passed and Christina could vaguely feel she was close to a breakthrough in the Book of 9 Suns first part. Today, she kept still as she cultivated the book''s meditative stance. The Book of 9 Suns had a unique form of meditation at each level. The first part showed that one leg was elbowed, the other leg was raised to the shoulder, one hand held the foot on the shoulder and the other hand was rotated behind.


    Maybe because it was because she was used to doing Yoga exercises that she found no trouble following the steps in the position.


    At this moment, Christina''s entire body was sweating. She could feel her zing energies warming three locations of his body and passing through her 12 meridians. These three spots were exchanging fire energies between them and she had to fully concentrate to be able to bnce them.


    Not long after, Christina managed to connect the three points of fire energy into one and a slight explosion happened inside her body.


    BAAAAMMM!!!


    Christina opened her eyes, hurriedly grabbed a sword, and poured out the fire energy into a fiery sword dance.


    The bracelet in Christina''s wrist showed a message.


    [Book of 9 sun stage 3 sessfully mastered]


    [Fire spirit power increases]


    [The energy regeneration ability is faster]


    [Proficiency in studying fire spirit science increases]


    [Status Update]


    [Christina]


    [Female - 34 years]


    [Earth realm level 1 - initial stage]


    [Spirit energy - Fire - middle stage]


    [Spirit Talent - level A]


    Special Skill


    [9 suns energy - level 3]


    In thest seven days, Christina had been practicing 3 levels of the sun book simultaneously and finally, she seeded. She could feel the fire spirit energy circting in her body getting stronger.


    She felt very lucky about this reward. Christina believed that a Tier 3 manual about inner strength was more valuablepared to weapons and armor, gaining inner power was many times better. After all, not everyone had a spiritual energy and spirit talent, even more so in having a spirit talent level A. Only her and Nam had that kind of status.


    Christina couldn''t wait to master all 9 levels of this book. But of course, after seven days of training, there needed to be a downtime and she had other responsibilities she had to attend to.


    She looked over the message she had received and took note of one message in particr.


    [Proficiency in studying fire spirit science increases]


    Did this mean she''d be able toprehend the fire spirit cultivation easier? She thought of something and opened the science library.


    [Power manual in fire spirit - intermediate stage]


    [500 spirit stones]


    [Early Fire Arts]


    [Fire Maniption] - 50 spirit stones


    [Fire Detection] - 50 spirit stones


    [Hot Touch] - 50 spirit stones


    [Heat Resistance] - 50 spirit stones


    [Long Sword Art - intermediate stage]


    [100 spirit stone]


    It was a total of 800 spirit stones but she went ahead and bought all of them. Soon, they''d face the Pir''s challenge and they didn''t know how long they''d be inside. So, she thought of having additional knowledge and increased mastery of her skills would be a big help in the uing battle.


    Fortunately, thanks to Li Song Ki''s suitcase, the Firebirds had quite a number of spirit stones. It was only recently that they had found that the yellow spirit stone was equivalent to 100 white spirit stones.


    In less than a minute, all the manuals she had bought were engraved in her mind. Shen then sheathed her sword and exited the training hall.


    As they had discussed a week ago, they would open the gate tomorrow. Christina returned to the base of the Firebirds and decided to rest. After she had broken through from mortal to earth realm, Christina could tell she needed less sleep and less food consumption. Still, practicing all the knowledge she had earned was still mentally exhausting. So, for that night, Christina slept soundly.


    -----------


    The next morning, in the Doomsday Pirs main hall, right in front of the gate. 300 people had gathered.


    Everyone from the Firebirds were present as well as Nam''s Triad members and the Hong Kong elite from the army and police.


    Corrie had spent two weeks in the training hall, but she had only managed to master the early stage spirit energy.


    [Corrie]


    [Female - 23 years]


    [Earth realm level 3 - initial stage]


    [Spirit energy - Wind - intermediate stage]


    [Spirit Talent - level B]


    Meanwhile, Jennie and Maxine spent thest 7 days learning new fighting techniques and honing those techniques with daily expeditions to Hong Kong City.


    [Jennie]


    [Female - 38 years]


    [Earth realm level 6 - initial stage]


    [Spirit energy - Psychic - Early stage]


    [Spirit Talent - level B]


    [Maxine]


    [Female - 25 years]


    Earth realm level 7 - initial stage]


    [Spirit energy - Earth - early stage]


    [Spirit Talent - level B]


    In another corner, Nam and the Triad members were also ready to fight.


    [Nam]


    [Male - 34 years]


    [Earth realm level 9 - initial stage]


    [Spirit energy - Metal - early stage]


    [Spirit Talent - level A]


    [Chicken]


    [Male - 30 years]


    [Earth realm level 7 - initial stage]


    [Spirit energy - Wind - early stage]


    [Spirit Talent - level B]


    Christina, Jennie, Maxine, Corrie, as well as 30 firebirds members, Nam, Chicken along with his 100 triad members, and the rest were thebined elite troops of the Hong Kong police and army. All of them had reached earth realm level and on average were already using Tier 1 artifacts as weapons or armor. Most of the army and police were carrying heavy weaponry such as high caliber machine guns and long-range rifles.


    This was a collection of the best fighters on Hong Kong Ind. Inspector Tang led the way and essed the cube stone.


    [Doomsday Pir 1st floor]


    [Ready to open the staircase gate to the 1st floor?]


    "Yes"


    A light shed behind the cube and the engravings behind its wall reconstructed themselves to make a wide gate. The gate opened, showing a row of stairs.


    "Let''s go! Everyone ready!"


    The 300 fighters walk up the stair courageously.

 Chapter 210 - World At War

    January 1, 2020, was the start of the end of times for all people living on Earth. The global pandemic had killed 80% of all humanity in just one night and turned all who had died into an undead that brought terror and sadness to all who were still living. The once metropolises that were the pride of the world had been transformed into the cities of the dead.


    France, the city of love, one of the most beautiful cities in the world, had copsed in less than a week. The city of Tokyo in Japan and the city of Delhi in India had be the home for tens of millions of zombies. Many other big cities suffer the same fate.


    As the days passed, the zombies kept on mutating and became tougher to eliminate. Most of those who had survived had been forced to leave their homes and gather together to find refuges near the big cities'' suburbs, small viges, forests and even in the mountains. The ones who are more fortunate received protection from their country''s government soldiers.


    They had survived, but they looked at the future with bleak hope since things were just getting worse and worse. And on the 100th day, they looked to the heavens as 1,008 extraterrestrial pirs had descended on Earth and rooted themselves. These 1,008 pirs had garnered different reactions from the people of the Earth, whether those pirs were signs of hope or signs of despair, only they would know..


    Dday 121 PyongYang


    North Korea was actually one of the few countries that were sessful in repelling the zombies and cleansing their cities. In the first month of Doomsday, North Korea had sessfully managed their quarantine zones and in less than three months,pletely eradicated their former citizens who had be zombies in their homnd.


    When the Doomsday Pir had descended 500 meters west of PyongYang City three weeks ago, the top officers of North Korea had be anxious once more as they had just finished eliminating the zombie threat. They looked up and entrusted their whole fate to their supreme leader Kim Song Il.


    That morning, Kim Song Il had gathered his fleet of troops and encircled the foreign structure that had descended from the sky.


    "Reporting to the highest minister, the cannon and tanks are ready to take orders," said a military general with a fist on his chest.


    "Good,rade. Prepare the men and attack ording to n," Kim Song Il said with his hands behind his back.


    "Ready men! The Supreme Leader has issued the order! Prepare to immediately destroy this building!" the military said to the soldiers. He looked to the Supreme Leader once more and said, "We are ready to execute, Supreme Leader!"


    An advisor standing next to Kim Song Il hesitantly opened his mouth but decided not to speak and instead wiped the cold sweat running on his head.


    Kim Song Il noticed this and asked, "Is there anything you want to say,rade?"


    "Supreme Leader, t-this structure from the sky, wouldn''t it be better if w-we investigated this first?"


    Kim Song Il still kept his hands behind his back without looking to the advisor and said, "For all we know, these buildings may have been most likely sent by our enemies. Just like the gue that exploded in the sky that killed our people three months ago, these buildings also came from the sky. That alone is enough evidence for us."


    "I-I am sorry Supreme Leader but didn''t D-Defense Minister Park Ji went to Singapore three months ago and reported that around this time, a building from the heavens woulde and help us?"


    Kim Song Il raised one eyebrow and said, "Huh! How dare you say the name of that defector! That was all part of western country propaganda."


    "ButˇŞ"


    Kim Song Il nced at the bodyguard beside him and the guard took out a gun and pointed at the advisor.


    "AAaaa... I''m sorry, Supreme Leader, I''m sorry!" the advisor said as he kneeled.


    BANG!


    A bullet lodged into the advisor''s forehead. He was dead.


    "Hmpf, a person who hasn''t learned a lesson!"


    Kim Song Il nced at the advisor''s body before looking at the colossal structure in the distance. He spat on the ground and said, "How dare they send this right outside my capital city of Pyongyang! Execute the attack order, general!"


    A few secondster, hundreds of cannons, rockets, and tanks rained down explosive fire on the alien, skyscraper-like structure. But their efforts were in vain. When the dust settled, their weapons didn''t make a single dent and only destroyed the ground beneath the structure.


    The problem with most people was that they couldn''t believe something could happen until it did. This wasn''t stupidity or weakness, however, it was just human nature.


    Dday 125


    City of Jerusalem, Israel


    For the first time in Israel''s 2,000 years of history, the Israelites finished building the wall that spanned 700 kilometers in total before the gue had struck. This wall was created with the purpose of defending against outside threats and terrorism but due to unforeseen circumstances, it was now being used as the main barrier against the end of time terror.


    The nation of Israel had sessfully prepared itself for the end times. From food supplies to defense all due to the hard struggle of a person named Jurgen, a high ranking Mossad officer.


    Since he had returned from Alex''s conference in Singapore, Jurgen had advocated and won the trust of the Israeli prime minister to prepare Israel for the end of time. When the gue came, however, the prime minister who was supporting Jurgen became one of the millions of victims. After that, the Israelites were governed by the 10 councils and Jurgen managed to get to be one of them.


    For the Israelites, the gue that came and the pirs that came down were part of the fulfillment of their book regarding the end times. They wee the Doomsday Pir like the presence of god in this world.


    However, during thest three weeks, Jurgen and the conste leaders were facing a dilemma. They had received intel that apart from the Doomsday Pir that fell on Israelite''s soil, there were other Doomsday Pirs that had descended in their neighboring countries in Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. In fact, some of these countries had more than 1 Doomsday Pir in their borders.


    Just like them, the neighboring countries had also attempted to enter the Doomsday Pir and finish its challenges. Israel didn''t have information yet whether their neighboring countries had seeded but in Israel''s case, they failed despite having prepared as best as they could to finish the challenge. In fact, they had attempted to finish it twice but both attempts were unsessful.


    In the middle of Jerusalem''s government building, 10 consuls had gathered to discuss how to solve this problem.


    "We''ve sent our fighters twice, but we''re still unable toplete the challenge. 14 days have already been wasted as well as a lot of ammunition!"


    "If 500 soldiers cannotplete it, should we send 1,000 soldiers?"


    The Israelite Army General, who had be a member of the constes, was embarrassed by his failure. He had been priding himself with his special forces of Sayeret Matkal but they had failed.


    "That challenge is impossible to win!" eximed the general. "All of my 500 men had consumed spirit stones to the maximum and they were also fully armed. That monster''s skin is tougher than a bear that even high caliber bullets cannot prate!"


    The oldest consul among them looked at Jurgen and asked, "What do you think?"


    Jurgen nodded thoughtfully and said, "I highly believe that we''ll seed this time, like the saying the third time''s the charm"


    Jurgen gave a signal and one of his officers opened the door. Several people entered carrying a number of boxes and ced them on a table. Afterward, a man dressed in ck also entered the room.


    The man, dressed all in ck revealed his tattoo on his forehead and cheeks. He was a head taller than everyone in the room and was also the most buffed. It was clear that this man was a skilled fighter.


    "Let me introduce this man, his name is Ardeth, the Chief of the Medjai fighter."


    "Medjai warrior?"


    The Medjai warriors hailed from Egypt and had a history of thousands of years as part of the patron army of the ancient kingdom of Egypt. They were strong and fierce warriors of the desert.


    Jergen continued "Ardeth came with dozens of other Medjai fighters, they''ll help us win the first challenge."


    The Israelite Army General popped a vein and eximed, "Jurgen! Are you underestimating the Israeli army that you''ve brought a gentile to help us!"


    "Calm down, General. I will be the first to admit that our army is one of the greatest troops. But what we need for this challenge are skilled at fighting with melee weapons." said Jurgen. He then continued by opening the box on the table.


    These past few weeks, Jurgen had been spending his time learning more about the secrets of the Pir. Even though they hadn''t been able toplete the original challenge, they were still allowed ess to the main hall and he discovered the functions of the bracelet as well as the room that had the Earth''s image with different lights.


    "Consuls, if you could all please look while I''m using this bracelet."


    From out of the box, five artifacts were ced on the table. Three weapons and two body armor. Jurgen swiped the bracelet on his wrist and a disy of the equipments'' information were shown.


    "With these artifacts and the help of fighters like Ardeth and his warriors, I believe we can win the challenge this time."


    The faces of the consuls brightened. They all nodded in approval to Jurgen''s preparation.


    "Jurgen, we''re giving you control for this operation. I hope you can finish this as soon as you can. We have intel that our eastern neighbors are starting to gather under one banner. They seem to have appointed a new leader. This leader of theirs seemed to have arrived from Indonesia and it only took him a few weeks to unite the existing organizations of the warring factions in the middle east."


    "We''ve heard that the leader''s name is Hafiz, the head of Heavenly Gate."

 Chapter 211 - Area 51

    D''Day 130


    Nevada, USA


    Nevada was one of the 50 states in the United States of America that had a poption of 2,600,167 people and an area of ??286,367 km2. The capital city of Nevada was Carson City but the most famous city, which was known throughout the whole world, was Las Vegas.


    After the gue had struck, Las Vegas had also be one of the most dangerous cities in the US. Almost all residents who had survived fled to one of the military headquarters 50 kilometers north of the city. It was also a well-known ce called Area 51.


    Area 51 was infamous in the world because of the conspiracy theories surrounding it. Many people had suggested that aliens, UFOs, and other things were stored and being studied in the ce due to how strongly guarded the ce was. Although it truly did have many mysteries surrounding it, the real identity of this ce, however, was the secret headquarters and the center of research and development for testing thetest technology weapons in the United States.


    When the gue had arrived, this base opened its door and allowed the refugees from the cities infested with zombies to enter and became one of thergest defensive headquarters in the west of America. Hundreds of giant hangars, as well as thousands ofrge tents, had been set up covering an area of ??nearly 100 hectares.. The whole base as well had dozens of watchtowers and its borders were protected byrge defensive walls.


    The temperature in Nevada was scorching-hot after all it was located in the middle of nowhere. But despite its tortuous weather, there were thousands of people gathering around the main hangar wherein hundreds of guards were keeping the people in line to wait for the arrival of a certain person. The people waited for that person as several children raised a small g of the United States of America.


    "It''s here! They''ve arrived!"


    "Where? Oh there! I can see it!"


    From a distance, a ck hummer jeep revealed itself, and not long after, dozens of the same vehicle, as well as a tank, approached the main gate of Area 51''splex. As the convoy passed the gate, dozens of more tanks showed up as well as several ck cars in between, making a straight line until they finally arrived at the main hangar''s gate.


    The vehicles stopped simultaneously in front of one of the giant hangars surrounded byrge crowds. And then, dozens of special forces and people wearing suits came out from the vehicles. The ck limousine in the middle particrly had more people guarding it.


    A person wearing a ck suit with ck sses looked around first and ced a hand on his ear before opening it. He said, "All clear, Eagle has arrived."


    After the door had opened, the crowd shouted in vigor as a beautiful blonde-haired woman came out and stood in the middle of the guards.


    "That''s secretary McCord!"


    "You''re wrong, she''s now president, President Elizabeth McCord!"


    "Madam President!"


    Whether this was a call of joy or help from the people, President McCord looked around and her heart sank. She raised one hand and said, "The people of the Great United States of America, in the recent months, we all have been going through the darkest days in American history and the world''s history. But I believe that if we unite, humanity can survive. God Save America. God save us all."


    The people fell silent before cheering again. President oy then waved goodbye at the crowd and started to walk apanied by high-ranking army officers followed by aides and other officers toward the main hangar''s door.


    As soon as they entered the main hangar, Elizabeth asked, "are the Joint chief and the others ready?"


    "Yes, Madam President. But would you like to rest first? You must be weary from the long journey."


    "No, it''s fine. Let''s proceed."


    When the Doomsday Pirs had shaken the world after its descent three weeks ago, President Elizabeth McCord had decided to travel from the Fortitude bunker located on the east coast to Nevada, traveling hundreds of miles and various cities.


    All the cities and regions they had passed through suffered the same fate. Endless zombies and beasts infested especially the major cities of each state. They had also encountered the little monsters that came from underneath the earth.


    Even though the conditions and order were bing more stable in the past few weeks, they were still far from safe.


    President McCord and herpanions walked inside the hangar and descended through a staircase to arrive at arge lift that could carry up to 50 people. They entered the elevator and began to descend deep into the bowels of the Earth. Aside from being the center of research and development behind closed doors underground, Area 51 was also one of the secret bunkers of the United States.


    "How many floors are there in this bunker?" Elizabeth asked.


    "There are 10 floors and the depth of this bunker reaches 200 meters. We are now at the lowest floor, the safest ce of this bunker."


    "Very well."


    After arriving at the lowest floor, they were weed by a reception, which didn''t look far from your typical office in a multi-story building. They passed a couple more rooms, finally arriving at arge door that looked like a vault.


    Inside therge door was amand center room with a giant screen in the middle and a long meeting table as well as another room filled with several sophisticatedputers.


    Dozens of people were sitting at the long table, and as soon as they noticed the president entering the room, they all stood up and paid their respects.


    "Please, everyone have a seat," said President oy.


    "Wee, Madam President. We have also connected with the Fortitude bunker, Fort Bragg, and Fort Carson."


    America had seeded in revivingmunication lines in 50 regional areas and neighboring countries such as Mexico and Canada, but that''s the current limit of their long-distance radio waves.


    An officer from Homnd Security began the discussion and presented thetest data at this time. Although they hadmunication with the president during her three weeks trip,munication during on travel wasn''t the best, so they started with updating the president with thetest updates they had found.


    They first started with a recap and presented their report on the 50 states. America had lost control of the majority of the east coast, especially the big states such as New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio bing a dead zone. The southeast coast such as Florida and Louisiana also suffered the same fate. Until now, no troops could prate due to how heavy the number of zombies. Virginia as well as West Virginia also had no life since the bombs were released two months ago. So, most of the survivors on the east coast were forced to move toward the west to seek shelter at the nearest military post.


    Every day more and more Americans fled to the west and sought refuge at one of 245 military posts spread across America.


    As always Elizabeth asked the same questions. "Have you got thetest data update?"


    "Madam President, this is the total number of residents who have managed to gather to date."


    "19 million survivors," Elizabeth muttered, reflecting on the thought that they had only confirmed about 6 percent of the total American citizens from thest consensus. There wasn''t much of an increase fromst week.


    "Madam President, please don''t fret as the number of survivors is still increasing every day as they arrive at the outposts. We believe there are also a lot of people staying in the mountains or desert."


    "How''s our current supplies of food and clean water?"


    "We have assigned a lot of people to work on farms, we don''t have to worry about food supplies for the next 1 year. Still, there are many areas that we don''t have ess to, but our soldiers are still trying to help those areas."


    "Very well. Let''s move on to the main topic. The Doomsday Pirs."


    "Currently, our troops have secured a total of 38 Doomsday Pirs spread across our country. This is all thanks to the intel provided by our guests from Indonesia. We now have security posts built on those areas. Also, we have sent a total of 20 special teams to start collecting artifacts scattered across America."


    President Elizabeth oy looked and easily identified whom she was looking for. It wasn''t difficult for her to find the person in question since there was only one middle-aged Asian man who was invited to this meeting was named James Randall.


    "It is an honor and a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Randall."


    "The honor and pleasure is on me, Madam President."


    "I''ve heard many good things about you, Mr. Randall. And ording to the reports, the team of fighters that you''ve gathered managed toplete the Pir''s challenge in just one try. Is it true?"


    "They are mostly American special forces, and of course, it''s all because of their respective prowess. I didn''t do much."


    "You''re being modest, Mr. Randall. Gathering a team of such prowess is a testament to your leadership abilities. After this meeting, I want to meet them and do joint training with the best of our troops because I''ve heard you''re getting ready to climb the challenge of the next floor."


    "Yes, that''s right, Madam President."


    "I am looking forward to seeing you all seed. For now though, I also want to hear about the research you''ve brought."

 Chapter 212 - Energy Weapon

    President McCord spent a few hours at the meeting before proceeding to a different area, it''s on the west side of the base, the test site for the newest weapons. There were several small buildings, but they proceed to arge hall where Mark, the Secretary of Defense of the United States, weed President McCord and her entourage. The secretary of Defense is eager to show the results of the hard work his divisions had been preparing for thest four months.


    Mark guided them to the first area, which they called the war machine area. This was the area dedicated for research and development war vehicles. There were several prototypes parked in different locations.


    The first vehicle Mark had shown them was arge armored humvee named the Punisher. It''s design allowed it to carry 10 soldiers and its armor capable of withstanding impact from 7.62 mm bullets. It had 730 horsepower and was capable of running at a top speed of 95 mph (150 kilometers per hour). The Punisher was the fastest armored vehicle avable they had.


    The second vehicle was much bigger and unique, a giant hovercraft called the Avenger.. This colossal vehicle could navigate over water andnd and could be used to transport troops and military vehicles. It weighed 621 tonnes and could carry up to an additional 150 tonnes of cargo. This incredible machine also had a weapons range of 300 miles.


    The secretary of defense proudly showed off the war machines, but his face showed disappointment as he said, "Unfortunately, all of our air warfare machines are unusable. We''ve checked the atmosphere and the electromaic waves are still there."


    War machines were able to affect the oue of a fight, but it was different from winning a war. To win a war, troops to conquer thend are needed, thus equipping thend troop with the best equipment was actually more important. They presented a new lightweight armor that could withstand gunfire as well as new machine guns.


    The US had been experimenting and creating high caliber weapons, but these big guns were mostly ced on war machines such as tanks, armored vehicles, nes, etc, and were mostly designed to destroy enemy vehicles. To kill any human beings, low caliber bullets were enough and there was no necessity to equip soldiers with big guns. But now that Doomsday had happened and level 2 and 3 zombies were appearing left and right, the research and development team were finding ways to equip the soldiers with high caliber weapons efficiently.


    The US had actually developed a weapon back in 2010 called XM25. It was a semi-automatic air st grenadeuncher and had an effective range nearly four times that of a standard grenadeuncher but was too heavy and impractical to use in the field. They also had developed MX16, which was a variation of the M16 assault rifle that used .50 cal bullets.


    These two weapons failed the field evaluations in its testing phase because they had the same drawbacks. They were quiterge and also its heavy weight made these two weapons unusable in the field for a long time for soldiers. But because of Doomsday, people had been experiencing an improvement to their overall strength and the peak stage mortal realm fighters were able to use it, especially earth realm fighters.


    BANG! BANG! BANG!


    The MX16 roared as it fired the .50 cal bullet from its muzzles and destroyed a pile of stones like cracking a cookie. The bullets were also modified with explosive bullets from its usual armor-piercing pointed design. ording to their test results, they estimated that this weapon was capable of stopping a ck zombie.


    They continued on demonstrating various types of grenades and other explosive devices such as C4 and rocketunchers in an explosion-proof chamber equipped with sophisticated measuring instruments.


    After that, they headed to the new research and development section called energy weapons.


    Laser weapons indeed existed in these modern times and were capable of directly damaging or destroying war machines they had in development. The general idea of ?ser beam weaponry was to hit a target with short repeating waves of light. Currently, in the world,ser weapons could only be installed as a base defense tool or on special vehicles. This limitation was not becauseser technology was so sophisticated to manufacture but because the energy required to fire such a weapon was enormous. Thus, downsizing it to a handheld rifle was absolutely impossible with the current technology.


    The research and development for the energy weapons division''s room were filled with scientists and engineers. Among them was an Asian woman named Rachel. She was a scientist who came along with James Randall from Indonesia because she wanted to continue her research onser weapons. Currently, Area 51 facility has much better equipment than those prepared in Bali. It probably is the best the world can offer.


    In thest two months, she had finally seeded in replicating theser gun James Randall brought and made some developments, making it more stable and capable of firing more frequently than the previous design. The engineers quickly produced these weapons in massive amounts.


    In the test room, .50 cal bullets could prate a maximum of 3 centimeters thick titanium steel, while thisser gun could prate steel as thick as 5 centimeters. The attack power of thisser gun was almost twice that of a .50 cal bullet. The result impressed most of the audience.


    Elizabeth held one of theser guns and said, "This is very impressive."


    "That isn''t all that we have to offer, Madam President," Rachel eximed.


    "There are more?" Elizabeth said, raising one of her eyebrows.


    "Yes. On this asion, we also want to show you another weapon."


    One of the engineers took out another weapon. It was smaller than theser gun they had made but this weapon was oddly shaped. It looked like a long ck stone block stick with a handle and smooth surface and it had a shining engraving on the side.


    "Madam President, this weapon came from the Doomsday Pir."


    James pulled back his sleeve and showed the information from his bracelet.


    [Energy Weapon - Tier 1]


    [length 110 centimeters, weight 22 kilograms]


    [Long range rifle, requires spirit stone to shoot]


    President McCord and her entourage were all amazed at the sight of the weapon. When a soldier fired it at the thick titanium steel, it also prated 5 centimeters deep.


    Apparently, this energy weapon from the Doomsday Pir was not much stronger than theser weapon created in theb, the test proved that the Research and Development team was able to create a weapon as strong as the one offered by the pirs. At least with theser weapon, they didn''t need to pay for the 3,000 spirit stones.


    "Very well. Let''s start mass-producing theser weapons. How soon can we start mass production of this weapon?"


    "We can only produce 2-3 units of thisser weapon per week in this location. But if we move the manufacturing to one of the fully equipped weapons factories like the Lockheed factory in Minnesota, we''ll be able to equip the soldiers faster."


    "Okay, do it soon."


    President McCord thoughtfully smiled at the idea of how this energy weapon could be the solution to facing the challenges ahead. She knew about the countdown on the Doomsday Pir and wanted not only America but even the whole world to be ready for it.


    "Well done, everyone. Our fighting capability has doubled with this," Elizabeth said.


    An old man with unkempt hair walked over and suddenly snorted. He had been part of the presidential group that just arrived at the facility today and was silent throughout the whole tour. He took a closer look at theser gun and said, "Huh, stupid!"


    His reaction confused James. However, Rachel and the scientists and engineers reacted differently.


    "Professor Nik," Rachel muttered, she recognized him.


    This person was a physicist, mechanical technician, and a fairly well-known inventor. He lifted one of theser weapons created by James'' team and examined it carefully.


    "Stupid, stupid. You are all stupid," he said.


    James Randal''s face darkened. He had heard of this person''s greatness but insulting the weapons he had brought to the US affected him. The president as well as the others, however, didn''t seem bothered. It looked like rumors on how this professor''s personality was a little quirky and hard to get along with were true.


    "Professor Nik, could you perhaps enlighten us with your thoughts?" Elizabeth asked.


    "Like always, everyone thinks that being able to produce weapons as quickly as you can and having more firepower is the greatest thing. Doesn''t anyone realize the marvel of thisser weapon? It''s not the firepower, but this part." Professor Nik pointed at theser weapon energy box. It was the part where it could turn the spirit stones intoser energy.


    "Aaaa!" eximed Doctor Rachel, figuring out something.


    "Do you get it now? Good, good. This technology is the solution to all the limitations of our current technology. The possibility is endless. Madam President, I want to be involved in developing this technology."


    "Yes, Professor. Of course, you can." Elizabeth then turned to the secretary of defense and said, "Mark, I am very satisfied with this equipment. For now, prioritize mass-producing theser weapons. Form a team and head to Minnesota as soon as you can."


    The professor continued, "Madam President, I also am interested in learning the technology that can be found in the Doomsday Pir. When do we think we can visit it?"


    Elizabeth turned to James and said, "Time to meet the team then Mr. Randal."

 Chapter 213 - USA Armed Forces

    The United States Armed Forces consisted of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The President of the United States was themander-in-chief of the Armed Forces and formed military policy with the Department of Defense and the Department of Homnd Security, both of which were the federal executive departments, acting as the main organ by which military policy was exercised.


    These forces were considered the most powerful and thergest military force in terms of personnel with a total of nearly 2 million troops. This total was the thirdrgest in the world after India and China, it wasn''t a surprise that the United States'' military budget was also the highest in the world, ounting for 36 percent of all the other countries'' defense spending. Of course, after the outbreak, all this changedpletely.


    In the Defense Base Area 51, there were more than 300,000 civilians. At first, the majority of these were ordinary citizens who had fled to this ce over the past few months but eventually the families of those who were scientists, engineers, mechanics, troops, etc. were being permanently stationed here while the others were sent to one of 245 military bases or other camps.


    President Elizabeth McCord visited Area 51''s barracks and training ground located east side of the base. This vast empty area used to be an airstrip but since airborne vehicles were nonfunctional during these times, this space was allocated to soldiers and trainees. The whole area was filled with tents, and as she passed through them, everyone saluted her. However, a looming feeling of worry still filled her..


    Elizabeth, apanied by Secretary of Defense Mark Manson, James Randal, and members of the secret service, walked into another hangar that was the army''smand center. Inside were ten people in distinguished military uniform weing them, two generals and eight colonels.


    One in particr had an aura of seniority. He turned around and his chest showed all the achievements he had made over the years of his service. This was three-star general, Daniel Campbell.


    He saluted her with his gray hairs and said, "Madam President."


    "Uncle, you don''t have to be so formal to me," Elizabeth said as she smiled; the man returned a warm smile.


    "Lizzi, give your uncle a big hug," Daniel said as he spread his arms open.


    "Of course!" Elizabeth received this man''s pleasant hug.


    The man was Elizabeth''s uncle and mentor. He was also one of the reasons why she had traveled far from the east coast to the west coast of Nevada. After a brief moment of reunion, they got back to business and all the officers sat in their seats and gave reports on the current condition of the army.


    These officers had been recalling all their soldiers who were on vacation, and reserve forces tobat the zombies. However, there weren''t that many soldiers who returned and most of them still received an MIA(missing in action) status. This could only mean a few things, either they had died when the gue urred, fought with the undead but died, refused to return, or stayed with their families.


    Several months had already passed, but only around 30,000 army personnel returned to service from their search on the states of California, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, and Nevada. It was equivalent to a total of 30 battalions.


    As of the moment, Area 51 had deployed eight battalions to guard the wholepound. That was 8,000 soldiers protecting the base with a total poption of 300,000 residents. This ratio was simply absurd. So, to rectify this, the US army had been recruiting men and women in the base. At least 40,000 men and women were being trained and most of them were young. Elizabeth had seen these new young recruits going through initial training before she and her entourage entered this hangar. Thus, she couldn''t help but worry earlier about the state of their fighting force.


    One of the colonels raised a question, "Madam President, when are we nning to take back Las Vegas and Los Angeles?"


    President McCord calmly answered, "Our top priority remains search and rescue. Taking back the city at this time is still not possible. We will lose too much with too little to gain."


    "With all due respect, staying here and doing nothing is a waste of time! My battalion and I should be out there reiming the cities from the dead not babysitting!"


    Elizabeth couldn''t help but notice the officer''s stress on ''my battalion''. The soldier belonged to the US army to protect the country and its people, not to an individual person. She narrowed her eyes and looked around. It seemed that a few other officers felt the same. Elizabeth wanted to sigh, but she couldn''t show weakness here when she knew many high-ranking officers didn''t recognize a woman as the President of the United States of America during a crisis like this.


    Elizabeth gave it a thought. She understood that reiming a city, Las Vegas or otherwise would boost the morale of everyone, including the citizens. After all, they were thirsty for a victory in their losing battle against the undead. However, she was still hesitant thinking of the inexperienced, young troops in training. If she sent them now, it would be akin to sending these new recruits to die.


    After a moment of silence, she remembered the Doomsday Pir and asked, "Uncle, how many troops have got ess to the Doomsday Pir?"


    "We have only sent veteran soldiers but hundreds of people attempted to ess the pir without permission nheless. Because of that, we''ve heard rumors of a new fighting group not part of the army."


    "What do you think about giving ess to all the soldiers?"


    Before Daniel could answer, another general shared his thoughts and said, "Madam President, the inside of the Pir is still full of unknown variables. We need to proceed with caution."


    Elizabeth gave a nce to James. So far, he had given a lot of useful information and had always encouraged her to believe in that alien pir. And he hadn''t disappointed yet. She believed in him and wanted to trust him again for the Pir''s first floor. She still had to consider the possible casualties and the worst oue.


    After thinking for a moment, Elizabeth said, "Very well, I have decided. I''ll enter the pir and judge for myself."


    "!!!"


    All officers in the room had shocked faces. Some tried to dissuade her decision, especially her uncle, but she had set her mind. She wanted to see what was inside the Doomsday Pir, herself, before ordering all troops ess to the 34 pirs they had confirmed scattered across the United States of America.


    Daniel gave out a sigh and gave up on convincing her. He then ordered troops to prepare the escort and apany them to the Doomsday Pir.


    Elizabeth discussed a few more things with the other officers before dismissing them. After they had left, Elizabeth and Daniel had a closed conversation together.


    "Uncle, it seems that not all state governments are supportive and ready to listen to orders. I have a feeling that America will undergo another revolution like the civil war. What do you think?"


    "Lizzi, are you thinking that you don''t deserve to be the president?"


    Elizabeth was stunned. Indeed she had worked her way up in the US''s government and had attained the 4th line of power. But she had never thought of bing president.


    "IˇŞ"


    "You are my niece. I''ve taught and watched you grow as a person and all. I believe in you and I''ll support you all the way. In fact, I am d that you''ve moved here instead of staying at Fortitude. I assure you that at least three-quarters of the 30 battalions will follow my orders. You have my support and the people. That is power."


    "Thank you, uncle."


    "Lizzi, I have news for you. I''ve also heard rumors that Texas is also gathering troops on their own."


    "What? Why haven''t I been informed of this?"


    Texas state itself has the second biggest military power in all the state. The news made Elizabeth worried.


    "It''s not yet confirmed. But ording to the reports of my scouts near the area, soldiers are converging and their leaders are dering opposition against your leadership."


    Elizabeth suddenly thought of a name and said, "General Max... Texas is his home state. He must''ve returned there after escaping from Fortitude. He''s popr and influential there."


    Elizabeth''s face darkened as she remembered his action of sacrificing the innocent just to achieve his goals. That explosion on Washington, DC was still clear on her mind. She felt pressured and the need to increase her strength and influence faster. It wasn''t for her safety, rather, for the safety of her country''s citizens from monsters but also from men like Max.


    "I appreciate you informing me this, uncle," Elizabeth said as she nodded.


    "All in all I think what you managed to achieve in thest few months was outstanding. With a 90% death rate, holding the country together itself already an achievement"


    "Thank you uncle"


    After a few more minutes, they went outside and got inside of the prepared vehicle that would take them to the Doomsday Pir.

 Chapter 214 - Nevada Dessert

    The Nevada Desert


    Vrooooomm...


    A convoy of seven armored humvees, six trucks filled with troops, and another four armored security vehicles drove through the arid desert of Nevada. This was the presidential convoy of current US President Elizabeth McCord making their way to the Doomsday Pir located 90 kilometers west of Area 51.


    The road they were traveling on had cracks and bumps and sometimes they had to go offroad due to avoiding the reported areas, which were deemed as hazard locations.


    In the presidential car were President Elizabeth and her secret service guards, James Randall and his assistant.


    James took notice of one of the men in ck suits still wearing the ck sunsses staring at him. This man was giving off a stern and mysterious aura..


    President Elisabeth saw James'' interest and said, "This is Mr. Richard, James."


    "Hello Richard, nice to meet you," said James, with a smile.


    Richard, however, stayed silent as he stared at James Randall while asionally looking outside at Nevada''s desert.


    President Elizabeth went on to say, "Don''t worry about him, he doesn''t like to talk much."


    "I see. That''s okay. Let''s y a little game while we''re on the way. I''d like to take a guess where you served though before secret service. Are you from? Marines? Navy seal? Or maybe De?ta?"


    Richard remained silent.


    "No reaction huh. Okay then. Secret services usuallye from an agency background. So, that would either be the FBI or the CIA?"


    Richard''s brow slightly twitched when the word ''CIA'' left James'' mouth.


    James put out a smile and said, "Okay, I''m sure you''re from the CIA."


    Elizabeth was a little impressed at how James guessed correctly, she said, "You''re very perceptive, Mr. James. Where''d you learn that?"


    "Hahaha, it''s just the experience of an old sessful businessman."


    James was one of the nine dragons of Indonesia before the gue had struck. A title that was only given to the most sessful businessmen who conquered the market. He had to learn other things and the most important skill he had learned or one would even say his innate ability for an entrepreneur was the ability to read other people. Moreover, James had spent a dozen years in a wheelchair, countless people had tried to take advantage of him, so through the years, his ability to read people had been honed to the fullest.


    "I''ve also heard that you''ve also had a background with the CIA, Madam President. You must be better at this than me," James said with a chuckle.


    "Okay, Mr. James, Honestly, I''m not used to that title. Moreover, you''re not a civil servant. I''d prefer that you''d call me Elizabeth instead."


    "Is that so? Well then, of course, Miss Elizabeth."


    As a billionaire, James often socialized with important people such as her, so it''s easy for him to talkfortably with her.


    Elizabeth indeed hade from the CIA. One of the things they had learned there were profiling other people. The ability to judge people''s intent and personality even from just one interaction. She too felt James could be trusted.


    "When will we arrive at the pir?" Elizabeth asked Richard.


    Richard answered immediately without hesitation. "About 15 minutes, Madam President. We''re only about 6. miles away from the site. In fact, if you''d take a look at the window, Madam President, you''d be able to see the pir from here."


    "Ohhh. You''re right, I do see it," Elizabeth said, after looking at the window. She had seen photos of the pir and how massive it was. But this was the first time she had seen it in person. It truly was gigantic.


    James remarked, "If we had traveled using the Punisher fast car or the Avenger hovercraft we would have been there a lot sooner, of course."


    "Unfortunately, those vehicles are still prototypes and would still take months toplete," Elizabeth replied.


    "Stop the car!" said Richard to the driver while his hand was on the electronic earpiece.


    All the cars in the convoy immediately stopped.


    "What''s wrong, Richard?" Elizabeth asked.


    "The front Humvee has seen critters ahead."


    "How many?"


    "There''s only a dozen of them, Madam President. But for your safety, we better change course."


    "Okay," said Elizabeth, believing his bodyguard''s decision.


    The convoy changed directions toward a few kilometers to the north before turning back to the pir on the west.


    But it wasn''t long after they had turned was another group of critters in front of them again.


    "This is odd," eximed Richard. "ording to intel, there shouldn''t be this many critters in these areas."


    James vouched for what Richard had remarked since he had already made several trips from Area 51 to the Doomsday and this was the first time he had seen this many critters. James then exined, "ording to information from Alex, as time passes, more of these critters wille out of the Abyss Gate. It has been more than a month since the gates have been opened and it seems that we have been lucky enough not to have encountered a lot of them, until today."


    The dozens they had seen earlier had now doubled. It didn''t look easy to continue avoiding them, hence, Richard thought it would be better to finish off these monsters before they multiplied further and be a serious threat.


    "Don''t worry, Madam President, our ASV team in front would deal with these monsters easily. Troops, ready!" said Richard through his earpiece giving orders to the other convoy. He then reassured the president, "These Humvees are all made from the toughest materials solely to protect the most important figure in the US. We''ll be fine, Madam President."


    The convoy stopped and all the vehicles formed a line with the four ASV taking up positions in front. The entire army in the truck and humvee got out and took the line of fire.


    Name: M1117 Guardian


    Type: Armored Security Vehicle (ASV)


    Used: 1999


    Weight: 12,410 kilograms


    Length: 6.0 meters


    Width: 2.6 meters


    Height: 2.6 meters


    Passenger: 5 people


    Maximum speed: 101km / h


    Main weapon: 40 mm Mk 19 grenadeuncher, .50 caliber M2HB


    Additional weapon: M240H Medium Machine Gun


    Four grenadeunchers and a .50 caliber machine gun fixed its sights on the dozens of small, rolling monsters toward these troops. But before the little monsters got within shooting range, Richard got new information.


    "South side!"


    James came out of the humvee and turned his gaze south. He picked up a binocr and found dozens more critters approaching from the south; it seemed that their numbers were still growing.


    "This seems to be the group of critters we had encountered earlier. They seem to be chasing us."


    Richard coordinated with Captain Marcus, themanding officer of three toons totaling 150 soldiers. The 4 ASV vehicles split into two lines, facing west and facing south, while the three toons divided into three, two guarded the front along with the two ASVs, while thest toon made its way to the rear, guarding the humvee of President McCord.


    James didn''t want to stay still and came out of the vehicle to watch the fight. He was confident he could handle himself because he was also an earth realm fighter. Since that evolution, James had felt that all the remnants of the bone ailments he had faced during those years in the wheelchair were gone. He now had the same fighting capability of other earth realm fighters.


    James, along with Richard and ten secret service guards, guarded the armored humvee that the president was riding on. In no time at all, they were ready to fight hundreds of critters that wereing in from two directions.


    Captain Markus shouted, "Ready! Shoot!"


    The ASVunched its grenadeuncher in the middle of the critters.


    "SSSHTTT SSHHTTT SHHTTT SSHTTT


    KABOOMM !! KABOOO !! KABOOMM !! KABOMM !!!


    The sea of critters seemed to have made holes in the area where the grenades exploded. They had split apart due to the shockwave and the strength of the explosion. Next came the .50 caliber machine gun in action.


    TTARRATATATATATATAT TRTATAATATTAT


    The rain of high caliber bullets also made holes in the tough skin of the critters. Only one in three critters had made it into the firing range of an army force after the barrage of the machine guns. And at that time, these marines were ready to give these monsters from the abyss hell.


    "Soldiers! Fire at will!" shouted Captain Mark.


    "Give em'' hell!" The soldiers answered in unison.


    "Fire! Die! Kill them all!"


    Tratatatatatat Tratatattata Tratatatattata


    Another rain of bullets from the assault rifle M16 with 5.56x45mm NATO rounds hit the remaining critters, but it wasn''t strong enough to prate the critters'' spiked skin. Fortunately, some of these troops were equipped with the new X16 weapon that used high caliber .50 cal bullets.


    BANG!! BANG!! BANG!!!


    The shower of high caliber bullets and grenadeunchers eliminated the monsters in the open field in just a matter of minutes. Although there were some critters that had reached the soldiers themselves, they were easily picked apart since all these three toons were experienced peak stage mortal realm fighters. The hundreds of critters finally split apart and fled.


    After things had calmed, Elizabeth got out of the humvee and looked at the aftermath. The yellow wilderness had been filled with corpses of critters and dozens of soldiers were chosen to find and collect the spirit stones.


    Captain Markus, a man with arge body and a long mustache, looked proud at the sess of thepany he had led. "Hahaha! They''re retreating boys! We''ve given ''em hell!"


    The rest of the soldiers cheered at this victory. While they wereughing, however, Captain Mark noticed the rising dust in the distance.


    "Iing! From the south!"


    Richard replied, "Critters again?"


    "It doesn''t seem like it. Even if there were hundreds of those little monsters, they wouldn''t blow dust like that. It''s something big. "


    The soldiers got into positions once more and were on high alert.


    "What a monster!" said Captain Markus.


    The monster arriving had the face of a bull with two giant horns protruding from its head. It got ready to charge with its body that was asrge as a truck.

 Chapter 215 - Bighorn Beast

    The dust puff grewrger as the herd ofrge monsters came closer.


    "What kind of monsters are they, James?" asked Elizabeth, hoping James knew about these monsters charging toward them like the critters.


    "I have no idea," replied James.


    The enormous beasts charging toward them were truly intimidating as they were asrge as an elephant with its whole body covered in fur. Especially the curved horns on its head which were clearly not for piercing but for crashing.


    "I have a bad feeling about this," said James.


    Captain Markus remained calmed as he watched the iing beasts while stroking his mustache. He was confident with the skill and uracy of his troops and had ordered them all to get ready. And once beasts had entered their firing range, Captain Markus ordered all four grenadeunchers to simultaneously fire at the monsters..


    SHHHTTT SSHHHTTT SHHHTTT SHHHTTT


    KABOOOMM KABOOOMM KABOOOMM KABOOOMM


    "Yes!!!" Captain Markus shouted in joy as he saw the beasts were directly hit with the four grenades. But it was too early to celebrate as the beasts looked unharmed as they appeared from the dust still making its way straight toward them.


    The troops were all momentarily stunned and the ground they were standing on was starting to shake from the heavy steps of those monstrous beasts. They woke up from their disbelief when they heard Captain Markus shouted another order.


    "Fire at will!"


    The 150 soldiers fired their M16 as well as the 20 soldiers holding MX16 with .50 cal bullets. The same went for the machine gun operators on top of the trucks and ASVs. They rained down bullets on the charging monsters.


    TRATATATATATAT TRATATATATATA TARATATATATATT


    The location of the convoys were still far away, but Richard could clearly see that even .50 cal bullets were ineffective against these hulking beasts. The secret service guards then formed another circle to protect the presidential vehicle. Richard opened the door and informed Elizabeth of the situation. "Madam President, please stay in the vehicle. We might have to escape if we will not be able to contain this situation."


    Elizabeth nodded and looked for James but he was nowhere in sight.


    "Wait, where is Mr. James? Did he run away?" Elizabeth was confused. He had always thought of James as being someone who was brave and reliable. But she must''ve expected too much from him. After all, James was a civilian, not a soldier.


    TRATATATA TRATATATATA


    The loud bangs of .50 cal rounds didn''t stop as it continued to somehow injure the monsters but then, a sharp sound mixed with the loud bang.


    Zzzzzziinggggg! Zappp!


    A beam of light struck the head of one of the monsters, making it stop its tracks causing the monster behind it to collide with it. Two monsters fell in one shot.


    Elizabeth looked at the direction where the shot came from and found James Randal standing on top of one of the humvees holding hisser gun with its muzzle still steaming from its most recent shot.


    "Good shot, Mr. James!" she said.


    James smiled and then eximed, "Richard! Catch! Also hurry up and send your team here."


    James threw theser that was in his hand at Richard before touching the ring on his finger. A slight sh appeared from the ring and out came seven briefcases, four of which contained the sameser weapon. He distributed it to the secret service guards and the contents of the other three boxes were revealed, the secret service guards couldn''t help but look shocked.


    [Short sword - Tier 2]


    [Weight: 3.8 kilograms]


    [Double-sided ax - Tier 2]


    [Weight: 18.1 kilograms]


    [Spear - Tier 2]


    [Weight: 9.6 kilograms]


    These were artifacts James had managed to collect in the past month. He had been wanting to keep it a secret and nned to give it to his team, who were at Doomsday Pirs training but the dire situation they were in right now forced him to reveal these artifacts.


    James lent these three artifacts to the secret service guards with not much expectation of them being able to use it to its full extent. After all, they were still on peak stage mortal realm. However, at this time, James only thought about improving their fighting abilities.


    The members of the secret service were now equipped with new weapons. Richard had already fired theser gun in his hand several times and managed to stop two more monsters. Still, several giant beasts were near at the rear line.


    "Get ready to dodge!!!"


    Fortunately, even though the beasts'' movements were fast despite theirrge bodies, they only ran in a straight line. The soldiers on the ground scattered to avoid the beasts'' charge and rammed through the vehicles on the rear.


    CLAAANNGG!!! CLAAANNGGG!!!


    Therge monsters collided with two trucks and three humvees, throwing them upside-down. The forces of these monsters could even capsize a 12 ton ASV. Any human being hit facing them head-on would definitely die.


    Several soldiers were injured and those in the vehicles crawled out. They tried to regroup to fight these monsters but contrary to their expectation, the rest of the monsters who didn''t crashed onto the trucks and humvees didn''t stay and kept on running and leaving the area. There were three monsters who had been hit by another barrage ofsers, causing them to be enraged and destroy everything they saw. The monsters swung itsrge bodies in whatever direction it could and managed to hit some troops who were too close. The rest of the soldiers kept their distance, firing at a somehow safer location.


    Richard and the secret service guards kept on firing with theirser guns, and those who were holding the artifacts charged to mitigate the damage done by these monsters.


    ZZZAAAPPPP


    Every time theser fired, it pierced the tough skin of these beasts, exuding a slight smell of burned flesh. And on that burned flesh, blood could be seen dripping, indicating thesers were truly effective.


    The secret service guard who was holding an artifact stepped forward and tried to take a beast down. He brandished the sword with skill and managed to leave shed marks on the tough skin of the beast.


    James tried to use the bracelet in his hand and pointed it at the animal. The bracelet glowed, a piece of information entered his mind.


    [Bighorn Desert Sheep]


    [level 35 mutated beast]


    [Tier two - low stage]


    As it turned out, this elephant-sized monster wasn''t from the Abyss Gate and was a mutated beast instead. They were really unlucky to have encountered the critters and a herd of bighorns passing by.


    The fighters surrounded the three beasts and not long after, they executed two of the three beasts who had raged. The third beast was also about to fall, but it managed to break through their siege and ran toward another vehicle.


    "!!!"


    The vehicle the bighorn targeting was President Elizabeth''s. The three secret service guards who were guarding it froze in fear as they watched the beast asrge as an elephant charging toward them.


    "No!" shouted Richard, regretting why he had left the president''s side. He fired theser gun again but since he was behind it, he couldn''t hit its head to confuse it. The beast shrugged off theser guns hitting it and kept on moving.


    "Run!" shouted Richard.


    Elizabeth was also a former CIA agent but even though she had received self-defense training, most of her time was spent being an analyst in the office and only received a few field assignments. She also froze in fear as the hulking beast was nearing her. She tried to run but issued a small yelp as she became off bnce because of the weight of the bighorn''s steps was like a minor earthquake to anyone near it. "Ahhh!!"


    The secret service guard broke from fear and ran back to grab Elizabeth. The beast was too close, however, it was only a few meters away. But then, a figure appeared out of thin air that was asrge as the beast.


    It stopped the mutated beast and pushed it back. Elizabeth looked in awe at the three meter tall figure, which was made of stone.


    [Stone golem - Tier 2]


    [3.3 meters high, 420-kilogram weight]


    She thought this was another monster but James appeared near her and said, "That''s my stone golem. Come on, we have to go!"


    This was one of the artifacts he had also found and kept as a protection for his life at a critical time. He was specifically looking for this because he had seen its prowess when Alex had first shown it to him. In fact, he was envious that Alex had a golem-like this. But right now though, he was happy that he had the same thing as Alex.


    Elizabeth ran with James along with the three secret service guards. While running, James kept ordering the stone golem and managed to constrain it. Not long after, thisst remaining desert bighorn sheep was also executed.


    "We are grateful for your help Mr. James. I don''t think we would''ve won if it weren''t for your help, " said Elizabeth. She truly was grateful for James''s help. It hadn''t been long since they had met but James had proven himself many times over.


    Captain Markus ordered the medics of each battalion to check the wounded. Richard, on the other hand, went over to check therge beast and found an oddity.


    "Madam President, take a look at this."


    One of the bighorn''s corpses had a wound that wasn''t from a gunshot nor theser gun. This wound looked more like a w and bite wound.


    "I think we should leave immediately, It seems like those beasts were running away from something instead of trying to attack us," James said, looking at the direction where these desert bighorn sheep hade from.


    James assumes these desert bighorn sheep weren''t predatory animals. It didn''t make sense for these mutated beasts to attack them, so the only exnation was they were running from a predator. What kind of mutated beast though was capable of making dozens of giant mutated beasts with thick skins like this bighorn run away?


    While James was pondering, gunfires once more resounded the whole area.

 Chapter 216 - Predatory Beast

    Aaaarrrgghhh!!!


    A scream resounded. The gaze of all the troops turned toward the direction of the sound.


    AAAAAA!!!


    A soldier was lying in the sand with a pool of blood.


    The soldiers put up their guns'' sights around but saw nothing. But then a strong gust of wind blew past them and those who saw could only make out a silhouette of a golden shadow.


    "What is that?"


    They weren''t able to see what attacked them, they kept their eyes open but another scream rang out on the other side.


    "AAAARRGGHJH"


    SPLAAAATTT!.


    This time blood was sshed among the other line of soldiers. Meanwhile, there were multiple victims already and all of them had their chests torn as if it had been cut with three machetes.


    "What happened? What is attacking us?"


    The soldiers saw the golden silhouette once more around the soldier''s rank and began firing at it, but they could only follow its movements as the bullets never hit it.


    TRATATATATAT TARATATATATAT


    "Retreat! Retreat! Close ranks!" Captain Markus ordered the troops to step back and close the troops.


    "Madam President!" Richard and all the other secret service guards ran over to Elizabeth and surrounded her. Meanwhile, not far away, James also stood closer with his stone golem.


    "What monster this time! It''s moving too fast!"


    Aarrgggghh!!!


    One more soldier fell. Some soldiers were starting to panic. Attacks that couldn''t be seen were the ones that were most terrifying rather than an attack that you could see head-on.


    The more they stepped back, the circle of ranks gradually shrank, but there were already few soldiers who had fallen victim. These soldiers had all reached peak stage mortal realm. But the creatures that attacked them were too fast. The rifle they were holding was unable to save them.


    A soldier finally sumbed to his fears and screamed loudly with fear as he started firing his gun wildly.


    TARATATATA TARARATATAT


    "Stop shooting at nothing! You''ll hit someone if you fire randomly!" Captain Markus said, as he grabbed the panicking soldier''s rifle.


    Another scream sounded and this time it was a little closer. The unknown predator revealed itself after it had torn apart three more soldiers within their ranks. Its golden fur that was drenched with blood shed with its intimidating yellow eyes. Its big fangs, which still had some bits and pieces of the people it had just killed, appeared hungry for more. The lush golden mane swayed gloriously as thisrge lion stared at the terrified soldiers.


    The soldiers felt like choking as they froze at the sight of this intimidating beast, which was twice of its previous size. They watched as the lion crunched the head of its most recent prey, making them tremble at the bones breaking sound.


    James regained his senses first and checked the beast''s information through the bracelet.


    [Mutated Mountain Lion]


    [Level 50 mutated beast]


    [Tier two - high level]


    "This is bad. This is bad, this beast was already hailed as the king of predatory animals, and now we''re seeing it as a high level mutated beast," James said.


    The soldier in charge of controlling the .50 cal machine on top of the ASV also broke from his trance and pulled the trigger at the mountain lion.


    TRATATATA TRATATA!


    The lion quickly jumped with one of the soldiers barely alive in its maw. It kept shaking the man as it dodged the rain of bullets targeting it with ease.


    "It''s ying with us!"


    James could clearly see the beast''s movement with him being on the earth realm stage. Earth realm stage not only provided better muscr strength but their entire five senses had also improved.


    "What do you think, James? Do you have any idea?" Elizabeth asked.


    James shook his head and said, "No, this lion is too fast for the rest of the soldiers even for my golem."


    He knew the stone golem wouldn''t be able to keep up with the mountain lion''s movement speed. The golem''s advantages were its size, durability and strength, not speed. James decided it would be better to keep the golem near him because from the looks of it, even an earth realm fighter couldn''t contest this beast in terms of strength.


    "The soldiers are dying," Elizabeth said, feeling helpless.


    Richard assessed the situation and gave orders to the members of the secret service. They went to her and opened the humvee''s door, asking the president to enter.


    "What are you doing Richard?" Elizabeth asked.


    "Our priority is to keep you safe, Madam President. That is the duty of our soldiers as well. Please enter the humvee, we have to run, now!" Richard took a nce at the beast; it was still busy ying with its prey. Since it was busy, Richard thought this was the best time to escape with the president.


    He was about to grab Elizabeth and to go to the humvee his colleagues had prepared but the humvee issued a loud bang. Richard felt an ominous stare and looked over the humvee only to find out the mountain lion was already there!


    "!!!"


    The mutated mountain lion pounced at Richard but fortunately, his years of experience in the field warned him of the impending danger to his life and the president, so he was able to push Elizabeth away just in the nick of time but he was struck in the chest.


    Richard looked to where the rank of soldier was and finally realized it wasn''t only one but two mountain lions had attacked them!


    RROOOOAARRRR !!


    Richard bled, but his wounds were shallow so he tried to get up. As soon as he tried to lift himself, however, a heavy weightnded on his chest as if he was being crushed by a boulder. The second lion actually stopped him from getting up.


    "Richarddd!!!" shouted Elizabeth.


    The second mountain lion opened its jaw, ready to make a snack out of Richard''s head.


    "NO!!!" Elizabeth closed her eyes but the sound of the head crunching never came, instead, a powerful blow rang out and then crashing on one of the vehicles. She opened her eyes and saw James'' stone golem was standing near Richard while the second mountain lion had crashed into one of the troop''s trucks.


    "It''s the right time, GO!" James said.


    The golem continued charging at the lion, who was still trying to get up and pound it again on the ground with full strength.


    BANGGGGGG!


    Blood poured out of the lion''s mouth but that punch from the golem was only enough to injure it. It wasn''t enough to kill a high-level mutated beast. The lion this time was able to get up faster because the first two times it got hit surprised it, but now it regained its ground and its endurance and muscr strength couldn''t be underestimated. The mountain lion tried to strike back, but both its ws were only able to scratch the surface of the golem.


    ROOOAAARRR


    The lion pounced on the golem to put on the ground and tried to jump away after, attempting an escape. But James anticipated it and ordered the golem telepathically to grab its back paw and tail and put its weight on the lion.


    "Good!!!" James said. The lion was struggling on the ground and James took this opportunity to help Richard to his feet.


    This time, the quiet bodyguard who was always ignoring him finally spoke. "Thank you, Mr. Randall"


    "Don''t mention it! Now, send your men to finish off the lion!"


    Richard was still resistant against this Asian man giving him orders, but he didn''t say anything since this man just saved his life. He nced at Elizabeth and she nodded. He then ordered his fellow guards with artifact weapons to attack the mountain lion that was still struggling against the weight of the golem.


    They didn''t know, however, that James was actually the strongest fighter among them since he was the only one who had broken through the mortal realm and reached the earth realm stage. But James wasn''t a fighter. His strength skill lied in how he used his brains, not physical attributes. If he didn''t have to, he wouldn''t risk his life.


    James focused on ordering the stone golem when the first lion that was on the soldier''s rank roared.


    It noticed how its lioness was in danger and quickly came to aid it. It jumped toward the three secret service guards who were holding the artifact weapon, forcing them to fight it.


    These three guards, however, were still in the mortal realm stage, and even though they were wielding Tier 2 weapons against this high-level mutated beast, the lion didn''t take too long and was able to kill the secret service guard holding the axe.


    SPLLLAATTT!!! ARGGGHHH!!


    The lion was too fast and too strong for a mortal realm fighter. They could use the tier 2 artifacts, but the gap between a high-level mutated beast and mortal realm was huge. It was akin to a monkey wielding a sword against a fearsome lion in its prime. Even if the sword was capable of injuring the lion, there was no point if the monkey was unable to sessfully hit the lion.


    More than 100 soldiers were watching the battle, unable to help. Captain Markus ventured forward and took the ax that had fallen nearby.


    AAAAAAAA!


    Elizabeth realized something and had an idea to prevent more losses. She called out to James and quickly said, "I have an idea! Do this..."


    "Good n!" James said.


    "Richard! Stand by!" said Elizabeth.


    "Ready!" replied Richard. He then gave orders without hesitation through his earpiece and the rest of the secret service members who were holdingser weapons and also soldiers who were in control of machine guns on iron vehicles got ready.


    "We''re all set!" said Richard.


    James nodded and issued a new instruction to the stone golem to throw the mountain lioness it was holding down at the empty humvee.


    BANNNGGGGG!!!


    Elizabeth eximed, "Now!"


    The machine guns, assault rifles, andsers all rained down bullets and beams of light on one single point. The lioness that had crashed on the empty humvee.


    ZAAAPPPP TRATATTATATAA TARATATA


    The dust started to build up and the lioness could do nothing as it tried to struggle to get up. The shower of .50 cal bullets, NATO rounds, andsers all focused fire at the lioness.


    RRRROOOAAARR


    It roared in pain but the roar was reced as the humvee suddenly sted!


    KABBOOOMMMMM !!!


    "Did it work?" asked Elizabeth.


    The stone golem then helped Captain Markus and the two secret service agents fight against the other lion.


    "Looks like we can win," said James, smiling at Elizabeth before his expression changed again.


    Elizabeth also faltered as she looked at where the lioness was.


    The dust settled, and out of the dust, the mountain lioness that was hit focused fire by everyone was still alive. Its body was emitting smoke while some of its wounds also visibly healed.


    James said, "This is bad."

 Chapter 217 - Safety First

    These lions weren''t only fast, capable of fighting on the same strength with stone golem but also had the ability to regenerate very quickly.


    [Mutated Mountain Lion]


    [level 50 mutated beast]


    [Tier two - high level]


    Level 50 mutated beasts were considered as high level, tier 2 beasts. So far, apart from Garuda, which was a tier 3 animal, the strongest mutated beast Alex had ever fought was the mutated snake on the ind of Bali. That mutated snake had a level of 40, making it a Tier 2 mutated beast but intermediate level category. This time, however, the beast James facing was ten levels stronger than the snake.


    The stone golem was fighting one of the mountain lions, while the mutated lioness transfixed its gaze at Elizabeth. It seemed to have enough intelligence to know who had the idea for the suffering it had experienced. Its body was emitting a barely visible smoke, indicating it was healing, as it crouched.


    Richard and his colleagues were once again in the offensive but this lioness dodged their attacks with ease.. Seeing that their offense was futile, Richard returned to guard Elizabeth against any unsuspecting attacks. He stood in front of her ready to respond to the beast''s counterattack even though everyone knew that he wouldn''t have the strength to protect Elizabeth from this beast. That mutated beast was too strong even for someone like him.


    James walked over to them and said, "Richard, you''ll only waste your life. I''ll take care of it."


    Richard was silent, he didn''t know how to respond to the man asking him to abandon his duties of protecting the president. He furrowed his brows at this Asian man.


    Elizabeth was also surprised, Richard had been reliable so far as well as James, but James'' reliability had been how resourceful he was, not fighting. It was a different story though if James still had another stone golem hidden.


    James didn''t have time to waste and pushed Richard 3 meters away with one hand, almost knocking him down. Some nearby people pointed guns at James, fearing he might somehow attack the president.


    "!!!"


    Richard''s face looked shocked and dark as he stared at James. He lifted a hand and ordered the others to step down.


    "It looks like I have to join the fight. Don''t worry Elizabeth I''ll take care of you,"


    James''s actions and words made Elizabeth and everyone around her be awkward.


    "James, do you have another stone golem?" she asked.


    "No," James said, shaking his head.


    "Then?"


    James touched the bracelet in his wrist and a piece of information was shown.


    [James Randall]


    [Male - 38 years]


    [Earth realm level 10 - intermediate stage]


    [Spirit energy - Water- early stage]


    [Spirit Talent - level C]


    James had been spending the past month looking for artifacts instead of cultivating. It didn''t matter though since he didn''t like practicing. He wasn''t a front liner, his real strength lied on his resourcefulness so he had umted a lot of spirit stones. From the spirit stones he had collected, he had already consumed dozens of white stones and yellow stones after breaking through that was why he was at level 10. He was probably the highest leveled earth realm fighter in the US.


    "Hopefully, the spirit stone I spent is useful."


    ROOOAARRRRR!!!


    The wounds on the lioness'' body were almost healed. It finally lunged Elizabeth.


    "Ooo damn!" shouted James in his heart before facing the lioness head-on.


    "James!" Elizabeth eximed.


    BBAAAAMMMMM!!!


    A violent collision urred and the two bounced back at the same time. Elizabeth ran over to James, filled with worry since James''s size was only a third of the lioness'' size. What was shocking, however, was that James was able to match this mutated beast''s strength.


    "Are you okay? How did you do that?" Elizabeth asked.


    "Arghhh, it really hurts!" James said, trying to stand up.


    Then Elizabeth noticed the blood dripping on the sand underneath James.


    "You''re bleeding!"


    James smiled even though he looked in pain. "I''m fine... Don''t worry, this isn''t my blood."


    He then showed a small bloodied dagger he was holding.


    [Dagger - Tier 2]


    [Weight: 1.2 kilograms]


    He actually had another Tier 2 weapon at his disposal. Because of that weapon, he had managed to injure the animal. He had been thinking of how to deal with this lioness and he hade to the conclusion that by jumping forward, the lion would have a hard time using its ws and fangs to either attack or defend, hence he would have a chance to stab the giant lioness'' body.


    There was one more reason why he had taken that risk. His safety insurance.


    [Iron vest - Tier 2]


    [Medium armor]


    [Weight: 5.8 kilograms]


    "Check protective energy," James said.


    [Protective Energy: 72/100]


    James clicked his tongue andmented, "It''s just one collision but it already took 28 energy? Aaaa, this armor isn''t reliable."


    Even though he wasining, he was actually grateful. This was one of the things he decided to keep from the artifacts he had found. The knife and the vest were the only he had equipped since safety was always a priority. After all, he only had one life. The vest as a life-saving artifact, and the dagger as a hidden weapon.


    The lioness issued an angry roar.


    ROOAAAAARRRR ROOAARR


    It stared at James with its sharp fangs bared. It didn''t expect that this puny prey would be able to push it back, so it stood back analyzing its opponent.


    The lioness walked left and right around James and Elizabeth. It was attempting to intimidate them but James became more confident instead.


    "Watch out, James. It''s going to strike again," said Elizabeth, shrinking behind James'' back.


    "Calm down, it''s assessing its chances of hunting us. Don''t curl up, stand beside me and puff your chest. Don''t show that we''re afraid," James said. He then breathed in and shouted, "COME HERE YOU DAMNED ANIMAL!"


    The mutated beast jumped back and bared its fangs once more. It seemed to have retreated a bit and solely fixed its gaze against James.


    "How do you know this?" Elizabeth asked.


    ".Hmm... You know... National Geographic Channel..."


    "..."


    Elizabeth cleared her throat and said, "so, do you think we can win this fight?"


    "Not sure, most likely not. This beast is too fast. I can see its movements, but I know I won''t be able to keep up with its speed. I''m hoping it''ll get pissed off and attack head-on so can I counter it, but if it starts moving in a circle it will be very troublesome."


    "What can we do to help?"


    "I don''t know yet. But what''s important now is to buy time."


    "Buy time for what?" Elizabeth asked, confused. But then from a distance, she heard a vehicle honking.


    Hoooonnnkk hoooonnnkk! Vroooommmmm vrooommm!


    A humvee was driving through the desert from the direction of the pir.


    "Just in time," James said.


    ROOAAARRR ROOARRR


    The lioness roared once more and it slowed its movements, still intently focused at James. It also heard the iing vehicle as well and looked at its direction. Slowly, the lioness started backing up, giving up the intention of attacking James and Elizabeth. It then looked toward its mate that was fighting against the golem.


    James noticed the lioness looking at its mate and shouted, "Careful!"


    The lioness jumped toward the direction of the other lion, but it didn''t attack the golem instead it pounced at the two secret service members who were using artifact weapons and Captain Markus.


    The three people failed to react in time. Captain Marcus, who was wielding the ax, was gravely injured as his back had threerge w shes while one of the secret service guards had his head bit off, and the other one was crushed on the ground. The secret service man on the ground was still alive but the lioness followed up and also mauled his head afterwards.


    Once the three people were no longer able to fight, the lioness jumped at the stone golem. With the stone golem besieged by two lions, it didn''t take long for the stone golem to be on the losing side.


    BAMMM! BAAAMM!


    The lioness used its weight to hold the stone golem on the ground while the lion used its jaw to pull the stone golem''s limbs. The lion pulled and pulled and the stone golem was beginning to show signs of cracking. But before the lion managed to remove the golem''s leg, a gust of wind struck at the direction of the lion.


    SLAASSSHHH!


    The two high-level mutated beasts felt the impending danger and jumped away.


    An American Indian man, with long ck hair and a red headband, was standing in the area where the gust of wind hade from. He was holding a traditional small indian ax.


    "Nathanael! You''re a lifesaver," James said.


    Apart from Nathanael, two more people got out of the vehicle. James smiled at the sight of them as they were Red and Zee, two of his personal bodyguards, who were former members of the Delta Force.


    Elizabeth, however, couldn''t hide her disappointment because there were only three people that had arrived as reinforcements. There were already more than 100 of them here, but they weren''t able to do much.


    James noticed Elizabeth''s reaction and decided to clear her mind. "We''ll be fine. In fact, Nathanael alone is enough."


    James stood more rxed now since he knew how reliable they were. He was also eager to see how much Nathanael had improved after one month of training on the Doomsday Pirs. Nathanael''s opponent this time were two fast mountain lions, it was a suitable match for him.

 Chapter 218 - Battle Of Speed

    This Delta Force soldier was Nathanael, the one who fought Alex that was a wind spirit enhancer. Since he had left Bali, he had been following James along with his other Delta Force colleagues. They took on the Doomsday Pir''s challenge and were sessful in finishing it. His arrival this time was a breath of fresh air, especially for James.


    [Nathanael Hawkeye]


    [Male - 28 years]


    [Earth realm level 6 - initial stage]


    [Spirit energy - Wind - intermediate stage]


    [Spirit Talent - level A]


    "It appears you have sessfully mastered the early stage of wind spirit energy," said James.


    "Yes. It was not easy," Nathanael said, walking with confidence..


    "Be careful, these two beasts move very fast and they also have a very high regeneration ability. I suggest cutting off the head without dy. It should be enough to kill it."


    "Yes, I can see that. They''ve dodged my wind strike ambush."


    The two lions stood back to back as they observed the humans, who had surrounded them, every move. The man who had just arrived, the stone golem, James, and hundreds of other troops that had encircled them.


    Nathanael was the greatest fighter of the Mohican tribe. He grew up following ancient Indian traditions in the Navajo wilderness. This wasn''t the first time he had fought a mountain lion. Although the lions in front of him were three times bigger, stronger, and faster than the normal mountain lions he had in during his hunts, Nathanael wasn''t worried even one bit because you could say he had mutated in a way.


    "So, what''s the n for these beasts? One misstep and you might die," asked James.


    As of the moment, only the stone golem and James with his Tier 2 vest werepletely safe from these mountain lions'' attacks. The veteran fighters present, including Nathanael, only wore Tier 1 armor, so they wouldn''t be able to withstand more than one attack from this high level mutated beast.


    Nathanael and members of James'' team noticed the woman standing next to James was the secretary of state who was now the President of America.


    "For now, I''ll carefully test the speed of this beast," Nathanael said. He looked to Red and Zee and added, "You guys stay on guard for now. Lest there be another victim."


    "Understood."


    He then stepped forward toward the two giant roaring lions.


    ROOAARRR ROOARRRR


    These mutated beasts could feel the threat from this human, so when Nathaniel was less than 10 meters away, one of the lions tried to be a step ahead and lunged.


    ROAARRR!


    Nathanael dashed to the side, dodging the lion''s pounce.


    SSHHHTTTT


    The sharp ws almost hit his shoulders, but it was within his expectations. He had hunted lions as well as other beasts in the wilderness. He was adept at dealing with beasts due to the knowledge he had built up over the years.


    Nathanael readied his ax by raising it but he noticed the slight shift of wind due to the lioness pouncing when he had turned to face the first lion.


    "Tsk." Nathanael canceled his attack and jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding the lioness'' sharp ws. These mutated animals were slightly faster than him, luckily he had good techniques.


    "They are faster than me, James," Nathanael said.


    "How fast? Can you beat them?"


    Last month after James and his team had seeded inpleting the first challenge, all soldiers of the delta and navy seal got upgraded from mortal realm to earth realm. Since then, they had been able to measure the abilities between them. Before that, one of the most popr ways they had measured each other''s strength was race running, they still did sometimes but Nathanael had always been unbeatable.


    A mid-stage mortal realm fighter had the same speed as an Olympic runner, averaging about 25 miles per hour or about 12 meters per second. Meanwhile, those who had reached the peak of the mortal realm could reach a speed of 60 miles per hour or about 30 meters per second.


    This 60 miles per hour speed exceeded the normal mountain lion speed of 50 miles per hour. So those people that had reached the peak stage mortal realm would have outrun ordinary mountain lions, but of course, everything had be mutated ever since the gue struck, including the mountain lions.


    After James'' delta and the navy team had upgraded to the earth realm, they had broken through a new limit of 80 miles per hour or about 40 meters per second. Meanwhile, Nathanael, who was a wind spirit enhancer, his natural talent with the wind would always win him bets and could breakthrough speeds of 95-100 miles per hour at earth realm level 1.


    James was the highest level amongst his team, reaching level 10 earth realm but was still unable to beat Nathanael''s speed. Now that Nathanael had reached level 6 earth realm, his speed was over 100 miles per hour. At that speed, imagine taking part in a 100-meter race and finishing it under 3 seconds. That would be a real bolt, it would be fantastic.


    "They are much faster, possibly more than 120 miles per hour," Nathanael said, dusting himself off.


    "Then, how?" James asked, raising his brows.


    Now that Nathanael had more urate battle information for himself, he finally started taking things more seriously. His eyes abandoned the carefree feeling he had in the beginning and all that was left was an intense focus. Nathanael tightened his grip on the small ax and it slightly lit up.


    The mountain lions felt the impending danger and tried to finish Nathanael first by pouncing at him with all the speed and strength they could muster.


    This was the perfect opportunity for Nathanael and he shed the air with all his might at the lions in mid-air. A secondter, the air in front of him converged and issued a boom, creating a wave of air advancing toward the lion.


    Ziiiiinnnggg


    The two mutated lions couldn''t dodge while in mid-air and the sharp air hit them.


    SPLLLAATTTT


    The lion in front bled and was knocked back, colliding with its mate behind. In one blow, one of the lion''s forelegs was cut until its middle part. The lion''s foreleg was dangling; it no longer functioned


    Elizabeth and the rest were shocked. They weren''t not expecting that this lone man could repel and even injure the two giant mutated lions.


    Nathaniel raised his little ax again, ready to strike once more.


    [Typhoon Ax - Tier 3]


    [One-handed ax - 5.2 kilograms]


    [Special power - Wind sh]


    [Limited for wind spirit enhancer]


    This small ax, which had an ancient inscription inherited from the Mohican tribe, was a tier-three artifact, no wonder its power was so great. And since Nathanael had upgraded to the earth realm and managed to achieve gaining the energy of intermediate wind spirit energy, he could feel the ax starting to show its real power.


    With the two lions lying on the ground, James took this opportunity and shouted, "Now! Attack!!!"


    The stone golem followed by Zee and Red rushed to finish off the injured mountain lion. Meanwhile, Nathanael attacked the lion at the back.


    "HIATTTT!!"


    Since the first lion lost its forearm and injured foreleg, it was no longer a threat against the stone golem.


    The lion at the back was able to get up while Nathanael made his way and its instincts could confirm it was in danger. It turned around to run away.


    "Careful everyone!"


    The lion charged amidst the circle of troops. It didn''t care about the dozens of soldiers and kept on moving, making the soldiers blown away like a can that was hit with a ball.


    Nathanael trusted in his colleagues and the golem would be able to kill the injured lion. He solely focused on the running lion.


    James shouted, "Stop, you can''t catch up!"


    However, as soon as those words left James'' mouth. He was surprised to see that Nathaniel still had another secret.


    The air around Nathanael gathered and circled around his whole body like a whirlwind of gale. His speed then suddenly increased, catching up to the escaping lion.


    [Wind walk - middle stage wind spirit knowledge]


    "Weew, that''s really cool," Jamesmented.


    This was one of the spirit skills that wind spirit enhancers could obtain after mastering intermediate energy spirits. It was a skill that could increase the movement speed of a person only for a limited time.


    Zee and Red grabbed the tier 2 spear and sword artifact from the floor and joined to fight the injured lion along with the golem. It didn''t take even five minutes for the high-level monster to finally find its demise.


    "Done, we won," James told Elizabeth, with a smile.


    A momentter, Nathanael, a fighter wearing an American soldier uniform just like them, leisurely walked over carrying the whole body of the dead mountain lion. Then the whole area roared with a frenzy of cheers.


    Elizabeth''s mind, however, was on a different page. She was more concerned about the dozens of soldiers who either had died or seriously injured. Among them was Captain Marcus, being attended by a nearby medic. She said, "We have to get back to base 51, they need doctors now!"


    Zee heard this and immediately said, "Madam President, Let''s instead take them to the Doomsday Pir."


    "Zee, did you guys manage to do it?" James asked.


    Zee nodded and replied, "Yes, we''ve cleared ten floors."


    It only had been a few weeks since James had left the team, but they had already managed to clear ten floors of the Doomsday Pirs. James couldn''t wait to get back to the pir to see the changes.

 Chapter 219 - Recovery Pod

    The fight against critters, bighorn sheep, and mutated mountain lions had twelve casualties and injured dozens of others, five of whom were seriously injured, which, if not immediately treated, could endanger their lives. Captain Marcus was one of them.


    The distance from the battlefield to the pir was only around 10 kilometers. Elizabeth left a part of her army to stand by and get ready to transport the remains of this high-level mutated beast. Others immediately took those who were injured to the Doomsday Pir.


    "Why are we bringing the injured there?"


    "You''ll see," replied James. In fact, James had never seen it himself, but he believed the information provided by Alex previously.


    Ten minutester, they finally arrived at their destination.


    This was the first time that President McCord hade and seen this foreign object that descended to this Earth. The towering foreign building was like the Burj Khalifa, the tallest skyscraper in the world..


    The building itself was clearly out of this world in appearance and material form. Not to mention the shiny symbols towering all over the outer walls.


    When he got there, President McCord was surprised to see that the surrounding of the pir was filled with dozens of unit structures that were shaped like tents but looked very foreign. The octagonal tent was white made of a soft material akin to fabric, but it was very tough.


    "These are folding tents that can be obtained from the pirs. They have several types, sizes, and of course, different prices," James exined.


    "There are so many of them?"


    "Yes, I''m actually also quite curious. It was not this crowded when I left a few weeks ago."


    Zee, who was in the group, exined that since the news that American troops had taken control of the Doomsday Pir, numerous people starteding to this ce one after another.


    President McCord wanted to know more about this issue, but right now, his top priority was the issue of the wounded soldiers, as well as also entering the Doomsday Pir.


    When they entered the main hall, the president and his entourage were dumbfounded again. Even though he had received the previous intel reports and images, he still felt amazed at the form and material that previously could only be seen in Hollywood films.


    Currently, in the center of the main room, there were four cubes, which were the control panels for ess to the facilities of the pir.


    "There are four? ording to reports, weren''t there supposed to only be three stone panels?"


    Those three were the main panel for missions and information, the shop panel for entering the room to purchase equipment with spirit stones, and the training panel to ess knowledge and realm upgrades.


    "This fourth panel is?"


    "Well, I myself have only heard about this from Alex. Have you tried it, Zee?" asked James.


    "I have... You can go ahead and try it."


    James approached the panel and started to touch it. Again, a light shed, and a batch of information entered his mind.


    [Recovery Room]


    [Enter?]


    Alex had given this information to James before, and his information was indeed right. Afterpleting the 10th floor, another facility would be opened by the pir.


    James first essed the main panel and gave bracelets to all of the group members who entered this hall. Then they went together.


    [Yes, enter.]


    James and the others entered a circr room with a stone panel in the center, and arranged in a circr manner following the room''s walls were a hundred rooms shaped akin to storage pods.


    Each pod was standing and was measured approximately two meters wide and four meters tall. Some of these pods appear to be activated, but James couldn''t see anything behind the pod''s transparent surface.


    "That''s a pod that''s being used..." Zee informed.


    James tried to ess the center stone panel and looked at the information.


    [ess the recovery pod.]


    [Open pod 013.]


    One of the pods suddenly lit up and opened. The interior of the pod felt akin to a sponge.


    President McCord immediately ordered Captain Marcus to be put in the open pod, and once he leaned back, Captain Marcus'' body seemed to be immersed in a thick liquid. Then, the pod started to slowly close.


    More information came out of that panel.


    [Marcus]


    [Male - 40 years old]


    [Mortal realm level 30 - Peak stage]


    [Body Condition - Critical]


    [Estimated recovery time - 14 hours]


    [18 spirit stones]


    18 spirit stones for human life seems cheap enough. President McCord immediately nced at Richard and Richard immediately gave the stones.


    The same was done to four other soldiers who were dying, each of whom needed around 10-20 spirit stones for their recovery. As for those with minor injuries, their Mortal Realm bodies were able to heal themselves immediately with sufficient rest. Of course, if they had upgraded their realm to Earth Realm, then their body''s individual recovery rate would be significantly faster.


    "A hundred healing pods, can these pods cure diseases? Cancer? Stroke?"


    "They seem to be able to, but they can''t regrow lost body parts."


    "ording to Alex, we can get better recovery facilities on the higher floors," exined James.


    President McCord was both in wonder and amazement at this technology. At this moment, it seemed as though if someone had enough spirit stones, they could do anything.


    "You''ve talked about Alex several times, when do you think I can finally meet him...?"


    Not knowing what to say, James could only stay silent. Alex only told him that he would spend a year in Australia, but who knows what his next n was.


    "Zee, who''s being treated in this other pod? Is he one of our soldiers?"


    "Apparently not, he''s one of the other fighters..."


    Zee exined that since the arrival of numerous other guests at the Doomsday Pir, the conditions had be more and more difficult to manage. Zee and the others had nned to wait for James to arrive with the artifact before they started climbing the pir stairs, but these other fighters were the ones who forced themselves to open the door and start this floor''s challenge. So as to prevent more casualties, the members of the special forces decided to help out.


    After making sure that the severely injured fighters had been taken care of, President McCord began inspecting the other facilities of the Doomsday Pir; the store and training room. The current conditions in the Doomsday Pir''s rooms were not only filled with soldiers, but also ordinary people.


    James then began exining about the main panel, especially about the countdown, which made them all worry.


    [31,788,160] [31,788,159] [31,788,158]


    "James, what will happen when this number touches 0?"


    "Nothing good, President."


    James told the general outline of the information he received from Alex. When this number touches 0, the next stage of the apocalypse will begin.


    "The first tribtion is the word he said."


    President McCord found it difficult to ept this information, but whatever was happening at that moment was proof itself. He didn''t want to be as helpless as when he was fighting the mountain lions over and over again once the tribtion began.


    James, what about this?


    President McCord essed the panel and a batch of information entered his mind.


    [ess to the first hall facility is open.]


    [ess to the first-floor''s stairs is open.]


    [The first challenge has been won.]


    [The fighter with the best score:]


    [Winter - B-rank.]


    [The first challenge is ongoing.]


    [You''ve never taken the first challenge.]


    [Are you worthy?]


    [Enter]


    James immediately interrupted.


    "Stop! Don''t agree to enter..."


    "James, I don''t understand what the meaning of this is."


    James exined that the first challenge was like a tutorial. If the challenge had been won, then the pir facilities could be used. However, this challenge could be repeated as a training site or a chance to try their luck to get the rewards. There had been hundreds of people who tried it, but until now, no one had been able to get a rank reward value higher than Winter.


    "If you look at the current challenge in progress, it means that there are people who are taking part in this challenge. It doesn''t matter if they seed or fail, they''ll be sent back in seven days. If you answer yes to that question, then you''ll be stuck there until the mission ispleted or until seven days have passed."


    James also exined that this challenge was suitable for beginners to train in because if they were to be injured or if they were to die in this challenge, they would be sent back as though nothing happened, but it would be different from fighting toplete the first floor onwards.


    This time, it was James who asked Zee.


    "Zee, tell me, the ten floors that you guyspleted, was it difficult?"


    "The first five floors weren''t that difficult, but it became quite more difficult after that... The 10th floor that we justpleted yesterday was the most difficult one.A few people died, but they were all from their side..."


    "Their side? Who are they?" asked President McCord.


    Just as President McCord asked, a crowd of people approached them.


    "Its them"

 Chapter 220 - Champ

    Just as President McCord asked, a crowd of people approached them. It was fairly visible that those dozens of people have strong physiques. It seemed that they were a group of fighters from the United States gathered in this ce. Among them were some faces he seemed to recognize. The secret service troops immediately obstructed them, but an old man who seemed to be their leader stepped forward and greeted:


    "Good evening, did I hear right that the esteemed madam president is here?"


    President McCord looked at this man in front of her, an ordinary old man she didn''t know. But then she noticed the figure of five burly men with an average height of 2 meters standing behind this old man. At first nce, she felt that some of these five men were familiar.


    "Yes, I''m President McCord."


    "Madam President, pleased to meet you. I''m Edy Grog, and these are my five sons, the Grog brothers.".


    Hearing the name Grog, Elizabeth immediately recognized them. It wasn''t only her who did, because countless other Americans recognized these five siblings.


    The five Grog brothers aged 25 to 32 were extremely well-known to be a family of very sessful sportsmen.


    Gordie, the eldest of the five, yed in Major League Baseball. Meanwhile, his four younger siblings, Dan, Chris, Rob, and Glen, yed in the National Football League. Their family produced a total of 7 champion rings during their career. The Grog brothers always strived hard to be the best.


    Some people even said that having four children of the family sessfully admitted to the professional NFL was more difficult than winning a lottery twice consecutively.


    Now, it could be seen that the five brothers all made it through the gue, which was even greater luck. Because of this, James began to have the thought that there was a gic secret to fight against the apocalypse''s gue.


    James was immediately interested in checking their abilities through the bracelet he had on his wrist.


    [Gordie Grog]


    [Male - 32 years old]


    [Earth Realm level 7 - Initial stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Fire]


    [Spirit Talent - Level C]


    [Dan Grog]


    [Male - 30 years old]


    [Earth Realm level 6 - Initial stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Earth]


    [Spirit Talent - Level C]


    [Chris Grog]


    [Male - 29 years old]


    [Earth Realm level 6 - Initial stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Earth]


    [Spirit Talent - Level C]


    [Rob Grog]


    [Male - 27 years old]


    [Earth Realm level 8 - Initial stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Earth]


    [Spirit Talent - Level B]


    [Glen Grog]


    [Male - 25 years old]


    [Earth Realm level 6 - Initial stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Wind]


    [Spirit Talent - Level C]


    Five brothers with all of the five being spirit enhancers. A very special family indeed, these five siblings had the bodies of bodybuilders and like everyone else, they had also experienced numerous post-apocalypse challenges and obstacles. They were also part of the group of residents who took this floor of the Doomsday Pir. In particr, James paid attention to the fourth child of the five siblings. Rob Grog seemed to have the best spiritual talent among the family. And this was implied by his professional match record by reaching the Super Bowl champion three times, being selected five times into the Pro Bowl, being selected four times into the First-Team All-Pro, and also being selected into the NFL All-Decade Team.


    President McCord immediately realized that this man named Edy and his family needed special attention.


    "Is there anything I can assist you with, Mr. Edy?" Elizabeth inquired.


    "Madam President, my apologies, but... is it true that this Doomsday Pir is off-limit for American civilians like us?"


    "My apologies, Mr. Edy, I''ve just arrived at this ce and haven''t given any orders, but I''m sure that if there is a restriction prepared by the army here, of course, it''s all for themon good."


    Hearing the answer that President McCord gave him, this man seemed to be dissatisfied.


    "Madam President, the world has now changed. We''re all in the same, difficult situation. I ask that the United States government not cover-up information, as well as not monopolize this pir."


    "Please rest assured. We have never and will not cover-up information about our safety together. We are in this together."


    "Pardon me for saying this, Madam President, but for the past two weeks that we went together floor by floor, so many of us have fallen victim... and we saw that your soldiers seem to have more information than we do."


    President McCord then realized that the misunderstanding urred because the first special team that came along was with James, who had more information from Alex.


    "From the very beginning of our arrival, your soldiers have always prevented us from climbing the stairs to the next floor and we found out why. Your soldiers are trying to take advantage of the floor for yourselves and don''t want to share even the slightest with us."


    President McCord was starting to get confused and didn''t understand what the old man was saying.


    Zee exined to the president that there was actually a benefit that could be obtained from killing the monsters on each floor. They realized that with every monster that they killed and every floor that they walked through, they could slowly increase their realm level even without consuming any spirit stones. And with the limited number of monsters on each floor, it was no wonder that they assumed that the government soldiers were trying to take the benefit alone.


    "Mr. Grog. I assure you, while this Doomsday Pir is very mysterious and there are countless things that even I am not aware of, be at ease. Now that I''m here, I hope that there will be no mimunication between us."


    "I agree, Madam President. I''d like to hear it directly from you. Can we continue to climb the next floor of this pir?"


    The president thought about it for a while before answering:


    "Sorry, no!"


    "!!"


    A number of residents who came with the Grog family began to riot, indicating their displeasure.


    "Madam President, I''d like to remind you of our rights! Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness! Right now, we only ask for our right to live. Our freedom to protect ourselves... we believe that the answer to our safety lies within this pir. "


    "That is so, Mr. Grog, and it is your duty as citizens to listen to the authority appointed by the constitution... Currently, I am not prohibiting, I only ask for the sake of our safety. Let the government and citizens cooperate in this matter."


    "Madam President, we don''t need your sweet talk. Give us something concrete."


    "All right! Tomorrow, we will enter the 11th floor together. I will personally apany you."


    The president''s words gave mixed reactions. Some of the people in front of her felt that they could trust President McCord, while some othersughed at her recklessness for not knowing the dangers of the floor. Meanwhile, the soldiers, especially Richard and the secret service, were worried about Elizabeth''s safety. James personally found this president of the United States very interesting.


    After listening to the president''s words, the father decided to see the course of tomorrow''s challenge first. He and the other residents began to disperse and return to their respective ces.


    James walked over to Elizabeth and asked, "You realize that the main reason they protest is because of their greed, right?"


    "Yes, I know."


    "But the way you handled it was very inspiring. You are indeed a great secretary of the state, a great diplomat."


    Elizabeth looked at James, feeling slightly irritated.


    "It seems that I can''t see through people as well as I thought... Right now, I don''t know whether you''re praising me or insinuating me, Mr. James"


    "Of course I was praising you..." James told with a suspicious wide smile.


    President Elizabeth continued, "How should I expect us to be ready for tomorrow''s fight...?"


    "I hope that all the new troops wille, and, of course, all of you members of the secret service. Especially you, Richard, please immediately use the training room. Upgrade your realm and immediately choose your weapons and start learning a new skill or two. If you have extra spirit stones, use them immediately. We hope that no one will fall victim tomorrow."


    James asked Zee, "What about Winter? Is he ready for tomorrow?"


    "Don''t worry, he''s definitely ready. He won''t be left behind."


    President Elizabeth then realized a question that had been stuck in her head until now...


    "What are we going to fight on this floor tomorrow?"


    James answered, "For yesterday''s first 10 floors, we should be going against goblins and hobgoblins, while for the 11th floor, ording to the information, we should be going against orcs."


    "ˇ­" President McCord was stunned hearing those names.


    "Ah, sorry, Madam President. If you''re not familiar with the names, goblins are small humanoids with green bodies, hobgoblins are those that are bigger and stronger than goblins, while orcs..."


    "Yes, James, if you''re trying to ask if I have ever watched Hollywood films, I most definitely have."


    The question that was in her head was why fantasy creatures that had only existed in fairy tales and old stories on Earth woulde true in this pir.

 Chapter 221 - 11th Floor

    11th floor


    D''Day 131


    "That''s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." This was what American astronaut Neil Armstrong said on July 20, 1969 when he set foot on the moon. At this moment, Elizabeth McCord would be setting foot on the 11th floor of th3 Doomsday Pir. Although it wasn''t as far as going to the moon, the mystery and the awe of this step felt simr.


    This noon, nearly 400 people had gathered together. More than 200 people were fighters who came with the Grogs. It could be seen that the Grog brothers were fully equipped with the Tier 1 equipment they have. The other 100+ people were specially-selected United States soldiers. Almost all of them had special weapons such as machine guns and the new X16 guns. In addition, there were 50 people from thebined Delta and Navy SEAL Special Forces team, as well as the government''s special forces, which were ready to escort President McCord.


    Among all those that were gathered there, the most reliable fighter among them was of course Nathaniel, who had tier 3 weapons and A-level spirit talent.. And another was a bald man with a very sturdy build named Winter, or moremonly known as LT.


    [Winter]


    [Male - 39 years old]


    [Earth Realm level 8 - Initial stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Earth]


    [Spirit Talent - Level B]


    Winter himself had three members who had long been part of his team since being a Delta member and they followed him together to be bodyguards of the Randal family.


    [Zee]


    [Male - 36 years old]


    [Earth Realm level 7 - Initial stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Earth]


    [Spirit Talent - Level C]


    [Red]


    [Male - 33 years old]


    [Earth Realm level 7 - Initial stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Earth]


    [Spirit Talent - Level D]


    [Flea]


    [Male - 34 years old]


    [Earth Realm level 7 - Initial stage]


    [Spirit Energy - water]


    [Spirit Talent - Level D]


    Zee was an African American who was also his right-hand man. Red was the handsome guy with a tomahawk haircut, and Flea was their best sharpshooter.


    It turned out that Winter''s spiritual talent was still below Nathanael''s talent, and was not much different from the fourth child of the Grog family. However, in this ce, Winter was the most respected one. It seemed that Winter''s actions and strength was clearly evident from the battles on thest 10 floors.


    Even in this battle, even though President McCord was the president, she didn''t know anything aboutpleting the floor challenge. She left it entirely to Winter.


    All the members who participated in the battle this time had reached the Earth Realm level. In the past few days, they had been honing their abilities. Especially the soldiers, who only felt new power after upgrading their realm. They were all full of confidence.


    But James thought differently. Alex specifically gave a warning regarding the 11th floor. He thought that floor one to ten would be easy enough for those who had reached the Earth Realm. However, goblins and orcs were two different creatures. James went back to approaching the president.


    "Elizabeth, even though your bodyguard has stepped into the next himself, you better not be too far from me. The safest ce you can be in is beside me... hmm... I mean my stone golem."


    Elizabeth was quite happy to have James''s attention. The joke was meant to calm herself down so that she wouldn''t be worried. But Elizabeth had decided to feel the risk on her own and challenge this pir. She didn''t want to continue to wish for the protection of others.


    To ess the gate to the 11th floor, these groups had to pass through all 10 floors. For each floor sessfullypleted, a new staircase will appear. At this moment, the group was busy climbing the stairs to the 11th floor. When they reached the 11th floor, just like the previous floor, they were faced with arge gate and a stone panel in front of it.


    Winter stood at the very front. He then turned around and asked:


    "All right, is everyone ready?"


    [The gate of the 11th floor is ready to be open]


    [Open the gate to the 11th floor?]


    [Yes.]


    The giant gate slowly opened.


    "Okay, those who have never participated before, prepare yourselves in the back row. For the others! It''s our first time fighting the Orcs. Do not be careless. I don''t want anyone to just waste their life... I repeat! Stay in formation! As soon as the situation goes out of control, follow my lead. We will all immediately get out of here if we have to."


    Winter red at Edy Grog, who was in front of the line of citizen fighters. These fighters were used to moving as they pleased. Edy and his children weren''t the type to care about reprimands.


    "On your positions! Everybody forward!"


    400 people entered the nearly 10-meter wide gate. After seeing it, they arrived at a room not much different from the previous hall. The hall they entered was dark enough to render them unable to see the end of it.


    The condition of the room behind the gate made Elizabeth quite startled. Although the Doomsday Pir was quite wide andrge, it was impossible for each floor to be asrge as this room. It seemed that thews of physics generally didn''t apply to this ce.


    All the fighters were now facing a giant dark passage. Suddenly, the carvings on the wall lit up and continued across the room, lighting up the dark hallway.


    THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!


    Screams and chaotic noises could be heard from the end of the hall.


    Winter didn''t let his guard down and immediately returned to arranging their formation.


    The army troops gathered on the left wing were led by Captain Marcus, who had recovered from his wounds and had increased his army strength by entering the Earth Realm.


    On the right wing were the 5 Grog brothers and 200 more fully armedbatants gathered.


    In the middle, the members of thebined Delta and Navy SEAL Special Forces. Among them were Winter, Nathaniel and his team, Zee, Red, and Flea.


    Meanwhile, in the rear position, President Elizabeth was apanied by Richard, members of the secret forces, as well as James and his stone golem.


    The screams and chaotic noises from the end of the hall began to get closer and closer.


    To get rid of his tension, the President McCord asked James, "James, how many orcs are we going to fight?"


    "I don''t knowˇ­" replied James honestly.


    "What about the goblins on the previous floor?"


    "Hundreds... There were nearly a thousand goblins on the 10th floor."


    "How about this time? Try to estimate it... Give me a number."


    "We should be fine as long as the orcs don''t number more than a hundred in each wave."


    James''s answer brought Elizabeth back to her senses.


    Thump thump thump!


    Not long after that, the awaited creatures arrived. A group of green-skinned creatures with heights of around 2.5 meters, strong bodies, and sharp teeth appeared. These orcs wore simple armor and brought machetes orrge clubs in their hands.


    Those who came at this time numbered at 20 orcs. This was a war party. Seeing the small number of orcs approaching, Elizabeth felt relieved. But the 20 orcs looking at the 400 opponents in front of them didn''t seem worried at all. They even seemed to be getting more excited and started screaming.


    GRAAHHHHH!! GRAAHHHHH!!


    Standing at the front of the orc wave wearing full body armor was an orc who seemed to be the head of this group. A pack leader.


    GRAAHHHHH!!


    The fully-armored orc ran first. Dozens of others followed suit and attacked not far from him. They split apart to attack the formation. Each of them lusted to kill as many from the crowd of preys in front of them as possible.


    "Shoot!!" eximed Winter.


    All the fighters that were carrying long-range weapons immediately opened fire their M16 rifles. Therge-caliber X16 rifles and theser rifles were fired at the same time.


    Tratatatatatat tratatatatatat bbbbzzzzt bbbbzzzzttˇŞ


    From a distance of less than 200 meters, the Earth Realm fighters could see that the shotspletely hit 20 targets on average. In the previous floor battles, 50-cal bullets were able to kill the goblins, but for the orcs, both the M16 and X16 machine guns were incapable of doing it. Only aser shot was capable of creating holes and wounds in their bodies. But even those couldn''t stop them. Orcs were beasts with great pride. Even though they were injured, they still got up continuously and continued to break through the attack.


    GRAAHHHHH!!


    "Shit!" eximed James.


    President Elizabeth promptly reacted.


    "James, what''s the matter!"


    "This is terrible, they''re stronger than I thought. I have to rectify, not 100 orcs. If we can fight these 20 orcs without casualties, that would already be very good."


    None of the 20 advancing orcs were stopped by the gunfires. They were forced to go melee.


    Nathanael, Winter, and the other fighters raised their weapons, ready to battle. Winter had specially prepared a technique that he had just mastered.

 Chapter 222 - War Party

    nk!! nk!!


    Those green-skinned creatures with twice the size of an ordinary human''s body began to frenziedly attack as though they were hungry animals going berserk at the sight of prey.


    Even the five Grog siblings, who hadrge builds, looked no different than little children when they werepared to the orcs. But with their Tier 1 shields and weapons as well as their physical levels, which were quite high, they were adequately confident to fight one-on-one.


    nk! nk!


    These five siblings had spent thest two weeks training their weapon martial arts. The eldest brother, who was a professional baseball yer, chose a club weapon, while his four younger brothers all chose machetes as their weapons of choice. It was because machetes were weapons that were very effective to kill monsters.


    GRRRAAAH!!


    A fierce five-to-five battle happened on the left side of their formation. Even so, in less than two minutes, the five Grog brothers began to lose their confidence one by one, just like they did before..


    Every swing to attack, every hit, and every kick from each and every one of these orcs felt so hard. The orcs were much stronger than they expected. This fact was proven directly with their attacks, and this was pressuring them.


    The clubs and machetes battled intensely. Unfortunately, every one of those attacks made their arms tremble and their fingers ache tremendously.


    "What kind of monsters are they!"


    "How are their attacks so fierce!"


    It was unexpected how every orc they were fighting against was not much weaker than the hobgoblin that they previously fought on the previous floor, which caused tremendous casualties.


    Aaaarghhhh!!


    Rob pushed back the orc he was fighting against with the pushing force of his body.


    "Damn! How are the others!!"


    On the left side of the formation, apart from the five orcs, the Grog brothers were fighting against, there were two other orcs that managed to prate their formation. At this moment, the two orcs were surrounded by the tens of other soldiers.


    Because of how limited their physical prowess was, every attack from the orcs made those who had to receive the blow vomit blood because of how lethal it was.If not immediately blocked by other fighters, those with lower physical prowess of around the lower levels of the Earth Realm or even Mortal Realm wouldn''t be able to take it.


    Even being in the same realm with these five Grog brothers wouldn''t be enough to barely be on par with these orcs. If they wanted to be at least almost on par with them, they would have to be in the possession of artifact weapons.


    CLANK!! SCREEECHˇŞ


    On the other side, the right side of the formation, which was led by Captain Marcus, it was even more pathetic. They were just a bunch of soldiers who had just taken a step on the Earth Realm. The majority of them were still at the first level of the Earth Realm. The high-caliber weaponry that they were relying on was useless against them and even enraged these orcs even more.


    Even though only five orcs were attacking the right wing, it was only their first sh and more than a dozen soldiers were already heavily injured. There were some among them who were even dying.


    Captain Marcus felt helpless facing the situation in front of him. One of the iing orcs charged towards him.


    ankk!!


    An extremely heavy machete attack came from above and shed with the Tier 1 ax he obtained.


    Even so, just that one attack was so heavy that Captain Marcus was forced to fall into a kneel...


    Aarghhhh!!


    The orc swung his machete yet again to put an end to his prey''s insignificant life, while Captain Marcus, who was forced to a kneeling position by the orc''s previous attack, could only wait for his demise toe as he couldn''t feel any strength from his limbs.


    Pa!! Pa!!


    Satt!! Rrarrrgh!!


    Captain Marcus saw two objects pierce the body of the orc that was about to end himˇ­


    He looked towards the back and paid attention to the fighter who saved his life. He was one of the fighters from Winter''s group. Winter''s team saved him.


    The soldier was Flea. He was a sharp shooter who was currently fighting with an automatic crossbow.


    The orc became more furious and forcefully pulled the two arrows that pierced its body, pulling them out like it was just pulling out needles that were out of ce.


    Even that Tier 1 automatic crossbow wasn''t nearly enough to kill one orc.


    The orc became even more furious and wanted to entirely finish the prey in front of it. It was already getting itself ready tounch its next attack on Marcus. However, another arrow sliced through the air and shot towards the orc.


    Pa!


    This time, the arrow pierced right at the orc''s right eye and went through its brain. Blood sprayed and the giant monster fell, immediately losing its life.


    "Retreat! Retreat!" Flea shouted with a loud, decisive voice.


    Captain Marcus immediately crawled back in retreat, trying to run away while ordering his soldiers, who were already in turmoil, to slowly retreat.


    Apart from Flea, two other fighters followed suit in assisting the right wing. Zee followed suit with his giant ax, while Red followed suit with his long spear. Both of those weapons were Tier 2 weapons which James had brought from the outside.


    nkk!! Pa!! Crackkk!!


    Zee evaded one of the ax swings and did a spinning move, utilizing the weight of his ax to create a powerful spinning attack.


    SSWISSHHH!! SPLAATT!


    It was one of the axbat skill that Zee had previously learned from the knowledge library when he received the weapon from James yesterday.


    The Tier 2 ax began to show its destructiveness as it was beginning to be utilized correctly. Only by swinging the ax while pivoting its weight correctly, the prowess of this Tier 2 weapon was maximized. The spinning attack was so powerful that it managed to pierce the orc''s stomach quite deeply. And when Zee pulled the ax back, the orc''s blood and stomach matters sttered out. The orc''s lifeless body fell right after.


    Red also followed suit with an incredible spear dance. The piercing move, the sweeping move, and the spinning move made him sessfully hold back and sweep the other three orcs. Red saw one of the three orcs lose its bnce. He saw an opportunity and instantly took out a spear throw attack, throwing the head of his spear in the direction of the orc.


    Satt!


    The spear sessfully pierced through the orc''s neck. Red immediately ran to take back his spear and prepared himself to fight the other orcs in no time.


    Red and Zee''s attacks managed to beat off the monsters that were going after the retreating soldiers.


    From the formation rear, President McCord could clearly see how the situation drastically changed in less than 10 minutes. Only twenty of these orcs could already wreak havoc and cause chaos to this formation of trained soldiers.


    Elizabeth saw that from the left and right side of the formation, over 30 soldiers of the United States already had to be brought out of the gate.


    Even James, who was already mentally prepared to face difficult challenges, was surprised. Even though James himself was the fighter with the highest level there, he was not confident that he could fight one-on-one with those monsters. He was different from these fighters who were currently battling, who were already experienced with countless battles. He noticed that even Zee and Red, who were plenty experienced, could easily die if they were to lower their guard even for a second.


    It seemed that Alex''s warning regarding how the 11th floor would be more difficult than they expected was something that had more meaning than he thought. The 11th floor was not a ce for ordinary fighters to fight in. James estimated that only a fighter with a level of at least level 15 of the Earth Realm would be able to match these orcs'' strength and wildness. If they hadn''t reached that level, they would need to rely on an artifact weapon, fighting experience, or special skills.


    James paid attention and noticed that only the bunch of special forces at the center of the formation fulfilled these criteria.


    Fifty fighters were abination of the Delta Force and Navy SEAL, who already had numerous experiences on the battlefield. They were experts in martial arts even before the apocalypse arrived. After the arrival of the Doomsday Pirs which upgraded their bodies into reaching the Earth Realm, fighting on the 10th floor, and having an artifact weapon, it was obvious that fighters like them would be prepared to fight on the 11th floor.


    However, especially with the presence of fighters like Winter and Nathanael, everything became considerably easier.


    With his speed, Nathanael could face three orcs at once. Every swing of his Tier 3 ax dealt fatal damage to the approaching orcs.


    Sat!!


    [Wind sh]


    A swing of wind attack from the ax could cut an orc''s leg, causing the orc to fall and be immobilized.


    Hiaaaaa!!!


    Stt!!


    Nathanael stabbed his ax to the head of that orc which could no longer stand up.


    Swoossshh swoossshh!!


    The other two orcs'' attacks forced Nathanael to evade, but he was already satisfied that he was able to kill one of them.


    Different from the situation of the left wing, four other orcs were being surrounded by Delta fighters. These elite fighters were able to work together well. Those four orcs were easily cornered and killed as they were surrounded.


    Meanwhile, the leader of the orcs, which was wearing iron armor, was currently fighting one-on-one against Winter.


    This man, who was an ex-member of the Delta Force, now lookedpletely different. The Tier 2 shortsword that James brought for him was on his right hand and a Tier 1 shield was on his left.


    Over ten shes were exchanged, but the winner was still unclear.


    Suddenly, a loud sound of a trumpet could be heard.


    HONKKKKK!!!


    The armored orc promptlyughed out loud with glee. From the direction of the end of the hall, loud sounds of thumping footsteps and shouts were closing in.


    This time, there were two other groups of orcs. A total of 40 orcs were rushing to them.

 Chapter 223 - Warrior Spirit

    This time, two war pack orcs came to join the battle. Added up with the rest of the orcs that previously fought, they now had to fight fifty orcs.


    Richard, President McCord''s bodyguard, was still on guard to protect the president. Standing on the rear of the formation, James could see them wasting theirser guns.


    "Richard, my golem and I will stay here to protect President McCord. It''d be best for you and your soldiers to go forward and shoot."


    "Currently, the battle is 400 against 50, there is absolutely no reason to worry..."


    Hearing this, James felt quite annoyed. He couldn''t believe what he was hearing..


    "Did the secret government not teach their people how to count? Minus those who are injured and the nearly 200 people who don''t have enough strength to fight, there are only about 150 people who can still fight and be counted on. 150 against 50. It''s three against one. This odd isn''t very favorable."


    Richard was annoyed hearing James''s tone, which contained a hint of mockery. Understanding that nothing good would happen if an argument were to ur here, as this could be said to be a battlefield, President McCord told James:


    "James, they were trained to always stand by my side to guard me, they''re only doing what they were trained to do. And you, Richard. You better go forward to help."


    "Sorry, Elizabeth... I''ve gotten too used to bossing people around all the time."


    "James, you better go forward to help as well. I''m sure that your Golem will be very helpful. I will be careful and get closer to the troops that are retreating."


    Edy Grog was included in the group that was retreating. Of the more than a hundred fighters who joined him, only a dozen dared to remain in the front row.


    He slowly approached the president.


    "Madam President... I think it would be better for us to just retreat. These monsters are too strong for us to fend off..."


    President McCord shook her head.


    "I''m currently not the one in charge, so I''m not the one who has the right to give the order, Mr. Grog... The general in front is the one who leads, giving half-hearted orders at this time will only lead to more casualty and defeat, so I''m afraid we can''t do that."


    Edy Grog could only btedly regret his arrogance yesterday and hope that his five sons would be able to survive this gruesome battle.


    The conditions on the front row were currently starting to change at a rate visible to their eyes.The orc leader, who was wearing iron armor, summoned the remaining ten orcs to retreat and group up with the other iing orc reinforcements.


    "Regroup!!!" shouted Winter, rmed.


    Winter started to gather them together in order to fix their formation. It was only the first charge, yet they were already looking quite exhausted.The five Grog brothers, who were previously brimming with confidence, were now clinging and listening attentively to Winter''smands.


    The five grog brothers were on the left side of the formation. Meanwhile, Zee, Red, and Flea went to the right side of the formation.These two groups gathered together to the fifty elite soldiers in the center of the formation.The remaining 100 men stood guard in the second row awaiting opportunities.


    Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!


    The orcs lined up and started shouting their war cries, which boosted their fighting spirit and of course, demoralized their opponents''.


    GRAAAH!


    "This is bad!" Nathanael shouted to Winter in rm.


    Nathanael spent a lot of his energy in the previous battle yet only managed to kill 2 orcs.There was absolutely no way he could fight a dozen of those monsters by himself.


    Winter replied:


    "The first attack wave is the most dangerous. It would end horribly if those green giants decide to charge this way altogether. We need to stop the charge."


    When Winter was in deep contemtion, James, along with five force members of the secret government, carriedser weapons and, of course, his stone golems and approached the group.


    "All right, I think we''ll make it! Let''s do it this way!"


    Everyone present listened to the strategy Winter briefly exined and everyone attentively listened as they once again prepared themselves.


    "Okay, ready!"


    The screams of the orcs grew louder, followed by a sudden rush of all fifty orcs rushing forward their way... the charging orcs which each had an individual weight of at least 300 kilograms made everyone who saw them break out in a cold sweat.


    At the forefront were the stone golems in the center, Nathaniel on the right, and Winter on the left.


    Nathaniel closed his eyes, and suddenly, a gust of wind swirled around his body.


    [Wind walk!]


    Nathanael released a wind spirit skill which could increase his speed. The ax in his right hand also lit up a little, a sign that he was ready to unleash his skill.


    "Ready!" eximed Nathanael with vigor.


    On the left, Winter didn''t want to be left behind the slightest.He released an earth spirit skill that he had just mastered.


    [Stone skin!]


    Every inch of Winter''s body seemed to turn ckish and every part of his muscles hardened.


    This was the skill of the earth spirit that could be learned after mastering the internal energy in the early stages of the earth spirit.


    But Winter''s preparation was not done yet.He still hadn''t taken out his hidden skill. It was the skill that he got from the B rank prize from the initial challenge.


    Winter screamed loudly and energy was emitted from his body.


    [Warrior Spirit]


    [Battle art skill is used.]


    [All physical strength increases for a limited time.]


    [Winter]


    [Male - 39 years old]


    [Earth realm level 18 - Enhance]


    [Spirit Energy - Earth]


    [Spirit Talent - Level B]


    [Warrior Spirit has been activated.]


    James hadn''t seen Winter fight since hepleted the first challenge, so this was the first time he had witnessed a special move that was a reward from the Doomsday Pir.


    "Wow! He went up ten levels!" James eximed in surprise and awe.


    James knew clearly that after level 10, to raise it to level 11 was immensely difficult and expensive.Having a skill that could increase one''s level could be considered cheating.


    With the stone body skill, added with the warrior spirit and his sword and shield martial arts, Winter transformed from a soldier into a war tank.


    The stone golem and these two, and Winter and Nathaniel came forward crashing into the fifty orcs'' attack...


    The two sides were ready to collide.


    BOOM!!!


    The line of giants was halted. At least almost ten orcs got blown off like bowling pins.


    This stone golem owned by James was simr to that of Alex.This was a Tier 2 golem. It had the strength of a peak Earth Realm fighter. Added up with a hard and big body, it was unquestionably stronger than most of the other fighters here.


    Winter was, too, with his stone body skill and the leap in hisbat realmbined. Those made him twice stronger than this golem.Meanwhile, Nathaniel still felt the easiest. A Tier 3 sh. That wind sh was proven to be extremely fatal. Every orc who saw him didn''t dare to take the blow empty-handed.


    After the collision, Nathanael, Winter, and the golem wasted no time and immediately started attacking the divided orcs. Out of a total of fifty orcs, the three of them were able to stop more than half of it.


    The twenty other orcs in the right and left were not affected by the collision. But those two rows of ten orcs each didn''t have one-tenth thebined impact strength of fifty orcs. It could be seen that the strategy given by Winter was sessful.


    The ten orcs on the right faced off against the five Grog brothers and a dozen of their fighters.James and the secret government soldiers joined them.


    On their left were Zee, Red, Flea, and the fifty elite fighters, who could easily take on a dozen other orcs.


    "Immediately finish off these ten savage orcs and immediately help Lieutenant Winter up front!"


    "Yes, Sir!!!"


    Crossbows, spears, and axes artifacts came into action on the left. At a considerable speed, the left troops took control of the battlefield.


    President Elisabeth and the other fighters at the back also cheered at the collision of the golem and the two fighters.


    Not long after, the five Grog brothers once again began to have a hard time. The second eldest fended off the orcs'' continuous attack with the other Tier 1 machete. And suddenly...


    Crack!!!


    The Tier 1 artifact machete was destroyedˇ­ even artifact weapons from the Doomsday Pir had its limitations.


    The second eldest couldn''t evade and received a machete sh, immediately falling.


    "Brother!!" The four siblings screamed simultaneously.


    The other four wanted to help immediately, but they were also struggling.If they were to let their guard down even a little bit, their lives could immediately be lost.


    Sattt!!


    The machete stabbed his body again... but before the orc tried to rip its prey, a knife stabbed its neck.


    St!!


    The orc instantly died. It was an attack from James with his Tier 2 artifact knife.


    James saw the condition of Dan Grog, who fell unconscious and immediately pulled a nearby fighter.


    "Put him into the recovery pod. HURRY!" James ordered that soldier as he began to focus his attention on the approaching orcs.


    BzzzzzzzzzˇŞBzzzzzz


    Theser attack pierced the skin of the orcs who were approaching James.


    "Come on! Don''t give up!!"

 Chapter 224 - Spirit Energy

    The intense battle continued to take ce in the front row. Winter held his sword and shield, while Nathaniel held his special ax in his right hand and his artifact knife in his left.And of course, with the stone golem, which was positioned between the two of them.


    The first crash could only send a few of the orcs down, and those were mostly the ones who crashed at the stone golem. Winter used his shield while Nathaniel used the blow from the sh of his ax with the special skill [Wind sh].


    The main purpose of the attack was not to kill the orcs, but to stop the collision of fifty orcs at once, which would have done great harm to the fighters in the back row.


    However, due to this, now thirty orcs surrounded the three of them.. The orcs that had just fallen were standing up and joining the siege.


    At this moment, Nathaniel, Winter, and the stone golem were standing in the middle with their backs to each other, ready to fight the siege.


    "This is bad..."


    "Don''t worry."


    Winter raised his hand. There, on his finger was the storage ring he got from this pir.


    "Here''s the n..."


    Winter took out several items and showed them to Nathanael.


    "Good n," replied Nathanael.


    The object Winter was holding was a smoke grenade. He took out five pieces and immediately pulled the trigger and threw them.


    The orcs around were immediately on guard to see the object that was thrown by Winter...


    HissˇŞ


    White smoke immediately came out and filled the surrounding area...


    While they were still distracted by the smoke, they suddenly heard Winter shout!


    "Forward!!"


    The three of them split up and attacked every part of the siege.


    The smoke wasn''t enough to blind the orcs.These orcs have a good sense of smell as well as a fairly fast motion reaction. They could adapt easily.


    Even so, the smoke at least helped to make it difficult for them to see the position of their three opponents among the thirty orcs. The smoke made them have a hard time seeing far-away things, so they couldn''t easily gang up on these three warriors.And as expected, the stone golem was able to hit and smash the orcs it attacked one by one with its giant body.


    nk! nk!


    The orcs'' counterattack wasn''t strong enough to bring the golem down. The machetes and clubs had little to no effect against the golem''s stone body.


    Bam!! The golem''s fist violently sent one of the orcs flying.


    However, the dozens of orcs who had just gathered immediately jumped and beat the golem up.


    WhooshˇŞ


    Seeing the numerous orcs surrounding the golem, Nathanaelunched continuous wind shes and immediately cornered 2 orcs and killed one of them.


    The stone golem immediately broke free and returned to throwing the orcs that were still on its back, then stomping on them hard...


    BAM!!!


    The stomp was so hard that the orc could onlyy still, unmoving.


    Some of the orcs changed their targets and began to attack Nathanael.


    But Nathanael returned to using his footsteps and wind steps to swiftly take his position and dodged yet again in the thick smoke.


    On the other hand, Winter, with his warrior spirit stance, has a speed almost equal to Nathanael''s. Not to mention, his immunity and muscles were no less strong than the golem''s.With the stone skin and warrior spirit skills, Winter was not afraid to fight alone against the siege.


    nk! nk!


    Winter parried the orcs'' machete attacks and fought back with his shortsword.


    St!!


    Fortunately, apart from their great strength and ferocity, these orcs don''t have good fighting techniques.This was Winter''s opportunity to sharpen the sword and shield skills he had learned.


    The Doomsday Pir had aprehensive library of knowledge that could easily enter their minds.But memorizing a theory was in no way the same as getting it right.With sufficient training, the art of battle could be perfected.


    [Sword and shield Art]


    He blocked their attacks, countered with stabs, swept away their attacks with his shield, turning and striking with shes, and blocked their hits and stabbed again.


    StˇŞ


    Winter seemed to be verypatible with fighting with his weapons. The sword and shield seemed to be one with him.


    Experienced fighters like him and other elite members had an advantage in mastering skills.They were used to fighting previously, so the skills'' movements drawn on their heads could be used naturally.


    Winter and the stone golem were able to fight quite safely due to their strong armors.Nathanael could only rely on his fast footsteps, and only if he gets cornered would he depend on the attack from that ax.


    Whoosh!


    These orcs in front of him had already felt the prowess of Nathanael''s ax attacks. Finally, the orc leader, which was in armor, stood before him.


    GRAAAAH!!!


    nk!


    The orc in armor positioned itself to fight him.And it seemed that his armor was able to withstand the sharp winds of Nathanael''s ax.


    nk! nk!


    Two more wind sh attacks failed to prate the orcs'' armor.


    But Nathanael did not back down... Instead, he went back and quickly used his ax to attack the orcs'' legs...


    The orc in armor looked very confident with its armor covering its entire body.


    But Nathanael didn''t cut the orc''s legs. Instead, he used his ax to pull one of the orc''s legs.


    "!!!"


    The orc in armor immediately lost its bnce and fell.


    BAMMMMM!!


    Before the orc could even try to stand up, Nathaniel was already standing on top of the orcs'' body... and was ready to use his knife to stab it.


    The two nearby orcs tried to stop Nathaniel''s attack. Even though Nathanael''s attack was fast, he calcted that if he were tounch this stabbing attack now, he would not be able to avoid the attacks of the two orcs that were approaching him.


    However, Nathanael thought the chance to kill this armored orc should not be wasted.Nathanael did not hesitate to stab a hole as he usually would through the orc''s headwear.


    St!!!


    GROARRR!!!


    To confirm the orc''s death, Nathaniel even took the time to rotate the knife after stabbing it. The knife ripped open the head and brain of the orc leader, and the armored orc died instantly.


    Whoosh!


    A giant club flew at him... and Nathaniel could only take the full brunt.


    Bam!!!!


    This very violent attack sent Nathanael crashing down 10 meters away.Fortunately, Nathanael managed to avoid the follow-up attack, nimbly jumping back to his feet.


    Ouch!


    Fresh blood gushed out of his mouth. Without dy, Nathanael checked the status of his protective barrier.


    Energy remaining: 32/100


    Nathanael was quite surprised.With a single hit, the barrier''s protective energy decreased by more than two-thirds of its initial energy amount.No wonder he could feel pain and vomit blood.If Nathanael had not used this barrier, he would have been heavily injured.


    "Are you okay there, Nael?" asked Winter in worry.


    "Yeah, no need to worry."


    Nathanael rose again and used his windwalk energy again to greet the four orcs who were approaching him.


    GROAR!


    Nathanael hoped that with the death of the armored orc, the orcs would give up or at least lower the morale of the other orc warriors. But it seemed that he had thought wrong.


    Nathanael was ready to fight with his spiritual skills and wind ax... he had to be more careful this time.This time, every hit that came from the orcs would break his barrier.Not to mention, Nathanael had already started to feel dizziness in his head.This was a sign that his time to use the spirit skill that he was using was limited.


    Ten minutes passed, and the three of them could only kill eight orcs. And now, the situation had be one-sided.Winter was getting cornered and was beginning to take a few hits. He still seemed to be standing firmly, but he had actually suffered deep wounds. Nathanael had started to lose his strength, not being able to run as fast as he was previously able to. And finally, the golem that was previously strong finally fell after being beaten by more than ten orcs at once for so long...


    In this critical condition, out of nowhere...


    Whoosh! Whoosh!


    Crossbow bolts suddenly attacked the fighting orcs, followed by dozens of elite fighters as well as Zee, Flea, and Red. Their arrival immediately turned things around.Until finally, 30 minutester, all fifty orcs plus ten orcs that died before were finally finished.


    After the battle was over, President McCord saw that one by one, the orcs'' carcasses disappeared into shining drops of dew that floated across the hall. It made them feel as though the previous battle had never actually happened, but their present condition didn''t allow that thought to prevail for long. The injuries inflicted were real, and so were the casualties.


    "Could it be that they were just illusions or hologram projections?" A thought suddenly came to her as she observed those shining drops of dew.


    All of a sudden, President McCord could feel a refreshing feeling flowing throughout her body, which made her feel much stronger. Not only that, but the bracelet on President McCord''s wrist timely gave off a glow and a message.


    [Spirit energy has been absorbed.]


    [Your strength has increased.]


    [Elizabeth McCord]


    [Female - 38 years]


    [Earth realm level 4 - initial stage]


    [Spirit energy - Fire]


    [Spirit Talent - level D]


    "An increase of three levels!!"


    Just by standing still and watching the battle ur in front of her, she was able to get an increase on her earth realm level.

 Chapter 225 - A Letter

    After the battle against the 50 orcs was over, even though there were no casualties, more than twenty fighters were seriously injured while the moderately injured were more than double that figure.


    If they had fought without the Tier 2 artifact weapons and the stone golem James brought, there was absolutely no way that they could win against those fifty orcs without casualties.


    Because too many people were injured and Nathaniel and Winter had used up their spirit energy, all the other three hundred fighters decided to leave the 11th floor and focus on healing themselves first.


    President McCord saw this decision as a very wise one.


    "Does this mean we''ve finished the 11th floor?"asked President McCord.


    Winter heard the president''s question and answered:


    "No, this floor isn''t finished yetˇ­ When this floor is finished, a new gate leading to the hall of the next floor should appear. My estimation is that we have to defeat 3-4 more times the number of orcs from the previous battle to clear this floor."


    President McCord envisioned 3-4 times the previous number of orcs.. There was already no way that they would be able to fight them in their initial state, much less in their current condition...


    After they got to the bottom floor, James tried to ask the fighters and soldiers questions and estimate the amount of energy they acquired from defeating the sixty orcs earlier.


    The results were quite encouraging. Of the more than a hundred soldiers brought by Captain Marcus, on average, they got an increase of 2 to 3 levels.Whereas the previous veteran fighter who had reached level 4 to 6 only got a 1-level increase and fighters at the top level like James did not get a level increase.


    After that, President McCord held a discussion with elite fighters, which included Winter Nathanael.He also invited Edy Grog and the five Grog brothers to the discussion.


    The conclusion they reached was:


    First of all, the quality of the fighters was more important than the quantity of the fighters. In the previous battles, almost more than half of the fighters present couldn''t contribute anything. Meanwhile, the pir only had a hundred recovery pods. So it would be very dangerous if the victims exceeded more than a hundred people. They agreed that the best number to continue would be from a hundred to two hundred fighters at maximum, as they couldn''t afford to have too many people injured at the same time. With this, they would be able to swap positions and be backup support when they needed to.


    Second. Their levels were a problem. They decided not to allow fighters under level 5 to join the fight, unless the fighter had an artifact or had mastered one of the elemental spirit skills.


    Of the four hundred people who fought earlier, Nathaniel was the only one who had A-rank talent. For B-ranks, there were only seven people. As for the rest, the number of people of C-rank and D-rankbined did not reach fifty people. They probably need to find more spirit talented people if they need to advance the pirs


    Third, the artifacts. President McCord saw for herself the difference between the fighters who used a Tier 2 artifact and those who did not. The artifacts that could be found from the secret locations that this pir pointed to were the Tier 2 artifacts. The strength of these artifacts would determine the sess of passing the next floor.


    President McCord took everything she had noticed in the past day seriously. She herself had been trying to increase her realm to enter the Earth Realm.Currently, President McCord felt as though she had a physique that exceeded that of an athlete.


    This Doomsday Pir was truly something miraculous. The president was lost in thought... she was imagining all the pirs that were now scattered in America, and a feeling of worry began to linger in her mind. She then decided to end the meeting and told everyone to go back.


    Everyone, except James.


    "Is there anything I can help you with, Madam President?"


    "James, I thought I''ve told you previously. Please call me Elizabeth."


    "Okay, is something bothering your mind?"


    The president''s expression turned serious. She looked at James with a careful look and said:


    "Mr. Randall... what else will we find on the higher floors of that pir?"


    James then told her about the stage above the Earth Realm. When they cross the 30th floor, they would be faced with a new challenge, and if they seed, the second hall facility would open. There, they would be able to gain ess to higher-tier artifacts and knowledge.


    "I thought so!" eximed the president with a sigh.


    President McCord was a former member of the CIA, agents who focus on seeking intellectual information.Her previous position as a secretary of state was also tasked with forming international rtions and predicting the direction of foreign threats.


    The sigh of the president showed that she was worried about something new.


    "How can I help you, Elizabeth?" asked James.


    "James, I think this apocalypse''s gue is the scariest thing that has ever happened to our world. And my job as president is to rebuildˇ­ butˇ­ this Doomsday Pir will be the next disaster for us."


    "Disaster?"asked James. He wanted to know what President McCord''s view on this was.


    "Yes, James. I believe that our world will soon be dominated by those who have high fighting talents or those who manage to own a lot of artifacts and spirit stones... like the Grog family... To be greedy for power and wealth is a part of human nature that cannot be stopped. I worry about the future of our world."


    When President McCord said this, she realized that, from the reaction on James''s face, James didn''t seem surprised at all...


    "James, could it be that you already know about this?"


    James Randall answered, "It wasn''t me, but my friend Alex said it. He told me about this even before this pir came down to Earth."


    "Haha... maybe this friend of yours really came from the future..."


    "He really did, Elizabeth. I believe it..."


    Elizabeth was silent and couldn''t answer him.The urrence of peopleing from the future was as strange as those orcs and goblins that only existed in fantasy stories. Elizabeth pondered for a moment before asking, "James... your friend... does he have a message for me?"


    James smiled then took out a letter.


    "Actually, Alex has long prepared a message for you. But he asked me to observe and decide whether you''re worthy of receiving this letter."


    "Worthyˇ­ why? The requirements areˇ­?" She couldn''t quite understand why she had to have which of her worth had to be proven in order to receive a letter.


    "My trust and your care toward other human beings," replied James.


    President McCord epted and began reading it. The letter Alex wrote contained America''s condition in Alex''s previous life. In the previous world, there was no president named Elizabeth McCord. Alex estimated that even if Elizabeth survived the initial chaos in the world of his previous life, Elizabeth McCord likely did not seed in doing anything, because her name was not known at all.


    Next, Alex wrote that the power of the government of the United States did notst more than six months since the pir came. The states established their own power after tasting the miracle from the pirs, and the war for spirit stones and artifacts ruined them. When the first moment of tribtion fell a yearter, countless Americans fell because they could not be united.


    The president could feel that what Alex wrote was very likely to happen. The American security guards could notpare to the fighters who entered this pir. At this time, a rebellion would easily ur at the slightest catalyst, and the public safety would be in danger.


    How this letter was made before the pir even came and by a foreigner in a foreign country really affected her mind.


    In another part of the letter, the location of artifacts which was very important to be found immediately, as well as the names of people who had great talent and became figures from the Americas was mentioned.


    Alex added that he hoped that humanity would be able to unite.


    After reading the letter, it seemed that the president''s worries began to subside.


    "Thank you, James, for believing in me and giving this letter to me..."


    James then asked, "So what are you nning to do now, Elizabeth?"


    "I assure you, this letter won''t be in vain in the slightest, James."


    President McCord nned to divert all of the 30,000 troops avable to secure the pir location and, of course, search for those with their names in the letter and the artifacts in the letter.


    "Good."


    Suddenly, the president thought of someone.


    "James I just noticed, I did not seem to have seen Kenny at all in this camp...? I thought that the CIA member that I sent to Bali would already be here by now..."


    "Ah, Kenny... actually..."


    James suddenly looked awkward and felt a little worried to say it.


    "Actually, Alex gave him a special mission. He is currently with Admiral Gerald. They are heading to the north of America, to ska..."


    "skaˇ­?"


    President McCord didn''t know what to say.She didn''t know whether she should feel happy because Alex was preparing something that would be able to help her or feel angry because the high-ranking admiral and her carrier ship were carrying out a mission that was not part of her order.


    James could only smile. Luckily, Alex''s letter was already in the hands of the president... otherwise, more problems would most likely ur.


    -------


    End of the America Chapters.

 Chapter 226 - The Holy City

    Rome, Vatican City.


    Right now, in front of Saint Peter''s Basilica, thousands of people were praying. It had been over a hundred days since the great pope died and it had been too long since they had entered the Sede Vacante period, which was the time where the seat of leadership was empty.


    Today, among those people who were faithfully praying, there was another leader who could unite their church, which had been very much riveted by the apocalypse.


    "Look, there''s white smokeing out of the chimney!"


    The urrence of white smokeing out of Saint Peter''s Basilica building signified that a new Pope had been chosen. The crowd of thousands in Saint Peter''s square screamed with joy and relief. The pope''s balcony door opened and a cardinal in white and red came out, introducing the newly-chosen pope.


    "Habemus papam!" (We have a pope!)


    The crowds cheered once again. No words could describe the glee and relief that they all were feeling at that moment..


    "Cardinal Strauss."


    Cardinal Strauss had been Preferiti for a dozen years. He was the pope''s favorite cardinal, so even though the apocalypse made it so that this election wouldn''t be able to reach the quorum as they usually would, every Roman here felt absolutely no opposition in epting this decision, especially with how much a symbol of hope was needed to face the apocalypse.


    Cardinal Strauss raised his hand and spoke openly.


    "Brothers and sisters! Buona sera!" (Good afternoon!)


    When this bishop of Rome spoke and began to preach, thousands of the residents of Rome and guests from various countries shed tears, weeping. They felt that their prayers would soon be fulfilled and that their suffering in this apocalypse would soon end.


    After the appointment ceremony was over, Cardinal Strauss invited dozens of guests for a simple meal.


    Among the guests were President Giorgio from Greece, Ambassador Alvaro from Spain, Roman Mayor Regina, and a middle-age man who was an ambassador of Germany.


    This mysterious middle age could sit at the table with the president and the pope, but no one questioned his position. Dozens of bodyguards from the representatives of each country, as well as Swiss guards, guarded the room.


    Not long after, the door to the room opened.


    "Your Holiness, the ambassador of France is here."


    Cardinal Strauss just smiled and said, "Of course... please let him in."


    Five people entered the room. They were all in uniforms. The man at the front was a very well-known figure from France.


    "Your Holiness, allow me to introduce myself. I am Louis."


    "Yes. Marshall Louis, please...e join us," weed the pope with a smile.


    It could be clearly seen that the four men behind him were from the military, as their discipline was apparent. Some could tell that the four standing behind him were definitely veteran soldiers and great fighters. And it was true. They were members of the most famous special forces in the world, the French Foreign Legion.


    When they entered, even though the bishop greeted them kindly, it seemed that the atmosphere of the room changed rather quickly.


    Marshal Louis didn''t sit down right away. He walked over to a guard standing on the wall and paid attention to a Swiss guard.


    "I don''t understand... what''s the use of these people... is it as decorations to beautify the room?"


    Marshal Louis scoffed at the Swiss guards for wearing such unique uniforms.


    For hundreds of years, these special guards of the pope had always dressed in unique clothes. Dressed in blue, red, orange, and yellow with a distinctive appearance of the renaissance, they were always standing straight holding traditional halberds and modern firearm weapons.


    The arrogant behavior of the marshal, this high-ranking French army officer, puzzled everyone. But Cardinal Strauss still looked calm and was even smiling.


    The marshal then walked over to the table. He gave a bow of respect, but everyone could clearly see from his smile that he held no respect for the person sitting at this table.


    "Your Holiness... congrattions on the sessful election process."


    "Thank you, Marshal."


    "Your Holiness, the world is entering the apocalypse, cities are burning and being abandoned. I''m happy that the holy city is still able to create such a morous event. Now that the vicar of Christ has been chosen, it''s time for you to assist in uniting the Christian kingdom.. "


    "Marshal, I am just a servant of God... Everything is part of God''s n."


    Marshal Louis smiled wider and finally sat down in one of the chairs at the table. The four bodyguards remained standing behind him.


    "Please, Cardinal Strauss... we don''t need to y this gameˇ­ why do you think is it that we all allowed you to take the position of the pope?"


    A man dressed in armor simr to the members of the Swiss guards behind the bishop was seen taking a step forward, clearly feeling that the words of the ambassador of France were uneptable. But the cardinal raised his hand and made him stop.


    "Seth... don''t be rude to our guests," said the pope.


    "Forgive me."


    Cardinal Strauss continued.


    "Please Marshal, continue... what can we do to help you?"


    "I''m sure that now as the pope, you already know the deepest secrets of Christianityˇ­" Marshal Louis began speaking. He then got back up and told:


    "I want you to give us the Holy Grail.!"


    "!!!"


    Several people in this room were shocked to hear that name.


    The Holy Grail had been an object of mystery and fascination for centuries. It was the cup Jesus drank from at the Last Supper. Not only that, it was said to have been used to collect Jesus''s blood at his crucifixion.


    Cardinal Strauss still calmly answered, "Dear marshall, the Holy Grail is Christianity''s most sacred relic. But I''m afraid that it has been lost for centuries now..."


    "Huh..! Cardinal, you''re not supposed to lie in front of your flocks. I know for a fact that you''ve been keeping it for ages deep in the Vatican Archives'' vault. We had never really cared for such relics until the Doomsday Pirs arrived, and I''m very sure that the grail is a very high-tier artifactˇ­"


    Everyone at the table was silent. They were waiting to see what the pope would do. Someone at the table stood up and shouted. He was Alvaro, the ambassador of Spain.


    "Mr. Ambassador, you are being impolite to His Holiness. I suggest that you leave the room, else..."


    Marshal Louis red back, his eyes seemingly containing a hint of mockery. "Else whatˇ­?"


    "Don''t me my insolence."


    Ambassador Alvaro raised his hands to the people behind him.


    "Grab him! Drag him out!"


    From the back of the room, eight of the ambassador''s protective bodyguards moved forward trying to grab them, but...


    One of the four bodyguards of the French ambassador in front of him raised his hand, and from the ring on his finger came out a gun...


    BANG!! BANG!! BANG!! BANG!!


    Blood was sttered... the Spanish bodyguards did not budge. His hand movements and shooting speed were too fast... In an instant, all eight bodyguards died.


    "You!!" Shouted the ambassador of Spain.


    "Calm down, Mr. Alvaro... of course I won''t kill youˇ­ I''m not a bad person, after all. Won''t you agree?" He asked in a rhetoric tone.


    "As for the others, I hope that you all won''t act carelessly! These four bodyguards of mine have been in and out of the Doomsday Pir in thest one month. Each of them has reached Earth Realm level 12 and above."


    Some of the guests sitting at the table were even more shocked.


    "What madness is this!!" The ambassador of Spain shouted in question, his eyes bloodshot.


    Hearing the gunfire, all of the Swiss guards tasked to protect the pope were immediately on guard. Even so, no trace of worry or the like could be seen on the marshall''s face. It seemed that he was fully confident of his four bodyguards.


    "Hahaha, what can you do with those old spears of yours?"


    THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!


    The door to the room opened and over thirty elite Roman soldiers entered the room holding firearms.


    In general, the guarding of the pope was only carried out by the Swiss guards. But the sound of gunfire called in the Roman police soldiers who were standing on guard outside.


    "Don''t move!" Shouted the Roman police inspector.


    Some of the invited guests looked calmer in the presence of the Roman troops. In their minds, this lunatic from France would surely be arrested.


    The mayor of Rome, who was sitting at the table, stood up as well. He walked over to the French ambassador and faced the bishop...


    "Your Holiness, my apologiesˇ­ this is for the best."


    "!!!"


    The entire police force that entered fully armed, pointed their weapons not at the French bodyguards, but at the Swiss guards around the room.


    Marshal Louis smiled broadly yet again, his eyes looking at them as though he was looking down at mere ants that were struggling.


    "Your Holiness, don''t worry, we only n to borrow it... The artifact is useless stored underground anyway, so we might as well use it for the greater good, no?" His words would have been at least a bit convincing if he didn''t have that arrogant smile on his face.


    The pope seemed to still remain calm even in this condition. Next to him, the president of Greece and the mysterious man from Germany also didn''t look worried, as though nothing was actually threatening them.


    "Okay, I''ll escort you into the Vatican vault," answered the pope in the end.

 Chapter 227 - The Vault

    The Vatican Secret Archives were located in Vatican City. These archives were under the ownership of the serving pope until death or resignation. The Vatican Secret Archives mainly contained the state papers, correspondence, papal ount books, plus many other documents which had been umted by the church over the centuries. That was the information that was exposed to the public. There were even some public tours set up to see the vault. But there was actually another hidden vault, which held some of the world''s most priceless treasures.


    Dozens of people walked toward the building where the vaults were located. Those people were the pope, the president of Greece, the mayor of Rome, the ambassador of Spain, as well as the unknown ambassador of German. All of them were being escorted by the ambassador of France, Marshal Louis, and his four bodyguards and the Roman police forces.


    As they walked into the archives building, the pope leisurely talked with the mysterious German ambassador. This man was not much younger than the pope, but he seemed to be brimming with energy.


    "I am so d I decided toe today.... I never thought that I would be able to see the famous vault."


    "You probably know more about this vault than I do... Sir Heinrich."


    The conversation between these two elder figures felt off to those who heard it. They didn''t know why, but they had an uncanny feeling about it.


    The party finally arrived at the building where the Vatican Archives was located. ess to the vault was in the form of a special elevator to the basement.


    All the guards, including the Swiss guards and Roman soldiers, waited outside the building. Apart from the personal bodyguard of the pope, only the four special bodyguards of the French ambassador apanied them to enter the vault. Marshal Louis was extremely confident in the abilities of his four bodyguards. This was because they were not only members of the French Foreign Legion special forces, but all of them had reached above level 10 of the Earth Realm.


    Seth, the pope''s bodyguard, used a special lock on the elevator panel and turned a hidden additional floor open.


    "A hidden floor... the Vatican sure is confident, to keep the real vault right under the fake one," eximed Marshal Louis.


    The pope simply answered, "There are no treasures that are fake here, Mr. Ambassador. Every item here is a priceless treasure that is part of the world''s history."


    "Yes, yes, Cardinal... I''m only interested in seeing the valuable treasures... gold, gemsˇ­ The shinier the better, of course."


    Hearing this, the mayor of Rome, who took part in this matter, could no longer remain silent and reminded, "Marshall Louis. Just because we are willing to help you does not mean that you can disrespect the Holy Father..." He then apologized to the pope.


    "It''s... all right... I''m fine, my child."


    Soon after, the group arrived at arge hall. In contrast to the archive room on the top floor, which was shaped like a library bookshelf, this hall looked more like a museum. The right and left of the hallway were filled with disy cases of extremely valuable artifacts, from letters or important documents to equipment that were part of important human history.


    They continued to walk forward until they finally reached the room that was filled with priceless artifacts. Around them, on their right and left were valuable artifacts. Seeing this, all eyes were shocked. Marshal Louis''s expression became hysterical.


    "Jackpot! This is much more amazing than I imagined!" His smile made it seem as though he had gotten control of the world.


    Marshal Louis used the bracelet he got from the pir to examine the equipment stored in the ss cases.


    [Round Shield]


    [Shield - Tier 2]


    [One-handed shield, weighs 12 kilograms]


    [Special effect - Extra resistance]


    [Light Armor - Tier 2]


    [A set of body armor, weighs 13.5 kilograms]


    [Set item - Extra damage resistance]


    [Crescent Sword - tier 2]


    [90 centimeters long, 13 centimeters wide, weighs 12.5 kilograms]


    [Special effects - Extra sharpness]


    [Leather Coat - Tier 2]


    [Body armor, weighs 2.5 kilograms]


    [Special effect - Fire-resistant]


    As far as the eye could see, more than a hundred artifacts were emzoned in this ce. At least one of the two artifacts was a Tier 1 artifact while there were nearly twenty Tier 2 items. Currently, the Doomsday Pirs only granted ess to Tier 1 artifact equipment. For the marshal, the artifacts that were gathered in this ce were more than enough to face the challenges of the apocalypse,


    "HAHAHA... the Vatican Vault! It truly doesn''t disappoint," eximed Marshal Louis. The others were just as amazed as he was. They had never seen so many artifact items.


    The German ambassador alsomented, "Good. Good... Very good."


    "Sir Henry, you shouldn''t tease with this old man too much..."


    The pope continued to walk forward indifferently to the following hallway.


    This time, the items disyed looked even more magnificent. Not only that, but there were four special artifacts stored here.


    This time, looking at the artifacts in this room, the marshal''s hand trembled. He used the bracelet in his hand to double-check everything. He was in disbelief. Each artifact had a description of it disyed in front of the ss case. But of course, the Marshal wanted to know the exact information from the bracelet on his hand.


    The first artifact he saw was a bow that was almost as tall as an adult human. The inscription on the disy case was - Bow of Att the Hun.


    [Bow of the Wind''s Eye]


    [Bow - Tier 3]


    [150 centimeters long, weighs 14 kilograms]


    [Special effect - Extra shooting range]


    [Special skill - True Sight: The user will be able to see far away and control the arrows released by the bow.]


    A bow that once belonged to an archer and fighter named Att. Att, frequently called Att the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in March 453. More than a millennia after his death, Att''s name remained known and was often associated with brutality. During his reign, he was one of the most feared enemies of the Western and Eastern Roman Empires.


    The next artifact was a pair of spears and a shield with the inscription - Sparta.


    [Lightning Javelin Spear]


    [Spear - Tier 3]


    [190 centimeters long, weighs 8 kilograms]


    [Special effects - Sharp and light]


    [Special skill - Piercing Rain: A torrent-like lightning strike.]


    [Sun Shield]


    [Shield - Tier 3]


    [Diameter 120 centimeters, weighs 18 kilograms]


    [Special effect - Extra durability and lightness]


    [Special skill - sh Attack: A beam attack capable of blinding an opponent.]


    The Spartan Army was a military force in the city-state of Sparta, which was one of the strongest city-states in ancient Greece. This army was one of the core civilizations of the Spartan state. The main goal of each of its inhabitants was to be a strong warrior. The legend of Sparta was extremely well-known as the strongest fighter of his time, even until modern times.


    Seeing the second artifact, the president of Greece seemed a bit sentimental. Sparta was part of the history of his people, after all.


    The third artifact was a horn-shaped trumpet with the inscription - ric of the Visigoths.


    [Horn of Warcry]


    [Instrument- Tier 3]


    [Diameter 60 centimeters, weighs 4 kilograms]


    [Special skill - Warcry: Increases the war strength of all troops The area of effect and the affected number will depend on the power of the wielder.]


    The history of King ric and the Visigoths, the leader who was able to besiege the city of Rome and sacked the city and made off with a huge haul of gold and jewels. Numerous historians marked this event as the beginning of the end for the Roman Empire in the west.


    These three artifacts were Tier 3 artifacts that were far more valuable than all the other artifactsbined.


    "These treasures once belonged to the enemy of Romeˇ­ They are spoils of war. With these treasures, no wonder these people could be a famous historical figure. Now having all three of them together, how awesome is this!" said the marshal.


    However, the fourth artifact in the center of the room remained the center of attention of everyone present.This artifact was in the shape of an ordinary cup. It was not shiny, nor did it look precious, but everyone who saw it could vividly feel a strong aura. Written in front of it was "The Holy Grail".


    Marshal Louis used his bracelet to check yet again.


    [Unknown]


    [Instrument - Tier ???]


    [25 centimeters tall, weighs 5 kilograms]


    [Special effect - Unknown]


    [Special skill - Unknown]


    Even the bracelet from the Doomsday Pir was unable to analyze this artifact in front of themˇ­


    Marshal Louisughed out loud. It seemed that the intel he received was indeed correct, and he did not walk from France to Rome in vain at all. For this artifact that even the bracelet from the Doomsday Pir was unable to analyze, it was much more than simply worth it. He would still go for it even if it were on the other side of the world.

 Chapter 228 - The Holy Grail

    "That really is the Holy Grail!!"


    "Even this bracelet can''t identify itˇ­ It must be a high-level artifact. Could it possibly be higher than Tier 3? ...Hahahahˇ­ Jackpot! Jackpot!"


    The Holy Grail, which was the most sacred treasure of the Christians, actually looked just like an ordinary y cup.This was the most mysterious artifact in the entire world.History told that this object was one of the main causes of the crusades thatsted for more than two hundred years and took up to nine million lives.


    Taken over by his glee, Marshal Louis lost his patience. He simply couldn''t wait toy his hands on the mysterious artifact.


    "Cardinal! Now, open the case for me... Let me touch it..." His voice was trembling in joy.


    But Cardinal Strauss was silent and didn''t move an inch.


    "I order you to open it right this instant!!" Marshal Louis became even more impatient.


    The mayor of Rome, who was beside him, talked back and said, "Stop it! Let me take care of it."


    The major walked over to the pope and then knelt down, respectfully saying, "Your Holiness, I''m sorry, but I am very concerned about the condition of the world today.I will make sure that this cup will be properly taken care of and used wisely, for the sake of our world."


    Around them in the room were the president of Greece, the ambassador of Spain, and also the ambassador of Germany. They were all waiting to see the reaction of the pope.


    After a brief moment of silence, the pope finally spoke:


    "Dear all, it''s not that I don''t want to lend you the grail. To tell you all the truth, it really is not my decision to make. It''s the grail''s... "


    "!!!"


    The president of Greece questioned, his heart bewildered, "The grail? Do you mean God?"


    The pope exined that ever since he was made cardinal preferiti, he had been privy to this room. But it was only after the Doomsday Pirs came did the artifacts stored in this vault begin to show some kind of reactions.


    When Cardinal Strauss returned from visiting the Doomsday Pir and seeded in strengthening himself from the Mortal Realm to the Earth Realm, everything changed.


    "What do you mean, Cardinal?"


    "The grail has its own consciousness and is able to choose its master. You won''t be able to use it if it doesn''t let you," said the pope, his voice as tranquil as how it was when they first gathered.


    "Bullshit!" screamed the marshal. To him, this was absurd!


    He quickly took out his gun and shot the ss that separated the holy artifacts from them.


    BANG! CRASH!!


    He then quickly reached out for the Holy Grail. However, just an inch before his hand was able to touch it, a powerful force came from the grail and pushed him back a few steps.


    "!!!"


    The pope continued, "Don''t waste your breath, my child, the grail doesn''t wish to be used by you."


    "Putain !! Are you freaking kidding me!"The marshal can''t ept it.The world''s greatest treasure was right in front of him, and yet, he had zero chance of obtaining it.


    "This must be a trick!"


    The marshal then nced at his bodyguards. Promptly, they all raised their guns at all the VIPs in the room.


    "You better hand over the grail to me right this instant, or I swear to Godˇ­"


    Not waiting for the man to finish his words, the pope suddenly raised his finger. On the pope''s finger was a famous gold ring handed over by the previous popes to the next. It was called the Ring of the Fisherman.


    Suddenly, light came out of the ring and an engraving of light appeared at the bottom of the marshal''s feet, as well as all the other four soldiers around him.


    A strong force suddenly wrapped the five men just like an invisible. They were forced to drop all their guns.


    "Aargh! What did you do!!"


    [The Ring of the Fisherman]


    [Tier 3 essory]


    [Weighs 0.6 kilograms]


    [Special skill - Bind: The stronger the ring wielder is, the stronger the binding power will be.]


    It turned out that even this ring, which was the symbol of the pope''s power, was also a powerful artifact.Who knew how many other secrets the Vatican was hiding.


    "Aargh! Let go of me! Stop it! If I die, I guarantee you, you won''t be able to live either! The entire army outside is ready to kill you!"


    Marshal Louis and his four guards struggled to break out of the binding. And indeed, these four high-level Earth Realm soldiers were truly stronger than what the pope had estimated.They began to move their fingers. If this were to go on, this would drain his energy, and they would definitely release themselves.


    But before those people could cause trouble, Seth, the pope''s bodyguard, took out a sword from his storage ring, and swiftly...


    Swoosh! Swoosh!


    In less than a second, Seth was able to cut down the four bodyguards with ease.


    "!!!"


    Seeing his four proud bodyguards die just like that, Marshal Louis looked at Seth with anger burning in his eyes. It seemed as though he was going to devour Seth alive.


    "How insolent!! If it weren''t for that strange ring, you wouldn''t have been able to kill my bodyguards so easily!"


    The mysterious man from Germany suddenly pped his hands.


    "Bravo, bravo... Marshal, let alone four, even with ten people guarding you, you might not necessarily win against him."


    "....Impossible!!"


    The German man looked back at the pope.


    "So, I bet he''s one of your temr knights."


    "Yes. Sir Heinrich, you are indeed always resourceful."


    "Very good, very good."


    [Seth]


    [Male - 25 years old]


    [Earth Realm - Level 15 medium stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Lightning - Middle stage]


    [Spirit Talent - A]


    Everyone else in the room, especially the mayor of Rome, was so shocked that they didn''t know what to do. The mysterious man asked again:


    "What do you n to do now, Strauss?"


    "Actually, I purposely invited all of you here because I want you all to witness this."


    The pope then gave a signal to his guards, and Seth immediately drew his sword and pointed it at the marshal.


    "No!! Are you crazy!! Killing me is equivalent to waging war... France is already able to enter five Doomsday Pirs. We''ve also acquired dozens of artifacts. Our army of hundreds of thousands will crush your little Vatican City!"


    But Seth emotionlessly shed his sword to Marshal Louis''s neck.


    "Aaaaargghhhh!"


    Blood sttered on the floor, and as soon as the pope released the effect of the ring, the marshal fell on his back, no longer breathing... A pool of blood covered the floor.


    The mayor of Rome immediately shivered and knelt in fear.


    "Please, pleaseˇ­ I''m sorry, Holy Fatherˇ­ I meant no harmˇ­ please..."


    Still with a kind and merciful smile on his face, the pope replied:


    "Don''t worry, my child, our merciful God will forgive you..."


    Hearing those words, the mayor was just about to smile when he suddenly felt a sharp pain on his neck.


    SwishˇŞ stter! The mayor dropped to the floor, motionless. His eyes were still open, full of regret and confusion.


    The Spain ambassador quickly ran to the hallway, but he only managed to run three steps before the sword pierced through his chest from the back.


    The Greek president, however, found all of this unsurprising. He still stood calmly, put his hand on his chest, and said, "The path to the illumination has shone bright."


    Hearing the words of the Greek president, the ambassador from Germany smiled wide.


    "Impressive, Strauss! Even the Greek president is part of the Illuminati."


    "Still not as mysterious as your Ahnenerbe organization, Sir Heinrich."


    "All right now, show me what you n to do."


    The pope walked closer to the Holy Grail. He slowly took the cup and raised it up in the air and began to chant.


    A bright light sshed into the dust of lights and went into the body of the dead people. Slowly, all of the bodies which were initially dead on the floor started to rise up. The Spain ambassador, the mayor of Rome, the marshal, and even his four bodyguards all rose. They woke up as if nothing happened.


    [Special Skill - Re-animation: Raises a fallen warrior for three days. The period and power will depend on the wielder''s power.]


    "That''s quite the handy skill you have there, Strauss. I''m impressed. This proves that we can work together this time."


    "Thank you for your trust in us, Sir Heinrich. I never thought that I will be able to see the day the Ahnenerbe and the Illuminati work together."


    "I guess we have to thank our young friend from Indonesia. He was the ones who warned us about this doomsday, after all."


    "Yes, I also think so."


    A few dayster, news about the assassination of the Spanish, French, and Italian leaders arrived.It was said that they were all killed by their own trusted subordinates.

 Chapter 229 - Hongkong Last Day

    Hong Kong, D''Day 145.


    "Let''s go! Run!"


    A group of fighters of more than fifty people was running from the city of Hong Kong towards the port.


    "Where''s Big Sister Christina? She''s still fighting!!"


    "Don''t worry... get in the boat immediately."


    "Okay, Big Sister Jennie...".


    One by one, the people of this group got on the boat. And not long after, they saw hundreds of zombies chasing a woman in the direction of the city.


    "There she is... Big Sister, be careful!"


    There were dozens of red zombies running right behind her, as well as a ck zombie. Christina ran while drawing two swords.


    Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks. Turning around, her whole body suddenly ignited like a burning fire.


    [Skill - Fifth Stage of the Nine Suns]


    [Spirit power and muscle strength have increased dramatically.]


    [Fire Body]


    [Advanced fire spirit skill]


    [Body protection of fire]


    [Circr sh]


    [Intermediate sword arts]


    Like a cyclone of fire, Christina crashed at the group of zombies chasing her. The dozens of red zombies that were chasing her were immediately torn into pieces.


    The ck zombie was able to avoid it by retreating, but Christina didn''t let it get away and immediately lunged toward it.


    St!!! The ck zombie''s head was cut off of his body, and without wasting any time, Christina immediately took the spirit stone that appeared from the monster''s nape.


    "Yes! Another one."


    Not forgetting, Christina took her time picking up the white spirit stones that had fallen from the corpses of the red zombies. And then, sh3 immediately leaped toward the boat, which was ready to go.


    "Big Sister, that was amazing!"


    Chistina leaped far like a flying goddess and thennded softly right on the boat.


    "All right, back to our base we go!"


    "On it."


    Three weeks had passed since they tried to climb the Doomsday Pir, and during these three weeks, they hadpleted the 11th floor. But each floor was getting more and more difficult. With great difficulty, theypleted the challenge of the 11th floor. If it weren''t for Christina and Nam''s strength, there would have been absolutely no way that they could get past the dozens of orcs that were on their way.


    Ever since they passed the 11th floor, they decided to stop the expedition up the pir stairs. This was not only because the enemy was getting more and more powerful, but their current main priority was notpleting the challenge, but to make the condition of the people of Hong Kong on that ind better. Not only were the monsters attacking more and more frequently, but their main problem was also their shortage of food supplies.


    No matter how they looked at it, a hundred thousand residents were really too many mouths to feed. Even with three expedition groups going to Hong Kong every day, they still couldn''t find enough supplies to feed everyone. This past week, they had even begun to ration their food. Fighters even had to buy those expensive spirit fruits to get rid of their hunger.


    After the boat returned to the dock of Hong Kong ind, the sky was already showing howte it currently was. The other two expeditions teams of fighters that were also looking for food in other areas had also returned. Nam and his gang fighters, as well as Inspector Tang and members of the Hong Kong police forces in the other group had returned, but the atmosphere felt odd.


    "How are the results today?"


    Nam could only stay silent. Inspector Tang was also silent.


    "At least no one fell victim today..." Christian replied, trying to think positively of this predicament they were in.


    Chicken, who was also together with them there,mented, "If only these creatures were edible..."


    Not only were these creatures covered in spiky fur, but it also had almost no flesh. In fact, it was very tough and was definitely not consumable. They had also tried to dive and look for fish, but there were almost no fish in the sea. They would asionally find wild mutated fish, but that was very rare.


    "Maybe we can try fishing in a deeper area?" suggested Christina.


    "It''s good for us to try, but... How many fish can we bring with only this small boat? It won''t be nearly enough for a hundred thousand inhabitants." replied the inspector, reminding her of a problem in that solution candidate.


    "We can ask the other residents and soldiers to help us.."


    "That might be true, but our boats are limited."


    "The only food solution we can get from the pir is spirit fruits. Unfortunately, those fruits are far too expensive. All of the spirit stones we got in thest few days are already used up just to buy those fruits."


    Nam, who had been silent, opened his mouth and voiced his thoughts, "Christina, Inspector, I think it''s time we leave this ind..."


    "How will we move a hundred thousand residents from this ind?"


    Nam''s face was suddenly filled with guilt as he averted his eyes.


    "Nam! You''re not thinking of just going and leaving them, are you! YOU! They are your neighbors... They''re our brothers and sisters! "


    "Are there any other ideas...?" asked Christina. She was beginning to feel nervous.


    Everyone fell into silence. They really didn''t know what to do in this situation.


    "Estimated, how much time do we have left here, Inspector?"


    "To tell you the truth, Christina, our food warehouse is empty. Right now, I saved a little for the parents and children. The rest is the amount we gathered on today''s expedition..."


    Nam spoke again, "Inspector... Listen to me... I don''t think we have any other wayˇ­ Tomorrow, all the men and women strong enough to take up arms together with us will leave this ind. We''ll go through Hong Kong City to look for another ce. All together. The rest of the children and their parents can stay in the Doomsday Pir with the rest of the food and wait for us to return with assistance."


    Inspectors Tang and Christina understood well about Nam''s intentions and ns. It was just that this idea would definitely cause them to suffer numerous casualties. They didn''t know how many would be able to survive. The soldiers wouldn''t be enough to protect them all. But this seemed to be their only solution in their current situation. They had to do it fast before these inhabitants be too weak to fight due to starvation. If that were to happen, they would fall into a circumstance worse than their current one, and it would only get worse with time.


    "Well, I think this is the only way out... I''m ready!" said the inspector with resolution. They had to do it if they wanted to survive.


    Nam looked at Christina. It seemed that they were thinking the same thing.


    "Inspector, we believe that you''re the best person to stay here to guard them..."


    "...No..." Inspector Tang was smart enough to realize that among the three of them, he was still the one who was the most suitable to stay.


    The three of them decided to do this immediately the next day.


    Christina didn''t return to their base. Instead, she went straight to the Doomsday Pir. When she got there, she headed straight to the training room.


    [Check status.]


    [Christina]


    [Female - 34 years old]


    [Earth Realm - Level 12 medium stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Fire - High stage]


    [Spirit Talent - A]


    Thesest three weeks, Christina had made quite a significant lot of progress. These eleven pir floors easily increased her Earth Realm by several levels. But the most significant advancement was ber sess in breaking through the mid-stage of fire energy spirit and entering the high-stage so that she could study advanced fire arts. By the time Nam had just sessfullypleted the initial stage, Christina had already reached the high stage. Seeing that they both had the same A talent, Christina was quite sure this was all thanks to the power of the Nine Suns that she mastered. Currently, Christina had made it to the fifth stage, and it didn''t seem as though it would be easy to break through to the next level.


    Christina wanted to directly study the high energy spirit stages, however...


    [Spirit fire energy - High stage]


    [1,000 spirit stones]


    Too expensive. In today''s battle, she only got three yellow spirit stones and a few dozens of white spirit stones, and she had given them to the inspector to buy spirit fruits for those who would stay.


    Christina finally decided to leave the training room. Coincidentally, she met Ma Sing.


    "Auntie..." Ma Sing called Christina respectfully


    Seeing this, Christina felt down again. Ma Sing now looked very mature, but in Christina''s heart, she still missed the naughty and cheerful child. But the apocalypse easily changes people.


    Christina noticed that Ma Sing was slowly reaching the peak of the Mortal Realm these three weeks. Christina wanted to apany him to practice, but she needed to be ready to go tomorrow. And of course, the best for Ma Sing was to stay. Christina gave several ''orders'' to Ma Sing. Although he initially refused, he still obeyed Christina. At times like this, Christina remembered her son, Caleb, whom she had left for three months in Singapore.


    The next day, when morning came, Christina noticed that the soldiers were preparing to help the residents get themselves ready to leave, but from the sea in the direction of the east, Christina saw something that took her by surprise.


    Severalrge ships were approaching the ind of Hong Kong.


    A red g with 5 yellow stars was waving in the air.

 Chapter 230 - Good Bye HongKong

    At this moment, from the northwest of Hong Kong, three ships were approaching Hong Kong ind.This ship had a waving red g with a star on its upper left corner and four smaller stars surrounding its right. It was the g of China.


    Not long after, the inhabitants of Hong Kong ind began to shout in joy. They felt as though salvation had finally dawned upon them.


    "We''re saved! Help ising!" someone shouted. It could be clearly heard from this voice that he was extremely happy.


    Even though the people of Hong Kong were often not in harmony with the Chinese nation before the apocalypse, the conditions of the apocalypse made everyone no longer concerned with politics or the sort anymore, especially with their current condition. They were currently under tremendous pressure and they were starving.


    Only one out of the three ships was anchored. One of the other two ships was a destroyer, which was probably a ship to protect the main ship.. Meanwhile, thest of the three ships did not look like a warship at all. It looked just like an ordinary transport ship.


    Inspector Tang and the Hong Kong police forces immediately headed to the wharf on the west side of Hong Kong ind. Christina and Nam also followed suit.


    When Christina arrived, Inspector Tang was weing a high-ranking Chinese naval officer and his entourage. Since this was possibly rted to state affairs, Christina and Nam did not want to interfere and only helped in keeping watch from behind.


    Not long after Inspector Tang spoke with the group, the inspector suddenly nced at Christina and then walked over to her with two guests from the main ship.


    They were an old man in a navy uniform and a very beautiful youngdy.


    The man in uniform, who seemed to be in a quite high position, looked very respectful to this youngdy. As soon as he approached Christina, thedy immediately looked at him.


    "This is the woman named Christina," Inspector Tang introduced Christina to them.


    "ˇ­" The current situation was quite strange. Why were all these people now focused on her?The youngdy approached Christina with a warm smile.


    "Hello, Christina Tjie Tjie, my name is Zhao Wei. Can we have a private talk for a moment?"


    Her ''request'' surprised her quite a bit, but there was no reason for Christina to refuse her when she was being polite. This youngdy wanted to speak privately with her, so they entered an empty building beside the wharf.


    Christina, who was still confused, immediately asked while maintaining her politeness, "Do I know you?"


    Thedy shook her head. Looking closely, she noticed that this person was at least 20 years old, but her very amicable nature and self-confidence made it easy for Christina to talk to her without feeling as though she might be offended by her words easily.


    "But I know you, Tjie Tjie," she told with a friendly smile on her face.


    Thedy mentioned Christina''splete information, from her family members and their condition, her origin, to the mission that the Singapore government had given her.


    Christina began to feel a bit alert due to that, but she still maintained her friendliness. She felt that this person in front of her had no bad intentions, but she still asked, "How do you know so much about me?"


    "Tjie Tjie may not recognize me, but you must recognize my Ama. Her name is Grandma Zhao Fan..."


    "!!!" she was surprised. She did feel a bit familiar with her surname when she heard it the first time, but she didn''t expect that she would be from the Zhao family she knew.


    "You''re that Zhao Wei! The youngest daughter of the Zhao family!" Christina eximed in recognition.


    "Bingo!!" Zhao Wei''s smile became brighter.


    The Zhao family was one of the fourrgest families in China. Their power even surpassed the Chinese government itself. These four extended families controlled the flow of the Chinese government and economy, and even the world''s economy. Of course, Christina, who was also a part of one of therge families in Singapore, knew about it. It was just that she had never seen Zhao Wei, the family''s youngest daughter, before, so she didn''t recognize her.


    Christina thought for a moment before asking, "Zhao Wei, is your arrival here to look for me rted to the mission that the Singapore government gave me?"


    "Another bingo! Just like Ama told me, Tjie Tjie is really smart."


    "But, Zhao Weiˇ­ I''ve never had the honor to meet her."


    "Well, that''s why I''m here, Tjie... Ama assigned me to pick you up... I''m here to take you to Beijing." she briefly exined with a light smile.


    "!!!" She did not expect that at all.


    Christina was getting more and more confused. In their current condition, why would the head of this distinguished family look for her? They even sent them ships in this apocalypse.


    "Zhao Wei, the mission I got from the Singapore government is to exin the characteristics of the ck-type zombies to the Chinese government. At that time, it seems that zombies of this type were still very rare... but I believe that nowadays, almost every fighter has fought against one or at least have seen one."


    "Tjie Tjie, from the very beginning, your mission was only to meet Ama. The report about the ck zombies was just an excuse so as not to attract suspicion. Unfortunately, at that time, the messenger we sent was trapped in chaos in the city of Hong Kong... but now, I''m here to pick you up in person..."


    Christina was still confused. If it wasn''t about the matter of the ck zombie, then why were they looking for her?


    "Don''t be confused, Tjie Tjie. Ama said that you are a very special person. She is very interested in seeing you in person. That''s all."


    If it were the usual, Christina would have definitelyplied with thisdy''s request. Not only was this a mission from her country, but Christina herself also wanted to get to know the Zhao family. But today, Christina had a lot of people who were depending on her. She was also eager to return to Singapore to meet her son, whom she had left for a long time. If she agrees to continue the trip to Beijing, who knew how many months it would take before she would be able to return.


    But before Christina could voice her refusal, thedy in front of her seemed to have guessed it and spoke first.


    "Tjie Tjie, Ama told me that you will definitelye with us as long as Ie exactly today... if Ie too early, you will refuse toe, and if Ie a dayte, you will already be dead..."


    "!!!" Her words utterly shook her.


    "The journey through Hong Kong that you''re going to do today will take countless lives including yours, Tjie."


    Christina suddenly remembered that there were rumors that said that Zhao Fan, the head of the Zhao family, was also a fortune teller. But at that time, she never believed it... but the events of the past few months made her more open to believing in anything strange.


    "Tjie, Ama told me that you can bring along anyone you want toe to Beijing. We will also be responsible for helping the Hong Kong residents here. On the other hand, Ama also told me that you will face problems with your uncle in Singapore if you don''tplete your mission..."


    "..."


    It was amazing how thisdy in front of her was able to read all of Christina''s conditions and worries. Christina seemed to have no other choice. She was worried that her uncle would make things difficult for her family in Singapore because of this...


    "All right, Zhao Wei. As long as you''re willing to help the people here, I''ll follow you..."


    "Of course, Tjie Tjie."


    On that day Christina and the Firebirds decided to go to Beijing.Nam and some of his siblings have nowhere else to go.They also decided to follow Christina.


    However, not all Hong Kong residents are willing to go to China.Zhao Wei gave the transport boat he was carrying to the inspector and some food.Approximately 30.000 residents decided to look for other ces. Inspector Tang decided to go with this group.


    That day, ording to their previous n, the residents of Hong Kong prepared to leave the ind. But this time, it was for a different purpose.


    Christina met the inspector onest time before separating.


    "What''s your n, Inspector Tang? Where will you go?"


    "Actually, I have close acquaintances in the Singapore government. And maybe you can help too," told the inspector.


    Christina wrote a letter to be given to her uncle. She also left another letter to be given to her son, Caleb.


    "I wish you well, Christina. I hope we''ll be able to meet again, maybe in Singapore."


    "Of course, Inspector. Be safe."


    After they parted ways, Christina and her entourage sailed to the Chinese naval base and continued their two-day journey to Beijing.


    During the journey to the city, Christina was amazed to see China''s readiness in facing the apocalypse.The total lockdown was very regr, and the troop preparation numbered up to millions. It was much different from Hong Kong''s conditions.


    When she arrived in Beijing, Christina was amazed yet again to see that the city seemed to not have been affected by the apocalypse at all.


    "Where are we headed?"


    "The Forbidden City," Zhao Wei replied.


    "..."


    The Forbidden City was a pce of the Ming dynasty in the 13th century. That ce with an area of ??70 hectares filled with over nine hundred buildings had now been made into the main defense base of the Chinese government to face the apocalypse.


    Christina was invited alone to a small building, which was the residence of a very important person.


    An old grandmother was sitting casually beside a smallke.


    Christina had seen this woman before at several important events.


    "Greetings to Elder Zhao Fan."


    The old woman turned around and paid close attention to Christina.


    "Hao, hao... good! Very good... Christina, do you know that you are very special?"


    "Sorry, Elder, but I don''t understand..."


    "Christina, I will help you be the greatest fighter in the world."


    "..."

 Chapter 231 - Back In Bali

    D''Day 150.


    Bali ind, Indonesia.


    StarBase.


    Fifty days ago, as predicted earlier, the Doomsday Pirsnded just a kilometer east of the StarBase that Alex had built.


    Ever since that day, not a single Indonesian living in Bali dared to doubt Alex''s leadership.


    For 150 days from the time the gue arrived, saving them from the undead to cleansing the ind of Bali from terror, the base and its leader provided them with security and a future.


    Day by day, the StarBase looked more and more crowded and full of energy. In thest few months, the Star Army had been tasked with scouting the inds around Bali, rescuing, and bringing refugees to this ind..


    Until now, all the refugees who had arrived could be amodated. If they were not amodated at the Star Base, they were allocated in Bay City.


    Fifty days after the pir fell, a lot of things happened, and today was quite a special day for Devita, the highest leader of this ind after Alex left.


    Today, the ind of Bali had three guests of honor. The three guests of honor came together in one ship departing from the ind of Java.


    Today, Devita was apanied by the famous former governor Cahya, who was currently both her right-hand man and also her advisor. Hundreds of citizens who knew or heard the news of today''s guests also came with them.


    Honkkkk...


    The ship docked at the wharf of Bay City. The group from the ship got off and was greeted by Devita and Cahya in person.


    Three figures were seen walking side by side. Devita only knew these three people from the news and television, so this was the first time they had met.


    "Wee to the honorable Regent Suryo, Sultan Kartasurya, and President Rico."


    Christina paid her respects very sincerely and seriously.However, the three people who came together seemed to ept it jokingly.


    "Hahahaˇ­ look at that, Rico, this woman doesn''t respect you as presidentˇ­ She said your namestˇ­ Hahaha..." Regent Suryo said,ughing.


    President Rico only replied, "This woman, of course, mentioned our names based on our seniority... since I''m the youngest here, of course that''s how it should be."


    Regent Suryo said to reply in a jesting tone, "When ites to age, this Sultan friend of ours is older than me by several years, so there''s no way that that''s the case... This means that you''re stillcking in authority, Rico... you have to work harder."


    "All right, let''s assume that I received this advice wellˇ­" President Rico could only sigh as he relented.


    The Sultan, who had been silent from the start, finally spoke, "You''re already this old, and yet you still haven''t changed, Suryo... you love to joke too much... Look at our hosts, they''re so confused now because of you."


    Sultan Kartasurya then greeted Devita, "Thank you for the invitation. Ignore the two of them. From the start of their journey from New Java, they haven''t stopped joking."


    Devita tried her best to stay calm and collected. The three figures in front of her were important figures in this country. Regent Suryo was a 5-star general and a national hero. Sultan Kartasurya was a governor and also a descendant of thest sultanate of this country. These two men''s standings were no lower than President Rico.


    "Thank you foring. Wee to the ind of Bali. We hope that you won''t have any problems here."


    Since it was alreadyte in the afternoon, on that day, Devita took the guests to a luxury five-star hotel at the White Sand Beach of Bali, the same ce where Admiral Gerald stayed three months ago.


    "I hope that the amodation we prepared is not too disappointing. If there''s anything you need, please let us know and we''ll help as much as we can," Devina politely told.


    "Good! It''s good that we''re not always stressed because of thinking about the apocalypse all the time. Let''s enjoy days like this while we can," said the regent. Then, he went straight to the sultan and invited, "Old friend, let''s chat until to our heart''s content tonight..."


    "Very well," the sultan, who was a little stiff, seemed unable to refuse the regent''s request.


    After they left, President Rico approached Devita.


    "Any news from Alex or James?"


    It had been three months since theyst separated. Rico himself actually only knew Alex or James. Now, Alex already went to Australia and James already went to America. This made him feel left behind.


    "There''s still no news from Mr. Randal at the moment. It looks like he''ll be there for quite a long timeˇ­ Meanwhile, thest letter from Alex was received two months ago, when he arrived in Australia. There''s still no news at all after that."


    Saying her husband''s name made her think and worry about him again. If it weren''t for the numerous responsibilities she had here in Bali, Devita would surely be much more worried as she would have more time to think about it.


    No, no, no!


    The sound of running footsteps approached the lobby. Two girls ran over.


    "Mommyˇ­ is there any news from Daddy?"


    This was Tiarra, the youngest daughter of Alex.She was hoping that the guests who came today might have information about her father.


    Tiffany, her older sister, also was there with her, as they came together.


    "Sorry, Mother... I told her to wait for news at home, but she insisted and ran here."


    Devita then looked down and stroked Tiarra''s hair with affection and a bit of sadness and told her, "Sorry, Dear, but at the moment, there''s still no news yet... Tiarra, be a good child and listen to your big sister''s words, okay?"


    Tiarra looked so disappointed, but still obediently listened to her mother''s message


    Devita looked at President Rico and bowed to him.


    "I''m sorry, President, but I hope we can continue the conversation tomorrow."


    "Very well," replied Rico.


    When Devita walked away with her two children, something that was stuck in the president''s heart and mind resurfaced.


    Rico looked at the wide sea from the balcony and thought of his son. ''Where is he at the moment, I wonder? How is he doing? Is he all right?''


    "Adam..."


    Three months ago, Adam suddenly left and disappeared. The president put a lot of effort into searching for him, but he still couldn''t even find a trace of him. With so many people missing in the apocalypse like this, the president couldn''t just order his soldiers to continue searching. Studying the results of the research data from the doctor who took care of his son, the president was ready to receive the worst news. Even if the child was not in danger, Adam was not expected to be able to fight the disease for more than a week. The president could only miss him. In his heart, he already thought that his son was dead. And now, his mind was focused on finding a way so that more and more people wouldn''t suffer the same fate.


    The next morning, after a high-ss breakfast prepared by the hotel, the three of them with several bodyguards were picked up by Devita.First, Devita invited them to go around the ind, especially to the center of Bali.


    Here, Devita showed the condition of the center of Bali. After going through a great battle three months ago, the city of Bali was now sterile from danger and was entering the stage of rebuilding. Thousands of residents were seen repairing several important areas. Some of the main buildings were already beginning to be renovated.


    "Don''t you guys already have a new base? Why are you rebuilding this destroyed city?" asked Rico. He simply didn''t see the need to put in this much effort when they could allocate it somece else.


    Devita exined that Alex was not only nning to make this ind a survival base, but he wanted to start preparing a city that would be able to be a ce for the future of humans after the apocalypse.He wanted them to start building their future again.


    These three people seemed quite impressed by Alex''s optimism, but they were people of the government. They were used to managing cities and countries. With the current condition of the world, it would prove to be extremely difficult for that to happen.


    "Good! Let''s just say that we humans are start civilization once again!" eximed the regent.


    ˇ­


    After going around the city of Bali, they then visited the area where the underground hole opened. After three months of construction, the ce had turned into something akin to a fortress. But it wasn''t to keep the enemies from the outside, but to keep the enemies inside and to make sure that they couldn''t get out.


    Taratata taratatata traratatatatatˇŞ


    Gunshots were heard, and hundreds of troops were seen running to fill their positions and followed suit in the shooting. Before the group could approach, the sounds of gunfire andmotion had stopped.


    "Reporting, dozens of creatures were seening out of the cave, but everything has been taken care of," a soldier came up to Devita and reported the previous situation.


    The three guests who were brought by Devita looked amazed. This fortress was not only solid, but it was also equipped with high-caliber machine guns. Those machine guns were taken from an American carrier warship. The creatures simply couldn''t resist. Apart from that, there were hundreds of firing troops on guard, ready to act 24/7.


    Of course, one thing that made this ind of Bali safe was the fact that there was only one Abyss cave on the ind and Alex had taken good care of it.


    After going around the ind''s areas, Devita took them to the main base.


    "All right, it''s time to show us the real reason for inviting us here," said the president.

 Chapter 232 - Magic Raisin

    This was the first time for these three esteemed guests to visit this ce. As the group walked closer and closer to the base, the three guests were shocked.


    Along the left and right side of the road, they saw vast farnd as far as their eyes could see.


    Minute by minute, the more farm they passed by, the more surprised they were. They had at least seen hundreds of hectares of fields here. It wasn''t that finding agricultural fields on the ind of Bali was umon, it was just that almost all of the fields they had passed by were filled with hundreds of residents who were farming there. There were at least tens of people who were working in every hectare of thatnd.


    Even the sultan, who was an experienced senior statesman, began to have his surprise shown on his face.


    "Devitaˇ­ we''ve already seen at least hundreds of hectares of field along the left and right side of the road.... How many hectares ofnd have you prepared for agriculture?"


    "At the moment, it''s already over a thousand hectares," Devita informed.


    "!!!"


    "1,150 hectares, to be more precise," added Cahya, giving them a more urate number.


    The three of them, the sultan, Regent Suryo, and President Rico each managed a city where residents were sheltering survivors. The president managed New Java, which was in the northern part of Central Java, and the sultan managed the southern part of the area of Yogyakarta. Meanwhile, the regent formed one of the newrgest cities in Sumatra. Of course, they all had and were preparing agriculturalnd for the consumption needs of their people.However, they found that there were already a lot of things that had been and were still being prepared in Bali. At this moment, while Bali had already prepared this much, they had only prepared a hundred to two hundred hectares.


    "Why would you need that muchnd for agriculture?" asked the president.


    "Okay, we''ll stop in front of here for a bit."


    The convoy stopped in front of arge building that seemed to be a storage building. They entered the ce and they found a warehouse storage used to dry foods. They could see dozens of people working there.


    "What are they doing here?" the regent simply asked. However, before Devina or Cahya could answer him, a person brought a tray with several small green ''objects'' on it.


    "Are theseˇ­ dried fruits?" the president''s voice contained a hint of confusion and curiosity, as the ''objects'' in front of them seemed to be dried fruits, but they somehow didn''t.


    "Yes, these are indeed dried fruits. Please have a taste," Devina offered the three guests.


    These coin-sized dried fruits had a shiny green color. The three people immediately took them to try one each.


    "Pretty sweet... not bad. What fruit is this?"


    "These dried fruits are spirit fruits that have been processed..."


    "!!!"


    "Yes, you didn''t hear wrong. Here, we call them magic raisins."


    "Interesting... what''s magical about these raisins?"


    "Every single piece of this small raisin contains a very high amount of nutrients and energy, enough to fill the needs of an adult man for a whole day''s worth of work."


    "!!!... This one small piece...?"


    "Correct. We''ve tested it by giving thousands of residents up to a piece per day, and they don''t feel hungry at all."


    President Rico took another raisin and observed it closely.


    Devita continued to show the three esteemed guests around the process room and showed them the process of how these raisins were made from those green fruits.


    The three people were again surprised to see how the spirit fruits that had collected in this ce numbered in the hundreds. This was surprising to them because they all knew that each of those fruits was worth ten spirit stones. Those hundreds of fruits were worth hundreds of thousands of spirit stones, and yet, they were treating these fruits like ordinary fruits in this processing factory.


    "Be at ease... follow me," Devita said to them.


    This time, she took these three people out of the building through the backdoor. Now, in front of them was a vast agricultural field.


    A middle-aged woman came over to them.


    "Esteemed Sirs, allow me to introduce to you the woman who is most instrumental in this magic raisins project."


    "Pleased to meet you all. My name is Jane.


    "Esteemed Sirs, this field in front of you is a field of spiritual fruits. It has been more than a month since we began to nt spirit fruits here.


    "nting spirit fruits...!"


    Even though they knew that the spirit fruits were a kind of fruit, none of them thought that this fruit could be nted and developed on Earth. At the moment, they didn''t have enough spirit stones to try this out. And even if they did, they wouldn''t know where to start.


    "All the fruits in these fields are all spirit fruits!" eximed President Rico in surprise.


    Jane, who was standing in front of them, suddenly raised her hand. Following her movement, one of the nt stalks in front of them moved and extended in front of President Rico.


    [elerated Growth]


    It was at this moment that the three of them realized that Jane was a great spirit enhancer.Jane was a spirit enhancer that Alex discovered at the beginning. She is a nt expert; a nt whisperer.


    [Jane]


    [Female - 46 years old]


    [Earth Realm level 10 - Middle stage]


    [Spirit Energy - nt - Middle stage]


    [Spirit Talent - A]


    "Please have a look at it, Mr. President," asked Devita.


    The president picked a fruit from the extended nt and observed it. This fruit was almost the same as the spirit fruits that could be found in the Doomsday Pirs.


    The sultan was, of course, immensely interested in this.


    "How is it? ˇ­How much...?"


    "Esteemed Regent Suryo, Sultan Kartasurya, and President Rico, I''m sure that you''ve already seen the value of this farm by now. Be at ease, ording to Alex''s message, all information and methods regarding this will be shared. We will even send some of our experts to your respective cities to help with this process."


    The three guests seemed to be very happy to hear this news.


    "Really, Alex never ceases to give us nice surprises. Hahaha."


    President Suryo suddenly thought of something, "Why didn''t Alex tell me about this before? We could have prepared the same thing since the beginning of the arrival of the Doomsday Pirs."


    "Alex wasn''t sure about the right form to make it. We needed dozens of days, and lots of spirit fruits were gone due to failure in the research. But with this harvest, we believe that the results are quite convincing and that we can share this technique with all of you."


    Devita exined that initially, they had prepared a hundred thousand spirit stones to buy the first batch of harvest and another hundred thousand spirit stones in addition.Nearly half of the total spirit stones of the StarBase were spent on this project.


    Each spirit fruit had an average of 10 seeds. A seed required a minimum area of 1 square meter of fertile soil and also had to be watered with the juice of the spirit fruit itself.


    The fruit only took fifteen days to harvest. Due to that, after two current harvests of 20 hectares, the project had grown to a thousand hectares. Currently, there were around 80,000 residents of the ind of Bali who worked on this project.


    At the moment, even with Jane''s help, the maximum yield sess was only 70% and the fruit from this project had only 50% of the energypared to the original spirit fruit. After various ideas and attempts, they finally divided each fruit into five pieces and dried them for easy portability and consumption.


    "Bravo! Bravo!" Regent Suryo gave unrestrained apuse.


    "How many of these magic raisins have you produced at this time?"Asked the sultan.


    "There are about a million pieces at the moment. But in five days, we''ll harvest more than thirty million pieces of raisin."


    "Amazing. This project can solve the food problem in this apocalypse."


    "We found some obstacles, however. First, after the multiplication due to the nting, we found that the number of seeds from the fruits had decreased. We also found that the paddynd that was previously used became dry and arid after nting them twice. Because of that, we needed more spirit stones and workers to run this project sustainably."


    The sultan made quick calctions in his head.


    "Thirty million pieces for fifteen days. This amount is enough to feed two million people. This number is more than enough for the poption of Bali."


    "Actually, up until now, we haven''t distributed this fruit en masse to the people here. At the moment, we''re still depending on potatoes and mutated animal flesh."


    "Then what are you doing with that one million pieces?"


    "We''ve sent a million pieces as an order to the bases in Maluku and the Philippines. And they''re still waiting for another ten million pieces in five days..."


    All of a sudden, Regent Suryoughed loudly. "Hahahaˇ­ Bravo, bravo... just when everyone was doing their best to survive, you guys have already started to run imports and exports."


    These three men were experienced senior statesmen, so they immediately understood the meaning and purpose of their arrival. Alex wanted them to also encourage residents in their respective areas to do the same. At this moment, the most important problem in this world was the shortage of food. Dying on the battlefield was one thing, but dying of hunger was extremely miserable.


    Devita interrupted again, "Actually, there are also other things that we would like to show you."


    "There''s more! Haha, I can''t wait! Come on!"

 Chapter 233 - The Workshop

    nk! nk! nk!


    Even though the three guests were already very satisfied with the prospect of the magic raisins, the next ce that Devita brought them to made the spirits re up even more.


    nk! nk! nk!


    The next ce Devita brought them to was a weapon production factory. They stepped in, forming all kinds of conjectures.


    Could it beˇ­? They thought to themselves.


    The location that they were visiting this time was in the east of StarBase, not far from the Doomsday Pir of Bali. It was a very, very hot warehouse building.


    In this one building, there were ten furnaces. Each furnace had ten workers. And it was quite apparent that all the workers in this room were not ordinary workers..


    All of the workers here had broken through the limits of the Mortal Realm and reached the Earth Realm.


    This time, it was President Rico who acted like a child who was visiting a famous entertainment venue for the first time.


    President Rico went straight to a shelf and took a random sword.


    [Sword - Tier 1 - Hardened]


    [80 centimeters long, weighs 5 kilograms]


    "Hardened? This is my first time seeing such a thing... And... is this an artificial Tier 1 sword?"


    "That is indeed the case, President Rico. That sword is one of our first sessful batches..."


    Devita exined that this was the main project of StarBase.


    Alex believed that in order to save the world from the apocalypse, they couldn''t just depend on a handful of elite fighters.


    The main obstacle in oveing the apocalypse''s challenges and threats in his previous life was theck of weapons to prate or cut through the monster''s body. Even high-caliber bullets were not powerful enough to kill the orcs that were only creatures of the initial stages of the apocalypse''s challenges. Some creatures that mutated in the first year also had hard skin that was extremely difficult to prate. Meanwhile, Tier 1 weapons were very expensive and could only be owned by the strongest fighters. Ultimately, those who were not fortunate to own at least a decent artifact weapon would be the first ones to be victims. That became the reason why Alex believed that this Tier 1 weapon manufacturing project was incredibly vital for the survival of mankind.


    These three guests couldn''t understand what Alex was using to produce these Tier 1 weapons. But of course, that was to be expected, since this was never heard of here.


    In short, Alex had told them the proper method to melt the Tier 1 weapons that could be obtained from the Doomsday Pirs. Of course, these materials couldn''t be found anywhere in this world, so Devita had to spend 200,000 spirit stones to buy a thousand more weapons from the Doomsday Pir.


    "Buy the heaviest but cheapest ones," was the simple message Alex left her.


    The three people were stunned to hear thatˇ­ They felt that there was no way that it was just as simple as melting those heavy equipment and then making lighter ones for the masses to use.


    A Tier 1rge saber which weighed 13 kilograms with the price of 150 spirit stones could be melted into five Tier 1 short swords.


    "...."


    Of course, to melt down weapons and create new ones, which were quite great, were not all that Alex nned. Alex pushed it a level further.


    [Hardened]


    Tier 1 weapons were weapons with stronger materials. Tier 2 weapons had additional effects,while Tier 3 weapons were weapons with special abilities with them.


    The advantage that Tier 2 weapons hadpared to Tier 1 weapons was not only the additional effect they provided, but also their materials. The materials for higher-tier weapons were undoubtedly better.


    The Tier 1 weapons currently avable on the Doomsday Pir were only strong enough to take on the challenges of the first year of the apocalypse. It was inevitable that in the future, these Tier 1 weapons would be useless.


    With the normalization process at a certain hot temperature and immediate cooling with hot oil with additional special ingredients, the material of these Tier 1 weapons underwent crystallization, increasing the hardness of these weapons.


    This particr material was the blood of mutated bats found in the inds of Maluku.That was why Alex told Cahya to go on an expedition to the inds before the pirs arrived.


    Actually, it was not only mutated bat blood that could be utilized. There were other mutated animals in South Africa and North China that had simr to the same effects, but these bats were the closest to Indonesia. This information could be found in the science library of the second hall of the Doomsday Pir. Of course, in Alex''s case, he knew about it because in Alex''s previous life, this method became known in the second year of the apocalypse. At that time, the base of the fighters from China had begun to make them.


    These [Hardened] Tier 1 weapons were just as powerful as Tier 2 weapons. It was just that unlike real Tier 2 weapons, these Tier 1 weapons had no special effects.


    Only those with physical strength at least equivalent to those in the intermediate Earth Realm were strong enough to forge these weapons.


    Half the people in this room, those in charge of wielding hammers and forging, had already reached level 10 of the Earth Realm. If that weren''t the case, these hardened Tier 1 weapons would not be able to form properly at all.


    A furnace with ten workers a day could only make five weapons. And currently, there were only four simr buildings in the StarBase with a total of 40 furnaces and 400 trained workers.The StarBase was currently capable of producing 200 pieces of Tier 1 hardened weapons every day.


    "How many of them are ready for use at the moment?" asked President Rico with interest. This was apletely new thing for him, and he could clearly see how important this was for their survival in this apocalypse.


    "Soon, we''ll have hit the target of 5,000 swords," Devita informed.


    "What about other weapons or equipment? Spears? Shields? Arrows?" President Rico inquired further.


    Devita shook her head. Currently, the spirit stones they had on their hands were limited, and these short swords were the most sought-after solution.


    President Rico tried to swing the sword several times and checked its sharpnesspared to ordinary iron swords. Testing it, he saw that this sword could easily cut an ordinary iron sword, while a Tier 1 sword was able to withstand a dozen of its attacks before the ordinary Tier 1 sword broke too.


    "What a great weapon, what a great weapon!"


    Rico looked very enthusiastic about equipping his fighters with these weapons.


    "I''m sorry, Sir, but at the moment, we don''t have a way to prepare the same workshops in your respective cities. How about we talk about this further at the StarBase?" Devina suggested.


    The three guests were also greatly interested, and they knew that this would bring significant changes, so they agreed, "Okay."


    These swords would be something that they would absolutely need in order to face the apocalypse with its challenges and threats. The three guests nced at each other, extremely curious as to what Devita would offer them.


    Before walking to the base, Devita also showed them the factory for the creation of protective clothing from mutated animal skins.


    The craftsmen separated two types of skins. Both of them used the same design, which was the medium leather protection armor. These armors were made out of the skin from high-grade mutated animals or medium-grade mutated animals. These body armors were quite a suitablebination toplement the Tier 1 hardened weapons.


    While they were on their way to the StarBase via the Doomsday Pir towering over the front of the east entrance, hundreds of residents were seening out of the pir.


    From quite a far distance, they could hear a rumbling sound, as though dozens of tanks were approaching them. The three guests were immediately on guard.


    "Please be at ease, President. They are our allies."


    Five giant mutated bears ridden by five fighters approached them.


    The fighter at the front was holding a long spear. After they were at a certain proximity, he descended from the bear and greeted them respectfully.


    "Wee, President Rico."


    They were Rama and the Balinese martial arts masters.


    "A gant fighter," eximed the regent in acknowledgment.


    [Rama]


    [Male - 28 years old]


    [Earth Realm level 15 - Medium stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Fire - High stage]


    [Spirit Talent - A]


    The four martial arts masters who joined them had all reached Earth Realm level 15, and each of them had C spirit talents.


    "Rama, I heard that you were chosen by Alex to challenge this pir. How many floors have youpleted?"


    "We have nowpleted the 20th floor. But Alex specifically gave orders not to go up to the next stage before the fighters have reached at least level 20," Rama answered.


    President Rico knew that Alex had sent numerous teams to collect artifacts all around the ind of Bali and other inds. Alex should have lots of artifacts for his fighters. But it seemed that the opponents on the 21st floor would prove to be more difficult than the ones on the previous floor.


    After passing by the pir, they finally arrived at the east gate of the StarBase, or the gate that was named Pir Gate ever since this base was built.


    The base currently looked more like a fortress than a city.


    "Let me take you around," offered Devita.

 Chapter 234 - Economic System

    These three VIP guests walked through the StarBase. It wasn''t long before the streets were suddenly filled with people who wanted to see Indonesia''s new president.


    Even before he became the president, Rico was already very well-known among Indonesians. He was a very famous policemander. The two people next to him were even more famous than him.


    The crowd filled the streets even more and they started to scream in support and admiration, as well as dependence and prayers.


    "President Rico, we support you!!"


    "General Suryo! Please take care of us!"


    "Sultan Karta! May God be with you always!"


    Even though they were currently safe from the threats of the apocalypse here in the StarBase, the presence of these three figures made them feel even more optimistic about their future. The presence of these three VIP guests assured them even more, as they were already prominent figures looked up at by countless people before the apocalypse came. The people already trusted them, so their arrival brought them great relief..


    Devita apparently already prepared a stage for them to say a few words. President Rico was not a political man who was good at talking. He did not speak for long, but he was able to touch the hearts of those who heard him.


    "Devita... you should''ve told me about it first so I could prepare myself," President Rico sighed and said to Devita after he finished conveying his words to the people.


    "I''m sorryˇ­ I just think that in this condition, a spontaneous speech from the heart would be better..." Devita honestly spoke out her opinion. It was indeed true, since, in this chaotic situation, the people would need sincere assurance.


    "Haha... It seems that Alex was indeed not wrong in choosing you to lead this city... you''re very smart," President Ricoplimented. It was apliment for both Alex and Devita. They were indeed wise.


    After taking a look around the StarBase, they gathered in the main room of the base.


    In that room, the consuls of StarBase were gathered. They were Cahya, who was currently the second-inmand in this base, Jane, who was in charge of the base''s agriculture, Tony, who was in charge of the development of the base, Villy, Devita''s sister who was in charge of the base''s supplies, Agung, who was in charge of the education in the base, and Major Sandi, who was in charge of the base''s security.


    They opened the meeting by showing the data of the ind.


    Total poption in Bali: 981,288 inhabitants.


    Administration: 1%


    Children: 12%


    Elders: 7%


    Farmers: 17%


    Construction Workers: 11%


    Medical & Research Division: 2%


    Supply Division: 13%


    Unassigned: 1%


    Total Civilians: 64%: 629,288


    Military Personnel: 36%: 352,000


    Elite Troops: 8,000


    1st Division Soldiers: 110,000


    2nd Division Soldiers: 90,000


    Cadets: 70,000


    Militia forces: 82,000


    In thest three months, Bali''s poption had increased by 50%. President Rico saw this figure as quite significant. The poption of the city of New Java, which was led by Rico himself, had exceeded the one-million people threshold, but this was not surprising considering how the ind of Java was already so densely popted before the arrival of the apocalypse. But for the ind of Bali to be able to gather more than 300,000 residents during thest 3 months, it was definitely not easy.


    Of course, the best part of the data of the ind which was shown was the unemployment rate, which was only at 1%. This was an extraordinary number, especially in the conditions of the apocalypse, where new refugees arrive every day.


    "How could this happen? Only 1% of the poption don''t have a job at the moment?" asked the sultan with quite an interested tone. After all, this was an immensely small number considering their current situation.


    "If it''s about this, it''s all thanks to Cahya''s hard work," said Devita.


    Cahya was a former governor who was greatly sessful. If it weren''t for his political case, he would have undoubtedly be a sessful statesman by now.


    "I didn''t really do much, actually... Every new visitor will immediately choose between being a worker or a fighter. As long as we have a good economic system, we believe that everything will be fine," Cahya said, not raising his standing nor epting the credits.


    "I wonder, what system are you running for the economy here?" asked the regent next. The president and the sultan weren''t the only ones interested in this matter, after all. After seeing how flourishing the ind was, especiallypared to other ces, they were bound to be filled with curiosity. And they were not afraid nor ashamed to ask, as it would bring advancements to their regions.


    "We know that there are three economic systems: Capitalism, socialism, andmunism. But in the world today, there''s actually no system that''spletely 100% of these three. All countries in the world run a mixture of the three."


    "Capitalism encourages workers to work harder and rewards those who are sessful. This system is generally the best one for the modern world. However, in times of crisis like this, the socialist system, in which the state takes more roles and determines policies and distributes to each citizen, is certainly more appropriate to be used here."


    "But for this ind, we use both of those systems. We, consuls, decide the duties and positions of the residents here, but we give more rewards to those who can show more results."


    "For example?" asked Rico.


    Cahya exined that one of the divisions that had an increase in workers was agriculture. With the magic raisins, the agriculture department was in dire need of workers nowadays. However, in order to increase worker participation, apart from preparingnd, materials, and seeds of spirit fruits, the government guaranteed purchases and also provided additional rewards for the agricultural workers if they managed to get more harvests.


    "Each hectare requires 50 workers, and these 50 workers be a group. Each group is responsible for plowing the fields, nting, and processing the ripe fruits. They''re given 10,000 seeds and have a target of producing 70,000 pieces in 15 days. If they can get more than the target number, then the remaining excess number can be a bonus for them. They can choose to sell them in the market or to keep them for themselves.


    "The same is applied for the gunsmiths. They get one out of every ten weapons they make for them to sell on the market. Even so, there''s still a small difference for the craftsmen of these weapons. The StarBase has to invest spirit stones in these workers personally so that they can break through the intermediate-level Earth Realm. Not only that, but the base also has to provide them a Tier 1 hammer, which is not cheap. For this reason, each of these workers is required to work exclusively for a year for the StarBase.


    "Not only weapons and food, but the same is done with the other main equipment such as protective clothing and other services. That way, the residents will be motivated to work harder. On the other hand, the market that we''ve prepared is crowded with residents buying and selling with spirit stones," Devita exined in detail.


    "Good, good! Very brave!" apuded the regent. "For the inhabitants of the ind of Sumatra, we''re still doing a full model of socialism, where all the people work and the government distributes it evenly. However, I''ll try to slowly adopt this method."


    The sultan then asked about the method of transactions carried out at the StarBase, especially for running the market.


    Ever since the arrival of the Doomsday Pir, the StarBase was already ready to start converting all existing vouchers with spirit stones. However, the StarBase strictly limited the repurchasing of vouchers with spiritual stones while still providing wages to themunity in the form of vouchers that could be exchanged for food or other staples held by the StarBase.With this, the StarBase could more easily collect spirit stones to re-spend for equipment from the Doomsday Pir.


    "I hope that this economic model can be followed by other cities too."


    Currently, most of the poption of the ind of Java was centered in Central Java. With New Java City, which was the new capital of Indonesia, and the southern coast of Yogyakarta, which was led by the sultan. The positions of these two cities were quite strategic, considering how Java ind''s Doomsday Pir fell between these two cities.


    For the ind of Sumatra, which was in Western Indonesia, it was managed by the Regent Suryo. The inds of Kalimantan, Swesi, and Papua had also begun to form new bases to amodate the local residents.


    Currently, the total poption of Indonesia from a total of 5 defense bases that had been formed was:


    Bali''s Base: 981,288


    New Java: 1,271,086


    Yogyakarta: 425,771


    Sumatra: 821,374


    Borneo: 182,621


    Swesi: 231,448


    Papua: 121,867


    Total: 4,035,455


    4 million was a lot. However, of the 260 million people in Indonesia, in less than 6 months, only 1.5% of them were gathered in these five headquarters. Of course, there were still lots of people who were still hiding in the mountains and the forests, especially in the inds of Borneo and Swesi, which were still very unreachable.


    President Rico got up and said, "With the magic raisins and the Tier 1 hardened weapons, I think we can start cleaning the zombies up and save more stranded residents."


    The president''s words were weed positively by the regent and sultan. However, the president realized that Devita still had other information that she hadn''t given them.


    Devita said, "Mr. President, Sir Regent, and Sultan. Actually, if the magic raisin project and the production of the weapons are sessful, Alex has already prepared another n... this is what I want to discuss with you."

 Chapter 235 - The Plan

    "What n?"


    "You might have heard about the war that almost wiped out the ind of Bali three months ago," Devita began to speak.


    The event that Devita was talking about was the incident on the third night of the war. A very shocking event where Alex and his elite troops were almost ughtered by a monster attack that was too much for them to handle. President Rico had heard reports about it, but he didn''t know how the incident exactly happened.


    Rama, who participated in that battle, exined to them what happened back then. A monster much stronger than the ck zombies, an old man who easily killed that monster, and a skill that could turn back time. All the information he revealed was shocking and hard to believe in the three guests'' eyes. But no matter how unbelievable it sounded to them, it truly happened three months ago.


    Devita continued next, "Since then, Alex has been preparing a more aggressive n.... It isn''t enough for only Indonesia to be stronger"


    "A more aggressive nˇ­ What kind of n?" asked the president, looking serious as he paid attention.


    "ording to Alex, for the next 300 days, we will focus on the discement of residents and urban development," Devita said.


    "Yes, of course we will," the regent agreed with Alex''s n.


    "That is indeed the case, Regent Suryo, but Alex hopes that everyone will focus on producing magic raisins and Tier 1 hardened weapons on arge scale."


    "How big?" asked the sultan. This was something that they absolutely had to know. After all, this concerned not only themselves but also the entirety of Indonesia and its poption.


    "A production of twenty million Tier 1 hardened weapons in 300 days and fifty million magic raisins production per day," Devita simply told them.


    "...." That was in no way a small number. Even calling it a huge amount would still be an understatement.


    "Are you sure you didn''t make a mistake in calcting the amount?" the regent asked Devita to confirm. There was no way that they were supposed to really do that, right?


    The sultan immediately did a quick calction in his head ording to the data that Devita gave them earlier, "For the production of fifty million magic raisins per day, we would need five million workers. Currently, the total poption of the five citiesbined is only around four million people. Even if we were to do our best in gathering the scattered Indonesian poption, the total still wouldn''t reach ten million people."


    "As for twenty million hardened weapons in 300 days, we would need fifty thousand skilled workers as well as a fantastic spirit stone capital of at least sixty million spirit stones."


    "..."


    Everyone in the room immediately fell silent. Devita also knew that this would be extremely difficult to achieve. The message that her husband left her was indeed very difficult, but she knew that for the survival of the human race, it had to be done.


    "What in the world is Alex nning? That amount might even be enough to arm and feed half of all the earth''s remaining inhabitants!"


    "!!!... Is that what Alex is actually intending to do?"


    Devita took out what seemed to be a letter and opened it. It was the letter that Alex left.


    <em>"Everything we''ve prepared is not even nearly enough! The food project of the spirit fruits and the production of this new weapon must be sessful. After that, the focus will be on their mass-scale production. If we want this Earth to avoid its apocalypse, then all of us on Earth must unite. There is no other way,"</em> Devita read the content of the letter Alex left her loud and clear.


    Alex predicted that in the next 300 days, there would only be around a hundred million people on earth who would still survive. If mankind still isn''t prepared by the time the pir countdown ends, Alex estimated that only a third of the entirety of the human race would be able to survive.


    The magic raisins would be able to dispel their food worries and encourage residents to focus on battle preparations. Meanwhile, these weapons would not only increase their fighting power, but with the existence of these less-costly weapons, they would be able to use their spirit stones to focus on developing the skills of the human race, especially the spirit enhancers.


    Cahya continued for her, "Actually, this n is quite simple. It''s just that its implementation won''t be easy and, of course, will require everyone''s help. We''ll do the mass production and export these two products to all of our neighboring countries. To Asia, Europe, and even America."


    The atmosphere was serious, and they were listening attentively.


    "We''ve begun doing this with the Philippines. Through selling the magic raisins, we''ve amassed enough spirit stones to increase the batch of the weapon production."


    "Hahahahaˇ­!" Regent Suryo began tough in an unrestrained manner yet again. "I like it! Since ancient times, wars have always been determined by not only the number of troops at the front lines, but also by adequate financial support. In this case, it would be the spirit stones."


    "All right. I fully support this. I''ll make sure that the city of Yogyakarta will focus on mass production when I return," eximed the sultan.


    President Rico voiced, "For this to work, we would need arge number of ships. I''ll focus on the ship production. I think small ships that can cross the ocean will be enough."


    Cahya interrupted when he heard the president''s words, "Mr. President, actually, we''ll still needrge transport ships."


    President Rico didn''t understand why.


    "I disagree with this! With the storage rings, we can just gather all the cargo in the rings," Rico eximed. In his opinion, there was no need to waste their resources when they could maybe use them for something else.


    "Yes, Sir, I understand, but what I meant is that apart from the ships, we also need arge number of residents... I"m sure that during the delivery of food and weapons, there will be lots of residents who are willing to flee to our base, which is safer, and I''m sure that their government would be happy to let go of them," Cahya exined.


    "Ah, that''s right. I understand now," President Rico immediately felt better when he knew that it wasn''t going to be a waste of resources at all, but more like an investment for their development, for their survival.


    "Well, Devita, it seems that this mass production n can be carried out. Then, while the workers are working, I believe it wouldn''t be a problem for the fighters to start ridding Indonesia''s cities of those zombies."


    "True, I also think so," Rico nodded in agreement with the regent''s view.


    Devita continued by providing another data. The data this time looked shorter than the previous data she showed them.


    Out of the 981,288 residents of the ind of Bali, all of them had been given the opportunity to check their spirit talents.


    A-rank spirit talent: 9 people


    B-rank spirit talent: 121 people


    C-rank spirit talent: 23,731 people


    D-rank spirit talent: 186,321 people


    Normal people usually do not have a spirit talent. Of this number, one-quarter of them couldn''t be expected to be fighters nowadays, since they were either children or the elderly.


    Alex had previously told them that a person with an A-rank spirit talent couldplete all three stages of early, intermediate, and peak-level spirit energy in three months. Meanwhile, those with B-rank spirit talents couldplete them in a year. Alex reminded them that these two types should receive priority for the best training. They should focus their stored spirit stones for their development. Meanwhile, those with C-rank or D-rank spirit talents would be more focused on martial arts training and war formations. Within a year, when those with A-rank and B-rank had broken through the limit of the Earth Realm, they would be able to spread and rid Indonesia of those zombies and monsters.


    The first reason was, of course, to prevent useless casualties due tock of strength. Meanwhile, the second and most important reason was...


    In a year, the millions of zombies that filled up this big city would have reached their maximum evolution. At that time, more ck zombies would appear and almost every other zombie would be red zombies. This meant that the number of white and yellow spirit stones they could get would be more. Alex also told them about the next zombie evolution that would begin to appear, and at that time, only those who had broken past the Earth Realm to the Sky Realm would be able to defeat those zombies.


    President Rico voiced out his opinion, "If it''s like this, I wonder if we should leave some other cities for the next 2 and 3 years."


    "Alex advised that we shouldn''t worry too much about the zombies anymore when the pir countdown reaches 0, because there will be other challenges much more dangerous than the zombies."


    "... No wonder we humans might not be able to survive..."


    "We hope that when the threates, our special forces and Alex will have returned from Australia."


    "Well... of course, we old people shouldn''t just stay silent," eximed the regent excitedly.His fighting spirit red up again.


    "Of course, of course," agreed the sultan enthusiastically.


    President Rico, who was previously a policemander, also didn''t want to be left behind. He always took the time to practice Earth Realm techniques. He wanted to stand at the front when the threates.


    After they received all the information they needed to at the moment, the three high-ranking Indonesians returned to their respective cities.


    "The 300-day period of building and improving ourselves starts now."

 Chapter 236 - The War Of Artifacts

    D''Day 100 - D''Day 200.


    The 1008 Doomsday Pirs came down to earth together 100 days after the gue came. These giant tower-shaped foreign objects descended from the sky simultaneously and suddenly, without any signs nor notice.


    These foreign objects were widespread in all six continents: America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and Antarctica. At the same time, the terror of mutated beasts and zombies that haunted them all day and night was reced as though it was simply an old chapter of a book. From there, a new future for mankind began.


    The first ten days passed with fear, anxiety, and curiosity. Not only a few people thought that these strange pirs were an attack from extraterrestrials. This was especially experienced by explorers who entered the towers for the first time and had to experience the first challenge of the towers.


    The next month was a period filled with pir explorations. Almost everyone who had ess to the pirs knew, studied, and understood the facilities that the pirs had and provided for them..


    News about how the pirs that fell from the sky were able to increase the physical abilities of humans immediately spread to all corners of the Earth. The people who had previously been hiding in mountains, forests, and other remote areas to seek safety began to head to the nearest pir. Another reason for their leave for the pirs was because of the small monsters that appeared. They were called critters, and they became the new terror of mankind.


    The humans began to gather and set up small camps at the foot of the Doomsday Pirs.


    The increasing difficulty of the floor challenges of the pirs, the increasing need for spirit stones, and the prospect of great facilities and prizes inpleting the pirs'' challenges caused the humans to begin to enter the next period.


    A period known in Alex''s previous life as the period of the war of artifacts.


    Humans realized that spirit stones and artifacts were the most important items for them to secure their futures. When they first started to find their first artifact following the directions given by the pir, they realized that the artifact they found was a Tier 2 artifact, that was more valuable than the artifacts that could be found in the pirs.


    The humans began to race to grab as many artifacts as they possibly could. They even did not bother to hesitate to kill each other for these artifacts.


    These Tier 2 artifacts became items that could bring both safety and danger to them. This was especially the case since rumor about how Tier 3 artifacts were found in this hidden ce was spread. These struggles for the artifacts began to heat up even more. Humans fought each other in the name of the world''s salvation or their own safety. However, it all started with the greed of the human heart.


    The worst of course urred in small cities or regions that did not have strong governmental support. With sufficient artifacts, more spirit stones, or high spirit talents, little kings began to appear from these ces.


    The worst conditions urred between cities in Western Europe and Spain. The governments of France, Spain, and Italy had even fought each other, using each other of the incidents of attacks that killed their peak leaders.


    The battle that was started with the reason of being an investigation for the sake of this injustice quickly turned into a battle over the locations of the artifacts which were located within the borders of their respective countries.


    In this chaos, the pope who was elected in the Vatican City intervened, attempting to bring peace between these countries. At the same time, the European countries joined hands with Southeastern Europe, spearheaded by Germany and Greece. The movement for peace against the apocalypse immediately took shape under the g of the Vatican.


    At the end of the third month, discord appeared in the United States. Even with everything she had given her all to do, President McCord still could not prevent the split of the 50 states.


    The president controlled 28 states in Western America, while in Southern state, a new power was formed with a new leader, a high-ranking general. General Max quickly gained support from 8 states in the south, especially Texas. That support was formed with the hope that an iron-armed general would be more suitable to take the lead in an emergency like this. The other 12 states had been eitherpletely overrun by zombies or had their own respective leaders.


    Meanwhile, in the Middle East, a region that had always been in conflict and wars before the apocalypse suddenly had a miracle. The governments of Israel and Palestine were at peace. This conflict that existed for thousands of years ended not long after the apocalypse came. But this time, together, they faced a new threat from a sect on the east. That sect was quickly able to gather millions of supporters in the name of the Heavenly Gate.


    Meanwhile, China, the country with thergest poption, the country with the ability to move the world, suddenly disappeared without a trace. There was absolutely no news at all from this country for 100 days. They carried out total lockdown. Not much information was spread for the countries around China, except, of course, with Russia. The two giants were currently carrying out a grand n.


    On the other hand, Southeast Asian countries such as Thand, Vietnam, Mysia, Singapore, and the Philippines were countries that experienced the greatest impact due to the gue and the apocalypse''s arrival. It was difficult for them to maintain their government. The disharmony of the rtionship between the state and the imbnce of food, as well as the limited capacity and educators among the people, made these countries unable to survive the apocalypse.


    Singapore, D''Day 90.


    In the presidential pce of Singapore, a discussion that would determine Singapore''s future was currently taking ce.


    "Esteemed Prime Minister Lee Semo, I''m sure that all of the products we carried have been checked and proven. Can we finalize this transaction?"


    "Ahem," a man cleared his throat. The man who spoke next was his most trusted minister, Minister Sidao Young.


    "Mr. Cahya, we really need ten million pieces of magic raisins, but added with these thousand weapons, 100,000 spirit stones are too much," Minister Sidao Young spoke out.


    "Mr. Sidao, with these magic raisins, you won''t have to worry about the problem of food for 600,000 Singaporeans. We can also make routine deliveries every two weeks. Also, I''m sure that with the help of 1,000 swords, the Singaporean army will finally be able to cross to Mysia. After that, it will be easy for you to get spirit stones," Cahya spoke in response.


    At this moment, even though Singapore was able to secure its citizens, with how limitednd was here, this country was having difficulties in providing food without the help of the surrounding countries, and with the condition of Mysia being cut off by the army of zombies, they were forced to ept help from neighboring countries who came from this sea.


    Currently, Minister Sidao didn''t have sufficient arguments to reduce the price that they offered. But before he could voice out his forced consent,Cahya spoke again, "Esteemed Prime Minister, how about I add this deal with a solution to a problem for you?"


    Of course, the prime minister had often heard the word ''solution''.


    Cahya continued, "We heard that tens of thousands of refugees are currently stranded at Singapore''s port camps..."


    The prime minister was a little annoyed at how this person in front of him was bringing up a problem of his country, which had nothing to do with this person. On average, these refugees still had family ties with residents of Singapore. They couldn''t drive them away, but with the critical food condition they were currently in, these people ended up stranded in outside camps. Not only that, but their condition was getting worse due to the disease that attacked these refugees.


    "Sir Minister, with this deal, we are also willing to ept them as our problem. We''ll send them to Indonesia and look after them like our own citizens... how is it?" Cahya offered as he looked at Prime Minister Lee Semo.


    It didn''t take long at all for the prime minister to nod his head in response to that offer.


    Cahya was quite surprised at how easily the prime minister agreed to the transaction. He immediately arranged for the transport of the refugees.


    "It''s good that one of our problems can be resolved," the prime minister said, feeling as though a portion of the weight hanging down on his chest was lifted. A part of that relief was also due to trust. He trusted that Cahya wouldn''t allow his people to be mistreated.


    Minister Sidao spoke up, "Yes, the prime minister is indeed very wise. Arge portion of the refugees are Hong Kong citizens anyway, so they''re not really our problem..."


    "Minister Sidao, aren''t they citizens entrusted by your niece Christina?" The prime minister asked. From what he knew, Christina entrusted for these citizens to be taken care of as she had to go with Zhao Wei to meet Zhao Fan.


    "No need to worry, Prime Minister, I''m sure that she will understand that all this is for the sake of the survival of our country," he simply said.


    "Yes... that''s right."


    At the end of the month, around thirty ships crossed the area of ??Southeast Asia and made transactions akin to this one. Of course, this was all part of Alex''s n.


    How was Alex''s condition after being in Australia for over 100 days?

 Chapter 237 - Australia

    D''Day 200, Australia.


    Australia was also called a continental country.The continent of Australia upied a continent that was the driest and not-so-fertilend. The continent of Australia was a continent with a t topography. There was indeed a dividing mountain range in the state, but it couldn''t really be called a mountain range, as the height of the "mountains" was no more than 1,600 meters above the sea level. To be more urate, the "mountains" were hills.


    The central area of ??this continent was filled with deserts. Named deserts of Australia cover 1,371,000 square kilometers or 18% of Australia''s maind. However, approximately 35% of the Australian continent received extremely little rain that those areas were effectively deserts. The deserts in Australia were primarily distributed throughout the western teau and interior londs of the country.


    1,500 kilometers south of the City of Darwin was one of the ten deserts of the Australian continent. This desert was called the Tanami Desert.. It had a rocky terrain with small hills. The Tanami Desert was the northern territory''s final frontier and had not been fully explored until the 20th century. The name Tanami meant "to never die". This referred to certain rock holes in the desert which were said to never run dry.


    After the apocalypse came, the Australian wilderness became a major hotbed for mutated animals. In a certain area of these deserts, a cloud of dust was forming at a fast speed. A group of mutated beasts could be seen running very rapidly in a group.


    [Mutated Dingo]


    [Level 45 mutated beast]


    [Tier 2 medium-level]


    The dingo was an Australian wild dog, but numerous scientists were still unsure about whether this animal should be categorized as a dog or a wolf. However, it was clear that these mutated dingos, each of which was the size of a tiger, were very dangerous animals.


    This medium-level Tier 2 beast could not be fought alone by an ordinary Earth Realm fighter. Moreover, these dingos were ustomed to hunting in groups. An ordinary Earth Realm fighter wouldn''t be able to win a 1-on-1 against one of these mutated dingos, much less against a coordinated group of them.


    At this moment, there were at least a dozen mutated beasts here chasing a fast-moving vehicle.


    "Auntie, hurry up, go faster! Press the pedal as hard as you can! They''re catching up to us!"


    "What!! This son of a b*tch, just who are you calling Auntie!" shouted a beautiful blonde woman. She was the one who was driving that vehicle.


    "Haha, this is the Auntie''s own fault! Who is it that didn''t allow us to drive!"


    "Huh! Especially you two, there is absolutely no way I''ll let you drive."


    "Step on that gas! They''re getting closer!"


    "Calm down, calm downˇ­ We''re almost there... Get ready to fight!" the beautiful blonde woman said in a loud voice. It was loud, but not so loud to be called a shout.


    Far ahead, another simr vehicle could be seen unmoving the middle of the desert.


    A voice was heard from the other side of the radio in the vehicle, "Team A,e in."


    The blonde woman immediately grabbed the radio and shouted at the person on the other side of the radio, "Theo!! we see you!"


    "Yeah, I can clearly see the cloud of dust you''re making from here... we''re ready!"


    "All right then, let''s get this party started!"


    The blonde woman tuned in to the radio and a


    loud rock music began ying.


    "Now that''s more like it, Auntie! This is much more exciting!"


    "Stop calling me that! Call me Sister Cindy or Pretty Sister!"


    "Got it, Pretty Auntie!!"


    "!!" This littleˇŞ


    Even though they were being chased by a group of high-level mutated beasts, it could be seen that these three in the vehicle were not afraid at all. In the other vehicle, which was about a kilometer ahead, three other people could be seen seemingly waiting.


    "How is it?" a young man with wounds all over his body eximed in question.


    "Well, you know exactly what they''re likeˇ­ Why is it so hard for them to be serious for once!" eximed Theo in slight annoyance, scratching his head.


    "Well, at least they''re fine," the man with wounds all over his body then looked at the young woman who was in the vehicle. "You can get yourself ready now, Dinda."


    "All right, on it."


    The young woman wearing a hijab walked out of the vehicle, got on, and stood on the vehicle holding a bow and an arrow.


    Dinda set her eyes deep towards the approaching puff of dust. The hot sun did not seem to obstruct her focus at all. This woman was a former Olympic archery athlete. She swiftly took an arrow and then drew the bow.


    [Longbow - Tier 2]


    [Weighs 12 kilograms]


    [Increases strength]


    As they drew closer and closer, from behind the puff of dust, dozens of mutated beasts that were approaching at a very fast speed were finally almost fully visible.


    500 meters away! An arrow was released.


    SPLAT!! The arrow pierced the head of one of those mutated monsters and that monster immediately died.


    400 meters away!


    SPLAT!!


    Another arrow immediately pierced the second mutated beast. The animal did not even have time to escape and immediately fell.


    300 meters away! Stt!!


    200 meters away! Stt!!


    This time, at a distance of 100 meters, Dinda immediately took three arrows and drew the three arrows at once in one pull.


    [Arrow Arts - Advanced - Multi shot]


    SPLATTT!!!


    This time, three arrows pierced three wild mutated dingos at once, causing them to fall and roll to their death.


    The rest of the mutated dingos that were attacking them noticed that the attacks came from a different vehicle in a different direction. Because of that, they changed the direction of their attack towards that vehicle altogether.


    In less than 3 seconds, the six mutated dingos instantly pounced on Dinda. Even so, there were no signs of panic on her face at all. The man with wounds all over his body got out of the vehicle with two short machetes in his hands. Standing straight in front of the beasts that were charging at him, this man was not afraid in the slightest.


    He immediately uttered three words:


    [Gust of Wind]


    Suddenly, a strong wind charged at six mutated beasts, forcing them to stop their steps.They still constantly struggled to keep attacking, however...


    [Wind Walk]


    [Cleaver - Tier 2]


    [Weight - 5 kilograms]


    [Increases sharpness]


    The man with wounds all over his body immediately charged at full speed, and the mutated beasts were immediately hit by this man''s sh attacks numerous times.


    Their legs, arms, and heads. Those six mutated beasts were mutted into pieces in less than 5 seconds. In short, the battle was over and all twelve mutated beasts that had been trying to attack them immediatelyid lifeless.


    Two young men got out of the vehicle with loud music, the one that just stopped. They looked annoyed.


    "Jerry! Why did you finish them all by yourself! Look, we didn''t get our shares at all!"


    "what matters most right now is our safety. There will still be a lot of other opportunities." Jerry told the two young twins. These twins, Oscar and Oliver, were known as the Lightning Twins.


    Cindy got out of the vehicle and approached the girl who was still standing on it holding a bow.


    "As always, your arrow shots are amazing, Dinda," Cindyplimented sincerely.


    "Thank you, Big Sister Cindy."


    These six people were part of the team that Alex brought to train in the ind of the Australian desert.


    [Jerry]


    [Male - 28 years old]


    [Earth Realm level 30 - Peak stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Wind - Peak stage]


    [Spirit Talent - Level A]


    [Dinda]


    [Female - 21 years old]


    [Earth Realm level 30 - Peak stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Fire - Peak stage]


    [Spirit Talent - Level A]


    [Oliver]


    [Male - 19 years old]


    [Earth Realm level 30 - Peak stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Lightning - Middle stage]


    [Spirit Talent - Level B]


    [Oscar]


    [Male - 19 years old]


    [Earth Realm level 30 - Peak stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Lighting - Middle stage]


    [Spirit Talent - Level B]


    [Theo]


    [Male - 35 years old]


    [Earth Realm level 30 - Peak stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Light - Middle stage]


    [Spirit Talent - Level B]


    [Cindy]


    [Female - 27 years old]


    [Earth Realm level 30 - Peak stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Fire - Initial stage]


    [Spirit Talent - Level C]


    After training with Alex for 200 days in Australia, all of them now had reached the peak of the Earth Realm. It was especially so for Jerry and Dinda. With their A-level spirit talents, they both reached the pinnacle of understanding of the Earth Realm spirit element.


    Of course the twins were annoyed. They all started following Alex at the same time, and yet, it seemed as though their abilities were falling behind.


    "Ugh, if only I had a spirit talent as high as yours, Brother Jerry,"mented Oscar.


    "Oscar!" Oliver immediately eximed, reminding Oscar of something. Hearing Oliver''s exmation, Oscar instantly regretted saying what he just said. Unfortunately, the blonde woman, who was standing not far away, heard it.


    "I''m sorry, Auntie!! I mean, I''m sorry, Pretty Sister!"


    Unlike the others in the team, Cindy didn''t have a spirit talent as good as the others''. And yet, someone with a level B spirit talent was saying that he was jealous of someone with an A-level spirit talent. This was taboo in her ears.


    Dinda had never really said much, and she didn''t say anything this time either. She went straight to the mutated beasts'' carcasses lying in the desert.


    But all of a sudden, Theo felt some kind of strange energy in the area.


    "Be careful!" eximed Theo, warning the team.


    They all immediately understood that something was up. All the fighters were immediately on guard.

 Chapter 238 - Thorny Devil

    The Australian Outback deserts weren''t the driest deserts in the world. These deserts were often hit by rain, causing the wildlife in these deserts to be veryrge and diverse. During the 200 days they were in these deserts, Alex and his entourage had met numerous types of dangerous mutated animals, from big to small, fast to strong.


    "What type of mutated beast is it this time?" Jerry asked Theo.


    Theo put two fingers on his head and tried to use the psychic skills he had be more and more familiar with ever since he reached the Earth Realm.


    Of the four main elements, which were fire, water, wind, and earth, as well as the next four elements, which were lightning, nts, ice, and metal. There were two special elements: Light and darkness. Psychic mental powers were part of the light element. The element of light dominated all existence, whereas darkness dominated all inexistence. After mastering the intermediate-level light spirit element, Theo learned a new skill.


    [Lifeform Detection].


    "It''s at least a Tier 2 high-tier mutated beast. 300 meters from the west!" eximed Theo instantly when he detected it.


    It seemed that the creature Theo was referring to came approaching from the direction of the carcasses of the mutated dingos that previously attacked them. Jerry immediately shouted at Dinda, "Dinda, hurry retreat, now!"


    Dinda immediately jumped back. Promptly, she took an arrow and drew her bow in preparation to shoot whatever wasing their way. She paid special attention to the west, where Theo previously said the beast wasing from.


    "There''s nothing there!" eximed Oscar, contrary to what they expected due to Theo''s warning.


    Even so, they didn''t let down their guards the slightest bit. They believed Theo wasn''t making things up. Theo would never joke about danger. This made them even more worried and alert. An enemy that they couldn''t see was much scarier inparison, as it would be hard for them to know what they were going up against. The six fighters in this ce were all peak-level Earth Realm fighters. Even Dinda and Jerry were peak Earth Realm spirit enhancers. But the six of them were still very wary.


    "Is it that monster? ...isn''t it too fast?" Cindy whispered to Theo worriedly.


    "200 meters! Closer!" eximed Theo. He unconsciously made his voice slightly louder.


    Jerry immediately reacted. He raised his hands and released a wind spirit skill.


    [Gust of Wind]


    It was the same skill which he had shown and proven to be able to withstand six mutated dingos. But this time, he released it to its fullest power. He aimed the skill at the sand on the floor, and the gust of wind raised the sand of the area it touched to form a sand wave crashing toward the west.


    The sand waves could be seen whirling to an area to the west. Not long after, it was clearly visible that on one side, the sand hit a hard object.


    Jerry immediately shouted to Dinda, "Dinda, now!"


    "On it!" Immediately after that, Dinda released her arrow toward the object that was preventing the movement of the sand waves.


    Pssssssh!!!!


    A figure could be seen moving away from behind the sand waves, but the arrow Dinda shot moved faster.


    SPLAT!!


    A ssh of yellow liquid trickled down the desert.It seems that Dinda''s attack seeded in injuring the figure. Because Dinda''s attack seeded in injuring the figure, slowly, the shape of the creature appeared.


    It was a giant, thorny lizard almost the size of a truck. It had ck skin and sharp giant murky orange thorns. The creature''s tail grabbed the arrow that was stuck in its shoulder. As though it was a second head with a mouth and fangs, its tail took out the arrow and bit it until it snapped.


    [Mutated Thorny Devil]


    [Level 60 mutated beast]


    [Tier 2 peak level]


    One of the most unique creatures in the Australian wilderness. These creatures had the ability to change their body colors to camouge, making their bodies invisible. These high-level creatures were one of the most dangerous ones in this wilderness.


    Seeing the form of this mutated being, the six fighters weren''t worried. On the contrary, they sighed in relief and smiled.


    "Oh... I was worried for nothing," said Oliver, also relieved.


    "Still, don''t let your guard down. Keep your eyes open, this is a high-level creature," Jerry reminded.


    Jerry was the fighter appointed to lead the hunt today. With the existence of a fighter as strong as himself, added with Dinda, who was quite powerful, and Theo, who could detect danger, this group''s safety during the hunt was pretty much guaranteed even though there were only six of them.


    They had met this type of creature several times. Even though this creature was very dangerous, with their teambination, they weren''t worried at all.


    This mutated creature looked infuriated. It went back to using its camouge skill and its body began to "disappear".


    "Stay alert!" warned Jerry.


    Theo used his skill again and eximed, "Oliver!"


    "Okay!" eximed Oliver in response.


    He put his hands together and used the skill he had just mastered. His two palms formed a shining electric sh and let out a loud sound.


    [Shock Wave]


    Oliver mmed his hands into the sand below and a burst of electric shock shot down the area of sand around him. Shortly after, the electric shock caught and smote that mutated lizard. The electric shock not only made it revert from its camouged form to its original form, but it also immobilized it for a moment. As a side effect of the shock wave, the mutated lizard was paralyzed for a moment.


    "My turn!" eximed Oscar, the twin brother of Oliver, who was standing nearby. His voice had quite a bit of excitement in it.


    With the mutated lizard in sight, Oscar didn''t hesitate to jump over to the beast. With both hands, he gripped a small dagger and immediately stabbed directly into the neck of the mutated lizard, which had been injured by the arrow earlier.


    When the de of the dagger, which was no longer than 15 centimeters long, stabbed the mutated lizard, a shiny blue light appeared from the wound, and Oscar easily shed through the mutated beast''s tail like hot knife slicing butter.


    The skin of the mutated lizards was one of the hardestpared to other mutated animals in the Australian wilderness. These creatures were high-level mutated beasts that not even artifact weapons could easily pierce through. The sess of this attack wasrgely due to the special dagger Oscar was holding.


    [Lightning Cutter]


    [Dagger - Tier 3]


    [15 centimeters long, weighs 2 kilograms]


    [Special Effect - Extra sharpness]


    [Special Skill - Lighting de]


    This dagger was one of the weapons that were sessfully obtained as B-level rewards for clearing the early challenges of the Doomsday Pir. Oscar was fortunate not because of his sess in clearing the challenge, but because he and Oliver were the only electric-element fighters among them. Because of this, Alex entrusted this weapon to the two of them. This weapon could increase their fighting prowess, which was still left behindpared to other A-rank spirit enhancers.


    "Yeah! Feels so satisfying," eximed Oscar, evidently satisfied.


    Yellow blood flowed along the beast''s body and the beast immediately fell on its back. However, he didn''t notice that the beast''s tail was still moving. It swung at him from behind, trying to catch him off-guard when he thought it waspletely dead.


    "Watch out!! Be careful!" One of Jerry''s greatest worries was that these young men were too careless.


    Jerry used [Wind Walk] as fast as he could to try to help Oscar, but he was too far away. With the distance between them, he wasn''t going to make it.


    SPLASH!


    The fangs on the mutated beast''s tail stopped exactly a few centimeters in front of Oscar''s face. A rope could be seen tied on the tail, pulling it so it couldn''t attack him.


    [Whip - Tier 1]


    [30 meters long, weighs 10 kilograms]


    "Huh! What''s the use of a Tier 3 weapon if the one using it is this stupid!" eximed Cindy, pulling the animal''s tail with her whip.


    WHOOSH! SPLATTT!!


    An arrow struck the mutated beast''s head and pierced right through its eye, and it finally fell fully motionless, really dead this time.


    "Thank you, Pretty Sister," Oscar thanked as he bowed respectfully.


    "Come on, we''ve been here for too long!" eximed Theo.


    They immediately took out the yellow spirit stones from the mutated beasts. The higher the level of the beast was, the more likely it would be for the beast to grant higher-tier stones. After that, they also took out a storage ring and put all the carcasses of the mutated beasts they killed in it. Mutated animal meat was the best solution to increase the strength of these fighters, especially the meat of high-level mutated beasts.


    "Come on, let''s go now!" eximed Theo, ushering them to leave.


    Theo immediately forced all of the teams to get on the vehicles and immediately drove off. It wasn''t long before the team felt an earthquake, and a giant beast came out from underground, just below the area of sand where they had been fighting earlier.


    [Bearded Dragon]


    [Level 80 mutated beast]


    [Tier 3 middle level]


    This was the mutated beast that this team had been afraid of encountering. Their current selves didn''t have the ability to fight Tier 3 mutated beasts. These beasts always approach because they smell the blood of other beasts. Luckily, these beasts couldn''t travel quickly outside the sand.

 Chapter 239 - Alice Spring

    Alice Springs, Australia.


    A small town right in the middle of the continent of Australia. Approximately 1,500 kilometers between the city on the northern side of Australia, Darwin, and the city on the southern side of Australia, Adide.


    Located in the middle of the desert and rocky hills of Australia, this city was home to more than 20,000 residents. But when Alex arrived 100 days ago, this city had be an empty abandoned city. The bustling of the city was no more.


    Alex and 500 special troops of his choice had settled in this city in thest 100 days. Since then, the city had been attacked by mutated beasts and critters several times.


    Fortunately, the tall hills formed a natural refuge for the city. Because of this, Alex only needed to make a defensive wall on two sides, the north and west..


    This afternoon, the guards saw a cloud of dust approaching and immediately sounded the warning bells.


    Bong! Bong! Bong!


    "The bell of the west gate is tolling!!"


    "Yes, that''s our vehicle! Open the gates!"


    From a distance, two jeeps could be seen speeding toward this base.


    "That''s Jerry''s group."


    With the opening of the gate, a squad of twenty people was immediately assigned to guard the gate. This was because every time a convoy came, something would always be following it from the desert.


    "Critters. At least a hundred of them. Do you need another squad''s help?"


    "No need!" confidently answered a young man who jumped down with the squad.


    As soon as the two vehicles elerated and entered the gate, the squad immediately advanced to attack with their weapons. Swords, spears, and shields.


    All of a sudden, a stone wall 10 meters tall raised from the surface. The critters crashed onto the wall. The wall knocked them back and split the critter group of a hundred in half.


    [Stone Wall]


    A high-level skill from an earth elemental spirit. The skill was cast by the confident young man who was with the squad.


    The assembled squad members numbering twenty fought close-hand against fifty critters. Each person fought against two to three critters at once. However, it didn''t really matter to them because they were all special forces who had reached the peak of the Earth Realm.


    The confident young man jumped over the wall he had made and attacked the critters behind the wall.


    [Rock Shower]


    Hundreds of rocks around the ce then flew to attack the critters. He then took out a spear from his storage ring and began to carry out a spear attack among the rain of rocks.


    [Long spear - Tier 2]


    [2.1 meters long, weighs 13 kilograms]


    The Tier 2 spear easily pierced the bodies of those critters. The round stab attackbined with the sweeping motion across the rocks rendered the critters unable to surround the young man.


    It didn''t take long for the twenty fighters next to join in to help. Overpowered, some of the critters started running away. With that, the battle was over fast.


    "Ah, I''m not even sweating," the confident young man said, his voice containing a very slight hint ofint and disappointment.


    The young man then put an earphone in his ear and turned on some music. Soon after, he started rocking and singing his own self-made rap.


    "Yo! Yo! Living in the desert, just like in a concert. Killing all the monsters, prepare for supper!"


    "Ark! Stop rapping! start cleaning up these corpses" But the young man name Ark still carried away by his music.


    [Ark]


    [Male - 22 years old]


    [Earth Realm level 30 - Peak stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Earth - Peak stage]


    [Spirit Talent - Level A]


    Ark was one of the young spirit enhancers who joined Alex after moving from Surabaya to Bali. Today, he was in charge of guarding the base. An A aptitude spirit enhancer at the top earth realm stage, Those critters had no chance of winning against him.


    Another group came out of the gate and began to clean up the critters'' carcasses and looked for spirit stones. At least one of every two critters would drop a white spirit stone.


    Jerry''s group, who had juste back from hunting, immediately gathered in the equipment room and took out all the fruits of theirbor.


    After they hunted for a whole day, they managed to collect six rings full of mutated beast carcasses.


    One special ring held the carcass of the Mutated Thorny Devil and the rest were a mixture of other mutated beasts'' carcasses.


    A plump man wearing an apron immediately examined the carcasses.


    "Mutated dingos! A great catch of Tier 2 beasts! Let''s see, next is... kangaroo... kangaroo... kangaroo meat again. Ah yes, the spikes of this thorny lizard will be quite useful... the meat is kinda tricky to cookˇ­ But nothing''s impossible for Raufgar to cook!! How do lizard pancakes sound?"


    "Reallyˇ­? Lizard pancakes...?"


    Dinda''s face immediately looked pale.


    "Hahaha, I''m just messing with you... Tonight, we''re having barbecued meat... good Aussie-style barbecue."


    "Hooray!"


    [Raufgar]


    [Male - 23 years old]


    [Earth Realm level 30 - Peak stage]


    [Spirit Energy - nt - Peak stage]


    [Spirit Talent - Level A]


    Although Raufgar was a very talented spirit enhancer, he very much preferred cooking over fighting. After having reached the pinnacle level of the nt spirit element, he used his skills more to perfect food recipes.


    "The meat of Mutated Thorny Devils is very smelly. Before we can start cooking it, it has to be wrapped in this leaf first. Then, we can add this cinnamon powder. Yes, I''m sure it''ll be quite the delicacy when it''s done." When cooking, Raufgar seemed to have entered a world of his own.


    Alex always encouraged his team to consume the meat of mutated beasts. The higher their mutation levels, the greater the nutrition they contained. Leveling up this way was better than consuming spirit stones.


    The position of Alice Springs was not only right in the middle of the Australian continent, but the position of this city was between three Doomsday Pirs, which were not more than 100 kilometers from one another.


    Once a week, they would alternate between training and fighting in the pirs with those returning to rest and find food supplies. Currently, there were only about a hundred fighters in Alice Spring City. The rest of the fighters were currently in the nearby Doomsday Pirs.


    That night, except for those who were on guard duty, those in the base gathered to have dinner together.


    Although Alice Springs wasn''t a very big city, the current city was too big for them. Empty buildings and houses, as well as the limited lighting, made the city quite depressing.


    This July, it was also winter in Australia. During the day, the Australian wilderness was scorching hot and dry, but when the night fell, it was very cold. But that night, in the middle surrounding the bonfire, the atmosphere was warmer than usual.


    "We''ve been in this city for more than 100 days, and it''s been several weeks since we''ve reached the peak of the Earth Realm. I can''t wait to start the second challenge."


    "I wonder if we''re strong enough though," Raufgar said honestly. In truth, even though he was quite confident in their power, he wasn''t sure that they were strong enough to start the second challenge.


    "If our team can''t, no one can!" Cindy had always been the most excited one among them all when it came to the Doomsday Pirs.


    "Theo, have Alex messaged you regarding when we''re ready to start the second challenge?" asked Jerry to Theo.


    "Any day now. Colonel Arief''s group should have finished thest 30th floor in a short while... so it should be soon," Theo answered ording to what he knew.


    The fighters here were fighters of the Deathsquad special force and other special forces hand-picked by Alexbined. After 200 days of surviving in the apocalypse and 100 days of battling together in this wilderness, they had be as close as family.


    During thest 100 days, they had also not escaped danger. Of the 500 people who followed Alex, 20 had died. Their bodies were buried not far from this Alice Springs City... the graves were always a reminder for them to be more careful, as anything could happen anytime in this chaotic apocalypse.


    Even though they could feel a rapid increase in their physical power, they knew that the challenges and obstacles ahead would only get heavier.


    ---------


    Dear reader, it''s been 50 days nonstop I have been writing daily because of the win win events. I have to say it started to give affect to my work and health. I apologize that some of the chapters are not ready to publish. And as my editor also needs more time for his main job. I hope you understand if the quality of editing would drop. I will slowly finish this all in theing days. FInally please don''t buy the privilege chapter until I have time to add more chapters.will finish all that i miss as soon as possible.

 Chapter 240 - 30th Floor

    Doomsday Pirs, Australia.


    100 kilometers south of Alice Springs, stood the location of the Doomsday Pir which was one of the three pirs visited by Alex and his team.


    During thest 100 days, Alex and his entourage in particr had gone up to challenge three different Doomsday Pirs.


    Starting with 10 floors on the first pir, they then moved to 10 floors of the second and third pirs. After that, they went back to the first pir to face its next 10 floors and so on. Fight, train, and fight all over again. That was basically all they did for 100 days in a row in this wilderness. It was no wonder that these 500 troops could reach the peak level of the Earth Realm. They had challenged 30 floors of these three pirs as well as consumed the meat of high-level mutated beasts on a daily basis.


    Today, they would finally face the 30th floor of the third pir. And this would be theirst battle before they would be able to enter the challenge of the second Doomsday Pir..


    300 fighters had spent the past week fighting through the 20th floor to the 30th floor. From the battles in the previous two pirs, they already knew the opponent they were going to to face in this 30th floor.


    The 300 fighters divided themselves into three columns and two rows. Each had about 40 to 50 people. The rest of thest group stayed behind to provide support and serve as amand center.


    In front of these troops, there was a group of green-skinned monsters with a body size nearly twice the size of a normal army.


    Hundreds of orcs lined up before them. Their "stance" clearly indicated to them that those orcs were ready to fight.


    Dum! Dum! Dum! Dum!


    The war drums sounded. This was also a sign that the orcs were ready to attack.


    The three groups in the first row prepared themselves for the orcs'' attack. The frontmander this time was a man who was no less muscr than these orcs. This man with a red beard on his face stood at the very front. No slightest trace of fear, worry, or hesitation could be seen on his face.


    "Let theme!!" the red-beardedmander shouted in a deep and resolute voice. It was a voice filled with confidence.


    GRAAAH!!!


    The orc army had begun to step forward. They rushed forward their way faster and faster, getting closer and closer. There were at least over 500 orcs lunging at them at the same time. The scene was akin to hundreds of tanks moving forward, ready to crash at and tten everything in front of them.


    A month or two ago, these warriors would not have been able to fight this charge of 500 orcs. Much less fighting against an army of 500 orcs, even fighting 1 on 1 against these creatures would prove to be very difficult for them at that time. However, right now, all 300 fighters that were gathered here had all reached the peak of the Earth Realm. They were ready to go up against these orcs face-to calmly, without pressure.


    When these orcs had walked halfway, a shout ofmand could clearly be heard from the rear row of the 300 fighters.


    "Arrows!! Draw, Aim... Fire!!"


    Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!


    The army on the rear lines was an army of archers. There were more than 50 people drawing their bows and shooting their arrows toward the iing orcsm


    [Longbow - Tier 1]


    [1.2 meter long, weighs 10 kilograms]


    A rain of arrows fell upon the army of orcs running their way.


    Urgh! Ack! Graahh! Rrargh!


    One by one, the arrows struck the orcs that were charging toward them.


    "One more time!! Draw, Aim... Fire!!" the same voicemanded, bringing forth another rain of arrows to descend to the army of orcs.


    Only with two arrow attacks, dozens of those strong orcs that were about to crash onto them fell. These artifact arrows were powerful enough to pierce the hard skin of the orcs and knock them down. It was obvious that one of those arrows would instantly kill those orcs if it were to hit their vital parts.


    More than 400 orcs were quickly recovering, getting ready to charge at them again.


    "Shield wall!" shouted the man with the red beard. It wasn''t a skill, but amand for the troops.


    Promptly, the entire first line of troops took their position and raised their shields and spears.


    [Tower shield - Tier 1]


    [1.5 meters long, weighs 23 kilograms]


    There were over 50 vanguard troops raising their shields.


    "I don''t want to see any of you fall!!" shouted the man with the red beard, raising therge hammer in his right hand and the shield in his left hand high.


    [Stone Skin]


    The man''s whole body was immediately hardened into a hardness of stone. Immediately after, the burly man lunged forward.


    "Insects!!"


    BAM!!! The man lunged forward by himself. Initially, it seemed as though he was about to crash onto a giant wave and fall, but on the contrary, every orc that met his crash unbelievably flew back due to the impact of his crash.


    Almost at the same time, another orc rammed onto the line of spears and shields.


    BAM!!!


    The troops in the vanguard held back with all their might and the troops on the second line helped in pushing back the ramming orcs.


    Aargh! Hold on!!


    They sessfully held them back! The 400 orcs were unable to break through the line of the 100+ shieldsmen ahead. What a shocking incident.


    A promptingmand then came back from behind them.


    "Spear!!!"


    Following themand, the troops on the second line instantly unsheathed their long spears and immediately carried out a stab from behind.


    [Long spear - Tier 1]


    [1.6 meters long, weighs 14 kilograms]


    Pa!! Pa!! Pa!! Pa!!


    In that one simultaneous attack, more than 50 orcs fell one by one.


    The red-bearded man was still in the middle of hundreds of orcs, but without signs of losing the upper hand, he just continued tough among the green monsters that surrounded him.


    "Hahahahah, you guys are great!! I''m proud!! Now it''s my turn!" His unrestrained voice could be heard loud and clear.


    The burly man then used his favorite skill:


    [Muscle Growth]


    The hand holding the hammer suddenly doubled in size. Following the growth, he raised the hammer in his hand high and mmed it onto the floor.


    [Earth Smash!!]


    The floor in a radius of 20 meters from the hammer''s blow immediately cracked, causimy dozens of orcs to lose their bnce and fall.


    [Earth Cracker]


    [Hammer - Tier 3]


    [80 centimeters long, weighs 32 kilograms]


    [Special Effects - Extra Power]


    [Special Skill - Earth Smash]


    The Tier 3 weapon was swung to smash through the floor, knocking down dozens of orcs nearby. At the same time, there was another shout ofmand from behind.


    "des!!"


    Without dy, dozens of other troops wielding swords and machetes jumped in and broke the two orcs through the middle area which had been ravaged by the man with the red beard.


    Abination of arrows, shields, and spears, as well as swordsmen with a high level of discipline who were deployed at the right time. Of course, adding it up with the personal strength of each army that has reached the top of the Earth Realm. Less than 10 minutes remaining 100 more orcs finally ran backwards


    The man with the red beard still took the time to hit some of the running orcs with his hammer


    "Haaaa you all cowards .. Come back here! I''m sergei ready to serve you"


    [Sergei]


    [Male - 34 years old]


    [Earth Realm level 30 - Peak stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Earth - Peak stage]


    [Spirit Talent - Level A]


    This red bearded fighter is Sergei. Former Russian professional wrestler who has followed Alex from the start. The peak of the earth realm and spirit is also added with tier 3 weapons, the strength of this fighter is doubled.


    Sergei walked back to the line and saw the condition of the troops who had just fought, apart from the scratches and bruises it seemed that the line was fine.


    Sergei Then looked at the person who had been shouting orders from behind


    "Alex !! How good enough? "


    In the Rearguard of themand center area, Alex was watching the progress of the battle apanied by a man with a giant sword on his back.


    "What do you think Colonel Arief?"


    "Yes, I see the rows are tighter and each one looks morepact."


    "Yes, I agree .. It''s not easy getting used to these former soldiers to be closebatants, but it seems that after 100 days they are more used to it"


    Alex and Arief, the strongest special soldiers of the Death Squad, spend a lot of their time training special forces to be ready for the next challenge. Not long after, the sound of the trumpet was heard again. This time it was seen from across the board a new troop joining the orcs who had previously fled.


    "Ok, finally the real opponent hase .. This time we have to show the full capabilities of this troop .. Colonel Arief as usual this time too have to trouble you."


    "Yes, of course Alex."


    From across the party that had just arrived looked very different from the previous orcs, although they had simr body shapes but the opponents this time had ck skin and all of them were wearing full armor and weapons.


    They are the Uruk Hai.

 Chapter 241 - Magi Battle Formation

    "All right, looks like it''s time to get serious," Alex said while looking at the iing enemies. He then stood up, and with Arief beside him, he approached the formation of 300 troops.


    The retreating hundred orcs joined the Uruk-hai army this time. Even though they had really simr, almost the same body forms, these Uruk troops were in a different ss.


    Fully geared with war armors, their gear was unlike those of other orcs'' at all. Instead of the curved scimitars, they used short, broad-ded swords. This army of Uruks had swordsmen, crossbowmen, and berserkers. The berserkers were evenrger and more vicious Uruks. These Uruks made the creepy orcs look like peasants next to these elite fighters.


    Alex saw that the number of Uruks in front of him was not much different from his elite troops. "Looks like all the Uruks on this floor have gathered here.... This battle will be more troublesome than the other 30th floors."


    Colonel Arief, who was standing next to him, nodded in agreement. He had the same thoughts.


    Alex and his fighters had been fighting the Uruks from the 21st floor. However, in general, it was only in groups of 20 to 30. Even in the battles in the previous two pirs, at most, they only had to fight 100 Uruks. There hadn''t been a time where they had to go against 300 Uruks at once like this. Three hundred elite fighters of the Star Army and three hundred troops of Uruks. Alex was eager to know how difficult this fight would be.


    GRAAA!!!


    Unlike the orcs, these Uruks made a formation. The Uruk swordsmen were positioned at the front, one Uruk berserker in every ten Uruks, and the Uruk crossbowmen at the rear.


    One of the Uruks stood before the line. This Uruk had quite a different appearancepared to the other Uruks. This hairless Uruk with reddish skin seemed to be their leader. A war chief. The leader of this army of 300 bloodthirsty warriors.


    Dum! Dum! Dum! Dum! Dum!


    The war drums and battle cries began to resound.


    Seeing the Uruks that were screaming hysterically in front of them, Alexined in slight annoyance, "Orcs and Uruks, why do they all like to scream so much..."


    Immediately after, Alex gave the Star Army an order, "Prepare the Magi battle formation!"


    The battle formation, which was previously divided into 6 parts, was immediately changed into 5 parts with the change in their positions. The vanguard was still the shield and spearmen. The second line was the troops of archers, while the rear line was their support. The other two groups didn''t form a long line, but it was more akin to a triangle in the position of the right and left wings.


    In less than 30 seconds, the formation was instantly formed, and all 300 troops looked very serious.


    Dum! Dum! Dum! Dum! Dum!


    GRAAAHHH!!!


    In contrast to the orc troops that directly attacked them without dy, these Uruk troops walked in unison step by step. They were truly able to intimidate the opponent in front of them.


    When they were less than 200 meters apart, the Uruk army came to a halt. Soon after, the Uruk crossbowmen stepped into the front line. More than a hundred arrows were aimed at the Star Army. Each and every one of the arrows from this army was deadly, and this time, more than a hundred arrows were shot simultaneously.


    Alex immediatelymanded, "Ice."


    Promptly, the dozens of fighters in the front line raised their hands.


    "Ice Wall."


    A momentter, a 3-meter tall ice wall suddenly rose and shielded the entire line of troops. Because of this, the arrows from the Uruk crossbowmen immediately struck the ice wall, stuck on it. It didn''t take long for the ice wall to shatter into pieces, falling to the ground along with the arrows.


    GRAAH!!!


    The Uruk-hai troops looked infuriated and irritated. They soonunched another rain of arrows. And once again, a tall wall of ice blocked the arrow attack.


    This time, Alex would not remain silent without retaliating. Alex gave a signal, "Fire! Metal!" This time, he gave two words ofmand.


    In response to Alex''smand, the 50 archer troops in the rear line took their arrows and drew their bows. However, they didn''t immediately release them. Before they released their arrows, every one of them used two skills:


    "Fire Infusion." "Metal hardening."


    A part of the arrows at the bow immediately had mes on it and another part of them became very shiny. With that, 50 arrows were released at once, aimed directly at the troops on the opposite side.


    The attack of those arrows reinforced by the spirit power of fire and metal broke the Uruks'' formation. The thick armor of those Uruks could not be prated by Tier 1 artifact arrows. However, Tier 1 arrows that were reinforced with spirit powers were able to injure them.


    In that one attack, dozens of Uruks were pierced in their vital areas by the arrows, instantly killing them while injuring dozens of others.


    Again, these archers didn''t immediately fire the second and third shots at once. They applied the same spirit skills on their arrows. Due to this, slowly, the Uruk crossbowmen stepped back and took cover behind the shields.


    The red-skinned Uruk, who was standing at the very front, shouted angrily.


    GROARRRR!!!


    Instantly, the vanguard troops who wielded swords and the berserkers ran forward and charged at them. It only took less than 5 seconds for these Uruks to reach the vanguard of the Star Army''s troops.


    Still standing at the front, Sergei was excited yet again, but this time, he stepped back and entered the line of shields. If he previously believed that he would be able to withstand the attacks of the orcs, he didn''t dare y against the attacks of these Uruks, who were twice as strong as those orcs.


    Alex immediately gave his next signal, "nt."


    More than twenty fighters simultaneously raised their hands and muttered, "Vine Spikes."


    And immediately after, a line of sharp branches and pikes appeared, blocking and restraining the movements of these Uruks. Some of these Uruks were stabbed to the point of falling in pain, while some others managed to break through the branch. Even so, they still had the fate of being hit by the spears from the fighters in the front line. Only a dozen Uruk berserkers weren''t bothered and returned to attacking them.


    Alex continued, "Earth." With that, Sergei and more than twenty troops used [Stone Skin] at once and they charged first. Following them, dozens of fighters wielding shields and spears attacked the Uruks, whose movements were restrained by the branches.


    Seeing this, the red-skinned Uruk immediately shouted, and together with the remaining Uruk crossbowmen, they changed their weapons and joined in on the fight.


    GRRAAAA!!!


    St! St!


    Finally, all the Uruks were gathered together in the middle of the battle. It was time for the final troops to act. The troops on the left and right wings were itching to join the battle.


    "Lightning! Wind!" "Forward!!"


    A dozen fighters on the left and a dozen on the right wielded sharp machetes and swords.


    "Wind Walk!" "Energize!" Those skills allowed them to quickly break through their initial speed. However, they did not attack directly. Instead, they circled the Uruks and attacked them from behind.


    Although they were only a dozen, the high mobility and surprise attacks from behind caused these Uruks to fall into a state of confusion, making them unable to exert their strength to the maximum.


    A fierce battle urred between the two sides. It''s apparent that the humans is on the winning side, but still, a few fighters would get injured, these fighters would immediately withdraw, assisted by thest group who was ready at the rear line. Eight fighters could be seen helping those who were injured to the best of their abilities.


    "Soothing Mist."


    This was an advanced skill of the water spirit fighters. This skill was able to provide a feeling of refreshment and elerate healing regeneration. Although its effects were not instantaneous, and it really took a lot of energy from its users, this skill could change the oue of a war.


    This Magi battle formation was a formation that Alex had prepared to briefly multiply these troops'' fighting ability. Each troop was given a position and weapon ording to the elements they had. Not only that, but they were also required to maximize a certain determined skill. Not to mention, it was also added up with their strength, which was at the peak of the Earth Realm, theirpactness, as well as their battle experience. Those with spirit abilities couldplement those who didn''t.


    The red-skinned Uruk in the middle then shouted a battle cry, and its prowess increased greatly. The fighters who were close to the red-skinned Uruk immediately retreated cautiously.


    Alex immediately tapped the shoulder of the man next to him."Arief, it''s your turn now."


    The man draws his giant sword, and ready to unleash its strength.

 Chapter 242 - Aptitude

    Spirit enhancers were those who had more spiritual talent than others. The spirit abilities of talented spirit enhancers could already be seen when they were still only at the Mortal Realm.


    Fighters like Arief, Sergei, Jerry, Ark, Dinda, and the others could already show their spirit talents before they left for Australia.


    Meanwhile, of the other 500 fighters who also came to Australia, all of them had been tested, and on average, they all had physical abilities above normal Mortal Realm fighters. So it was not a surprise that after entering the Doomsday Pirs, more than half of them had spiritual talent.


    Aptitude A: 9


    Aptitude B: 35


    Aptitude C: 90


    Aptitude D: 150


    For the fighters with aptitude A, all of them were people whom he had known about beforehand. As for the fighters with aptitude B, not all of them were able to show their spirit talents before stepping into the Earth Realm. However, there were indeed some who could, albeit rare..


    The result showing that there were 35 spirit fighters with aptitude B from various spirit elements was indeed great news for him. This was promising.


    Fighters with aptitude A needed around 3 months to master the spirit cultivation to reach the peak of the Earth Realm, fighters with aptitude B needed around 9 to 12 months, fighters with aptitude C needed at least 3 years, while fighters with aptitude D needed at least 10 years to reach the peak of the Earth Realm.


    With the apocalypse nearing really fast, Alex could only depend on the fighters with A and B spirit talents. For those with aptitude C, it would require quite a lot of challenges. And of course, Alex also had other ns for the fighters with aptitude D and those with no spirit talent.


    In thest 3 months, those with aptitude A such as Arief, Sergei, Jerry, Dinda, Ark, and the others had reached the peak of their spirit level, surpassing the physical strength of ordinary people at the peak of the Earth Realm. Because of this, at this moment, they were already at the bottleneck of the Earth Realm and could only wait patiently until the second hall facility of the Doomsday Pir opened.


    For the fighters with aptitude B, they had reached high-stage spirit element cultivation and could already use high-stage spirit skills. So, out of the 35 fighters with aptitude B, Alex was very happy to know that 8 of them were masters of the water element.


    This was because the "Soothing Mist" skill was the first healing skill that only fighters of the water element could master. And this skill could only be mastered by those who were already at the high stage of water spirit cultivation. After 3 months now, the elite forces of the Star Army had 8 medical fighters who were ready to treat those who were injured. Although this skill was very limited in use, this healing skill would be very substantial for the victory of the troops.


    Meanwhile, the fighters with aptitude B and others with aptitude C were gathered and directed to master one major skill for their element and a set of weapons. And so, this Magi battle formation was formed.


    Earth: Spear and shield, "Stone Skin" skill. Front line formation, focus on defense.


    Ice: Spear and shield, "Ice Wall" skill. Front line formation, focus on defense.


    nt: Spear and shield, "Vine Spike" skill. Front line formation, focus on defense.


    Fire: Bow and arrows, "Fire Infusion" skill. Rear line formation, focus on ranged attacks.


    Metal: Bow and arrows, "Metal Hardening" skill. Rear line formation, focus on ranged attacks.


    Wind: Sword or machete, "Wind Walk" skill. Wing formation, focus on melee attacks.


    Lightning: Sword or machete, "Energize" skill. Wing formation, focus on melee attacks.


    Water: "Soothing Mist" skill. Rear formation, focus on healing assists.


    For those with aptitude B or A, of course, they were given more freedom to practice other disciplines. But currently, those with aptitude C were strictly limited to focusing on mastering one spirit skill only.


    Those who had the element of light and darkness were so limited that including them in the formation wasn''t ideal. Whereas those with aptitude D or no aptitude at all were trained to be able to use all three types of weapons so that they could adjust themselves in battle.


    This was the army that Alex had prepared for the challenges of the apocalypse. Alex had lots of other ns for them, but that would only be possible for him to do after hepleted at least two Doomsday Pirs of this apocalypse. And of course, he had to take care of these Uruks first in order to achieve that.


    At this moment, the Uruk leader with reddish skin was using a skill called "Battle Frenzy". When this skill was used, not only the leader was affected, but even the berserkers around him went crazy.


    Alex was worried that there would be casualties from his troops, so he assigned Arief to intervene.


    [Arief]


    [Male - 44 years old]


    [Earth Realm level 30 - Peak stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Metal - Peak stage]


    [Spirit Talent - Level A]


    When Arief entered the battle area, the fighters immediately cheered and the fighting spirit of all of them skyrocketed. Since the majority of the troops who were taking part were part of the special forces, especially the Death Squad, the presence of Arief, who was their leader, was certainly very impactful.


    A berserker lunged toward Arief with a sh of his big sword. However, Arief easily avoided the attack. Arief drew the giant sword in his hand, and with the speed of lightning, the berserker was split in two.


    [Greatsword, Tier 2]


    [1.8 meters long, weighs 32 kilograms]


    [Enhances speed]


    Even though it was only a tier 2 sword, the extra speed bonusbined with the size of the sword and the metal elemental skill [Metal Hardening], Arief''s attack became very deadly for his opponent.


    Arief lunged toward the Uruk-hai army with his fighting experience, deep swordsmanship, and adequate equipment. Nothing could stop him. Every Uruk that tried to get in his way was immediately split into two.


    When Arief got closer to the middle of the battlefield, the red-skinned Uruk leader realized how great Arief''s strength was inparison and ordered dozens of Uruks to surround him.


    Each one of these Uruks had a physical strength equal to that of a fighter at the peak of the Earth Realm. But Arief very confidently fought them all, not even seeming to feel pressured in the slightest bit.


    In the middle of the surrounding Uruks, Arief released his deadly skill.


    [Specialbat skill]


    [Ares Strength - Stage 2]


    [Increases muscle strength]


    [Increases speed]


    This was a skill obtained as the main prize for clearing the first challenge of the Doomsday Pir.


    Arief was able to crash at the Uruk that was using a shield. Immediately after, with one hand, he threw that Uruk toward the other Uruks surrounding him on one side. When they were pushed back, Arief easily shed several of those Uruks at once. As those ordinary Uruks were not even able to follow his movements, they weren''t able to do much of a retaliation against Arief''s attacks.


    Only the Uruk berserkers were able to follow his movements and block his attacks. When the red Uruk began approaching him, ready to attack, Arief was forced to start using tactics. Every time the red-skinned Uruk leader and the Uruk berserkers attacked Arief, he avoided their attacks and approached other Uruks that were fighting, causing the Uruks and Uruk berserkers to kill each other. And Arief was always ready to counterattack whenever an opportunity showed itself.


    The red Uruk leader was getting more and more irritated. The red Uruk used his Battle Frenzy skill again, and at the same time, 20 more Uruks surrounded Arief.


    This time, Arief was beginning to get overpowered by the Uruks.


    nk! nk! St!!


    Fortunately, his "Metal Hardening" skill had reached the peak of the Earth Realm. Not only was his sword hardened, but his entire body was also enhanced with the same metal hardening skill.


    Amidst the fierce battle, all of a sudden, the ground around them began to tremble heavily.


    Sergei''s skill, "Earth Smasher", appeared to assist. He struck with his special hammer at the perfect time, exactly when it was needed.


    Arief did not miss this opportunity. When the red Uruk''s leg was stuck in a crack made from Sergei''s skill, with all his might, Arief swung his greatsword through to the leg of the red-skinned Uruk leader. Because of his sudden attack, the Uruk could only be stunned to see his legs cut off before instantly falling.


    Arief did not hesitate to immediately cut its head. He then raised his head as high as he could and shouted their yell of victory.


    The fighting spirit of the entire Star Army was immediately peaked while the Uruk-hai army, who saw that their war chief had died, finally started to panic and tried to run away. But this gave the fighters with wind and lightning elements the best opportunity so far. At an extremely high speed, those fighters pierced and shed the Uruks that were running one by one, leaving none alive.


    Very soon, the battle of 300 against 300 was finally over, and the fighters began to receive spirit energy from the corpses of the Uruk-hai army and the orcs.


    The battle of thest 30th floor was finally over. Almost every member of the Star Army there reached the maximum level of the Earth Realm.


    "Now, it''s time for us to try the second challenge. Gather all the fighters."

 Chapter 243 - Ready

    Alice Springs, one dayter.


    After the battle on the 30th floor of thest pir ended, Alex and everyone in the Star Army there gathered again in the city of Alice Springs. A total of 485 troops gathered together in the city hall.


    Theo, his childhood friend and pastor.


    Cindy, a short-haired American woman who was also an assistant professor at Harvard University.


    Jerry, Alex''s first spirit enhancer from Bali who was also the leader of the ck Snake Gang.


    Oscar and Oliver, the young twins known as the Lightning Twins.


    Dinda, a woman in a jilbab and a former Olympic archer..


    Ark, a young boy from Surabaya who was also a rapper and a singer.


    Sergei, arge Russian man who was a former Russian wrestler.


    Raufgar, a fat man who loved to cook.


    Arief, a colonel and a high-rankingmander of Death Squad.


    When they were gathered, there was the sound of a vehicle approaching the city hall. Soon after, a few people entered the room.


    "You guys are finally here," said Alex.


    It was two men, two women, and a young child.


    [Tommy]


    [Male - 14 years old]


    [Earth Realm level 30 - Peak stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Darkness - High stage]


    [Spirit Talent - Level A]


    [Daisy]


    [Female - 18 years old]


    [Earth Realm level 30 - Peak stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Light - High stage]


    [Spirit Talent - Level A]


    Daisy and Tommy were teenagers from Jakarta who joined Alex''s group in Java City.


    [Darius]


    [Male - 40 years old]


    [Earth Realm level 30 - Peak stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Darkness - Middle stage]


    [Spirit Talent - Level B]


    Darius was one of the first fighters that Alex found in the city of Bali. Darius was a man who had the same misfortune as Alex. They both lost their entire family to the gue of the apocalypse. He was someone who was known to have mastered the skill of gravity in Alex''s previous lifetime.


    The three of them had juste from one of the other pirs because they still hadn''t finished practicing their spirit element to the peak stage like the others had. The main reason was that the elements of light and darkness were significantly more difficult to understand than any other spirit elements.


    The fourth figure who was present with them was a beautiful ck-haired woman who usually stood next to Alex most of the time.


    [Aria]


    [Female - 28 years old]


    [Earth Realm level 30 - Peak stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Water - Peak stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Ice - Peak stage]


    [Spirit Talent - Level A]


    A dual spirit enhancer.


    A person who was talented in wielding two types of spirit elements at once. In Aria''s case, they were water and ice. Alex himself just found out the secret of Aria''s true strength. It was no wonder that in Alex''s previous life, Aria could be a very famous fighter.


    "Aria, you''ve made it to the peak stage for both of your spirit elements. You''re really amazing," Alex praised sincerely. Indeed, it was no wonder that she could be a very famous fighter in Alex''s previous life. Her sharpness, added up with her talent and perseverance, really made her growth inevitable.


    Hearing Alex''s praise, Aria only remained silent and immediately walked to stand behind Alex once again. It had been quite a while since Aria, who had always been beside Alex as his bodyguard, had to leave Alex for training. This was one of Aria''s motivations to train hard. She wanted to return to continue fulfilling her duties as Alex''s bodyguard.


    It had been a few weeks since Ariast met Alex. Alex didn''t realize that thepliment he just gave her made this woman''s face slightly blush.


    Thest man toe with them was Dario, one of the leaders of the Death Squad guarding the city of Surabaya. He had been part of Aria''s team since the early period of the apocalypse.


    [Dario]


    [Male - 34 years old]


    [Earth Realm level 30 - Peak stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Earth - Middle stage]


    [Spirit Talent - Level C]


    Such a greatmander and veteran fighter, it was such a shame that he only had a level C talent. No matter how hard he worked to train his spirit element, in thest 3 months, he had only been able to reach the middle stage of understanding.


    Cindy approached Aria and began to tease her.


    "Wow! Why is this world so unfair? Not only do you have A-level aptitude, but you''re also a dual spirit enhancer and are so beautiful... You can really make people jealous," Cindy eximed, hugging Aria''s arm. This American woman''s habit of being so open still felt extremely unusual for Aria that she felt awkward.


    Cindy then began to pester Alex when she saw that Aria wasn''t going to respond.


    "Come on, Alex, why don''t you feel bad for me at all? Not only do I have a low spirit talent, but you also don''t give me any good artifacts either... Just look, this whip you gave me is only a Tier 1 artifact... It''s so unfair! Not fair at all!"


    "...Okay, okayˇ­ If the reward forpleting the next challenge is suitable for you to use, then definitely I''ll give it to you," Alex relented with a forced smile. If he didn''t say that. Cindy would never stop bothering him.


    "No! I want to be the one to choose first!"


    She was on fire for a moment, but a secondter, Cindy approached Alex silently.


    "That, or you can just tell me the secret for how you can level up your spirit ability so quickly, Alex. How is it?" she whispered, "offering" him another option.


    "Hahahaˇ­ I don''t even know how to exin it," Alex only drylyughed.


    "Huh! Liar!" Cindy said, clearly not believing and thinking that Alex wanted to keep it all to himself.


    Alex didn''t respond anymore and checked the bracelet on his wrist to look at his status again.


    [Alex]


    [Male - 36 years old]


    [Earth Realm level 30 - Peak stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Light - Peak stage]


    [Spirit Talent - Level B]


    Since the first time Alex entered the Doomsday Pir and checked his status, he was quite shocked. In his previous life, Alex was only someone who had a C-level talent. With such a low aptitude, he couldn''t even be included in the spirit enhancer category. It previously took Alex, who only had a C-level talent, 4 years to reach the peak stage of the light spirit element.


    This time, with only 3 months with a spirit talent of B, Alex was able to reach the peak stage of the light spirit element, while Daisy, who had A-level spirit talent, had only recently reached the high stage. This was what caused Cindy to always force Alex to tell her his "secret" to reaching the peak stage so quickly.


    This seemed to be possible because Alex already had experience with the Earth Realm light spirit element before, so it didn''t take him long to remember how it was and adjust it to his current body. But still, this couldn''t exin the upgrade in his spirit talent from C-level to B-level. Alex was smart enough to realize that this was not an ordinary problem. Only something extraordinary could possibly change the nature of a person''s talent, and the only extraordinary thing that had happened to him was his reincarnation. At this moment, only that could exin what happened to him.


    All the members of the Star Army were gathered here. Even the people who were sent back and forth to look for artifacts around Australia had returned.


    Now, this Star Army consisting of 485 people was already at the peak stage of the Mortal Realm. They were equipped with a few Tier 3 artifacts and dozens of Tier 2 artifacts.


    What was their main strength was their ability to fight as a unit. And of course, the Magi battle formation that multiplied their fighting prowess. This was a deadlybo.


    As the most veteranmando, Arief asked Alex about their strategies in order to face this second challenge.


    "For this second challenge''s battle, we won''t attack with everything we have all as one, but we''ll divide ourselves into three groups and we''ll attack the three pirs simultaneously."


    "..."


    Some of them seemed to be worried that this n might not go very well, so Alex continued, "For this challenge''s battle, you don''t need to worry so much. Just like in the battle of the first challenge, this challenge won''t cause our lives to be at risk. But if we can''tplete the mission, it means that the facility of the second hall won''t open. Of course, I hope that we''ll not only be able toplete the mission, but also manage to get the highest points in order to get the best reward we can get. And to get the maximum points, we have to attack with a minimum number of fighters, which is why we''ll divide ourselves into three groups."


    Alex divided the big group into three. Group A was led by Arief, group B was led by Jerry, and group C was led by Alex himself.


    Alex realized that ever since this Doomsday Pir came, his fighting ability had been left behind inparison to the main fighters of his army. Since the very beginning, his main strategy was to form a super team. But ever since he realized the "upgrade" in his spirit talent''s aptitude, Alex hoped to be part of the main fighters who would fight in the front lines.


    Thinking about this, Alex thought of the wooden sword on his back that the mysterious old man had given him. Until now, even the bracelet on his wrist was still unable to identify the sword. Apart from its sharpness, there was no other thing that was special about this sword.


    [Wood sword]


    [Short sword - ???]


    [90 centimeters long, weighs 12 kilograms]


    [???]


    Alex was sure this sword had a special secret, but for the past three months, he still hadn''t managed to figure it out. Alex hoped the second hall would have an answer or at least a clue. But for him to find out, he had toplete the next challenge first.

 Chapter 244 - Second Challenge

    Today Alex, and over 150 fighters of the Star Army gathered in the second hall on the 31st floor.


    Among them, there were 30 sword fighters led by 10 fighters with the spirit elements of lightning and wind, 60 spear and shield fighters led by 20 fighters with the spirit elements of earth, ice, and nt, 30 archers led by 10 fighters with the spirit elements of fire and metal, as well as 2 medical fighters with the spirit element of water.


    This time, Alex was apanied by Aria, Raufgar, Darius, and Cindy at the gathering.


    Every part of the second hall was very simr to that of the first hall''s. Alex approached the cube stone in the center of the hall, and a batch of information began to enter his mind.


    [You can enter the second challenge.]


    [The second challenge will be a group battle.]


    [The challenge''s battle will be in the form of a simtion.].


    [The penalty of death in the challenge''s simtion will be the decrease of points.]


    [The duration of the challenge will be 7 days.]


    [The reward points will be increased for each missionpletion.]


    [The rewards will be the form of individual rewards as well as group rewards.]


    [Are you ready to enter the second challenge?]


    "Yes," Alex replied to the cubic''s question without dy. The faster they began, the faster they would finish, and the better that would be for them. Of course, Alex epted it also because he believed that they were ready to go against this challenge.


    [165 people have been registered for the challenge''s battle.]


    [This challenge will be closed for the next 7 days.]


    [Good luck.]


    Alex and the fighters of the Star Army who had gathered there were immediately "transported" to an area of green mountains and forests. Immediately after arriving, Alex paid attention to his surroundings.


    "If this ce had snow, it would be really simr to the battle area of the first challenge," Ariamented as she looked around the environment. Indeed, just like how the second hall was extremely simr to the first hall, the battle area of the second challenge was also really simr to the battle area of the first challenge.


    Aria''sment reminded Raufgar of the incident on the first challenge. Raufgar''splexion started to turn pale. "We''re not going to fight wolves again, are we?" he asked out of worry. He absolutely did not want to experience that again.


    The blonde woman next to him realized what he was concerned about and said with a smile, "Raufgar, no need to worry so much... Do you know the most effective way to survive being chased by a wolf?"


    Raufgar immediately listened to Cindy attentively. He didn''t, but he wanted to know.


    "It''s easy. If you''re being chased by a wolf, you don''t need to be the fastest runner. You just need not to be the slowest one. As long as there''s one person behind you who''s slower than you are, you''ll be safe. Better yet, if the person has a big and fat bodyˇ­ then the wolf will definitely choose to attack him like pouncing at the most delicious hamburger," Cindy continued, speaking in a slightly teasing tone.


    Hearing this, Raufgar''splexion began to get even paler... because he realized that his body was big and fat, as well as because he was the slowest runner among everyone who was present at the moment.


    "Hahaha, I''m just kidding, Raufgar. If you encounter such trouble, I''ll definitely take care of you," Cindy chuckled lightly.


    This formation that Alex decided to use had already been considered and pondered over very carefully.


    Alex''s team consisted of Aria, Raufgar, Darius, and Cindy. Arief''s team consisted of Daisy, Tommy, Sergei, and Oliver. Meanwhile, Jerry''s team consisted of Dario, Ark, Dinda, Theo, and Oscar.


    Among each of the teams, there was a battlemander who was trained and experienced in warfare. Aria was the person in team A, Arief in team B, and Dario in team C. The three of them were team heads of the Death Squad.


    Each of the teams also had a fighter who was talented in the elements of protection as the front leader of the fighters wielding spears shields. Raufgar was the one in team A, Sergei in team B, and Ark in team C.


    And more importantly, the three of them had a fighter who was an expert with the element of light who could detect the opponents'' presence radar. Alex was the one in team A, Daisy in team B, and Theo in Team C. The rest was divided ording to their respectivebat abilities.


    When paid attention to, it seemed that apart from Aria, the fighters that Alex chose were not as strong as the fighters in the other teams. Even so, Alex was very confident that for him, the most important thing in clearing this challenge was information about the enemies they would be fighting against. Since Alex had already cleared this challenge before, he wasn''t worried. Although Alex had provided detailed information to the others, no amount of knowledge could beat experience.


    Alex checked the information on the bracelet on his wrist.


    [A horde of orcs has invaded thend. Led by their great orc shaman Drok''Thal, the hordes will unleash chaos and destruction to all living beings.]


    [Mission objective: Stay alive for 7 days.]


    [Mission objective: Eliminate at least half of the orc horde.]


    [Mission objective: Kill Drok''Thal.]


    [The horde will arrive in 48 hours]


    "Wow this is much more exciting than fighting against those wolves," Cindy eximed.


    "Haha, wait until you see how many of those monsters we have to fight," Alex simply replied with a smile.


    "Hm? How many? 500? 1,000?" Cindy inquired. Alex''s simple words piqued her curiosity.


    " around more than 1,000 orcs," Alex replied. Hearing that, Cindy and Raufgar were both relieved. Although their numbers inparison were 1 to 10, this was not impossible. ''That''s not so bad.''


    But it turned out that Alex had only begun talking just now.


    "500 Uruks, 200 berserkers, and 200 rider orcs. In total, all in all horde of 2,000 orcs."


    "..." They were rendered speechless. ''He''s jokingˇ­ right?''


    "Alexˇ­ are you out of your mind? Even our whole army of 500 fighters won''t be able to win so easily against that many of them... and what the f**k are orcs riders, even?" Cindy asked in disbelief.


    "Oh, they''re basically a bunch of orcs riding wolves," Alex answered in a slightly nonchnt tone.


    "...Hahaha... Raufgar, there are wolves too here this time, after allˇ­ hahaha..." Cindy drylyughed. She, too, started to look worried. She really was.


    Even though Raufgar''s face was extremely pale, he tried to calm down and encourage himself. He then turned to look at Alex.


    "We shouldn''t need to worry. Alex definitely has a n for us... Right, Mr. Alex...?" It wasn''t very apparent, but Raufgar''s voice was slightly trembling.


    "...Sort of..." Alex replied with uncertainty, not giving them the slightest bit of assurance.


    "..."


    While they were talking, Darius and Aria had already returned from checking the parameter.


    "Oh, that''s really fast. Great." Alex was satisfied. Not only were they fast, but the amount of information they got was also satisfactory.


    Alex immediately made a battle map based on the information he got from them.


    Even though the mission and opponents that they were about to go against were in ordance with Alex''s previous life, the battle area was constantly changing. Because of this, Alex had to start by studying the conditions of the battle area first.


    By climbing the tallest hill, they immediately realized that they were on an ind that was about 10 square kilometers in area, which was about 10,000 hectares.


    10,000 hectares was indeed a veryrge area, but it was not big enough for them to hide from a horde of 2,000 orcs.


    "Alex, the scouts also found the ce you were looking for; an old fortress that isn''t in use."


    "Ah, Alex, is that the tactic that we''re going to use...? We only need to survive in the fort for 7 days, right?" Cindy voiced out her thoughts.


    Alex replied calmly, "Yes and no."


    They were obviously confused by Alex''s answer. Was it supposed to be a yes or a no?


    Seeing the look of confusion on their faces, he exined further, "We won''t be able to defend against 2,000 orcs in a fortress war... that is the mostmon mistake of the people who face this challenge. But you''re notpletely wrong. Darius, Raufgar, you two can immediately bring 100 troops to the fort and start the preparations ording to n."


    "Okay..." replied Darius.


    "All right. We''ve found the ce for our final battle. Even so, we still have to be prepared to hold back their first wave," Alex reminded in a serious tone.


    150 troops were not enough to use base defensive tactics against 2,000 orcs. The second solution would be guerri attacks, but the biggest obstacle with using guerri tactics in this challenge''s battle would be the fast wolf-riding rider orcs.


    These first 48 hours of preparation was very important. Aria led the team in setting up the traps while Darius and Raufgar were busy tidying up the fort. Only Cindy could be seen not doing any special duties. On the second day, the work they''ve prepared seemed to have increased.


    On thest night of their preparation, Alex had a final briefing with them. After they tried their best to prepare themselves to fight against the horde of 2,000 orcs, it seemed that their confidence had greatly improved.


    "There''s nothing else left to prepare. All we have left to do is just do our best tomorrow."

 Chapter 245 - Battle Start

    In Alex''s previous life, he never really had time to think about the aim of these challenges. He was too busy fighting and training to vent the anger he felt because of his family''s death. But now that he had the chance to repeat these challenges of the apocalypse, Alex began to question the purpose of the Doomsday Pirs ining to the world.


    The battle of the first challenge was against wild beasts such as wolves and bears in the middle of the forest. The fighters were given very little information against these beasts. This challenge''s aim was to test the mental stability and strength, as well as the courage of each fighter.


    Meanwhile, the second challenge was a group challenge. They had to go against an armed enemy that required solidarity and a battle strategy to deal with it. It was considerably more difficultpared to simply killing wild beasts.


    This challenge deliberately left them a fortress in the battle area and gave a time limit for them toplete the challenge. Alex was quite sure that the aim of the scenario prepared this time was to test their ability to work in groups..


    Alex was bing more sure that these Doomsday Pirs had a grand design in having them go through these challenges. In his previous life, mankind onlysted for 10 years after the apocalypse came. This time, if mankind wanted to survive at least longer, they had to know the main purpose of these pirs'' existence. To achieve this, they had toplete all of the floors of these Doomsday Pirs immediately.


    The clock was continuously ticking, and it wouldn''t stop for anything. They had no time to waste.


    On the morning of the third day, a piece of information popped up at the bracelets on their wrists. This piece of information appeared on the bracelet of every fighter participating in the challenge.


    [The horde has arrived, prepare yourselves.]


    Just as it appeared, Alex and his group could feel an earthquake, and in a corner of the ind, Far in the distance, a giant gate appeared. It shone and opened, and the loud sound of war drums could be heard.


    Dum dum dum dum dum.


    Alex immediately brought the fighters whose spirit elements were either wind or lightning and ran toward the direction of where the sound came from with them. Alex only brought along those who had mastered the skills of their respective elements. These 20 people he brought were the fighters with the highest mobility in their group. And there was also Aria. Although Aria didn''t have any skills of the wind element or lightning element, as a spirit enhancer who was at the peak of the Earth Realm, she had a stronger physical constitution than the other fighters, as well as Alex.


    Approximately an hourter, they finally arrived not far from the ce where therge gate appeared. No, simply calling itrge would be an understatement.


    From the distance, Alex and the other twenty people were watching the condition of the opponents who were present. There were at least 500 orcs that were already gathered in front of the gate, and this number was growing every minute. Among them, they could also see some berserker orcs and rider orcs.


    Crackkk!!! Crackkk!!


    The sound of arge tree near them falling startled these fighters.


    The sounds around them confirmed it for Alex. Everything fit perfectly with the challenges that Alex previously faced in his previous life.


    These orcs came in three to four waves, and now, the 500 orcs in front of them were the first wave that they had to fight. They were the vanguards paving the way for the main army. Their job was to create a base camp and check the parameters.


    Alex and the others didn''t wait long and found that the orcs sent two scout groups of 20 to 30 rider orcs each to inspect the surrounding forest.


    Alex made a gesture, and the beautiful woman next to him immediately nodded. Alex and Aria immediately ran following the direction the group of scouting orcs was leaving toward. Aria followed one group, while Alex and the other 20 fighters went after the group.


    Alex and these 20 fighters could move very fast, and in a matter of minutes, they were already fully prepared, ready to attack.


    "Ready...!! Attack!!"


    These 20 high-level fighters with wind and lightning elements leaped from the top of the tree and swiftly attacked the group of orcs.


    [Windwalk] [Energize]


    At a very high speed, the 20 people who were equipped with Tier 1 and Tier 2 weapon artifacts instantly eliminated these 30 rider orcs in seconds. They didn''t even make a sound.


    Alex left a few fighters to clear the area and then immediately ran toward the direction Aria was leaving.


    Aria was a dual element wielder who mastered the elements of water and ice. These two elements had the best skills when it came to tailing or chasing without getting caught.


    [Reflection Body] [Flowing Steps]


    With this, not only were the opponents unable to see Aria, but they also wouldn''t be able to even hear her steps and movements.


    Alex quickly followed in the direction of the second group. As a fighter with the light element, Alex could detect where the second group was moving. From that, he could predict where they were heading toward. But when Alex arrived at the location, Alex only found more than 20 orcs lying motionless.


    In such a short time, Aria was able to finish off the rider orcs.


    "You should''ve waited for us." He could only helplessly sigh. What was done couldn''t be undone, after all.


    "Sorry. I just saw an opportunity earlier and grabbed it," Aria replied.


    Alex knew that Aria was a very talented fighter, but he didn''t expect Aria to be more powerful than he thought. The dual-element spirit enhancer seemed to be a level above the rest. This assured Alex.


    "Did anyone escape?" he asked her.


    "Three riders," she mentioned.


    "All right, all ording to n."


    Not long after, Alex could feel another group approaching them. It was quite arge group.


    "They''re here! Right on time." Alex looked at the iing group with a weing smile.


    Alex returned to assigning several fighters to clean up the orc''s bodies to a location while Alex approached the iing group.


    More than 100 fighters of the Star Army gathered in front of Alex. Among them were Raufgar, Darius, and Cindy. They were all fully armed.


    "All right, none of you are tired, right?" Alex asked to make sure that they were all ready and didn''tck the stamina they would need to go against the orcs. Those orcs couldn''t be underestimated, after all.


    "Of course not! Come on, where are the orcs!" Cindy eximed very enthusiastically. It seemed that she couldn''t wait to kill those orcs.


    "Come with me," Alex simply said to them.


    Before long, the sound of war drums could be heard throughout the forest again.


    Gwaaahh! Gwaaahh!!


    After knowing that the scout orcs that had been sent were attacked, arge group was immediately sent towards the direction of the fire. There were at least 400 sent their way. Among them, there was also a collection of berserker orcs and rider orcs. These riders could smell the scent of blood and dead bodies to follow it.


    But Alex and the fighters numbering over 100 had no ns to fight against the orcs. Instead, Alex used this opportunity to suddenly attack the orcs'' base camp. With 400 orcs having left the base camp, the base camp of those orcs currently had no more than 200 orcs guarding it.


    [Fire Infusion] [Metal Hardening]


    "Draw! Shoot!!"


    Whoosh! Whoosh!


    Dozens of arrows shot toward the orcs who were working to prepare their base camp.


    "Raufgar, Darius, now it''s your turn," Alex told them at the appropriate time.


    The mixed fighters of more than 80 spearmen and swordsmen continued to attack at a very fast speed.


    Raufgar was wielding a short machete and a shield simr to the other vanguards. However, the shield Raufgar was using was a giant shield. With the shield in front of him and hisrge body, Raufgar mmed into the several orcs that were bigger than him and fell.


    "Raufgar!! Cindy followed right behind him, taking cover behind therge Raufgar. Cindy might be one of the weakest among them, but she was one of the bravest. Cindy was always ready to fight on the front lines without fear. She was definitely one of the most courageous ones.


    On another side, Darius was fighting with two short daggers. Every time he got surrounded, Darius used his elemental skill of darkness.


    [ck Smoke]


    Instantly, the vision of the attacking orcs around him was hindered. Apart from using this opportunity to evade, Darius also swiftly attacked the orcs, who fell into a state of confusion due to his skill.


    Alex, who was still positioned at the back to oversee the progress of the battle, was also attacked by the rider orcs. Alex drew his wooden sword, and with just a few simple steps, he was able to evade and cut off the orcs with ease.


    Whoosh! Swoosh!


    The archers who were positioned at the back also advanced and attacked at close range. The main element of this surprise attack was, of course, speed. When Alex felt that the main army of the orcs was already on their way back to the base camp, he immediately gave a signal. Promptly, all the fighters of the Star Army who were there immediately retreated together and disappeared into the forest.


    This was the initial strategy that Alex had prepared. Before the orc army became too big for them to handle, Alex decided to attack them by surprise first. And in these first few hours, not only did they manage to kill over 300 orcs, but they also made the orcs more hesitant about sending their troops out. As a result, these orcs decided to wait for all the orcs of the main army to gather before starting to attack. Because of this, Alex and the fighters of the Star Army got 2 additional days to prepare their defense.

 Chapter 246 - Fotress Battle

    On the third and fourth days, the fighters of the Star Army focused onpleting the preparations while Alex and the swift fighters with either wind or lightning element continued to intercept and finish off the scout orcs that were sent. This made the orcs even more cautious, thus deciding to wait for their entire army to arrive before attacking.


    In the first 4 days, Alex had seeded in eliminating about 25 percent of the total orcs that came out of the gate. But on the fifth day, Alex decided to return and stand on guard at the fort.


    This happened because the whole army had arrived, and with it was their leader, the orc shaman Drok''Thal. These Uruks were three times stronger than ordinary orcs and were more disciplined, so Alex couldn''t lure them away so easily. Meanwhile, an orc shaman was an orc that had spirit power.


    Orcs had very strong physiques, but it was very rare for an orc to be born a shaman. Because of that, an orc shaman had a very high position among the orcs. The presence of this orc shaman not only posed a new threat due to how it was able to use spirit skills, but the presence of the shaman also made the orc leaders, who would normally fight each other very often and sow internal discord, be more united, increasing their prowess even more.


    The horde of 1500 orcs consisted of 200 Uruk crossbowmen, 300 Uruks wielding swords and shields, 100 berserker Uruks, 50 rider orcs, and 800 fighter orcs..


    Under the shaman Drok''Thal''smand, two war chiefs led the orc army. Both of them had symbols on their faces drawn with dye, one white and the other ck. The ck war chief was wielding arge machete, while the white war chief was wielding two axes. They were both the strongest fighters and themanders of the Uruks.


    No matter how strong and united the Star Army that Alex led was, unless they somehow already managed to reach the Sky Realm, there was basically no way for them to win in a direct battle with a number ratio of 1 to 10.


    Dum dum dum dum dum.


    Alex saw the horde of orcsing from behind the rows of trees, closing in on them. It was most likely because of the presence of the orc shaman that the orc army seemed quite disciplined as they marched toward the fort. A total of more than 1,500 orcs encircled the small fort where Alex and his troops were holding out.


    The fort was in the shape of a circle. It was about half a football field. Around the fort was a 6-meter-tall stone wall. Supposedly, it was high enough to physically block those green monsters from jumping into the fort right away. However, with the experience from his previous life, this 6-meter wall was unable to block these orcs. That was why the surroundings of the wall were already filled with long sharp spears. Hundreds of long sharp spears attached with a gap of about 10 to 20 centimeters along 500 meters surrounded the fort like a hedgehog.


    The fort had four gates. At this time, Alex ced troops with thisposition:


    North Gate: Aria


    South Gate: Raufgar


    East Gate: Cindy


    West Gate: Darius


    40 swordsmen and archers were divided into 4 sides. Meanwhile, 20 of the 80 fighters with spear and shield stood guard in the middle, where the two water fighters were on standby to assist them.


    Alex stood at the north gate facing the position of the main army of those orcs. Alex saw the shaman staring at him, as if knowing that Alex was the leader of this army.


    Alex remembered that in his previous life, he was just a small soldier. A look like this used to cause his whole body to tremble. But it was different now. Alex intended not only to win this battle, but also to get as many points as possible.


    Dum dum dum dum dum.


    The war drums sounded again, and ording to his estimation, the first attack would be made by 800 orcs. From the four sides of the fort, all of them started running to fill the empty field between the forest and the fort.


    GRAAAH!


    An army of 800 orcs nearly twice the size of an ordinary adult human charged at their fort all at the same time. It was already quite intimidating if those monsters only charged at them, but those monsters didn''t just charge at them disorderly. They charged altogether in an orderly manner, which made it even more intimidating.


    "Archers!" He called out to signal them to prepare themselves. He then shouted to all of them, "Be careful with the opponent''s crossbow arrows!!"


    The crossbows of the enemy troops were quite terrifying. They could reach from a distance of 300 meters. However, because it was quite far away, the fighters on top of the fort could see the direction the arrows wereing from. The row of sharp spears was enough to help them repel the arrows.


    "Draw! Shoot!!"


    On the other side, the arrows fired by the archers of the Star Army were able to kill the orcs one by one. Unfortunately, Alex didn''t have that many archers. There were only 10 archers on each side. Against the attacks of hundreds of orcs, the archers could only kill a total of about 100 orcs before the rest managed to reach the fort walls.


    The orcs that were more than 3 meters tall were able to reach the end of the 6-meter wall with just one jump. With their sharp weapons in hand, the orcs had no trouble clinging to the walls. With just one jump, they could grab the sharp spears or destroy the spears. But of course, the fighters of the Star Army there would not let them in so easily.


    Pa! Pa! Pa!


    The fighters'' artifact spear attacks shed and pierced the orc''s dangling body until they were riddled with holes.


    Attack!! Attack!! Attack!!


    Using the gap between the sharp spears, the fighters unsheathed their respective weapons. Sword shes, spear thrusts, and arrow shots. These fighters only needed to pay attention not to let a crossbow arrow go through and pierce them through the gaps.


    Within minutes, there were 80 to 90 orcs that were killed. Due to their sheer number, dozens of those orcs managed to jump up the fort and destroy the spears.


    [Wind Walk] [Energize]


    But before these orcs could break down the defenses and start making way for the other orcs to enter, the swordsmen of the Star Army deftly finished them off.


    Meanwhile, Alex''s attention was still focused on the orc shaman in front of them. And just as he expected, he soon saw the shaman starting to do something.


    Several of the injured orcs were carried closer to him, and with one hand holding a strange cane and the other aimed at the several injured orcs, suddenly, a strange green light came out from the injured orcs. The green light entered the staff in the orc shaman''s hand, and without dy, the previously injured orcs seemed to have lost their lives.


    The shaman swung his cane, and suddenly, a purple fireball attacked, shooting toward Alex''s position.


    Unfortunately, Alex was already fully prepared for this attack, as he had constantly been on guard against them, especially the orc shaman.


    "Ice Wall!!" he quickly reacted.


    Instantly, several fighters of the ice element next to him simultaneously used the protective skill.


    BAM! Crack!


    Thebination of the Ice Wall skill by three spirit fighters was able to fully withstand the orc shaman''s purple fireball attack. Once again the shaman released the same skill, and again the fighters next to Alex fully blocked it. And this annoyed the orc shaman. He began to deploy some of his berserker troops to join the battle.


    The berserker troops had twice the physical strength of ordinary orcs, so they could more easily break into fortresses. The involvement of 50 berserkers increased the strength of the orcs'' attack by a great margin.


    Each side had more than 200 orcs attacking, while the troops on guard for each side of the fort walls were less than 40. Alex was forced to use the next tactic. With his signal, a ming arrow shot toward the ground beneath the feet of the attacking orcs. Instantly, huge mes surrounded the fort and burned dozens of orcs.


    The huge mes ignited screams of pain from the orcs and cries of victory from the soldiers. The huge fire not only killed dozens of orcs, but it also made the orc army split in half. This indirectly made the attack pressure much less than how it initially was.


    Thud! Thud! St!


    GRAAA!!


    Minute by minute, the orc troops fell. Meanwhile, the wounded fighters of the Star Army were immediately brought to where the medics were.


    3 hours had passed, but out of the 800 orcs, still more than half of them were fighting. Unlike humans, these orcs had much higher stamina, and it seemed that the longer the battlested, the stronger they would be, and the more that the Star Army would lose their upper hand.


    Soon, the fire would be extinguished. From behind the smoke, Alex could already see a group of berserker Uruks ready to charge toward the main gate. With the number or remaining orcs and the berserker Uruks charging at them, Alex believed that this gate would not be able tost very long.


    "All right, get ready to guard in front of the gate."

 Chapter 247 - Alex Battle

    This challenge was actually impossible to be won by only 150 people. Each of those orcs possessed the same strength as fighters at the intermediate level of the Earth Realm. Each of those Uruks was at the same level as fighters at the intermediate level and the berserker Uruks had at least the same strength as fighters at the peak level. This horde of abination of 2,000 orcs had a very terrifying amount ofbat power.


    In Alex''s previous life, toplete this challenge, a country had to gather all of its best fighters for one pir. Generally, it took about 500 fighters at the peak of the Earth Realm toplete this challenge. But that number could only get very few points. It was the minimum amount.


    Achieving the minimum amount of points meant that they managed to eliminate half of the enemy''s forces. Meanwhile, the points they get would be higher if there were still fighters who were still alive at the end of the seventh day. Of course, the amount of points they would get would be the maximum amount if they manage topletely eliminate the entire horde. But on average, the fighters weren''t even able to withstand the siege on the fortress for more than a day..


    The fire attack that had separated the hundreds of orc troops had been extinguished.


    At least the fighters of the Star Army were able to eliminate more than 300 orcs and injure tens of others in the first 3 hours. Every now and then, the orc shaman would throw an attack of a purple ball akin to the previous ones, and the ice elemental fighters would use their Ice Wall skill to block the attack from the orc shaman every time. Alex had to rotate all 10 ice elemental fighters to continue using the skill. Meanwhile, the orc shaman didn''tck any injured orcs to continue to serve as his attack ammunition.


    GRAHH!! GRAHHH!!!


    This time, dozens of berserkers were deployed to break down the northern gate of the fort. With them were several orcs carryingrge chunks of wood, ready to break down the gates.


    Alex saw that the fighters were already starting to get overwhelmed. Most of the long sharp spears had been destroyed by the attack of the orcs that had jumped over the wall. Alex noticed that dozens of his fighters were already seriously injured and were being healed by the medic.


    Alex was ready to move on to the next strategy. He gave a signal, and when the berserkers were busy breaking down the gate, out of nowhere, a beautiful woman jumped on top of the chunk of wood and immediately beheaded several orcs simultaneously.


    At the same time, the gate opened, and Alex and 10 fighters wielding spears and shields charged out.


    A fierce battle immediately broke out at the north gate. With the gate of this area now opened, the attacking horde of orcs soon began to move toward the main gate.


    St!


    GRAHHH!!


    It was now time for Alex to release his skill. Alex regted his breathing and took out two swords of different lengths from his storage ring.


    [Short sword - Tier 2]


    [90 centimeters long, weighs 4 kilograms]


    [Increases speed]


    [Long sword - Tier 2]


    [130 centimeters long, weighs 7 kilograms]


    [Increased sharpness]


    These two swords were swords from the collection of artifacts around the continent of Australia. With these Tier 2 swords, Alex didn''t have to worry about fighting these orcs. As for the mysterious wooden sword, it remained on Alex''s back.


    [Dual sword technique - High level]


    [Hexagram technique - Stage 4]


    [Increases speed]


    [Increases power]


    Alex might not have the kind of talent Aria had, but he had the skills he had mastered in his previous life. When he got ess to the Doomsday Pir, the pir analyzed that Alex already has the sword skill and the Hexagram technique. It seemed that his training during the previous 10 years had not been in vain.


    The Hexagram technique was a special technique that didn''t only increase its wielder''s speed and power, but it also had unique moves that could confuse opponents and maybe even cause them to fall into disarray.


    Whoosh!


    St! St!


    One by one, every orc that tried to get through the open gate fell victim to Alex and Aria''s deft attacks.


    Every now and then, Alex and Aria were bound to be hindered by the berserkers'' attacks that were able to rival them with physical power, which was why the 10 fighters with shields behind them were ready to guard against the orcs who managed to get past the two of them.


    Not long after, a fighter informed him that the same attack had taken ce at the southern gate.


    "Aria! Go help Raufgar!" Alex was parrying an orc''s attack, but right after he heard the fighter, he immediately eximed toward Aria for her to help Raufgar at the southern gate.


    "But what about you?" A few orcs still managed to get past even though there were two of them guarding at the front, how would things go if only Alex attacked at the front? She was worried.


    "Hey, could it be that you think I''m not any stronger than him, now..? Just go and help him, I''ll be fine on my own," Alex tried to reassure her.


    Aria hesitated to leave Alex, but she still obeyed hismand in the end. She had to believe in him.


    With Aria leaving for the southern gate, Alex guarded the northern gate on his own against dozens of orcs twice as big as he was. Those orcs charged toward him, seemingly impatient to finish him off.


    Seeing the orcs charging violently yet orderly at him,m, Alex didn''t back down. On the contrary, he even decided to take a few steps out of the fortress gate.


    [Hexagram Steps]


    This was a part of the Hexagram technique that he had studied over the years. The skill was best suited to resist a siege. And the wider the area of ??motion was, the easier it would be for Alex to maximize the use of this skill.


    This skill wasn''t just for him to move at a fast speed. However, the Hexagram Steps was a skill of steps that followed the formation of the Hexagram, aplex formation step that these orcs couldn''t follow.


    The battle continued until it got dark. With Alex and Aria guarding the northern and southern gates, the attacks of the orcs who kept trying to climb the wall decreased. At this time, it was clear that the orcs who could still fight were running low. No more than 200 orcs were left on their side. However, the Uruks still hadn''t moved at all.


    500 Uruks were at least two times stronger than 800 orcs. When they began to make their move, the battle would reach its climax.


    Suddenly, a piece of information popped up from the bracelet on the wrist of Alex and every other participating fighter.


    [You have eliminated half of the horde.]


    [Objective onepleted.]


    With this information, even if Alex and the others were to die right now, they would still havepleted the challenge and could ess the next floor. But of course, Alex wouldn''t be satisfied with the result.


    With the orc army dwindling, Alex began to retreat back and into the ranks of the 10 spear and shield fighters.


    Alex sighed, sweating all over. He began to feel heavy. He could only use his stage 4 Hexagram technique for about 2 hours. In thest hour, his technique stage has dropped back to stage 2.


    A blonde-haired woman walked up to Alex.


    "Ah, Cindy, you''re still alive..." Alex weakly said with a smile


    "Seeing your current condition, it seems that our end isn''t that far in the future... Is it time for us to use that weapon?"


    "No... soon... Trust me... Be patient..."


    "Uhh, I can''t wait!!" Cindy impatiently said. It seemed that she really couldn''t wait to use it.


    "How many of our members are dead?" Alex inquired.


    "Hahaha, guess how many! Zero! Isn''t it great? There are some who are dyingˇ­ They''re being treated, but it seems that the medical team can''t do it anymore, they are at their limit..."


    "It''s fine, I hope that we''ll be able to carry out our next strategy soon."


    "Yeah... or who knows? Maybe they''ll withdraw first ande back to attack tomorrow!" Cindy optimistically said.p


    "Hahaha, that would really be favorable for usˇ­ But that won''t happen. Hundreds of these orcs were sent to weaken us. The orc shaman isn''t that stupid to withdraw the orc horde when they''ve gone this far and allow us to recover."


    Suddenly, the war drums sounded again...


    Dum dum dum dum dum.


    "Well! They''re here, all ording to n. Let''s get ready," he calmly said to Cindy.


    "Ready!!" The more tense the battle was, the more excited Cindy became. Alex was still amazed by this woman. ''Are all American women like her?''


    The 500 Uruks began to move. The crossbowmen also advanced and got ready to adjust to the small machetes on their shoulders.


    GAAAAHHHH!!! The ck orc war chief screamed at the very front, and promptly, the fighting prowess of the Uruks increased.


    [Battle Fury activated.]


    500 troops consisting of Uruks and berserkers were ready to charge in. The rest remained on guard with the orc shaman to see the changes.


    The line of ck-armored soldiers fully armed with weapons made the fighters on top of the fortress worry.


    Alex finally gave the signal to move to their next strategy.

 Chapter 248 - Secret Weapon

    Their first objective was sessfullypleted. Now, this battle was entering its climax stage. In Alex''s previous life, almost no troops could survive when these 500 Uruks charged in. If Alex brought over 500 of his troops, then of course this line of ck-armored soldiers wouldn''t even be able to have a step of theirs enter this fort. However, at this moment, Alex only had 165 fighters, of which more than 20 of them were heavily injured and almost all of them were already tired after killing over 500 orcs.


    As these 500 troops drew near, the remaining 200 orcs seemed to be paving the way for them. These Uruks were walking in a very tidy formation, and their every step felt capable of shaking the battlefield.


    The ck orc war chief eagerly stood in the front line. He obviously couldn''t wait to crush them all to pieces.


    However, in this condition, all the gates that were previously open were closed again, and thick ck smoke covered the entire fort as if it was on fire.


    Seeing this, the Uruks weren''t worried that what Alex had prepared wouldn''t make them tremble or retreat.. None of the Uruks in the horde believed that whatever Alex had prepared would pose a threat to them. Meanwhile, Alex''s entire army was surrounded and there was no way out of this smoke, but they didn''t seem bothered at all.


    Once again, the Uruks shouted loudly and sped up their steps. The remaining 200 orcs followed them from behind.


    GRAAHHH!! GRAAHHH!!


    In just a few minutes, the four gates were sessfully destroyed. From behind the broken gates, they found only thick white smoke. They returned to their formation and began to slowly enter the smoke.


    GRAAHHH!! GRAAHHH!!


    After walking several tens of steps into the smoke, they finally found the shadow of the opponent in front of them. They immediately attacked.


    nk!! nk!!


    GWAAHHH!!!


    The Uruk and orc troops soon realized that they were attacking Uruk troops who had entered from another gate. And this caused them to start wondering, because at this time, the entire fortress was filled with troops of Uruks and orcs, but they didn''t find any humans.


    When they were still in confusion, all of a sudden, the orc army that was following them started screaming, and some of them fell to the ground.


    GWAAHHH!! GWAAHHH!!


    [High-level poison has been found in the air.]


    [The Uruk warriors have been poisoned.]


    [The orc warriors have been poisoned.]


    [The Uruk warriors have been weakened.]


    [The orc warriors have been greatly weakened.]


    On the other hand, they found a hole that was big enough for people to go through covered by woods. It seemed that Alex and the Star Army had fled through this hole.


    GRAAHHH!! GRAAHHH!!


    Outside the fort, the orc shaman realized that something had happened, but it seemed that he was toote. The shaman turned around and felt a strong wind approach him. He suddenly felt something sharp touch his neck, and immediately, everything went dark. The orc shaman''s head fell to the ground.


    [The mission objective "Kill Drok''Thal" has beenpleted.]


    Near the body of the orc shaman who had died, the figure of a beautiful girl appeared out of thin air. Aria had just used her skill and seeded in assassinating the orc shaman. The white orc war chief standing nearby could only be annoyed to see the orc shaman die just like that.


    With angry screams, dozens of berserker Uruks who were still with him rushed at Aria together.


    However...


    Swoosh! Swoosh!


    [me Infusion] [Metal Hardening]


    Arrows instantly pierced the heads of some of the berserkers, causing them to stop advancing. Not long after, Alex and more than 100 troops rushed forward from the forest.


    "Attack!! Finish them all!!" Alex shouted,manding the present troops of the Star Army. With Alex''s shout notcking any energy, the Star Army''s spirits were lit up, and they charged toward the enemies brimming with the spirit to fight.


    [Windwalk] [Energize] [Stone Skin]


    The entire elemental army used their skills and charged toward the berserkers. Alex, Cindy, Darius, and Raufgar joined the battle in the front lines.


    [Entangle]


    This was one of the nt skills that Raufgar mastered, which was able to bind dozens of these berserkers at once.


    With her [me Infusion] skill, Cindy turned the Tier 1 whip in her hand into circling a whip of fire and broke apart and put the enemy formation into disarray. Alex and Darius swiftly shed at the berserkers one by one.


    Aria faced off one-on-one with the white orc war chief. Physically, this war chief''s ability could rival that of a peak stage Earth Realm spirit enhancer''s. However, among all the people present, the worst opponent it could get was Aria. Fighting one-on-one with an enemy that you couldn''t see could only lead to defeat.


    In less than 10 minutes, the battle outside was won. Dozens of berserkers and also wolf riders who were ambushed were killed immediately. Among them, of course, the major sesses were the death of the orc shaman Drok''Thal and the white orc war chief.


    The fighters cheered for their victory.


    Alex and his troops not only spent the first 4 days strengthening the fortress, but they also spent their time making an underground tunnel from inside the fort to an area 200 meters outside.


    But the main part of this strategy was the secret weapon that Alex had prepared beforehand. A special object that he burned to turn it into the white smoke in the fortress.


    This poison was the secret to Alex''s confidence to divide his army into 3 groups and win this battle.


    [Mutated Redback Spider Chelicerae]


    An item that looked akin to a ck charcoal wood. This was one of the main reasons Alex came to Australia. The redback spider was one of the most dangerous mutated animals in the Australian wilderness. Its poison was certainly enough to kill a normal person without any difficulty.


    Last month, after the majority of the fighters of the Star Army had reached the peak stage of the Earth Realm, Alex brought his best troops into a cave, which was this spider''s "nest". In order to get these spider fangs, some of the troops that Alex brought even had to lose their lives. This item was the secret to their team''s present victory.


    Now, before the Star Army, stood 500 Uruks who hade out of the fortress. Seeing the death of the orc shaman and the white orc war chief, these Uruks began to falter. Added up with their weakened physical condition, their strength, which could be seen a few minutes ago, hadpletely disappeared.


    None of the 200 orcs that previously came in with the Uruks was seening out. ording to Alex''s prediction, this poison was very effective to paralyze orcs that were only in the middle stage of the Earth Realm, whereas for the Uruks, this poison only weakened their bodies.


    Alex readied his line of fighters for their final attack. He wouldn''t waste this opportunity. The poison was indeed very strong, but its spread was very unstable and the time for its effects to stay was not long. He needed to finish off all the remaining orcs and Uruks right away.


    "Okay! This is it, boys! I''ll remind you again, don''t be afraid. If you die in this battle, we''ll meet again soon, but don''t be jealous when you see the rewards that those who survived got... Got it?" He loudly said to the Star Army with a big smile on his face.


    With great joy, Alex encouraged them not to be afraid of death, but also reminded them not to die at the same time. All the fatigue they previously felt immediately disappeared when they heard Alex''s words. His words dispelled their worry for those who had it and encouraged them.


    "Attack!!!" Alexmanded with a very loud shout.


    Thest battle of 500 weakened Uruks against 150 fighters of the Star Army. It was a very fierce battle. Even though the Uruks were weakened by the poison and had quite a bit of their morale down due to the orc shaman and the white orc war chief''s death, these Uruks continued to fight wildly. Alex and his troops had to make repeated charge attacks to break through their defensive lines. After Alex managed to kill thest orc war chief, the uruks very soon began to lose their cohesiveness. In the end, the entire field outside the fortress was filled with corpses, and although more than half of them were seriously injured, it seemed that none of Alex''s men had be a casualty.


    Alex and those who were still strong entered the fort and started cleaning up the orcs that were already limp with ease. The fight was over at the end of the fifth day. And along with that, Alex and all the participants of the challenge finally won the battle with perfect scores.


    [Congrattions onpleting the second challenge with a perfect score.]

 Chapter 249 - Rewards

    [Congrattions onpleting the second challenge with a perfect score.]


    [The mission objective "Kill Drok''Thal" has beenpleted.]


    [The mission objective "Eliminate at least half of the orc horde" has beenpleted.]


    [The mission objective "Stay alive for 7 days" has beenpleted.]


    [Congrattions, you and your party have sessfullypleted the second challenge.]


    [Congrattions onpleting the mission with the minimum number of members.]


    [The group battle rank result is A.]


    ------.


    [Congrattions on killing the two Uruk war chiefs.]


    [Congrattions on sessfullypleting the mission on the first try.]


    [Congrattions, you have achieved the second highest score.]


    [Your personal sess ranking is A.]


    [You are entitled to the reward ording to your rank.]


    [Challengepleted. A total of 165 participants, all participants will return in 10 seconds.]


    [10... 9... 8...]


    Together with the notifications, all 165 fighters of the Star Army who participated in the challenge were "transported" back to the second hall.


    Those who were previously dying immediately returned to their normal state. Alex immediately walked towards the cubic stone in the middle of the room, and an inscription from the beam came out on top of the cube.


    [Congrattions onpleting the second challenge, please ept your rewards!]


    [The hall''s level 2 facility ess has been activated.]


    The ground they were standing on shook, and two new cubes of stone were raised in two corners of the room. Just like the first cube, these two cubes also glowed with the same strange letters, but they could understand it.


    [Store - Level 2]


    [Training Hall - Level 2]


    Alex didn''t immediately ess the two cubes. He first opened the main cube''s panel. And currently, three pieces of information could be essed.


    [Collect prize]


    [ess the 31st floor]


    [Countdown Clock]


    [Pir Network]


    As much as Alex wanted to immediately check the rewards he received, Alex was encouraged to first open the 4th option, the newest facility that has only just been obtained from the second hall, [Pir Network].


    When Alex chose this option, without notice, an earth map opened, and among them were clearly visible the positions of the 1,000 pirs scattered throughout the world. But some of the 1,000 pirs had different colors of light.


    [ess pir ranking]


    [This is the pir rank ording topletion time:]


    [Rank 1. Doomsday Pir 765 - Completed on Day 165 - Location: Italy]


    [Rank 2. Doomsday Pir 644 - Completed on Day 170 - Location: Greece]


    [Rank 3. Doomsday Pir 170 - Completed on Day 172 - Location: China]


    [Rank 4. Doomsday Pir 321 - Completed on Day 173 - Location: America]


    [Rank 5. Doomsday Pir 778 - Completed om Day 175 - Location: Germany]


    [Rank 6ˇ­]


    [Rank 7ˇ­]


    [Rank 8...]


    After browsing through the list, Alex finally found what he was looking for.


    [Rank 13. Doomsday Pir 219 - Completed on Day 190 - Location: Indonesia]


    [Rank 17. Doomsday Pir 974 - Completed on Day 202 - Location: Australia]


    Alex immediately essed the data.


    [Connecting to Pir 219.]


    Suddenly, in his mind, Alex could hear the voice he had been waiting for.


    "Alex, is that you?"


    "Yes .. good to hear your voice" replied Alex to the voice of a woman who is very familiar


    "When I saw the Australian pir pop up on the radar, I knew it was you .."


    This is the newest facility specifically for pirs that have sessfullypleted the challenge hall 2 and opened hall level 2. Currently, Alex directly tests the facility and contacted the pir in Bali and has sessfullymunicated with his wife Devita.


    [ess Network Room with pir 219]


    Suddenly Alex moved to an empty room. And a momentter the figure of a woman he missed stood in front of him.


    "Is this real?"


    "Let just think of it''s as a 3 dimensional call"


    "I see I still prefer whatsapp chat actually"


    Devita starts talking about things that have happened in Bali. From magic raisins, hardened weapons, to trading rtions with other countries.


    "You did really well .. It must be hard for you .. i am sorry"


    "Don''t worry these works help to distract me from being insane"


    Alex walked over to his wife and then hugged her, and in a few moments, they just fell silent in a hug. Although they clearly seem to miss each other, their rtionship never seems to bepletely liquid like it used to be.


    After 10 years past the end of time, Alex has be a different person. Between him and his wife was like a hole that was difficult to close again.


    Alex schedules a time to meet again at another time with his two daughters. Currently, there are still many things he wants to explore. Previously, Alex looked back at the existing ranking list.


    Alex was quite surprised that another 16 pirs had sessfully essed the hall level 2. In fact, it was not difficult for Alex to finish the challenge first. If Alex does not take long to ensure that all the members reach the peak stage to pursue points, of course, he can finish faster.


    The first ranking was achieved by the Doomsday Pir in Italy, on the 165th day after the Doomsday started, 1 month ahead of Alex. It''s an extraordinary achievement. In Alex''s previous life, the first ranking was achieved by China and even then on the 200th day after Doomsday. It seems that Alex has seeded in changing the advancement of the strength of fighters around the world.


    Judging from the location of the pir that managed to finish faster than himself, Alex tried to predict which country and which fighter had seeded. Alex returned to open the ess panel on the cube stone.


    [ess pir ranking]


    [This is the pir rank ording topletion ranking:]


    [Rank 1. Doomsday Pir 974 - Rank A - Location: Australia]


    [Rank 2. Doomsday Pir 170 - Rank A - Location: China]


    [Rank 3. Doomsday Pir 765 - Rank B + - Location: Italy]


    [Rank 4. Doomsday Pir 778 - Rank B + - Location: Germany]


    [Rank 6. Doomsday Pir 321 - Rank B - Location: America]


    [Rank 7. Doomsday Pir 219 - Rank B - Location: Indonesia]


    [Rank 8. Doomsday Pir 448 - Rank B - Location: Israel]


    [Rank 6 ...]


    [Rank 7 ...]


    [Rank 8 ...]


    It turned out that the results were not much different, China, Italy, Germany and America. For the Americans, Alex is pretty sure that in a way that could have happened because of James''s help. For the pirs in China it is also not surprising that in the previous life China had such a great brawler. But Alex doesn''t know too much about the power in Europe. When Alex was strong enough to engage in battle, Europe was already destroyed. He had heard of the hidden power in Rome behind the Vatican. As for Germany Alex only remembers the organization he fought in Mexico before the end of time.


    Alex took a deep breath, and was quite pleased to see this data. Whoever they are, the stronger they are, the better for the human world. Alex couldn''t wait to get to know them more. The next line of ns was already in his mind. But everyone has to wait. Time to see the reward he got from the Challenge.


    Alex returned to ess the stone and a piece of information entered his mind again.


    [Collect prize]


    [ess the 31st floor]


    [Countdown Clock]


    [Pir Network]


    Collect Prize!


    [Congrattions, you are entitled to a prize ording to your rank]


    [The group battle rank result is A.]


    [Processingˇ­.]


    [You receive 5,000 spirit stone credit]


    [Congrattions on sessfullypleting the mission in the first opportunity]


    [Reward double, receive 5,000 spirit stone credit]


    [Your personal sess ranking is A.]


    [Processingˇ­.]


    [You receive 5,000 spirit stone credit]


    [Congrattions on sessfullypleting the mission in the first opportunity]


    [Reward double, receive 5,000 spirit stone credit]


    [You receive The Beast transformation skill]


    [Tier 3 special skills]


    The spirit stone credit can be used as a currency to purchase any item in the store and library. A total of 20.000 credit and a tier 3 special skill. Alex is feeling really lucky right now.


    ---------


    Dear readers, the Win Win event for this month is finally over. Thest 2 months of writing daily have been a tiring, yet also fun and exciting experience. I wish I could be like other authors who can write all day. Unfortunately, I have a full-time job that I need to take care of. But don''t worry, I won''t stop writing Doomsday Pirs. I just need a few days of break from writing it. hope for your understanding and patience.


    Pleasee back in a few days for new chapters of Doomsday Pirs (Although they will mostly be privileged chapters). For my dearest readers who wish to save your coins, please return in December, when I will once again start writing my Win Win daily chapters.


    Or you can always visit and support my new novel, "Earth''s Greatest Magus"!


    It''s a story about five individuals who were taken into a magus academy in 85 BC. The story is a mix of history and fantasy. And for you, my most loyal readers, I"ll give you a hint. The novel has the same universe as Doomsday Pirs''. ^ _ ^


    Please give the novel some support and love, as it really needs more power stone votes to get more featured by AllNovelFull.


    Sincerely yours,


    Avans.

 Chapter 250 - Knight And Magus

    You received Beast Transformation Skill]


    [Requirement : Sky Realm Stage]


    This Beast Transformation Skill is a very rare skill. Alex remembered that there was one Sky Realm fighter that transformed to Armored Wing Creature with this skill and able to fight side by side with Saint Realm fighters.


    Alex hold this special skill scroll tightly. He can''t wait to know what beast he will get. Flying beast, Armored beast or even Dragon-type beast. There is also chance to get Legendary beast. Whatever that is, it will surely increases his fighting power many times over.


    Because he is too happy. Alex didn''t realized that a blond woman was standing beside him.


    "Hehehe... What did you get there Alex? Must be a very nice thing."


    Alex was taken back by her voice. In front of Cindy, he looked like a teenager who got caught reading adult magazine.


    "Alex, can I take a look what is in your hand?" asked Cindy with her eyes glittering


    Alex''s heart skipped a beat. He is not willing to give the scroll to her.


    "Alex, you promised me. You are a man who keeps his promise right?"


    Alex reluctantly handed the scroll to Cindy. She smiled widely when she saw the scroll.


    "Beast Transformation.. Hmm I think this skill suits me."


    Cindy is someone who only has D grade aptitude. She didn''t have any hope to be a spirit enhancer. This skill will be very useful for her.


    "Wellˇ­ actually, it might not suit women." Alex tried to keep his calm. He tried not to make it seem like the scroll was very precious.


    "Hehehe.. nice try Alex. But this is now mine!" said Cindy as she quickly tossed the scroll into her storage without waiting for Alex to respond.


    Alex''s heart bled as he saw what happened to his precious scroll. "Why is this shameless woman in my group?" Alex thought.


    As the ce where they can upgrade their realm, the training hall was currently crowded with people.


    All 165 fighters had gathered to await Alex''s direction. Alex specifically asked them to wait before upgrading their realm.


    Aria cannot wait for Alex''s arrival.


    "Let''s get in!" eximed Alex.


    One by one, all 165 fighters entered the training hall.


    This ce was almost the same as the Level 1 Training hall. The only thing that different is the content of that stone panel.


    Four messages showed up in Alex''s mind as he stood on top of that glowing circle.


    [Check status]


    [Skill Library]


    [Practice]


    [Realm enhancement]


    "Check Status!"


    A glowing inscription appeared in front of him.


    [Alex]


    [Male - 36 years]


    [Earth Realm Level 30 - Peak Stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Light - Peak stage]


    [Spirit Talent - B]


    [You have reached the peak stage of the earth realm. You are eligible for a realm upgrade.]


    [Peak stage spirit energy detected]


    [You are able to choose to upgrade Sky realm level Knight or Magus]


    [Upgrade to Sky realm Knight?]


    [Upgrade to Sky realm Magus?]


    This was the choices when they reach the peak stage of Earth Realm. And for those who had reached the peak stage of Earth realm Spirit energy, the magus came out specifically asan option.


    Early stage Sky Realm Knight had 3 times the strength of peak stage Earth Realm. And 10 times its strength when it reached the peak. This change brings great transformation to human body.


    Unfortunately for those who chose Sky realm Knight, this stage will be the final stage for them. As for the Sky realm Magus, they still have the potential to upgrade themselves to be Saint realm fighter.


    Alex exined this in front of his 165 fighters, and this information cast a lot of doubt on these elite fighters.


    For Spirit enhancer fighter like Aria and Raufgar who have A grade aptitude, they can easily choose the Sky realm Magus option. But for those with B grade aptitude, it would take several months for them to reach the peak stage of Earth realm. Especially for those who have C grade aptitude which takes years.


    If they want to be a Sky realm Magus, then they would have to dy their current realm upgrade right now.


    Alex spoke truthfully to this group.


    "I suggest that those with D grade aptitude and no aptitude to immediately upgrade to Sky realm Knight. As for those of B rank, I have to force you guys to wait for Sky realm Magus. And finally for those with C grade aptitude, I will let you guys decide for yourself."


    Alex reminds them again that doomsday challenge will not wait for them. There are less than 300 days until the first tribtion begins, they are now fighting against time.


    After hearing Alex''s exnation, one by one they opened the stone panel ess and began to upgrade their realm.


    Alex looked back at his profile status, it is really fortunate for him to reach the peak stage of Earth realm this quickly. However he realized that the same thing would not happen for him in the next stage. Sky realm was thest stage he reached before he reincarnated. From this point onwards is entirely new for him, fraught with uncertainty.


    Alex approached the panel and a piece of message showed up in his mind.


    [Upgrade to Sky realm Magus?]


    "Yes!"


    [Five thousand spirit stones are required]


    Five thousand spirit stones are a big number, luckily Alex has earned twenty thousand spirit credits from his reward forpleting the second challenge with perfect score.


    [Use spirit credit]


    Spirit credit are exactly like spirit stone but can only be used to exchange all skills and items from Doomsday Pir.


    After confirming the exchange, light shes under Alex''s feet and he instantly lifted from the ground by gravity and flies away.


    Alex felt his whole body receive hundreds of injections simultaneously throughout his body. Suddenly, streams of energy churned through all 108 meridian veins in his body.


    Peak stage Mortal realm elevates the human body to its maximum potential, while the Peak stage Earth realm induces the spirit power to synergies with the meridian within the human body. With the synergization of spirit power, it increases the physical prowess of the body by tenfold. When peak stage Earth realm expert reaches the Sky realm, a knight is someone who managed to sessfullybine physical body and spirit power to its entirety. While for the Magus, its centralize all the spirit power into a spirit core within the body. This spirit core became the source of spiritual power for all the magus.


    Approximately 1 hourter, Alex has sessfully created his light spirit core within his body. the process is finallyplete. As if being reborn, Alex felt unfamiliar with the new power that flows through his body.


    "Check Status!"


    A glowing inscription appeared in front of hIM


    [Alex]


    [Sky Realm Level 1 - Early Stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Light - Early Stage]


    [Spirit Aptitude B]


    While looking at the Sky realm description, Alex smiled with satisfaction. It took him 5 years to reach this level in his previous life, while he was able to reach it in less than 1 year in this life.


    It wasn''t long before Raufgar and Aria reached the Sky realm Magus. Followed by more than one hundred fighters who upgraded themselves to Sky realm Knight. Dozens of other fighters decided to hold back and return to training. They determine to train even harder so that they quickly breakthrough and reach the peak stage. Darius is one of those people.


    Not long after, Alex heard scream from Cindy


    "KYYAAAA!!"


    All eyes were on Cindy. Her face and eyes seemed to change slightly and tworge cat-like ears appeared above her head.


    "Alex! Please tell me it''s a good beast!"


    It turned out that when Cindy upgraded to Sky realm Knight, she immediately used that Beast Transformation Skill scroll.


    [Beast transformation ¨C Lynx - stage 1]


    [Increase speed] [increase strength]


    "A lynx?" Alex frankly didn''t know about this transformation at all.


    " Don''t worry, it suits you. Anyway, it''s still stage 1. The higher the stage, the stronger it is."


    "You think so? Hahaha thank you for the gift."


    Cindy hugged Alex and kissed him on the cheek.


    With this transformation and her cheerful personality, men who saw Cindy felt she was cuter than ever. Alex also thought the same thing. But Alex suddenly noticed a piercing aura thating from his side.


    Aria looks at him sharply.


    "Gift?"asked Aria.


    "What''s with that question? You already have a better reward by getting rank 1!"


    "..."


    ---------------------------


    Dear readers, the Win Win event for this month is finally over. Thest 2 months of writing daily have been a tiring, yet also fun and exciting experience. I wish I could be like other authors who can write all day. Unfortunately, I have a full-time job that I need to take care of. But don''t worry, I won''t stop writing Doomsday Pirs. I just need a few days of break from writing it. hope for your understanding and patience.


    Thank you very much. more chapter areing

 Chapter 251 - Level 2 Facility

    Today, Alex congrattes his two other teams who seed onpleting the second challenge, following Alex''s team. The two teams are Arief''s group together with Jerry''s group. Both of them also manage toplete the challenge with A Gradepletion score.


    The top personal ranking was obtained by Jerry, Dinda, Tommy, and Arief. Apart from obtaining arge amount of spirit credit, each of them also received a high-level item reward. Seeing Tommy, a 14-year-old teenager, seed in getting high ranking in the challenge motivates all the other fighters to try harder.


    From this second challenge, each one who scored extremely well received fifteen thousand to twenty thousand spirit credits, which is a lot. Now, it is time for them to use that spirit credit to increase their realm.


    Alex provided the same information he given to the previous group regarding advancement to the Sky realm. They all had to decide whether they want to upgrade as a Magus or a Knight.


    Arief, Jerry, Aria, Sergei, Dinda, Raufghar, Ark, Daisy, and Tommy, those who have A grade aptitude did not hesitate to immediately upgrade their realm into Sky realm Magus.. Meanwhile people like Darius, Oscar, Oliver, and Theo are forced to be patient and return to deepen their understanding of their respective spirit elements.


    A total amount of thirty five B grade aptitude fighters need to refrain themselves from upgrading to Sky realm fighter.


    Alex estimates that it will still take them six to nine months until they can reach the peak understanding of their respective elements. Meanwhile, those C grade aptitude fighters needed even more time to achieve the same result, which ranged from two to three years.


    Alex continues to persuade them to be patient and wait until the right time to advance their realm. He truly understands their feelings because in his previous life he also had a simr experience with them, being part of those who were left behind from others. No matter how hard he focused and tried, the progress that he made was miniscule at best. The contrast between fighters of B grade and C grade aptitude was the greatest indicator between those who gifted in spirit power and not.


    All of these fighters arerades in the fight against orcs and zombies, in fact many of them have even been together as an army soldier. For the fighters to see theirrades advancing to the Sky realm is quite tempting for them, which on the contrary made them work even harder to keep up with theirrade''s steps.


    It is not easy for them to remain patient and maintain concentration to practice and meditate when those around them need help.In the end, of the more than a hundred C grade fighters that was left, only half of them had decided not to advance to the Sky realm.


    A total of one hundred elite fighters consisting of thirty five B grade fighters and sixty five C grade fighters, all agreed to return and train their understanding in the training room until they reach its peak. At this point, there was not much else Alex could do for his fighters.


    The remaining three hundred eighty fighters began to upgrade themselves through the limits of Earth realm and bing a Sky realm Knight.


    [Upgrade into Sky realm Knight?]


    [2500 spirit stones are required]


    Its Half the amount of spirit stones require to breaking through as the sky realm Magus.


    All three hundred eighty fighters, each of them, one by one began to upgrade into Sky realm Knight and with this they had reached the pinnacle of human physical strength.


    [Sky realm level 1 - early stage]


    Even though the Sky realm is thest realm that they can reach, but this stage still have 30 levels consisting of early stage, middle stage, high stage, and peak stage of Sky realm.


    And this time,pared to when Alex advanced to the peak of Earth realm, it was not as easy to advance to the peak of Sky realm.


    For these newly ascended knights, Alex could only encourage them to train and focus on one type of weapon. Swords, hammers, cudgels, axes, knives, spears, bow and arrows, shotguns, shields, hand-to-handbat, and other type of weapons. They can choose from either one of these myriad collection of weapons. Apart from that, Alex also encourages them to master thebat art skill. These are the special skill that doesn''t rely on the power of the element.


    In the Earth realm, each of Spirit Enchancer can learn dozens of basic spirit manual and after reaching Sky realm they can finally begin to learn Advanced level spell, provided they have mastered Sky realm early stage spirit manual.


    [Advanced Light Spirit manual - early stage]


    [2000 spirit stones]


    [Use spirit credit]


    [Advanced Sword Art skill]


    [Advanced Longsword technique - basic]


    [2000 spirit stones]


    [Use spirit credit]


    Including the cost of upgrading his realm, Alex has already used up nine thousand spirit credits. If he didn''t earn the double bonus point in his previous challenge, he would run out of spirit credits at this point. The same thing happens to all fighter in all parts of the world.


    To reach the peak stage of Sky realm one needed not only talent and time but spirit stones as well.


    All nine A grade aptitude fighters who have elevated themselves to the Sky realm Magus are the main force of the star army. Alex had to make sure they could reach the peak of their realm soon.


    [Arief]


    [Male, 44 years old]


    [Sky realm level 1 - early stage]


    [Sky Magus - Metal - early stage]


    [Jerry]


    [Male, 28 years old]


    [Sky realm level 1 - early stage]


    [Sky Magus - Wind - early stage]


    [Aria]


    [Female, 28 years old]


    [Sky realm level 1 - early stage]


    [Sky Magus - Water - early stage]


    [Sky Magus - Ice - early stage]


    [Sergei]


    [Male, 34 years old]


    [Sky realm level 1 - early stage]


    [Sky Magus - Earth - early stage]


    [Dinda]


    [Female, 21 years old]


    [Sky realm level 1 - early stage]


    [Sky Magus - Fire - early stage]


    [Raufgar]


    [Male, 23 years old]


    [Sky realm level 1 - early stage]


    [Sky Magus - nt - early stage]


    [Ark]


    [Male, 28 years old]


    [Sky realm level 1 - early stage]


    [Sky Magus - Earth- early stage]


    [Daisy]


    [Female, 18 years old]


    [Sky realm level 1 - early stage]


    [Sky Magus - Light- early stage]


    [Tommy]


    [Male, 14 years old]


    [Sky realm level 1 - early stage]


    [Sky Magus - Darkness - early stage]


    Now everyone is refocusing on mastering the early stages of their elemental spirit. Alex expected a minimum of 2-4 weeks for them to do this.


    Besides the level 2 training hall. Again, they opened ess [Store - Level 2]


    Unlike the level 1 store, this level 2 store provided ess to tier 2 weapons and gears, all have a price range from one thousand to ten thousand spirit credits.


    [3611- Trident Spear - Tier 2]


    [Weight : 24 kilograms]


    [Increases speed]


    [2000 spirit stones]


    [0577 - Shield - Tier 2]


    [Buckler shield]


    [Weight : 19 kilograms]


    [Increases defense]


    [4000 spirit stones]


    [0029 - Cuirass Set - Heavy armor - Tier 2]


    [A set of body armor]


    [Weight : 33.5 kilograms]


    [Elemental resistance]


    [Set item - Extra damage resistance]


    [8000 spirit stones]


    [Energy gun - Tier 2]


    [Length : 110 centimeters, Weight : 22 kilograms]


    [Long range shotgun, requires spirit stones as ammunition]


    [9000 spirit stones]


    [Stone golem - Tier 2]


    [Height : 330 centimeters , Weight : 310 kilograms]


    [The stone golem can be controlled by telepathy, requires spirit stones as energy]


    [10000 spirit stones]


    [Storage ring - Tier 2]


    [Storage space : 10 cubic meters]


    [3000 spirit stones]


    With the appearance of the tier 2 stone golem, the golem who apanied Alex at the start can now be owned in general.


    Alex himself currently has a tier 2 sword artifact weapon. He then advises his current team to buy protective gear respectively.


    [Combat Armor - Tier 2]


    [Medium Armor]


    [Weight : 7 kilograms]


    [Protective energy 100/100]


    [3000 spirit stones]


    This tier 2bat armor has a protective shield, which is very useful for the safety of Alex''s fighters when they are fighting. This tier 2bat armor are also rarely found and cannot be madeby craftsmen at the Bali headquarters. So when the level 2 store opened, it was time for all the fighters to have new armor, recing the snake skin armor that were made at star headquarters.


    With enough Spirit Credit, now except the 100 who are not yet to upgrade the realm, all the fighters will each have a tier 2 protective armor and tier 2 weapon.Alex elite fighters suddenly multiply their battle power.


    After upgrading their realm and purchasing the armor and weapon. suddenly all their spirit credit are drained.Still wishing they can get more items from the store but the specifications and prices of each of these artifact made them only able to drool over it.


    Luckily, Alex already had the solution for this. In this continent, there are 28 Doomsday Pir that are ready to increase their level and also fill their pockets with lots of spirit credit. But before that, Alex receive many messages from the other doomsday pirs across the globe.

 Chapter 252 - World Conference

    On this day, several Doomsday Pirs around the world get a very surprising information.


    Rome - Italy


    A man can be seen rushing into the Pope''s Chamber and almost tripped his leg in the process. Pope Strauss looked at the man and was confused about what was causing the man to be in rush.


    "Your Excellency, There is a surprising news! There are 3 new pirs that appear in the sensor within two days."


    "Calm down my child, slowly tell me the news"


    It has been almost 4 months since the pirsnded in the world. The pope thinks it is not surprising that more and more people have been able toplete the second challenge.., this is good news, There is nothing to worry about.


    Seeing the confused expression that was still etched on the man''s face.. Pope Strauss asked the man again.


    "Anything else?"


    "Actually.. Yes, Your Excellency. These three pirs appeared very close together in the middle of the Australian continent. And... all three of them got an A gradepletion score and included in the top ranking."


    "..."


    Pope Strauss who heard the news was silent for a moment. This information shows that a highly specialized troop was the one whopleted the challenge. Considering Australia''s location which is close to Indonesia, the cardinal is quite sure that these three pirs cleared by that man named Alex, the man who ims toe from the future.. a reincarnator.


    "Send a message to those pirs in Australia..." said the Pope. It is time for him to get to know more about this man named Alex.


    Beijing - China.


    Zhao Fan, the head of the Zhao family, one of the 5 most powerful families in China, was seen smiling after he received an information letter about the pirs in Australia.


    Zhao Fan summoned the beautiful woman who was practicing sword in front of him.


    "Christinaˇ­" he called softly.


    Christina who heard his voice immediately stopped practicing and walked over to Zhao Fan.


    "Yes Elder." Christina replied respectfully.


    Zhao Fan asked her "Christina, how much do you recognize this man named Alex?"


    The Zhao family are very resourceful, they already have very detailed information about Alex. That''s why he knows that Christina is Alex''s old friend.


    "I''m sorry Elder, but why are you suddenly asking?" asked Christina


    "I have received information that your friend is very sessful with his journey, he has justpleted three pirs on the Australian continent."


    Hearing information about Alex''s sess in Australia brought joy to Christina''s face.


    "Is this information true Elder?" asked Christina eagerly.


    "It is, my child." Zhao Fan replied with a smile as he looked at her.


    "Now.. youe with me Christina. I want to know more about this Alex."


    "Alright Elder.." she answered while following him.


    Nevada - United States


    A middle-aged man was standing on the stone panel of the Doomsday Pir hall. This man seemed to beughing happily at the information about the three new Doomsday Pirs in the ranking.


    "Immediately convey a message to President McCord, tell her that a friend from Indonesia can be contacted." he said happily.


    Europe, China, and United States. The three greatest powers of the world are simultaneously looking for Alex. Many eyes are on these pirs in Australia.


    Alex realizes that he immediately needs to startmunicating with various parties around the world, but before that he contacts James first.


    "James! I''m d you were alive!" Alex said with a grin.


    "Huh!? What kind of greeting is that?" replied James.


    "Hahaha.. Of course this is apliment, thousands of people die every day. And now that you''re in a foreignnd, of course I''m worried about your safety."


    "Huh! Worry about yourself that are in the middle of the desert." James countered back.


    "Hahaha."


    After the friendly banter, Alex finally told James what he wanted to talk about.


    "James, it is time for the nations to sit together and talk." Alex said seriously.


    Stunned with the Alex''s word, James replied "How can I be any help?"


    "Can you try to connect me with President McCord?" asked Alex


    "Sure, wait a second."


    After his call were connected, Alex rmended President McCord as the legitimate leader of the United States to make the invitation. United States as one of thergest countries in the world is the right choice to host this meeting.


    After everything Alex ended the call, James asked Alex lots of questions that he wanted to ask. Alex then talked about what happened after they separated.


    Finally, August 1, Day 214 after the apocalypse, was determined as the meeting date. James coordinated with the president to invite all representatives of the Doomsday Pir who hadpleted the second challenge, both legitimate and illegitimate state representatives.


    After that, Alex started to collect data on global conditions for thest 100 days. He received a lot of information from his wife and Rico, But he got most of the information from James.


    The United States government provides Alex with thetest intelligence in an effort to forge better cooperation. United States has information on poption movement, troops and zombie horde areas in South America, Canada and Russia. They also shared information on the political conditions of the country before and after the disaster.


    Alex tried topare the current global situation with the global situation in his previous life. This time it appears that more countries are able to maintain their governments. This life''s United States is very different from before, but very different conditions are seen in Europe, especially Central Europe. The roles of Germany, Greece and Italy inparison to his previous life are very different.


    On the morning of August 1, Day 214 after the apocalypse had begun. A total of 20 pirs in all parts of the world open their stone panel to attend this meeting.


    Alex approached the stone ess panel at the appointed time. A message came out in front of him.


    [You are invited to enter the pirwork room by Pir #321. Location : American Continent.]


    [epted?]


    [Yes]


    After Alex confirmed the option, he appeared in a big hall that could amodate up to hundreds of people. Right now he could see the guests start to appear one by one, somee in groups and somee alone.


    Alex himself came together with 8 other people, each representing one pir. Suryo, Rico, and Devita represent the pirs in Indonesia while Arief and Jerry represent the pirs in Australia. There were also Theo, Aria and Cindy who were insisted to join.


    Alex could see some of his friends from other pirs who present at the meeting. Apart from those familiar faces, he also recognized several renowned people from his previous life. He saw James was present with a blonde woman in white blouse with a ck zer ced on her shoulder and a man in military uniform with a 3 star engraved on his shoulder, a general.


    "Alex, this is President Elizabeth McCord and General Daniel Campbell." James said to Alex.


    "Hello, Madam President and Mr General. Thank you for listening to my suggestion and organizing this meeting."


    Alex then proceeded to introduce his group to them.


    "Hello Mr Alex, I hope today''s convention will run smoothly."


    "Likewise, Mrs. President."


    Not long after, another group joined the hall. The arrival of this group made President McCord and General Campbell silent.


    A man in his 50s with a unique military uniform along with his two bodyguards walked over to Alex and his group. Alex immediately knew who this man was and greeted him immediately.


    "General Max.." said Alex, shaking his hand.


    "You must be Alex.. I''ve heard a few things about you." he said.


    "Hopefully you only heard good things about me." Alex replied with a smile.


    "Well, It depends..." The general did not continue his words and greeted the two people he knew very well.


    "President McCord.. and General Campbell. How are you doing?"


    General Campbell, who was older than him, openly asked.


    "I heard you are now a general of a new country?"


    "No no no.. Don''t misunderstand, General." he denies quickly.


    "You can call us The Patriots, but even so we are still United States citizens. We will fight for the good of our country, with the right leader of course."


    President McCord who heard General Max''s reply, didn''t look the least bit upset and shook his hand sincerely.


    "We are hoping for the same thing General, I hope we can prioritize the people above anything else."


    "Of course, of course .." replied the general before he turned and walked away.


    Alex is quite confused by the current state of United States, because in his previous life Alex had never met or heard about president McCord. He only heard United States at that time was led by a man named Max, who led with an iron fist and became the unifier of the United States. The history of this country haspletely changed due to Alex''s arrival, for better or worse.


    One by one the representatives of the various pirs began to arrive.


    Representative of pir in Israel, a man named Jurgen was present with two of his colleagues and a fighter with a tattoo on his face. Ardeth, the chief of Egypt''s secret fighter. A very famous fighter in Alex''s previous life.


    Italy, Greece and Germany were attended by a very mysterious troupe who represented the Pope Strauss from the Vatican.


    There are also representatives from pirs in South America, Japan, Russia and Africa.


    In another corner, Alex was surprised to find a very familiar face. A woman with short hair whom he recognized very well.


    "Christina!"

 Chapter 253 - World Conference 2

    Christina is someone very special to him, a friend he has known for a long time when Alex was still studying in Australia. The two were very close friend before this apocalypse began and ruined their lives, making them lost contact with each other.


    In his previous life, Christina was a famous spirit enhancer known for her ability. They also has a opportunity to fight together against the apocalypse. That''s why, when Alex was reincarnated, he tried to persuade Christina to follow him to Bali, but it was very difficult for her who was married to go with him and throw her responsibility and family away.


    Christina is a very special person who was in Alex''s life when he was young and naive in his college days, when he grew into an adult with a family, when he changed during the apocalypse in his previous life, and also this time when he returned.


    Alex''s group who heard him called someone turned their head to looked at the said person.. In his entourage, not only Alex who recognized her. His old friend Theo, his wife Devita and Aria who met Christina before in Singapore also recognize her.


    Alex was eager to approach Christina, but before he could do what he wanted, President McCord had already started the meeting. So he had to postpone it until after the meeting.


    Realizing that the meeting was about to start, the people in the hall started to sit down.


    "Thank you all the representatives who came for this meeting. Let me introduce myself. I am Elizabeth McCord, the current appointed president of the United States" said President McCord with a smile.


    "The fact that you are here means you represent the strongest people in your region. I recognize a few faces, but let''s start with an introduction followed by sharing the current state of our country. It also would be great if you could share any important information."


    Everyone then started to introduce themselves one by one, followed by the current state of their country. Overall, the current world situation has fallen into ruin with the destruction of almost all cities in the world and the loss of 90 percent of the world''s poption. In these circumstances, it is impossible for them to refuse help or not share information.


    Alex paid attention to the condition of every city in various parts of world, where each of them experienced almost the same conditions, with some even worse than others. The most worrying condition urs are the one from south Africa where their Doomsday Pir is currently isted from other cities. Meanwhile, the country that is most prepared to fight the apocalypse is China


    Before everyone could finish speaking, General Max snaps in annoyance.


    "Yes yes! All the same!! Can we talk about something really important?!"


    Everyone''s faces who heard that changed and narrow their eyes to him. While, President McCord who was staring at the scene, feeling irritated, tried to calm the situation and said.


    "General Max, if you have anything to say next time, please try to tell me beforehand. Now, if you will.."


    "Before I say anything, I want to be sure about one thing."


    "Please.." replied the president.


    General Max then looked at Alex and said


    "Mr Alex, I heard that you came from the future. Is this information correct?"


    Hearing that, several gasps sounded inside the hall, some people were confused about General Max''s question.


    "From the future? That''s impossible!"


    General Max then continued with a tone of aggression in his voice.


    "Is it true that you are the person behind the TV shows and conventions in Singapore that say Doomsday wille?"


    "Is it true that you gathered and made bases long before Doomsday came?"


    "Is it true that you and your squad managed toplete the second challenge with top ranking score simultaneously?"


    "Tell me Mr Alex, is it true that all this happened and the fact that you are from the future?"


    General Max''s interrogation-like series of questions threw the whole room into a frenzy, some are shocked about the questions and facts that will be presented while some are just annoyed and don''t believe this is possible.


    After listening to his question, Alex answered with utter ease.


    "Believe it or not, it''s true." replied Alex


    Hearing Alex''s answer, the atmosphere got even more chaotic.


    "Everybody please calm down! Let Mr Alex exin what he means about that." said President McCord


    "That''s right. Mr Alex, please exin." replied General Max


    Alex knows that he still has to exin what happened to him first before he starts to influence these people. Since everyone in this ce already knew the secret and virulence of Doomsday Pir, there should be nothing for Alex to cover up.


    Alex then began to exin.


    "We all know with the presence of this Doomsday Pir, that there is indeed a power that exceeds human reason. We all know that the previous humans were only the lowest level in this universe. Some of you have witnessed the power of Earth Realm and Sky Realm fighters. My reincarnation or time travel was the blessing of a very strong person, several levels beyond this realm.. "


    "Is this person a human?"


    "Yes it appears so. Some of my friends here have seen this person when he came to help us again during a crisis. They can confirm the credibility of my story."


    Some people looked at Alex''s entourage as if asking what Alex said is true and turned back to Alex waiting for him to continue his exnation.


    "Dear world leaders, I came from the world 10 years from now. So I''m saying now is what I experienced at that time."


    Alex gave a glimpse of the things that happened to his previous life. Regarding the arrival of a deadly gue, the event of humans bing undead, the presence of the Doomsday Pir, up to the continuous destruction of the world year after year.


    "Hahaha.. This is both hrious and exciting. What do you think everyone? Do you believe what he said?" General Max scoffed


    In response of General Max''s inquiry, President McCord said.


    "This is my first time met Mr Alex in person. Even though what he said seemed suspicious and quite frankly unbelievable, but the information he had provided so far was extremely urate. So I suggest we at least listen to what he has to say."


    The representative from Israel, Jurgen said


    "I was actually there when Alex exined about the apocalypse at the conference in Singapore, it was very hard to believe at the time. But, I have to say that Israel is able to survive now because of that information."


    Most of the people in this room are powerful and resourceful in their own way, they have received simr information before and they can read the current situation very well now.


    Oda, a representative from Japan joined the conversation. This man is a eminent fighter who is known for him and his group''s ability toplete the second challenge without his government''s support.


    "Mr Alex, what is it that destroys the world? Although the majority of our poption has died. But with the new strength from the pir, I believe we can fight this threat." said Oda with concern in his voice


    Alex who heard that chuckled slightly.


    "Mr. Oda, the zombies and creatures that we are facing right now is just an appetizer .. the main thing is yet toe." said Alex helplessly


    Stunned, Oda then said ""Is this about the countdown? What will happen if the countdown reaches zero?"


    "Yes. Your guess is right Mr Oda. Something will happen when the countdown reaches zero."


    This question immediately caught the attention of everyone on the spot. Some of them cannot make a head or tails about this while others have their own guesses.


    "I guess some of you have guessed it. That''s right, the threat wille from the Gate of Abyss. Those of you who have explored the location of the critters monster''s origin will know about this. By now all of you have seen the abyss spawned only the critters but soon a higher level creature will start toe out of gate gradually inter days, and when the countdown reaches zero, that''s where the first tribtion will arrive."


    "First tribtion!?" eximed everyone in surprise.


    "Yes! All thousands of abyss gates around the world will open at the same time. These beings will flow into our world by the hundreds of millions and more."


    "Hundreds of millions!!! How crazy is that!? It means..."


    "Yes." Alex said with a grave tone. "These creatures will rece humans and take over the world."


    Tongue-tied. This is the first time everyone heard of this. Alex never really shared this information before. Alex felt now was the best time to tell them, as everyone had be more confident in their strength after reaching the Sky realm.


    President McCord tried to appear calm and ask a question.


    "Are they the same orcs that we fought in the pirs?"


    "No Mrs President. They are stronger."


    "How is that possible? How can we survive that!?"


    The Pope suddenly prayed and decided to say his thought.


    "This is Judgement Day. Lord please have mercy on us. Mr Alex how can we escape this cmity?"

 Chapter 254 - World Conference 3

    "If what you say is true, this tribtion will be the end of us. I can''t ept it!" General Max answered, banging his hands on the table.


    "We only have 278 days left... That''s roughly 9 months." someone murmured.


    Alex just looked around and observed who wasing today, he noticed that everyone on the room, the President of the United States, General Mac, the President of Russia, even the members of Alex''s entourage looked restless when they heard this.


    Rico walked over to Alex.


    "Alex.... what the hell! That''s outrageous. How can we win against hundreds of millions of monsters stronger than the orcs?" he said


    In Alex''s previous life, this first tribtion wiped out the entire poption of the world. Only those who took refuge in the Doomsday Pir survived. The densely popted city area became the hot-spot for mutated zombies while other areas were filled with these monsters.


    After a few seconds of letting them digest his words, Alex continued.


    "There are only 2 solutions for us to face this tribtion."


    Hearing that, everyone immediately said "Please exin Mr. Alex."


    "The first solution is to stay in the Doomsday Pir area. When you cleared the 10th floor, you will get ess to the healing pod which will help your fighter''s survival a lot. Then you can proceed to the 40th floor where there is another facility which will serve as a defensive mechanism at the pir."


    "What kind of facility?" Someone asked.


    "Spirit Shield, a facility that has a defensive mechanism whereby it releases protective energy around the pir to prevent those monsters from entering the pir area. The size of the shield depends on how many residents there are in the pir, meanwhile the strength and duration of the shield depends on the number of spirit stones prepared."


    "The damn spirit stone again!" someone eximed, irritation apparent in his voice.


    "This pir solution is fairly easy to execute and a solution to all our problems. But I can''t help feeling that we are somehow being taken advantage of." said Regent Suryo.


    The regent''s words made the leaders present nod in understanding. Alex also agreed with the regent''s opinion.


    Alex is still very curious about the purpose of the Doomsday Pir toe down to Earth.


    Why does its appearance coincides with the arrival of the gue and the monsters on the Earth?


    Alex believes these two events must be linked in some way.


    President McCord responded


    "Then, we should immediately evacuate the residents from the existing posts and cities and then gather them in a few Doomsday Pirs. Is that what you mean Mr. Alex?"


    "Correct Mrs. President, that''s exactly what I mean." Alex nodded.


    A very mysterious middle-aged man and a representative from the pir in Germany said something.


    "Mr. Alex, it was impressive to see that your group able toplete the second challenge with an A Grade score. I am very proud of the group of fighters that I formed, but it looks like we couldn''t even get past the B+ grade score. For this matter alone, you have my respect. This too, makes it easy for me to believe your story."


    Hearing that man''s word, Alex was interested in knowing about this person, but when he saw a familiar man standing behind him, Alex suddenly realized who he was.


    "I seeˇ­ Is that person behind you named Hans? He made trouble for me in Mexico. So I suspect you are the person behind this Nazi organization."


    Hearing the word Nazi, many eyes suddenly looked at the man.


    Everybody suddenly remembered everything this Nazi organization did in the past.


    "It is part of our past history. My name is Heinrich and my organization is known as the Ahnenerbe. I hope we can both put aside our grudge in the past and work together for the future." He exined with a smile on his face.


    All the words that came out of this man''s mouth were very neat and polite, but his expression and gestures did not show the same attitude. This man is a person that cannot be underestimated.


    "Of course Mr. Heinrich. Looking at our conditions now, we must help each other on this fight." Alex smiled while snickering in his mind.


    ''I need to keep an eye on this guy, can''t let him watch my back. That will be the end of me.


    The German man''s smile seemed to widen and he continued.


    "Then Mr. Alex, I have a question regarding your troops''s progress in the Doomsday Pir."


    "Sure, go ahead." Alex replied


    "Have your troops fought on the 31st floor? If so, how is it?"


    "No we haven''t."


    "I see, why is that? You are from the future aren''t you Mr.Alex? You should know how."


    "What is your point Mr. Heinreich? Let''s not beat around the bush shall we?


    "Well Mr. Alex, here''s the thing. We lost a lot of good fighters trying to clear the 31st floor. The enemy''s power is no joke, the difficulity is very hardpared to the previous floor. So my point is that the first solution can only be done by countries ormunities that have fighters strong enough to clear the 40th floor."


    At Heinrich''s words, everyone reassesses the probability of the first solution.


    "Yes Mr. Heinrich, you are absolutely right. The 31st floor and above is only a ce for the Sky realm Knight and Magus fighter, it is not rmended for anyone under that realm to try."


    "I would even suggest sending the Sky realm fighters only after they reached the middle stage to guarantee the fighter''s chance of survival."


    James who had spent a lot of time at the pir decided to say something.


    "Alex, The amount of spirit stones required for upgrading to Sky realm are too much. I assume it will take a lot more to upgrade to the middle stage. Is that why you move around doing the second challenge at different pirs? Is that what you do in Australia? Obtaining spirit credits?"


    "You will only get the extra bonus reward in the first try, whereas the second time will only give you the normal reward and then the third time will be less reward until you get almost nothing on the 10th try. Soˇ­ yes and no."


    Hearing Alex''s exnation, it seemed that the first solution had suddenly turned out to be quite possible. The only problem is convincing people to the Doomsday Pir. If what Alex said is true the leaders will be very busy in the next 9 months, clearing all the pirs in their surrounding region.


    The olddy seated on his opposite finally decided to speak.


    "Mr Alex, let us hear your second solution now."


    "Of course Elder Zhao."


    Alex knew this elder very well from his previous life. This elder is one of the strongest saints in the world, she is humanity''s hope of survival. So he has a lot of respect for her.


    "The second solution is to destroy the gate of the abyss before the countdown hits zero."


    "!!!"


    Everyone gasped at Alex''s word. His solution this time was even more outrageous, making the listeners even more amazed.


    At his word, General Max made anotherment.


    "Hahaha!! Mr. Alex this solution is exactly what I like, an excellent solution indeed. I never like to quiver in base like a coward. Let''s fight them!" shouted General Max excitedly.


    Alex then continued.


    "I''m sure everyone can imagine the difficulty of this task. Attacking behind enemy lines is not like taking a walk in a park. To make this task possible, we will need many peak stage Sky realm fighters with advanced skills and artifacts."


    "How many fighters do we need?" someone asked.


    "As many as we can."


    Hearing Alex''s vague answer, Cardinal Strauss spoke again.


    "Going to the depth of hell... many will not return. Tell me Mr. Alex, has anyone ever managed to do this in your future?"


    "No, not before the first tribtion. So yeah, no one ever seed."


    Alex tells them about the fighters who tried to enter the gate of abyss before the first tribtion and never came back out.


    A few yearster, a group of Saint realm experts tried again and seeded. But at that time there was no benefit from destroying the abyss gate because the second tribtion had already started.


    "I know it is difficult for all of you, sending your fighters into the unknown peril. So that''s why I will enter with my fighters first, paving the way. Naturally, I would wee any assistance from you."


    "When and where will you do it?"


    "Bali Ind, 8 months from now."


    --------


    Authors Note


    Dear Reader of Doomsday Pirs, there are some system of Web N that''s new to me, for that i am sorry for the upload of chapters are not within my expectation. I am sorry for the long wait. i can only send 2 chapters at the moment, and won''t be able to open the privi until further notice. sorry for the inconvenience. please be patient with me. much appreciated.


    Avans

 Chapter 255 - World Conference 4

    "Bali? 8 months from now? Isn''t that just before the tribtion start? That''s basically us onlying to help you rid of your trouble. What are we gonna do about our problem?" he snapped.


    Alex ns to maximize the strength of his fighters first before he executes his n to attack the gate of abyss. He hopes that after 8 months there would be many Sky realm Magus as well as Sky realm Knight who had reached high stage.


    That way his chances of sess were higher. If he seeds in closing Bali''s Gate of Abyss, then until the next tribtion, which will be 2 years from now, Bali will be the paradise for humans. An ind that is free from the threat of zombies and abyss monster.


    Alex himself wasn''t sure if he would be able to close the Abyss gate, but he would definitely try it anyway. And if he happens to be sessful, he would certainly help others close their Gate of Abyss.


    "As I said, general. In case you don''t understand my words beforehand, I will still do it with or without assistance.. Naturally I will not refuse anyone who wants to join."


    Jurgen spoke again.


    "Mr. Alex, if we helped you, would you help clear our gates in return?"


    "Of course I will but I can''t promise anything because the time left until the tribtion begins is very limited."


    Jurgen, who is a very experienced intelligence officer, certainly understands Alex''s reasons. He can also consider Alex''s goals and objectives where he will also do the same as Alex if he is in Alex''s position.


    President McCord was the first to agree to Alex''s invitation.


    "I agree to send assistance in your endeavor, Mr. Alex. I am sure the US forces will have a great deal of information on clearing the abyss gate by joining the battle."


    "Huh! This is why the two of us always at odds with each other. You should worried about your people first!" said General Max.


    "General, I know they elected me as the president of United States, our people put their trust on me to protect them. And now I believe that what is best for our people is to find a solution to this global threat."


    "For me, I don''t have the luxury of worrying about what''s beyond the sea when my enemy is beside me." he sneered.


    These words of the general have a double meaning. Which enemy is he referring to?


    Is it the monsters or the current United States government?


    Hearing this, the President frowned, but she seemed unwilling to respond and just kept quiet.


    Alex who saw this said in a mocking tone. "Didn''t you just say you were going to beat up those monsters? I am amazed at the speed with which your thoughts change. How unreliable."


    "Y-Y-You!!"


    Alex then turned his head and noticed the expression of a woman representative who was turning pale.


    "Miss, are you all right? What happen? Do you have anything to say?"


    The woman in her 40s who looked like a great fighter wearing a military uniform with a red beret on her head seemed hesitant to speak. But in the end she dared to speak.


    "I am Mici, the representative of South Africa. My people are one of thest fewmunity to survive the terror. The apocalypse made my people lost their family and their brethren, but most importantlyˇ­ we don''t have the luxury to talk about what will happen in the next 8 months. We are not even sure that we will survive the next few days. Many of our fighters sacrificed themselves to reach the 30th floor. We barely manage toplete the second challenge and just when we thought that things would heading for a better direction, the second level hall does not provide any solution to our problem."


    "Worst of all, we are constantly attacked from all sides and running out of resources. I hope anyone of you could send help to us."


    Everyone''s faces changed when they heard that. They realized that many areas around the world need help, especially those in isted areas.


    President McCord argues that sending a special team in 8 months is much easier than sending aid now. Moreover, the African continent is on the other side of the world from the American continent.


    "We are not currently in a position to help, especially to a country which located far from us. Mr. Jurgen, I heard you are working with Egypt, is there any possibility that you can send help?" she said.


    Ardeth, the man with the tattoo on his face who was standing beside Jurgen spoke in response.


    "We would like to help but our priority right now is the cities around us, the same as anyone here. Actually there is a new threat from the east. The radicals are even wilder than usual so our resources are very limited at the moment. Chances are in 2 or 3 months we can start helping our neighbors


    Mici just smiled hopelessly at Ardeth''s answer. She attended the special meeting today to find a solution to her pressing problem, not the next few months. She needed a solution for NOW.


    Alex opened his mouth. "Actually.."


    "Yes.. Mr.Alex?" asked Mici, hope in her voice


    "Devita, maybe you are more suitable to say it." Alex threw the job to his wife.


    Even though Devita is someone who leads the pir in Bali, she feels she has no ce to speak in front of these world leaders and skilled fighters. But after hearing about the condition of South Africa and his husband''s "encouragement", it seems she can''t just keep quiet.


    "Miss Mici, I think we can help you. Maybe some of you may or may not have heard of the products we create."


    "Products?" everyone is confused.


    Devita then began talk about the magic raisin and the Tier 1 Hardened weapons produced in Bali, both are solutions for today''s cities. She also exined that she already had a fleet that could start sending this equipment across the ocean.


    A magic raisin that can solve food problems and Tier 1 Hardened weapons that are the solution against threats.


    Hearing that, Mici''s eyes lit up and said.


    "Really? There is such a thing?"


    "Yes, we created it." Devita replied.


    "Please help me and my people! What should I do for you to be willing to help me?"


    "We can discuss the details after this meeting ends. After we reach an aggrement, I estimate that assistance can be immediately provided within 2 weeks at thetest."


    Alex then added


    "Miss Mici, we can even help provide other assistance such as relocation, for example. The ind of Madagascar can be a new base for the inhabitants of South Africa. We have the ability to do that."


    Alex saw Mici''s face, which was previously lethargic, immediately looked hopeful.


    *p* *p* *p*


    A pping sound was heard... General Max came back again with his snarkyment.


    "Amazing Mr. Alex, truly amazing. I now 99% believe that you are from the future, I can not even imagine what it will be like to go through 10 years of apocalypse. I''m sure you have seen a lot of suffering but as you said before, we all must unite and work together to face the apocalypse."


    When Alex heard that, he smiled. But, General Max''s next words darkened his face.


    "But I heard that you are actually selling your services all over the world. So who are you? A hero? A savior? Or just some kind of merchant aiming for profit."


    This is another tant attempt to discredit Alex, the ''American'' general seems to hate him so much for helping the American president.


    "General Max, your words are sharp as a sword, rather than being a general, being a politician will suit you better." he said coldly.


    He then continued.


    "To answer your question, saying that I am a merchant is not wrong at all, unlike you i am basically an entrepreneur. No entrepreneur likes to give without anything in return, this is a basic principle of entrepreneurship. I just took advantage of thew of supply and demand."


    "But, I can assure you that we will not take advantage of the suffering of others. Once again I emphasize that nothing is free in this world. If the price thisdy offered me matches what I am offering then it is a win-win for both us."


    "I still need to make sure all my workers are fed and the industry is running right? This way, your pay will help more people in the future."


    "Pfftˇ­ the word of a greedy businessman." replied the general.


    "You are correct, general. I''m not actually offended by being called a businessman. We are all here selling something, selling your power, selling your skills, and I happen to know the secret to making this thing so I sell it, for a very reasonable price."


    Alex started to see several people in this ce nodding after hearing his exnation. It seems that he will get more customers after this meeting.


    "But you are right, General. I am open to anyone here who wants to be more than just a customer, but also a business partner."

 Chapter 256 - Objectives

    After the meeting was over, they came out with 2 main objectives. First, they will start evacuating local residents to immediately take shelter at the nearest Doomsday Pir or Doomsday Pir which can open ess to the 40th floor.


    The second objective is to prepare and form a special joint force to attack the abyss gate before the first tribtion begins.


    Currently, Alex has only received confirmation from President McCord''s camp as well as from Elder Zhao. Meanwhile, others could not confirm their participation, especially since this mission will be carried out in 8 months. They still have time to think more deeply because many things can happen during that time.


    Apart from that, Alex also promised to help Mici and her team of fighters who located on the African continent by providing resources. While others at the meeting were interested in coborating on the development of magic raisin and Tier 2 hardened weapons, which he dly epted.


    Alex left the details of coboration to his wife Devita, who will take care of the little details.


    Alex only give her an outline of his requirements, in which he is willing to give the recipes and secrets on how to manufacture these two products, provided that the party has the ability to produce and is also willing to provide certain amount of products to him..


    Even though Alex wanted to make a fortune, he definitely wouldn''t let the world fall any further due to hunger.


    China, United States and Spain are the three countries that are very interested in this cooperation. Devita will coordinate with them one by one at ater date.


    The meeting ended with two main objectives and Devita''s new work.


    People started leaving the hall one by one after the meeting ended. Meanwhile, Alex, after saying goodbye to Presidents McCord and James, realized that representatives from China were still in the hall, waiting for him.


    Alex approaches the group with Aria and Theo apanying him.


    "Elder Zhao." Alex called out to her while giving a salute using both hands.


    "What a great man you are Alex. You need to know that the warning you gave before the apocalypse started really helped us get through the disasters more easily." the elder praised


    "I''m d to hear that, Elder."


    "But I''m anything but great, elder. The only thing I have that makes you call me great is my future knowledge."


    "I know, my child." She replied


    "But that''s not what makes you great."


    "What makes you great is your willingness to share that knowledge with others, which not everyone can do." she said with a smile


    Alex who heard that was stunned for a moment.


    The elder then nced at Theo and said.


    "Your trick won''t work with me, young man."


    After she said that, Theo felt a little dizzy.


    "Sorry elder, he didn''t mean any harm. It''s just his habit." Alex hurriedly exined.


    Theo is used to following Alex when Alex talks with people. He then listens and finds out what is in the other person''s mind to provide input to Alex.Unexpectedly, just as Theo tried to get close to the elder''s mind, Theo received a counterattack which made his head dizzy.Even though Theo was a great psychic spirit enhancer, he couldn''t match the elder at all.Alex then said.


    "Theo, you can go back first. Don''t worry."


    Theo nodded his head, turned and left the hall.


    "Alex, I am waiting here to invite you toe to China."


    "Thank you for your invitation, elder. I will eventuallye to China in the future."


    "You misunderstood my words. What I mean is to ask you to move to China."


    "..."


    She then continued.


    "Wouldn''t it better if we are all together? I think it will be the best for all of us."


    Hearing that, Alex was silent.


    "Thank you Elder. But I think it''s toote for that."


    "Oh? Why is that?" she said, confused


    "I have people that I need to take care of. I can''t just leave them alone, can I?" Alex said with a smile.


    Hearing that, she said. "Well.. think about it."


    After saying that, Elder Zhao walked over to Alex and carefully observed him.


    "This is really fascinating. Before the doomsday happened, people called me the seer and asked for my guidance. But the truth is I was never really sure about my talent, not until the doomsday came."


    She chuckled and continued her words.


    "But with you Alex. It seems that my talent is back to how it was before the doomsday begins. I can''t read you at all Alex."


    Alex was silent. Elder Zhao was someone he admired the most in the previous life. He believed she wouldn''t joke about this.


    "What are your thoughts, Elder?" Alex asked.


    The elder turned around, walked a few steps and said


    "I can only assume two things. First, I am too scared to see the future in you. Or.. Second, you are a person who can break your own destiny. Either way I hope the best for youˇ­ for humanity''s sake."


    After saying that, she continued her steps and disappeared from the hall.


    Alex pondered what the elder said when he realized there was still one more person in front of him.


    The beautiful woman approached him.


    "Alexˇ­ I''m d to see you again."


    "Hey Christina, I''m also d that you are alright."


    Christina fidgeted, she seemed like she has a lot to say but didn''t know where to start.


    Seeing that, Alex spoke first.


    "It surprised me that you are with Elder Zhao."


    "Yeah.. Me too." she said with a smile


    "How did it happen?"


    "She.. she came looking for me.."


    "It''s actually a great news. She can really help you."


    "Yes, she didˇ­ It was great."


    "Soˇ­ how are you?"


    This time Christina became more and more silent, she seemed to be full of thoughts.


    Alex who saw that felt quite confused. It seemed that from the beginning, she had been holding back from speaking.


    He then suddenly realized the reason. Not far behind from Alex there was someone waiting and listening carefully. Aria.


    In his head, Alex scolded her, he thought why this woman could not read the situation around her.Couldn''t she see that the current situation was getting strange with her presence?


    Alex was just about to turn around and ask Aria to leave them for a moment when he suddenly saw Christina''s body was shaking.


    "Christina? What''s wrong?" Alex asked worriedly.


    Christina looked away, not wanting to be seen, but Alex knew that his friend was crying. It seems that a lot of things has happened to this good friend of his after they separated.


    Alex walked over to Christina but she turned around. "I''m sorry. Can we can talkter?" she said as she walked away. Alex immediately grabbed Christina''s hand.


    "Wait! T-Tina... I-I-I.." But there was no word he could say to her, nothing coulde out from his mouth.


    Christina turned back and immediately put her forehead against Alex''s chest, she said


    "Silly me.. I''m sorry Alex. I haven''t seen friendly faces for a long time now, especially you Alex. Can you just bare with me for a moment?" she said while holding Alex''s body tightly.


    Alex was silent and let her put her head on his chest.


    A sudden emotional situation made Alex forget about Aria''s existence who was still standing behind. He didn''t know that, Aria was embarrassed to see this scene, she felt like she shouldn''t be here.


    Currently, Alex can only guess what happened to his friend. Yet he knew that there was not a single person in the world who faced the apocalypse with ease.


    "I-I lost so much Alex. M-My family is breaking apartˇ­ I-I.. I pretend to be strong everyday because many people depend on me but it''s too much for me. It''s getting harder and harder for me to endure." she sobbed


    Hearing what she said, Alex wanted to hug her tightly, letting her know that there is still warmth in this world.But this is only a holographic ce, although it looks like they can touch each other but they can''t feel anything. Alex can only stay silent ˇ­


    "How did it be like this? What kind of future do we have? Tell me Alex." she said hoarsely.


    Hope is a luxury that is difficult to maintain on the apocalypse days. Something that everyone yearns but cannot have forever. Alex knows very well the terror that awaits them and what they must pay to face it.But he must not lose hope.So he said.


    "Everything will be alright, I promise. I promise to try my best, for me and for us."


    Hearing Alex''s words, Christina raises her head, looked at his face for a moment and then turns around and starts to walk away.


    "Alex, can you do me a favor?" she said as she walked away.


    "Anything.."


    "Singapore is very close to your location. Can you check if my son is okay?"


    "Sure. What is his name?"


    "His name is Caleb. I didn''t mean to ask you to go on your own in person. But I heard that your men often trade with Singapore."


    "Okay, I will check the whereabouts and condition of your son."


    "Thank you Alex. And I hope you can keep your promise."She then left.


    When Alex turned around he saw Aria who was still standing there, her face looked annoyed.


    "Huh! Pretentious man!!"


    "What? Who?" Alex was stunned, he was very surprised by her reaction.


    "You! You shouldn''t promise things like that. You are not God!"


    Hearing that, Alex thought if God really existed, why would he let the apocalypse happen?

 Chapter 257 - More Training

    Four weeks have passed since the meeting between world leaders where Alex divulged every piece of information about their first impending tribtion. When the leaders and representatives of each country are busy preparing and nning what they should do in their respective regions, Alex himself has been busy for the past four weeks preparing all his 480 elite fighters. He had trained and conditioned his warriors to face their foe''s source, the Abyss Gate.


    This time, Alex divided his troops into eight toons, led by his trusted officers. toon One will be led alone by Arief,


    toon Two by Cindy and Dinda,


    toon Three by Jerry and Daisy,


    toon Four by Sergei and Oliver,


    toon Five by Aria and Oscar,


    toon Six by Theo and Tommy


    toon Seven by Darius amd Raufgar


    Last but not least toon Eight by Dario and Ark.


    Each toon contains 60 fighters which will consist of 50 Sky realm fighters and 10 Earth realm fighters who have not upgraded yet. Each toon would have at least one level A fighter who had reached the Sky Realm cultivation level.


    In the near future, the two toons will then merge into apany, which will bring the totalpany to four. Eachpany will then be positioned in four directions, covering the Australian continent. Eachpany will have one person with military experience who will act as an advisor.


    Alex will also appoint four people to lead eachpany, giving them the highest decision-making authority in their respectivepanies. Four of them are Arief, Jerry, Aria, and Dario with the former leading the Company One and thetter leading the Company Four


    Alex doesn''t make his decisions based on his personal preferences but based on their abilities and aplishments so far. Having an experienced leader is the key to their sess and survival, a greatmander will make any decisions with a calm mind ande up with the most effective way to ovee their obstacles. The ability to weigh and assertiveness in making decisions in every condition can determine the difference between life and death in battle.


    Arief, head of the Death Squad, has proven his ability to lead so there is nothing to talk about that. Aria and Dario are lieutenants of the Death Squad while Jerry has past experience leading the Wolf Squad and the ck Snake Gang. These four people were Alex''s chosen leaders, trusted by him to lead his warriors in their future battles.


    Alex encourages each toon to be an independent force, increasing flexibility in their strategy andbat maneuvers. It is time for these warriors to learn how to make decisions and be leaders in their own way.


    For this very reason, over the past three weeks apart from spending their time in Doomsday Pir Training Hall to learn new skills, each toon is required to be able to repeat the second challenge on the three pirs one by one, with their newpany. With this, each toon canplete the second challenge for three times.


    The challenge that they previouslypleted with more than 180 fighters had topleted with only 60 fighters this time. Although, it seemed like an impossible endeavor with a third of their previous number, currently all of them had higher levels of cultivation and Tier 2 Combat Armor was avable to them.


    [You will enter the second challenge.]


    [This is the second time you enter the challenge, bonus reward will be adjusted.]


    [Are you ready to enter the second challenge?]


    "Yes."


    [60 people have been registered for the battle challenge.]


    [This challenge will be closed for the next 7 days.]


    [Good luck]


    Arief''s toon is filled entirely by the Death Squad troops. Although Arief is the only spirit enhancer fighter in the toon, with his ability and discipline in leadership, his toon remains the toughest squad among the 8 toons.


    The toon led by Cindy and Dinda was also able toplete the three challenges with ease. Their results gave Alex a pleasant surprise. They truly exceed his expectation. Even though Cindy likes to y around, as an former assistant professor, her intelligence makes her very good at reading situations, equipped with Dinda''s firepower which can obliterate dozens of urukhai from the distance with her Sky realm-powered arrows. Theirbination is truly the definition of brain and brawn that support andplement each other.


    Regardless of that, Cindy used this opportunity to use and practice her beast transformation skills, temporary throwing away her advantage. In the first battle, when Cindy fought using her beast form, she really turned into a fierce fighter who was not inferior to any A rank spirit enhancers, tearing apart the enemy ranks. But somehow she didn''t want to use it again in the second and third battles. Many people are confused about this.


    Jerry and Daisy''s toon were also able toplete the fight easily. After reaching the Sky realm stage, Daisy''s radar range and control increased considerably, almost double the previous range. She even got a new skill as a reward from her previous battle. An unique skill called Halo.


    [Halo - Tier 3 Light Spirit Art]


    An area-of-effect magic capable of constructing a protective dome, creating a reflection of light that can withstand attacks and also makes people outside the halo unable to see inside the halo area.


    With Daisy in his side, Jerry only needs to wait for the instruction from her and quickly finish off the threat with his fast speed ability.


    The next two group, Sergei with Oliver and Aria with Oscar made a good bnce for the two reckless fellow, Oliver and Oscar. Sergei had lost once in the challenge because of obvious reason but for Aria, with her dual elements of water and ice, she was able toplete all three battles without expecting Oscar''s help.


    While the first five toons had little to no problempleting the challenge, the same was not true for the other three toons. The three toons still had difficulties in facing the challenges with only 60 people.


    Darius has a hard time cooperating with cowardly Raufgar. So it is difficult for Raufgar''s true prowess to show. The fact that they take time to understand and adjust to one another ispletely understandable.


    Theo also needed time to adjust to young Tommy. Tommy is indeed one of the most talented fighters, but unfortunately he is still too young so his level of control is still low. He still needs more guidance and experience so he can develop. In the second fight they won easily but in thest fight they lost again.


    While thest toon, although quite united because the leaders both came from the same city of Surabaya and had worked together before, Dario''sbat prowess who has C grade spirit aptitude is still very limited. But after they went through two battles together their abilities grew rapidly.


    In these four weeks, each eight toons fought 3 times inside the second challenge, in a battle of 60 to 1000. Many of them fell and died in the challenge. Luckily everything will return to normal after the challenge is over. That was the reason Alex proposed his fighters to continue to challenge the pirs, these conditions were truly suitable for their training.


    If in the first battle they got 15,000 to 20,000 spirit points, in this battle they only got around 5,000 points and even less in the second and third battles, especially if they die in the challenge. Even though they don''t get maximum amount of points, Alex assures them that the main purpose of this endeavor is to increase their overall ability and solidarity.


    When the fighters are not doing their challenge they all spent their time in the training hall to practice their newly received skill from the Doomsday pirs store.


    During these 4 weeks, Alex has also been busy. He spent his weeks practicing in closed-door. After going through 1 month worth of training, it was time to for them to show the results of their hard work.


    Author''s Note:


    Dear Reader, Happy New Year!


    It''s now 2021, and with a new year and a new month, it''s also the start of the new privilege chapters. Thesest two days I''ve managed to force myself to write a few more chapters, which will all be published tonight. Four chapters for EGM and three chapters for DP. As of the moment though, these chapters can only be essed through the privilege. I am hoping that you, all my dear readers, will support the novel by buying the privi chapters. The money generated will surely be used to create better contents and wonderful experience for you my readers. One of the ns that I''m nning to do is to pay editors and illustrators to create original image content of the novel(characters and the world). For that I''m sincerely hoping for your support. I still n to write daily for both EGM and DP. As for my EGM readers, the promised extra chapters will still be given on top of these four chapters. I hope you are all enjoying Emery''s story and the world created. Truly, I thank you.


    Also, don''t forget tomorrow''s even that''ll ur on 23:00 +8GMT, 15:00 UTC, or 22:00 Indonesian Time, there''ll be vouchers to be handed at the discord server. Please join us over there by visiting the website doomsdaypirs and clicking on the discord link. I''ll also open a voice channel an hour earlier, which will lead to the event

 Chapter 258 - Seperated

    In the past month, Alex has always been with his special fighters, giving them instruction and monitoring their training. From his observation on the three battles of the second challenge against the orcs, Alex learned about the weaknesses and strengths of each squad. He gave each of them his opinion and advice on group battle tactics as well as individual battle tips. Alex taught them everything he knew in his previous life about the pirs or the opponents they would face next.


    In Alex''s previous life, he had only managed to reach this stage, the Sky realm stage. He never reached the Spirit realm stage or gained ess to the next level of the Doomsday Pir. So, after revealing everything that he knew, there was nothing more Alex could teach them. From this point onwards, they should be able to develop their individual abilities independently and build on their own experiences.


    Today, Alex gathered the leaders of the groups and gave them his direction.


    "After going through weeks of training, watching each of your progress, I have decided that you are all ready to move on to the next stage of our n."


    Alex opened a hologram that showing the map of Australian continent, he then divided the four groups into the four corners of Australia.. New South Wales, Queennd, South Australia and West Australia.


    Alex showed each leader a path that he made personally for each group. Their main goal is to challenge all the Doomsday Pirs in their assigned area. Each area has around 5 to 6 Doomsday Pir, which quite a challenging number toplete itself.


    Alex gave them objectives to at least conquer the 30th floor, which could give them the most spirit credits to bolster their cultivation and possibly provide them with additional artifacts or skills. However, he reminded them again to be careful when trying to challenge the floors after the 30th, with strict prohibition on trying to fight beyond the 40th floor.


    Apart from the main objective, he also ordered them to try to gather and provide assistance to the survivors they met along the way. But Alex reminded them that all of them must return to Bali Ind noter than 9 months.


    With the Level 2 Facilities provided, each group canmunicate with each other and share information about their progress and contact the Bali headquarters afterpleting their mission. The headquarters would then send them their extraction ship to fetch them and any rescued survivors. After the division of tasks, Alex again reminded them to put their safety above else.


    Before Alex exins about the distribution of equipment and vehicles that will be provided, Aria realized that alex was not on any of the n. She then asked him about it.


    "Alex, you don''t have your name in any group. Which group will you join?" It appears from her expression that she assumed that Alex would follow the group that she led.


    All the other members realized this and waited for Alex''s answer.


    Alex was silent for a while before he said "Honestly, this time I am thinking to not go with any of the group."


    Stunned, everyone in the meeting looked at each other before Theo said.


    "But why? Where are you going?" Usually Alex told him if he had a n like this or he could guess it because of his psychic powers. But ever since Alex reached the Sky realm, it has be increasingly difficult for him to read Alex''s mind.


    "I''m nning to stay here for a few weeks and then heading for my own objectives."


    "By yourself?" Asked Arief in disbelief. "That''s not wise. You should at least bring a dozen Death Squad fighters with you."


    Before Alex could refuse Arief''s offer, Aria spoke up.


    "Don''t worry uncle Arief. I will apany Alex. It''s my job."


    Sighing, Alex could only shake his head at her words.


    "No Aria, you are now the leader of the squad, those guys will need your expertise for them toplete the mission ande back alive." Alex spoke firmly to Aria with his own excuse, leaving her unable to reply.


    "Me then. I will apany you." said Cindy "Whether I exist or not doesn''t make much difference to my squad."


    Alex sighed again."I appreciate your offer but for what I nned, I prefer to do it myself."


    The atmosphere turned gloomy, with everyone beside Alex silent. They all know Alex has tremendous strength, but they are ufortable knowing he will be traveling alone.


    Seeing the reaction of others, Alex quickly closed the meeting.


    "The n is decided then, list of equipments provided by the headquarter will be sent to each group leader. We will meet each other again in Bali after you allplete your mission. May you all be safe and sessful in your mission."


    That evening Alex prepares a dinner party to send the squads off, wishing them sess and their safety.


    "Let''s open all the liquor!" Scream Sergei. Greeted with cheers from everyone.


    The cold night was lit by the warmth of the bonfire with the sound of dancing andughter reverberate in the air. Alex looked at the excitement and couldn''t help thinking. ''I don''t know how many of them will be able toe back 9 monthster.''


    He sighed to himself and continued drinking.


    The next day, it was seen that four groups of more than 400 people had prepared themselves and were neatly lined up in the field. In the middle of the Alice Spring field, dozens of petrol-fueled vehicles were ready to start the journey.


    Alex walked onto the field, ready to give them hisst encouragement before sending them off. Before he could do that, Aria and Jerry walked over to him.


    "What''s the matter?" Alex asked them.


    Jerry threw a storage ring at him "There are supplies that we prepared for you in that storage ring." He then pointed to a car that parked alone on the side of the field. "And that car''s gas tank is full, ready to be use."


    Jerry looked at Alex''s eyes. "Be careful." He then went to his group.


    Aria was left standing staring at Alex, without a word. Before Alex could ask her what she wanted to say, she turned around and returned to her group. Alex who saw that could only shake his head and sighed. He actually wished this time also Aria could apany him, the ce he''s heading he could really use Aria skill.But he really can''t involve her in his crazy n this time.


    After his speech, one by one the vehicles drove in 4 different directions. In a short time, the city of Alice Spring became empty again, bing a dead city with only Alex remaining in that ce.


    .

 Chapter 259 - Light Spells

    In Alex''s previous life, the world ended in the 10th year since the apocalypse started but in reality, the destruction of the world had long started since the 2nd year, when the first tribtion hit the world. Back then, there were only dozens or so Doomsday Pir that had been opened with the number who managed to survive against the first tribtion even less than that, making them the beacon of survival for humanity at that time. Even so, when the second tribtion came, none of them could resist the tribtion that led to the destruction of the world.


    Since his reincarnation nine months ago, Alex felt that he couldn''t stop thinking about a solution to prevent the world''s destruction. Convince the world about the impending apocalypse before it happens, building shelters in various areas, gathering and training fighters who can fight in the apocalypse. Those were his ways to give the world better possibility for the future even though the odds still small, at least it was bigger than his previous life. And now, there wasn''t much Alex could give anymore.


    In the past few weeks, Alex has observed the improvement of his fighters, especially those Sky realm spirit enhancer fighters that showed the most astonishing progress.


    Arief be more proficient with his massive sword, Jerry whose agility keep getting nimbler and faster, Aria mastering her dual elements even further, Sergei trying to improve his defensive capabilities, Dinda finding other innovative ways on handling fire, Ark attempting to be creative with his element, and the efforts of younger members, Daisy and Tommy to catch up with the older members.


    After doing everything he could, Alex felt it was time for him to focus on his own improvement or he would fall behind. He went to the training hall and opened the ess panel..


    [Check Status]


    Alex


    [Male - 36 years]


    [Sky Realm Level 1 - Initial Stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Light - Initial stage]


    [Spirit Aptitude - B]


    Skills


    [Hexagram Technique - stage 4]


    [Advanced Sword Art - Dual Wielding]


    Beside his improved B grade spirit aptitude, there is no difference between the current Alex and the previous life Alex.


    At that time, the Hexagram Technique was the only special technique avable to him. He has mastered the fourth stage of the technique which makes him superior whenpared to other fighters.


    Alex utilizes the ess panel to show him his progress on the technique.


    [Hexagram Technique Stage 4]


    [A battle art that consist of 6 stages. The art included a Breathing technique that would increase the user strength and speed for a duration rted to the person spirit force. The skill also consists of hexagram formation steps techniques, an advanced movement techniques]


    This technique is Alex''s main technique, a Tier 3 Battle Art he had acquired both in his previous life and current life. If Alex could reach the stage 6 of the technique, the effect would be massive on his fighting strength. However, this technique required a deepprehension of formation knowledge which was a very intricate knowledge. In his previous life, It took him seven years to reach the stage 4. He cant imagine how many more year he need to reach stage 5 or even 6.If Alex couldn''t find any other way to increase his strength, he would be left behind by others especially those with better aptitude than him.


    Alex was reminded of an information showing that it would take two to three years for those with A grade talent to reach the next stage. Who knows how long it would take him to reach the same stage with his B grade talent, coupled with the Light element which is one of the advanced elements.


    Because of this, Alex decided to move out on his own while the others left toplete mission. He knew it was a selfish decision for him to do so, but for those whock talent it was the most effective method of continuing to develop. Through the crazy n he prepared he hope this would be his way to keep up.


    Alex then opened the second option in the ess panel.


    [Skill Library]


    [Light element Sky realm spirit energy detected]


    [Customizing suitable skills to learnˇ­]


    [List of skills avable to learn]


    [Elemental Art - Light element]


    [Battle art]


    [Utility art]


    Alex checked out the list of Light elemental arts he could learn.


    [Blind - Rank 1 Light spell - 100 spirit stones]


    Creates a short burst of piercing bright Light which served to blind the enemy vision


    [Illuminate - Rank 1 Light spell - 100 spirit stones]


    Creates a ball of Light to illuminate the surrounding area.


    [Healing Ray - Rank 2 Light spell - 1000 spirit stones]


    A ray of Light that heal minor wounds.


    [Light Missile - Rank 2 Light spell - 1000 spirit stones]


    Shoots an arrow-like Light energy that will pierce the enemy.


    [Blessed - Rank 3 Light spell - 3000 spirit stone]


    Increases the body resistance and augments ally''s attack power with Light element.


    [Telekinesis - Rank 2 Light spell - 1000 spirit stone]


    Ability to control objects based on user desire and energy reserve.


    [Bright Shield - Rank 2 Light spell - 1000 spirit stone]


    Creates a small Light element barrier to withstand enemy attack.


    [Smite - Rank 3 Light spell - 3000 spirit stone]


    An area-of-effect attack that destroy and repel the enemy


    After reaching the Sky realm stage, Skill Library would rmend a list of abilities suitable for them. In general, all basic spells would be avable to all fighters based on their affinity, but it wasn''t umon to see two same affinity fighters get different list of abilities.


    For example, Theo who has the same element as Alex has ess to the skill [Mind st - Rank 3 Light spell] which costs 3000 spirit stones. This spell creates a mental attack that will knock weaker enemy unconscious and temporarily stuns stronger enemy.


    Meanwhile, Daisy who possessed censor talent had ess to [Detect Life Form - Rank 3 Light spell] from the beginning. A spell that not only allows the user to locate the enemy but also shows enemy info, with more range and uracy whenpared to Alex and Theo''s [Scan Area - Rank 1 Light spell] skill.


    As for Alex himself, he had yet to get a Light spell that was devoted to him. Perhaps he would when he reached the middle or upper stage of the Sky realm, a Rank 4 or Rank 5 spells that were specialized for him.


    Alex received twenty thousand spirit credits from his first try of the second challenge and an additional of eight thousand spirit credits that he got from the second and third try. On the day that the Level 2 Facility opened, Alex spent nine thousand spirit credits upgrading his realm and purchased the Light element manual and advanced sword art skill.


    With his remaining 19.000 spirit credits, Alex decided to purchase all of the avable light spells for a total of 10.200 spirit credits, which left him with 8.800 spirit credits. Alex ns to spend his time mastering all the spells and concentrating on improving his Light element until it reaches the middle stage.


    Alex closes the ess panel and enters the training room to begin his personal training. "One step at a time." He thought.

 Chapter 260 - Artifacts

    Alex spends two weeks inside the training room, training all his recently added skills to its maximum potential. Of the eight new light spells that he purchased before he started training, he had only managed to master six out of eight spells with the two Rank 3 spells [Blessed] and [Smite] too difficult for him to learn in his limited amount of time.


    He again med his talent for not being as good as those spirit enhancers. Alex really wanted to keep training until he learned all the spells, but too bad he couldn''t stay too long inside the training room.


    It was time for him to carry out his n. Whenever Alex though about it, he was always worried and hesitant. But when he recalled the words of the mysterious man in grey robe, it seemed that he couldn''t find any other way. This n is the only thing he could do right now.


    Alex then prepares his equipment for the journey.


    [Protective Vest - Tier 2 Armor]


    [Light Armor].


    [Weight : 3.2 kilograms]


    This is the armor he had since his trip to Mexico.


    [Short Sword - Tier 2 Weapon]


    [Length : 90 centimeters, Weight : 4 kilograms]


    [Increased attack speed]


    [Long sword - Tier 2 Weapon]


    [Length : 130 centimeters, Weight : 7 kilograms]


    [Increased weapon sharpness]


    Alex also doesn''t forget to bring the secret weapon which was the secret of his victory against the orcs, [Mutated Redback Spider Chelicerae] and also [Panacea], the healing serum made by theboratory in Bali.


    Alex checks the storage ring given to him by Jerry. In addition to lots of foods, drinks. He also found a wide variety of firearms, ranging from pistols, assault rifles, sub-machine guns, heavy machine guns to grenades. Alex was surprised when he found a silver-colored knife covered with runes among the things inside the ring.


    [Silver Dagger - Tier 3 Weapon]


    [Length : 45 centimeter, Weight : 1 kilograms]


    [Special Effects - Increased sharpness]


    [Special Skill - Haste]


    This is the reward Jerry got forpleting the second challenge. Ever since he got it, Jerry wanted to give it to Alex because it is a light element weapon, but Alex refused the offer because he was more ustomed to using a sword. This time, Jerry deliberately put it inside the ring to help Alex in his journey.


    "Jerryˇ­" Alex smiled and shook his head. He then looked at his own prepared artifacts. Of all the artifacts he nned to brought, there were two artifacts which were essential for the sess of his n.


    The first artifact was an essory he recovered from one of the hidden inscription sites in Australia.


    [Cloak of Light - Tier 3 Artifact]


    [Weight : 2 kilograms]


    [Special Effect - Enhanced durability]


    [Special Skill - Transparent]


    The second artifact was the one he bought at Level 2 Store using his remaining spirit credits.


    [Defensive Formation - Tier 2 Artifact]


    [Weight : 15 kilograms]


    A bronze te with bunch of runes symbols engraved on it. When activated, this artifact is able to create a protective area that can withstand attack for a period of time, simr to the Halo skill that Daisy got.


    Alex keeps all the equipment he prepared inside the storage ring. Before leaving, he didn''t forget to take the wooden sword and hang it on his shoulder.


    During the past few months, Alex has carried this sword here and there but never used it. Until now, he still didn''t understand the use of the sword but that didn''t stop him to keep hanging it over his shoulder.


    When Alex held the cloth, he suddenly remembered his wife.


    Alex then stepped into the main pir hall. He felt the hall looked more beautiful when its empty. He then opens the main panel and then ess the pirwork.


    [Pir Network]


    [Connecting to Pir 219]


    Before he set out, Alex took the time to talk to his wife and his two children, relishing his longing for his family. Because this time, his journey would be very dangerous.


    After waiting for a while, a hologram of a beautiful woman appeared in front of Alex.


    "Hey there, Devita." he said, but surprisingly his wife answered him with a serious tone.


    "I heard the team split by you and went to challenge the other pirs two weeks ago. why are you still there? are you by yourself?" she said


    "Yes I am." he answered.


    Realizing Alex has actually not joined the troops. Devita seem concerned "You have another dangerous n aren''t you?"


    Alex paused for a moment then said. " Don''t worry. I will be fine."


    Devita looks like she wants to start lecturing him but then decides to keep quiet.


    "Justˇ­be safe. We will be waiting."


    "I will," Alex said firmly.


    "Daddy! Daddy!!" Alex could see the small figure of Tiarraing into the room, followed by her sister Tiffany. Currently, Tiarra is 8 years old while Tiffany is 13 years old.


    "Daddy, when will you be back home?" asked Tiarra


    "In around six to eight-month Tiarra"


    "That''s too long, you have been away too long Dad" replied his youngest daughter


    "I just wish you are here now"


    "Don''t say that yaya! It''s bad to say that." Tiffany scolded.


    "Why it is bad?" asked the little girl, wondering why her sister scolds her.


    Tiffany was silent then looked at her father''s hologram. "Dad, people around here are saying that it would be bad luck to wish their loved ones back soon. Is that true?"


    With so many people failing to return, it''s be normal for this kind of saying spread among the survivors.The world after the apocalypse is an entirely different world. So many prayers and hopes have not been conveyed that it makes people afraid to hope.


    Alex who heard her words, shook his head and said with a smile "Don''t worry girls. Daddy will return as soon as possible."


    "Did you hear that sister? Daddy is busy saving the world! He will return soon and bring us a cute Ko or Kangaroo" said the little bundle of joy energetically, making everyone beside herughing.


    Alex, who saw the little happiness that happened when they were all together, felt it was a blessing for him and he would not let anything spoil it.


    After finishing their conversation and wishing the children goodnight, Alex exited the hall and then got into the vehicle. Happiness has taken away all of Alex''s worries and made him even more convinced to carry out his n sessfully ande back alive.


    "I must seed." he thought.


    Alex puts his foot on the gas pedal and going into the Australian wilderness, heading to one of the closest Abyss pit.

 Chapter 261 - Lone Fight

    In the arid desert with the heat from the sun ring on the earth and raging sands everywhere, which is located on the northern territory of the Australian continent, a jeep was seen speeding while being chased by dozens of small, spiky monsters. The man in the vehicle looked around and out the corner of his eye found a spot under a rock cliff. He then immediately parked his vehicle skillfully with a drift and jumped out of the jeep, ready to face the iing enemies.


    The man, Alex quickly took out his two Tier 2 swords and, with his back facing the cliff, began shing at his opponents one by one, with precision and strength. In an instant, dozens of monsters had been shed and split in half by his attack, filling the area around the cliff with their corpses.


    Scanning his surroundings, making sure none of the enemies were still alive, Alex wiped his de with a cloth and slid it back in its sheaths. He then opened a map to study the area, looking forndmarks that could let him know where he was right now.


    [Scan Area] a low rank light element spell that could detect life signs around the user''s position. With this spell, Alex could sense arge gathering of monsters hundreds of meters to the east of his position. When hepared the result of the spell with the map, Alex was sure he had found what he was looking for.


    Before setting out to his objective.. Alex covered the jeep with sand, camouging it so that it would not be seen by monsters who randomly roamed around. He also didn''t forget to mark his vehicle on his map, lest he lose his only means of fast transportation. Alex checked and made sure the vehicle was secure, before he slowly walked to the east direction, towards the monster gathering he had sensed earlier.


    Alex, who had walked for several minutes noticed something far ahead of him, using binocrs from a distance, he then noticed an irregr area in the desert. A very eye-catching pitch ck-colored soil could be seen in the yellow desert with cracks filling the entire terrain and a giant hole right in the middle of the cracks.


    The area was filled with hundreds of different types of critters and when Alex saw that, he didn''t waste any time and directly dashed forward towards hundreds of critters, intending to annihte them.


    Shortly after he dashed forward, the critters noticed Alex''s impending arrival and loud shrieks could be heard from them. They quickly turned their body to Alex''s direction, preparing to charge and attack the impudent human who dared to pass through their territory when a missile-like white-colored beam rained down and exploded on them.


    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!


    Loud explosions could be heard when those beams hit those monsters and the ground. This time, Alex didn''t use rocketunchers or grenades that he used to use but instead used the spell he had just mastered, namely the spell [Light Missile - Rank 2 Light spell].


    While he continued to run, his left hand kept casting out the spell while his right hand drew his sword from its sheath, ready to sh through the enemies.


    [Long sword - Tier 2 Weapon]


    Every beam that rained down on the crowd of critters had killed at least a few dozen of them. When Alex could only fire a dozen shots, he had closed the distance and collided with the group of critters, causing the critters to be flung backwards and smashing to other critters behind them. A faint white circr shield could be seen on Alex''s body.


    Before he collided with the group of critters, Alex uses his other new spell [Bright Shield] to withstand the impact of the collision. With this spell, the dozens of critters that were attacking at the same time seemed to have smashed against a transparent wall and knocked back by it.


    Seeing the satisfactory result of his spells, Alex quickly released his special technique in order to deal with the remaining critters.


    [Hexagram technique - stage 2]


    [Increases strength]


    [Increases speed]


    He then took out his second sword, the [Short sword - Tier 2 Weapon], and started shing the closest being. Each sh from his two swords was capable of killing several creatures at once.


    Dozens to hundreds of critters surrounded Alex''s location, making it look like they intended to suffocate him to death, but Alex was still able to dodge their attacks and cut them one by one.


    After reaching the Sky realm stage, a fighter''s fighting ability was doubled whenpared to the Peak stage of Earth realm. And with his advancement to the Sky realm, Alex was able to use the Stage 2 Hexagram technique without draining his energy reserve. The increase in speed and strength along with the formation steps of the Hexagram technique is able to make Alex face the critter''s relentless siege, attacking with ferocity while dodging withplexity.


    For a long time, Alex never fought at all because he was assisted and protected by his skilled fighters. Finally, he was able to fight with all his heart, immersed in the heat of battle. Every critter that approached him was cut and scattered around him, filling thend with their corpses.


    More and more critters flew out of the giant hole, rushing to help theirrade. It looks like Alex is in the sea of monsters, surrounded on all sides, struggling to survive.


    Suddenly, Alex make a mistake with his movement technique, opening a gap which allows one of the critters to bite him from behind


    [Protective Vest - Tier 2 Armor]


    [Energy Shield : 82/100]


    One bite from the creature is capable of consuming dozens of protective energies which shows just how powerful the creatures that Alex is currently facing.


    Alex realizes that he cannot allow himself to be surrounded anymore and instantly decides to release his technique to its maximum level in an attempt to escape his current predicament.


    [Hexagram technique - stage 4]


    [Increases speed]


    [Increases strength]


    Ever since he unleashed the fourth stage of the technique, Alex was able to bounce back and try to escape the encirclement, leaving only the front and sides filled with enemies, giving him a way back if he needed to.


    asionally, when he was suppressed by the critters, he quickly cast a spell [Blind] and all the nearby critters would immediately fall into disarray, giving him a breath and chance to collect himself. With this spell, Alex was able to return to his favorable position and continue fighting.


    Who knows how many critters Alex has defeated. Probably more than hundreds of them, sweats already pouring out and covering his entire body.


    Alex knew that he could continue releasing his fourth stage technique for several hours, but he had to conserve his strength. That''s why he decided to take his time and kill those critters with as little energy as possible.


    As the night curtain fell, the battle finally ended. There were no more critters to be seen, leaving a single human standing on the pitch ck terrain.


    As the night curtain fell, the battle finally ended.

 Chapter 262 - Cultivation

    Dusk sinks in the yellow desert, followed by the dark curtains and glittering moonlight, bringing a tremendous chill to those inside it.


    The area that was previously pitch ck was now covered with blood, filled with a repulsive stench that could make ordinary civilians empty their guts. There was a man seen standing on top of the bodies of hundreds of critters, unbothered by the smell and sight of the carnage around him.


    Alex with swords still in hand looked around and searched for any movement, ready to cut down anything that caught his eye. Finding nothing, He then sat on one of the bodies and rxed his tense body.


    After going through such a long and precarious battle where a single mistake could cost him his life, Alex felt like his body was within its limits. While resting, he turned his gaze to the giant hole where the critters came out.


    Alex wanted to enter the hole, but seeing that the night wasing, he gave up his intention and decided to wait until tomorrow. He couldn''t take the risk of night exploration when he was alone, especially with his current destination.


    Feeling well rested, Alex walked around the bodies of critters and began to collect their crystals..


    [Telekinesis] was an extremely useful spell for times like this, where he could gather his loot with ease instead of collecting them one by one, breaking his spine after the process.


    With a wave of his hand, the white crystals were seen floating and quickly entering Alex''s storage ring. In this battle, Alex defeated more than 600 critters where nearly one in two of critter''s corpses had white spirit stones, bringing the total of his loot to over 300 spirit stones.


    Making sure no spirit stones were left behind, Alex walked back to his vehicle and started a bonfire under the rock cliff. He then sat cross-legged, ready to start cultivating.


    Even though Alex is currently somewhere in the middle of the desert, he was not worried about the possibility of an ambush from monsters. With his spell [Scan Area] Alex will know whether there are threats around him or not. His light spell is very useful at times like this although asionally it makes him a little too sensitive because sometimes he feels like someone or something is following him. And when he tried to trace the source Alex found nothing, who knows maybe an insect or small animal has identally followed him, raising a false rm.


    Alex wasn''t too worried about it even if there were monsters following him, as long as they didn''t attack or got too close to Alex, he wouldn''t attack and start a ughter. There''s no need to worry for the monsters, just don''t get in Alex''s way.


    While listening to the sound of fire crackling in front of him, Alex opened his storage ring and examined the spirit stones in his possession. Currently he has nearly a thousand white spirit stones with over thirty yellow spirit stones, as well as a red spirit stone that he got in the fight against the stage 4 zombie in Bali.


    Nearly all of his other spirit stones were used to increase the skills and realm of his special forces when they arrived in Australia. After spending so much spirit stones for the troops, Alex kept the rest to himself.


    On this asion, Alex ns to consume the yellow spirit stones he has. He decided to consume one stone every hour and started his cultivation, refining the energy from the spirit stone in his body. Several hourster, Alex received a notification in his mind.


    [Your sky realm level increased by 1]


    Currently, fighters have two general methods of increasing their realm. The first was to absorb spirit energy that they received from the battle against the challenges on each floor of Doomsday Pir. Whereas the second is by consuming spirit stones or mutated beast meat and refining their energy in your body.


    His fighters numbered more than four hundreds are using the first method, who are currently travelling across Australia, challenging the pirs to strengthen and advance their realm. Meanwhile Alex uses the second method, taking the energy contained within the spirit stone and refining it for his own realm.


    The first method is difficult to do alone because the situation of pir challenge is a big battle that makes it impossible. So that leaves Alex with the second method he is currently using as the best method for him.


    There is somethingpletely different between Sky Realm Knight and Sky Realm Magus. Whereas the knights were still very dependent on the realm level while for magus, the realm level was just the standard boundary for increasing the stage of their spirit element.


    If Alex wanted to learn higher tier spells he needed to master the necessary element stages and in order to reach the required element stage, he first had to reach the minimum Sky realm level requirements before he could try to achieve a breakthrough in the spirit element he possessed.


    On the other hand, one of the advantages of a Sky realm Magus was the ability to increase his realm with a third unique method. By increasing their understanding of spirit elements, they were able to absorb the world''s spirit energy to gradually increase their realm.


    Even though this method waspletely unique and took longer to master, if someone had extraordinary talent like those spirit enhancers, he would be able to absorb spirit energy much faster and would also find it easier to get a breakthrough in his understanding of spirit elements.


    After exhausting himself on today''s battle, using all the light spells he could use and his training for the past two weeks on the pir. Alex finally got the notification he had been waiting for.


    [Your understanding with light element has increased, your sky realm level increased by 1]


    Alex


    [Male - 36 years]


    [Sky Realm Level 3 - Initial Stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Light - Initial Stage]


    [Spirit Talent - B]


    Tonight''s consumption of yellow spirit stones, followed by his two weeks of umted meditation, raised his realm level twice, which was a progress in his cultivation. However, this was still far from sufficient for him.


    Unlike the Earth realm and the Mortal realm which only requires thirty levels, to reach the peak of Magus he would need a hundred Sky realm levels as well as the peak understanding of his corresponding spirit element.


    Meaning that he had to break through the early stage, middle stage, high stage, and peak spirit of spirit element stage to fulfill one of the two peak conditions of Magus.


    Alex knew that in his previous life, it would take an A grade aptitude Sky realm magus3 years at the earliest to reach the Spirit realm stage.


    Recalling the message of the mysterious man in gray who said that Alex needed to reach the Spirit realm stage before the third tribtion, made Alex need to use every opportunity to train and cultivate so that he could achieve his goal.


    There was still a long way to go for him to finally rx and take things easy, he still needed to continue to gather his strength. So until then, he won''t stop until he reaches the finish line.


    With the advancement of his Sky realm level, Alex needed a little rest and some food. After sleeping for a while and having a simple dinner, he spent the whole night practicing and cultivating.


    As soon as dawn arrived, Alex prepared to enter the Abyss pit.

 Chapter 263 - The Pit

    With the sun raising and sharing his radiance with the world, Alex was woken up from his deep cultivation and quickly prepared to enter the Abyss pit. Before Alex walked back to the area where he previously killed the critters yesterday, he made sure to hide his vehicle again and destroy the bonfire.


    The area that the day before was filled with hundreds of critter corpses was now being visited by several mutated monsters. It looked like the monsters were attracted by the critter''s dead bodies, which caused the scene before him.


    [Mutated Dingo]


    [Level 45 Mutated Beast]


    [Tier 2 - mid stage]


    At this stage, Mutated Dingo is one of the mutated animals that dominates the Australian desert.. These animals are able to hunt effectively, by bringing down their foes with their packs, attacking relentlessly until their enemy drops dead. But this time, Alex noticed the dozens of Dingo seemed not daring to approach the middle of the area which was dominated by two giant bird monsters.


    [Mutated Red Goshawk]


    [Level 60 Mutated Beast]


    [Tier 3 - early stage]


    These birds of prey were not much weaker than the garuda that were found in Bali Ind when theypared to each other. Their sharp ws that could shred through flesh easily, coupled with their incredible speed when diving downwards, made them formidable enemies that survivors didn''t want to meet in the wilderness.


    When Alex saw these unexpected guests he wasn''t worried at all, on the contrary, he thought that these mutated monsters could be delicious food for him. Fortunately, he hadn''t had any breakfast yet.


    Eyeing those soon-to-be-food monsters, Alex quickly ran over to the crowd of mutated dingos and started swinging his swords, splitting their bodies into two portions. It could be seen that half a dozen of them were already killed by Alex''s sword. As for those birds, when they noticed his presence, they instantly opened their wings and flew high into the air.


    Once they reached a sufficiently high position in the air, they immediately straightened their bodies and plunged down towards Alex''s position!


    The two tier 3 mutated bird monsters were aiming for Alex with their tworge and sharp talons, intending to tear his body apart. Alex who saw the situation immediately cast three of his [Magic Missile - Tier 2 Light spell] spells to attack the iing birds. The spells directly hit those two birds but it seemed that although they hurt the birds, the tier 2 spell was not strong enough to stop them.


    Alex immediately used the fourth stage hexagram technique to evade the dive.


    BOOM!!!


    Loud explosions apanied by deafening sounds could be heard. The location where Alex had stood before had been ruined, with sand and rock fragments scattered everywhere, blurring vision for a moment.


    Seeing the result of their diving attack, Alex knew he couldn''t let these birds do these attacks without stopping or else he would be screwed. Facing these bird monsters, Alex is worried about their peerless speed, especially their mobility in the air where they can zapped around, dodging every attack that he throws at them.


    Without a moment of hesitation, Alex decided to use his new weapon, the gift from Jerry. He quickly took out the [Silver Dagger - Tier 3 Weapon] and activated the spell inside the weapon.


    [Haste]


    Alex felt something filled his body with power.


    [Significantly increases speed for 5 minutes, can be used once a day]


    With Alex''s speed increasing drastically, this time he took the initiation to attack the birds. The sharp dagger augmented with the light element immediately injured one of the bird''s wings and rendered it unable to fly.


    The injured bird screamed loudly and tried to retaliate, intending to kill the human who hurt it. But Alex effortlessly dodged its attempt and even stuck the tier 3 dagger into its head, effectively killing it.


    The tier 3 bird monsters had quite high intelligence, seeing its partner die so easily at this man''s hands, it quickly flew high and tried to flee.


    Alex, who saw the bird''s attempt to escape, vigorously threw the dagger in hand and hit the neck of the escaping bird. The bird''s body could be seen falling from the sky, hitting the ground with a loud thud.


    This tier 3 mutated bird was actually a terrible predator in Australia at this time, reaping a lot of lives in his previous life. But Alex, a Sky realm Magus who has lots of artifacts and skills, is the wrong opponent for them.


    Walking over to the two dead bodies, Alex found a yellow spirit stone and then ced the bodies of the two birds in the storage ring.


    After clearing the area from the monsters, Alex continued to walk towards the Abyss pit. The abyss hole had made the cracks so extraordinary that it was like going down a steep hill. He then carefully walked down to the slope and used one of his spells.


    [Scan Area]


    The spell result showed several monsters waiting for him in front but from the energy that they released, he knew they were only a bunch of the critters monster.


    During one hour of his walk inside the hole, Alex finished off a dozen critters before finally arriving in front of a big gate. The gate was colored ck with a shade of red, with indescribable words engraved on it.


    The gate has a small portal opening through which the beast critters exit. Alex carefully inspected the gate then sighed.


    "This ce is still not ready."


    Realizing that this ce is a failure, Alex wasted no time and returned to the surface. He walked back to the vehicle and drove towards the next closest Abyss pit.


    There are at least 10 Abyss pits in the northern part of Australian continent, Alex ns to inspect these pits one by one.


    The same thing happened to the second abyss pit, from attacking critters to finishing off the mutated beasts. Alex honed his spells and fighting spells all at once.


    asionally Alex could also find a unique mutated beast, which much stronger than normal mutated beast. Currently, tier 2 mutated beast meat does not have any benefit for Sky realm fighters, only tier 3 meat still has an effect.


    Seeing the meat inside his storage ring, Alex decided to roast the meat and eating it alone. Although this is something he used to do, considering the 10 years of experience in his past life. Alex suddenly missed his friend who was fighting on the other sides of Australia especially Raufgar with his cooking skills.


    Every time he consumed the tier 3 meat, Alex felt an increase in his spirit energy. Every night, he returns into meditation to deepen his reserve of spirit energy, refining the energy that he received from the meat and spirit stone. Within seven days, Alex had wiped out thousands of critters and hundreds of mutated animals. Naturally, he would have a lot of spirit stones.


    [Your sky realm level increased by 1]


    [Your sky realm level increased by 1]


    Alex realizes that leveling up in the future will be much more difficult. So he couldn''t expect to hit his goal just by killing critters and mutated beasts. He hoped to find the right abyss pit soon.


    On his fifth hole, this time Alex noticed something different. The critters that filled the area around the pit were numbered more than a thousand, twice the normal amount. Although the number was a little too much for Alex, he hoped that this pit would be different from his previous pits.


    Because of the sheer amount of critters, Alex decided to adopt the divide and conquer tactic, each day slowly and surely killed the critters that filled the area surrounding the hole. Killing them a few hundred at a time, and quickly ran and returned again on the next day. And finally on the third day, the area around the abyss was only filled with the critter''s corpses. At that three days Alex managed to get more than 1000 spirit stones.


    After he finished, As of before for the same particr reason, Alex waited until morning and the next day he then entered the abyss hole. After an hour''s walk and dozens of critters killing, when he saw the abyss gate in front of him, Alex couldn''t help but to smile.


    "Finally!" This time he found the right abby''s pit


    --------------


    Author Note


    Dear reader, Thank you for the support. This month again i will again try to do the win win challenge. that''s daily chapter update for the whole month. Honestly, I am not sure if i canplete the challenge, but i n to use the challenge to push myself to give more time and thought for the novel. Hope for your help and continuous support for Doomsday Pirs. Please support the novel by giving just 1 coin for the privilege chapter this way when the win winpleted, more people can enjoy the novel. thank you very much. Avans

 Chapter 264 - Hell

    238 days after the apocalypse hase and 262 days before the first tribtion to hit the world.


    At that time, thousands of abyss gates all over the earth will open and hundreds of thousands of monsters wille out from every abyss gate and flood the surface of the earth.


    In Alex''s previous life, the gate of the abyss would be partially open after the first year so that the next monster that came after those critters would start to be a threat. While the main monster will appear on the 500th day.


    In order to raise his realm and cultivation level, Alex nned to enter and explore the gate of the abyss. But the natural opening time of each gate is different.


    Currently the gate that is in front of Alex is one of the gates that would be able to be essed earlier. But to gain early ess to the gate is not something anyone would rmend, therefore Alex keeps this n to himself. He ns to bring his special troops eventually before the tribtion, but for now Alex will go alone, braving the path for his forces.


    Unlike the other gates, this gate, which was nearly 5 meters high, had arge crack that gave off a red malicious light, making those who saw it afraid.. This is a sign that the gate has undergone a change.


    Alex had waited a long time to do this. Now that the gate was right before his eyes, Alex took a long breath before stepping forward and touching the cracked part.


    All of a sudden, Alex had found himself transported to a different area where he was at earlier.


    Arge cave with rows of rock stgmites and stctites protruding from the floor, walls and ceiling of the cave. The cavern shone a reddish light emanating from the small river ofva that flowed in the cave.


    The temperature in the cave room is certainly very hot, apparent with the presence of theva. But Alex who has reached the Sky realm level was not affected by it.


    When he was transported into the cave, Alex immediately drew his sword, vignce on his face. He then started walking while keeping his alert. With the sword in his right hand and his left hand cast his light spell [Illuminate] which releases a bright light that further brightens the cave, ensuring Alex can guard against any kind of surprise attack.


    Inside the cave, Alex encounters dozens of critters that are not difficult for him to kill every few minutes. He will also sometimes find a second tier abyss monster.


    [Hellhound]


    [Level 50 Abyss Creature]


    [Tier 2 Middle stage]


    A dog-shaped beast with an ember-like skin and fireing out of its nose was a monster that was one level above the mutated dingo. But this monster is still not strong enough to stop Alex''s steps.


    The main strength of this beast is its running speed which can rival that of a peak Earth realm fighter. All fighters under Sky realm stage will find it difficult to face this monster especially because these monsters generally attack in a pack.


    Currently, Alex is inside a ce called the first level of the abyss which is known as the Abyss Antechamber where one needed to pass this antechamber before going to the next part of the cave, in short an entrance. And just like its name it was very suitable if the abyss monster found inside it were hellhounds, the guardian dogs of hell.


    In religion and ancient folklore, Hell is a location in afterlife where evil souls were subjected to many kind of punishments, ranging from torture, misery, incineration to eternal damnation after death. Religions typically stated that hell was in another dimension or underneath the Earth''s surface.


    Sometimes Alex can''t stop but to wonder where were those mythologies came from because their unusual simrity with these abyss pits


    In this abyss antechamber, there are two things that Alex should pay attention to. First, even though all the enemies that he encountered so far were not too difficult for him, if Alex made a mistake and was cornered by packs of hellhounds together then he would meet his end right there.


    Second is Alex must measure the time he spent inside this cave. Because there is one special effect that affects this abyss creature that can be a threat, namely the innate skill [Creature of the Night] where at night these hellhounds will get an increase of one level to their stage.


    [Hellhound]


    [Level 60 Abyss Creature]


    [Tier 2 High stage ]


    That was the reason why Alex chose to not enter the pit when the night falls.


    One way to know that the sun is setting outside and it''s time for him to be careful can be seen from the bodies of the hellhounds when they start emitting zing mes.


    This innate skill was the very reason why the threat level to mankind after the first tribtion increased so high in his previous life where every time the sunsets people will start to panic and alert, afraid of these hellhounds.


    Apart from that, there is nothing Alex needs to worry about when he explores the antechamber.


    Although this antechamber is considered a small part of the cave, Alex wouldn''t be able to fully explore this ce even if he decided to spend a whole week dedicated to roam the chamber.


    Alex spent his first day hunting hellhounds. The poor monster was getting annihted by him without mercy. When he remembered the tragic state of mankind in his previous life because of these monsters, Alex couldn''t help but to increase his rate of destruction, bringing literal hell for these monsters.


    Every two hellhounds that Alex kills would drop a spirit stone, with some of them dropping a yellow spirit stone.


    After walking for more than 10 hours, killing every hellhound that crossed his path, Alex decided it was time for him to rest.


    He searched around the chamber and found a small cave inside the wall then decided to rest there. The cave''s size was no bigger than a basketball court, enough for 5 people to sleepfortably.


    Naturally, the conditions inside this Abyss cannot bepared to the conditions in the Australian desert. To increase his security, Alex decided to use the artifact he previously prepared.


    [Defensive Formation - Tier 2 Artifact].


    The artifact that he bought by consuming his remaining spirit credits has the same value as a tier 2 golem. However, unlike golem that focuses on attacking its enemy, this artifact is specifically bought only to protect its user.


    Just like its offensive counterpart, this artifact also needed spirit stones in order to be activated. Alex then spent 50 spirit stones to activate the artifact and the cave room immediately covered by a transparent barrier.


    This barrier would be able to withstand the attack of any iing enemies but if someone tried to force its way into the cave, the durability of this barrier will decrease just like his protective vest. Unfortunately, this barrier cannot be carried while moving and it takes time to activate it, making it somewhat useless in battles.


    For this tier two artifact, unless hundreds of hellhounds attack it at the same time, the barrier will stand strong, protecting Alex for the threat. Furthermore, the artifact will notify Alex about the attacks, assuring his safety and let him sleep peacefully inside the cave.


    As the barrier was activated , Alex could see that the area outside his small cave had be brighter, caused by the hellhounds that emitting mes from their body, the apparent changed due to the innate skill [Creature of the Night].


    Seeing the situation, Alex could only shook his head and as usual took the opportunity to get back to his training. During the past 10 hour, he had again killed hundreds of critters and dozens of hellhounds whichted him 200 white spirit stones and 5 yellow spirit stones. A pretty good result he could say, but still not what Alex expected.


    Alex quickly did a calction inside his mind. To be able to meet his target of achieving the Saint realm within 2 years, Alex could not only fight inside this antechamber where the abyss monster was only the hellhounds.


    Alex then determined to make his way into the main chamber tomorrow. For that reason, he would take his time to rest his body tonight aside from his training to restore his condition to its peak.


    ----------


    Author Note


    Dear reader, Thank you for the support. This month again i will again try to do the win win challenge. that''s daily chapter update for the whole month. Honestly, I am not sure if i canplete the challenge, but i n to use the challenge to push myself to give more time and thought for the novel. Hope for your help and continuous support for Doomsday Pirs. Please support the novel by giving just 1 coin for the privilege chapter this way when the win winpleted, more people can enjoy the novel. thank you very much. Avans

 Chapter 265 - Cornered

    Sat!!


    Thud!


    Sounds of blood hitting the cave''s walls apanied by the noise of bodies hitting the ground could be heard inside the antechamber as Alex made his way deeper into the chamber, shing every creature he came across.


    Every few steps he took was followed by the arrival of more hellhounds that would pounce at him, trying to kill this intruder. Just now, one or two hellhounds could be seen attacking him among the packs of critters, but as Alex kept going further and further inside the chamber, he was confronted by groups of hellhounds every hundred yards.


    Naturally, Alex would try to dodge and look for another direction to go if he came across a pack of a dozen or more hellhounds. And if ites to fighting more than that, Alex will immediately turn around and decide to get the hell away as fast as possible. Alex wanted to train and increase his power, not seeking death..


    Unfortunately, after walking for several hours, it looked like Alex had run out of luck as he was besieged by dozens of hellhounds at once, despite his attempt to be cautious.


    Alex grumbled when he saw the dire situation he was in, "Ahhh! The result will be the same whether I choose the right side or left side as there are too many. Screw this! I just need to quickly kill them all before more show up." he resolutely said.


    Alex immediately uses his technique to quickly deal with the situation in hand.


    [Hexagram technique - stage 4]


    [Increases speed]


    [Increases strength]


    At his current location in the cave, there was almost no chance he would encounter any more critters, with the hellhounds starting to be the standard.


    Alex wouldn''t be able to choose his opponent anymore and was only able to dash forward while shing the hellhounds that jumped on him, tremendously decreasing his chances of outmaneuvering and using any tricks.


    But Alex still had a truly magical formation movement technique that really suited his situation right now, especially against monsters that are mindlessly attacking its enemy like these hellhounds.


    These hellhounds continued to chase their prey and didn''t notice they were constantly circling in a mysterious formation, unable to touch a single cloth of their prey. The movement technique keeps Alex from being cornered and giving him the opportunity to continue killing unscathed.


    However, this technique will be useless when facing enemies that are much faster than the user. Therefore, this technique will only have the most impact when used against a bunch of weaker enemies where it will keep its user from being surrounded by moving and taking a position inside the formation.


    Unfortunately, the effort that must be made to master this technique is not small. Not only one needs a hardworking nature, they also need high intelligence and near-eidetic memory in order to memorize and effectively use the formation. It took years for Alex to memorize it, and only now will he reap the rewards.


    As Alex continued to go deeper, he encountered more and more hellhounds, from units to dozens, forcing him to be even more creative against them in order to survive.


    [Bright Shield]


    Every time this skill is used, Alex is able to block and separate a group of hellhounds by charging and using his body as an obstacle while he finishes off the other group.And if he was pressured by them, he would immediately use the old trick [Blind] and use the opening to move to an advantageous position, far from being cornered.


    He even uses [Light Missile] and shoots it at the ceiling of the cave, making the stctites fall and killing the hellhounds as well as forming obstacles for those who want to attack.


    There was almost no chance for Alex to rx as the monsters kepting at him in waves. After several hours of fighting, Alex gets a notification which reminds him how long he''s been fighting.


    [Protective Vest]


    [Energy Shield 0/100]


    The energy shield was finally depleted after taking who knows how many hits, making him wonder how it had been activated until now.


    Naturally, it would take Alex time and spirit stones to replenish it. However. The most critical thing right now is Alex needs to run away, far from his current location.


    There were two life-saving skills that he could use at the moment. The first was to use [Haste], a skill inside the silver dagger that would increase his speed.


    While the second was to use the skill of his next artifact.


    [Cloak of Light - Tier 3 Artifact]


    [Weight : 2 kilograms]


    [Special Effect - Enhanced durability]


    [Special Skill - Transparent]


    Gives the user the ability to be invisible for 5 minutes, and can be used twice a day.


    After using this skill, Alex''s body slowly became transparent until he disappeared from the hellhound''s sight. He then retreated as fast as he could. Even though the hellhounds have a good sense of smell, they can''t catch up to Alex with their nose alone.


    He found this very special artifact with its skill from one of the artifact''s locations shown by the pirs. Alex would not have carried out this crazy n without this artifact that allows him to escape a dire situation. This was Alex''s full preparation to seek maximum benefits in his journey on exploring this Abyss pit.


    Although it had not been 12 hours yet, with his invisibility this time around, Alex was forced to rest and decided to hide in one of the holes in the cave''s wall.


    Again, Alex prepares his [Defensive Formation] even though every time he uses it requires spirit stones, but today Alex has killed nearly three hundred which give him 22 yellow spirit stones. The amount that made today''s struggles and pains disappeared in an instant.


    Alex then started his cultivation again by consuming a spirit stone every hour for maximum efficiency.


    [Your sky realm level increased by 1]


    Previously Alex only needed 10 yellow spirit stones to increase his realm level by one. But this time, he needed 20 yellow spirit stones, two times the previous amount to raise it to the next level.


    [Sky Realm Level 6 - Initial Stage]


    [Spirit Energy - Light - Initial Stage]


    Alex was quite happy to see the number 6 in his status. This makes him more motivated to train even harder.When Alex was about to sleep, he noticed there were noises outside the cave.


    "What could it be?" He thought.


    Alex had been very careful about choosing his hiding ce, where it was quite hidden. It would be very unlucky of him if by chance a creatures found his hideout.


    However, he still needed to check the origin of the noise. He then slowly came out of the hole and walked towards the direction of the sound.


    The noises were heard not far from where he was. Alex stepped very carefully and slowly approached the source. He then realized that the sound he heard was fighting sound


    Alex found an area filled with dozens of scattered hellhound corpses.


    He nced over the area while his mind was raced, pondering every possibility he could think of.


    It has never been known that the creatures inside the abyss kill each other before. And Alex was sure there couldn''t be anyone else except him in this ce.


    Could there be any unknown creature roaming here?


    Before getting closer to the source, to be careful, Alex first looked at the condition of the corpses of the dead hellhounds.


    "This is a cut caused by a sharp object." Alex was stunned.


    Judging from the cut, it wasn''t caused by the sharp edge of a monster, but by a high tier de. Alex is getting more and more confused. Without wasting any more time, he immediately rushed to the sound of the battle.


    From far he could see hundreds of hellhounds already gathered, attacking what looked like a shinym, round object. A giant block of ice.


    Hundreds of hellhounds bit and wed at the block of ice until it cracked but then suddenly the block of ice broke into pieces and scattered in all directions, attacking and injuring dozens of hellhounds surrounding it.


    As soon as the ice block shattered, Alex saw the back figure of a woman inside the block of ice. The woman staggered and almost fell. Without thinking, Alex immediately decided to jump and help the woman before being hit by a hellhound.


    [Haste]


    Alex immediately ran fast, shing all the hellhounds that were standing between him and the woman. The woman fell into Alex''s arms.


    When he saw her face, Alex was shocked.


    "Aria!!"


    -------


    Author Note


    Dear reader, Thank you for the support. This month again i will try to do the win win challenge. that''s daily chapter for the whole month. Honestly I am not sure if i canplete the challenge, but i n to use the challenge to can push myself to give more time for the novel. Hope for your help and continuous support for Doomsday Pirs. I am hoping if possible that you my reader would give me somement or review. thank you very much. Avans

 Chapter 266 - Stalker

    "Don''t worry uncle Arief. I will apany Alex. It''s my duty."


    "No Aria, you are now the leader of the squad, those guys will need your expertise for them toplete the mission ande back alive."


    Her thoughts returned to the meeting held earlier as these words kept hanging in Aria''s mind, making her frown. She remembers that her original goal was to help and protect Alex, not to be a babysitter for the elite squad. Since she heard those words, she could not ept this order of his.


    Aria grew up in a family with a military background, although she was the daughter of arge military family, she was never spoiled by her rtives. On the contrary, she was always driven to be the best by her family, seen from her hardworking and persistent behaviour.


    She was able to prove that by getting a high position in the Death Squad troops which was very hard toe by. It was difficult for a man to reach her level of sess let alone a woman like her..


    She went through various dangerous missions with stunning results until one day her unit was trapped and caught on a mission. At that time, she was the only one who was redeemed and she knew the reason why.


    It was only because of her family background that she was able to escape and continue living while her team was abandoned.


    Given this incident where his team was abandoned without any hope, Aria was determined not to leave her teammate again.


    This current situation felt the same for her, or even worse.


    Her leader intends to face the dangers in Australian wilderness alone!


    Anyone in their right mind wouldn''t even think about this possibility.


    She believes that Alex must be intending to go on some crazy mission so he hides this from everyone so as to not worry them, which gave her even more reason to apany him.


    Seeing everything Alex has done in the past 9 months makes her unable to help but think that he is the key to the survival of humanity. That''s why she decided to protect him at all cost.


    She thought ''This job is even more important than protecting the president himself!'' or at least that''s what she keeps telling herself.


    Actually since the first time they met, Aria was never the same again. She began to experience many things that she had never felt before. Starting from her racing heartbeats when she was with him, followed by many thoughts that kept bothering her for months.


    Aria wasn''t stupid, she knew exactly how she felt. It was just her rational mind that made her think that it was just in admiration for extraordinary men.


    (''How can he be so strong?'')


    (''He is married!'')


    (''What a brilliant idea! How could he think of that solution?'')


    (''He is so smart.'')


    (''He already has two daughters, Aria. What are you? A family wrecker?'')


    Those were some of her thoughts that continued to upy her mind.


    But during the apocalypse, she thought that feelings were the least important thing. Therefore she tried never to care about it.


    But now, Aria is determined not to let Alex wander off alone, especially in Australian wilderness where monsters freely roamed around. After the meeting, Aria immediately discussed her intention with Arief, Jerry and Dario.


    "What are you thinking Aria? Are you losing your mind?" said Dario harshly, clearly expressing his disapproval.


    "Butˇ­" She tried to argue.


    But Dario doesn''t give her no chance at all, "What but? This is clearly insubordination! Didn''t you hear what Alex said earlier?"


    While Aria was nervous because of Dario''s harsh words, the previously silent Jerry spoke.


    "I don''t think the idea is bad. At least one of us needs to apany him to ensure his safety. There''s no point inpleting our mission if Alex dies. The troops will lose their morale and crumble like a sand castle."


    Aria nodded her head vigorously when she heard Jerry''s words. "Exactly my goal!" She shouted.


    She then turned her gaze to Arief, wanting to hear his opinion.


    "How about you, Uncle? What do you think?"


    "If you do this, I will not only worry about Alex but also you. How can I face the regentter? I do not agree."


    When Aria heard that, her mind immediately tried to think of any reason to convince him. She thought for a moment and said. "Uncle Arief, do you remember what my grandfather said to mest time? He said ''Follow your heart'' and right now I know I can''t leave Alex alone this time."


    Hearing her words, the room they were in was silent. The two grown men who opposed the idea were speechless.


    "Okay then. Just be careful." Jerry said with a sigh.


    Dario also can only helplessly nod his head while sighing.


    Aria excitedly jumped when she heard that. "Thank you! I will!"


    After they decide to let Aria look after Alex, they need to decide who will fill the vacant third squad leader position. They then chose Theo as the leader of the third squad. Even though he had no military background, they were sure he would seed with Sergei''s help.


    On the day of departure, after leaving Alice Spring Aria got out of the vehicle carrying the equipment she needed in the storage ring. She then said goodbye to her team before returning to look for Alex.


    When she located him, Aria continued to watch Alex from afar with her long range binocrs. Reconnaissance mission is her specialty and coupled with her ability to disappear, Alex would never notice her.


    She waited patiently for Alex while he was training at the Doomsday Pir and kept up with him when he came out three weekster. She continued to follow him until he reached the desert.


    Aria started to lose her patient when she saw him fighting hundreds of critters. She even almost exposed herself when she saw Alex fighting a high-tiered mutated monster by himself. Aria wanted to help him but she knew it was not the time yet.


    Her heart trembled when she realized Alex was trying to enter the Abyss hole. Not even in her wildest dreams did she think Alex was going to do something that bold.


    But every time Alex goes into the hole, he wille out of the hole quickly. It seemed that Alex was just looking for something.


    At night, Aria tried to walk closer but she then realized that Alex would feel her presence so she gave up her mind.


    It''s been almost a month Aria has followed Alex. She thought it was time she approached Alex and helped him fight.


    "Tomorrow, I will help him." She thought.


    However, this time when he entered the abyss hole, Alex didn''te out after a long time.


    Aria waited for several hours and finally she couldn''t wait anymore. She then decided to follow him. And from his footsteps, Aria knew that Alex had entered the gate with a crack that was emitting a red and blue light.


    Aria didn''t think much and immediately entered the gate.


    Following the track left by Alex, Aria found dozens and hundreds of corpses of critters and these new monsters Hellhound. Aria could not avoid and was forced to fight against this abyss creature.


    It wasn''t easy for her to trace Alex''s steps because of how fast Alex finishes his battle using his new technique. She could only follow the lines of mutated beast corpses in hope of finding Alex.


    The deeper she got into the cave, the more she was attacked. Until suddenly, she was surprised to see the hellhound monsters suddenly ring at once and felt the intensity of each hellhound getting stronger.


    [Hellhound - Fury]


    [Creature of the Night skill activated]


    Realizing the dire situation she was in, Aria immediately cast the number of ice and water spells she knew. [Ice Wall], [Frost Bolt], and [Crashing Waves] were seen hitting the hellhounds.


    Unfortunately, these two elements are less effective in this ce. With this dry and hot environment condition, the water element that Aria used would not give maximum results.


    Aria continues to fight without rest, she doesn''t use a firearm for fear that the sound of gunfire will attract Alex''s attention. However after nearly 2 days of endless fighting, Aria finally reached her limit. She didn''t even have the strength to use her invisibility anymore.


    Right now, not only was she surrounded by hundreds of hellhounds but to make matters worse, all of these hellhounds were already in their [fury] status. These dog monsters with mes covered its body started to sessfully scratch and injure her body.


    Blood started spilling all over her body. Feeling she couldn''t take it anymore, she then cast thest spell she had mastered.


    [Ice Prison]


    She casted the spell on herself. Aria was now encased in arge chunk of ice, protected from the hellhound''s attacks.


    Unfortunately, this spell couldn''t help her from the situation she was in, just buying her a little time.


    When the spell broke, Aria thought it was time for her to die.


    At thest second of her life and death,


    The figure in her mind rescued her.


    "Aria!"

 Chapter 267 - Escape

    "Aria!!"


    Alex shouted in dismay when he found Aria in a very perilous situation. He rushed over to her immediately, worried about her. When he caught her body, Alex quickly examined her body. He couldn''t help but to take a deep breath when he saw her condition.


    There were multiple w and bite wounds all over her body. He could also see ck spots all over her skin caused by the mes emitted from the hellhounds.


    Aria was bombarded so much by their attacks that her tier 2 protective shield had run out of energy without a shred of energy remaining.


    Not only that, to make matters even worse, the two of them were currently surrounded by more that 100 hellhounds who were in their frenzy mode. Even if he was in his prime condition, Alex might not be able to fight back and kill them all. Even more so now, when he was already exhausted from fighting in the cave all day long..


    Now, Alex must escape from this ce and at the same has to take care of Aria who is injured. To make matters worse, he couldn''t use his two life-saving items anymore because he already used it today. It seemed that their current conditions were very precarious.


    Aria was delighted when she saw Alexe to her rescue when suddenly thoughts of their situation shed through her mind, making her regret having caused trouble for him.


    "I-I am sorry, Alex. Just leave me here." said Aria with difficulty, pained expression apparent on her face.


    When she understood their current condition, Aria could only say this so Alex could escape.


    Alex ignored her words and without thinking, quickly embraced Aria in his arms. Aria who saw his action was immediately shocked and embarrassed by her current position.


    Alex looked at her and said


    "Hold on tight and close your eyes."


    Hearing this, Aria who wanted to ask Alex to put her down couldn''t speak her mind and just closed her eyes.


    Alex didn''t say anything when he saw that. He then casted the [Blind] spell with both of his hands and two bright piercing lights blind the hellhound''s eyes instantly, creating disturbance between them.


    He immediately tried to rush his way through the crowd of hellhounds while his [Haste] spell still in effect, making use of the chaos to escape.


    Even though they were blinded, Alex had to be careful not to bump into one of them causing their speed to slow down. They were just getting out of their encirclement when the blindness effect disappeared. The hellhounds were confused when they saw their prey was gone and instantly moved in search.


    Alex, who saw the situation, immediately used all his strength to run. However, these hundreds of hellhounds in the [Fury] effect had much higher physical strengtpared to when they didn''t have the buff. And whenpared to Alex who had to carry Aria, they couldn''t break away.


    Within a few minutes, the [haste] effect would wear off and at that point, one hellhounds after another would catch up to them.


    While running, Alex didn''t stop thinking and looked for various kinds of ideas that could make them escape. He opened his storage ring, took out several grenades and then threw them all at the chasing hellhounds.


    KABBOOM!! KABBOOM!!


    A loud explosion followed by angry growls of the hellhound could be heard as the grenades hit the ground and exploded in their faces.


    Unfortunately, the explosions weren''t effective enough to destroy the hellhound''s stone-like body and could only knock out a portion of them.


    Alex realized that in less than a minute the [Haste] effect will disappear. He then looked around the corner of the antechamber, looking for any chance of survival but couldn''t find any. He could only see more and more hellhounds wereing from different angles.


    Alex was starting to lose his mind. He thought back to his defensive formation, but immediately threw down the idea as it took time for the formation to activate.


    Aria, who saw the situation, became frustrated as she thought about the reason all of this happening.


    "Alex, just leave me here. You can go ahead and escape by yourself."


    Alex raised his brows when he heard her words "What are you talking about? Don''t say nonsense."


    "It wasn''t supposed to be like this. I''m the one who is supposed to help you, not the other way around. Leave me!" She painstakingly said, slowly turning into a scream of despair at the end of her words with tears could be seen forming in her eyes.


    Alex sneered when he heard that, "You are really stubborn and selfish, aren''t you? I told you not to follow me before. Now that you''ve disobeyed, you even started giving me order?"


    "I-iˇ­" Alex''s words made her mute again. Even though his word is harsh, but Alex said it without any anger.


    The [Haste] spell was finally gone. Alex couldn''t run anymore and was forced to fight with what he has in order to have a sliver of chance to escape.


    Alex quickly approached the cave wall and leaned closer to a wall filled with many stctites. The aim was of course to reduce the amount of space for the enemy''s attack and with his back to the wall, he only had to worry about the front and the sides.


    Alex then moved Aria onto his back and brought out both swords into his hands, preparing to face the iing dogs.


    Several hellhounds jumped up and attacked him.


    [Hexagram Technique - stage 4]


    Alex quickly swings his swords towards the hellhounds.


    ''Shiingg!''


    ''Stt!''


    ''Thud''


    The sound of the hellhound''s bodies splitting in half rang through the air, followed by a thump caused by their bodies falling to the ground.


    "Who''s next?! " he shouted.


    But these hellhounds were just beasts that turned into monsters, they couldn''t possibly understand Alex''s provocation. However, with hundreds of them still around, they were bing more and more savage. The whole horde was getting excited seeing their two prey cornered.


    Alex takes out an object that can help him, the [Mutated Redback Spider Chelicerae].He then ignites it with a lighter and throws it on three rows of the hellhounds in front of him. Even though the poison''s effectiveness wasn''t as effective against hellhounds as it was to the orcs, it was still enough to weaken these beasts.


    With the poisonous smoke slowly spreading across the entire battlefield, it was increasingly difficult for the hellhounds to fight, with the same thing naturally happening to Alex.


    [You are poisoned by Redback Spider Poison]


    [Speed decreased]


    [Weakness status applied]


    Alex took two objects from inside of his ring, the object was in the form of serum. He then quickly injected them into himself and Aria. A very potent wound healing serum that he brought from Bali, the [Panacea].


    With this, Alex and Aria will recover from the poison. He also hopes that the serum can also cure Aria''s current condition. Unfortunately, the serum''s effect is not instantaneous. So he can only wait and see.


    Alex continued to fight, weaving through the left and right side using his fourth stage hexagram technique while shing with his two swords but the monsters never ran out. Alex continues to persist in the hope that the serum''s effect on Aria will be more active and they can continue to run.


    ''Crack''


    ''Smash''


    The sound of Alex''s protective vest breaking could be heard. Alex was attacked by so many enemies that eventually it couldn''tst any longer. Alex no longer has any trump cards left. Indeed, the abyss pit should not be visited by just one or two people, let alone those in the Sky realm stage.


    In this cornered state, Aria finally got back on her feet. It seemed that after some time, the effect of the serum that Alex had applied was enough to heal the wounds on her leg, allowing her to stand up.


    "Watch out!" Aria suddenly pulled him and released a very surprising technique.


    [Spirit Explosion]


    [Unique Battle Art skill]


    [Drain all the user spirit energy to powerfully enhanced a spell]


    [Ice st] [Enhanced]


    Tier 2 Ice Element spell


    This time, the Ice st spell that Aria usually uses has several times stronger attack power. Even Alex who was behind her was bounced against the cave wall due to the momentum of the spell.


    All the hellhounds within the 10 meter radius around her turned into ice sculptures while dozens of others were blown away and seriously injured.


    As far as the eye could see the previously hot cave suddenly turned into an ice room.


    This was followed by Aria who fell on the ice floor. Alex walked over to carry her on his back and then immediately ran away.


    Alex was seriously injured, all over his body bleeding and in pain. However, Aria was currentlypletely unconscious. Her face was pale and her heartbeat was weak.


    The attack that Aria had carried out before seemed to be a secret battle art that was obtained from the first ce reward in the previous two pir challenge.


    Battle art technique is a very powerful technique but it also has strong drawback. Alex must immediately find a ce to cure her


    But when he hadn''t even run far yet, Alex saw many shadows and a group of hellhounds appearing in front of him while the chasing hellhounds weren''t far behind.


    When Alex turned his gaze around, he saw that there was a hole nearby. A small hole with a steep tunnel could be seen in it, leading to an unknown ce.


    Alex wasn''t sure if the tunnel would take him to a better ce, but looking at his current state, he didn''t seem like he had much choice.


    Alex then hugged Aria tightly and jumped into the hole.

 Chapter 268 - Dont Die!

    A man can be seen gliding through a dark tunnel, hugging what looks like a human female body. The man''s body was covered in dirt and grime, his hair was messy, blood was dripping from wounds all over his body while constantly dragged on the ground, adding to another wound for the man.


    Alex, who was in a constant state of vignce, couldn''t help but to think how long they had been slid inside this tunnel. The tunnel was long, longer than his estimation, where there wasn''t even a single speck of light could be seen. Every second and every meter that they passed inside the tunnel raised the man''s worry.


    After who knows how long, Alex finally saw a tiny light appear in front of him, followed by a cold breeze that swept through the tunnel making him shiver because of how cold it was. He then immediately hugged Aria to keep her body warm while at the same time observing anything that entered his sight.


    Alex realized that what he saw in front of the hole''s exit was only air, with no ground or ceiling in sight, which meant that the exit tunnel was located at a high altitude. Without waiting for too long, Alex and Aria could be seen shooting through the air and falling to the ground. When he looked at their altitude, he realized that they would die if they fell at this height with their current speed.


    He quickly tried to think of a way to let them slow down their speed or something to cushion their fall.. Alex started to regret not to have any flight spells that he could use like [Wind Soaring] or just a simple floating spell like [Levitation]. Suddenly, a spell shed in his mind, a spell that might be able to help their current situation, the [Telekinesis] spell. [Telekinesis] was a spell that enabled its user to move objects. So in theory, it should be able to ''move'' Alex''s body, right?


    He immediately casts the spell in his desperate attempt to lift himself up. Unfortunately, the spell was instantly broken and wasn''t able to lift his body due to how fast his body was moving in the air. Alex then quickly threw his gaze around, trying to find anything that might help their current predicament. He then realized that the ground beneath them wasn''t a solid ground but ayer of ice that stretched for thousands of meters.


    Alex understood that this vastndmass must be argeke which had now frozen solid, allowing such argeyer of ice to form. He then immediately cast several [Light Missile] spells in hopes that they would break the ice.


    When several missile-like light beams hit the ice surface, the ice surface instantly shattered, scattering many tiny ice shards, allowing Alex to see the water below. He then prepared himself to face the impact while hugging Aria''s body as tight as he could.


    SPLASH!


    A huge pir of water appears as Alex and Aria''s bodies crash into the water, with waves rolling in from the center of theirnding. Due to the enormous momentum, Alex momentarily lost his focus and couldn''t hold Aria''s body any longer, causing them to be tens of meters apart.


    Alex immediately used up his remaining energy, moved his cold hands and feet, swam towards her drowned body and then carried her out of the frozenke by pulling her body to the frozenke surface. He continued to carry her body to thekeshore.


    When the two of them reached theke shore, Alex immediately checked her condition and found her unconscious. Knowing the consequence of falling asleep in the cold, he tried to wake her up.


    "Aria! Wake up Aria!!" He shouted, calling the woman who was unconscious.


    While continuing to try to wake her up, he also did a thorough examination of her body. He couldn''t help but hold his breath after examining her body. Blood could be seen gushing out of her orifices, followed by her spirit energy channels that were broken due to her using the secret battle art and coupled with the cold water that entered her body, he couldn''t feel the woman''s pulse at all.


    "Aria!" Alex immediately decided to perform CPR to her bypressing her chest with his hands at regr intervals. Seeing that she was unresponsive to his CPR, he didn''t think much and quickly opened her mouth and gave her artificial breathing.


    "COME ON! WAKE UP! Don''t die on me now, Aria!"


    "Cough!" After a few minutes of performing CPR, she suddenly spit out the water in her lungs. However, she is still unconscious so her condition is far from safe.


    Alex looked around the area and then realized the ce they hade to this time was the second chamber of the abyss, the Main Chamber. This is the ce where the main of the abyss, the destroyers of the human world, are located.


    Seeing this and realizing the danger they were facing, Alex immediately embraced Aria and looked for a cave to hide. Searching near the cave walls, he felt lucky to find one not far from their ce.


    The cave was hidden behind arge chunk of ice with the entrance only having enough gap for one person to enter. Even though the interior of the cave wasn''t very big, it was enough for the two of them.


    First thing he needed to do is set up the [Defense Formation] artifact and activate it.It always took a few minutes to set up the formation, this time every second pass really gave him worries. When finally the barriers formed, Alex then quickly created a bonfire using the equipment in the storage ring.


    After making sure he set everything, Alex went back to check after Aria''s condition, she was currently dying, her breathing and pulse extremely weak. Alex quickly injected her with another [Panacea] serum.Alex just hoped the life saving serum would save her. Other than the serum the other thing he can do to her is totend to her opened wound from the hellhound ws and bite. Alex then uses his healing spells.


    [Healing Ray - Rank 2 Light spell]


    Even though this spell was only able to heal minor wounds, it was still far better than nothing. With this, the small wounds on her body slowly disappeared. He began to feel Aria''s energy pulse improving every second which gave him relief. And now, there was only onest thing he needed to do.Alex carefully stretched a cloth for Aria to lie on, then took off her wet clothes and gave her a thick cloth to cover her body. He then brought her closer to the fire to keep her warm.


    When everything was over, Alex then realized he''d also begun to lose consciousness, but he held on. He himself was seriously injured and already at the limit of his strength but he couldn''t afford to pass out now.


    Seeing that only two of the serums he had prepared were left, Alex decided not to use it and instead, he opened his storage ring and took out all the yellow spirit stones he got. Although not as effective as serum, spirit stone can also heal the body and restore its internal energy.


    He quickly sat cross-legged and started consuming spirit stones one by one while meditating. Ray of lights could be seen swirling through his body, healing and closing any wounds he had suffered.


    ''COUGH!'' Suddenly, Alex vomited blood out of his mouth but he continued to consume the spirit stone and meditate. The spirit energy within the spirit stone is unstable, especially the yellow one, it''s very important to cultivate the energy while consuming it. He forced himself to heal his injured body with the power of the spirit stones.


    [Your sky realm level increased by 1]


    The sudden notification made him happy but he kept his calm and continued his meditation. He thought back to his previous fierce battle, having just gone through a life and death situation made his understanding of light element cultivation increased greatly.


    [You increased your understanding of light element]


    [Your sky realm level increased by 1]


    Taking advantage of his current situation, Alex intends to break through the initial stage of Sky realm cultivation. He increasingly focused on meditating, seen from the intense light radiating from his body. He only needed 2 more levels before he reached it.


    Several hourster, he realized that Aria had woken up, staring dazedly at the cave ceiling.


    "You''re finally awake. That''s good. Don''t move, just lie down."


    She immediately tried to move but Alex kept her lying down.


    "Stay down!" he said firmly.


    Aria looked confused and didn''t know what to do. She knew that he had saved her again and felt conflicted about it. When she realized that she was not wearing any clothes under the thick cloth that covered her, she fell silent again.


    The situation suddenly turns awkward

 Chapter 269 - Affection

    Seeing her finally wake up, Alex was delighted and relieved. But seeing Aria''s face that looked full of confusion, he pondered the reason why for a while and suddenly realized that the woman in front of him might be embarrassed because she wasn''t dressed behind the thick cloth.


    He could only scratch his chin and said awkwardly. "Uhmˇ­ Do you have any clothes in your storage ring?"


    Aria bobbed her head up and down like a woodpecker when she heard this. "That''s good." he said with an awkward smile. Receiving no response from her, Alex could only turn his body and walk over to the firece, starting to prepare something. Aria who saw him turn around quickly took out her clothes from her storage ring and with the speed of light put them on..


    "So when was thest time you had a full meal?" Alex asked suddenly.


    Startled by his inquiry, she could only remain silent.


    "I know that stalking someone is not an easy thing to do, let alone go undetected. You probably don''t get much rest either, do you? "


    "I... "


    Alex turned his head and smiled slightly at her. "Good job to be able to follow me without being detected by me. Still, I am disappointed that you are breaking my orders."


    He then took out things from his storage ring, a full set of cooking utensils appeared in front of the firece. Jerry has prepared quiteplete cooking utensils for his journey. There''s everything from pots to seasonings and sauces. Alex could also find instant noodles in it, which made him happy. Therefore, he took this opportunity to make warm noodle soup for them.


    Alex then took out a chunk of mutated monster meat to use as a topping. This was the meat of the rank 3 mutated red goshawk that he defeated a few days ago. He sliced the meat thinly and started searing it on the pan after seasoning it with salt and pepper. The smell of cooked meat began to fill the cave, making those who smell it feel their stomachs growl.


    "Do you like spicy food?" he asked as he continued to stare at the meat being cooked, not letting any of them burn.


    "Not really." replied Aria.


    "... Me neither."


    In fact, Alex much prefers spicy food but hearing Aria''s straightforward answer almost made him burst outugh. She didn''t even try to think what was behind the question! ''Under these conditions, wouldn''t it be the right response to follow whatever the chef prepared?'' He shook his head and chuckled to himself.


    Alex is currently multitasking, boiling noodles, preparing noodle broth and setting the necessary cutlery. He already cooked all the sliced meat and set them aside forter. Within a few minutes, the noodles are done and ready to be served. He then quickly put the noodles into a bowl, ced the cooked meat on top and finally poured the broth into it. He approached Aria with two bowls in his hands while telling her that the food was ready.


    "Here." he said, giving her a bowl of noodles.


    "Instant noodle?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.


    "Think of it as ramen. I can''t do anything fancy but nothing will go wrong with instant noodles. Soˇ­ yeah, enjoy." he said with a smile.


    "Thank you. I will eat it deliciously." she said as she epted the bowl from him.


    "You''re wee. Eat well."


    Alex sits on the ground beside her before he starts eating his noodles. He then noticed that Aria was having trouble eating because the wound on her hand had not yet healed.


    "Do you need help, Aria?"


    "N-n-no need." she replied, stuttering as she tried her best to lift the noodles to her mouth. Alex who saw this could only shake his head. He put down his bowl and reached for her bowl.


    "Let me help you then. Open your mouth." he said, lifting and blowing the noodles before pointing them to her mouth.


    "???" Confusion filled her face as chaos ensued in her mind. Aria thought she was dreaming right now. There''s no way this would actually happen. She was in deep thought when the noodles entered her mouth and shocked her. ''Did he just blew and fed me the food? WHAT?!''


    ''Am I dreaming? Am I hallucinating? What is happening right now?''


    Various thoughts shed through in her mind as she tried to understand her current situation, causing her facial expression to be absent-minded in the process. Alex saw Aria was in daze.


    "Aria... Are you okay?" He said, waving his hand in front of her face.


    "Uh? Oh!? I''m okay. It''s nothing." she replied, smiling awkwardly.


    "You sure?"


    Aria is sure that the current event will always remain in her heart and mind. She thought back about what he did for her before and wasn''t sure how she could repay him in the future. Alex noticed that she was still in a daze and said.


    "So will you tell me now why you disobeyed my order and followed me?"


    "Iˇ­" Aria fell silent, guilt filled her heart.


    "I really don''t know what to say to you, Aria. You grew up in the military, why are you so reckless?"


    Aria abruptly eximed. "Reckless? I''m reckless?! You''re the one who''s reckless! How can getting into the abyss abyss alone can be called a n?!"


    Alex was quite shocked by her sudden outburst. The woman known as the ice queen had lost her cool in front of him. He sighed and decided not to ask any further. But when he turned around, she suddenly pulled his hand.


    "I-I... I''m sorry." Aria said while turning her eyes away from him. "Usually I''m not like this."


    This time she looked him in the eyes as she said "The reason I''m following you is becauseˇ­ I''m worried about you. I can''t ept the fact that you might be in danger." He only stared at her as he heard those words. She saw that and decided to tell him. "Alex, I like you."


    Alex fell silent when he heard her sudden confession. He slowly grabbed Aria''s hand and sighed, not saying anything.


    "P-p-please say something. Anything! Say that you don''t feel the same way! Tell me that I''m crazy!"


    "Ariaˇ­ I-I don''t know what to say."


    "Please!" she said, almost screaming.


    "Aria... I''m happy to receive such affection from such a beautiful woman. You are an amazing woman. Any man will be lucky to receive your love but not me, Aria. Not me. I cannot ept it."


    "It''s because you are married, isn''t it. Yes, I know I''m crazy, Iˇ­"


    "Yes... but not only that. Aria, will you listen to me?"


    "... Okay."


    Aria couldn''t look into Alex''s face as he began to slowly exin his reason. He exined that since going through thest 10 years of apocalypse, he has changed. He had seen too much suffering and the death of his loved ones, causing him to shut himself off from all these feelings. Even since he returned, he still has a hard time connecting with his wife again or his daughters. He can smile and be happy with them but somehow something inside of him is gone. Right now all he has in mind was changing the future, turning despair into hope.


    When she finished hearing his reason, Aria calmed down. "Alex, I understand. I decided to follow you until you reach your goals and will always stand by your side. After all, I am your personal bodyguard." She said as she patted her chest pretentiously.


    Aria''s answer made Alex a little confused.He thought for awhile what the women in front of him meant to him.Why does he care about her,was it really because she is one of his strongest fighters or is it because he had promised the Regent to take care of her. Alex seems to think even beside those two reasons Alex will still care for her.


    Aniway he need to make this no more awkward than it already is


    "What a big word for someone who almost died just now." said Alex teasingly.


    "It was...yes.. I will not let that happen again!" said Aria.


    Now Aria has returned to her usual self, Alex feels d.


    While still slowly eating the noodle, Alex suddenly said "Aria, you have to get well soon so we can escape from this ce."


    "Huh?! What''s the matter? Where are we now, Alex? I just realized, how did the location suddenly turn into an icy cold ce?" she asked, confused, just realizing where they were.


    Sighing, he said "We are now in the main chamber of the abyss, I guess unless the two of us have increased our realm, we shouldn''t leave this cave."


    "What kind of monsters are we dealing with here?"


    "Something too difficult with our current strength. Luckily we have found this cave. If we stay outside any longer, they''ll find us now."


    Alex had not finished his words when a sound was heard from outside the cave and a notification popped out in his arm.


    [Defensive Formation - Rank 2 Artifact]


    [Energy Shield 932/1000]


    From the mouth of the cave came the sound of something trying to break in.


    "They''re here."

 Chapter 270 - Gargoyles

    "Can you move your body, Aria?"


    "Yes, I can." Alex saw Aria struggling to stand up while trying to hide the painful expression on her face. It seems like she still needs more time to fully recover. He could sigh and grab her shoulders, motioning her to stop trying to stand up.


    "You, stay here and finish your food. I will go and check the situation outside the barrier."


    "But.." Aria said, trying to retort him.


    "No but. You will only make things harder for me with your current condition.. Stay here."


    Alex then quickly ran towards the entrance of the cave, trying to see what was going on. There, he saw the being that attacked the barrier, the inhabitants of the abyss''s main chamber, the 3rd abyss creature that came after the critter and the hellhound.


    [Gargoyles]


    [Level 70 Abyss Creature]


    [Tier 3 - middle stage]


    A ck colored stoned-skin humanoid creature with wings folded on its back and a face that resembled a lion could be seen smashing its fists into the barrier, trying to destroy the unknown obstacle in front of it. The creature seemed to be on the verge of going on a rampage, seen from the expression on its face that became ugly with its saliva dripping onto the ground while baring its sharp teeth.


    Fortunately, only one gargoyle attacked the barrier. Alex let out a sigh of relief, then immediately decided to open the barrier and let the creature in before it attracted more of its kind into the cave. He dashed back to where the [Defensive Formation] artifact was ced, intending to deactivate it. Before he deactivated the barrier, Alex shouted to inform Aria of the situation. "Aria, there is a monster in front of the cave. I have to let it in, before he can attract the others. Stand back and be careful."


    When the barrier was deactivated, the ck creature immediately moved its legs and entered the cave. The gargoyle was one head taller than the height of an adult human with a body that wasn''t bulky at all, on the contrary it was very lean. But, one mustn''t underestimate its prowess based on its physique, its skin looks and as hard as a rock, coupled with the sharp ws on its muscr hand and legs. This creature is a nightmare to fight against.


    Before the apocalypse urred, statues of gargoyles carved by stone could be seen on top of archaic architectural buildings, serving to ward off evil and to divert rainwater. But, the history of the creature itself is documented as far as 13000 years ago by ancient Egypt andmonly seen in the ancient Greece temples. The creature was said to be a demon that guards the gate of hell.


    Alex himself has many experiences fighting against this creature, it was considered to be his hardest enemy in his previous life.The gargoyles normally turn into stone during the day and go active during the night. When the night falls, it would take advantage of the night to hunt and destroy any human settlements. Even though most Sky realm fighters could match their strength and speed inbat, the main threates from its nearly indestructible body. It has a resistance against normal weapons, therefore this time, Alex didn''t take out his tier 2 sword but instead, he used the tier 3 dagger given by Jerry to fight this monster.


    He couldn''t underestimate this creature at all, so he immediately used his fourth stage hexagram technique. He quickly dashed toward the monster with his maximum speed and shed it, trying to end the fight as fast as he could. But unfortunately, the monster had reaction time and speed that was not inferior to Alex''s. It managed to avoid most of the attack at thest moment which resulted only in a small cut.


    The monster retreated while staring warily at him. Alex went back in pursuit and did another sh toward the monster. The gargoyle sidestepped the attack by moving its right leg to the back while smiling mockingly at Alex. He really felt the distinct power difference between the hellhounds and the gargoyles. Unfortunately, he doesn''t have any skill in using knives.


    Gargoyles attack with their ws. Alex also jumped back to avoid it. Currently Alex''s gaze is fixed on the mouth of the cave. He had to finish this battle immediately before any other creature could follow him.


    The gargoyles suddenly move forward with its ws wide open, ready to tear Alex''s flesh apart. He instantly jumped back to avoid it while thinking how to kill this monster fast and furious. His gaze is currently fixed on the entrance of the cave, worried that another gargoyle will pop out of nowhere. He had to finish this battle immediately before any other of its kind could be attracted here.


    He casted [Blind] spell toward the monster direction and then throw the knife at the gargoyle. Unexpectedly, the monster was able to avoid it while its loses its vision. But, Alex''s attack didn''t stop there, dozens of [Light Missile] could be seen flying in the air and hit the monster''s body.


    The monster blocked the attack with its both hands and the attacks barely left any scratches to it. It seemed that the light missiles were unable to injure it. Alex of course knows this. Suddenly, the gargoyle screamed in pain and fell to the floor.


    Aria, who was surprised why the monster suddenly fell, realized how Alex had defeated the gargoyle. The tier 3 de could be seen stuck behind the gargoyle head, heavily injuring the monster. He uses [Telekinesis] spell to bring the knife back to attack the monster from behind like a boomerang. Without any knife technique, he was forced to use this method. Telekinesis wasn''t strong and urate enough to use on a sword but it was enough for a knife.


    The gargoyle seemed to be trying to get up but Alex immediately approached it and continued stabbing the monster a few more times. He then smiled at Aria. "These gargoyles can only be hurt by magical weapons or magic itself. They have the same strength as those early stage sky realm fighters and the most problematic thing is that there are thousands of them inside the abyss." he exined.


    Aria was speechless when she heard that.


    "So basically, this is the mess we''re in right now. So that''s why we really need to seal this cave. Maybe by destroying the entrance until you arepletely healed and we have a better strategy."


    She nodded in agreement. Alex then quickly walked towards the entrance to destroy it when suddenly he noticed something that turned his face pale.


    "Dammit!" He cursed in his heart.


    ''Grrrˇ­'' ''Grrrˇ­''


    Alex took a few steps back as there are now four of those gargoyles entering the cave entrance. His mind quickly calcted his chances of winning against them. ''I can probably win against two of them at the same time. Maybe three, but definitely not four. And what if more of them enter the cave again? We''ll be screwed by then.''


    Before the gargoyles could attack, Alex charged towards them, seizing the initiative to attack. His sudden charge made them move sideways to avoid him but he didn''t chase any one of them. He continued charging toward the entrance and smashed himself to the small stone pir that supported the cave entrance. His aim from the start was to destroy the entrance, preventing any chances of more gargoyles entering.


    ''GRUMBLE'' ''GRUMBLE''


    Sounds of the pir breaking could be heard as the pir finally broke into pieces, blocking the cave mouth finally closed.


    Alex used [Illuminate] and shouted at the gargoyles to get their attention.


    "YO! You guys are the ugliest creature I ever see. Come, let me fix it for you!"


    ''SCREEEEECH''


    Roars could be heard as the gargoyles jumped toward him together, wanting to kill this insignificant insect in front of them. Alex''s mind was calcting hard, thinking how he can win against 4 Sky realm level monsters that can only be killed by a magic weapon.


    [Hexagram Technique - stage four]


    [Blind]


    [Transparent]


    Alex quickly casted his spells, his invisibility skill was already able to be used after a day had passed and finally he took out hisst hidden card. He reached out to his back and drew the wooden sword. He then charged toward the approaching gargoyles.


    In the split second that the gargoyles lost their sight, Alex quickly swung the wooden sword at the two closest gargoyles. The two gargoyles were split easily like a butter. His skill was broken with this attack as his presence was quickly discovered by the other two gargoyles. The other two was shocked when they looked at how easy Alex killed their kind. He immediately tried to take advantage of their shocked condition and swing his sword horizontally toward them. They try to get away from him but only one manages to dodge because Alex managed to cut off the legs of one of them.


    The fallen gargoyle is quickly killed by Alex''s subsequent attack while thest gargoyle tries to counter attack but its moves are intercepted by [Ice Wall] cast by Aria. The next thing it noticed was the sight of its body falling to the ground, its head being separated from his body by Alex''s sh.


    Seeing that all the gargoyles was dead, Alex suddenly knelt on the ground exhausted. He had put all his energy into those few moves and now he was running low on the energy. He took a bet and it turned out to be right. The wooden sword must be a high-level magic sword.


    Just now, Alex used his spirit energy as he swung the sword and it really worked. He then looked at the wooden sword in his hand.


    It was glowing, with one of the seven marks shining brightly.

 Chapter 271 - Foundation

    With the cave entrance blocked by the pir ruins, Alex and Aria are forced to rely on artificial lighting or a zing bonfire for vision.


    [Illuminate]


    Alex walks over to the corpses of the mutted gargoyles, examining their shape. The wooden sword made a fine cut on the stone-like body of the gargoyle which was an impressive thing. Admiring the work of his sword, Alex then decided to collect the loot, from a total of 5 gargoyles'' bodies, he obtained three yellow spirit stones, an amount that truly incredible whenpared to the hellhounds and the critters. As a high tier creature, it is quitemon for every gargoyle to drop a yellow spirit stone.


    After he''s done looting and throwing the bodies just right beside the blocked entrance, Alex immediately reactivate the [Defensive Formation] artifact. He then drags over his tired body to Aria and sits beside her, resting his body and recovering his energy. Aria who heard his words earlier couldn''t help but to ask him.


    "Alex, Did you just say there are thousands of those things outside?"


    "Yeah." He said softly while paying attention to the formation taking effect..


    "Will they find out we''re here?"


    "I don''t know. Let''s hope not." replied Alex.


    When the formation was set up andpletely in ce, Alex closed his eyes as he thought of the wooden sword. ''What''s happening with this sword? I wonderˇ­" He opened his eyes, stroked the sword for a moment and then cast another [Illuminate] spell, aiming it at the wooden sword in his hand.


    Ever since he received this sword from the mysterious man in gray robe, Alex was never in a situation where he really needed to use it. His previous opponents were unable to face the special forces guarding him, let alone facing him. Alex himself had personally examined the sword, trying to find out what''s so unique about it to make the mysterious man give it to him. But apart from its unique simple form, its sharpness was no different from his tier 2 sword.


    Tier 1 weapon artifacts are an artifact that was made from a material that is stronger and lighter than the metal on earth.


    Tier 2 weapon artifacts have special skill that buffs the user or the artifact itself. Ranging from Increased durability, increased speed, increased strength, and many more.


    A tier 3 weapon artifact can then be called a magic weapon or spirit weapon. Each artifact has its ownspirit element that can only be used by certain spirit magus, which exin its rarity.


    As for the tier 3 above weapon artifacts, Alex has never had one in his previous life. From his previous experiences, the strongest weapon he had ever seen was a tier 4 cleaver used by a Saint Realm warrior. He once also heard a rumor about certain artifacts that were capable of moving ording to the owner''s request, but these rumors were not proven until the end of his life.


    Alex studied the one meter long wooden sword carefully. Since entering the Sky realm stage, he has begun to feel a unique aura from this sword, but only now has he been able to see the 7-point engraving of this sword. While the glow that was present during the previous battle had slowly faded away. He then tried to put his spiritual energy on the sword, but the glow didn''te back.


    "Soˇ­ find anything?" Said Aria.


    "No, nothing. I guess I''ll know when the timees." Alex said, sighing.


    He then continued, "Well, show your realm progress, Aria. I need to know our fighting strength to formte a n to escape."


    "Sure." she said, showing her information panel.


    [Aria]


    [Sky realm level 5 - early stage]


    [Sky Magus - Water - early stage]


    [Sky Magus - Ice - early stage]


    Seeing her status, Alex pondered for a few minutes before taking out all the spirit stones in his possession. Plus the 3 yellow spirit stones he looted from the gargoyles, they had a total of 50 yellow spirit stones and 500 white spirit stones. Alex also has a red spirit stone that he get from a tier 4 mutated monster that the mysterious man defeated. However, he was currently unsure if he was able to withstand and absorb the energy from the red spirit stone. After all, he couldn''t risk his body blowing up.


    "So, what''s the n?" asked Aria.


    Alex was silent for a moment before saying, "I think the best n is to bring your health back and increase the cultivation of both of us before we consider venturing outside."


    "Alright, that''s the n then."


    Alex then gave Aria the spirit stones, they swallowed the spirit stone every hour as they focused on their cultivation. With the number of spirit stones they possessed, it didn''t feel like they''d spent a week worth of time cultivating.


    "That''s thest one." Aria said as she opened her eyes.


    In a week, they managed to increase their cultivation by leaps and bounds, with Aria reaching the Sky realm level 7 and Alex reaching the Sky realm level 9. Before Aria could stand up from her cross-legged position, Alex hurriedly said.


    "Actually, I have another one." He said while taking the red spirit stone from his storage ring.


    During these 7 days, Alex has consumed 25 yellow spirit stones and more than 200 white spirit stones before he could reach level 9. However, he felt the final push he needed to break through to level 10 was profound. Even 20 or 30 yellow spirit stones is not necessarily enough.


    Aria who saw the red spirit stone couldn''t help to blurted out, "T-T-That''s a red spirit stone! Are you sure about this, Alex?!"


    "Yes. Level 10 is the first important breakthrough point that willpletely increase our strength if we reach it. I have studied the light element Sky realm initial cultivation for many years in my previous life. I just need the level 10 of early stage spirit cultivation to do it again." he said , staring at the bright red stone in his palm.


    Alex knew that trying to absorb red spirit stone in his current realm is an extremely risky thing to do. But with their current situation, it seems that he needs to take that risk. He then returned to his spot and prepared himself to consume the red spirit stone.


    Taking a deep breath, Alex threw the spirit stone into his mouth. He then immediately felt a burning feeling inside his mouth as if he was swallowing live embers that were zing, trying to incinerate his entire mouth from inside out. The three main points in his body, the sr plexus, the chest and the forehead were burning, but he endured the pain with all his strength. If someone saw Alex''s current body, they could see his veins bulge and visible all over his body.


    Seeing him in agony , Aria was immediately worried. "Quickly spit it out!!" She anxiously shouted as she tried to pry the stone out of his mouth.


    But Alex pretended to not listen to her words and just closed his mouth, gritted his teeth and endured the pain he was currently experiencing. Several hours passed and Aria was seen crying inside the cave, seeing Alex''s sweaty body and painful expression. "Why are you doing this!?" she screams as tears stream down her face.


    On the eighth day, all the pain in Alex''s body suddenly disappeared and he felt a feeling of new strength coursing through his body.


    [You have reached the Sky realm level 10]


    [Your understanding of the light element has increased]


    [You have reached the middle stage of light spirit element]


    [foundation of light element has been established]


    [Alex]


    [Sky realm level 10 - middle stage]


    [Sky Magus - Light - middle stage]


    When a Sky realm magus breakthroughs his initial stage elements. It means his foundation to spirit magic has formed and finally able to fully control his spirit element.


    "I can finally learn the tier 3 light element spell." He said, smiling brightly.


    As he was immersed in the excitement of his newfound power, Alex finally noticed that one of the wooden sword marks that had previously shone was shining again.


    The next thing that happenedpletely shocked him.


    A voice suddenly resounded inside his head


    [The seven star sword is now yours to use, master]


    ----------------


    Author Note


    Dear Doomsday Pilrs reader, Thank you so much for the support. This month again I will again try to do the win win challenge. that''s daily chapter update for the whole month. Honestly, I am not sure if i canplete the challenge, but i n to use the challenge to push myself to give more time and thought for the novel. Hope for your help and continuous support for Doomsday Pirs. Please support the novel by giving just 1 coin for the privilege chapter this way when the win winpleted, more people can enjoy the novel. thank you very much. yours sincerely. Avans

 Chapter 272 - Seven Star Sword

    Seven star sword, the name of this wooden sword.


    Previously, Alex had never managed to get information about the status of this wooden sword artifact item. But this time when he tried again using the bracelet in his hand. A line of information filled his mind.


    [Seven Star Sword]


    [Long Sword - Tier ???]


    [Length : 1 meter, Weight : 4 kilograms]


    Still in disbelief at the voice that sounded in his mind earlier, Alex asked the sword just to be sure.


    "Are you the one who spoke earlier, sword? Or am I starting to lose my mind and talk to myself unconsciously? "


    [Yes, I am the one who talked and no, you have not lost your mind, not at the moment]


    Alex was dumbfounded when he heard the sword''s snarky reply. He then turned towards Aria and asked.. "Did you hear that?"


    "Hear what? You''ve been talking to yourself the whole time"


    "The sword, Aria. This wooden sword is talking to me."


    "H-How is that possible?" She replied, confusion in her voice.


    "I know right? Maybe because this sword is a high-tier artifact?" "Yeah, it must be because of it." Alex quickly said before Aria could say anything.


    He returned his attention to the sword that he was holding firmly in his hand; he checked its pummel, turned it over to the side, checked its fuller, looked at its grip, sword guard, everything he thought of checking Alex inspected. This double edged sword has 7 marks carved along its de with a line running between the marks of the de, exactly like a star constetion.


    Seeing the constetion motif on the sword, Aria leaned closer at the sword and said, "Isn''t that the Big Dipper''s constetion?"


    "Yeah, I think you''re right." Earlier, Alex seemed to know what is that constetion but can''t quite put his finger on it. But now that she had mentioned it, he now knew for sure.


    It seemed that only he could hear the voice of the sword based on Aria''s words. To fully confirm it, he then asked the sword once again.


    "Can you hear me?"


    [Yes, I can hear you, Master]


    "Why are you only starting to talk to me now?"


    [It''s not that I don''t want to, Master. I''ve tried but it seems because of your cultivation realm is still too weak that I''m unable to do so. I''m assuming the reason why you can hear me now is because you''ve just reached the foundation stage of light element]


    It''s actually an easy thing to guess but Alex only wants to hear it from the sword itself for sure.


    Alex was confused about the sword calling him Master, "Since when have I been your master?"


    [The sword can''t be held by just anyone and the fact that you can hold it means you are my master]


    Alex remembered that the first time the mysterious man gave this sword, He felt a strong pressure apanied by a strong wind when he received the sword and hold it in his hand. It seemed that was what it meant. At this moment, he suddenly thought of a question and then said it.


    "What is the identity of the man who gave you to me? Who is he?"


    [I don''t know the person''s identity, Master. I only know the identity of myst master]


    "He isn''t your master?" Alex asked curiously.


    [No]


    "Who is it then?" He asked again, perplexed about the fact that the mysterious man wasn''t the master of this sword.


    [I was previously owned by a great man named Fuxi]


    When Alex heard the name, he immediately recalled who Fuxi was. He had heard of the name Fuxi before. Fuxi is one of the figures in Chinese mythology from the 2000 BC period. He knew about this fact because Fuxi was actually the original creator of the hexagram technique he had learned. The story of Fuxi was written in the technique manual, exining who he was and what he did.


    ''In the beginning there was as yet no moral or social order. Men knew their mothers only, not their fathers. When hungry, they searched for food; when satisfied, they threw away the remnants. They devoured their food hide and hair, drank the blood, and d themselves in skins and rushes. Then came Fu Xi and looked upward and contemted the images in the heavens, and looked downward and contemted the urrences on earth. He united man and wife, regted the five stages of change, andid down thews of humanity. He devised the eight trigrams, in order to gain mastery over the world.''


    This is the phrase that was describing Fuxi in the manual


    Upon realizing who the previous master of this wooden sword was, Alex became even more amazed by the artifact in his hand. It seemed that the reason this sword had epted him was due to his light element and his hexagram technique.


    Alex then proceeded to ask the next question he wanted to know,


    "What tier of artifact are you? Howe the bracelet can''t show your tier and only show a question mark on the status."


    [The bracelet is an outdated technology and only has limited ess to the lower realms. The bracelet cannot analyze a tier 5 artifact or anything above it]


    Alex wondered why the sword saying that the bracelets with a technology that so out of this world given by the doomsday pir could be an outdated technology. Does it mean the pirs itself also outdated, the thought really buffles him. But at the moment Alex really should just focus on what is in front of him.


    "Then, that means you are a tier 5 artifact?" Alex asked excitedly


    [Yes, I am a tier 5 artifact]


    Hearing the confirmation from the sword, Alex was bbergasted. "Wowˇ­"


    Aria who was standing beside him was puzzled by his sudden amazement.


    "Hey, Alex. What happened exactly? Why are you suddenly amazed? You are scaring me." she said anxiously, grabbing Alex''s shoulder and shaking him left and right.


    "Eh? Huh?!" Startled by the sudden shake, Alex turned his head and said, "It''s nothing, Aria. I''m just happy because of this wooden sword." A faint smile could be seen stered on his face.


    "Hah?" Aria jumped into confusion and fell silent when she heard his answer.


    Alex could only ignore her reaction and returned to talk to the sword.


    "That''s amazing. But, it still a wonder for me to hear an artifact that could talk. It''s a bit strange."


    [Actually, most of the tier 5 artifacts and above had a mind of their own]


    Fascinated by the new information, Alex kept asking questions.


    "Oh, really? Why is that?"


    [Because in order to create a tier 5 artifact, it would need a soul, either a humanoid soul or a creature soul, to add into the artifact, enhancing and strengthening its power]


    "Oh, I understand now." Alex paused, contemted and then said, "Now, tell me. What else is special about you besides your sharpness?"


    [Your words are incorrect, Master]


    "What do you mean?" He asked, flurried.


    [Sharpness is not my strength, Master. Truthfully, I am quite dull whenpared to other tier 5 swords in terms of sharpness. As you can see, Master. I am just a wooden sword]


    At this, Alex was not disappointed, in fact, he became even more excited. A sword that was not made for fighting purposes must be a sword that has very special skills. He was so excited that he tried to guess the skill of this sword.


    Considering the power of the tier 5 artifact and the light element on which the sword is based, Alex imagines a skill like [Light de], a light element skill that would make the wooden sword into sort of aser de that could cut any material, just like in one of the famous hollywood movies excites him. A light element skill that could heal any wound even possibly raise someone from the dead. Nor does it rule out the possibility of a skill capable of rewinding time around like the mysterious man did.


    "Then you must have something else that makes you a tier 5 artifact, right? Tell me what is it."


    [You''re right, Master. My function is actually not to fight, but to be a crafting tool. My main purpose is to engrave]


    ''E-E-Engravingˇ­?? What does it mean?'' Alex''s passion began to decline when he heard that.


    "T-Then, you must have skills that you can pass on to me right?" Not giving up, Alex asked in a trembling voice.


    [Naturally, Master. Here are the first skill you''ll need to use me]


    A certain information went inside his mind and a notification appeared in Alex''s mind.


    [You have learned the skill]


    [Draw]


    [E/N : *facepalming* ''Poor Alex.'']


    Reading the name of that skill, Alex didn''t know whether tough or cry. It seemed that he was going to repeat the drawing lessons he had been through at his architectural school.


    "..."

 Chapter 273 - Strokes

    [Draw Formation - Rank 1 Skill]


    A basic skill to draw a formation into an item, enhancing and strengthening its power.


    A sudden thought shed in his mind when he saw this skill description regarding its uses on strengthening artifact. But, before he misunderstood its effect, Alex decided to inquire for more detail about this from the sword.


    "What kind of skill is this? Can you exin it to me?"


    The sword then exins one of the most important pieces of information Alex will ever know.


    The universal skills are separated into three major categories, namely the elemental path, thebat path and the crafting path. First, the elemental path is skills based on the 10 elements on its nature, including every element-based attack spells, defense spells, and support spells. Second, thebat path is skills that focus on enhancing fighting prowess, both with weapons or unarmed. Lastly, the crafting path is skills that allows the user to craft items that could increase fighting strength and is further divided into three main branches.


    The three main branches were the apothecary branch that handled potions, the cksmith branch that handled item creation, and the formation branch that handled enchantments..


    Some worlds describe the experts of the third branch of practice as enchanters while some refer to them as formation masters. These craftsmen studied creation magic by drawing patterns into objects with spirit power.


    [Other than the draw skill, I also have ess to basic patterns that you can learn] said the sword after finishing its exnation.


    Hearing its words, Alex was intrigued by the basic patterns he was going to learn. "Oh, really? Let me see then" said the man with enthusiasm.


    [With pleasure, Master]


    Some information popped into Alex''s mind and the symbol on his bracelet produced a hologram of that information.


    [You have received the Universal Pattern - Rank 1 Knowledge]


    [In order to create a magic item, you need a specific patterns, the drawing skill, objects to draw on, and of course a drawing artifact which in this case is me]


    "I see.." Alex said, digesting this new information when suddenly a weird question appeared in his mind. He then slowly asked the sword with uncertainty in his voice. "Wellˇ­ sword?"


    [Yes?]


    "Because you''re a sentient artifact, do you have a name?" he said, with a strange expression on his face.


    [Yes]


    Stunned, Alex almost jumped on his feet when he heard this, "Really?"


    [My previous master called me strokes. So, I guess my name is Strokes]


    "Strokes?" he muttered as he rubbed his chin, "A name that is appropriate for either a sword or a brush. I like it, I''ll keep calling you that then."


    [Thank you, Master]


    Alex then began to study the information on that rank 1 pattern knowledge. This universal pattern consists of various kinds of abstract line patterns. Learning various series of abstract lines is indeed not easy, even in rank 1 it is filled withplexbinations. Luckily, Alex has spent years studying the very difficult hexagram formation patterns, so he''s quite used to it. If one didn''t have the basic knowledge of patterns without being a genius, they would have a hard time learning this.


    "Now tell me, where do I start?" Alex said while perusing the pattern.


    [You can start by drawing a formation on to your tier 2 sword]


    "Alright then!" he excitedly said.


    Hearing this, Alex''s heart began to re up with ideas, imagining various possibilities to increase his strength with this skill. But then, he woke up from his imagination, he hastily calms down his thoughts and is determined to slowly learn the enchanting path.


    Alex proceeded to take out his two tier 2 swords.


    [Short Sword - Tier 2 Weapon]


    [Length : 90 centimeters, Weight : 4 kilograms]


    [Increased attack speed]


    [Long sword - Tier 2 Weapon]


    [Length : 130 centimeters, Weight : 7 kilograms]


    [Increased weapon sharpness]


    [You can now select a basic formation to apply to these item. It can be any kind of formation enchantment, ranging from destruction, illusion, restoration, to basic elements enchantments]


    Since the object he ns to enchant is a sword, Alex chooses the basic destruction enchantment and then draws out his wooden sword and starts to use his new skill, engraving the pattern onto the sword''s surface. Within a few minutes, he had finished the engraving process. When he wanted to check the engraved results, a notification immediately shed through his mind.


    [Used the skill Draw]


    [In the process of evaluating the engraved enchantment on the object]


    [...]


    [Enchantment Sessful!]


    [Due to sessful enchantment of the item [Short sword], its name has changed to [Light sword] and the item tier is upgraded]


    [Light sword - Tier 3 Weapon]


    [Length : 90 centimeters, Weight : 4 kilograms]


    [Increased attack speed]


    [Added Special Skill : Light Pulse]


    [Coating the sword withyers of light element to increase its sharpness]


    "Amazing!!" Alex loudly eximed when he looked at the finished enchantment item.


    "What happened? Why did you suddenly shout again?" asked Aria again, seeing herpanion suddenly eximed.


    "Look here, Aria." said Alex excitedly, giving the enchanted short sword to her hand.


    "Wowˇ­" she said in awe as she looked at the sword''s status.


    Alex was so excited when he saw the effect of the skill [Draw] he recently got. Now, not only did he have a weapon strong enough to fight against the gargoyles, he had also found a way to increase his entirebat capability. He even thought of a way to gain profit from others by taking advantage of this skill which couldplete the insufficient supply of high level weapons in the world. At this moment, Alex''s mind was filled with the sight of many piles of spirit stones entering his pocket.


    Seeing the extraordinary results of the skill, Alex quickly used the same skill on the second sword, engraving the pattern. However, he was destined to be disappointed by the result.


    [Enchantment Failed!]


    "What the?! It can fail too?" said Alex stunned, bewildered and disappointed.


    [Of course. But, don''t worry, Master. Failure is normal to everyone, don''t feel sad]


    Alex felt that even though this sword spoke politely, he somehow felt offended by it.


    He then tried it one more time.


    [Enchantment Failed!]


    "How is this possible??" said Alex incredulously, not believing that he had failed again.


    [You have to draw it exactly like the pattern, Master] Strokes ''kindly'' advised his master.


    "Well, I am sure, I did just that." Alex was silent for a moment, "Never mind, let me try to do it again." he said, not giving up.


    [Enchantment Failed!]


    [I don''t think so, Master]


    "NO! I''m sure I did it right. Let me try again." said Alex in denial.


    [Enchantment Failed!]


    "Let meˇ­ try again?" Alex said desperately


    [Enchantment Failed!]


    "..."


    It seems that Alex''s first result is a beginner luck, he needs to practice more in how to use this [Draw] skill. And to make matters worse, the next thing that happened really put a salt on his wound. The tier 2 long sword broke.


    [A tier 2 weapon can onlyst a few engraving attempts before it breaks.]


    "Why didn''t you say that before?"


    [You didn''t ask, Master]


    Speechless, Alex could only turn around and ask Aria. "Aria, do you have any tier 2 weapons?" Aria who heard his word was confused and couldn''t help but to ask, "I do have a few. Why do you need it?"


    "And why did that long sword suddenly break in your hand?" she continued.


    "I want to practice engraving a formation right now, but I don''t have any more weapons. And the long sword broke because I failed too many times."


    "Okay then." she answered while walking up to him and giving him the weapons, "Here."


    Aria has several tier 2 knives. When Alex tries to enchant them again, out of 4 knives, 2 are sessful and 2 are failed. But, when Alex tries to enchant thest knife, an unexpected notification pops up in his mind.


    [Not enough spirit energy]


    "What does it mean, Strokes?"


    [Master, the spiritual energy stored within me is exhausted. I need to be replenished by absorbing more spirit stones]


    "That makes sense. How many do you need to be fully charged?"


    [I need 1000 spirit stones or 10 of the higher one]


    The required number of spirit stones is pretty big but knowing this is a requirement to recharge a magic item, this number is still quite reasonable for Alex.


    "Aria, how many white spirit stones do we still have?"


    "About two dozen of them."


    "Give it to me." Alex said as he stretched out his hand.


    "Here you go, Strokes. You can try to absorb these one first."


    [...] Strokes was silent.


    [I don''t understand, Master]


    "What do you mean you don''t understand?"


    [Those aren''t the stones I meant. I need either 1000 yellow spirit stones or 10 of the red one]


    "..." Now, it was Alex''s turn to be silent.


    "WTF!!" Alex was bbergasted and dumbfounded by its words. This requirement is impossible for him. At least, not at the moment.


    Alex tries to make calctions based on previous life experiences. His business mind suddenly spun with ideas, but he still needed more data to actually make his ns work. But then it was all useless unless he could get out of this abyss.


    "Aria, I think it''s time to check outside this cave."

 Chapter 274 - Places To Hide

    After spending half a day trying to clear the stone pir''s rubbles from the cave entrance, slowly moving them one by one, they finally could see an opening to the outside. They continued to clear the entrance with vigor when they saw the outside was finally visible.


    Alex looked into Aria who was right beside him, helping him throw the rubble away, "Finally, Aria. We could finally go outside." he said with a smile. "Um!" She replied, nodding her head up and down.


    Within a few minutes, they eventually managed to clear an opening big enough for them to get through. Without further due, they quickly go through the opening with vignce, paying attention to any possibility of further ruins caused by the opening of the entrance.


    When they get out from the cave, into the open field, they can see their previousnding spot, the frozenke with a much smaller than before hole caused by Alex''s missiles, seen in the middle of it in front of them.


    Alex nudged Aria''s arm as he pointed towards the frozenke, more precisely at the barely visible hole, "Can you see that hole? That''s ournding spot. We almost died a week ago.." he said while chuckling.


    Aria who heard this could only say guiltily, "I''m sorry."


    Hearing her reply, Alex frowned a bit and looked at her, "I''m not trying to guilt trip you. Aria. I just want you to think about your decision before you do it. Moreover, I''m just joking earlier." he said with a smile. He then continued to observe their surroundings, looking for any kind of danger.


    Alex noticed an ice hill across their position, located far in the distance, at the other side of the frozenke. He could see that the ice hill was formed by many different sizes of ice rocks. He then gestured towards Aria to follow him. "Let''s go, I think I know where we need to go."


    The two of them walk slowly towards the ice hill, crossing the frozenke carefully. As they reached the bottom of the hill, Alex immediately used [Scan Area] to detect any kind of life form in their surrounding.


    Although this [Scan Area] skill is a low level skill, ever since Alex has reached the foundation stage of light element, he felt that the range of this skill was increased tremendously. He could detect any life form in the radius of 1 square kilometer from his position. He quickly detected a few lifeforms around the area.


    "There are 3 of them in that direction. Remember to do it ording to the n." he said, pointing at the northwest direction.


    "Okay."


    "I''ll be going then."


    [Hexagram Technique - stage 4]


    Alex immediately approached the location of the detected lifeforms and found that the lifeforms he detected were a small pack of gargoyles resting on top of a small ice rock. He quickly run towards them at high speed as he drew his swords and shed his swords at the rxed gargoyles. He swings his new tier 3 sword toward the gargoyle''s neck, the sword easily goes through its neck like a hot knife cut through butter, decapitating it. Meanwhile, his other hand with Strokes in it is not idle either. The other gargoyle beside the decapitated gargoyle quickly split into two by his diagonal sh. Two of the three gargoyles immediately die from Alex''s surprise attack.


    Thest gargoyle immediately moved away from Alex''s position, terrified by this unknown creature who could instantly end itspanion''s life. The gargoyle just wanted to spread its wings and fleewhen suddenly a silhouette appeared behind it and stabbed its neck. Unexpectedly, Aria has waited at that ce using her invisibility. When thest gargoyle intends to escape, she swiftly finishes the job using her two tier 3 knives, ending the surprise attack wlessly.


    With careful preparation, they managed to kill the three gargoyles in a short amount of time. Alex then approached the gargoyles'' bodies to loot it.


    "3 yellow spirit stones! Not bad!" he eximed.


    The two of them then began to search the nearby area again, searching for more gargoyles and did the same thing over and over again.


    Alex was careful not to approach the area where the gargoyles were concentrated. Hundreds of gargoyles still in statuary form could be seen gathered around an area. It is very important to not disturb them unless the two of them want to die a horrible death. That''s why every time they fought, he had to make sure none of the attacked gargoyles survived, lest they alerted theirpanion.


    Alex was quite satisfied with his [Light sword - Tier 3 Weapon] sword, because the [Light Pulse] skill of the sword was not inferior to the sharpness of [Strokes]. Aria also fights the gargoyles using knives that also have simr skills to his sword, so that all this time they have no problem finishing off the gargoyles.


    These gargoyles basically had the same strength and speed as Sky realm Knights. For spirit enhancers who have reached the Sky realm Magus, these monsters are 1 level below them. However, the anti normal weapon bodies of these monsters and their ability to fly were always the main problem in defeating them.


    Currently, Alex, who has the hexagram technique and Aria, which is a dual element magus, is two levels above the gargoyles. Especially after he reached the middle stage of Sky realm. With this capital, Alex is more confident to fight with these gargoyles. Surely, he is not that stupid to fight against a dozen gargoyles at once.


    If they are unlucky and get surrounded by more enemies than they could handle, they are always ready to retreat with their invisibility skill, immediately running to find a hiding ce. Alex always makes sure that his life saving skills like [Haste] [Transparent] are always avable at all times. But still, the main solution is to not let the gargoyles run and call for reinforcements, because sooner orter they will run out of ces to hide.


    Alex gave Aria all the spirit stones they collected so far, and encouraged her to immediately break through the foundation level of her water or ice element. Meanwhile, he uses his time to practice the tier 3 skills he bought from the Doomsday Pir.


    This is what they continued to do the next few days.


    "We are still lucky so far, but we can''t do this forever. How long are we gonna keep doing this?" Aria asked


    Alex was silent for a while, thinking about the answer. "At least until you''ve already broken through the foundation stage and reached the middle stage of your cultivation. Just to be safe.."


    Although Alex wants to get back to practicing the artifact enchantment, they currently have strong enough artifacts to kill gargoyles. So, all the spirit stones that they obtained so far are given to Aria, to help her quickly break through her bottleneck. But, even though she has reached the level 10 of Sky realm cultivation stage, she still cannot break through in her understanding of the spirit element.


    [Alex]


    [Sky realm level 11 - middle stage]


    [Sky Magus - Light - middle stage]


    [Aria]


    [Sky realm level 10 - early stage]


    [Sky Magus - Water - early stage]


    [Sky Magus - Ice - early stage]


    If Aria is unable to increase her understanding of spirit elements, her realm will always be stuck at level 10. For this reason, Alex decided for them to return to the cave and focus on practicing. ''It''s better to be safe.'' he thought. It took her 3 weeks to sessfully break through her spirit foundation and reach the middle stage of the ice element.


    "It''s not easy for me to achieve this, Alex. I''m sorry if it takes too long. It''s amazing how you can reach it in just a week." said Aria, showing her admiration.


    "Yeahˇ­ Congrattions." replied Alex with a strange expression while cursing in his heart. ''WTF??!!'' Inwardly, he was dumbfounded, frustrated, and depressed.


    In his previous life, it took him 3 years to do the same thing with his C grade aptitude. The only reason he was able to achieve it quickly in this life is because he has already understood it in his previous life.


    Alex can only sigh to himself, grieving about his poor talent because he has never reached the next stage. ''Oh my poor talentˇ­ Why are you doing this to me? *sigh*'' He believes this is thest time he can beat this talented woman next to him.


    Alex could only smile awkwardly, epting what seemed to be Aria''s finalpliment to him.


    In thest 3 weeks, Alex has finally seeded in learning the two tier 3 light spell of his.


    [Blessed - Rank 3 Light spell ]


    [Smite - Rank 3 Light spell]


    One buff-type skill and one attack-type skill. Perfect bnced skill for their current situation.


    Both of these skills helped Alex to have more confidence in the fight against the gargoyles. He then turned around and said to Aria.


    "Before we think about farming more spirit stones, let''s find out where we really are and the way out of this ce."

 Chapter 275 - Candy

    Shiiingg!!


    Satt!


    Sound of sword shing through flesh resounded in the air inside the main chamber of the abyss, apanied by a thud of falling body. A loud rustle could be heard as one gargoyle pping its wings, trying to flee from its assant.


    "Alex, one got away!!" Aria eximed


    Alex who heard Aria''s shout quickly turned his head and saw a gargoyle already in mid-air, flying away from their current location. There is no way he can chase it with his current condition. Alex quickly uses one of the daily skill from his artifacts.


    [Haste]


    He swiftly give chase to the fleeing gargoyle before it could alert its brethren, endangering them in the process. He tried his best as he pursue the gargoyle using his maximum speed , but unfortunately the monster already flew out of his reach. Knowing the possible danger of letting this gargoyle escape, Alex quickly stomped his feet on the ground using all energy he could muster as he leaped into the air. He then use his recently learned [Smite - Rank 3 Light spell] spell, aiming it at the flying gargoyle.. And suddenly, the gargoyle jerked toward the ground, as if a giant hammer had fallen from the sky and hit the gargoyle, sending it crashing down to the ground.


    sh! sh!


    When he catch up to the fallen gargoyle, he instantly swing his swords with murderous intent, determined to y it. The gargoyle''s body was split into 3 parts by his swords'' sh, effectively killing it. Alex could feel Aria run over to his position as he flicked his swords, removing the bloods on them.


    "That was close." He said with a faint smile as he turned around towards her.


    "I''m sorry I miss that one, Alex." Aria softly said with a tinge of guilt in her voice.


    Alex who heard her ming herself again quickly said, "Don''t worry. We can''t possibly do everything wlessly." Hearing his words, Aria fell into deep thought. Seeing her strange expression, Alex immediately decided tofort her. "It''s fine, Aria. Let''s be more careful from now on, okay?" he said with a smile while patting her head.


    He then use his [Telekinesis] spell to collect the gargoyles'' bodies. They obtained a total of 4 yellow spirit stones from the bodies of the gargoyles they had just defeated.


    "We''ve been walking all day but it looks like we are going in the wrong direction." Alex said.


    "How did you know?" asked Aria, puzzled by his sudden revtion.


    "The temperature is getting even colder as we go deeper towards our current direction. It''s not supposed to be like this, we are suppose to go back towards the antechamber, not the other way around."


    "I seeˇ­ But then, what will we find as we go deeper into the abyss?"


    "It''s the abyss boss. We definitely can''t fight him, not with just the two of us."


    "So, should we head back?"


    "Yeah, we should. Let''s go."


    They took another whole day walking back to where they came from as they need to constantly dodge any encounter with pack of gargoyles which consuming most of their time. Alex only dared to fight a group of less than five gargoyles. He doesn''t want to take any chances of they falling into danger. Therefore, he mostly chose to wait for the packs to pass or take a different route.


    [Scan Area]


    ''Luckily I have this skill, so we can avoid any unnecessary risk.'' he thought.


    After spending two days back and forth in the main chamber, they finally return to their previous cave.


    As they blocked the cave entrance again, Alex said, "We have to rest for a day and then consume the spirit stones that we got in thest two days."


    "Okay." replied Aria.


    After spending 2 days of fullbat, the two of them managed to collect 42 yellow spirit stones, which a frightening amount whenpared to hunting monsters outside the abyss. Alex immediately divided the spirit stones for them and then began to consume it one by one.


    [Your sky realm level increased by 1]


    [Sky realm level 12 - middle stage]


    He calcted the number of spirit stones he had consumed, a total of 30 spirit stones were needed for him to level up. At this, Alex could only sigh deeply,menting his poor talent. Aria who saw him sighing, pat his shoulder. "That''s alright, Alex. Just eight more level to go to reach the high stage." she said, trying tofort him.


    "Actuallyˇ­ after reaching the sky realm stage, we need to reach the level 40 to break through the high stage and level 100 to reach the peak stage." he wryly exined.


    "Wowˇ­ That''s a lot of levelˇ­ and a lot of spirit stones." she softly eximed, surprised by the new fact.


    "Yeahˇ­ and with the rate of my current consumption, I estimate that it will take 2000 - 3000 yellow spirit stones for me to reach the level 40."


    "I seeˇ­ How long would that take?"


    "With 2:1 rate of gargoyle dropping out yellow stone, that''s 10.000 gargoyles need to be killed for both of us. Divided by the number of days until our next gathering in Bali, we roughly need to kill 60 - 70 gargoyles per day. Easy right?" he exined while smiling wryly.


    Hearing the exnation, Aria was silent for a moment, "I don''t mind the killing really. But eating 30 or more stones a day bothers me." she said with a shy smile.


    Alex who heard her silly words couldn''t help but tough,"Hahahaˇ­ Just think of it as a candyˇ­ or maybe you want me to try mixing it with my cooking?" he said, chuckling mischievously.


    "You are so proud with your instant noodles, aren''t you?" she snickered.


    "Well, you can tell me if you don''t like my cooking. It''s not like I''m forcing you to eat it." He said while raising his arms and shrugging his shoulders.


    "I don''t!!" she loudly retorted.


    Suddenly, the scene of her confession shed through Aria''s mind and making her fall silent. Alex who noticed her sudden silence was confused. He then quickly wave his hands in front of her face.


    "Aria. You okay?" he said.


    "Uh? Uh?! Y-Yeah, I''m okay." she said, flustered by his call.


    "Okay then. How about grilled fish the next time we eat?"


    "Grilled fish? You have fish in your storage ring?"


    "Nope."


    "Nope? What do you mean with nope?" asked Aria, bewildered.


    "I have my way." Alex said, smiling mysteriously.


    At night, without Aria''s knowledge, Alex sneak out of the cave quietly. In a few hours, Aria was woken up by the smell of something grilled.


    "Good morning, sleepyhead." teased Alex with a smile, "Here, give it a try." he said, giving her a meat skewer. Aria quickly take the skewer and bit into the white meat on it. She was surprised by the skewer.


    "This really is a fish meat! And it''s fresh?" said Aria, puzzled.


    "Of course it''s fresh." said Alex smugly, puffing his chest in the process.


    "How did you do it? Tell me." she curiously asked.


    "Do you want to know? I''m afraid you will regret it." he replied with a mischievous smile on his face.


    "Yes! Why should I regret it?" Aria confusedly asked as she continue to eat the skewer.


    "Okay then, let''s hope you won''t regret it."


    Alex then took out a beast with a length of 2 meters from his storage. "I just caught this from inside the frozenke just now."


    [Mutated White Turtle]


    [Level 80 Mutated Beast]


    [Tier 3 - high stage]


    Seeing the beast''s body, Aria threw her gaze at Alex. "Why would l regret it?" Asked Aria with a nk face.


    "Well ... Isn''t killing turtlesmonly considered animal cruelty to women?" Alex awkwardly said while scratching his head.


    "Well, I once had a pet turtle..."


    "See?! That''s my point!" he excitedly said.


    "Me and my grandpa love it. Turtle stew is the best dish." she said with a smile, reminiscing about her memories.


    "..." Alex could only awkwardly smile. He should have known Aria wasn''t that kind of girl.


    Naturally, he knew about this turtle in his previous life, this tortoise monster was not strong and ferocious but its skin and shell were so hard that it was not easy to kill it. Tonight, Alex wants to give Aria a surprise and he also wants to try the sharpness of his sword.


    [Master, using me for cooking is really a waste of my ability] Strokes said helplessly.


    Alex who heard this could only sheepishly smile. "I''m sorry, Strokes. But, I will need all the spirit stones that I get to increase my realm, that is the current priority. And we have enough magical weapons at the moment, so we don''t really need another one. I would really need youter though when we return to our base"


    [Actually, if I could suggest you, Master. How about trying to make a magic scroll?]


    Hearing that, Alex immediately gasped. "Magic scroll?" He incredulously said.

 Chapter 276 - Magic Scroll

    "Magic scroll?"


    [Yes. You can store magic into materials and create a single-use spirit spell scroll with them. This way, you can practice more skills and it doesn''t require much spirit energypared to making magic artifacts]


    "Sounds fantastic! Tell me more"


    [Actually the turtle skin in front of you can be a good material to create a low tier magic scroll. Would you like to try, Master?]


    "dly"


    Alex never saw items like magic scroll at the Doomsday Pir before. He never received it frompleting the challenge nor the item appeared in the pir''s store. In the pir''s store, he could find the potion making recipe or the forging material recipe. However, not once has he ever seen an enchanting skill, an engraving skill, nor a scroll making recipe. Maybe he would when he already cleared the 60th floor and his pir received the level 3 hall, but in his previous life, only a handful of people could clear the said floor and get ess to the level 3 hall. At that time, those who managed to do so, never spread the intelligence about it, so Alex doesn''t know anything about it..


    Resolute to quickly start the practice, Alex immediately calms his thoughts and focuses his mind. He followed Stroke''s directions and started cutting the turtle skins, dividing them into squares with the size of 20 square centimeter.


    Done with the task, Alex looked at the rows of cut skin and grabbed one of them. He then essed his [Universal Pattern - Rank 1 Knowledge] and searched the knowledge for the list of spells that could be added into the scroll.


    "I can engrave all these tier 1 spells into scroll??" Alex said in disbelief as he looked at the rows of spells on the hologram in front of him.


    [Avable list of spells that could be made into scroll]


    [Fire element tier 1 spell - 6 formation patterns found]


    [Earth element tier 1 spell - 5 formation patterns found]


    [Wind element tier 1 spell - 6 formation patterns found]


    [Water element tier 1 spell - 5 formation patterns found]


    [Ice element tier 1 spell - 6 formation patterns found]


    [nt element tier 1 spell - 5 formation patterns found]


    [Metal element tier 1 spell - 5 formation patterns found]


    [Lighting element tier 1 spell - 6 formation patterns found]


    [Darkness element tier 1 spell - 5 formation patterns found]


    [Light element tier 1 spell - 5 formation patterns found]


    [Yes, Master]


    Alex was astonished when he saw the list, he could found more than 50 formation patterns of tier 1 spells for all elements in that list. He didn''t see that many options when he engraved an artifact before.


    "I can enchant all 10 elements? Not just light element?" he asked incredulously.


    [Yes. You can try to do so, Master. But, it doesn''t mean you''ll be hundred percent sessful. It will not be easy, Master]


    "Why can I engrave other elements for scrolls but not artifacts?"


    [What do you mean, Master. You can]


    Alex was startled when he heard Strokes'' reply, "I can? Why didn''t you tell me earlier?"


    [You never ask, Master] said Strokes with a matter of fact tone.


    Hearing its reply, Alex was dumbfounded and inhaled a deep breath. ''Huffttˇ­ take a deep breath, Alex. Calm down..'' He could only bury his frustration deep in his heart. There''s no way he would stoop so low as to argue with an object.


    [You can engrave a formation with any kind of element, Master. But, you could only engrave tier 1 spells with your current low realm]


    "Okay then.." Alex replied.


    Alex frowned for a moment, wondering which spell he should choose. After a few minutes of thinking, he finally chose a tier 1 spell which he found very useful.


    [Wind Walk - Tier 1 Wind element Spell]


    In Alex''s opinion, safety is the number one thing that needs to be prioritized in this apocalypse era. Just like thest stratagem of the olden Chinese thirty-six stratagems said, ''if all else fails, retreat''


    Alex gave 10 yellow spirit stones to Strokes, asking him to absorb it. "Here you go, Strokes. I can only give this much for now."


    [Charged Spirit Energy 1%]


    "Damnˇ­ 10 pieces of yellow spirit stone I worked hard to get only to give this much energy for you. I''m not sure if you''re a curse or a disaster." Alex muttered.


    Sighing, he could only throw the matter to the back of his head and focus on the [Wind Walk] spell pattern. Alex began to study the formation pattern, observing and scrutinizing each and every detail in it. After all, he didn''t want to fail his first attempt at creating a magic scroll. Within a few hours, Alex had finished studying the pattern and started to use his [Draw] skill on that mutated turtle skin.


    Alex slowly engraved the pattern onto the skin, moving his hand very carefully following the pattern he studied before. When he finished, a notification appeared in his mind.


    [Enchantment Failed!]


    As soon as the notification appeared, the turtle skin in his hand disintegrated into dust.


    Silence filled the area, one could only hear the sound of someone sighing. Not giving up, Alex took another piece of skin and started engraving again.


    Half a hourter, another notification appeared in his mind.


    [Enchantment Failed!]


    "One more!"


    [Enchantment Failed!]


    "..."


    [Maybe you want to stop and learn the pattern again, Master?] Strokes ''kindly'' said


    One could see veins popped out in Alex''s head when he heard Strokes'' kind advice.


    "No!"


    Once again, Alex slowly concentrated and followed the pattern line of the formation in his head, using the tip of the Seven Star Sword. Beads of sweat dripped down Alex''s face and entered his eyes, but he didn''t blink a single moment. His eyes were focused on the skin on his hands, making sure there weren''t any mistakes in the process. When he finished engraving thest line, Alex let out the breath he was holding unconsciously.


    [Enchantment Sessful!]


    Seeing the notification, Alex clenched his fists and threw it into the air. "Yeah!" He then excitedly examined the scroll thaty in his hand.


    [Wind Walk - Tier 1 Wind spell Scroll]


    [Allow the user to use Wind Walk skill for one minute]


    "Only one minute? That''s too short." Alex frowned.


    [One minute is the maximum duration of a tier 1 spell scroll made from tier 3 material. Considering your current realm, Master. That''s an excellent result]


    Hearing Strokes'' exnation, Alex could only shake his head and wryly smile, "I guess it''s an excellent result then." he said, taking its words as apliment.


    He then kept trying to make more scrolls with all the remaining ingredients. At first, he could only make a scroll every five tries but after a dozen tries, Alex was able to increase it to one scroll every three tries. In his 20 attempts of making windwalk scroll, Alex managed to sessfully made 5 scrolls. But then, the dreadful notification appeared.


    [Not enough spirit energy]


    Alex quickly made a calction in his head. If he had much better efficiency, which he could definitely attain, that would mean each scroll would have the same value as one yellow spirit stone. Even though the duration of the spell was pretty short, whenpared to the cost, it was still worth it.


    Holding the magic scroll tightly in his hand, Alex began to tremble. Aria, who saw Alex''s body suddenly trembled, went straight to him. "Alex, what happened?"


    Alex didn''t say anything, he just gave the scroll to Aria, letting her have a look. Aria who received the scroll was confused. "Alex, This?"


    "Aria, this could really change the entire fate of humanity." Alex said firmly.


    The potential for such a magic scroll would greatly increase the fighting strength of humanity. Imagine that a battalion of warriors each wielding this magic scroll, that would truly have a different impact in the face of tribtion.


    Not only that, this scroll can also be the solution for theck of firepower when fighting a long duration battle. For example, Alex might be able to throw 100 light missiles in a day, but if he has 100 light missile scrolls, he can cast 200 spells on that day! In theory, he would get a twofold increase in firepower.


    Like finding a new purpose in his life, Alex has decided tomit himself to mastering the path of formation. In the next few days, he focused on farming more yellow spirit stones during the day and practiced engraving at night. Once every few days, he would jump into theke to find more mutated turtles for material.


    Seeing the sheer amount of turtle meat in their storage ring, Aria eventually tried to cook her favorite stew once. Unfortunately, it tasted horrible but Alex was forced to eat it anyway.


    Days passed as they continued to train in the cave and asionally kill the stray gargoyles. Within that time period, Alex chose the best Tier 1 spell from each element and created dozens of magic scrolls for each of them. Meanwhile, Aria still continued to increase her cultivation by consuming the extra spirit stones.


    Finally, after a month, both Alex and Aria were ready to fully explore the cave with confidence.

 Chapter 277 - Surrounded

    Inside the main chamber of the abyss, one man could be seen hiding in a pastel blue colored icy bush, observing something in the distance. His gestures looked like a hungry tiger ready to pounce on its prey.


    [Hexagram stage 4]


    [Wind Walk Scroll] - tier 1 wind element spell


    [Energize Scroll] - tier 1 lightning element spell


    "Let''s go." Alex softly said to someone, while no one was seen near him.


    Alex used all the buff-type magic scrolls that he made and prepared before. He then immediately dashed forward with his full speed, charging towards a pack of gargoyles with his sword in hand, ready to annihte whateverys in his way. This time, Alex dared to attack a pack of 10 gargoyles at once.


    He ran towards the gargoyles, swords pointed at them. When the gargoyles noticed Alex''s presence, he already reached them with his swords swinging to two closest gargoyles.. The gargoyles could watch as their two brethren'' neck shed and their head rolled down to the ground by Alex''s Tier 3 Light sword and Strokes.


    Taking advantage of the shock caused by his surprise attack, Alex immediately stomped his feet on the ground and darted toward the nearest gargoyle. The targeted gargoyle was woken up from its stupor and quickly threw its sharp ws at him. Seeing the iing attack, he swiftly twisted his body to the side, efficiently dodged the gargoyle''s attack and proceeded to do an upward sh with Strokes at it.


    The gargoyle was startled when it saw Alex dodge its attack and terrified by his swift counterattack. It quickly tried to defend against Alex''s sh by crossing its arms in front of the sword''s trajectory. Too bad, the sword easily sliced through its arms and cut its body in half from the bottom up.


    Seeing the bisected body of the gargoyle, Alex continued his attack and began swinging his Tier 3 sword towards a gargoyle behind the bisected gargoyle who was stunned to see itspanion shed into two.


    [Light Pulse]


    Layers of light appeared on the surface of the Tier 3 sword as it shed through the air, cleaving the stunned gargoyle in half.


    With the technique and scroll he had used, Alex''s speed was tremendously increased by the buff, giving him a speed that was 3 levels higher than the gargoyles. In his first preemptive strike, he was able to finish off 4 gargoyles at once.


    "Okayˇ­ 4 down, 6 more to go." said Alex calmly.


    The remaining gargoyles finally could see the thing that annihted their brethren, a man standing there with theirpanion bodies sprawled on the ground behind him, with a shining white shortsword in his left hand and a wooden sword in his right.


    Angry roars echoed in the air as the remaining gargoyle dashed towards Alex, bloodlust expression and murderous intent apparent in their face. The gargoyles were determined to kill Alex, avenging their fallen brothers. Alex, who saw the impending charge, instantly took his stance and braced himself to face the attack.


    When the gargoyles were storming Alex, a faint silhouette appeared behind the pack. Aria, whose figure appeared out of the silhouette, swung her tier 3 knives towards the necks of the two slowest gargoyles, intending to finish them off. The pack wasing to an abrupt halt when they heard the sounds of bodies falling to the ground from behind them. Their bodies froze in shock when they saw their brothers who had just been alive were now dead.


    Naturally, when Alex was about to initiate the ambush, Aria had already gone ahead and waited for the perfect moment to swiftly assassinate the gargoyles, reducing their risk in this battle. That way, they currently just have to fight against 4 gargoyles instead of 10. The fight wouldn''tst long at all, especially with Alex''s elerated speed and Aria''s invisibility,


    If the gargoyles decided to run, Alex would use the [Iron Chain Scroll] he prepared earlier, a tier 1 metal element skill that could draw out an iron chain to temporarily bind the gargoyles. Although this tier 1 spell could be immediately destroyed by the gargoyles, within the few seconds of them trying to escape, Alex would already behead them.


    "One got away, Alex." Said Aria, pointing her finger at a flying gargoyle.


    "Don''t give chase." Alex serenely answered.


    "Why? We''ll be screwed if ites back with more gargoyles," asked Aria with worry in her voice.


    "Don''t worry. We are prepared this time" said Alex with a faint glint appearing in his eyes.


    After spending a whole month practicing his enchantment, Alex concluded that it was time for him and Aria to gather more spirit stones for their cultivation and his training. Coincidentally, they were already strong enough to sweep through the main chamber without a hitch, so he decided to let one gargoyle escape and lure more gargoyles to their location. They could obtain more spirit stones as well as training theirbat skills against hordes of enemies at the same time, killing two birds with one stone.


    Within a few minutes, sounds of wings pping could be heard from a distance. They immediately turned their head toward the direction and saw more than 20 gargoyleing from the sky.


    Alex who saw this couldn''t help but to smile widely and shouted, "Not bad! Come here, you lumps of spirit stones!"


    As if offended by Alex''s provocation, the crowd of gargoyles roared at once and prepared to dive toward Alex.


    "Be careful there, Mister gargoyles. Hehehe.." Alex mockingly said with a loudugh.


    When this group of gargoyles was in the sky under Alex''s position and ready to attack, suddenly a hammer-like strike came from one side and from the other side a hailstorm came.


    [Smite - Rank 3 Light spell]


    [Hail - Rank 3 ice spell]


    Instantly, nearly half of them were knocked down, crashing to the ground with a loud bang. Alex and Aria swiftly finished off those who fell while still observing those in the air. Both [Smite] and [Hail] are the strongest area-of-effect attacks they currently have.


    The dozen of gargoyles that had dodged, immediately dived from the sky towards Aria and Alex, intending to kill them. But before they could arrive, Alex quickly cast a spell and tore a scroll in half.


    [Blind - Rank 1 Light spell]


    [Dark Smoke scroll]


    The [Blind] spell was aimed to blind their eyes for a moment while the [Dark Smoke scroll] took effect, enshrouding Alex''s surroundings with ck smoke, obscuring the gargoyle''s line of sight as their vision recovered.


    As the spell and scroll took effect, Alex quickly attacked the gargoyle who dived into the smoke and lost their sight. He then swiftly cast [Telekinesis] to gather spirit stones from the dead bodies. Afterward, he took out another scroll.


    [Ice Maniption scroll]


    Shortly, A ring of ice formed under Alex''s feet and quickly formed a deep cave hole. He gestured to Aria to follow him. The two of them entered the cave and Alex then blocked the cave using the still active [Ice Maniption], leaving no trace on the ground they had stepped on earlier.


    Alex got hit on his shoulder as he turned around to see Aria''s condition, "What was that for?" he confusedly asked while rubbing his shoulder.


    "What was that shout earlier, huh?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.


    "Heheheˇ­ I couldn''t help it, I''m just excited." Alex shyly said while scratching his head, he then continued. "Let''s take a rest here."


    When the smoke from [Dark Smoke scroll] dispersed and the gargoyles finally couldproperly see their surroundings again, their two prey were already out of their sight, vanishing without a trace.


    That was the series of preparations that Alex prepared for the battle against the gargoyles today. Apart from those spells and scrolls, He also prepared a [Stone Skin scroll] if they couldn''t avoid the fierce battle.


    With the [Ice Maniption scroll], Alex was not afraid to face the hordes of gargoyles. He can make a hiding cave anywhere and anytime, letting him retreat at will. It also gave him the initiative in battle.


    Days passed by as Alex and Aria continued to do the same thing over and over again, hunting and killing the gargoyles during the day and cultivating and training his engraving at night. They were carefully and slowly umting their strength in their endeavor to get out of this abyss.


    Days be weeks, weeks be months and 4 monthster, Alex and Aria are used to fighting gargoyles. They''re not even afraid to fight 20 to 30 gargoyles at once, proving their improvement over the months.


    After eradicating thest attacking gargoyle with a sh of his sword, Alex abruptly turned to face Aria and said.


    "I wonder how many gargoyles we''ve killed." Alex said as he cleared the blood on his swords.


    Startled, Aria was silent for a moment before saying, "7221 gargoyles."


    "Did you seriously count it from the start? Hahaha.." Alex teased her.


    "S-Shut up! You asked."


    Even though they have killed more than ten thousand gargoyles, Alex and Aria still have to be careful to avoid the ce where the horde of gargoyles are still in their statuary form. With their currentbat skill, they will not be able to fight against them.


    "It''s been almost six months since we have been here. I guess we are strong enough to head back now!"


    -----------------------------------------------------------


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 Chapter 278 - Head Back

    Tied up with their training and cultivation, the two of them do not feel the time has passed and the fact that they''ve already been trapped inside the Abyss pit for 6 months. There is only 3 months left until the meeting at Bali ind, where they''ll prepare the ns to face the first tribtion.


    "I think we are already strong enough to head back!" said Alex as he sheathed his swords.


    "Strong enough? What do you mean with strong enough?" asked Aria confusedly.


    "It''s exactly what it means." he replied calmly


    Baffled, Aria kept asking questions, "I don''t understand. What are we going to fight next that can make you say that?"


    "A boss monster."


    "A boss monster?" asked Aria in disbelief..


    "Yeah. It''s actually the gatekeeper between the antechamber and the main chamber, who had to be defeated before one could enter the main chamber." Alex exined.


    "..." Aria was silent, shocked by the revtion


    Seeing her reaction, Alex continued his exnation. "So, it''s actually the other way around for our case." he said with a faint smile. "Generally, one can''t enter the main chamber without killing the gatekeeper first, but due to extreme coincidenceˇ­ or fate, we identally entered the main chamber through a shortcut tunnel connecting the antechamber and the main chamber."


    Aria was bbergasted when she heard Alex''s exnation. "Soˇ­ should we say we are extremely lucky or extremely unlucky?" she asked helplessly.


    "Wellˇ­ I don''t know." replied Alex with a faint smile. "Let''s just see what happens next."


    Hearing his nonchnt reply, Aria could only helplessly shake her head and walk away to collect the spirit stones from the gargoyles'' bodies. Suddenly, Aria turned her head and asked Alex the question she forgot to ask.


    "So, what kind of monster are we going to fight? And how strong is it?"


    Alex smiled mysteriously at her question. "Don''t worry, you will see it soon. Let''s head to the hiding cave for tonight. We need to increase another level first and rest our body before we face the gatekeeper."


    It took Alex and Aria almost 100 yellow spirit stones for each of them to increase just one level at their current level. An outrageous amount of spirit stones indeed.


    [Alex]


    [Sky realm level 34 - middle stage]


    [Sky Magus - Light - middle stage]


    [Aria]


    [Sky realm level 33 - middle stage]


    [Sky Magus - Water - middle stage]


    [Sky Magus - Ice - middle stage]


    "Just a few more levels." Alex muttered to himself. ''When I reached level 40 and finally stepped to the cusp of breakthrough, I will then focus on cultivating to break through to the high stage. It will give me a significant increase in my strength.'' he excitedly thought in his mind.


    Alex felt a headache when he calcted the sheer amount of spirit stones he would need to achieve his goal. The rate at which he obtained spirit stones couldn''t keep with his needs, followed by the increase in the inefficiency of the spirit stones used made him have to think of another n that could solve his problem. But for now, he had to find out first how to kill the gate guardian and get out of this Abyss pit.


    In his previous life, it needed at least a dozen of skyrealm magus at his current levels to defeat the gate guardian.But with the increased levels, the tier 5 sword artifacts, the useful magic scrolls and the fact Alex knows the creature they will be facing, Alex feels confident they can safely kill the gate guardian.


    The next day, Alex and Aria were seen preparing their equipment and scrolls they needed for today''s fight.


    "Aria, are you ready?"


    "Yeah."


    "We won''t be back after heading out this time. Take onest good look at this cave, you might miss this ce, Aria." Alex teased her.


    Aria sneered at his teasing and said. "Not sure, eh?"


    "What do you mean with not sure?"


    "I''m not sure which one I''m going to miss in this ce, the gargoyle''s ugly face or your terrible food."


    "Well said." Alex praised her reply with augh.


    Alex then started walking first, while Aria secretly looked back, looking at the frozenke and ice hill with a thoughtful expression. When they are outside the abyss things will return as it was before. She knows it will end sooner orter, and today is the day.She took a small moment of silence to treasure it. She softly spoke something, "I''m gonna miss it." She''s going to miss her time here with Alex.


    Alex, who heard a faint sound behind him, turned his head. "Um? What''s wrong, Aria?"


    "Nothing. Wait for me." Aria replied with a faint smile.


    -


    As they got closer to the ce that connected the antechamber to the main chamber, the temperature slowly rose and the ice covering the surface of the cave was getting thinner and thinner. After three days of walking, passing through the cave that was getting smaller and smaller, they finally could see arge tunnel in front of them.


    This tunnel is about the same size as the underground tunnel of a motorized vehicle in a modern city, with a diameter of approximately 10 meters and made of stone walls. Alex could see water trickling down from the melting ice on the ceiling of the cave. He could also see many small puddles on the ground.


    "This is the ce. Be prepared."


    When they stood in front of the tunnel, there was only darkness at the end of it with nothing to be seen. Alex cast his [Illuminate] skill and a ball of light immediately appeared on his palm. He then let the ball of light float in front of them as they stepped into the tunnel.


    Sounds of their footsteps could be heard echoing through the tunnel as they continued to walk forward into the darkness. Half an hourter, they finally saw the end of the tunnel, a big hall was seen with torches ced at the hall wall, giving Aria and Alex a clear view of the hall.


    The hall was almost the size of a football stadium, with multiple engraving on its wall. The engravings show several images of a three-headed dog, a sacrificial ceremony, hordes of human souls walked into the gate, and more. In the middle of the hall, Alex could see there are 3 giant dog statues, each statue standing 3 meters tall. The statues are facing towards the front, their backs to Alex and Aria.


    "Here we are, Aria. That is the checkpoint between the antechamber and the main chamber." Alex said, pointing towards the lit hall.


    "I see."


    Before entering the room, Alex told her about the monsters they were going to face and then exined the battle strategy for it.


    "Do you understand? Any question before we go?"


    "Yes and no."


    "Are you sure? There''s no turning back once we''ve started."


    "Yeah, I''m sure. Just go!" said Aria irritably.


    "Great. Let''s go."


    Alex and Aria walked into the hall with their weapons in their hand while carefully watching their surroundings for any surprise attacks. Since the two of them came from the opposite direction of the hall entrance, they saw the towering back of the statues first. They noticed the engraved images on the wall and were fascinated by it.


    "Alex, what is that image?" Aria said, pointing at one of the images.


    "I don''t know. Maybe a myth? Who knows?" replied Alex halfheartedly after taking a quick nce at the images and then continuing to observe the statues.


    As they circled the statues and arrived in front of them, Alex noticed the statue''s eyes slowly glow red, a faint glint appeared within them. He quickly nudged Aria''s arms while pointing his finger towards the statue. Aria who turned her face due to Alex''s nudge noticed his gesture and lifted her head. She couldn''t believe what was happening before her eyes.


    Cracks slowly appeared on the surface of the statues, revealing the dark fur under them. Rows of sharp teeth appeared as the statue opened its mouth. Clumps of breath can be seening out of the statue''s nose as the statue slowlyes to life. Until finally, the 3 giant statues turned into 3 three-headed ferocious giant dogs.


    The hologram in their arms showed information about the monsters they were going to face at this time.


    [Cerberus - Guardian Dogs of Hell]


    [Abyss Creature - level 4]


    ----------------------------------


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 Chapter 279 - Dogs Of Hell

    [Cerberus - Guardian Dogs of Hell]


    [Abyss Creature - level 4]


    3 big figures of the Cerberus were staring down at Alex and Aria with malignant gaze. It seemed like they were ready to attack and tear apart these intruders for soiling their holynd and disturbing their slumber. Lines of saliva slowly dripped to the ground as the Cerberuss opened their mouths and bared their sharp teeth, eyeing these two small figures below them.


    Seeing the malicious gazes on them, Alex and Aria couldn''t help but break a cold sweat. Sweat trickled down their faces to their backs, making their clothes stick to their skin. Realizing their current predicament, Alex and Aria quickly took the initiative before it was toote for them to do so.


    [Energize]


    [Wind Walk]


    [Stone Skin]


    They swiftly took out these three scrolls and immediately tore it apart, applying the buffs to their body. Feeling of power washed through their body as the scroll''s skill took effect, giving them an all around enhancement to their energy, speed, and defence capability..


    When the three Cerberus were getting ready to dash forward and attack Alex and Aria. A sudden burst of energy startled them, causing their heads to turn towards the source. There, they could see Aria covered in a veil of energy. The veil of energy kept raising to the air, ring like a fierce forest fire, ready to destroy anything and everything.


    It turned out that Aria directly used her strongest technique, namely the unique battle art as the first move in this battle. Her decision was highly questionable considering the battle had just started. Still, the arrow had been fired and the battle must go on.


    [Spirit Explosion]


    [Unique Battle Art skill]


    [Drain all the user spirit energy to powerfully enhanced a spell]


    After using her unique battle art skill, Aria didn''t waste any more time and immediately cast her enhanced spell, intending to dish out the most impressive opening spell to intimidate the three big dogs in front of her.


    [Hail - Enhanced Tier 3 Ice Spell]


    The fierce hailstorm became even more ferocious as the formerly small ice shards that rained down from the storm turned intorge chunks of ice rods the size of an arm. Instantly, a hail that was bigger and heavier than usual attacked and overran the 3 three-headed dogs. The impact of the skill could be seen from the ground beneath the Cerberus''s legs slowly being covered byyers of ice and the temperature rapidly dropping past the zero point.


    It could be seen that with the [Spirit Explosion] unique battle art, the tier 3 spell [Hail] has almost if not the same power as a tier 4 spell, making it a spectacr opening move.


    The violent ice storm continued to rain down on the three Cerberus, injuring and holding them back. One Cerberus who was in the epicenter of the hail could only ducked its head under the attack, trying to keep the amount of injury to the minimum. Meanwhile, the other two quickly tried to get out of the area as fast as possible.


    The two Cerberus managed to get out of the storm while sustaining injury in their legs and bodies. Judging from the skin of their body being cut, with droplets of blooding out of the wound, the two of them were only slightly injured. While, the one poor Cerberus that could only brace the full brunt of the storm was badly injured. One could see its flesh from the cuts on its body and several ice poles stuck onto the poor Cerberus'' flesh, injuring it and obstructing its movement.


    The 3 wounded three-headed dogs roared angrily together, furious at the humans below them. They immediately look for their attackers, ready to pounce on them. But they could only see Aria in front of them who were running away alone.


    Furious at this impudent woman who attacked them, the three of them ignored Alex''s disappearance and immediately sped off, running after Aria. The ground was quaking as the three dogs simultaneously stomped their legs and darted toward her with their ws out in the open, ready to tear Aria''s body.


    Even though Aria''s body was currently buffed by both the [Wind Walk] and [Energize] scroll which resulted in her speed greatly increased, after using [Spirit Explosion] skill, her strength and body state bes unstable. Therefore, Aria''s current speed is slower than the three Cerberus.


    When Aria had just run about 100 meters, she was almost caught up by the two Cerberus who were lightly injured while the one who was badly injured was not far behind them. Hearing the loud rumbling behind her, Aria quickly turned her head to see the situation. Her face quickly turned pale as she saw the 6 dog faces that were ready to devour her getting closer.


    At thest moment, just before the ws and fangs of the two Cerberus hit her, Aria used the [Ice Prison - Tier 2 Ice Spell]. Instantly, ice formed around her as her entire body was covered with blocks of ice, protecting her from the iing attacks.


    nk!


    Crisp sounds resounded inside the hall as the fangs and ws of the Cerberus hit the [Ice Block]. The Cerberus'' attacks were only able to create small scratches and cracks on the ice while Aria who was inside heaved a sigh of relief. Although this [Ice Block] spell only a tier 2 spell but due to its defensive orientation, it was able to withstand most types of attacks from tier 4 beings.


    The only downside of this spell is that the user bes immobile when they cast the spell and is unable to do anything. So, sooner orter the block of ice will be destroyed and rendered the user helpless. That was why this spell could only be used as ast resort in hopes that others woulde to help the user.


    Seeing their attacks barely scratching and cutting the ice, the two Cerberus continued to blindly attack the block of ice. The two of them increasingly swept their ws against the ice as anger clouded their minds even more. However, a loud roaring from behind brought them to a sudden halt.


    When they turned their heads around, Alex had finished shing one of the three heavily injured Cerberus heads and thrusting Strokes at the other one. The Cerberus who now only had one head quickly fell down, dying on the ground. The now one-headed Cerberus was seen whimpering on the ground with blood pouring out from the wounds on its other two heads.


    GROWL!!!


    Angry growl could be heard as the two Cerberus decided to leave the ice-covered Aria and rushed towards Alex, wanting to take revenge. Alex, who saw the iing rabid dogs, quickly shes thest head and kills the Cerberus before he casts a series of spells.


    [Smite] [Smite] [Smite] [Smite]


    Like on steroids, Alex continuously used his strongest skill [Smite], aiming it at the running Cerberus. The hammer-like attack from the [Smite] spells not only hurt the two Cerberus but was also able to stop their tracks, stunning them. When he fired the fourth [Smite], Alex immediately felt a feeling of powerlessness spread through his body. He then swiftly took out the scroll that he had.


    [Iron Chain scroll - Tier 1 Metal Spell]


    [Entangled scroll - Tier 1 nt Spell]


    Alex simultaneously used 3 scrolls each to further restrict the stunned Cerberus. Tens of iron chains appeared from the ground, locking every joint on the two Cerberus'' bodies while sharp roots sprouted from the ground, piercing and creeping up their feet. These scrolls managed to lock onto the two Cerberus as they roared with anger and reluctance in their voices.


    Alex then took out another scroll, [Fire Infusion scroll - Tier 1 Fire Spell] and used it on Strokes. Raging mes appeared on the Strokes'' surface the moment the scroll was applied, increasing the attack power of Strokes.


    "Your wooden body won''t burn easily, right Strokes?"


    [Of course, Master. This fire is too weak for me]


    Before lunging at the two Cerberus, Alex used [Dark Smoke scroll] to block the dogs'' vision and then dashed towards one of the Cerberus with all his strength. When he reached in front of the Cerberus, Alex swiftly swung his swords and shed at it again and again. After all, this tier 4 monster couldn''t die with just one hit. The previous Cerberus was already badly injured, which is why he managed to end its life by decapitating its heads.


    sh! sh! sh!


    GROWL!!!


    Sounds of swords cutting through flesh could be heard within the dark smoke, followed by roars of pain. When the dark smoke dissipated, Aria, who hade out of the [Ice Block], stared at Alex, whose body was covered with Cerberus'' blood. In less than 5 minutes, the two of them had managed to finish off these three Tier 4 abyss gatekeepers.


    "Everything was ording to n. Great job, Aria." Alex said with a smile as he looked at Aria


    Aria who heard his words could only smile without saying anything. She then sat cross-legged and used a skill.


    [Soothing Mist - Tier 2 Water Spell]


    [Creates mist of water around the user helps calm their spirit energy, aiding the healing process]


    Meanwhile, Alex collected the results of the battle. He put the three dead Cerberus bodies into different storage rings because of theirrge size. The meat of a tier 4 beast and its skins would have been useful, improving cultivation and gear level. He also managed to get 2 red spirit stones from the three Cerberus corpses. Alex couldn''t help butugh boisterously.


    "Not bad.. Not bad at all!"


    ----------------------------------


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 Chapter 280 - Next Plan

    Swiftly after the three Cerberus were killed, Alex hurriedly looted the bodies and checked their harvest from the fight. He and Aria then rested for an hour to recover their strength before entering the antechamber. The reason for their rush was because their meeting time was getting closer and they only have about 2 and a half months left.


    When Alex and Aria entered the antechamber, they immediately saw a chamber with rivers ofva flowing under and between the ground while packs of hellhounds were seen roaming the terrain. Alex immediately realized that it was already night outside the Abyss pit as the hellhound''s entire body was covered with zing mes, signaling their innate talent [Creature of The Night] was currently active. This indicates that they are in [Fury] status and have an increase in strength.


    But this time, Alex and Aria were not the same as when they first entered the antechamber. Not only had they experienced a breakthrough to the foundation stage of their spirit element, they had also reached a higher level. Alex doesn''t even need to use the scroll to buff them this time. He and Aria had even decided not to use any spells to kill these hellhounds, showing how far they''ve risen.


    The two of them ran together, darting through the mass of hellhounds while shing and casually picking up all the spirit stones they found. There wasn''t a speck of fear or even nervousness on their faces as they continued to kill all the hellhounds in their path.. It looks like the enhanced hellhounds couldn''t do anything to stop their advance and could only be helplessly killed by Alex and Aria.


    After running for more than 1 day and killing all the hellhounds along the way, they finally found their way out of the Abyss pit. They are now standing in front of the crack in the huge gate that had be even bigger whenpared to 6 months ago. When they touched the crack and were transported to the Abyss pit, they were able to find several hellhounds roaming in the hole and blocking the entrance as they headed for the surface. Naturally, they killed any hellhounds that had escaped from the antechamber through the crack.


    Just like in his previous life, a few hellhounds started scattering out of the Abyss pit 3 months before the first tribtion started. The number of hellhounds will gradually increase until the time of the first tribtion. However at the same time, not only hellhounds but hundreds and thousands of gargoyles wille out and invade the earth''s surface. At that time, humanity who doesn''t take refuge in the Doomsday Pir is sure to be doomed.


    When they came out of the pit and saw the yellow color of the desert, Alex couldn''t help but scream his lungs out as he clenched his fists in the air.


    "Woohooooo!!! We are finally out!" Seeing the vast desert that 6 month ago disgusted him, Alex could only shake his head. "I can''t believe I miss this damn desert."


    Aria, who saw Alex''s exaggerated reaction could only chuckle lightly, she then asked, "What should we do now, Alex? We have about 2 months until our meeting in Bali. What should we do in the meantime?"


    Alex answered while raising his eyebrows, "What should we do you ask?" He was silent for a moment before approaching Aria with a smile. "Let''s go back to the Doomsday Pir in Alice Spring City to rest first. After all that fighting, it will take me a day or two to rx and let go of all that pent up frustration." he said casually with his hands behind his head.


    "Fine then. It''s up to you, I will listen to your orders."


    Hearing her response, Alex turned his head with a strange expression on his face, "Are you really going to follow all my orders?" he asked with a mischievous smile and a questioning look.


    Seeing Alex''s cheeky face, Aria felt embarrassed. "Of course not!"


    Alex could onlyugh at her embarrassed expression, ''It''s always fun to tease the ice queen.'' he thought with a chuckle.


    He then proceeded to go to his vehicle''s location based on hisst memory. When he reached the ce, Alex could only see a massive sand dune standing where his vehicle should have been. Looking at the situation, he awkwardly scratched his head and pondered for several minutes. Aria was confused when she saw Alex frozen in front of a sand dune while scratching his head. The expression on his face looked like he was solving a quantum physics problem.


    Aria grabbed Alex''s shoulder then shook him hard, "Alex, what happened?"


    Turning his head, Alex replied, "Oh, nothing. It''s just that now my vehicle is under this sand dune."


    Surprised, Aria patted her head while saying, "Oh, yeah! I forgot about this ce. Hehe.."


    "So? What are you waiting for? Let''s start digging!" she eximed with vigor.


    Aria quickly took out two shovels from her storage ring and gave one to him. Alex smiled when he saw her digging up the sand dune. He too soon joined her and started digging. They started digging from the morning and were only finished when the night curtain fell.


    Alex''s vehicle has been dug out of the sandbar and appears in front of them. He inspects the vehicle for any possible problems. Beside having a clogged air filter and vehicle oil that need to be reced, the condition of the vehicle is not bad at all. As night falls, Alex asks Aria to rest tonight while he fixes the vehicle as they are leaving for Alice Spring tomorrow morning.


    In two days, Alex had returned to Alice Spring and headed straight for Doomsday Pir. His top priority came to the pir of course for information. He has been missing for 6 months. Even though most people know he is on a mission but still, 6 months is a long time in the doomsday period where they only have years.


    Alex first contacted his family, his two daughters, and his wife. Apparently, their mission to help the South African survivors had been sessful. With dozens of ships, soldiers, weapons, and supplies, reinforcements led by Farell managed to move to the Madagascar Ind across Africa. He nned to make Madagascar Ind as the base for the reinforcements and with so many African survivors in need of assistance, it''s unlikely Alex will hear any news from Farell and his team anytime soon.


    In addition, the trade-in magic raisins and the tier 1 hardened weapons has grown rapidly which has turned the three Doomsday Pirs in Bali, Java, and Sumatra intorge production city. Their main buyers are from South Asian countries, but they have also seeded in establishing trade routes to China, Europe, and the United States.


    It seemed that Alex had missed a lot of action during his time inside the Abyss pit. He feels fortunate to have people like Farell, the former military intelligence genius, President Rico, Regent Suryo, and of course his wife Devita. Come to think of it, the first three people were born in the military or had a lot of leadership experience, except for his wife. His wife now being able to lead the Bali base is really good luck for Alex. Suddenly, the thought of his wife busy taking care of the base for him while he was on an icy vacation with a beautiful woman made him worry.


    "You went into the abyss alone??! Alex! Isn''t that dangerous?!" Devita harshly scolds Alex.


    "N-No, not by myself actuallyˇ­ Aria apanied me." Alex stuttered in reply, a tinge of fear in his voice.


    "..."


    "Just the two of you? How did it happen?"


    "Wellˇ­" Alex hesitated and wasn''t sure how to properly exin this. But then, his wife suddenly said.


    "You know what? Never mind. Don''t exin. Do what you have to do, Alex. Juste home safely."


    Alex was silent for a moment before saying, "Of course I will"


    The next important piece of information that Alex needs is the condition of his elite army. The four groups are currently separated in 4 corners of the Australian continent. He tries to find theirtest information.


    8 toons in 4 divisions. Separate into four corners of Australia


    Division one led by Arief went to the most popted area in New South Wales, division two who is led by jerry went to South Australia, division three led by Sergei went to western Australia and division three went to Queennd territory led by Dario.


    It appears they have finished most of their target pirs and receive all the points. Arief team is currently helping defend what''s left of the Australian government base in the south of Sidney. Jerry''s team currently helping to finish level 40 pirs for the people of Adide.


    As for the other two, they have not yet finished all of the doomsday pirs. Alex has another n in mind, but in the end, he will still need to choose one of the team locations as a ce to hitch a ride back to Bali.


    "So Aria which team should we be heading to?"


    Aria choose Sergei team because the team was supposed to be her responsibility


    ''Western Australia? Hmm..'' Alex thought with a faint smile


    It seems Alex is going to walk down the memoryne, back to the city where he grew up in his youth.


    ----------------------------------


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 Chapter 281 - Red Stone

    There are only 2 months left for Alex to freely do whatever he wants before he has to go to Bali Ind to attend the scheduled meeting. So, that was why he nned to do something the rest of the time, something that could assist him immensely in the impending tribtion.


    After he and Aria managed to kill the three Cerberus and get two red spirit stones from their dead bodies, Alex couldn''t stop thinking and calcting how to make the most of the two red spirit stones.


    ''How do I use these two red spirit stones to their maximum potential?'' Alex thought as he turned his hand slowly and looked at the red stones in his hand.


    A yellow spirit stone is worth 100 white spirit stones, while a red spirit stone is worth 100 yellow spirit stones. So that one red spirit stone in his hand is worth 10 thousand spirit stones.


    There are only two choices he can do with the red stone at the moment. The first solution is to directly consume these stones and increase his Sky realm level while the second is to buy necessary equipment from the Doomsday Pir''s store.


    Alex currently had reached level 34 of Sky realm stage, and to reach the next level he will need more than 100 yellow spirit stones. Alex is pretty sure that in order to reach level 35, he would need to consume more than that one red spirit stone, which really wasn''t bad considering his previous situation in hisst life..


    Increasing his realm level certainly makes him stronger and strength is the main thing needed to carry out the mission of destroying the Abyss pit in Bali with utmost sess and facing the first tribtion in three months.


    However, raising his realm level by one wouldn''t actually have much effect because as you go higher through the level, the amount of spirit stones you need will also increase. Meanwhile, the amount of strength that you get is still the same. So instead of wasting his red spirit stones to raise his level, Alex prefers to wait until he has a breakthrough in his understanding of spirit elements before he reaches level 40. He decided to raise his level through the next floor challenge in the Doomsday Pirter, so that he could quickly breakthrough the high stage of Sky realm stage.


    The most significant increase in power for a Magus fighter was still a breakthrough in their understanding of spirit elements, which one should focus their effort into. In Alex''s previous life, many fighters who had reached level 40 of Sky realm stage were faced with obstacles and were blocked from reaching the high stage of cultivation because their understanding of spirit element didn''t reach an adequate level. So Alex decided to keep these red stones for other purposes.


    Regarding the second option, Alex can use the red spirit stones to buy expensive artifacts that are avable at the Doomsday Pir''s store. For example, one red stone can buy a [Stone Golem - Tier 2 Artifact] like the one he previously owned. As the golem was his first artifact he always thought to buy another one as a recement. The same golem did save his life many times. But thinking of the 10.000 spirit stone price tags. He never yet bought it.


    Another useful artifact with a price tag of 10.000 spirit stone is the [Defensive Formation - Tier 2 Artifact], which was very useful. It is an artifact that can be used to save many lives.Each of these two items would be more useful than a slight increase of strength by consuming it.


    But out of these two options, now that Alex has the Seven Star Sword, he was thinking to save the spirit stones to create more artifacts and magic scroll. It appears that these will be the best choice at the moment. With more people having tier 3 weapons, facing the pack of gargoyles will be easier.


    Nevertheless, these red stones were extremely valuable and generally hard toe by at this point in life, so Alex had to be careful about using them. Currently, Alex is seen standing in front of the main ess panel in the Doomsday Pir''s hall. Seeing the familiar ess panel in front of him, a faint smile appeared on Alex''s face. ''Long time no see.'' He thought.


    Without wasting any more time, Alex immediately swiped his fingers on the engraving and gave themand to open the ess panel. In a split second, a holographic disy opened in front of him with something appearing inside. If one could take a closer look, he could see that red, green, and ck dots appeared and filled the entire hologram.


    "What''s your n, Alex?" asked Aria hurriedly and anxiously.


    "Just like what I said before, Aria." Alex calmly answered her question. "We''re going to Sergei''s team in Western Australia, but this is the route we''re going to take." He said as he dragged his finger across the hologram disy and drew a line towards the city of Perth in Western Australia, past some of the red dots. Seeing that, Aria shook her head quickly.


    "Are you sure about this, Alex?" Aria asked worriedly.


    "Don''t worry. If the two of us did it, I''m sure we could do it. We will just do a quick detour, going in and out quickly. You''ll help me right?"


    "I meanˇ­ Of course I will. But, I''m worried about Sergei and the others."


    "Just rx and have faith in Sergei. I am sure he will manage the situation. We went there just to give some reassurance." Alex exined calmly. He then turned around and looked directly into Aria''s eyes. "If they couldn''t handle this much, how could they face the tribtionter?"


    "O-Okay then.." Aria reluctantly agrees.


    "That''s great!" Alex then turned his attention to the hologram again. "1, 2, 3ˇ­ 8! It will take two or three weeks at most until we reach Perth."


    Aria shook her head. "A simple detour then.."


    -


    In the middle of somewhere in West Australia.


    A vehicle was seen speeding through the vast desert without a care in the world. A man and woman are sitting inside the vehicle, moving towards the ck spot that looks alone in the middle of the yellow sand sea. After yesterday''s discussion, this morning Alex and Aria drove westward, heading to the first red dot located just 3 hours from the Alice Spring Doomsday Pir.


    Naturally, the red dot that appeared on the map wasthe location of an Abyss hole. The current location of the Abyss hole is very different whenpared to the location 6 months earlier. The desert soil around the hole had turned into ck rock like charcoal. Alex and Aria could see the area around the Abyss was swarmed by critters and hellhounds. Although there were hundreds of monsters in front of them, Alex was not afraid, instead he was excited.


    In Alex''s eyes, he saw hundreds of spirit stones clustered in front of him, ready to be harvested. In a split second, Alex immediately stopped the vehicle and jumped out. He then charged towards the horde of monsters.


    "Let''s go!" he excitedly shouted.


    Alex lunged forward to attack and ughter all the creatures in front of him, followed by Aria who used her AoE skill, aiming it towards the densest part of the crowd. None of these creatures was able to resist their teamwork attacks, only to be killed. After collecting spirit stones from the massacre, Alex and Aria enter the hole and find that the gate is in the same condition as the previous one.


    "At this time, the conditions of the Abyss around the world are all the same."


    [Gate of Abyss]


    [Status - Open - stage 2]


    The two of them sprinted along the antechamber, zing through and finishing off all the critters and hellhounds in the ce. When they finally found the same gate. The gate where the hell guard dogs await.


    Even though they had been able to defeat these dogs before, Alex was wise enough to never underestimate a tier 4 being. This time it actually took them more effort to kill the three headed creature. And from their bodies, Alex found 1 red spirit stone.


    "So unfortunate! Only 1 out of 3." he sighed


    "Hopefully, we can get more in the next Abyss."


    Alex proceeded to store their remains in his storage rings again, not letting these precious materials slip from his hands. They then quickly returned to the surface and headed for the other Abyss pit.


    That''s how Alex and Aria''s journey continues. They continued to rapidly enter and exited the Western Australian Abyss'' hole, clearing any Cerberus inside the pit. After 2 weeks and 7 Abyss holester, they managed to get a total of 10 red spirit stones and a lot of Cerberus'' dead bodies, all of which were stored in his storage rings.


    Finally, they arrived on the outskirts of Perth in Western Australia.


    ----------------------------------


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    Any piracy is not advisable as it''s a part of a crime.


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 Chapter 282 - Perth

    Dday #415


    A vehicle, more precisely a jeep was seen driving through in arge field on the outskirts of Perth in Western Australia. The jeep''s surface was covered by many scuffs caused by the sand, showing what it has been through so far. After spending 2 weeks traveling to and from various Abyss pits, Alex and Aria finally arrived at the outskirts of Perth, Western Australia.


    Western Australia is thergest state out of Australia''s six states, three internal territories, and seven external territories. Western Australia is a state upying the western 32.9 percent of thend area of Australia.It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, and the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east.


    The ce Alex had gone to now was itsrgest city; the City of Perth. Thetest information that he got about the group led by Sergei is that 2 weeks ago theypleted the 5 Doomsday Pirs around the Western Australia''s desert and now they are in thest Doomsday Pir which is located east of the city of Perth.


    After passing through many mutated animals in the Australian wilderness and finishing off many hellhounds and critters roaming the area around the Abyss pit, Alex and Aria finally got to see the shadow of Perth''s city. When their jeep approached the urban area on the outskirts of the city, they were again confronted by packs of zombies.


    It has been more than a year since the Doomsday Pirs came to earth and descended all over the globe. Now, there are almost no more tier 1 zombies appearing in the wilderness, with tier 2 zombies as the norm. Within a group of 5 roaming zombies they encountered, four out of five zombies were red zombies. Whereas currently almost every zombie group has at least 1 the third tier ck zombie. After a year had passed, Alex was also sure there were already tier 4 zombies among them, although it was still very rare.


    However, this is not something Alex and Aria need to fear. Because as he knows, tier 1 zombies only have the strength of ordinary humans and tier 2 zombies have the strength of peak stage Mortal realm fighters. Meanwhile, tier three zombies have the power of mid stage Earth realm fighters whereas tier 4 zombies have at most the power of Early sky realm fighters. Currently, not a single zombie can threaten the two of them, unless they are attacked by arge group oftier 4 zombies, which of course is impossible.


    Their first goal towards the city of Perth is the Doomsday Pir in the east of the city. Without wasting any more time, Alex immediately turned the steer wheel to the east direction, driving towards the said Pir. He drove his jeep and drove fast through the city. When the pir is in front of his eyes, Alex is confused because the area around the pir is filled with zombies.


    Alex who saw the situation, couldn''t help but to think, ''Howe the pir is being overrun by the zombies? Isn''t there anyone protecting it? Where are Sergei and the others?" He was deep in thought.


    Aria saw the dense concentration of zombies and turned her head towards Alex. "Alex, what happened? Why is that pir flooded with zombies?"


    Alex was silent for a moment before opening his mouth. "I don''t know, Aria. I''m just as confused as you."


    This situation confused the two of them and made them worried. Alex then lifted his foot and pressed hard on the gas pedal further increasing the speed of the jeep. Aria also does not remain silent, she actively eliminates all the zombies that block them with her spells. Several shards of ice and water spears could be seen flying through the air, piercing all the zombies in the head. Not to be outdone by her, Alex also asionally uses his [Light Missile] spell on the zombies that are blocking his vehicle path.


    When they managed to drive through the zombies around the pir area, Alex and Aria quickly entered the pir. Looking at the empty area inside the pir, a strange expression appeared on Alex''s face.


    "There''s nobody here, it''s empty." Aria said after she looked around the pir


    Alex quickly scrutinized the pir area closely, scanning everything from the floor to the ceiling without missing any details.


    "I can see traces that it''s actually been used recently but this ce is way too quiet."


    He immediately opened the main panel and saw that the 1st floor to the 31st floor had beenpleted. However, the strange thing is that thest battle recorded was 2 months ago and after that there was no other information. Alex then esses the [Network] and asks if the other bases get any news from the Sergei team. But none of them got any new information apart from the same information two weeks ago.


    "What happened here?" said Aria worriedly.


    Alex who noticed Aria being worried quickly said.


    "Don''t worry, Aria. It is normal if there are no reports for a week or two. Look at our previous situation, we have been out of touch for 6 months and we are still fine." said Alex trying to calm her.


    Aria was silent when she heard his words. She was worried if something happened to the team. If so, it would be her fault for leaving them as their leader. Alex noticed her reaction and grabbed Aria''s shoulder as he saw her expression change even more.


    "Don''t worry really, they were fine 2 weeks ago. So if anything happens to them, don''t me yourself. me me, you should me me for dying our journey by visiting into all those Abyss holes."


    Too bad for Alex, his efforts to calm her down by shifting the me to him only serve to backfires as her worry turns to anger toward him.


    "Let''s find out where they are first. There was no way the more than 100 elite soldiers could just disappear without a trace. The other odd thing is that we also didn''t find any of the locals either. There are roughly 2 million people living in Perth, it''s unlikely that no one has survived at all."


    Alex was deep in though when he heard her words.


    "You may be right. Let''s go then."


    Alex then decided to head to the downtown area of Perth. Along the way to enter the city. they killed tens of red zombies and dozens of ck zombies. Until suddenly they heard gunshot and fighting sounds in the distance that attracted a number of zombies towards it. Alex and Aria looked at each other and saw in their eyes that they were thinking the same thing.


    "Let''s follow the crowd!"


    Not long after, Alex found dozens of Australian survivors whowere in trouble. Their groups of survivors consisted mostly of Earth realm fighters with their leader being a Sky realm Knight who were surrounded by the zombie horde.


    Alex and Aria''s sudden presence worried the group of survivors, but they breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Alex and Aria easily finish off the zombies that surrounded them. Unless there are any tear 4 zombies, none of these zombies would trouble them.At his current speed and with the artifact he holds, Alex can easily cut off the ck zombie head left and right.When the zombie horde has been exterminated, the leader of the group approaches the vehicle.


    "Thank you for the help, Mate! You really saved us just now. My bloody stupid friend here nearly got us all killed by shooting a gun."


    "No worries! d to help." Alex answered with a smile. "By the way, what are you doing here? Looking at your gear, it looks like you guys are scavenging for equipment here."


    "You''re right. We are a group in charge of scavenging equipment in the city."


    He then noticed that the leader was studying his face."Is there something wrong with my face, sir?"


    "You are Asian, are you part of Sergei''s group?" the leader asked.


    Hearing that sentence, he turned to Aria and smiled while Aria immediately calmed down. Alex then answered the question. "We are. Can you take us to them?"


    "Sure!" This group then took them to their basecamp in a city to the south of Perth, Mandurah city.


    This small city on the seashore and near Lake Clifton is the base of refuge for all Perth and Western Australian survivors.


    Alex saw the barricades and fences created by the local residents as well as the tight defenses around the city. When they entered the city gate, they could see arge build with a red beard in his face approaching them


    "Alex, you are here! ...and Aria! I miss you all!


    "Sergei!"


    ----------------------------------


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 Chapter 283 - Reminisce

    "Wee to the city of Mandurah!"


    Mandurah is a city located 80 kilometers south of the city of Perth. This town is a lovely little town located near the coast and surrounded by its ownkes and rivers.


    The loud shouting from somewhere took Alex and Aria''s attention. They quickly turned their head towards the sound''s source. Seeing Sergei''srge build and his iconic red beard, Aria could not help but to jump out of the car and run to the big guy, hugging him in the process. While Alex calmly gets out of the vehicle and bumps his fist to him.


    "What are you doing here, Sergei? Why are you staying here instead of inside the pir?"


    "Well... I tried to convince the people here to move to the pir with my group." Sergei answered while scratching his beard..


    "You told them that in 2 months it wouldn''t be safe to be outside the pir, right?"


    "Yes! I mean, of course I did. That is the first thing that I told them, but they don''t want to listen to my words." he exined.


    Alex raised his eyebrows. He then threw his gaze around the camp and said calmly. "These people would not survive the tribtion."


    Hearing the words from Alex''s mouth, Sergei could onlyugh it off.


    "Hahahaˇ­ don''t worry they still have some time."


    Hearing his reaction, Alex then realized that Sergei was actually hiding something. He then watched Sergei closely, trying to figure out what it was. Facing Alex''s curiosity gaze, Sergei felt cold sweat run down his back.


    Several minutes have passed but Alex continues to keep his eyes on him, even Aria realizes the strange situation between them and chooses to remain silent and observe. unable to stand Alex''s gaze anymore, he then asked nervously.


    "W-What''s wrong, Alex?"


    "What is it Sergei? Tell me." Alex said with a nk expression on his face.


    "Well... it''s a shame to leave this city you know... They have many very good things going on here. You see... the lovely weather, the river, theke, the swan.."


    Listening to Sergei''s weird talking, Alex feels that he knows where this is going...


    He keeps the nk expression on his face and says, "The wine here is amazing, aren''t they?"


    "Yes! Definitely the wine!! They are the best!!"


    ''This drunkard!'' Alex silently thought in his mind.


    Alex teased this red beard friend of his, "How many bottles did you drink since you got here?"


    "25? 30?" Sergei said as he smirked.


    Alex looked at Aria and she also looked at him, then they both nodded in agreement. ''Yeah, as expected for Sergei.'' they both thought the same thing in their mind.


    What a blessing from Heaven that Sergei and his team are still alive, being left 6 month here by themself. Alex then kicked Sergei in the butt and said, "Go get something that can sober you up, you drunkard!"


    The area south of Perth city is known for their wide-spread farms and excellent wineries. Apparently, the reason they are very reluctant to leave the town and move their bases to the Doomsday Pir is because they don''t want to abandon their farms and wineries here.


    In the afternoon of that very day, Alex spent time meeting the elected leader of themunity inside the basecamp. The leader was a middle aged man that looked kind and reliable, just like your friendly neighborhood uncle. He was called Curtin by the others. When he saw the leader of themunity, Alex immediately went straight to his point.


    Alex looked at Curtin''s eyes. "Can you convince your people to move to the Doomsday Pir?"


    Curtin was silent and only kept his smile to Alex. Seeing his reaction, Alex proceeded to ask a question. "Can you tell me how many people live in the town, Mr Curtin?"


    "5 thousand people." Max answered


    "How many of them can fight?"


    "Half of them."


    "You see, I''m going to be frank and tell you the crisis. In exactly 85 days from now, the first tribtion wille crashing down to the world, unleashing many ferocious and vicious monsters. And this is the hard truth for you and your people, this town will not be able to withstand it."


    Curtin frowned when he heard Alex''s words "We are not that weak, Mr Alex. We have a hundred Sky realm Knights here."


    "It doesn''t matter, Mr Curtin. Even hundred times your number will still die if they stay outside of the Doomsday Pir." Alex then continued, "There will be hordes of creatures that wille out of the abyss and kill everybody."


    Curtin''s frown deepened as he heard Alex''s words, he then sighed deeply, "I can''t make this decision alone, Mr Alex. I need to discuss it with others."


    Alex nods at his words. "I will go first then, Mr Alex." Curtin then leaves the room. Seeing Max''s back disappear, Alex also sighs deeply. ''I hope they make the right choice.''


    Alex is only worried about his fellow human''s fate. That''s why he insisted on asking them to move. With only about 100 Sky realm Knights, they would not even be able to defend themselves against the iing hellhounds, let alone the gargoyles. It''s just impossible.


    As Sergei said before, even though he was influenced by the allure of excellent wine, what he said was still the truth. These people are reluctant to leave their riches behind.


    Seeing Alex stepped out of the room, Sergei quickly asked him.


    "How is it, Alex?"


    Alex shook his head and answered. "They need time to make a decision."


    "What should we do then, Alex?"


    He sighed before saying, "If they don''t want to leave, we can''t force them. Let them be."


    A momentter, the rest of the Sergei team arrived after patrolling the city. Oscar, Tommy and Theo.


    Everyone is d to see Alex and Aria, especially Theo. That afternoon, he brought Alex to a ce in the corner of the camp. To his surprise, Alex saw two familiar faces.


    "Evan! Karina!"


    The two are Alex''s old friends from college. Same with Christina and Theo, they all spend their youth in the city of Perth. Evan was the friend he warned about the apocalypse while Karina who also his old friend now has married Evan during the apocalypse. That evening, they spent time together reminiscing the old time.


    "You guys shoulde with me to Bali. It''s much safer there" Alex said suddenly.


    "There''s no need, Alex."


    "Why? It''s safe there. You and Karina can live in peace." Alex asked, puzzled.


    "I have a lot of people and friends I care about in thismunity. I can''t just leave them alone."


    "Then, help Curtin convince them to move to Bali. You can bring all of them to the ind. I''ll amodate them." Alex said firmly.


    Evan was silent for a moment before saying, "I''ll think about it."


    Hearing his response, Alex could only keep silent and decide to switch the conversation.


    After the evening, Alex feels bitter in his guts. He wanted to save as many people as possible but he can''t force them to listen to him. These people don''t know him and are still underestimating the iing tribtion just because they are strong enough to handle the zombies. This thing annoys him so much. Thank god, Theo is always a good listener and counsel for him.


    The next day, Alex called out team 4 and 5 to gather. All 120 men followed him to the Doomsday Pirs.


    "What are you nning to do, Alex?"


    "We will clear out until floor 40 for them. Whether they use the pir as shelter or not, it will be their choiceter on. We will help as much as we can."


    As instructed by Alex, the team has only been clearing floor 1 to 30 for thest 5 pirs. They have managed to reach level 15 by just doing that. Tommy and Sergei as an A aptitude Magus has also reached level 15 of mid rank Sky realm stage. Meanwhile, Theo and Oscar with B aptitude have only managed to upgrade into the Sky realm Magus.


    There are also a few B aptitude Magus that manage to reach Sky realm after practicing their cultivation of spirit element thest 6 months.At this stage, Alex believes they are already strong enough to climb the 31st floor especially with him joining the team.


    All his 120 men gathered inside the pir, Evan and Karina also joined their group with 2 dozen skyrealm fighters of themunity. Although Alex is not sure if they will have much impact on the result, he thought it will be good for these fighters to learn more from his team. A total of 150 men enter the Doomsday Pir.


    Evan told Alex how one of the reasons they hate to move to the pir is because the 30 floors have taken dozens of lives of their best fighters, especially the 31st floor that they were unable to clear.


    It doesn''t take long for them to finally reach the second hall on the thirtieth floor. Alex then immediately climbed the stairs and opened the 31st gate.


    It was the same huge dark corridor that appeared on floor 1 to floor 30. But this time, they saw the enemy they would face after a short walk. There were only a dozen figures that approached their location, but their size would make people think twice about fighting them. Their figures were roughly five times the size of a normal human, towering over the dark corridor.


    "The trolls havee! Everybody prepare for battle!"

 Chapter 284 - Trolls

    One hundred and fifty human figures could be seen entering the 31th floor, they marched through the huge dark corridor while keeping their vignce. They walked along the corridor carefully and slowly until suddenly, they heard loud sounds from the distance.


    Thump. Thump. Thump


    Through the dark corridor, they could barely see several figures approaching them. Alex saw the approaching enemy and instructed the group to stop. His group immediately halted as if the time had stopped when they heard his instruction, except for Evan and his people who took a while to realize the situation.


    "The trolls havee! Everybody prepare for battle!"


    [Cave Troll]


    This is a group of a dozenrge creatures at least five times the size of humans. Their whole body was covered with fur except for their hands and feet. The creatures hadrge heads,rge broad shoulders, hunched backs, and long arms, which made them look very terrifying.. The only drawback they had was their short legs but even so, the shortest among the group still stood at least 4 meters tall. When a troll walked, even though it was not fast, each step would shake the ground. And with a group of them approaching Alex and his group, their stomps sounded and felt like a 6 magnitude earthquakeing towards them.


    Seeing the situation, Evan quickly approached Alex.


    "Alex, what should we do?" Evan said in panic. "Should we separate in groups of ten and gang up on them one by one?


    Evan had told Alex that 2 months ago they had already tried to clear the 31st floor with all their best Sky realm fighters. But unfortunately, they failed and suffered heavy casualties. The memories of that time still frightened him, which is why Evan suggested this idea.


    "Don''t worry, Evan! You and your people can just stay back and watch us!" Alex said confidently.


    "But Al.."


    Before Evan could finish his words, Alex had already dashed forward into the group of trolls. Seeing his friend''s craziness, Evan was terrified and could not help but to shout.


    "Alex !! You crazy!!"


    Alex used his [Hexagram technique - stage 4] and charged towards the middle of the group by himself. Before he reached the trolls, he quickly cast several [Light Missile] spells to the crowd, followed with the [Blind] spell. Missile-like light rays traveled through the air in a curve line and struck the trolls. It could be seen that the spell is far more than enough to hurt the trolls but it has served its purpose as a distraction.


    Alex''s true objective ising right after the spells diverted the trolls'' attention. A very bright sharp light blinded the group of trolls as they were busy blocking the [Light missile] attack. Taking advantage of the existing opening, Alex swiftly drew his tier 3 sword and activated its ability [Light Pulse]. Layers of light were seen coating the sword as he leaped onto the shoulders of one of the trolls and quickly stabbed it.


    The stabbed troll instantly screamed in pain and tried to catch Alex with both of its arms. Unfortunately for it, Alex quickly jumped off its shoulder, dodging its grasp. Alex nimblynded on the ground as he swiftly took his stance and shed his sword towards the creature''s weakest part, its small knee that supported its massive body.


    Stt!!


    Alex''s level 35 Sky realm strengthbined with the [Light Pulse] coated tier 3 sword managed to cut one of the troll''s legs. The troll shrieked as its leg cut off and fell, crashing to another troll next to it.


    Seeing the one-legged troll fall, Alex quickly bolted towards the next troll. He did not need to finish the crippled troll, others could easily take care of it on his behalf. Jumping towards his target, Alex pulled out [Strokes] and directly swung both swords and shed the troll, creating a huge x mark on the troll''s body.


    The troll''s 5 centimeters thick skin was cut by Alex''s swords, with the wound made by Strokes about twice deeper. With such a heavy injury, the second troll also immediately dropped to the ground in pain, not moving.


    Everyone''s eyes bulged in disbelief as they watched Alex easily dispatch two trolls in a short amount of time, especially Evan and his Australian friend.


    Alex was not trying to impress anyone. He just wanted to test his strength and his new swords. Each of these trolls possessed strength and defense equivalent to a high level Sky realm Knight, but their speed was iparable to their other capability, only the same as a peak stage Earth realm fighter.


    One troll nearby tries to catch Alex while the others try to attack him, but Alex casually moves his leg and dodges the attacks. He then jumps back and turns his body towards the still shocked group.


    "As long as you can dodge their attacks and have a tier 3 weapon, you can kill this monster easily. If you don''t have a tier 3 weapon then you have to push it down and attack its mouth and eyes." He calmly said while still dodging the trolls attacks.


    "Now, all Sky maguse to me!" Alex shouted.


    Aria, Sergei, Tommy, Theo, Oscar and another 5 B aptitude fighter who have just turned into Sky Magus run towards Alex''s side. Eyeing the remaining trolls, Alex quickly said.


    "Oh... how perfect." Alex said while chuckling. "10 against 10. Let me see your progress, guys. Go!"


    As soon as Alex finished speaking, 10 Sky Magus warriors immediately ran towards the trolls, fighting them one by one. Alex calmly observed them fight against the trolls and see their progress.


    He didn''t even need to see how Aria was doing, not only did she have a level 3 weapon. She as a level 34 dual element Sky Realm Magus was too strong for this cave troll. With one simple [Ice st - Tier 2 Ice Spell], she managed to freeze the troll, immobilizing him instantly. She then easily stabbed her two tier 3 daggers into the troll''s neck.


    As for Sergei, he fought the trolls head-on. Sergei''s huge figure looked tiny in front of the troll''s massive body, but it didn''t seem like it had affected him. He used his special fighting arts skill [Muscle Growth]. His two arms quickly doubled in size as he started swinging his tier 3 hammer [Earth Cracker] at the troll. The troll also clenched and threw its fist when it saw the iing hammer.


    The full power of the mid stage Sky realm Magus struck the troll''s fist. Sergei and the troll both took a step back from the impact. But Sergei immediately moved while the troll was still tripping over the side effects. He quickly jumped up and swung the hammer down, smashing the troll''s head down to the ground. Seeing the troll''s body lying face down on the ground, Sergei continued to swing his hammer at the troll.


    BAM!! BAM!! BAM!!


    A loud sound could be heard as Sergei continued to smash the hammer into the troll''s head. But the troll''s head was tougher than its body, which was the reason Sergei continued to smash. After the fifth hit, green liquid started toe out from its five holes.


    Oscar, one of the lightning twins, also looked excited fighting against the troll. He immediately cast his [Energized] spell and then circled around the troll. The huge troll waspletely unable to keep up with his erratic movements and could not do anything, standing there petrified like a fool. Oscar had a tier 3 [Lighting Cutter] dagger and with the [Lightning de] ability activated, it became the sharpest tier 3 weapon. Oscar attacked the troll by shing it little by little as he ran around until the troll fell, with blood gushing out from cuts all over its body.


    For Theo, who prefers to attack from a distance, he and Tommy work in pairs to take on the two trolls. The two trolls dashed towards them, trying to attack while Tommy immediately used his [Shadow Fiend - Tier 3 Summoning Spell]. Within seconds, two troll sized fiends appeared in front of Tommy and dashed forward to stop the approaching troll. Meanwhile, Theo took out 5 short swords from his storage ring.


    These five short swords were special tier 3 swords he received as the reward from one of the pirs. These five swords worked perfectly with his psychic skills. The swords possessed the ability called [Flying Formation] and with Theo''s light element, the swords could fly together in formation and were strengthened by light element. Five short swords quickly flew through the air and pierced through both trolls'' eyes.


    The other Sky Magus 5 B aptitude found the battles much more difficult but with each of them already having their own special weapon, they also managed to kill their enemies. Their Doomsday Pirs adventure over the past 6 months finally rewarded them each with a tier 3 weapon, which they truly cherished.


    And just like that, a dozen trolls were easily crushed by the group. Evan and the 2 dozen Australian fighters who watched the whole fight were shocked in awe at Alex''s group strength. Alex decided not to rest and quickly ordered his group to advance even faster. After several other encounters of the troll group, they finally cleared the 31st floor in three hours.


    "Advance to the next floor!"


    ----------------------------------


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 Chapter 285 - Battle Art

    This time Alex didn''te to train the fighters like his first three months in Australia. His current goal was to quickly clear each floor by floor until they reached the 40th floor. Alex and the fighters cleared each floor swiftly, like bolts of lightning breaking through the clouds.


    They continued to fight the same troll monsters on each floor. However, if previously they were dealing with dozens of trolls at once, the number of trolls they had to deal with gradually increased the more they went up the floor.


    Unfortunately, the troll creatures on these floors didn''t drop spirit stones but they were at least able to increase their Sky realm level. Every time someone killed a creature, everyone in the group would receive a feeling of spirit energy coursing throughout their body, strengthening it. After 5 days of continuous fighting, these 150 fighters finally cleared the 39th floor.


    [Alex]


    [Sky realm level 34 - middle stage]


    [Sky Magus - Light - middle stage]


    [Aria].


    [Sky realm level 34 - middle stage]


    [Sky Magus - Water - middle stage]


    [Sky Magus - Ice - middle stage]


    [Sergei]


    [Sky realm level 25 - middle stage]


    [Sky Magus - Earth- middle stage]


    [Tommy]


    [Sky realm level 22 - middle stage]


    [Sky Magus - Darkness- middle stage]


    [Theo]


    [Sky realm level 10 - initial stage]


    [Sky Magus - Light - initial stage]


    [Oscar]


    [Sky realm level 10 - initial stage]


    [Sky Magus - Lightning- initial stage]


    [Evan]


    [Sky realm Knight level 15 - middle stage]


    [Karina]


    [Sky realm Knight level 9 - initial stage]


    Evan and Karina received a lot of increase in their level. However, for Theo and Oscar, who were still unable to make a breakthrough in cultivation because their insufficient understanding of the elements were still stuck at level 10. Tommy and Sergei had increased to level 3 while Aria only gained 1 level.


    Evan and his men could not believe how easily Alex andpany moved across the floor, furiously killing everything in the path like a harvester mowing down corn fields. They recalled their previous attempts to clear the 31st floor and how they had suffered heavy losses, they realized how weak they werepared to Alex''s team. They could not help but sigh deeply,menting the huge disparity.


    zing through each floor with minimal rest, the group had finally reached the 40th floor and were now standing in front of the floor entrance. This was one of the main floors where they would fight opponents that were much stronger than before.


    Opening the entrance and entering it, the group once again saw the samerge dark corridor unfolding before their eyes but with one exception, rows of burning torches could be seen on the corridor walls making it dimly lit.


    ''Here we areˇ­" Alex thought with a smile ''After 9 floors of warming up, the main dish was finally served.''


    [Mountain Troll]


    This creature was a level stronger and bigger than the [Cave Troll]. It has the speed and strength of a Sky realm fighter and unlike the cave trolls, they had higher intelligence, which meant they were harder to fight with. They can also use hammer and iron chains to attack, demonstrating their superiority to cave trolls.


    In this time, they were going to fight a horde of trolls. There were about 50 of them and there were 5 mountain trolls among them. For a fight like this, Alex didn''t dare underestimate these enemies. Because if not handled properly it will cause casualties.


    "Formed the Magic Formation!!" Alex shouted.


    In a matter of seconds, all of Alex''s 120 member fighters gathered in a single line like a spear head facing the trolls. There were 30 Sky realm Magus and 90 Sky realm Knights among the formation, ready to unleash their firepower. The 30 or so Magus were spread out among the Knights in the ranks, with the Earth, nt and Ice Magus positioned at the front along with the frontline Knights was led by Alex and Sergei. The Fire and Metal Magus stayed in the back with Theo and Tommy, while Aria and Oscar led the Lightning and Wind Magus in charge of surprise attack.


    As the formation took shape, the troll horde did not sit still either, they quickly advanced towards Alex''s group with their ws out in the open and weapons ready to be swung. As the trolls rapidly advanced towards the group, the movement of the horde was stalled by a shower of arrowsing from the rear formation. These arrows were not ordinary arrows but arrows enhanced by [Fire Infusion] and [Hardened Metal] spells, which greatly increased the power and sharpness of the arrows.


    A shower of ming metal arrows that flew through the corridor directly hit the dozens of trolls, especially those leading the charge. But even though dozens of trolls were hit by arrows, they couldn''t prate the troll''s skin deep enough to stop them and could only slow them down. However, amidst the raging arrows that were still embedded in the troll''s skin, one could see one troll who were incapacitated by Theo''s [Sword Formation] which proved the might of these tier 3 swords.


    Seeing the troll being held back by the rain arrows, Alex quickly ordered nt Magus to further hinder the trolls. Dozens of vines could be seen crawling out of the ground as the [nt Vine] spell was cast by the three nt Magus, which quickly moved and slithered towards the injured troll, effectively locking onto them. The entangled trolls prevented the other trolls from moving forward and Alex, who saw the situation quickly took advantage of it.


    "CHARGE!!"


    Alex shouted as he instantly dashed towards the horde, leading the charge himself. He started the attack by casting three [Smite] spells at the crowd, knocking half of them to the ground. Sergei caught up with Alex and immediately followed Alex''s spell using his [Earth Smash] spell, hitting the ground 20 meters in diameter in front of him.


    Such powerful attacks by Alex and Sergei provide a huge opening that brings out the best in everyone. Tommy, who should have been behind, went to the front lines and started rampaging amidst the crowd of trolls using a tier 3 spell [Infeeble de]. It was a darkness elemental spell that created a crescent de from darkness energy. The dark de causes a corrosive effect while cutting and injuring enemies, immobilizing them.


    As the trolls are disrupted by the front line troops, more bad newses for them as Aria and Oscar lead the Lightning Magus, Wind Magus and assassin-oriented fighters to carry out a pincer attack from the side, creating further chaos for the trolls.


    [Hail]


    The familiar hailstorm appeared above the trolls as they were struck by the ice shards and mmed into the ground. Oscar followed up using [Shockwave] on the trolls that were hit, forcing them to stay on the ground.


    The rest of the team, the Sky realm Knights also began to activate their own battle art skills as splendor effects appeared on the battlefield, showing evidence of the activation of various skills.


    [Agility Up] which increases speed, [Power Up] which increases strength, and [Endurance Up] which increases the defense of the bodies. These three were the basic battle art skills that Knights could learn and use. The skill can be used by both magus or knight and a talented fighter could use two skills at the same time.These skills'' effects were not as effective as [Wind Walk] or[Stone Skin] but still it provides an extra boost of power to fight against these trolls, unless they discovered the rare and special battle art skill such as the [Hexagram Technique] own by Alex or Winter''s [Warrior Spirit] skill.


    The battlefield quickly turned chaotic as 120 elite fighters fought 50 trolls,pletely overwhelming the trolls. It was a three on one fight. At this moment. Alex still refrained from giving his trump card, the magic scroll as he was eager to see the full strength of his fighters.


    While Alex''s troopspletely took the initiative and dealt the most damage, the Australian fighters also did their best. But unfortunately, even though they were also Sky realm Knights, due to their battle experience being much less, their impact on the battlefield was very small. So Alex instructs them to take responsibility at the back, supporting the one in trouble.


    When thest troll of this horde fell, Alex, Aria, Theo and the two Water magus, start using healing spells to heal the wounded fighters. When the wounded were healed and they had received enough rest, Alex instructed the group to continue moving. They continued charging along the corridor as their momentum rose even higher. They annihted every horde of trolls they came across, granting them considerable spirit energy.


    After hours of fierce fighting, they finally managed to kill all the trolls on the 40th floor,pleting it. Some of the fighters were badly injured but luckily none was life threatening. With speed, Alex and the group managed to finish the whole 10 levels in five days.


    It''s time to check out the new facility obtained at the 40th floor.


    ----------------------------------


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 Chapter 286 - Spirit Monolith

    After the 40th floor was cleared, of course the option to enter the 41st floor was open. But Alex hurriedly told Evan and his friends not to try it without having a dozen mid stage Sky realm Magus fighters, lest they bepletely obliterated.


    Checking the condition of everyone including Evan''s men, Alex then gestured to them to return to the main hall. As they entered the hall, they saw that the safe room which previously only had 4 panels [Main panel, store panel, skill library panel, and recovery room panel] on it now has a new fifth panel.


    Sergei who saw the additional panel was surprised and could not help but exim, "That is new! What is that?"


    [Core Room]


    [Do you want to enter the room?]


    This is the room that Alex spoke of and briefly exined at the World Conference 7 months ago, a room that will be the ultimate solution for humanity to survive during the tribtion..


    [Yes]


    In a split second, a door appeared in front of Alex as he confirmed his intention to enter the room. As he walked into the room, the others who were curious about what this room is about followed him. The room that Alex entered this time was not veryrge. The room is circr and looks like a spaceship control room in an interster film. This room has arge screen on one side and right in the middle of the room stands a shiny rectangr shape object 2 meters high.


    "What is this, Alex?" Theo asked curiously because Alex usually knew about the pir better than anyone and also because Theo was a scientist before he became a priest. This kind of thing that piqued his curiosity was still very attractive to him.


    "This is the Spirit Monolith, the main item needed to produce a barrier, the Spirit Shield to protect everyone." Alex exined calmly


    "Wowˇ­ that is so fascinating." Theo said in awe "How does it work?"


    "Wait, let me show you instead of exining it." Alex said while calling Evan. He then told Evan to put his bracelet on the control panel of the room. When Evan''s bracelet touched the control panel, information appeared on the screen.


    [ID registered]


    [Stage 1 Defensive Barrier is avable]


    [One monolith is avable for use]


    [Will you keep it or take it out?]


    Evan who saw the information was confused and immediately turned his head towards Alex with a questioning look waiting for his exnation. Theo and the others who also saw the information were waiting for Alex''s exnation as well. Alex saw this strange situation unfold and could not help but chuckle and start exining.


    "If you all decide to move and hang on to the pir, don''t take it out. It will be a decent barrier against the monsters with a 10 kilometers range. And if you can enlist more people to register on the pir and reach the next stage, you''ll get an extra monolith to use. It will then increase the range of the barrier if set up around the pir"


    "How many people do I need to get to the next stage?" Evan asked


    "When you have 5 thousand registered people, you will get 4 extra monoliths."


    Evan nodded his head understandingly as he heard Alex''s words.


    "For now, just take it out" said Alex to Evan. After he followed Alex''s orders, a 2 meter monolith exited from the center of the room. The monolith is in the form of a block with a silvery luster on its surface. Alex then immediately stored the monolith in his storage ring.


    Looking around his surroundings, Alex turned towards the group. "Okay, our business here is finished. Let''s go back to the town now." He and the troops then quickly return to Mandurah City.


    When they reached the city, Alex asked the leader of Mandurah City, Curtin to meet him. He then exined the function of therge tube to Curtin as well as how to use it. Just to make sure Curtin understood, Alex gave the man a simple demonstration.


    After a lengthy exnation about the monolith, Alex then said, "Okay, just to be safe and sure. Let me show you how to do it." He asked Curtin, "Can you take me to the middle of the city?"


    "My pleasure, Mr Alex. Here is the way." Curtin said as he walked ahead, leading the way.


    When Alex arrived in the middle of the city, he immediately took out the monolith object from his storage ring. He then ced the 2 meter rectangr shape object on the ground and installed it. Within a few seconds, Shiny letter seems to glow on the monolith.


    [Do you want to activate the monolith?]


    [Yes]


    [It took 10 thousands spirit crystals to activate the monolith]


    Alex then took out one of his few precious red spirit stones and looked at it with reluctance. He let out a soft sigh as he ced it in the opening. ''I hope they can somewhat pay for my spirit stone.'' Alex silently thought in his mind.


    [Monolith activated]


    [Searching for the nearest Doomsday Pirˇ­]


    [Calcting the distance from the nearest Doomsday Pirˇ­]


    [The monolith is too far from the nearest Doomsday Pir. Strength and range decreased]


    [Spirit Barrier activated]


    In the blink of an eye, a blue bright light gushed out of the monolith like a waterfall at incredible speed, heading straight to the sky. It continued on its way upwards until it finally bloomed in the sky, spreading out in all directions. Within seconds, a bluish semi-transparent dome barrier appeared and descended onto the ground, covering a portion of the city of Mandurah in a circr shape.


    Curtin was surprised when he saw how quickly the dome had formed in a matter of seconds. Meanwhile, the residents of Mandurah City were shocked by the sudden appearance of the blue dome. The residents began to panic, thinking that another disaster wasing. Thankfully, the guards immediately took care of the situation and calmed the residents, making sure nothing could go wrong.


    Alex turned his gaze to Curtin who was still stunned and said, "The barrier would only be strong enough to defend against thousands of hellhounds or a group of gargoyles, Since you have more than 5 thousand people living here, I suggest you register them all into the pir and get additional monoliths to protect more area."


    He then looked around, particrly at the barrier and the survivors in the city. As the guards exined about the blue dome and what it could do, expressions of joy and relief could clearly be seen on people''s faces. Alex who saw this spectacle could not help but let out a faint smile.


    "Remember, if you change your mind and decide to move from Australia, we will definitely wee all of you to our base in Bali. You just have to find us and ask help through the Doomsday Pirwork, we will definitelye to help as soon as possible." Alex said while still looking at the people, he then smiled at Curtin and walked away.


    "Thank you, Mr Alex. I will definitely remember your words." Curtin said with a nod.


    As Alex walked away from downtown, Aria and Theo approached Alex.


    "What should we do now, Alex? We still have two months before the first tribtion begins."


    Thinking for a moment, Alex then spoke, "We should return to Bali first. We can start challenging the top floors with our current strength. I also need to try a few things with this engraving and magic scroll matter."


    Hearing his answer, Aria and Theo both nodded.


    "Alright then."


    Alex and the group then went back to Perth''s Doomsday Pir and contacted the Bali headquarter, asking them to send a ship to pick up the troops. The headquarter informed them that it would take a maximum of two days for the ship to reach the west coast of Australia from Bali. Therefore, in order to spend time efficiently, the group decided to train in the training hall.


    Alex gave the group some pointers on how to improve their strengths and remedy their weaknesses which he had seen from the past few days'' battle.


    When Alex was still teaching, Theo approached him with a sudden news.


    "Has the ship arrived?"


    "No, Alex. This is news from Jerry in Adide." Theo said gravely


    Stunned, Alex then spoke, "Oh, what happened?"


    "Jerry said something strange is going on with all the zombies in Adide city. Yesterday, they started migrating eastwards... hundreds of thousands of them. He was following them and found that they were headed to Sydney."


    Alex was deep in thought. In his experience in his previous life, one of the possible reasons for such arge number of zombie hordes to migrate was due to the existence of tier 5 zombies. The strongest zombie who is simr to the monsters they fought in Bali.


    "What should we do, Alex?"


    "What should we do you ask?" Alex said whileughing, "Obviously we''ll join the party. When the ship arrives, we''ll head east instead."


    "Alright!"


    ----------------------------------


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 Chapter 287 - Sail To The East

    Dday #423


    A strong sea breeze swept through Alex, Aria, Sergei, Theo, and the fighters as they waited on the dock tform. The wind was so strong that it nearly knocked someone into the sea. The others then started doing things out of boredom because they had nothing to do and were just waiting at the tform.


    Alex and the other top brass could only smile wryly at the actions of their men, but they did not try to stop it. After all, this was one of the few rare opportunities for their men to vent the stress and frustration before they go to the battle.


    When Alex was observing his troops, he could see a small dot slowly appearing on the horizon and moving closer to the coastline, more precisely towards the dock where Alex and the others were currently located. This morning the ship that was going to pick them up finally arrived at the dock in Mandurah city.


    To his surprise, the ship that was assigned toe to pick them up was none other than the first warship to guard the ind of Bali.


    Name: The Fatahih 361


    Type: Destroyer ss.


    Discement: 1450 tons


    Length: 84 m


    Beam: 11.10 m


    Propulsion: Diesel engine


    Speed: 30 knots (56 km/h)


    Range: 3,300 km


    Complement: 89


    Armament:


    1 ˇÁ Bofors 120 mm (4.7 in) Gun, 1 ˇÁ Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft gun, 2 ˇÁ 20 mm cannon, 1 ˇÁ Bofors 375 mm twin anti-submarine rocketuncher, 2 ˇÁ Mk 32unchers for 324 mm torpedoes


    One of the 24 Indonesian destroyers that are still using diesel engines.


    The group quickly boarded the ship while Alex made his way to a figure standing on the deck of the ship that he had seen from the dock. A woman is seen standing on the deck and looking towards the sea with her hands on his back. When the woman heard footsteps from behind her, she quickly turned around and smiled when she saw who it was.


    "It''s only been over a year but it seems like a long time has passed, Karra" said Alex with a smile as he walked to the woman''s side.


    The person standing beside Alex is Commander Karra, the navy officer in charge of bringing one of his troops to handle the eastern region of Indonesia, to be precise Papua Ind.


    Karra nodded and smiled faintly as she heard Alex''s words. "Yeah.. It took much longer toplete my mission in Papua than I expected."


    Boarding this famous Indonesian destroyer and the possibility of fighting the threat of zombies again made Alex think back to the first days of the outbreak and when he fought at Bali airport.


    While Alex and Karra were talking, three men were seen walking towards them. Alex and Karra noticed the neers and turned towards them.


    Karra is currently still apanied by the two people who help her. Russel, the Lieutenant of Navy Frog Army Commandos and Rangga, the Lieutenant of Death Squad, a Chinese Kung Fu expert. He then noticed the third person, a new face. "And, who is this could be?" said Alex curiously.


    Karra answered Alex''s question. "This is Makali. You might have heard of him, Alex."


    "Makali?" said Alex, surprised.


    The third person who walked side by side with Rangga and Russel was a famous Papua warrior Alex had heard of in his previous life. Alex is surprised by the unexpected and can not help but to observe this famous person. Surprisingly, the only Sky realm Magus among the three of them was Makali.


    The man stood 6 feet 5 inches tall, his skin was brown like caramel with tattoos on his arms and face. His temperament was calm and resolute, an attitude of a born warrior. It turns out that Makali is also a shaman for his people. The man had A Grade aptitude with lightning as his element, a Lightning spirit enhancer.


    [Makali] [Aptitude A]


    [Sky realm level 15 - middle stage]


    [Sky Magus - Lightning- middle stage]


    A Lightning Magus armed with a halberd with des on both sides.


    [Karra] [Aptitude B]


    [Sky realm level 10 - initial stage]


    [Sky Magus - Water - initial stage]


    [Rangga]


    [Sky realm Knight level 19 - middle stage]


    [Russel]


    [Sky realm Knight level 18 - middle stage]


    Alex then continued to chat with the four people, talking and discussing the impending battle. Karra was excited when she heard that they might be facing hundreds of thousands of zombies when they reached Eastern Australia.


    It was also on this asion that Karra reported to Alex about what had happened in her mission during the past year. Due to the sparse poption and vast forest areas in Papua, the biggest challenge that must be faced everyday are the wild mutated animals that are roaming around Papua wilderness. The troops led by Karra apparently suffered losses from the monsters when they tried toplete the pirs around Papua.


    But in the end, after a year had passed they finallypleted the pirs in Papua up to the 40th floor, greatly increasing their strength. Even though it took them a little longer toplete all the floors up to the 40th floor, the fact that they managed toplete it was extraordinary on its own.


    Afterpleting the task given to them by Alex, they then decided to ask Papua''s people to migrate to Bali Ind. More than 100 thousand people from West and East Papua agreed to move to Bali Ind, so that the poption on Bali Ind has now reached more than one million people.


    Karra assembled a special team which was a mixture of the remaining members of her first elite force and the best fighters of Papua. 100 elite fighters are ready to be trained and prepared for theing tribtion. Just then, a call from Perth prompted her to make her way to pick Alex''s group up, while bringing in her newly formed elite troop. She thought that if she followed Alex''s footsteps she was sure there would be action.


    When there is nothing they can talk about anymore, Alex asks Karra to show him the weapons that this destroyer carries. As they enter the weapons room, Alex inspects the weapons while Karra exins the arsenal beside him. Seeing all the cannon and the rocketuncher, Alex smiles thinking the Warship will again prove useful in the fight against zombies.


    Alex was done checking and observing around the ship, he then decided to return to his room. The moment he entered his room, Alex immediately took his trump card, the magic scrolls out of his storage ring and started examining them one by one. When he realized that he might not have enough scrolls for his fighters, Alex decided to start making more scrolls in preparation for the uing battle.


    As the Fatahilh destroyer sailed along the southern coast of Australia, they finally saw Adide city before their eyes as the sun was almost setting. And as reported by Jerry, Alex who was on the ship saw that the city was currently almost empty and there were no zombies at all.


    Alex and the others continue sailing along the southern coast as they try to track down where the zombie horde is. As night fell, they suddenly heard the faint roar of zombies in the distance. Alex then immediately ordered to point the ship''s searchlights towards the direction of the roar. As the light from searchlights reached thend, they could see arge crowd of zombies all heading east.


    "Let''s keep going! We are already in the right direction!" Said Alex while ordering to increase the speed of the ship.


    The next big city they passed was the city of Melbourne. And just like the previous city, the city of Melbourne which should be filled with 4 million inhabitants, looks very quiet. Alex then ordered Karra to go to Sydney city, using their fastest speed.


    Even though Alex wanted to get to Sydney sooner, the destroyer could not be any faster. Hourster, they finally arrived near the port of Sydney just before dawn. As the sun rose over the horizon, shining its first light, they could faintly see smoke, mes, explosions, and gunfire all over the once thriving city.


    When the others were worried about the chaotic state of the city, Alex could see a blue dome forming every now and then. Fortunately, it looks like the fighters in Sidney are using spirit monolith technology to defend themselves against the zombie hordes.


    "Do you think we are toote?" Aria asked


    "Let hope not, After sailing this far, you don''t want to miss the party don''t you?"


    Alex told Karra and her team to stay on the destroyer and wait in the water, acting as support while the other boat would carry Alex, Aria, Sergei and Theo and all the fighters ashore.


    "Let''s go!"


    ----------------------------------


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    Great News.


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 Chapter 288 - Besiege

    Sydney, New South Wales.


    24 hours before Alex''s Arrivals


    The sun had just risen, marking the arrival of morning. The morning sun shines across the city of Sydney, giving people the excitement of a new daying. Inside a two-story house in the center of Sydney, A middle-aged man is seen sleeping on argefortable bed with a beautiful blonde woman lying beside him. When suddenly a barrage of loud noises woke them up.


    Knock! Knock! Knock


    Groans could be heard escaping the man''s mouth as he frowned at this unexpectedmotion, "What theˇ­? Who the hell dares to disturb the prime minister..?!" he said half whispering.


    Perhaps it was the sudden man''s voice or perhaps the knocking on the door, the woman woke up and squirmed under the covers. "Urrgg, deputy prime ministerˇ­" said the woman next to him.. "What''s with them-"


    Before the woman could finish her sentence, the man beat her to it as he stroked her hair. "Why do you keep saying that, love ... Call me prime minister, that position is mine sooner orter. It''s just that that damn governor general has been ying tricks on me, preventing me from officially bing one." said the man, with annoyance in his voice.


    Thump! Thump!! Thump!!!


    The sound of knocking suddenly changes to the sound of banging on the door, interrupting the lovebird''s conversation.


    "Aren''t you going to open the door?" said the woman, confused by the man''sck of intention to answer the door.


    "Don''t worry, darling. If it''s really important, my boss will take care of it." said the man with apparent derision at his boss.


    "You are shameless.." she said, giggling.


    Unfortunately, for these two lovebirds the moment was shattered as the banging on the door continued violently.


    THUMP! THUMP!! THUMP!!!


    "Okay okay! I''ll be out soon!" shouted the man, irritated by the banging. The man swears he will fire whoever ruined his morning romance. He then turned to the woman who was still lying on the bed, "Sorry, my love. I have to work."


    Crack... Bang!


    The door suddenly opened with a loud bang and half a dozen heavily armed soldiers entered the room, securing the parameters. This was followed by a hysterical scream of a woman.


    "What the bloody hell!!"


    A high ranking soldier approached the still shocked man.


    "I sincerely apologize for the abrupt intrusion, Deputy Prime Minister Malcolm. But we must evacuate immediately!"


    Just as the man was about tosh out, his tongue tied at the soldier''s words.


    "What? What happened?!"


    "This area of the city is no longer safe, sir. We need to move, now."


    Seeing the deputy prime minister was still confused, the high ranking soldier immediately gestured toward his men. Without saying much, a soldier quickly grabbed the deputy minister and escorted him out of the room half naked. They swiftly got into the military jeep that had been prepared beforehand.


    "W-Wait! Can''t you let me change clothes at least ??"


    "I am truly sorry, sir." said the high ranking soldier. "The deputy prime minister has been secured. Go! GO!" The engines of multiple jeeps started quickly as they sped out of downtown Sydney.


    "I demand an exnation!" said the deputy prime minister, clearly not understanding what was going on.


    "Yes, sir. Later, I-" As the soldier tried to calm the man down, he suddenly shouted. "Watch out !!"


    The jeep in which the deputy minister was suddenly turned sideways and stopped when Malcolm saw that in front of the convoy, a pitch-ck huge figure was blocking the way.


    "Yes, sir. Later, I-" As the soldier tried to appease the man, he suddenly shouted. "Watch out!!"


    The jeep the deputy minister was in suddenly steered to the side and stopped as Malcolm saw that in front of the convoy, a pitch ck huge figure was blocking the road.


    Seeing the familiar figure, Malcolm''s body trembled. "T-That''s a stage 3 zombie! How could that monster get so deep an-" Before he could finish his words, he saw dozens of red zombies crawling right behind the ck figure. "Move! Let''s get away from here!!"


    From the jeep at the front of the convoy, three soldiers got out of the vehicle and started firing their assault rifles at the ck zombies, trying to take it down. As the ck figure was showered by rain of bullets, several red figures were seen crawling past it, towards the soldiers.


    Seeing the iing zombies, the three of them took out their melee weapon and started swinging and shing at the closest zombie. Meanwhile, the other soldiers simultaneously got out of the vehicle and suppressed the stage 3 zombie.


    It was known that all the active soldiers, especially the elites in charge of the VIP were all Sky realm Knight fighters. So, these red stage 2 zombies were no match for them. One of the elite fighters jumped into the air towards the ck figure and cut off the head of the huge monster using his melee weapon. "The Way is Clear!" shout the soldiers.


    Seeing the monster die, the deputy minister said anxiously. "Let''s move again! Hurry!"


    As the convoy moved again, Malcolm turned towards the soldier beside him, the expression on his face serious.


    "What the hell happened, soldier? Tell me!"


    "Sydney has been overrun, sir. Hundreds of thousands of zombies are currently besieging the city."


    Startled, Malcolm angrily said, "Besieging the city?! These are zombies they don''t besiege!"


    "That''s the information we have, sir. That''s why we have to get you to headquarters immediately."


    "Shit! What about Governor General Scott?! What did he say?"


    "I apologize, sir. Mr. Scott was killed in action two hours ago. You are now in charge."


    Hearing the shocking news, Malcolm fell silent in disbelief. He has wanted the job since the prime minister died of the diseasest year. However Scott, the queen''s appointed governor general, has taken the reins ever since. But when he now took over the leadership so suddenly, it worried him.


    "The woman in my apartment.."


    "Yes sir someone else will take care of her.."


    "Damn! the day has finally came"


    Not long after, Malcolm finally arrived at headquarters. It was the governor house located just south of the Sydney Opera house.Since Doomsday started, the ce has be the headquarters of what is left of the government.As he entered themand center, he could see several high-ranking officers and soldiers in the room. When Malcolm read the report and saw the situation depicted on the map in the center of the table, he could not help but say inappropriate words.


    "Is this real?"


    "Unfortunately, yes, sir."


    "That''s over a million zombies. How is that possible?"


    "The now deceased governor general saw the odd behavior of zombies in the past two days sir, so he ordered the soldiers to observe them. Apparently, hordes are gathering outside the city. Unmoved, seems waiting for something" said one of the officers in the room.


    Turning his head toward the officer, Malcolm said. "Waiting?? What do you mean waiting?How could this mindless monster be waiting!"


    "Yes sir, for thest 24 hours, more and more hordes came from the north, south and west of the city and they didnt attack, governor general brough hie elite fighter and went to check it out but only a few return, they were ambush"


    Malcolm now began to feel his breath falter and his hands that were under the table trembling as he realized the dire situation they were in. More than a million zombies and with irregr behavior.Even though, in the past year he has consistently opposed the governor general''s unpopr policies as he tries to overthrow the man. But deep down in his heart, he had always respected and relied on this governor general who was also a very reliable front linemander. And now that he had heard that the man was dead and the city was facing its greatest threat, he really wanted to vomit.


    Malcolm quickly picked up the mineral bottle that was on the table while slowly drinking it and sshing water on his face. He then slowly adjusted his breath, exhaling and inhaling as he controlled his emotions. He is now responsible for millions of lives. It was not the time for him to feel sorry for his condition and doubt himself. He could do thoseter when this mess was over. For now, he had to take the lead.


    Several minutes passed as Malcolm processed the information at his disposal, trying to quickly think of ways to reduce if not resolving the situation. A series ofmands then left his mouth as he looked at the surrounding officers.


    "Bring all the fighters and civilians back to the secondyer. Put all the resources into this path. The Endeavor Bridge, the Canterbury bridge, the Iron Cove and the Sydney harbor. All residents, especially men above the Earth realm stage should gather at Ashfield Mall for further instruction."


    "Yes sir!"


    "And also bring me our friend from Indonesia."


    ----------------------------------


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 Chapter 289 - The Plan

    The Harbour city, Sydney.


    Sydney is the capital of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Currently there are only 70,000 survivors in the heart of the city from the previously more than 5 million inhabitants, showing how devastating the impact of the apocalypse is. Australians have been in turmoil since the disease spread, but when the Doomsday Pir began to arrive, things started to change, turning for the better.


    Using the strength they gained in the pirs and their remaining military might, the government began pushing the zombies out of the harbor city as they tried to take over thend they once owned again and begin rebuilding the city to its former glory, or at least half its previous glory.


    The closest Doomsday Pir arriving around Sydney is located in the eastern part of the city, about 10 kilometers southeast of the Sydney Opera house, in the vicinity of the area between the town of Randwick and the town of Matraville before the apocalypse, to be precise in the suburb Eastgardens area and the town of Maroubra. The area then quickly turned into the center of the new government, forming the first and most importantyer of the new city..


    The government then created a second defensiveyer about 7 kilometers west of the pir, stretching from Sydney Airport continuing north until ending at the Sydney Observatory. Making the new city centered around the Doomsday Pir with the Parramatta River to the north, the South Pacific Ocean to the east, and Botany Bay to the south to act as the city''s natural defenses, leaving only the west as the side to be defended.


    This secondyer of the defense was drawn as a line to delineate the cleared area on the east side of the old Sydney from the area that remains fraught with danger. There were 4 border posts on each of the north and south sides where soldiers were stationed to defend the city. The north posts are the two bridges at the north; Iron Cove bridge and Sydney Harbour bridge, while the two south post bridges are Endeavour bridge and Canterbury bridge.


    In addition to the 4 bridges there is also a border that stretches 3 kilometers within the secondyer of defense, giving the city an area that functions as a buffer zone called the Sydney Gate. The 90 square kilometers used as Sydney''s new city are protected by these borders from the perils of the Australian wilderness.


    At the moment, there are 12 thousand Australian fighters posted all around the 5 posts, ready to use their life to protect the citizens that are in the city, their family, friends and loved ones.


    A frustrated yet concealed depression voice of someone could be heard within a meeting room.


    "How can we win against this monstrous horde of over a million zombies with our 12 thousand men? That is a 100 against 1 situation." said Malcolm who was almost on the verge of insanitystressing himself trying to find a solution. Standing in front of him were thest few officers and officials of the government.


    "Should we abandon the city?" said one of the officials carefully, afraid to tick off the tired man.


    "Should we?" said Malcolm wearily, he then continued. "We have done so much to rebuild the city. It is a shame to abandon it just like that." He closed his eyes while rubbing the frown on his forehead.


    "Please consider this idea, Minister. As long as we are alive, our citizens are still alive, we can always build a new city. But if we all die, a city that stands is meaningless."


    Hearing that, Malcolm turned his head to one of the military officers.


    "Colonel Angus, what do you think? Please give us your opinion on this matter."


    The man called Colonel Angus was surprised by the sudden question. But he quickly calmed himself down and thought of the answer carefully. Several seconds of silence passed when the Colonel finally opened his mouth.


    "I am afraid the n to escape from the city has beenpromised and cannot be carried out, sir." said the Colonel, receiving various gazes from those around him. "Our escape route onnd is blocked by zombies and we have nothing to quickly transport 70 thousand citizens out of the city."


    He continued his words. "We can escape by sea but our ships are not enough to carry all the citizens at once, leaving some of them. When we have found a safe ce, if we can find one, those who were left behind must have died long ago."


    When Malcolm heard the Colonel''s words, he then asked hopefully. "How about we escape with the citizens by ship while ordering the fighters and soldiers to protect those who retreat?"


    Colonel Angus shook his head at the minister''s idea, immediately denying it. "We can''t do that. We will need the army to brave danger as we seek new ces. Also, the current fighters couldn''t even hold a candle against the massive size of hordes. Imagine if we divided it even further .. We just sacrificed their lives for nothing."


    "Then.. What are you proposing, Colonel? Are you confident that we can hold the line?"


    Colonel Angus could only fall silent, unable to say anything. Not only did the soldiers have an extremely low number of personnel, but they weren''t that strong either. In fact, only a third of them were actual army soldiers, with only a little over 1,000 who were Sky realm fighters while the rest were Earth realm fighters.


    As for the war machines that they still have, there are tens of tanks and three dozens of armored fighting vehicles that could be deployed anytime to the border. Unfortunately for them, while these firepower are still somehow effective when fighting against stage 1 or stage 2 zombies, it did not mean anything in front of stage 3 zombies.


    The Colonel replied in a heavy tone with a sigh in his heart. "I can only say we will hold out until thest person alive, sir."


    Malcolm was devastated. This was not what he had imagined he would be when he finally gained the highest power and authority as the official Prime Minister.


    When the other officers and officials could only stand there staring at each other awkwardly and doing nothing, a middle aged Asian man in military uniform suddenly walked into the meeting room.


    Malcolm''s eyes lit up when he saw the man. "Wee, Colonel Arief! Please join our discussion."


    This is Arief, the highest ranking death squad soldier Alex team in charge of the doomsday pirs in New South Wales area. He has arrived in the Sydney doomsday pir since two weeks ago. He and his team have been their guest and have been helping clearing out the 30th floor of the pirs.


    "What do you think about our current situation, Colonel? Care to give us some of your ideas?"


    Arief walked to the map on the table and studied the information they had and their troop deployments. A few minutester, he finally spoke his thoughts.


    "I believe based on your current strategy, when the hordes advance to the city, your troops can only hold on for the maximum of 4 hours."


    "!!!"


    Everyone was shocked when they heard the man''s words, except for Malcolm who seemed to believe the man. There was no fighter who could match the man in front of him and all the 100 fighters the man was bringing were top level fighters.


    Others began to discuss with each other as they heard the words that came out of Arief''s mouth. Whispers and noises could be heard as the room grew louder and louder until a hand mmed into the table, silencing the sound.


    Malcolm, the one who mmed the table, turned to Arief and said.


    "Please continue colonel."


    Arief was silent for a moment before he spoke.


    "Explode all 4 bridges and concentrate all your soldiers within 3 kilometers of the Sydney gate line, then maybe you can hold on for 24 hours."


    One of the officials sneered. "Blew up the bridge? The Sydney Harbour bridge is the pride of the country. How can you easily say that?"


    Arief nced at the one who spoke and said calmly. "I just say my thoughts. I apologize if you feel offended."


    Malcolm hurriedly waved his hands. "Don''t worry about him, Colonel. Let''s talk about your idea."


    "If we blew up all the bridges, then what? What about afterwards?What will happen after 24 hours?" asked Malcolm, puzzled.


    "Within 24 hours, reinforcement wille. Until then, we have to do our best and hope we can persist. "


    "That''s good news, Colonel. Will we be okay after theye?"


    "To be honest, I''m not sure. After all, we are facing a horde of more than a million zombies." said Arief with a faint smile.


    ----------------------------------


    Written and Directed by Avans, Published by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,


    Great News.


    In thest few days, I have managed to create a website for the universe. Come and check the illustration, Timeline, Maps, and many more. It is a worldbuilding website where you all can ess it with the link: https://bit.ly/avansweb

 Chapter 290 - The Battalion

    Dday #423


    New Sydney, New South Wales, Australia


    Inside themand center of the Sydney military and government headquarter.


    A soldier''s transmission was heard over one of the radios as the soldiers that were tasked to watch and pay attention to the horde''s movement reported their findings.


    "The horde is on the move, sir. They are approaching the area just before the Iron Cove bridge!"


    Not long after, another report came from the front line of scouts.


    "The horde ising, sir. They quickly approached Endeavor bridge!"


    Two other simr reports echo simultaneously in the room as the other front line scouts, reporting the horde''s movement as the massive horde split up and headed for the 4 bridges at once, intending to seize these important choke points.


    An anxious voice of the Prime Minister could be heard in the room.


    "Have the evacuation process finished? When will the citizens reach the secondyer?"


    One of the officials in the room quickly opened his mouth, "Evacuation is still in progress, sir. Unfortunately, the evacuation speed of residents outside the secondyer was slowed down due to the panic caused by the zombies."


    Colonel Angus quickly looked at the map on the table, and used the new intel to calcte the time they had before the zombie hordes could cross the distance between their assembly point and the border of secondyer defense.


    He slowly said his calction to others in the room, "We only have a maximum of 45 mi-, no, 30 minutes at max before the hordes reach the border." Colonel Angus paused for a moment before he continued his words with a sigh "And the worst news is the evacuation is still ongoing."


    Malcolm felt a lump in his throat, making him hard to breath when he heard the colonel''s words.


    Hands shaking, the stressed minister quickly spoke, "We need to do something, now!"


    The other people in the room could only stand there dumbfounded, not having any ideas. Exasperated, frustrated, and depressed, all of these emotions swirled through Malcolm''s minds as his eyes wandered across others in the room.


    Finding nothing but the same expression he had stered across their faces, Malcolm could only sigh helplessly and say. "As the wise old man said, drastic situations require drastic measure."


    He then turned towards Colonel Angus. "Colonel, I grant you my permission to blow up the Iron Cove Bridge and the Canterbury Bridge, making only Endeavor Bridge to the south and Sydney Harbour bridge to the north our focal defense point."


    Someone in the room interjected the minister''s decision. "But, Mr Prime Minister, those are our proud bridges! The pride of our city!"


    Irritated, Malcolm mmed his hand against the table again as he angrily turned his gaze towards the person who spoke earlier. "Then tell me your damn brilliant idea!"


    "I-Iˇ­" The man quickly fell silent, shutting his mouth.


    Seeing his reaction, Malcolm ignored him and turned to Colonel Angus again. Calming his rising heart rate, he then spoke. "We can then focus our defense on those two choke points with the Sydney Gate as ourst and most important line of defense. As for troop arrangements, I will leave all of it to your judgment, Colonel. "


    "I understand, sir. Then we will be going because we need to immediately arrange the defenses."


    "Please protect our citizens, Colonel." Malcolm said seriously.


    "We will do our best, sir." Colonel Angus nodded then brought his officers and quickly left the room


    The meeting room was rather quiet as Colonel Angus and his officers left, leaving Malcolm, Arief, and government officials in the room. Malcolm shifted his gaze towards Arief as he watched the man closely.


    "As for you Colonel Arief, I hope you can help us to set up the barrier that we get from the pir."


    Previously, Arief had exined the key element that might be a crucial factor for them to sessfully defend the city. Since Arief and his team have cleared the 40th floor of the Doomsday Pir, they can now ess and use the Spirit Monolith as a means to further strengthen their defenses.


    Arief nodded. "I would be d to do it but I would need some manpower."


    "Of course!" Malcolm hurriedly said. "Don''t hesitate and just say it. My officials here will help you with whatever you need to make it happen. I''m counting on you, Colonel."


    "Very well then .. If you say so, Mr. Malcolm." Arief then turned to the officials and said. "I will need 5 thousand civilians to mobilize and 50 thousand spirit stones now." He paused for a moment before saying, "I also need 5 hundred of your Earth realm fighters,"


    Malcolm and his officers were stunned by Arief''s request, one of the officers who was about to open his mouth when Malcolm swiftly waved his hand, silencing the man. "Yes, Colonel. You can have it. "He then turned to the officials who were still dumbfounded." Please cooperate with Colonel Arief to ensure the smooth running of the n. "


    Malcolm and the officials were stunned by Arief''s request, one of the officials could not help but say. "Sorry, Colonel Arief. Is what I just heard was right? Can you repeat that again?" the man said carefully.


    "That''s what I said." Arief nodded with a faint smile, clearly not knowing how extraordinary his request was. That man had just asked for a tenth of Sydney citizens and a third of their spirit stone reserves! Excluding the request for 5 hundred Earth realm fighters. Malcolm and the others could only smile wryly.


    The other officials just about to open his mouth when Malcolm swiftly waved his hand, silencing the man. "I understand, Colonel. You can have it." He then looked at the officials who were still dumbfounded. "Please cooperate with Colonel Arief to ensure the smooth running of the n."


    The officials could only helplessly nod at Malcolm''s instructions. They then finished the meeting as they immediately left to do their task.


    At that time, under Colonel Angus'' direction, the 12 thousand Australian troops were separated into 12 battalions and deployed to various areas.


    The 1st and 2nd Battalions are stationed on the Sydney Harbor bridge to guard the north side of the city. The 3rd and 4th Battalions are stationed on the Endeavor bridge at the south to guard against the zombie hordes there. The 5th to 10th Battalions were assigned to defend the 3 kilometer line of the Sydney Gate buffer zone. With the 11th Battalion assigned to assist Arief''s work of setting up the barrier while thest 12th Battalion would guard themand center.


    Tanks and armored fighting vehicles owned by the military are stationed at 3 important points, the Sydney Harbor bridge, the Endeavor bridge and the Sydney Gate. The battle then began immediately, with the Battle of Sydney Harbor bridge starting first.


    Tank cannons, assault rifles, artillery, and other firearms aimed and fired at the oing zombie hordes. The shower of bullets apanied by the asional sts of explosive rounds fired by tanks and artillery raining down on the swarming zombies, killing and injuring the zombies.


    Unfortunately, these weapons are only effective against the stage 1 and stage 2 zombies. Because on the other hand, there are at least ten ck zombies in each wave of a thousand zombies.


    The soldiers continued firing their guns and firearms from the rear, unleashing every ammunition they had while the Sky realm fighters were fighting against the stage 3 zombie at the front.


    Tretetetetetete Boom! Boom! Tretetetetete Booomm!!


    Gunshots and explosions could be heard in the air as the situation turned chaotic due to the unfinished evacuation. Dozens of unlucky civilians die every minute, either from stray bullets or the zombies themselves because they can''t escape the war zone.


    At one of the posts within a 3 kilometer line of the Sydney Gate.


    "Keep firing!! Keep firing at the damn zombies!!"


    One young soldier noticed something in the distance and reported to the captain, shouting "There are survivors three hundred meters ahead of us, sir!!"


    "Stand your ground and ignore them! We must hold the line!!"


    "Permission to let my unit to save the survivor, sir!"


    "Permission denied! Get back to your position and keep firing!"


    "Please, sir. I beg you!"


    "No! Get back to your damn position! They are already a lost cause!"


    The soldier then turned around and shouted, "I need volunteers toe with me and save the survivors!"


    The captain was annoyed. "Soldier! How dare you disobey my order?!"


    "I''m sorry, sir. You can do whatever you want to me when I''m done!"


    The young soldier then rushed into the war zone with few other soldiers apanying him. Due to the soldiers reckless charge, the captain was forced to stop the barrage of bullets.


    ----------------------------------


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 Chapter 291 - White Zombie

    "I have no trouble with my enemies. I can take care of my enemies all right. But my damn friendsˇ­They''re the ones that keep me walking the floor nights."


    - Warren G. Harding


    In a battlefield, especially the chaotic one, discipline is paramount and may be the element that can determine the difference between your life and death.


    "Goddamn it! These bunch of newbies! They can''t even follow a simple order!" The captain clenched his fists and cursed as he saw the young men break away from the formation and dash toward the barely visible civilians.


    It was normal for some new recruits to disobey orders. After all, two thirds of the battalion were just civilians who had recently been trained in the army. So they haven''t gone through any disciplinary training, which aims to always follow the orders of their leader.


    One of the captain''s close attendants approached him..


    "Should we keep firing, captain?"


    The captain was silent for a moment, he was now in a difficult position. If they kept shooting then the 4 soldiers that ran forward could die from stray bullets. Meanwhile, if they stop their shooting, the zombies will get closer and closer. It was truly an adept description of being caught between a rock and a hard ce.


    Gritted his teeth, the captain then said. "Fricking hell! You! Take your unit and follow me!" He said pointing to one of the soldiers. "Everyone else, cover fire!"


    A barrage of bullets could be seen flying in the air as the soldiers fired their guns, creating a clear path for the captain and his men to rush forward. Others continued to cover fire from the sides as the team charged forward, ensuring that they were not surrounded by the zombies.


    The captain then rushed to the war zone which was covered in a lot of smoke from the explosion. They continued their progress with unstoppable momentum while killing all the zombies before their eyes.


    To his surprise, the captain still couldn''t find the 4 young soldiers even after they had walked more than 200 meters. Suspicion about the strange situation began to grow in his heart.


    As thoughts of retreating appeared in his mind, he then noticed the civilians screaming for help 100 meters in front of them. Even though he was suspicious of the whole situation and still worried about the situation of the four young men, the captain decided to approach and save the civilians first.


    However, just as he and his team were about to approach the civilians, the smoke around them started to dissipate at the same time, allowing them to see their surroundings. To his horror, he could see that the four young men were dead, mutted with their body parts strewn all over the ground. Meanwhile, the civilians were seen standing there still alive with their legs cut off.


    When the captain saw their current situation, a terrifying thought shed through his mind, a thought that made chills ran down his spine.


    ''There is no way these zombies are using bait!? How could these zombies be able to use bait tactics?!''


    Realizing the situation, his face turned pale as he quickly turned his back. ''Fallback!! Fallback!!" He frantically screamed. However as they retreated, they were suddenly surrounded by dozens of ck zombies.


    The group swiftly switched their weapons and took out their artifacts, as firearms would not be able to do anything in a besieged situation like this. If they insist on using firearms, there is a higher chance of friendly fire than hitting zombies in this difficult situation.


    Several tier 1 and tier 2 artifacts can be seen in the group''s hands as they start attacking the ck zombies. Although tier 1 and tier 2 artifacts could not inflict fatal wounds in a single hit against a stage 3 zombie, it was still sufficient. They continued to attack the ck zombies while retreating towards the formation at the same time.


    But just as they walked back a few steps, the captain was shocked and sweats started to trickle down his face when he saw a white figure among the ck zombies, the white zombie. A stage 4 zombie that is hard to beat even for the Sky realm Knight fighters. And with his Earth realm strength, he definitely won''t stand a chance.


    With all the strength his throat could muster, the captain shouted. "RUN BACK!"


    The captain knew that they won''t be able to outrun this stage 4 zombie if someone didn''t stall it. Therefore, he decided to fight the zombie to give his soldiers time to retreat. "Everybody, run back while I stall this monster!" said the captain aloud.


    The stage 4 zombie ran towards the captain due to his earlier scream, he then frantically swung his tier 2 weapon at the iing zombie but unfortunately the attack only left a faint scratch on its body.


    Looking at the huge white figure in front of him that seemed like an unshakable mountain, the captain could only sigh deeply at his powerlessness. ''I couldn''t even stop this monster for half a minute.''


    BAM!


    A loud sound rang through the air as the white zombie pped both its hands on the captain''s head. Leaving the captain''s headless body slowly fell to the ground, dead.


    "SH*T!" "CAPTAIN!" "F*CK!" "NOOO!!!"


    Various screams and curses were heard as the soldiers saw their captain die under the hands of the white zombies in seconds.


    "Die! you motherf***er!"


    The soldiers who were closest to the captain and directly saw this terror immediately attacked blindly. Unfortunately for him, not a single bullet was able to prate this stage 4 zombie''s thick skin and could only helplessly fall to the ground with a clink. The furious action of the soldier, let alone injuring the white zombie, instead caught his attention.


    The previously enraged soldier suddenly came to his senses when he saw the bullets do nothing to the zombie. His face turned pale in an instant. He then screamed hysterically.


    "Monster!! Monster!! Someone save me!!!"


    The stage 4 zombie turned towards the soldier and its feet immediately stomped the ground, creating a spider web like crack as he leaped into the air towards the panicked soldier. The zombie mmed its body against the soldier, knocking him to the ground with a severe rib cage wound. It then began to swing its hands, using its w-like fingers to rip apart the soldier''s body while the man screamed in pain and asked for help.


    The other soldiers who were still shocked by the captain''s sudden death woke from their shock when they heard the poor soldier''s plea for help. They hurriedly dashed back towards the defensive line in fear, using every energy they had to reach it. But unfortunately, only some of them made it back, while the others were torn to death by the zombies.


    The others who could not see what was happening due to the thick smoke covering the battlefield were puzzled by their behavior.


    "Dude, what happened? Where is the captain and the others?" asked one of the soldiers


    Hands trembling, pupils dted, the soldier who had already fled said frantically. "The captain is dead !! Shoot! Hurry up and shoot at the smoke or we''ll die!! "


    The others were startled when they heard his words, but they quickly aimed their rifles and started firing.Tanks and artillery that were ready in position, immediately returned to fire the bullets in session


    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!


    They stopped their fire after the third volley and went to observe the battlefield. As the smoke slowly dissipated and the scattered sands floated to the ground, the soldiers on the line could finally see the figures of the several silhouettes they saw behind the dissipating smoke. A white zombie stood there with tens of ck zombies and hundreds of red zombies behind it with ferocious expressions on their faces.


    The soldier''s face turned pale with some of them directly fainting when they saw the terrifying line up. Rockets from tanks and artillery were not enough to finish off the white zombie and itsckeys, and could only injure them slightly.


    The white zombie was about to dash into the line of soldiers, intending to destroy the defensive line when suddenly arge copper ax flew through the air and fell right in front of him. Followed by a military d figure with an insignia of 1 crown and 2 stars.


    Seeing the ax and the figure, the spirit and will of the troops burned again. The reinforcement who was present this time was the famed Colonel Angus. Even though he was only a Sky realm Knight, he was the only colonel who was always at the forefront of every battle. Therefore, he had reached the middle stage of Sky realm Knight.


    Colonel Angus immediately intercepted the white zombie while the soldiers continued to fire their rifles and attack the zombies that were nearby. The battle between the Colonel and the stage 4 zombies was fierce, with him nearly losing parts of his body many times if he wasn''t careful.


    But thanks to the tier 3 artifact [Cupriferous Ax], Colonel Angus managed to defeat the white zombie with one timely horizontal sh on the zombie''s head while he received minor wounds from the zombie''s retaliation. He then quickly helped his soldier to clean up the remaining zombies, annihting them without mercy.


    "Close the ranks!" Colonel Angus said as he cleaved thest zombie, signaling the end of the battle.


    ----------------------------------


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 Chapter 292 - The Defensive Line

    Two hours after the battle has started.


    BOOOOOM!!! BOOOOOMM!!!


    Two consecutive explosion sounds could be heard echoing from the north and south side of Sydney city, signifying theplete destruction of the two connecting bridges leading to the city center.


    With the destruction of the two bridges, the center of attack for the zombie hordes moved to just three points. Even though that meant the zombie horde would focus their attacks on those three points, the limited terrain and small areas to protect made it easy for Sydney''s army to effectively deploy their limited number of soldiers.


    But in just two hours ofbat, of the 10 battalions on the entire battlefield that came face to face with the zombie hordes, except for the 11th and 12th battalions that had their own job, each had lost 10 - 20 percent of its members on average. These statistics truly illustrate how cruel and terrifying the battle was this time.


    The highest number of casualties urred at the Sydney Gate''s defense line, whose protected area stretched for more than 3 kilometers, which was relentlessly flooded by thousands of zombies.


    Inside a tall building that is temporarily used as amand center, a male officer with a 3 star insignia embroidered on his shoulder was seen rushing into the room. A man watched the captain who had suddenly entered and spoke..


    "What happened, captain? What''s with the rush?" said the man calmly.


    "C-Colonel Angus, the defense line can notst much longer." said the captain breathlessly because of his run earlier.


    The Sydney Gate''s 3 kilometers defense line has been guarded by 6 battalions. 6 battalions means that 6 thousand soldiers are simultaneously holding back the zombie horde. So theoretically, that 3 kilometers line was manned by 2 fighters per meter, which under normal circumstances was enough to deal with normal monsters especially when every soldier was at least an Earth realm fighter.


    Unfortunately, the current situation that they were facing was not normal at all. The number of zombies invading the defensive line was 10 times more than the number of troops assigned to guard. Their numbers are simply notparable.


    After 2 hours of non-stop fighting, most of the soldiers had fired all of their bullets and could only start using the tier 1 and tier 2 artifacts at their disposal. Which means that thebat strategy has slowly begun to shift from long range attacks where soldiers suppress and injure hordes of zombies using their firearms to closebat where casualties are more frequent.


    If this current condition persisted and no changes were made, there was a high chance that these 6 thousand soldiers would definitely be physically and mentally destroyed in the next 1 hour. And what happened next after the destruction of the army was the doomed Sydney city and its citizens.


    Colonel Angus stepped onto the balcony of the room he now upied while the captain stood there at the table. He quickly cast his gaze towards the distant battlefield that was filled with smokes and various faint sounds of battle. His gaze was filled with worry, worried about their uncertain fate in this battle.


    He suddenly remembered the words of that colonel from Indonesia who said that they would notst more than 4 hours if they continued to carry out the strategy they had nned. He shuddered at the thought of what their fate would be if they didn''t blow up the two bridges and stubbornly defended it. He hated to admit how urate the man''s prediction was.


    The colonel then noticed a red smoke rising from one of the posts. A signal indicates that the squad guarding the ce has failed to guard the post and the zombies will immediately break through the defensive line.


    "Captain,e here!" shouted Colonel Angus.


    "Yes, Colonel?"replied the captain as he walked to the balcony.


    Colonel Angus pointed his finger at the red smoke and said "Hurry and send 2 squads there to fill in the gap!"


    Turning his head in the direction the colonel was pointing at, the captain quickly replied while giving a military salute. "Yes, sir!"


    The captain immediately left the room to organize the reinforcements. Seeing the situation, Colonel Angus could not help but sigh helplessly. ''We are doomedˇ­''


    They no longer have any reserve troops that can be deployed. Nearly all of the 12th Battalion, which was supposed to guard the rearguard and headquarter, was sent to the Sydney Gate battlefield to close the gap.


    The Colonel squeezed his frowning forehead andughed wryly at himself. "4 hours? It''s a miracle tost 3 hours."


    He shook his head and was about to continue when he saw two red smoke appearing at the posts. The sight made himugh wryly in his heart, bringing enormous frustration. The colonel was just about to step in and help out in person when he suddenly saw 3 more red smoke rising from other posts.


    The problem the Sydney Gate faced was that the defensive area was a line, meaning that to defend the Sydney Gate they needed to spread their army widely which made their limited number of troops a problem. Because when one of the posts inside the defensive line was broken, they had to fill in the gap immediately so the zombie horde could not prate that point.


    When the defensive line is breached and the zombies rush through the broken point, the horde can choose to attack the army from their side or behind which is a really dangerous situation. So it would be better for the Sydney army to retreat when the defensive line is broken.


    The appearance of another 3 red smokes brought the feeling of helplessness to the Colonel''s firm heart. The colonel could only shook his head again and was ready to give the order to retreat when he saw the 11th Battalion led by the colonel from Indonesiaing to help from behind in the distance.


    "They are finally here!" said the colonel with a sigh of relief


    Arief and his 100 Special Death Squad soldiers have reached the mid stage of Sky realm stage before this. Led by them, the 11th Battalion charged forward, jumped over the roof of the buildings and began to cut down and kill all the zombies who crossed the line.


    Several shes of artifacts can be seen as Arief and his men bulldoze through the zombies using their various artifacts, mowing them down as easily as wild grasses. Colonel Angus was amazed at how effortless it was for Arief and his team to clean up the zombie hordes.


    Not long after, the Colonel, who was still amazed, noticed the sudden appearance of the shadow of the building he was in, even though the sun was supposed to be above his head. He immediately turned around and saw in the window a bright ray of light appeared behind the building where he was currently. The light was so bright that the shadows of the buildings were very dark but strangely it did not hurt his eyes.


    Colonel Angus quickly walked over to the window and saw another two bright lights. The three bright rays then formed into 3 rows and before long, abarrier with a translucent blue glow covered the 3 kilometer long area behind the Sydney Gate.


    Colonel Angus suddenly realized that Colonel Arief was already beside him without him noticing. He almost cleaved the man with his ax artifact due to how surprised he was.


    "W-What the..? Since when were you here?" asked the Colonel, putting away his ax.


    "Just now." answered Arief calmly.


    "Thank you foring and the timely assist. Was that the barrier that was mentioned earlier?"


    "Yeah"


    "That''s amazing. But, why did you put it at the back of the line?" asked Colonel Angus, puzzled.


    "I did that to make sure we could fight without worrying that the zombies that had passed us could harm civilians." Arief answered.


    Nodding at the man''s words, Colonel Agus breathed a sigh of relief. "That''s great." However, he suddenly realized something and asked. "Butˇ­ doesn''t that mean we''re stuck here with them?"


    "Correct"


    "W-Why?" Colonel Angus in confusion.


    ncing at the man, Arief opened his mouth. "Colonel Angus, these zombies will not stop until all of us are eliminated. Don''t you agree with what I said?"


    "Ahhˇ­ Yes, I agree." answered the man with an awkward nod.


    Arief continued his words. "And that barrier could not hold on forever."


    Colonel Angus was silent when he heard that. Looking at the man, Arief patted his shoulder and said.


    "Don''t worry, Colonel. We will have more barriers soon."


    Right after Arief finished speaking, two bright lights appeared again and prated the cloud. It then formed the same barrier on the right and left of the Sydney Gate area, leaving only a 1 kilometer gap in the Sydney Gate defensive line.


    "There you go, Colonel. We have seeded. Now, we need to focus the remaining soldiers from the 6 battalions into that 1 kilometer gap."


    Colonel Angus was speechless when he saw what was happening before his eyes. At that instant, the sense of helplessness and frustration he felt instantly vanished as relief took over. With the appearance of the barrier, the area that needed to be defended was reduced, allowing the military to deploy 5 to 6 soldiers per meter to guard the defensive line. He can also start doing a wave strategy whereby the 6 battalion soldiers split into two and defend alternately.


    Arief then said. "My job is done."


    Colonel Angus hurriedly turned and said. "Yes,you have my gratitude. You just saved countless lives with these barriers, Colonel. But, what are you going to do now?"


    Arief pulled out a giant sword from his storage ring and said.


    "I''m going to the front line now. I need more exercise."


    Before Colonel Angus could answer back, the middle aged man had already jumped from the fifth floor and ran towards the front line with a calm smile on his face.


    Arief really wanted to run forward and break through the zombie horde, looking for the stage 5 zombie who was thought to be the mastermind of this attack, but the safety of the soldiers came first.


    And, it might be a good idea to wait for Alex and Jerry''s team to arrive.


    ------------


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 Chapter 293 - Retreat

    10 hours after the battle has started.


    The sun was about to set in the western horizon, indicating the arrival of dusk. However, this is still unable to make the zombie horde stop, as seen from the thousands of zombies who are still attacking the Sydney Gate relentlessly. These zombie hordes are truly like a heavy rain that never stops, intending to flood the entirend.


    "F*ck! When will this nightmare end?" shouted one of the seriously injured soldiers lying on an emergency clinic mattress, coughing up blood while the others around him who were in the same state could only nod their heads or let out a small grimace in agreement.


    One of the medical personnel who saw this scene could only sigh in silence, while continuing to treat those who were seriously injured. The soldiers across the battlefield have valiantly defended the defensive line, fighting the zombie hordes that kepting like tidal waves for 9 hours, risking their lives to protect those who they hold dear..


    But unfortunately, one third of the troops have already fallen victim to this battle, died at the hands of the zombies, while another third are seriously injured and unable to fight again in the near future. Currently, the three important defense points arepletely dependent on the Sky realm fighters, holding back the zombie horde thates continuously.


    The Sky realm fighters were spread out on the three ces, with around 1 hundred on each of the two bridges and 5 hundred in the Sydney Gate''s defensive line.Even though the situation in these three locations are equally difficult in facing the zombie hordes with their limited number of fighters. Thanks to the Spirit Barrier, the situation in the Sydney Gate looked better than the two bridges.


    Prime Minister Malcolm visited the front lines to examine the current situation. He prepared his heart not to be taken aback by the terrifying sight, but seeing it in person waspletely differentpared to just imagining it.


    "What the hell is happening?" shouted the minister, clenching his fists.


    "Minister, please calm down." said one of the minister''s confidants.


    Malcolm pointed his fingers at the sea of zombies, "Calm down?! How can I?" He loudly spoke as he turned the other way towards his officials, his gaze sharp.


    Profanities leaked out of the minister''s mouth, showing how frustrated he was at the moment. "Can someone tell me, why the f*ck theye without stopping??! How can these motherf*ckers keeping?! There must be over a million zombies there!!"


    "M-Minister, please calm down. We''ll find out as soon as possible." One of the officials said nervously as they hurried away, looking for various kinds of reports that could help them depict the cause of their current situation.


    Reports from scouts on the beach found that more and more zombies were arriving from all directions towards the Sydney city. Seeing the report, Malcolm''s hand that was holding the report shook and he felt as if he was about to pass out. "Can someone get Colonel Arief here?" Malcolm said lifelessly.


    A few minutester, a middle-aged Asian man in military clothing who was covered in blood entered the room and immediately approached the prime minister. "Did you call for me, Mr Prime Minister?" asked Arief calmly.


    Giving the reports on the table to Arief, Malcolm stood up and asked the man. "What is your opinion about these reports, Colonel Arief?"


    Arief nced at Malcolm when he heard his question as he read the reports. "Well, I have my own spection."


    Hearing that, the minister''s eyes shone. He then opened his mouth. "Really, Colonel Arief? Care to tell us about it?"


    "I have a suspicion that there is a stage 5 zombie in the zombie horde that is leading and controlling them." said Arief calmly.


    Hearing the spection, made Malcolm''s body even more limp as he fell back into the chair and lifelessly covered his face with his hand.


    "We should have evacuated from the start!" said Malcolm, sighing loudly.


    "And going to where?" Arief sneered. "Anywhere on this continent isn''t safe as long as that stage 5 zombie is still alive."


    "So, what should we do? We can not hold this situation any longer!" Malcolm asked.


    Arief was silent for a moment, thinking about the solution.


    "Send all the elite fighters to break through the zombie hordes and kill the stage 5 zombie."


    "Will you do that for us, Colonel Arief?" asked Malcolm, eyes shining.


    "No. I don''t have enough men to break through the zombie hor-."


    Malcolm replied quickly to Arief''s words. "You can pick whoever you want from the Australian fighters and I''ll assign them to you."


    Shaking his head, Arief refused the prime minister''s offer while saying. "Sorry, Mr. Prime Minister. But, I need Sky stage Magus to help me."


    Nodding his head reluctantly, Malcolm could only sigh at the fact that they were trulycking manpower. Arief who saw the minister''s spiritless attitude suddenly said,


    "Mr Prime Minister, seeing the current situation, I advise retreating and defending the line using the barrier. We can''t let more casualties ur."


    "We will do as you advise then, Colonel."


    They then quickly passed on the order of retreat to the soldiers, with those who were badly injured moving first. The soldiers slowly but surely began to retreat to where the barrier was, while the two monoliths stationed on the left and right of the previously defended line had been removed and moved onto the bridges. With that, all ess to Sydney city is finally covered by the Spirit Shield.


    Arief did not know how long the barrier wouldst, but the main purpose of retreating behind the barrier was to let the fighters rest for a while and regain their strength, while those who were injured could heal themselves. After all, the Earth realm and Sky realm fighters had fairly good body regeneration power. Malcolm hoped that after a few hours of rest they were ready to fight again.


    Arief visited the front line, right near the barrier, and watched how the bluish light of the barrier being rammed and attacked by the stage 2 and stage 3 zombies relentlessly. He walked over to the standing monolith that was continuously releasing bright light and swept his hand over it.


    Foreign letters came out of the monolith and entered his mind. Some kind ofplex calctor popped into his mind, showing the foreign letters. Even though Arief could not read the letters, he somehow knew what they meant. It shows that the barrier can onlyst 12 to 14 hours more. Seeing these numbers, Arief sighed with relief. He was sure Alex would be arriving at Sydney Harbor within that time.


    Arief passed on the information to others and it made them feel much better. More than half of the remaining soldiers finally decided to rest after the long battle. But not for Arief, he decided not to rest and stay awake because he felt something was going to happen.


    It turned out that his hunch was right. At midnight, 16 hours after the fighting began, Arief saw a strange disturbance ur right where the bridge that was destroyed on the south side was while he was on patrol. He could see thousands of stage 1 zombies walking into the river and throwing themselves into it.


    Arief immediately woke up the Sky realm fighters and guarded the area around the riverbank as they watched the strange behaviour of zombies. In less than an hour, a bridge made of zombies connecting the two sides of the river was formed and zombies started crossing the bridge. Dozens of stage 3 zombies are seen crossing the bridge, stepping on the bodies of the stage 1 zombies.


    Those who were with Arief were shocked and dumbfounded when they saw this scene. They really do not understand how the zombies can use strategyin battle. When he saw that sight, Arief was very sure that there must be a stage 5 zombie among all the hordes.


    A fierce battle immediately broke out in that ce. The ck zombie has arge figure with extraordinary strength and high regeneration ability. Seeing that they would face these dozens of monsters, normal fighters would definitely be terrified. Luckily, everyone Arief brought in were elite fighters and they fearlessly started attacking when the zombies were by the river.


    Arief swiftly took out hisrge sword and started shing the ck zombies in front of him. Meanwhile, not far from him, Colonel Angus can be seen cleaving the ck zombie in half using his giant ax artifact on the river bank.


    The two colonels took the lead and fiercely killed the zombies in the vanguard. As others saw how their colonel was annihting the zombies left and right, they began to feel their spirits burning, making their attacks bing more and more ferocious.


    The fighting on the riverbank continued and did not stop until the morning sun rose. As the first rays of sun shone on thend, Arief saw a familiar ship entering Sydney''s South Bay.


    The Fatahih destroyer.


    ----------------------------------


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 Chapter 294 - Reinforcement Has Arrived

    As the sun rose on the eastern horizon, the previously crystal clear Cooks River was now filled with countless zombie corpses. Hundreds of mutted body parts were visible on the surface of the river as a disgusting odor began to spread around the area, stirring up the stomach acid of whoever sniffed it. But what was most striking on the river was the bridge made by zombie bodies that connected each side of the river.


    Even though 6 hours had passed, this fierce battle that took ce on the Cooks River continued until the 50 meters deep river was almostpletely covered by zombie corpses, making it almost likend itself.


    Slowly but surely, the troops who were fighting on the riverbank led by Colonel Angus and Arief began to be pushed by the waves of zombies that kepting. The situation did not get any better when the exhaustion from the intense battle began affecting their bodies and further decreased theirbat capabilities.


    When the situation grew grim, Arief saw a warship entering Botany Bay near the river.


    "They havee! The reinforcement hase!!" eximed Arief loudly, attracting everyone''s attention.


    Seeing the reinforcements that were about to arrive, the fighters who were about to retreat suddenly grew more fierce, ferociously attacking the zombies like a pack of enraged tigers. At the same time, several boats were seen moving fast and anchoring on the shore of the bay while more than a hundred fighters got out of the boats.


    Arge figure of man could be seen running through the riverbank as he leaped high to the air and was about tond right in the middle of the crowd of ck zombies. In midair, the man calmly raised his hands as his figure suddenly doubled in size. Using all the power that he had, the man mmed the hammer in his hand towards the ground.


    [Earth Smash]


    BOOMMMM!!!


    Loud sounds could be heard as the hammer contacted the ground as the ground destroyed and pieces of solid ground scattered. Dozens of ck zombies within the 20 meter radius of the impact were flung backwards while one poor unlucky ck zombie who was directly hit by the hammer crushed into pieces like ss. The ground waspletely leveled by the massive momentum that his hammer carried while he quickly stabilized himself.


    "Ha ha ha !!! Finally a battle!" Shouted the Russian named Sergei while continuing to swing his hammer at the nearest zombie.


    A young woman in her twenties could be seen casting a spell in the distance as a bluish hue circle appeared beneath her feet.


    [Hail - Tier 3 Ice Spell]


    A momentter, a rain of ice fell and hit the other horde of zombies, with some of them instantly being killed while others were severely wounded. With just this single tier 3 spell, half of the dozen ck zombies were killed while the other dozens immobilized and could only watch them helplessly be killed by the fighters.


    Right behind Aria; Theo, Oscar and Tommy also enter the battle and quickly use their signature spells and abilities, wreaking havoc among the zombie hordes, followed by their hundreds of elite fighters. With the arrival of much-needed reinforcements, the direction of the battle they were about to lose immediately changed 180 degrees as the wave of ck zombies was rapidly pushed back.


    Alex approached Arief who was covered in blood as he casually walked through the battlefield, like it was his own garden.


    "Any friendly troops there, Arief?" he asked, pointing at the other side of the river.


    "No, no one was there." replied the colonel.


    "Alright, then."


    Alex then brought the long distance transmitter in his hand to his mouth and said.


    "Fire the area 1 klick west of my position."


    A soundes out of the transmitter. "Affirmative"


    In less than a minute, several loud booms could be heard from the direction of the bay, followed by the sound of consecutive explosions from 1 kilometer ahead of these fighters, right on the other side of the river.


    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!


    The explosions disrupted the zombie horde across the river while the mes left by the explosion continued to injure and kill stage 1 and 2 zombies, with some of the stage 3 zombies taking injury as well.


    With cannon fire from the sea and reinforcements, the Sky realm fighters who had endured and struggled for 6 hours by the river were finally able to breathe and rest their bodies. The fighters who were too tired immediately dropped their bodies to the ground as theyy on top of the countless dead zombies,pletely undisturbed by the smell and sight. Meanwhile, Alex''s forces rece them to fight zombies, sweeping through the entire battlefield.


    Unfortunately for them, the good news did notst long when Colonel Angus approached Arief with bad news. Alex, who happened to be having a discussion with Arief, was also invited to listen.


    There are reports that dozens of stage 3 and stage 4 zombies focused their attacks on the Spirit Barrier covering the Sydney Harbor bridge to the north. Since that is the part of the barrier which receives more zombie attacks, it is estimated that this Sydney Harbor Bridge barrier will soon be destroyed.


    Colonel Angus quickly told Alex about the current situation after finding out that Alex was the Arief''s leader and the help they had been waiting for.


    "Mr Alex, do you have any fighters that you can send to the north as well?" asked Angus carefully. "Or should I send my fighters there to reinforce the bridge?"


    "No" answered Alex/


    "No?" Colonel Angus was stunned when he heard Alex''s reply. ''What do you mean with no?"


    Alex thought for a moment and said.


    "If we send the fighters to the north, it is like continuously giving the beggar only food; does not resolve the problem at its roots at all."


    "So, what should we do, Mr Alex?" asked Colonel Angus while thinking of a usible solution. Suddenly, an absurd thought shed through his mind until his expression slowly turned strange. "Don''t tell me, Mr.Alex.. You are nning toˇ­"


    "Exactly" said Alex calmly. "To solve the root of the problem, we need to kill their leader, the mastermind of this disaster in the first ce."


    Colonel Angus was dumbfounded at the thought of the man standing in front of him as a dazed expression crossed his face.


    Realizing there is no response, Alex turned towards Colonel Angus and saw his dazed look. "You there, Colonel Angus?" asked Alex, waving his hand at the man''s face.


    "O-Oh, yeah. Please continue."


    Continuing his words, Alex said. "That''s why I will need all elite fighters to follow me. As for the Sydney Harbour bridgeˇ­"


    He quickly took out his transmitter and contacted Karra, telling her and her 100 elite forces to head to the north with the Fatahih destroyer, reinforcing the bridge.


    Alex then turned his gaze towards the surprised colonel.


    "That should be enough." he calmly said.


    ----------------------------------


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 Chapter 295 - Fight Back

    Shocked by how easily Alex took care of the situation, Colonel Angus was speechless and could not utter any words.


    Arief who was silent all this time finally opened his mouth.


    "So, what is the n?" He asked calmly, but Alex was sure there was a concealed excitement in his voice.


    Alex could not help but take a second deep nce at the bloodied state of this colonel from head to toes when he heard the man''s inquiry. "Are you not tired, Colonel?" he asked while raising his eyebrows.


    "No, not at all." replied Arief firmly. "Ready for your order!"


    Taking another nce and seeing the resolute gaze in Arief''s eyes, Alex finally agreed. "Alright then.".


    Colonel Angus finally woke up from his shocked state by Arief''s loud deration. Realizing the situation before him, he quickly spoke.


    "Should I and my men follow you, Mr Alex? We can fight again after a slight rest."


    Alex thought about the offer for a moment, but in the end politely refused it.


    "There is no need to do so, Colonel Angus. It is better for you and your men to defend here while my group advances towards the zombie hordes."


    "Oh, you''re right, Mr Alex. I understand." said Colonel Angus, nodding his head. He then continued. "Well then, my purpose here is done, Mr Alex. If you excuse me, I will now go and check my men."


    "Of course, Colonel Angus. Please ry my greetings to them."


    As Colonel Angus walked away, Alex turned his head towards the west,at the area covered by zing mes across the sea before he finally shifted his gaze at the almost annihted zombie hordes. The expression on his face seemed to say that he was waiting for someone or something.


    A momentter, Oliver, one of the fighters in Jerry''s group appeared from the crowd of zombies and walked over to Alex''s location. Arief was surprised to see the appearance of Oliver that should not be possible to be here.


    Yesterday, when he received thetest information from Jerry, Alex had coordinated a n with him and his team who followed the migrating zombie hordes. The previously cannon and artillery fires are the signal to conduct the n.


    Oliver immediately took out a map and gave it to Alex. On the map, there were marks that showed the location of Jerry''s group and the zombie hordes. Alex then quickly summoned his 100 fighters and Arief''s men while his mind continued to dwell over the n.


    When everyone was gathered, he ordered the fighters to stay here to reinforce and defend the line, letting the exhausted Australian fighters rest. After that, Alex then pointed his finger at Aria, Sergei, Arief, Tommy, and Oscar.


    "You five wille with me." said Alex casually. "The seven of us should be enough for this." he muttered. Alex then threw his gaze to Theo who was standing there calmly.


    "Theo, you will be the one in charge of the troops here while we''re gone."


    "I understand. Please take care." answered Theo


    Nodding his head, Alex turned towards Oliver and said. "Let''s go."


    Alex along with his strongest fighters immediately charged into the area that was still engulfed in mes, with Oliver at the front as the guide. They quickly broke through the area covered by the sea of mes as zombie hordes appeared in front of their eyes. As if there was an unstoppable force that embraced the group, they swiftly cut through the sea of zombies like a sharp knife.


    With the fact that everyone in the group is middle stage Sky realm Magus, not a single ck zombie could stop them. Although asionally they encounter stage 4 zombies, with theirbined attacks, several tier 3 spells directly hit the stage 4 zombie making it can notst more than 10 seconds.


    Oliver who at the front acts as the vanguard as he uses the [Energized] spell, breaking through the sea of zombies and opening the path for others behind him. Due to their limited amount of time, this 7 person group decided to ignore the zombies on their sides and kept moving fast.


    Countless zombies that seemed endless could be seen along the way as they continued to move through the hordes. It looked like this stage 5 zombie had seeded to rally all the zombies on the southeast of Australian Continent.


    In his previous life, Alex only knew that the Australian that lived in Sydney city were unable to survive against the zombie invasion in the first year of apocalypse, wiping them off the map while the details were left unknown in that time of chaos. Apparently, this is what happened at that time. And right now, Alex is doing his best to change the destiny of these Australians.


    Shortly after, they reached an area on the west of Sydney city, 8 kilometers away from the Sydney Gate defensive line. In some corner of that area, bursts of colorful spells could be seen as a crowd of fighters were fighting against the zombies.


    These fighters are the members of the toon that Jerry led, 120 Sky realm fighters from the 3rd and 4th toon. These people were also currently surrounded by the zombies, but not as much as the ones who charged to Sydney city.


    When Alex''s group arrived and saw these people, they quickly entered the fray and killed the zombie hordes. Half an hourter, not a single zombie could be seen standing anymore. Jerry and Daisy then walked over to the group.


    "You guys are finally here." said Jerry with a sigh of relief. "What took you so long?"


    "Can''t you see the busy traffic?" answered Alex, raising his eyebrows while his thumb pointing behind him, at the zombie hordes in the distance.


    Hearing Alex''s response, Jerry nced at Aria and said.


    "Huh?! I think 6 months living with a beautiful girl is making you soft." He sneered.


    "Really? A joke at times like this?" said Alex, folding his arms across his chest. Raising one of his eyebrows, he then said. "That''s not exactly how normal people treat those whoe helping them."


    "Wellˇ­ we don''t really need any help. We are just waiting here for your order while doing a little exercise in the meantime." said Jerry smugly. He then grabbed Daisy''s shoulders who was beside him. "You seeˇ­ Daisy, my partner here is simply the best!"


    Alex looked at Daisy, the teenage girl who 6 months ago still looks fragile like a flower has now appeared before him with a veteran air around her. He smiled faintly at her.


    Daisy, who noticed Alex''s gaze nodded in respect to him. She then threw her gaze at the group behind Alex, searching for someone. When she found the one she was looking for: Tommy, Daisy smiled at him.


    "So, where is it?" asked Alex


    ----------------------------------


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 Chapter 296 - Golden Figure

    Daisy proceeded to use her [Detect Life Form - Tier 3 Light Spell] which is one tier higher and more urate than Alex''s [Scan Area] spell. This spell has a longer radius of up to 2 kilometers and can sense every life form detected in detail.


    The stage 5 zombie is always on the move and it looks like it''s just got out of my spell range because I couldn''t detect it."


    "That''s a problem then.." said Alex, rubbing his chin.


    "Don''t worry, Alex. Daisy still has another way." said Jerry


    This time, Daisy raised her hands and lights suddenly came out of her hands, forming into a bird. That bird swiftly flew into the air until there was no trace of it anymore. [Summon Spirit Animal - Bird], a spell that allows its user to form a bird that can scout the area.. This is one of the tier 3 light element spells that is not easy to master.


    "I''ve sent the bird to thest ce I detected it. It shouldn''t have gone too far."


    A momentter, Daisy opened her mouth.


    "Found it."


    Her hand was shining again as she cast another type of summon light spell, [Summon Spirit Animal - Wolf]. The lights converged until it finally turned into a wolf.


    "We should go now before it goes further away. The wolf will lead the way." said Daisy calmly.


    Alex was surprised but happy. This young girl is now confident enough to give orders to others.


    "Yeah, please lead the way, Daisy." said Alex with a proud smile.


    Alex thought that it would be much faster if only the Sky Magus fighters that moved towards the stage 5 zombie, charging through thousands of zombies. Meanwhile, the other 100 Sky realm fighters could follow from behind, slowly finishing off the zombies they passed.


    Before they leave, Alex gives everybody in the group a few of his magic scrolls and tells them how to use it. Soon, a group of 9 Sky realm Magus ran, following a wolf as they headed towards the stage 5 zombie. Meanwhile, another 1 hundred figures followed right behind the group.


    Nearly a year ago, a stage 5 zombie was able to finish them all off without them being able to retaliate. But now, they were different than before.


    It''s time for payback.


    -


    From the sky, one could see 9 silhouettes moving rapidly through the sea of zombies, creating a single line dividing the zombie horde. As Alex and his 8 strongest Sky realm Magus followed the wolf spirit ahead while killing the zombies that were in the way, they noticed an increase in the number of stage 4 zombies around them. The same thought shed through everyone''s mind, it seemed like a stage 5 zombie was nearby.


    Alex looked around his surroundings and said.


    "Follow me."


    He led the fighters towards the 4-story building as the group quickly climbed up and jumped onto the roof of the building using the building''s balcony. Dozens of zombies who had followed them earlier began to approach the building and try to climb over it. Unfortunately for the poor zombies, neither of them manage to set foot on top of the building when Aria and Tommy cast their tier 2 spells at the climbing zombies, causing them to lose their grip and fall to the ground.


    Alex then proceeded to look at the direction the spirit wolf had been heading before. At the distance, he could see at least two dozen stage 4 white zombies taking guard around the location the stage 5 zombie was. He also could not ignore the sight of the hundreds of stage 2 and 3 zombies who could waste their time when they try to get to the stage 5 zombie position.


    Alex turned towards the group and when he saw these trusted people of his, a smile could not help but appear on his face.


    "I wholeheartedly believe that we are stronger than before and it will be different from thest time. But still, I want you guys to do this right and fast, not leaving any chance of failure." said Alex firmly.


    He then proceeded to exin his n. When everybody understood the n, they immediately moved to carry out the n.


    "Let''s go!"


    They then moved covertly towards the stage 5 zombie, doing their best to not alert the stage 2 and 3 zombies below them using the high buildings around them. When they were 300 meters away from the location of the zombies, dozens of white zombies were aware of their existence despite the fact that they were still on top of a building.


    Tommy immediately used his spell [Summon Shadow Fiend] as multiple shadows appeared from the ground and formed into tentacles, immediately shackling several white zombies. The spell was followed by Sergei, who leaped off the building; he excitedly cocked his tier 3 hammer artifact above his head and mmed it towards the ground while he used his favorite spell [Earth Smash].


    BOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!


    The familiar sound of the earth being leveled echoed in the air when the hammer hit the ground. Dozens of white zombies knocked back by the shockwave and lying on the ground with minor injuries. When the white zombies tried to get up, two streaks of lightning quickly crashed towards them as Oscar and Oliver bolted downward and started cutting down the zombies that had fallen due to Sergei''s attack.


    The other 4 people quickly took guard in the rear with Daisy who is in charge of reporting if conditions be increasingly dangerous. And sure enough, when they began to attack, a loud scream could be heard from the school building where the stage 5 zombie was. In an instant, the previously unwary zombie horde in the distance simultaneously turned around and madly dashed towards them.


    "Sh*t!" eximed someone.


    "Sergei, Tommy, Oscar, Oliver, and Daisy; stay here and wait for the reinforcement while keeping those zombie hordes outside the school building." Alex ordered. "Meanwhile, Jerry, Arief, and Aria will follow me and enter the building to kill the stage 5 zombie."


    "Alright, Alex!" said the ones who would be outside. "Be careful!"


    Nodding his head, Alex said. "You too guys. Be careful and safety first."


    The 4 of them immediately entered the school building. When they stepped into the building, their eyes were greeted by the sight of the entire building''s walls covered in strange slime and several white cocoons hanging from the ceiling and standing on the ground. Others who saw this scene were shocked beyond belief. They then quickly turned their gaze toward Alex, demanding an exnation.


    "What''s going on here?" asked Aria. "What are those cocoons?"


    Alex''s expression changed when he saw those white cocoons.


    "They are breeding the stage 4 zombie hereˇ­ No wonder there are so many white zombies appearing." said Alex gravely.


    When they tried to walk closer to the cocoons, some of them started to open and something was trying to get out of the cocoons. Seeing this, Alex quickly said.


    "Jerry, take care of them while the others hurry up."


    Averting their gazes away, they answered. "Alright" "Let''s go."


    As they ran along the school corridor, they kept finding the same cocoons. Their faces change when they see the number of cocoons and imagine how catastrophic it will be when the cocoons are allowed to hatch. Jerry quickly used [Wind de] and aimed it at each cocoon they passed, cutting it in half.


    After running for a while, they finally arrive at the school''s gymnastic hall. Within the hall, a 3 meter tall golden figure could be seen standing there, the strongest zombie; perfect evolution; mastermind of the invasion; the stage 5 zombie.


    Alex who saw this figure could not help but point his finger at it as he said.


    "There you are, you ugly face!" he shouted loudly


    The standing zombie looked at Alex with a curious gaze. But the next thing it did was shriek loudly, so loud that it could crack a normal person''s eardrum.


    Reflexively covering his ears, Alex''s face turned into a strange expression.


    "I guess you are not the same species, aren''t you?"


    Alex asked Jerry to wait before they kill this zombie because he wants to know if this stage 5 zombie will be the same type of abomination zombie as in Bali who can talk back.


    "Just to be sure, I''ll beat your ass first before asking again."


    Several white zombies came from the other hall door and from the back hallway. Alex nned to immediately beat this f*cker when Arief suddenly said.


    "Alex, can you give me 5 minutes with this thing?" said Arief, pointing his finger at the golden figure with a glint in his eyes.


    This Death Squad''s strongest fighter seems to have harbored his emotions to fight this zombie after a long day of fighting. So, after thinking for a moment, Alex decided to give him the chance.


    "Alright then, 5 minutes. No more." answered Alex.


    ----------------------------------


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 Chapter 297 - Gold VS Silver

    Aria and Jerry looked disappointed because they weren''t allowed to fight this stage 5 zombie. Alex understands that the three of them are still traumatized by the defeat that happened in Bali and wanted to redeem themselves. However, since Arief was their senior, they naturally had to give in this opportunity and could only sigh regretfully.


    The two of them then each walked over to the two hall doors and guard it while Alex guards the back hallway, protecting it from white zombies that are trying to help their leader. With this arrangement, Arief can fight against the stage 5 zombie freely without interruption, giving his best for the redemption.


    The golden zombie looked very fierce as it opened its mouth and let out another loud roar. Seeing Arief walking towards it, the zombie was immediately seen taking a deep breath as it directly cast its deadly spell, feeling the dangerous air around Arief.


    Golden rays shot out from its body as its energy got higher and higher. Its body exhibited an enormous amount of energy which caused the ground to tremor for several kilometers, startling others who were outside. The zombie then took another deep breath with its mouth as a barrage of fireballs shot out of its mouth, flying fast at Arief.


    The memories of their previous fight against a simr stage 5 zombie at Bali Ind, when these fireballs could easily destroy dozens of armored tanks, shed through the 4 people inside the gymnastic hall.. Seeing the rapidly approaching fireballs shooting at Arief, Alex and the rest could not help but worry about him.


    The barrage of fireballs quickly travelled through the air and hit the area Arief at as explosion after explosion ur on the walls, floors, and ceilings around him.


    BOOOOMM!! BOOOOMM!! BOOOOMM!! BOOOOMM!!


    Due to the sheer amount of fireballs and the explosions it caused, debris began to fall into the hall while ck smokes rapidly shrouded the hall, obstructing Alex and the rest from seeing what was going on with Arief.


    When the debris stopped falling and the smokes started disappearing, they could vaguely see a figure standing still in the middle of the dissipating smoke. A momentter, a tall human figure could be seen standing there firmly as if nothing happened while a silver sheen was seen gleaming on his skin.


    [Titanium Body - Tier 3 Metal Spell]


    A metal type element spell that makes the user''s whole body durable like metal as a silver luster enveloped the entire body, giving them extraordinary defensive capability.


    Surprisingly, this tier 3 metal spell managed to endure the full brunt of the stage 5 zombie''s fireball barrage.


    The golden zombie was stunned when it saw how Arief was unscathed by its attack. Without wasting any more time, Arief immediately let out a loud roar as he used his own technique.


    [Ares Strength - Stage 3]


    [Increases muscle strength]


    [Increases speed]


    Not only that, he also cast [Metal Hardening] spell on his [Great Sword - Tier 2 Artifact] as the sharp looking greatsword covered by a bright sheen and shone with brilliance.


    Arief then threw his piercing gaze at the golden figure, full of determination as his right foot stomped the hall''s floor, causing web-like cracks on it. In an instant, loud sound resounded in the hall as Arief shot towards the stage 5 zombie and struck with tremendous momentum. His figure became faint and shadowy because of how fast he was moving.


    When Arief getting closer and closer to the zombie, the two hands gripping the hilt of his sword grew tighter as he readied himself to do an upward sh.


    *nk*


    Crisp loud sound like a metal hitting another metal could be heard as Arief''s sword hit the stage 5 zombie, leaving only a small wounds on its skin. Seeing the result, he quickly adjust his stance as he gave the golden figure a horizontal sh with his sword. Another small wound appeared on its skin while a frustrated glint shed briefly in Arief''s eyes before being reced by an even stronger determination.


    *nk* *nk* *nk* *nk*


    Sounds of the sword continuously hitting the stage 5 zombie''s hard skin echoed in the hall as Arief kept swinging his greatsword at the zombie. The stage 5 zombie who awaken from its stunned state finally realized the situation. It let out an angry roar and immediately counterattacked as it threw its menacing ws at Arief.


    Unfortunately, the continuous shes from Arief''s tier 2 sword that had been enhanced by [Ares Strength] and [Metal Hardening] spell were still not enough to prate the zombie''s body. While on the other hand, the golden zombie''s w strikes could only knock the colonel down but not injure him.


    These two golden and silver figures could only continue fighting, hitting and shing alternately without neither of them being able to seriously injure their opponent. Seeing their stalemate situation and how limited his time was, the colonel decided to use the trump cards Alex gave them to swiftly end this battle.


    Blocking a punching from the zombie, Arief make use of the punch''s momentum to retreat to the back, giving him an opportunity to took out the trump cards. He then immediately took 2 pieces of rolled skin out of his storage ring, the magic scrolls given by Alex.


    In a split second, the two scrolls quickly torn apart by Arief''s hand as magic runes appeared around him, epassing his entire body and weapon.


    [Fire Infusion] [Wind Walk]


    Sparks of fire appeared on the tip of Arief''s greatsword as it rapidly engulfed by zing mes, enhancing its destructive ability. Meanwhile, faint swirls of wind could be seen appearing below Arief''s feet as his body surged by raging winds, increasing his movement speed.


    Feeling the boost that he had, the colonel dashed forward again towards the stage 5 zombie. Red and green trails could be seen as Arief run at the golden zombie with his swords pointing at it. This time, thanks to the magic scroll''s enhancement, he can more easily dodge the zombie''s attack and his shes finally could inflict significant wound. Golden colored blood sshed out of the stage 5 zombie''s body every time Arief shed his swords.


    Meanwhile, Alex; Jerry; and Aria who fighting against the white zombies, did not experience any difficulty at all as the white zombies being killed like weeds. Alex even had the leisure to observe Arief''s battle against the stage 5 zombie, gauging the limit of their strength.


    From the hole in the ceiling caused by the golden zombie attack earlier, a tier 2 zombie tried to jump into the hall.


    Aria who noticed the red zombie quickly cast her [Ice st - Tier 2 Ice Spell]. The spell casted by Aria immediately froze the red zombie and covered most of the hole at once.


    The battle between these two gold and silver figures did not seem to be resolved quickly. Meanwhile, Daisy who took guard outside gave Alex report through the transmitter that the situation outside of the school building is getting harder to control.


    Decapitating a white zombie, Alex turned his head towards Arief and shouted.


    "I''m sorry, colonel. But your time is up."


    At the same time as Alex shouted his words, Arief''s next sh finally managed to cut one of the zombie''s leg, making it fall to the ground. But just like before, the creature would able to regenerate its legs back to normal in less than 5 seconds.


    Of course, Arief had tried to target the zombie''s neck with his sh, beheading it for good, but the damn monster always protected its neck and head with its hands.


    Seeing the monster on the ground, Alex immediately took the opportunity.


    [Hexagram Technique - stage 4] [Haste] [Fire Infusion]


    Alex casted the best of his abilities as his strength shot up and raging mes covered Strokes when the scroll took effect. Just when the monster tried to get back to his feet, Alex was already behind the monster and immediately shed the tier 5 sword artifact diagonally, cutting the zombie in half. The sh split the zombie at an angle from its right shoulder to its waist, detaching the upper part of its body from its legs.


    The two separated zombie body fell to the ground. Even though its body had been split in two, the golden zombie was still able to move and was still trying to regenerate his body. But Alex quickly stepped on its body and stood on it, he then said.


    "If you have anything to say, you should speak now. I might spare you." said Alex calmly.


    However, the golden zombie only roared like wild beasts


    "So be it then."


    Alex took onest nce at the golden figure below him as he lifted Strokes in the air and stabbed it into its head. And simultaneously his whole body stopped moving. The zombie''s strongest evolutionary monster finally died.


    ----------------------------------


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 Chapter 298 - Theo

    When Alex left with the ones he selected, running across the Cooks River and charging through the zombie hordes, the others, who were stationed at Cooks River, weren''t idle either, as they prepared themselves to defend this ce against the next zombie horde that seemed endless. The battle quickly continued as another zombie horde crossed the river through the zombie bridge.


    On the banks of Cooks River, north of Sydney city''s Botany Bay, one could see countless figures of zombie fighting with the fighters who were trying their best to hold their ground. The sheer amount of zombie and fighter corpses filled the Cooks River and its surroundings, making them almost disappear from thendscape.


    The person Alex trusted to take care of this battlefield was Theo, a scientist who was also a priest and an old friend.


    The reason Alex had let Theo take charge and defend this ce wasn''t because he was the weakest of those who had followed him to hunt the stage 5 zombie. But rather, it was because Theo was the most suitable fighter to apany Colonel Angus to defend the river against the zombie hordes.


    The first thing he did after he took charge was to heal all the heavily injured fighters in the frontline. Rays of light could be seen around the fighters as Theo consecutively cast his healing spell.


    [Healing Ray - Tier 2 Light Spell].


    It was a light element spell capable of healing open wounds quickly. Coupled with the natural regeneration ability of Sky realm fighters, these nearly dead fighters were able to escape from death and recover enough to keep fighting.


    As a priest, Theo always thought that his purpose in Alex''s team was mainly to provide counsel, to tend the fighters'' mental health and to be the group healer. The thing he was doing right now was his calling.


    However, during the time he was with Alex, Theo was fortunate enough to pick up other abilities too. On top of it, thetest ability that he got was perfect for fighting against multiple enemies.


    [Flying Formation]


    This was a special ability from Theo''s tier 3 sword artifact. This tier 3 sword artifact was in the form of 5 short shorts which could act as one unit. Its user could also control it remotely through their mind which allowed the 5 swords to fly separately and attack the enemy. It was a truly versatile weapon as long as its user''s mental capability was strong enough to control this artifact.


    This artifact trulyplemented Theo''s main strength, raising hisbat prowess to another level. Even though this short swords artifact was not as strong as the other tier 3 weapon artifacts, its destructiveness was still strongerpared to high caliber bullets.


    That was why this tier 3 sword artifact was the perfect weapon to kill the stage 2 and stage 3 zombies, which were the mostmon on the battlefield. This artifact could easily kill a stage 2 zombie by simply passing through it, directly bisecting the unlucky zombie. This artifact was truly an efficient tool to kill the fodders, especially the stage 3 zombies, which were very difficult to kill due to their regenerative ability, unless you cut off their heads.


    These 5 short swords could fly through the air; chasing, twisting, shing and stabbing the ck zombies from unexpected directions, easily killing them.


    St! St! St!


    *Thud* *Thud* *Thud*


    The sound of swords tearing through zombies, followed by the sound of several bodies falling to the ground could be heard, as several zombie heads flew through the air, separated from their bodies. Dozens of zombies without their heads could be seen as Theo continued to kill dozens of ck zombies every minute.


    The only weakness, if it could be counted as one, was Theo''s limited ability to control all five swords from a long distance. So, he still needed to advance to the front lines to make the most out of this artifact. He needed his full concentration when he controlled the 5 swords, because the slightest distraction would make him lose control. Due to that very reason, Theo was always apanied by half a dozen Sky realm fighters, whose job was to protect him from any kind of distraction or danger.


    At first, thanks to the Fatahih destroyer''s bombing attack, the area across the river right in front of them was cleared from the sea of zombies, making it conducive for the fighters to take a breath. But within 5 minutes, thousands of zombiespletely filled the entire banks of the Cooks River. And within the next 10 minutes, there were tens of thousands of zombies surrounding them. It seemed the zombie wave this time was the biggest of all.


    Therge numbers of zombies quickly overwhelmed the fighters as they slowly separated from each other and fought their own battle, making the situation in the battlefield turned even more chaotic.


    A loud shout could be heard from somewhere near Theo in the sea of zombies.


    "Mr Theo, we need to retreat a bit and recreate the defense line! We can not keep going like this!"


    Realizing it was Colonel Angus''s voice, Theo quickly replied shouting.


    "What can I do to help, Colonel?"


    "Can you distract them for us? We just need 1 minute to restore the order and formation."


    "Alright! I will try my best, Colonel."


    "Thank you! I''ll do it now!"


    Colonel Angus quickly took out a stick-like thing and pulled the wire on it. Immediately, sparks appeared as plumes of green smoke shot out of the smoke re and soared into the air. Seeing the green smoke that suddenly appeared and rose on the battlefield, the separated fighters quickly approached the smoke location while continuing to fight the zombies. Meanwhile, Theo also shouted to the Sky realm fighters around him.


    "You all step back! Hurry! All of you!"


    "What about you, Mr Theo?" shouted one of the fighters.


    "Just go ahead! I will be right behind you guys."


    Since it was the order from Theo who was the toon leader of their group, all the fighters listened to him and retreated back. In an instant, Theo was immediately surrounded by dozens of red and ck zombies that wanted to tear him apart. Theo calmly arranged his sword artifact formation around him and made them move in a circle, slicing every zombie that was approaching him in half.


    However, second by second, the rotating sword formation began to be unable to stem the zombies, 5 swords were not enough to hold the never-ending zombies at bay. Theo looked behind to make sure the fighters, who were previously standing guard around him, had retreated.


    When he confirmed they had retreated, a faint smile appeared on his face as he stood in the middle of the crowd. Theo pulled back and put the five short swords into his storage ring. The instant he did, all the zombies rushed over to him.


    Seeing the rapidly approaching zombies, Theo didn''t panic, still with a smile on his face, he calmly ced both hands on his head, as he cast his unique spell.


    [Mind st - Tier 3 Light Spell]


    In a split second, the zombies that were wildly heading towards him froze. And then, all the zombies within a radius of 5 meters around him immediately exploded, shredded into pieces while the others within the next 10 meters radius were thrown backwards and pushed the other zombies outside the radius.


    In that one attack, Theo managed to kill dozens of zombies. He then immediately ran towards the newly formed defensive line. Colonel Angus, who was still fighting in the ranks, waspletely amazed at the spell Theo just casted.


    As they prepared to continue fighting, they suddenly felt a change from these zombies. It seemed they were in a state of confusion and some were even starting to move in different directions.


    Confused by the sudden situation, Colonel Angus turned to Theo.


    "Mr Theo. W-What just happened here?"


    "Looks like they''ve killed the zombie leader", said Theo with a smile.


    "That''s great news!" replied Colonel Angus with a happy expression on his face.


    Theo smiled looking at the excited Colonel. He nced at the disorganized zombies and then looked towards the sky with his hands palmed on his chest.


    "Praise God, He saves us and delivers us from danger."


    "Now is the time to counter attack, Colonel"


    Calming his excitement, Colonel Angus replied: "Of course."


    He then turned towards the fighters as he shouted: "Let''s go, boys! The boss had been taken care of!"


    The colonel''s shouts encouraged the exhausted fighters, as cries of victory began to sound across the battlefield, reviving their fighting spirit.


    While the same thing was also happening at the Sydney Harbor bridge battlefield.


    ----------------------------------


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 Chapter 299 - The Harbour

    Sydney Harbour Bridge, North of Sydney City.


    The Sydney Harbour Bridge is an Australian heritage. Connecting the Sydney central business district and the North Shore. Before the apocalypse, the view of the bridge, the harbour, and the nearby Sydney Opera House is widely regarded as an iconic image of Sydney, and of Australia itself.


    As his eyes gazed at this glorious heritage, Malcolm, the prime minister andmander in chief of Sydney city looked at the battle at that very spot of heritage from the Sydney Governor House located 1 kilometer south of the bridge.


    Seeing the current state of the bridge, Malcolm could not help but sigh deeply. Regret and frustration appeared on his face as his palms clenched tightly and slowly turned red due to how hard he clenched them.


    24 hours of continuous battle had happened there, with the soldiers and zombies fighting tooth and nail to seize ownership of this important choke point. The soldiers had tried their best to defend this bridge, regardless if it was because the bridge is the pride of their mothend or to protect their loved ones from danger. But in effort to protect the bridge, all of them had sacrificed their life valiantly in the process..


    Unfortunately for these nameless heroes that had bravely sacrificed themselves, the worst possible situation happened 30 minutes ago as the Spirit Barrier was finally smashed into pieces by the relentless attacks of stage 3 ck zombies and stage 4 white zombies.


    The barrier that had protected the Sydney Harbor bridge for more than 8 hours was finally broken down. When the barrier was destroyed, the zombie hordes quickly crossed the bridge and entered the downtown area of Sydney city.


    The soldiers that were defending behind the barrier before it was destroyed had tried their best to stop the approaching waves of zombies. However, due to the fact that 90 percent of Sky realm fighters was currently at Cooks River in the south; fighting the zombie hordes who crossed the river, the soldiers at the bridge could not do anything and were immediately overrun by the zombies.


    But a momentter, when all hope seemed lost, a warship, more precisely a destroyer, appeared to be approaching Sydney Harbour. It was quickly followed by canon bombardments to the north shore of the bridge.


    When the destroyer reached the harbour, More than 1 hundred elite fighters came out from the destroyer as they immediately flooded the bridge and defended it from the zombies until not a single zombie was able to prate into the city anymore.


    Seeing dozens of zombies manage to enter the city, Malcolm swiftly ordered all the Sky realm fighters whose job was protecting him to quickly kill all the zombies. They were thest fighters he could send. But with the situation having turned to the worst, it''s best to save the civilians first. After doing that, he continued to watch the situation at the bridge with full concentration.


    A fierce battle took ce at the Sydney Harbour bridge between the zombie hordes and the troops led by a middle aged woman. From the sky, one could see the endless wave of colorful zombies held by the blue-camo line of fighters.


    Karra, themander of Fatahih destroyer, the girl who used to be a victim of the tsunami, ironically is a Water Magus. Karra calmly stood on the front line of the fight with several water balls around her as she quickly moved the water balls and threw them at the approaching zombies.


    [Whip Ssh - Tier 1 Water Spell]


    Each blow would drop a group of zombies to the ground. It might not be a deadly attack, but with the zombiesying on the floor t, it''s much easier for her troops to kill them.Kara was brilliantly able to maneuver thewater ssh. It''s an example of using a simple spell to create maximum results.


    On her right side stood Rangga,member of the Deathsquad; with his two swords and martial arts could easily overwhelm several zombies at once. Meanwhile, on the left side stood Russel, the strongest fighter from Indonesian Navy frog soldier, with his dagger and rifle.


    However, the strongest fighter among them is the brown skinned man with a muscr body full of tattoos who stands behind the woman. Makali, a Lightning Magus and a shaman from Papua. With the double-edged halberd he had, Makali fought and decapitated the zombies that approached him easily. The way he fought was truly mystical as he moved around the zombie horde as if he danced with them.


    When he ''danced'' with the zombies, he also asionally cast his lightning spell when he felt that he was going to be surrounded.


    [Chain Lightning - Tier 3 Lightning Spell]


    Erratic streams of lightning appeared and shot towards the crowd of zombies as the lightning leaped from one zombie to another, electrocuting and incinerating them. With this one spell, half a dozen zombies werepletely scorched.


    These troops might be a level below Alex''s elite team, but they are more than enough to defend the bridge against the zombie hordes.


    It was not long since they started to defend themselves against the horde when suddenly they felt the zombie horde''s aggressive attack rapidly cked off. Karra could see the zombie horde began to separate themselves as half of them turned around and retreated.


    Upon realizing the situation, she did not let this opportunity pass and immediately ordered her elite troops to push forward and chase the zombie horde, killing as many zombies as possible. Her troops continued to pursue the zombie hordes as they crossed over the bridge until they entered the North Shore region.


    However, at that location, Karra began to get overwhelmed by the zombies because she did not have enough troops to fight thousands of zombies at once. The reason she was able to defend the zombie horde''s relentless attack before is because of the limited space the bridge had that severely restricted the zombie hordes from using their numerical advantages against her troops.


    At this very moment, amotion suddenly appeared at the rear side of the zombie horde, north of Karra''s troops current location. Several explosions could be seen in the distance as ck plumes of smoke appeared and slowly enveloped the battlefield, followed by a girl charging through the sea of zombies as she shot out multiple fire arrows.


    Each arrow would create an explosion and kill the surrounded zombies into bits and pieces. From behind the girl, dozens of fighters came forward to kill the zombies from behind.


    The zombie horde quickly turned even more chaotic by the sudden nk attack. Karra was stunned by the sudden appearance of unknown troops, but her shock did not stopped there. Amidst the crowd of zombies, she could see a figure that shook her entire being. A figure of half-human and half-tiger with golden furry skin and ck patches on its body appeared in the middle of the zombie sea, fiercely crushing a stage 3 zombie with its bare hand easily.


    The figure roared loudly.


    *ROAR*


    [Beast Transformation - Lynx - stage 2]


    [Enhances strength]


    [Enhances speed]


    The half-human half-tiger figure was seen running with its hands and feet while crushing all the zombies in its way. Within a few minutes, the dense zombie horde began to disperse, elevating the pressure off Karra''s team.


    The lynx figure walked over to Karra as she cautiously looked at the figure. She did not take the initiative to attack because of their help earlier. In seconds, the furry body began to quickly disappear as the person beneath it appeared, a beautiful young blonde girl, Cindy.


    When she turned back to her human form from her lynx form, Cindy was dazed for a few seconds and went naked. Once she started to wake up from her daze, she hurriedly opened her storage ring and put on her clothes. This is the reason why she is always reluctant to use this technique in a fight. It always left her naked!


    When Karra saw this dressed girl up close, she finally recognized who the girl was. Cindy, the girl she met and knew in Bali.


    Karra was about to open her mouth when Cindy suddenly grumbled furiously.


    "That cold hearted Colonel! Forgetting about us and leaving us in Brisbane! Luckily, Alex told me about thisˇ­ I almost miss the fight!!!"


    This troop is the 2nd toon led by Cindy and Dinda, the partner of Arief''s toon. Apparently, Arief left their toon to join Alex''s team.


    She quickly turned around while still grumbling about the old man. She then immediately entered the battlefield again with a sword in one hand and a whip in another, leaving the dumbfounded Karra there gaping with her mouth open.


    When the sun is directly above them, only a quarter of zombies can still be seen roaming around Sydney city.


    The battle of Sydney had ended.


    ----------------------------------


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 Chapter 300 - Farewell

    As soon as the stage 5 zombie was killed, the behaviour of the zombie horde that were still fiercely attacking before, quickly returned to normal as sounds could easily distract them, allowing Alex''s team to divide and conquer all these zombies.


    Alex and the other 8 people quickly ran back and regrouped with their other fighters that were still trying to catch up to them. The group then swiftly went back towards Sydney City to check the situation over there. After they ran through the Australian wilderness for 1 hour, they reached the defensive line of the Sydney Gate, where they could see the area was still swarming with zombies.


    Immediately, Alex ordered all his men to throw various explosives to each direction to lure the zombie horde, separating them to several small groups easier to manage. When the explosives went off in several directions and caused loud sounds, the zombie horde quickly lured by it and separated, moving towards their nearest explosion sound. As the zombie hordes split up and move to different directions, the previously massive zombie hordes finally disbands and is no longer a threat.


    There are also the white zombies and ck zombies among the zombie horde to worry about, but fortunately there are not too many of them, with only several white zombies and tens of ck zombies in the divided horde.


    Seeing that the distractions are doing their job, Alex swiftly moved with his fighters to clean up these zombie hordes as they split up and charged towards different directions, ughtering their way through the zombie hordes.


    Within half a day, the zombies were finally driven out of the city.. Alex took his time to go to Sydney headquarters as he rechecked his n and calcted the gains he got during his time in Australian continent.


    As he stepped through the front door of Sydney headquarter, Alex was immediately weed by the prime minister, Malcolm along with government officials and several military officers at his side. The man quickly walked over to Alex with a grateful expression on his face.


    "Thank you! Thank you for your help, Mr Alex. On behalf of all citizens of Sydney city, I would like to give my heartfelt gratitude." said Malcolm with a ny degree bow.


    Raising his eyebrows at the unexpected gesture, Alex could not help but say.


    "You''re wee, Mr Malcolm. We should help each other in this apocalypse era." said Alex calmly. "I have done what i can, I''m sure your men can handle the rest of the zombies."


    "Of course!" said Malcolm firmly. "What you''ve done is more than enough, Mr Alex. It is time for us to clean up the rest and rebuild the city."


    Nodding his head, Alex then spoke. "That''s great. I hope all goes well, Mr Prime Minister."


    When the battle of Sydney was finally over, Alex decided not to stay long in Sydney city and informed Prime Minister Malcolm about it. Hearing the news, Malcolm decided to break the regtion of the previous government and gave the honour of Knight of the Order of Australia which had been abolished to Alex, showing his gratitude and sincerity. While on the other hand, Arief was awarded with the honour of Companion of the Order of Australia due to his help in their effort to defend against the zombie hordes.


    Alex doesn''t care much about any kind of honors and even has a casual attitude on it. But since he is currently the leader of the headquarters located adjacent to Australian continent, it means that in the future they will definitely be in touch with each other. Alex decided to take this seriously. Seen from a diplomat''s political perspective, this award could be a good start for the two countries in their future rtions.


    Alex extended his olive branches to the 70 thousands Australian citizens that lived in Sydney city to join him and immigrate to Bali Ind. Unfortunately, Malcolm rejected his offer because they could not bear to leave the country, their identity.After seeing the battle, Malcolm actually determined to restore the country to its former glory, there are thousands of his people still separated in different cities. Now that Sydney already has ess to the Doomsday Ps spirit Barrier, he ns to gather all the Australian citizens to this city..


    The meeting turned into a discussion of a pact between the two countries. After hours of diplomatic discussions, they agreed to a protection pact between the two countries stating that they would assist the other when needed. The next day, Sydney city government then began their n to clean up and build the city while Alex and his group prepared to leave.


    The Fatahih destroyer from the start had brought enough transport ships to amodate Alex''s entire army. That way, after spending another night resting in this Harbor city, they were all ready to sail back to Bali the next morning.


    The 1st toon led by Arief, the 2nd toon led by Cindy and Dinda, the 3rd and 4th toon led by Jerry, and the 5th and 6th toon led by Sergei and Theo quickly boarded the ship. Alex''s 360 elite fighters as well as Karra''s more than 100 selected fighters left the Sydney Harbour, followed by the Sydney citizens'' farewell.


    2 ships, one Fatahih destroyer and another transport ship sailed together along the Australian coast to the north. However, before heading to Bali Ind, Alex and his group had to stop at one ce, a small town in the northeast of the Australian continent, a city called Cairns.


    Their main goal going to that ce is to pick up the 7th and 8th toon that were already waiting there. But when they arrived at the city pier, the more than 100 fighters from 7th and 8th toon greeted them withckluster faces.


    Alex could see Raufgar and Ark among them, as well as Dario, the Death Squad fighter from Surabaya. When their ships were finally docked at the pier, Dario immediately took Alex somewhere. Dario doesn''t say a word as they walk, causing Alex''s feelings to grow even more ufortable. Unable to endure this suffocating silence any longer, Alex opened his mouth.


    "What happened?"


    Sighing deeply, so deep that Alex could feel a hint of sorrow in his sigh, Ark slowly spoke.


    "We lost Darius."


    "What ?!" Surprised by this shocking news, Alex couldn''t help but ask again


    Letting out another sigh, Ark said. "Darius was badly injured and just passed away yesterday."


    Darius, a man who is a B aptitude darkness element spirit enhancer who has special understanding in the mastery of gravity. He is also one of the first fighters to join Alex group in Bali.


    Alex hurriedly entered a room where 5 bodiesy motionless there, Darius and 4 other elite fighters.


    Seeing Darius''s pale face, the stone-cold lifeless body of this 35 years old man, Alex seems to be lost in thought.


    To Alex, Darius is the fighter he can rte to the most because they are the same age and their roles are parents, more urately the fighter he can rte the most with the previous life of him where he didn''t manage to save his family. Unlike Darius, Alex was able to save his family due to his reincarnation.


    "Tell me how he died."


    Apparently, a few days ago, the squad was attacked by a rare tier 4 mutated beast as they travelled through the Australian desert, where Darius sacrificed himself and died heroically while rescuing his teammate.


    Upon hearing this, Alex frowned because he thought there was no glory in death, let alone heroic. Only when alive can you truly make a difference and contribute to the world, not in death.


    In his previous life, Darius was one of the great and famous fighters in the second and third years of the apocalypse, whereas in this life he couldn''t get past the first year.


    Sighing at this revtion, Alex knew that he couldn''t save everyone. The future has be much different from before because of the butterfly effect that his existence brings. Shaking his head, Alex thought resolutely. ''There''s no use thinking about the past. I just have to do my best at this point.''


    Apparently, just like Darius, the other 4 men also didn''t have a family to go back to.


    Alex then decided to make a small ceremony on the ship as they continued sailing towards Bali. These fighters were given a tribute funeral ceremony where rifles were fired 5 times into the sky followed by a salute performed by the 400 soldiers as they gave their final farewell to their fallenrades. After that, their bodies were cremated and their ashes were then thrown into the sea.


    -


    Bali Headquarters, Bali Ind.


    An information received from Fatahih destroyer.


    -Mission Summary-


    Mission on the Australian continent.


    Of the 500 fighters,452 were able to return.


    ----------------------------------


    Written and Directed by Avans, Published by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,


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 Chapter 301 - Survivors

    Dday #465


    40 days after Alex and his team returned to Bali Ind.


    35 days before the first tribtion begins.


    At the moment, ten of thousands of Abyss Gates that were located all around the globe had reached their final stage, ready to unleash their terror onto the world. Across the world, all the area around the Abyss Gates have turned into apletely ck pitch terrain, a barren field devoid of any life, and filled with numerous critters and hellhounds.


    The increasing threat of the Abyss Gate as time went on, in addition to the usual threat of zombies, made the defensive base posts around the world begin to merge into one unit in their respective region.


    Thus, it was not surprising that currently over two hundred pirs around the world managed to clear the 30th floor and open up ess to the Level 2 Hall. A third of them even managed to have ess to the Spirit Barrier function on the 40th floor.


    With this, almost all of the people who are still alive have been able to ess and are connected to the Doomsday Pirwork, where they can see all the information that has been sessfully shared. As they realized and knew about their impending predicament, the inhabitants of the Earth began to work hand in hand to prepare themselves for the arrival of the first tribtion..


    [2.925.221] [2.925.220] [2.925.219]


    In a massive reading room, a middle aged man was seen standing in the doomsday pir hall while he seemed to be watching the dwindling countdown figure before his eyes. The man frowned as he ced his fingers on his forehead, a sign of someone who was filled with a lot of thoughts. Suddenly, a young girl approached the man and hugged the man from the side, stroking the man;s shoulder while also watching the countdown figure.


    When the young girl had seen the countdown for a few moments, she then turned to face the man beside her.


    "Daddy, you are looking at that number more than ever. Is something bothering you?" Asked the young girl while continuing to stroke her father''s shoulder.


    Turning his head towards his daughter, the man answered her question.


    "Why are you asking that, sweetheart?"


    "Well, I just wanted to know. I''m worried for you, daddy." said the girl, looking at her father''s eye.


    The man let out a faint smile when he heard his daughter''s concern. He then hugged his daughter back as he said.


    "It''s nothing, really." muttered the man. "It''s just thattely, Daddy has been wondering if there is anything else that Daddy can do to better face the day ahead."


    Upon hearing her father''s words, the young girl immediately grabbed and pressed his father''s cheeks together with her hands. She then opened her mouth while still maintaining their eye contact.


    "I ''m sure you will eventually figure it out, Daddy. I believe in you!" said the young girl cutely. She then let go of her hands and walked to the door. As the man was watching his daughter who was about to walk out of the room, she suddenly turned around.


    "Mother said family dinner at seven. Do not forget! " said the young girl enthusiastically, pointing her finger at the man. She then waved her hands to him as she walked out of the room.


    The young girl is Tiffany, Alex''s eldest daughter. Looking at her, Alex shook his head thinking about how Tiffany had grown so much. Currently, the girl has turned into a 14 years old teenager. She has grown up beautifully and is much more mature than before, bringing a smile to Alex''s face when he thinks about it.


    Shaking his head again, Alex immediately stood up and walked out of the room with a smile on his face. Not long after, Alex was standing in front of the main panel of the Doomsday Pir, waiting for something. A momentter, the message he was waiting for had finally arrived.


    [You are invited to enter the pirwork room by Pir #321. Location : American Continent.]


    [ept?]


    [Yes]


    Within a split second, Alex''s projection immediately entered the unique meeting room. His eyes immediately wandered around, looking at others who already arrived before him. While the others who saw himing started whispering quietly to each other, Alex calmly took a seat and closed his eyes, waiting silently for the meeting to begin. With the fact that the tribtion day was approaching in less than a month, the situation inside the room was getting tense.


    When everyone arrived, the President of the United States, Elizabeth McCord and the Chief of Staff immediately started the meeting. They then began exining thetest world threat analysis data.


    Number of connected Doomsday Pirs : 218


    Number of ounted survivors : 124.886.121


    Detailed report :


    China : 29.034.662 survivorsin 22 pirs


    India : 7.492.114 survivors in 3 pirs


    Indonesia : 5.883.121 survivors in 5 pirs


    America : 4.965.335 survivors in 18 pirs


    Germany : 3.779.021 survivors in 8 pirs


    Russia : 3.221.964 survivors in 24 pirs


    Japan : 2.699.654 survivors in 6 pirs


    Brazil : 2.246.711 survivors in 6 pirs


    Philippines : 1.833.012 survivors in 3 pirs


    Pakistan : 1.753.815 survivors in 2 pirs


    These are the top ten countries with the most registered survivors.A total of 124 million survivors out of the 7.7 billion poption, a registered poption figure of less than 2 percent of the world''s former total poption.


    Even though everyone had expected an oue like this, representatives from the more than 30 pirs around the world who attended this meeting were still uneasy when they saw the numbers.


    It is estimated that there are still 30-40 million more people who are still not registered because they are still scattered in the wilderness or have not been able to open the Level 2 Hall to connect to the pirwork.


    If these 40 million unregistered people still haven''t seeded in opening the 40th floor or moving to another pir, then it is expected that the majority of 99% of them will not make it through the first tribtion next month. So, the one of main reasons for holding this meeting is to decide who will seek out these people and send assistance to areas in need.


    At this point of time, the word assistance means skyrealm warriors. As it requires a lot of spirit stones to create such fighters, the number of these warriors are still limited. Especially those skyrealm magus that only number one in every thousand knights.


    The countries identified as having many strong fighters are: China, USA, Italy, Greece, Germany, Russia, Japan, and Israel. After 9 months since the second hall opened, none of the fighters from these countries were able to pass the 50th floor, even though they had focused their resources. They realized that they weren''t able to continue to the next floor without sacrificing a lot of fighters, so they decided to refocus their fighters on the realm improvement.


    Several countries have also tried to enter the Abyss Gate. China, America, and Italy have managed to break through the hall guarded by the three-headed Cerberus. But unfortunately for them, their troops were forced to retreat in the face of thousands of gargoyles.


    One of the main topic of today''s meeting is discussing Alex''s invitation to jointly destroy the Abyss Gate. Alex''s main objective, of course, is to show how to get past the Cerberus gate and defeat thest guard of the Abyss Gate. With that, those who followed their team could apply what they saw to their respective Abyss Gate.


    Naturally, the number of invitations from Alex was very limited. Each country could send as many troops as possible, but only a maximum of 10 fighters were allowed to enter the Abyss gate. Those who entered had to at least reach the middle stage of Sky realm. It was decided that they will gather on Bali Ind 5 days from now.


    After that, they started an open discussion session where they could talk about things rted to the alliance pacts, trading agreement or so on.


    The meeting finished just before 7 o''clock.


    Leaving the meeting room, a faint smile appeared on Alex''s face as he thought of his family waiting for him to have dinner together.


    Looking forward to his wife''s cooking, Alex thought.


    ''I guess it''s time for me to rx.''


    At this moment, he needs to stop worrying about protecting the world and Time to enjoy living it.


    Alex returns to his residence and has dinner together with his wife Devita, the two daughters Tiffany and Tiara. Their aunt Vonny and also they invite Rick, his family and daughter Vina to join. Alex treasures such a moment as soon enough the Doomsday Tribtion will start.


    ----------------------------------


    Written and Directed by Avans, Published by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,


    Check out our new website https://bit.ly/avansweb


    Author Note:


    Dear Reader, I am hoping for you to check out my new novel titled ''Blood Elf System'' It also from the same universe and actually starts before Doomsday arrives. Please give it a read currently only 6 chapters and give ament. I also appreciate if you would give a few of the power stone for the novel just for these few days while the novel still in the new section. Thank you

 Chapter 302 - Progress

    Bali Headquarters, Bali Ind.


    4 days until the arrival of the guests from outside the Ind.


    In the study room, Alex was seen looking at one of the documents from the pile of official documents, which was located on the table in front of him, prepared by Cahya, the current right hand of Devita in governing the base. Seeing the amount of outstanding datas reported in the documents, Alex could not help but smile like someone who won a lottery ticket.


    Turning his heads towards Cahya, Alex asked the man.


    "So, Cahya, how was my wife going when I was gone? Is she having enough rest or is she working too hard? Are you having a hard time working with her?"


    Cahya was overwhelmed by the barrage of questions from his superior and could only stand there, speechless. Realizing how fast he spoke, Alex could not help but scratch his cheek awkwardly. "I''m sorry. Did I speak too fast?"


    "Don''t worry, Alex.. Your wife is a natural leader and an excellent administrator. You can rest assured that the base is in a good hand."


    Ever since Alex returned to Bali, he felt bad for his wife, who gave her best effort to take care of the headquarters'' matters while he was gone. Seeing his wife''s expertise in managing the ind and its residents, Alex felt that he was not needed anymore. Rubbing his chin and sighing in exasperation, Alex thought, ''I guess my talent is not as good whenpared to my wife.''


    ''Better let my wonderful wife take care of these, lest I mess up somewhere.'' Alex jokingly thought as he saw these reports.


    A year and half has passed since this headquarters was founded and its development was still continuing to this day. Since the very day it was founded, information about this safe ind sterile from zombies and other monsters had long been spreading around the world, making a lot of immigrants from outside the ind willing toe here to seek refuge.


    Even though Bali Headquarters has provided many expeditions to pick up those who wanted to move, the fact still remained that the ships they had were not enough to pick up all of them. There were also many ces still out of reach by them. However, there were some of these people who decided toe on their own. These people came from all the thousands of inds in Indonesia and as far as Asia.The Bali Headquarters was naturally happy to take these people under its wing, increasing the poption of Bali Ind as a whole.


    Without realizing it, the bay city Harbour had turned into a massive port where dozens ships of all the sizes, from the gigantic ones to the small ones, could be seen docking and filling this dock. The heavy traffic that ured at the port made Bay City a ce for residents of Bali Ind to carry out their economic activities.


    The documents in front of him updated the number of residents recorded on the ind. Including the personnel of the military headquarters, residents who gathered at strategic posts andmunities that have filled the center of Bali Ind itself. Currently there were almost 2 million people living on this ind.


    Total poption in Bali Ind : 1.895,963 inhabitants.


    Poption upation Distribution:


    Civilians: 81% [1.535,963 people]


    Administration: 1%


    Children: 13%


    Elders: 6%


    Farmers: 35%


    Weapon Production: 2%


    Construction Workers: 8%


    Medical Research & Development Division: 2%


    Resource Division: 13%


    Unassigned: 1%


    Military Personnel: 19% [360,000 active personnel]:


    Elite Troops: 10,000


    1st Division Soldiers: 80.000


    2nd Division Soldiers: 80.000


    3rd Division soldiers: 80.000


    Cadets: 20,000


    Militia Troops: 50,000


    Although at first nce the ind of Bali has an impressive troop size of 360 thousands, the actual number of their troops has not increased that much in thest 9 months. The qualifications to join the army have been tightened, those who had low performance had been reced by those who were better. Sending those who didn''t reach the standard to the other sectors that needed manpower.


    Most of these fighters were the ones who fought to clear up Bali ind, as for the neers, they needed to go through many tests. One had to at least have reached the Sky realm stage to qualify to enlist in the elite troops, not to mention the tests they had to pass, that would test their overallbat strength.


    Those who wanted to apply to the military had to pass various tests that would assess their talent inbat. However, those who had proven to be the best will definitely get support in their upgrades until they reach the Earth realm stage. Meanwhile, the Sky realm fighters, who were members of the elite troops, were getting the best treatment.


    Currently, all the elite troop members had reached the Sky realm stage, while every 100 soldiers unit in each division was also led by a Sky realm fighter. All Sky realm fighters were at least equipped with Tier 1 Hardened weapons, except for those 400 elite fighters who go to Australia, who on average already had tier 2 and tier 3 weapons.


    From a security point of view, the report looked absolutely amazing. Not to mention the protective facilities the Bali headquarters had built, which further convinced those moving to the ind of Bali of their choice.


    By registering a total of 1 million residents in the Doomsday Pir, the Bali headquarters managed to get 50 monoliths that could be deployed. These 50 monoliths were then immediately scattered to form a giant formation covering a quarter of the ind of Bali.


    With their protection, the facilities and also the number of fighters, Alex certainly did not worry about the security of the ind when the first tribtion came.


    Obviously, all of these improvements could only be obtained because of the support of a veryrge number of spirit stones.


    After 9 months, The remation area used for nting magic raisin was veryrge, reaching the interior of the ind of Bali. The number of farmers had doubled, currently there were more than half a million farmers with 80% of them focused on making the magic raisin. Meanwhile, the iron craftsmen who focused on making tier 1 hardened weapons already had more than 20,000 people.


    Alex had ordered the headquarters to focus on this area because in the era of apocalypse resources were everything. Thus, the capital requirement fornd preparation, required buildings, materials and furnaces were quickly paid off.A total of 200 furnaces were built. So currently, the daily production had reached 10 million units of magic raisins and 100 hardened weapons, giving a profit of 100 thousand to 200 thousand spirit stones per day.


    This massive profit was not only felt by the headquarter in Bali, the headquarter in Java and Sumatra also felt the same benefits after they followed the guidelines for establishing this industry.


    Alex could only stare at the sight of the spirit stones, which continued to umte every day.


    Every profit earned meant that every city and country that has an import agreement with Alex was also helped in their food and safety matters.


    The most amazing thing was that this industry was run with a profit-sharing scheme where every profit received by the government was also felt by the people. Therefore, with more and more spirit stones entering their pockets, the market which was open to the public also came alive, signaling the economic recovery of the pre-apocalypse.


    With the arrival of immigrants from outside the ind, naturally the trade in of luxury goods began to ur. Luxury goods such as special artifacts, vehicles and ''contraband goods'' such as alcohol and cigarettes were the mostmonly seen being traded.


    At present, the Bali headquarters was no longer a mere defense and protection base, but also a trading center haven. Not only their internal economy flourished, where there were lots of big marketces controlled by Bali citizens, their external trade had improved. And a trade route that connected other bases to Bali Ind through the water routes had been established.


    This situation made the worries and dreads that existed because of the arrival of the apocalypse have begun to dissipate from the residents of Bali Ind. An achievement that no amount of spirit stones could measure.


    Seeing the reports, a big smile appeared on Alex''s face, he was very proud of his wife. Somehow he felt that now his wife was the main breadwinner of the family, while he was just busy ying the hero every day.


    When this thought crossed his mind, Alex''s wide smile quickly turned awkward.


    ----------------------------------


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 Chapter 303 - Ten Strongest

    Bali Ind, 3 days before the meeting.


    As nned, Alex will select the best 10 fighters from his team to apany him. These 10 people will be the candidates who will represent his group when the alliance group enters the Abyss Gate. Therefore, it was important for him to make sure he chose the best out of the best in order to show the capabilities that Alex and his men have.


    Today, Alex told Theo to gather all the Sky realm Magus in this base, because there was something he wanted to talk about. Within half an hour, apart from those who were currently on duty outside, a total of 212 fighters were gathered at the Antiga military headquarters. When these people reached the military headquarters, they immediately lined up on therge open field that was usually used for training.


    These 212 people were all spirit enhancers, a person who has the aptitude for spirit power above normal fighters. Among these 212 people, 23 people were spirit enhancers with A grade aptitude while the rest had B grade aptitude.


    ''T-That''s ˇ­ a veryrge number.'' thought Alex to himself when he heard the report, while nodding his head in satisfaction.. At the moment, Alex could be seen walking around the line apanied by Colonel Arief and Aria while looking and paying attention to these 212 people.


    Seeing the line filled with extraordinary people doing nothing and just standing in line, Alex immediately gestured to Arief with his eyes. Arief who saw the gesture was confused for a moment, before finally understanding what Alex wanted. He then quickly ordered the fighters to warm up and lightly spar with each other.


    Alex nodded his head as he looked at the fighters starting to train with each other. Turning his head towards Arief, Alex suddenly stopped and asked the man with a faint smile on his face.


    "Colonel, what do you think is the best way to select 10 fighters out of these 212 people?"


    Arief thought for a moment his answer before he then opened his mouth. "I think you have to choose based on a criteria."


    "A criteria?" asked Alex, intrigued by his colonel''s answer.


    "Yes" replied Arief calmly.


    Alex stroked his chin when he heard this, a thoughtful expression appeared on his face as he pondered Arief''s suggestion. Arief who saw this decided to keep quiet, letting Alex think.


    "Then, what criteria should we use?" asked Alex. "Individual strength? Battle experience? Cooperative ability? Or something else?"


    "For me personally, battle experience is the most important thing." said Arief without hesitation.


    "Good choice." said Alex, nodding his head in agreement. After that, he continued to walk around to see the fighters one by one.


    Alex strongly agreed that battle experience was the most important factor for a fighter. There was no point in having immense strength, but not being able to use it to its full potential, it was like giving a sword to a child, not effective at all. And also, strong fighters, who only had raw strength without fighting experience, were like a double-edged sword that could injure others.


    Hence, all Sky realm Magus who were supported with spirit stones to quickly reach their current realm, more precisely those who had just reached the Sky realm stage with the help of spirit stones, were not included in the option because they haven''t had any battle experience using their current cultivation level.


    This made the number of options that Alex had actually very limited. As he walked around the field, Alex thought hard about who he should bring. After a while, he finally started choosing who to bring, as his eyes darted around like a predator eyeing its prey.


    His first and second choices were Arief and Aria, who were beside him. These two were his two strongest fighters. Not only were they themselves A grade aptitude spirit enhancers, they also possessed military expertise of their own, which made them one level above the other fighters.


    Alex then proceeded to choose Jerry and Sergei. The reason for that was because not only were they strong, but Alex was already very confident and used to fighting with them. Next, Alex chose Rama, a traditional st fighter as well as a fire-element spear-oriented fighter, who has long been the strongest fighter guarding the Bali headquarters.


    The next person he chose was Makali. Arief and Aria were surprised because they didn''t expect it, but Alex immediately exined the reason. Besides being a reliable lightning element fighter, Alex was also amazed by the way Makali fought using melee weapons in Australiast time.


    So currently, Alex had selected 6 people who will follow him into the Abyss Gate, which meant he could only choose 3 more people. When Alex tried to pick someone again, he could see a blonde haired woman hopping around the fighters who were training while trying to grab his attention.


    "Me! Me! Choose me!" shouted Cindy. When she saw Alex just nced at her, she immediately continued shouting. "Surely you have seen my beast transformation which made me stronger than all other spirit Magus!"


    Even though Cindy looked very confident about her abilities and excited, Alex still ignored her and then pointed his finger at Daisy. Seeing where Alex was pointing his finger, Cindy nodded her head. Everyone agreed that Daisy had many very useful skills. Alex was also very satisfied with Daisy''s progress during the mission to the Australian continent, which further convinced him to choose her.


    Still in her peak enthusiasm, Cindy shouted. "Now choose me!"


    Seemingly oblivious to her shout, Alex then went on to choose Theo. This time, Cindy was starting to look quite annoyed. "You chose that good-for-nothing priest, huh?! Choosing your buddy over gorgeous women like meˇ­ favoritism!" shouted Cindy, a little indignant. Not giving up, she shouted even louder. "Okay! Choose me as thest one! Just like people always say, thest but not least is me!"


    Alex, who was deep in thought, didn''t seem to hear her shout. In others'' mind, the next consideration could be Dinda, Ark, or Raufgar. But unexpectedly, Alex walked over to Tommy.


    "What do you think, Tommy? Do you think you can?" asked Alex with a smile.


    Standing in front of Alex, Tommy answered firmly. "Yes, Mr Alex. I am ready."


    "NO!!!" shouted Cindy, an irritated expression stered on her face. "Are you serious?"


    Tommy was currently only 15 years old, only a year older than his daughter Tiffany, but Tommy was probably the fighter with the best growth potential in Alex''s troops. The reason Alex was considering bringing Tommy with him was so that he could learn more.


    Cindy grumbled loudly and started making a fuss when she saw that Alex had chosen thest member, making him frown in annoyance. In order not to prolong the situation, Alex quickly said.


    "Okay! You will be our back-up member."


    "What is that supposed to mean?!" Cindy asked, confused


    Unfortunately for her, Alex decided to ignore it. In truth, he was sure that no one wouldin even if he brought 20 or 30 members to the Abyss Gate. However, the gathering of the world''s strongest fighters tomorrow also had a different purpose than just purely destroying the Abyss. Anyway, Alex did know Cindy''s transformation could really be an asset, so he didn''t mind bringing her along. It''s just that she''s not his first choice, really.


    10 people have been chosen as entourage members, plus one reserve member.


    After that, Alex gave these 10 people a challenge, where they would fight against the rest of the fighters who had gathered. Starting from 10 against 10 to 10 against 20 and so on. This fight will be a good warm-up and a way for them to start working together as a team.


    Alex then gave them a simple formation training based on his hexagram step technique, where Arief, Sergei, Rama and Makali will be the frontliners, Daisy, Theo and Aria as the backliners, while Cindy and Jerry will be at their centers. The formation could rotate easily during a head on attack or fighting when surrounded. Other than Arief and Aria who used to be in the military, the others neeedsome time to get used to it.


    The group then started training, while Alex began to observe their strengths and weaknesses one by one. The 10 strongest team could easily defeat the 10 vs 10 battle, even when one of the teams was thebination of Raufgar, Ark and Dinda with all A aptitude skyrealm magus.But just like what Airef said, it''s useless when they have limited battle experience.When the fight entered its third phase, 10 against 30, Alex decided to join the fight with a wide smile on his face.


    "Here Ie."


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 Chapter 304 - Artifacts Upgraded

    2 days before the meeting.


    After deciding on the entourage lineup and seeing the results of yesterday''s training, Alex realized the primary need of tier 3 artifacts for the members. Of the 10 chosen members, only Sergei, Theo, Aria, Jerry, Rama, and Makali had tier 3 weapon artifacts while Tommy, Daisy, and Arief didn''t have any. Alex immediately fell into deep thought as he reviewed each of the tier 3 weapons the team members had in mind.


    Sergei was already very happy with the giant hammer artifact he had, which he had used to wreak havoc among the zombie hordesst time, smashing and knocking them into bits and pieces.


    [Earth Cracker] [Hammer - Tier 3 Weapon]


    [Length : 80 centimeters, weight : 32 kilogram]


    [Special Effect - Enhanced Power]


    [Special Skill - Earth Smash]


    Theo had one of the most interesting if not the most unique tier 3 weapon artifact, a set of short swords he could wield with flexibility and versatility, wiping out the low stage zombies swiftly, effortlessly and mercilessly.


    [Rainbow Sword] [Short Sword Set - Tier 3 Weapon].


    [5 Pieces Swordset]


    [Length: 50 centimeter; weight: 1.5 kilogram]


    [Special Skill - Sword Formation]


    Aria had the three tier 3 knives Alex gave her in the Abyss pit. Unfortunately for these knives, she rarely used them because they were not as efficient as the tier 3 spells she had when it came to mass ughter..


    [Radiance Dagger] [Dagger - Tier 3 Weapon]


    [Length : 25 centimeters, weight : 0.7 kilogram]


    [Special Skill - Light Pulse]


    Rama had his own tier 3 weapon which he received as the first prize in the second challenge on Bali Ind.


    [ze Spear] [Spear - Tier 3 Weapon]


    [Length : 1.9 meter, weight : 7 kilogram]


    [Special Effect - Enhanced Strength]


    [Special skill - ]


    While Makali got his double-edged halberd from one of the artifact caves in Papua.


    [Tempest Halberd]


    [Spear - tier 3 Weapon]


    [2.2 meter long weight 10 kilogram]


    [Special Effect - Enhanced Speed]


    [Special skill - ]


    Alex nodded his head as he thought of the astonishing tier 3 artifacts that his people possessed. However, Alex suddenly frowned as he thought of those who didn''t have any tier 3 artifacts yet, either because they were ipatible or unlucky with their artifacts.


    Tier 3 artifacts were very rare, especially tier 3 weapons that matched the type and element of the fighter''s affinity. Therefore, this time Alex decided to continue his experiment about artifacts engraving he had previously shelved due tock of raw materials and time constraint. For the past 40 days, practicing engraving has been Alex''s top priority.


    With the headquarters'' current situation and status where it was basically being flooded by an enormous amount of spirit stones, Alex managed to practice his engraving without any obstruction on the way. Gone were the days when heined that he didn''t have enough spirit stones, because now he was never short of spirit stones to charge Strokes.


    At first, Alex was hesitant to use the spirit stone that his wife and friends had so painstakingly collected for his own advantage. Tens of thousands of people had worked to cultivate magic raisins and forge weapons to obtain these spirit stones. There was no way Alex could do something like that to his people.


    However, once his wife Devita knew about the function of the special tier 5 sword artifact Alex had, she was very supportive of this engraving matter. "No matter how much spirit stones you need, we will do our best to provide." she said.


    Devita''s words really touched Alex''s heart. Hence, without the slightest hesitation he immediately put forth all his efforts and energy into practicing his engraving. But it turned out that every day he did engraving, his wife would always audit the number of spirit stones used and also the sess rate of the engraving. Sometimes, his wife would talk to him about this engraving matter.


    "Your sess rate has not increased much. You have to try harder, Alex."


    "You know that these spirit stones are not easy to get, right? Do not fail."


    It seemed to his wife that, despite the support of the many spirit stones he had used and the willingness to sacrifice how many spirit stones he needed, there was also great hope for sess which both weighed on him and gave Alex the push he needed to work harder. Just like the words of wisdom say, "Behind every great man there is always a great woman."


    The two of them had realized that tier 2 weapons would soon be the new norm while tier 1 weapons would bepletely obsolete. They both believed that this engraving skill would be the new money-making machine for the ind due to its ability to create tier 3 artifacts and magic scrolls.


    Thinking about the amount of spirit stones they could get from these two new products and seeing how supportive his wife was towards it, Alex had new worries for the future, not just the threats of tribtion toe.


    However, the fact that he was the only one who could wield the tier 5 Strokes, made Alex wonder if in the future he would only work on engraving weapons and magic scrolls every day like abor ve.


    Shaking his head, Alex immediately pushed aside the strange imagination about his future and focused on his current thoughts again. As the wise say: ''Future troubles should not interfere with the joy of the moment.''


    In the past 9 months, the iron craftsmen legalized on the Bali Ind have been able to make weapons other than swords; namely shields and spears, which were the basic equipment and necessities of the military.


    Tier 1 hardened metal could be obtained from melting tier 1 weapons that could be purchased from the pir store. The melted weapons will then be added with mutated animals blood and subjected to a certain temperature which then produced a tier 1 raw material that was much better than that of tier 1 normal weapons, almost equal to tier 2 weapons.


    Fortunately, the tier 1 hardened metal that he used could still be enhanced by Strokes. This hardened metal had the same defense and strength as tier 2 weapons, the only problem it had was its durability.


    Every time Alex tried to enhance it, the metal would break down twice as fast whenpared to an actual tier 2 weapon. Meanwhile, if he was sessful, the end result will also have less durability. However, given the rarity of tier 3 artifact, this solution could still mean a fortune.


    Alex then tried to make the tier 2 protective armor, which was much more difficult to make than a weapon, using the hardened metal. Different from the weapon, tier 2 protective artifacts already had their own magical qualities, the energy barrier. In his previous life, no one was able to create the tier 2 armor, but now with his engraving skill, anything was possible.


    The reason Alex insisted on making these protective armor was because saving the lives of his men was the utmost priority. Weapons and equipment could be made again when they run out, but human lives would no longer be recovered when lost.


    In thest 40 days, Alex had engraved thousands of items which consumed nearly two million spirit stones. But in the end, he managed to make 300 tier 3 weapons, 200 tier 3 shield, and 300 tier 2 protective armor, spending all of the energy he had until there was almost nothing left.


    For the weapons, Alex had created 20 pieces for each element: fire, water, lightning, ice, nt, earth, metal, wind, darkness and light. All engraved with each element''s basic offensive spells. As for the shield and armor enhancements, he chose to engrave metal element spells due to their defensive capabilities, which gave the most protection.


    [Protective Vest - Tier 2 hardened]


    [Medium Armor]


    [Weight: 3.8 kilogram]


    [Protective Energy : 200]


    The tier 2 hardened armor that was sessfully created had 2 times the protective energypared to the tier 2 armor that could be bought in the pir. With this increased protection, Alex felt much safer when traveling down the Abyss pit.


    Looking at all these already finished tier 3 artifacts, Alex still seemed unable to find the right weapon for his four chosen top 10 fighters who had not yet had their own tier 3 weapon. Therefore, using thest few days before the gathering began, Alex would personally create a tier 3 weapon that matched Arief, Daisy, Tommy and Cindy''s ability.


    Finally just a day before the meeting Alex had finished the custom weapons. He called out the 4 who did not yet have the tier 3 weapons. Surprisingly among them he also called Aria.


    "I already have a tier 3 weapon, are you making me another one?" said Aria.


    "Yes, in fact yours was the one hardest to make"


    ----------------------------------


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 Chapter 305 - The Gathering

    D-day 470


    The meeting day was finally here after months of nning and preparation. Hundreds of people from entourage representing various countries and regions from around the world came and gathered on Bali Ind. Some of them had arrived a few days earlier, while others had just arrived today. Those who arrived early chose to spend their time traveling around Bali and observing the situation on the ind.


    Each entourage who came to the ind was given a five-star hotel service amodation located on the beach with a stunning view. All services provided were the best of the best, ranging from music, weing ceremonies, food and beverages, hotel facilities, and, of course, luxury rooms with breathtaking seaside views. Everything provided was the same as the world before the apocalypse, as if it never happened.


    Since a long time ago, Balinese people have been known for their hospitality. Hence, Alex coule rest easy because all the preparations starting from the room and the gathering ce to the event schedule must have been well prepared.


    Today''s meeting has be like an international conference, where each representative group has been given a guide and even a trantor to help them..


    This morning''s schedule started with a breakfast buffet, where every type of cuisine was prepared: Mexican, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, Italian and so forth. Those who couldn''t find the food they wanted could also share their request with the waiter, who will then forward it to the hotel kitchen. After the hearty breakfast session, there will be a brief introductory session between the representative groups while waiting for the presences of other representatives, who have not arrived.


    After busypleting the creation of various artifacts for his group yesterday, today Alex finally got the chance and the time to join their agenda. He actually felt bad about ignoring the representatives, who had arrived earlier because of his busy schedule. But, still, Alex had to prioritize making the artifacts because it involved the safety of his group.


    Representatives from 12 countries and regions have been present in this breakfast hall, where one could see various people chatting with their own group or other people of their interest, while they were having breakfast. Before he met these people, Alex had studied their information and situation. So, starting today and the next few days, he wanted to see the uracy of the information and get to know them better. Naturally, Alex''s ultimate goal was the unity of all groups in passing the first tribtion of the apocalypse.


    The twelve representatives, who were present for breakfast today were: America, Italy, Germany, Greece, France, Spain, Australia, Japan, Philippines, Israel, Egypt, and Singapore. Unfortunately, not all of them still had a normal running state.


    For example, the representatives from Japan were led by a middle aged man with tied hair. This man, who didn''t seem to talk much, was Oda, the leader of the fighters from Japan. Oda came with 9 of his fighters who were also quite famous.


    The representative fighters from the Philippines were also not part of the government. Instead, they were a group of survivors who had survived the apocalypse using their own strength and unity. With the help of magic raisins and the support that Alex had provided over the past 9 months, they were now able to have a fighter team that was no less powerful than the members of Alex''s elite squad.


    Both of these countries have been working closely with Indonesia for the past 9 months, both in the economic and military fields. The same things happened with Australia and Singapore too. The representative from Australia was none other than Colonel Angus, while the representative from Singapore was a politician named Sidao. ording to the information Alex had read, this man was Christina''s uncle.


    Another interesting thing happened from the US side, where the representative entourages who came from the US unexpectedly came from two sides of the current US government. The first was a group sent by President Elizabeth and the second one was sent by General Max, each of whom arrived with their own warship.


    Looking at these two groups from the same side, but with different stances in their political standing, Alex could not help but tough wryly as he shook his head. He recognized Winter and Nathanael who were present with the group. There was also a good friend among them, James Randall.


    "Alex!!!" called James, waving his hand when he noticed Alex enter the breakfast hall,


    "Mr Randall, you are finally back." joked Alex as he approached the man.


    "Yeah! I really miss this ind." said the excited man. "It''s amazing how much this ind has grown since I left."


    "Then, I hope you will enjoy your stay here, Mr Randall." said Alex with a smile, teasing this close friend of his.


    Alex was veryfortable and close to James, so when he met James, the man did not stop talking about his experiences during his stay in America. He also told Alex that the group sent by General Max was sent with a special purpose, to show the world that they were not inferior to Elizabeth McCord''s camp. He then gave a warning to Alex to be careful of them. Alexughed when he heard this but he still took a note in his mind to observe these people closely in the future.


    James also talked about the state of European camps, which was colder whenpared to the two American camps. At present, thebined western European camp of France and Spain was experiencing a lot of tension with the central European camps of Italy, Greece, and Germany.


    These groups from central Europe were the representatives sent from the Ahnenerbe organization and from Vatican, from the Pope itself. Both groupsbined fighters from Greece really seemed like an oddbination. The leader of the group was a very quiet huge man, Alex could tell the man had an aura which was no weaker than Arief.Among the group Alex also saw Hans, the guy who attacked him in Mexico one and a half years ago. The guy gave Alex a warm greeting and smile as if nothing ever happened. Alex felt a strange vibe from their representatives. He also decided to keep an eye to this group, lest they do something really harmful to the otherster.


    Obviously, the guests who came to this meeting were not only those from outside the country but also from inside. Regent Suryo and President Rico were also present as the representatives of the Indonesian government. Alex could see Aria and Arief are currently sitting and having breakfast with them.


    The room was currently full with more than 300 people not including the Balinese people that currently served them. The only representatives who had not yet arrived were the group from China and Russia.


    When Alex was about to talk to James again, a man suddenly approached and greeted him.


    "Hello, Mr Alex. Nice to see you again." said the man, stretching out his hand.


    "Oh, hello! It''s nice to meet you again as well." Alex replied with a smile, shooking the man''s hand.


    Jurgen, the representative from Israel was the one who was currently shaking hands with Alex. The man was having breakfast and chatting with his members, when he suddenly saw Alex in the breakfast hall. Therefore, he got up from his seat and approached Alex to say hello.


    It seemed that he and his group of fighters came together with the representatives from Egypt. Alex looked at the group and noticed a few of the people. Among them, he could see a man who was famous in his previous life, Ardeth. This man with a tattoo on his face, led a group of strong fighters from Egypt called the Medjai warrior.


    "We are truly delighted at your invitation, Mr Alex." said the man. "We look forward to your guidance during our trip to the Abyss Gate."


    "Of course, Mr Jurgen. You will not be disappointed with uster." said Alex.


    Jurgen seemed to have something he wanted to say, but he was hesitant to say it.


    "Do you have any other questions to ask, Mr Jurgen?"


    "Actually ... I do. I came to ask about a news that worries me."


    "Oh? What is it?" asked Alex curiously


    "I heard news that there will be an uninvited group who will also join our expedition. Is it true that they..."


    Smiling at the man''s inquiry, Alex answered. "Yes, you are right, Mr Jurgen."


    At the same time, a group of nearly 30 more people came to the breakfast hall. This group of people all wore ck robes that covered part of their faces.


    "Praise be to our merciful god, that this day hase."


    Seeing the group that came, Jurgen was shocked and then became furious, as did President Rico.


    ----------------------------------


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 Chapter 306 - Conflict

    The moment this group of ck robed people entered the breakfast hall, the entire atmosphere of the hall immediately plummeted below zero degrees. Although the atmosphere of the hall before these people entered could not be said to be the best, at most ordinary, where one could see harmony in one corner and tension in another. However, thanks to the appearance of these uninvited guests, the hall suddenly became eerily silent, where even the smallest sounds of breath could be heard.


    These people were the organization that in the past year managed to gather the survivors from the states in the Middle East. In the beginning, this organization was spearheaded by several radical groups, who then worked together to achieve their goals.


    However, just like any organization, where power was everything to survive, internal conflicts began to spark between these groups until it finally erupted into a war. The war continued between these groups, where murder, treason and assassination were frequently seen, until finally, leaving only one group to dominate the organization, the Heaven Gate group.


    During these past 9 months, they have always refused to attend meetings in the pirwork even though they were always invited toe. Although this organization always refused to attend the meetings, countries around the world, especially the powerful ones, still had information about them. The most recent known information was that this Heaven Gate group already had nearly 20 million survivors under their protection, which was truly arge number. If this information was correct, then they currently host nearly 20 percent of the world''s survivors..


    Alex certainly knew very well about their existence because of one of their leaders. Hafiz, managed to escape twice from his grasp. This time, their presence without prior notification disturbed quite a few parties in the hall. It could be seen when the expressions of some people turned into the worst kind.


    Based on the information he had read, this organization has a bad rtionship and has always been in conflict with the Israeli and Egyptian parties over the past year, who were both near the Middle Eastern area.


    But strangely enough, Alex realized that the one most disturbed by their presence was President Rico. He was puzzled for a moment before he finally remembered the reason. This group was responsible for the death of his troops on the Java Ind, and also the wretched fate that befell his son, Adam.


    The sight of 30 people wearing ck robes covering their faces and just standing there, coupled with the re from several groups in the hall which didn''t make the situation any better, made the atmosphere in the hall turn even worse.


    This atmosphere immediately broke out when someone among this group of cloaked people stepped forward and took off the hood covering his head. The man''s skin color was very pale like a sick person and he didn''t have any hair on his head.


    "Greetings, everyone. My name is Anas, we havee from the Heaven Gate." said the man loudly. "Our god had told us toe here and participate in the journey. Thus, here we are."


    One of the Egyptian fighters sneered loudly at the man''s words, almost like a shout.


    "You are not wee! Get away from here!"


    Hearing the loud shout full of hostility, Anas just smiled as he looked towards the one who shouted.


    "This is a matter of world survival. Hence, I am sure we are invited." Anas said calmly. His eyes then looked around the people in the hall. "Which one of you is called Alex?"


    Alex calmly got up from his seat and slowly stepped closer to the man. "Yes, you are all wee here. However, you have to follow our rule and do not make a scene as long as you are here."


    Upon hearing Alex''s words, the pale looking man smiled even wider. He then gratefully said. "Of course, Mr Alex. After all, We are all here for the good of the world."


    Alex looked at the expression of this man named Anas carefully, trying to see any abnormalities in him. But the man just kept smiling and stared back at him. Sighing silently in his mind, Alex ordered the waiters to prepare more tables for this group.


    More tables were quickly brought in and arranged by the waiters in the hall. When the table was prepared, 30 people were quickly seated. When he saw these seated people, Alex knew that Heaven Gate would only be a problemter. If he could, he would not have let them live and would immediately annihte them all here right now.


    However, Alex''s priority right now was the session of cooperation between the countries. If they couldn''t unite in the face of the tribtion, then the same thing as in Alex''s previous life will happen and they will not survive.


    Devita prepared a dance performance to entertain the representatives after the breakfast session. There were also private rooms right beside the hall avable for representatives if needed.


    At the moment, Alex was still waiting for the presence of representatives from China and Russia. Seeing that they weren''t here yet, Alex decided to check on President Rico and his entourage, who suddenly got up and went to one of the private rooms right after the Heaven Gate entered the hall.


    As he entered the room where President Rico''s entourage was, Alex noticed that the situation in the room was tense. He could see two people standing transfixed in front of President Rico. Daisy and Tommy.


    "M-Mr Presidentˇ­ W-What do you mean..?" asked Daisy, stammering.


    "We are truly sorry, Daisy. The fact that we have been keeping this from you." replied a young woman who was part of the entourage that hade with the president.


    That young woman was Melissa, Daisy''s schoolmate and thest person to see Adam.


    Melissa then told Daisy about Adam, who asked her not to tell Daisy about his situation. The president who knew about Adam''s health condition and did not want to ept the death of his son also covered this news from everyone, especially Daisy.


    Hearing this, tears immediately poured from her eyes. She couldn''t ept the fact that Adam was dead. The two of them had promised to meet again after one year. In fact, Daisy had nned toe back to New Java along with the president after this expedition was over. However, suddenly finding out that Adam was not in the city and she could not meet him ever again shocked her to her core being.


    While trying to hold back her tears, Daisy said. "I''m sorryˇ­" She then ran out of the room followed by Michele and Tommy.


    President Rico who saw Alex by the door immediately said. "I can''t stand the sight of those ''Heavenly Gate'' people, Alex. If they ever get close to me, I guarantee you I can''t stay still."


    Upon hearing that, Alex fell silent. There was not much he could say to the man. In fact, he also hated those lunatic to the bone and wanted to eradicate them. But, when he remembered the 20 million people, who were under their protection, Alex hesitated.


    Taking in and sighing deeply, Alex slowly opened his mouth.


    "I promise you that I will see those people pay for what they have done."


    When the sun was already right above his head, Alex finally got the news that representatives from China and Russia had arrived. He then immediately ordered the waiters to inform all of the representatives to gather as the briefing session about the preparations for the expedition, which started tomorrow, would begin.


    From a distance, among China''s representative entourage, Alex could see very familiar figures, Christina and the firebirds.


    As Alex passed the entourage, his eyes met hers. However, to his surprise, Alex saw an extremely cold expression on her face, apanied by an even colder gaze. Not even a speck of smile and greeting could be seen when Christina walked past Alex along with the entourage from China.


    Still shocked by what had happened, Alex swiftly turned his head around with a strange expression on his face.


    "What happened to her?"


    While walking to the briefing room, Alex thought about all the things that had happened during this morning until now.


    The internal conflict of the US government, the Cold War between the western European and central European camps, the turmoil over the appearance of the Heaven Gate group, and the strange behavior of China''s representative.


    Realizing how many problems came up before the expedition gave Alex a lot of headache. Sighing even harder while rubbing his frowning forehead, Alex could only give his best on the matterter. Because if he didn''t do this right, he was afraid that these people would kill each other before the tribtion came.


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 Chapter 307 - Expedition Start

    When Alex reached the ce where the briefing session was held, he immediately went to the podium that had been prepared and swiftly started the briefing, lest the representatives in the room began throwing daggers at each other. After he had read and exined the preparation and terms that they had toply, several voices immediately resounded in the room as some of the representatives voiced their disagreement.


    As a result, a little quarrel urred because some entourages could not ept the limitations ced on the number of members who could enter the Abyss Gate. Alex could hear and see that the loudest disagreement came from the Heaven Gate and US side, where the former who had brought 30 members wanted to send all of them while thetter was obviously conflicted on who should go with the expedition due to their 2 separate groups.


    However, Alex was silent and maintained his earlier attitude with no sign of him giving in to the disagreement these ''protesters'' raised. Seeing Alex''s stance on the matter and the other representatives who were still there witnessing this fiasco, the US representative finally gave up and decided to only send 5 members from each group, lest they brought halt to tomorrow''s expedition with this very minor issue.


    Meanwhile, the Heaven Gate that was about to continue their disagreements immediately fell silent as even the United States, one of the most powerful countries, needed to obey the rule. Therefore, there was no reason for the Heaven Gate not to follow.


    "10 person or you people are not going." said Alex very firmly, without taking any further disagreements..


    Receiving Alex''s re, these ck robed people finally fell silent and relented. They were then forced to only bring 10 people to the Abyss Gate, leaving the rest here at the hotel. Alex then told the representatives to gather in front of Abyss Gate tomorrow morning before he closed the session.


    -


    The next morning, 16 groups of 10 people each had gathered in front of the Abyss Pit, waiting for Alex to arrive. 160 fighters from all around the world; USA, Singapore, Australia, Philippines, China, Russia, Egypt, Israel, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, France, Japan, Indonesia, andst but not least the Middle East''s Heaven Gate.


    As Alex walked over to the gathering, he could see Christina standing there in the crowd apanied by two members of the Firebirds. Maxine and Corrie. He could also see a man with a tattoo on his shoulder standing beside her. The man was Nam, a gang chief from Hong Kong.


    The four of them were actually not part of the Chinese group, but the leader of the representative from China did not mind if these 4 people were counted taking quotas from 10 ces belonging to China.


    Since yesterday after the briefing session was over until this morning, Alex still hasn''t had the chance to have a deep conversation with Christina. There were several times where he spoke to her briefly, however the topic they talked about was about the expedition. He always tried to find an opportunity to have a good talk with her, but it seemed that the woman had suddenly turned elusive like a ghost. Seeing that, Alex was increasingly convinced that something happened to her. s, the expedition remained the top priority for him. Thus, Christina''s problem needs to be shelved for now and thrown to the back of his mind.


    As nned, all the representatives who came were eager to find and see a way to close the Abyss Pit. Before they entered the Abyss Pit, an absolute chain ofmand where everyone followed a single order waspletely necessary to avoid casualties as much as possible. Therefore, everyone unanimously agreed to let Alex take the lead since he was the one who proposed this unbelievable idea in the first ce.


    At yesterday''s briefing, Alex didn''t say much apart from providing information about the expedition''s ns, the terms for joining the expedition and the creatures they would fight inside the Abyss Gate; the critters, the hellhounds, the gargoyles, and the Cerberus.


    Apart from that, Alex also exined some battle formations and needed these fighters to understand them clearly, so that there would be no confusion and identster on during the expedition. There were 2 formations that Alex emphasized on these fighters. The first one was a formation where they were scattered in groups of 5, increasing their overall mobility and flexibility. Meanwhile, the second one was arge-scale formation where rows of fighters were lined up corresponding to the magic formation that Alex had exined.


    All the fighters had practiced the second formation while trying to get used to each other. They learned to fill the ranks ording to the elements they had and mastered. The vanguard was filled with Earth, nt, and Ice element fighters, The rearguard was filled by fighters that had Fire and Metal elements, while those who possessed Wind and Lightning elements were assigned as blitzkrieg troops. Those with elements beyond those mentioned could follow the movements of the blitzkrieg troops.


    After checking everything and making sure everyone was prepared, these 160 people entered the Abyss Pit at the same time.


    30 days before the first tribtion struck Earth, the Abyss Gate inside the Abyss Pit had reached the third stage, where several Abyss creatures had been able to exit the Abyss Gate and roamed the area around the Abyss Pit. The gigantic stone gate was already covered with countless cracks while a reddish light with malevolence vibes emanated from it. One could also see a swirling ck hole about two meters in diameter in the center of the gate, as if inviting anyone who saw it to touch it.


    Every minute, a number of critters and hellhounds could be seen running out of the swirling hole on the gate and immediately darting towards the entrance of the Abyss Pit, as if they have gained freedom from the shackles that hold them back. However, these poor creatures were immediately annihted by a shower of bullets fired by dozens ofhigh-caliber machine guns and fell dead a few feet from the Pit.


    The 160 fighters marched towards the Abyss Gate with ebullient momentum as they slew any hostile creatures baring their fangs in their path. When they reached in front of the Abyss Gate, Alex calmly turned around and asked everyone if they were ready onest time. Seeing the overall expression on their faces, Alex nodded his head before he touched the swirling hole. When the 160 fighters saw Alex''s body swiftly disappear from their sight, they immediately moved forward and touched the swirling hole one by one as they started to enter the Abyss Antechamber.


    When Alex opened his eyes, he was greeted with the familiar sight of a huge cave that was illuminated by rivers ofva flowing around him. He could see the fighters appeared one by one as he looked behind. When the fighters finally opened their eyes, many of them were not amazed because they had already entered the antechamber. It was apparent that the majority of them had already entered the antechamber at their respective Abyss Gate.


    A magnificent sight could be seen as 160 middle stage Sky realm fighters walked down the antechamber and fought against hundreds to thousands of critters and hellhounds, easily ughtering them as if they were strolling through their own garden.


    The deeper they went into the antechamber, the more creatures that appeared and blocked their advance. When Alex saw that the number of monsters blocking grew and began to run out of control while the efficiency of their ughter decreased, he swiftly began to order the fighters to form the magic formation they had learned and practiced.


    In a few seconds, the vanguard and rearguard line were formed and started bombarding these Abyss creatures with countless different kinds of spells, killing the weaker ones while pushing the stronger ones back. However, despite being hit by countless spells, thousands of hellhounds kept running and charged towards the vanguard as they crashed into the vanguard line of spell-fortified fighters. The result was that these thousands of hellhounds were quickly ground and crushed beyond measure, like eggs crashing into a rock. When the hordes of Abyss creatures fell into confusion over the failure of their charge, the blitzkrieg troops quickly moved on and did their job, causing even more havoc among the Abyss creatures by attacking and retreating in a fast and furious style.


    As Alex watched and observed the battle, he could see several fighters got busy showing their skills as they ughtered the Abyss monsters. A German fighter was able to form three golems made of ice and order them to destroy the hellhounds. In one corner of the battle, a fighter from Spain was seen constantly firing lightning strikes at the monsters. Meanwhile, on the other hand, a fighter from the Philippines turned himself into a fireball and charged towards the crowd of monsters in front of him, burning them as he passed them.


    Alex nodded in satisfaction when he saw thebatants'' highbat abilities when suddenly a blue explosion appeared among the hordes of creatures, startling and catching everyone''s attention. They then immediately looked for the culprit of the explosion when they saw a fighter from the US who was under themand of Winter holding a strange rifle.


    These were the new energy weapons brought by James and developed by the Americans. They were now using this chance to test the power of the weapon against the future threat.


    When the representatives saw that the hellhounds and critters were unable to break through the formation line at all, one of the US representatives could not help but walk over to Alex.


    "Is this formation really necessary, Mr Alex?" asked the man.


    "He''s right,rade. Let''s just hurry up." added one of the Russian fighters.


    When he heard those words. Alex could not help but shook his head inwardly. He obviously knew that this antechamber was too easy for these chosen people. Heck, if any of them could get hurt at this level, then that means the person they sent was wrong. All the fighters who came were the world''s best fighters, most of them couldn''t even show their true abilities when fighting hellhounds.


    Alex''s main goal, of course, was to get them used to forming ranks and encouraging them to start interacting with fighters outside their group. Alex also wanted to see how much these fighters could follow orders from the people they didn''t know very well. In the end, Alex just wanted them to not only know how to destroy the Abyss Gate but also how to trust each other more.


    In less than 12 hours, they finally arrived at therge door bearing the emblem of a three-headed beast.


    Cerberus, the guardian dog of hell.


    Seeing therge closed door, Alex turned and looked at the fighters before him.


    "Alright! We''re here." said Alex with a smile, "There are only three Cerberus in there."


    "Who wants to volunteer?"

 Chapter 308 - Three Vs Three

    Night time, 12 hours after the start of the expedition.


    The expedition group had advanced through the antechamber, killing every Abyss creature they came across so mercilessly so that one could see the thousands of critters'' bodies and hundreds of still-ring hellhounds lying on the ground behind them, verifying the destruction they had left.


    These fighters then finally reached the second gate, the connecting ce between the antechamber and the main chamber of Abyss. The ce where Cerberus, the gatekeeper of hell was.


    Looking at the best fighters the world had to offer while receiving their undivided attention could make anyone who was in his current position nervous under the pressure. However, Alex did not seem to feel the pressure as he slowly opened his mouth.


    "I assume that some of you have encountered and faced this monster before." said Alex calmly and clearly, but loud enough for everyone to hear.


    "Therefore, let me ask three groups of volunteers, one each to face the three boss monsters.".


    Alex saw that Winter was about to step forward to volunteer, s, he was a step toote because another fighter from the US got ahead of him and stepped forward first.


    "Us. We will show how it is done." said the US fighter that came from General Max''s camp. As the man said that, another 4 person stepped forward and stood beside him. These people were Sky Realm fighters who were also members of American army. Seeing this, Alex just nodded and threw his gaze elsewhere, expecting others to step forward too.


    The second group that volunteered were Christina and the two members of firebirds, Corrie and Maxine. After that, the third group of volunteers came from Germany, who unexpectedly sent only one person, a handsome middle aged man with a muscr build and long golden hair tied into a bun wearing a ck suit with gold-rimmed tie. This man was the leader of the German entourage named ric. Alex nodded his head towards this man as a show of respect.


    The group that would face the three Cerberus had been formed, which consisted of 5 people from America, 3 women who were members of the firebirds and a man from Germany. These 9 people then immediately walked closer to the 3 statues of the three-headed giant dog while being watched by the other fighters.


    It could be seen that the leader of the US volunteer group who stepped forward earlier, a man from Texas named Liam, was annoyed by the current situation. In his opinion, the fact that they had volunteered 5 of their fighters to fight while others only sent a group of women and a lone man was a thorough humiliation.


    At first, he was overjoyed by the fact that he had beaten that guy from McCord''s camp. However, the expression on his face slowly turned unsightly as he saw that the next volunteer was only a group of women, three women at that. His face finally could not take it anymore when he saw that thest volunteer was only a man, one f*cking man.


    Even though his mind was saying ''To hell with all of this, let me and my men fight these 3 monsters alone," Liam could only swallow his own irritation and put up with the situation. Because in truth, he had only seen this monster and never fought against it. Therefore, he was not sure that his group could fight it alone.


    "Attack!!" eximed Liam loudly as he furiously charged towards the statues, followed by his men.


    The two women next to Christina were also ready to charge forward when Christina suddenly spread her arms and held them back. The same could be seen with ric, who continued to walk casually without any intention of rushing forward.


    When the 5 American fighters entered within a 25 meter radius around the statue, the three statues'' surfaces immediately cracked and shattered as three ferocious three-headed Cerberus emerged from them. When the three Cerberus opened their eyes and showed their blood-colored eyed full of malice, the 5 fighters still continued their charge until only 20 meters remained between them. Seeing the small figures approaching them, the three Cerberus instantly roared, making deafening sounds that travelled through the hall they were in.


    Hearing the thunderous sounds, the five fighters were undaunted and started the attack by opening fire on those Cerberus with their high caliber rifles.


    *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*


    Loud sounds could be heard as they continued firing their rifles at the Cerberus. But unfortunately for them, none of the bullets their fired were able to prate the monster''s thick hide and could only bounce off of it, like rubber hitting a wall. Seeing the situation, Liam hurriedly took out a rocketuncher from his storage ring and fired it.


    *SWISH*


    BOOOOMMMM!!!


    Smoke and dust immediately filled the hall as the rocket hit the monster. Alex saw the other fighters who stood waiting and watched,ughing a little as they saw the American fighter'' overly shy but ineffective way of fighting.


    The Cerberus which was hit by the rocket instantly roared in anger and lunged towards the American fighters. Meanwhile, the other two Cerberus didn''t stay still and joined in to attack them as well.


    However, when the second Cerberus was just about to start moving, Aleric suddenly appeared out of nowhere and was standing in front of it. He then quickly swung his hand which was covered with brownish glow towards the Cerberus.


    [Stone Fist]


    BAM!


    A loud sound echoed through the air as Aleric''s blow hit the Cerberus and knocked the monster down and left it twitching on the ground. [Stone Fist] was an Earth element spell that enabled its user to concentrate all energy on one point of impact, resulting in a lethal strike. Alex and the fighters who observed the battle were amazed by the decisive blow delivered by the German man.


    On the other side of the hall, Corrie and Maxine stomped their feet on the ground as they dashed towards the third Cerberus at high speed. When they arrived in front of it, they immediately lured the third Cerberus away from the other two. With the current situation where the three Cerberus had separated and were fighting individually, the battle would be easier.


    It appeared that among the 5 American fighters, apart from Liam who was a Fire element Sky realm Magus, the other 4 were only Sky realm Knight. However, thanks to their military background, they were able to gang up on that poor Cerberus effectively. These people apparently attacked the Cerberus using a strategy where they made Liam as their core point, while the 4 other people served to assist and provide opportunities for him. Alex could see that Liam began to cast his [Fire Infusion] spell on the tier 3 ax he had in hand. He then immediately swung the ax towards the Cerberus, shing and striking any opening that appeared as the others distracted it.


    When the American fighters were busy fighting, Aleric on the other hand did not remain silent. He then proceeded to cast another spell, a lightning element spell [Energized]. Unexpectedly, it turned out that ric was a dual element Magus.


    Enhanced by the [Energized] spell, Aleric grabbed one of Cerberus''s legs and mmed it on the ground again, over and over until it stopped moving. He then began to tear the Cerberus with his bare hands.


    On ric''s fist, Alex could see a shining glove that looked like a tier 3 artifact. Seeing that, he thought to himself while stroking his chin. ''A dual element Magus and a tier 3 artifact user. Formidable indeed.''


    Alex also believed that ric had reached level 40, judging by the physical strength and spirit power he showed.


    The American fighters who saw Aleric''s actions did not want to lose and began to take out their artifact weapons. shes and stabs continued to hit the Cerberus''s body and wounds began to cover its entire body until the monster''s movements turned sluggish. A whileter, the monster finally fell and was lying on the floor.


    "Yeah! We did it!" eximed one of the American fighters with pride. However, the man''s excitement quickly evaporated as he saw Aleric was already sitting calmly on top of the second Cerberus''s scattered body while watching them.


    To cover up his frustration, Liam thought that at least they were not any slower than those female fighters. Just as he was about to make fun of those women, Liam saw something was wrong with their situation.


    When he paid closer attention to them, Liam noticed that the two women didn''t attack the Cerberus at all, only diverted its attention. Until finally, he saw a short-haired Asian woman take out a sword that was burning violently like embers.


    Liam disdained the woman and spat on the ground when he saw her pull out the same spell he used. However, he was surprised to see Christina moving so fast as she swung her sword upwards towards the Cerberus. That single sh caused a crescent-shaped red me to appear and rushed towards the Cerberus until it reached the ceiling of the hall, leaving ck burnt marks there. The Cerberus was seen standing there motionless before slowly separating and split in half with its wounds cauterized.


    Alex was surprised when he saw that attack. That was a tier 4 fire element spell [Fire de], which meant that Christina had sessfully reached the high stage of Sky realm Magus. Alex was amazed by Christina''s ability to achieve her elemental understanding so quickly.


    In a short time, all three Cerberus died by these 3 groups. ric and Christina quickly became the topic of conversation of all of the other fighters. Whereas Liam could only be annoyed by himself.

 Chapter 309 - Recess

    After the three Cerberus were killed, Alex immediately instructed others to advance towards the Abyss''s main chamber. As the fighters passed the hall that were previously guarded by the 3 three-headed dogs, they could see another simr tunnel that they had seen when they first entered the Abyss Gate.


    The group then noticed something that baffled them, where instead of the familiar sight of red glow covering the entire tunnel and the searing temperature, they were greeted by a rather ''normal'' tunnel. They could also feel that the temperature here was rather mild, which pleased some of the fighters. If someone tried to find the ''uniqueness'' of this tunnel, they could only ask where the puddles of water came from.


    However, as the group made their way down the tunnel the fighters quickly realized that the temperature had slowly dropped until it reached zero degrees, and still did not stop. They also noticed that the tunnel walls were slowly filling up with ice crystals until they could only see solid ice covering the entire walls.


    Standing in the front of the huge opening of the tunnel, the fighters were amazed by the sight of the bluendscape spanning into the distance as their bodies were hit by streams of frigid air. The 180 degree change and the extreme contrast between the antechamber and main chamber were definitely stunned and shocked the fighters.


    For most of them,this was their first time to enter this part of the Abyss Gate. When Alex threw his gaze around the fighters trying to see more of their reactions, he caught one of the Russian representatives taking out a unique device from his storage ring.. He then realized that at least half of these Russian representatives didn''t look like fighters at all, they looked more like scientists.


    This group of people then began to take out several unique devices from their storage rings. Alex was about to approach them when he suddenly saw a Russian woman walking towards him.


    "What can I do for you, Miss Iriana?" said Alex with a smile.


    This Russian woman named Iriana opened her mouth. "We would like to stay here for at most an hour for research purposes, Mr Alex. I hope you don''t mind."


    "I personally don''t mind that. However, the same thing couldn''t be said about other people." replied Alex.


    "This is an easy matter, Mr. Alex. The expedition group can advance, leaving us here."


    Alex''s face slightly changed when he heard that. "I''m not sure if this ce is a safe ce for research, Miss Iriana. I''m afraid that your group will be in danger."


    Upon hearing that, Iriana chuckled before a faint smile appeared on her face. "You don''t have to worry about us, Mr Alex. We can definitely defend ourselves."


    Alex folded his arms as he thought about this matter. Actually, he didn''t need too many fighters when they were about to fight against thest boss to finish this expedition. However, he also did not want the group for which he was responsible to split apart doing their own things. Alex certainly also did not want any diplomatic problems to ur because the expedition ended with a group of one of the countries that did not manage to survive.


    When Alex thought about whether or not this Russian group could separate, a young woman approached him from behind, one of the China representatives.


    "Big Brother!" shouted the young woman cheerfully.


    Turning his head, Alex was puzzled by this young woman''s friendly behavior.


    "Ummˇ­ Do I know you, youngdy?" asked Alex


    "Oh? Oh yeah! We''ve never met before," said the young woman with an embarrassed smile on her face.


    Looking into Alex''s eyes, still smiling cheerfully, said the young woman.


    "I am Zhao Wei, the granddaughter of Zhao Fan. My grandma had told me a lot about you."


    "Is that so?" asked Alex with a smile. "So, why did youe to see me?"


    "Oh?! I want to tell Big Brother that our group will also stay here to help the Russian group. I hope Big Brother doesn''t mind about the research." said Zhao Wei. "It won''t take much time, Big Brother."


    Alex saw Christina who was standing behind this girl looking at him without any intention ofmenting. In fact, this matter was not a really big problem for him, he was just thinking about the possibleplications that would ur if something happened to this Russian group. Fortunately, Alex would be calmer thanks to the Chinese group , who were willing to look after them. He then asked why China and Russia wanted to do research in this ce.


    Zhao Wei and Iriana briefly exined that they wanted topare the conditions of the Abyss Gate from two different ends of the Earth, more precisely the Abyss Gate in Russia and the one in Indonesia. They also told him again that the research duration really would not be more than 1 hour.


    After Alex considered the matter again, he decided to take this chance to give all the fighters an 1 hour of rest before they went on the expedition, where the Abyss creatures they would be facing would be much more difficult than before. As the fighters went ahead and took a rest, Alex also appointed several fighters to be scouts who would find out and monitor the situation they would faceter.


    Alex prioritized fighters like Daisy who had sensor abilities, fighters like Jerry with swift and agile movement abilities, or fighters like Aria who could use invisible abilities to be scouts. Momentster, 10 fighters have been selected and deployed to scout. Alex also reminded them to be back in 1 hour. While other fighters were resting and waiting for the scouts toe back, Alex decided to go over to Christina while taking Theo with him.


    When they approached her, Christina was seen cleaning her sword while being apanied by 4 people, two women and one man with tattoos. All eyes were on Alex as he walked over to Christina and a woman with red hair suddenly blocked him. Alex''s face changed a bit when he saw this.


    "Anything I can help you with, Mr Alex?"


    Before Alex could say anything, Christina beat him to it.


    "Maxine, I need to talk to him." said Christina calmly. She then looked at herpanions. "All of you can go."


    Alex could see that the group was a little bit startled by Christina''s words. "Alright, sister." said the woman as she moved out of the way, followed by the others. They then walked closer to her. Even though Theo was not really close to her, they knew each other from their college days in Australia.


    Christina only stared at the two men as they walked towards her. This time, Alex could really see that something had happened to him. She nced at Theo for a moment before looking at Alex and said.


    "Ask your question."


    It was rare for her to be so straightforward, therefore, Alex didn''t need to beat around the bush as well. "What happened to you?"


    When she heard that question, Christina reacted with a chuckle as she continued to clean her sword. "That''s a silly question, Alex. Can''t you see that Doomsday has happened?" she said, shaking her head.


    Alex took a step closer and said. "Tina. If you are in any sort of trouble, let me know and I will help you with all my strength."


    zing mes suddenly appeared on his sword. She then looked up and stared at Alex emotionlessly before she said in an emotionless tone. "Yes. I will definitely need your helpter. For old time sake, you''ve got to help me."


    Alex was stunned when he heard the emotionless tone in her voice, the Christina that he knew was caring and friendly to others, especially to her close friends. She was still the same 9 months ago before he entered the Abyss Gate, but something must have happened during that time that made her turn out this way.


    Shaking his head, Alex immediately asked. "What help do you need? Tell me."


    Turning her attention back to her sword, Christina said. "Not at the moment. You will find out soon enough."


    Alex was somehow disturbed by Christina''s attitude, but he knew that it would not be wise to force the answer out of her when she was like this. Therefore, Alex could only stand there awkwardly, apanied by Theo, who could only smile wryly at the interaction of these two people.


    "If there is nothing else, we should quickly finish this expedition." Christina then sheathed her sword and walked away after she said. "Good to see you, Alex. And you, Theo."


    When Christina left, Alex turned towards Theo and asked. "What do you think happened to her?"


    "She has a lot of rage inside of her, Alex. Unfortunately, I can''t sense what it was." replied Theo calmly.


    "You can''t sense it?" asked Alex, stunned.


    "Yeahˇ­ The only reason I can''t feel it is probably because she can block my mind from reading."


    "How is that possible?" murmured Alex, confused.


    Christina''s realm must be higher than Theo''s, but it should not be possible topletely block Theo''s mind reading. ''There must be something else...'' Alex thought.


    And then, it suddenly hit him. Alex remembered that Zhao Fan was the strongest Earth spirit enhancer, who also coincidentally was the greatest mind reader.


    Alex couldn''t help but take another nce at Christina in the distance with a worried expression.


    -


    An hour has passed in the blink of an eye, it''s time to explore and clear this main chamber.

 Chapter 310 - Main Chamber Battle

    After the scouts returned and the research teams finished doing their analysis, the group quickly moved through the icy bluendscape as they advanced towards the end of the Abyss Gate. The scouts who had returned brought an abundant amount of information on what was waiting in front of them, such as the terrain they were going to pass through and the locations of the gargoyles.


    Alex studied and pondered about the information he received as meticulously and thoroughly as possible. Momentster, he told the others that they should fight their way to the end, given therge number of fighters of the expedition group.


    -


    From the sky, one could see a rhombus-shaped formation advancing through the icy in as the group headed towards the hill where the nearest horde of gargoyles was spotted by one of the scouts. When the group reached the foot of the hill, they were instantly greeted by several ear-piercing screamsing from above them. When they looked up and tried to find the origin of the scream, the fighters could see dozens of humanoid flying creatures rushing towards them.


    Seeing the iing monsters, the Sky realm fighters specialized on closebat readied their battle stances to prepare for the attacks while the fighters specialized on ranged attack began to cast their spells. Flurry of colorful lights swiftly appeared around the group as the fighters chanted their spell incantations and enhanced their bodies.


    This time, the fighters had to fight seriously and couldn''t take the approaching monsters lightly, otherwise they could suffer severe casualties.. They would not be able to fight as casually as they did against the previous hordes of critters or hellhounds.


    This Abyss creature, which has a human-like body and a face like a tiger with wings on its back, was the culprit who would bring hell to the world after the first tribtion urred. Not only did they have wings that allowed them to maneuver in the air. allowing them to take the initiative to attack, they also possessed the same speed and strength as Sky realm fighters. This fact, coupled with their maneuverability, made these monsters a headache to deal with, which a Sky realm Magus might not necessarily win against it in a one-on-one fight.


    However, the biggest threat they had to face against these gargoyles was their endurance which could take blows easily, specifically the innate ability of the gargoyles which made them unable to be injured when attacked except by magic weapons, magic attacks, or ordinary weapons enhanced by magic spells. Therefore, starting from the moment the gargoyles attacked the group, some of the fighters suffered losses due to the gargoyle''s innate ability which made them unable to injure the gargoyles.


    Only less than half of them possessed magic weapons, so they had to fight the gargoyles entirely using offensive magic spells, which quickly drained them. Some of them who were not Sky realm Magus could only watch and follow the battles without being able to do anything like an audience. However, Alex could see some of those who could not injure the gargoyles trying to help by blocking the gargoyles'' attacks or bing a diversion.


    When Alex and Aria explored the main chamber of the Abyssst time, they had to move through this icy expanse very carefully and undetected as they swiftly killed all the gargoyles they encountered, preventing them from being surrounded by them. Unfortunately for them, thanks to the striking appearance of their current 160 fighters moving together, thisrgepany of people quickly caught the attention of the gargoyles resulting in the current situation, where what was previously just several gargoyles quickly turned into dozens of gargoyles that attacked simultaneously. However, it was in this kind of precarious and critical situation that the real abilities of the fighters began to show, revealing their grandeur and brilliance to others.


    Alex could see that an Egyptian fighter with brown skin and a half-face makeup named Baako unleashed a lightning element special spell [Lightning Snake] towards the gargoyles. In the blink of an eye, a 4 meter long purple lightning appeared and zigzagged through the air like a living creature before it hit 4 gargoyles at once, immediately immobilizing them.


    Not far from Baako, Alex could see a fighter from the Philippines, a young boy with severe burns covering almost half of his face furiously threw multiple fireballs at the gargoyles as if he was possessed by a fire demon. The sight of a boy acting like pyromania made Alex wonder what happened to the boy to make him like that.


    Winter, who was standing in the front lines, tried to use his energy rifle to attack the gargoyles. Lines of blue-colored beams were seen moving through the air towards the gargoyles as Winter''s shot was followed by James'' and the two other fighters beside him. Winter saw the energy shots were not very effective against the gargoyles and only left slight burn marks on their skin. However, despite the unsatisfactory result, this test had proved that the technology they made was capable of creating a weapon that could kill these gargoyles. All they needed was time to let this technology mature.


    After seeing and realizing the energy gun was ineffective, Winter calmly ordered the rifles to be stored back in the storage ring and brought out their melee weapons again. Winter then stepped forward facing the gargoyle horde with a sword in his right hand and a shield in his left. The expression on his face and the gait disyed on his body showed that he was ready to defeat his enemies.


    Looking intently at the horde of gargoyles like a tiger ready to pounce on its prey, Winter used [Warrior Spirit] spell and swiftly stomped the ground as he zoomed towards the gargoyles while brandishing his sword forward. The fighting spirit of the fighters rose through the sky as they were enhanced by [Warrior Spirit] and saw Winter charge towards the gargoyles.


    Currently, as more and more gargoyles attacked, it became increasingly important for all the fighters to stay in formation, lest there be chaos and casualties. Alex nodded in gratification when he saw the Japanese fighters neatly form a line of fighters with katana swords that were given various kinds of element infusion spells such as [Fire Infusion]. With that, these 10 fighters could kill all the gargoyles with ease and receive only minor injuries.


    However, Alex''s face fell when he saw the 10 fighters in ck robes, the Heaven Gate bunch, moved out of the formation. He clenched his fists in irritation that those people didn''t want to follow his directions.


    "Let all of them die" said Aria emotionlessly, when she saw Alex annoyed with their unscrupulous behavior. She herself had also seen how cruel were the deeds of those cult people, such was her cold-blooded attitude towards them.


    When Alex was about to ignore those people, he noticed something strange in them, more precisely the way they fought. He was dumbfounded to see the 10 people in ck robes fighting as if they did not have basic martial arts. Heck, some of them were just randomly swinging their weapons towards the gargoyles while the others were adapting an eye-for-eye strategy, trading one blow for a chance to deliver one.


    As a result, they did manage to kill half a dozen of the attacking gargoyles, but half of their party fell on the floor too, motionless. Seeing that, Alex could not help thinking that causality is unavoidable. Eventually someone will die during a fight such as these.


    But this time, Alex was not bothered by the death of this group from the Heaven Gate. He just continued to observe this group of people fighting against the rest of the gargoyles they faced.


    Not long after, the gargoyles that attacked the Heaven Gate group were finally killed. Shaking his head, Alex just about to turn his attention elsewhere, when he suddenly saw one of the bodies on the ground moved. Unexpectedly, the ck-robed fighters who had been lying motionlessly suddenly rose to their feet again.


    Seeing that, Alex couldn''t help but curse in a small voice. "Damn! Those ck robed people look like people who have been experimented with. They can regenerate their injury really fast"


    On another side of the battlefield, one could see the blitzkrieg troop begin to move towards the gargoyles with Christina seen running at the front with her zing sword. When the blitzkrieg troop reached their target, they immediately went ahead and did their job, causing mayhem among the gargoyles.


    Even though the situation in closebat was sessfully controlled by the human side. There were still a few among these 160 people who could carry out long-range attacks against the flying gargoyles. If there was not anyone who could handle the flying gargoyles, then there would be the risk of surprise attacksing from above that could result in casualties.


    Aria, who didn''t want to be left behind in showing her abilities, finally took out arge box out of her storage ring as the new weapon created by Alex made its first appearance to the world. Seeing the weapon on her hand, Aria couldn''t help but smile widely.


    "Let''s test this weapon, shall we?"


    ----------------------------------


    Written and Directed by Avans, Published by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,


    Check out our new website https://bit.ly/avansweb

 Chapter 311 - New Weapon

    From within her storage ring, Aria calmly took out arge long box with a ck and blue sheen covering its surface. Some of the fighters who didn''t do anything noticed that the box was a box for storing a rifle.


    Aria slowly stroked the surface of the box with an eager expression on her face. She then went ahead to grab the box''s lid and opened it. From inside the box, she took out a ck sniper rifle. The sniper rifle had a massive muzzle break on its end and was so long that it could almost reach her chest when positioned vertically.


    It had been more than a year since Ariast used a long-range rifle, hence her current excited state. Alex could see how happy Aria was right now when he saw her affectionately stroking the rifle as if it was a baby born to her.


    James and Nathanael who saw and were curious about what therge ck box was seen approaching Alex. When the two of them arrived, Nathanael; a special soldier from the US Navy Seal, recognized the weapon Aria was holding.


    "Oh?! That''s the Fat Mac," said Nathanael with interest in his voice..


    The SSK Industries .950 JDJ Rifle, nicknamed "Fat Mac", is an American single-shot rifle chambered in the extremely high-powered .950 JDJ round. As its name implies, rifles chambered for the cartridge have a groove diameter of 0.950 in (24.1 mm).


    WEAPON TYPE : Large-caliber rifle


    CALIBER : 950 JDJ (24.13mm)


    ACTION : Manually operated, loading by detachable bolt


    WEIGHT : 50¨C110 pounds (23¨C50 kilograms)


    FEED SYSTEM : Single shot


    MUZZLE VELOCITY : 670 m/s (2200 feet per second)


    This American made weapon is the rifle with thergest bullets. And in spite of its weight (50 kilograms or 110 pounds), its recoil is substantial, and it is only practical to fire it from a shooting rest. Because of all these features, the rifle has little practical use, other than being a "range queen", which is a weapon brought to a firing range primarily for a fun time, and just for the sheer spectacle of it being fired.


    Seeing this "range queen" rifle on Aria''s hand, Nathanael''s face couldn''t help but change his facial expression. "You can''t be serious, Alex. Are you sure you will let her fire that rifle?" asked Nathanael as his expression grew even stranger.


    "Yeah," replied Alex with a carefree expression and a faint smile on his face.


    Nathanael was dumbfounded when he heard Alex''s response. He suspiciously looked at Alex trying to see if he was bluffing. But too bad, his suspicion was only greeted by Alex''s smiling face, which made him even more confused.


    "I had to travel the world across the oceans only to meet many famous scientists to seed in making a new weapon, which ended up being only able to slightly injure the gargoyles. Are you saying that this rifle could injure those gargoyles, Alex?" said James suspiciously. He then continued his words, "You should know that it''s not about the weapon or the bullet size, Alex."


    Alex could only smile faintly and said, "In this case, it really is about the bullet size. You will see it soon enough, James."


    Upon hearing that, the two confused men decided to listen to Alex''s words while still maintaining their skepticism towards his assurance. When the three of them were talking, more and more gargoyles flew towards the group. However, the majority of the gargoyles that had arrived remained in the air, making the fighters fighting on the ground even more rmed. As a result, the fighters became more careful and the momentum of the battle began to be taken by the gargoyles.


    Seeing the dire situation, Aria quickly prepared her sniper rifle as she loaded a massive bullet into the rifle, a .950 ammunition. This .950 caliber bullet is thergest bullet with a length of more than 10 centimeters and a weight of about 233 grams. James and Nathanael that the bullet was covered in gold casing and looked absolutely stunning.


    *CLICK*


    A familiar sound could be heard as Aria cocked the bullet into the rifle chamber. She then quickly ced the rifle on her shoulder and positioned the scope in front of her eye as she crouched on the ground, ready to fire.


    When Aria had found a target, she immediately aimed the rifle at it and pulled the trigger. At the same time when Aria pulled the trigger, James was surprised to see Aria''s rifle glowing brightly. Before he could ask what was going on, a loud sound echoed through the air startling everyone around Aria.


    BANG!


    The .950 bullet quickly flew through the air and hit one of the flying gargoyles in the head. The shot was so deadly that the gargoyle''s head immediately exploded on impact while its body rapidly fell to the ground. Nathanael and James who saw this sight were dumbfounded and stood there frozen with their mouths wide open.


    Meanwhile, Alex who also saw this couldn''t help but eximed to himself, ''Headshot! One Shot One Kill!'' while outwardly he gave 2 thumbs up to Aria. "Good job, Aria."


    Aria who heard Alex''s praise smiled slightly. She then quickly loaded another bullet into the rifle and fired another shot. Followed by a loud bang, another bullet quickly travelled in the air and hit right in the middle of the gargoyle''s chest that was flying. Just like before, the bullet once again prated the gargoyle''s body and left arge hole there, something James could not do with his energy weapon.


    Nathanael who finally woke up from his shock was excited when he saw the shot hit, "Great shot!"


    While reloading another bullet, Aria said, "I actually missed my mark. The recoil was too big so I had topensate for my shot."


    Another bang could be heard when Aria once again pulled the trigger. The bullet pierced the body of another flying gargoyle but this time, it continued to pierce another gargoyle that was behind it.


    Seeing that, Nathanael nodded and said. "I see, that''s what you mean. Good aim."


    The shots from the Aria''s rifle quite affected the result of the battle, seeing that it was not easy for the fighters to kill the gargoyles that could fly quickly. Seeing the impact of Aria''s shots towards their kin, the gargoyles decided to send dozens of them to where she was.


    Nathanael who was standing next to the crouching Aria quickly brought out his weapon and took his stance. When the gargoyles swept down towards Aria, he immediately swung his tier 3 ax and used his [Wind de] spell. When the wind de reached the gargoyle horde, he managed to kill one of the gargoyles and seriously injure the gargoyles behind it. Nathanael tried his best to attack the gargoyles and defended Aria from their attacks, however, too many gargoyles were approaching.


    Although Aria with her rifle is a soul reaper in long-rangebat Aria''s weapon is not very effective in closebat. However, despite the shoring and the approaching gargoyles, Aria was not worried and continued to shoot the gargoyles in the distance as if there was no group of winged creatures that wanted to tear her body apart.


    Alex smiled and pulled out two giant revolvers out of his storage ring. The two revolvers had bullet cylinders the size of a grenadeuncher cylinders. He then quickly aimed these double-action-only revolvers towards the gargoyles with a grin.


    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!


    Loud gunshots sounded continuously as Alex pulled the trigger quickly, finishing off the bullet quickly. A dozen gargoyles quickly fell to the ground like flies as each bullet Alex fired killed one gargoyle. The gargoyles who saw this unbelievable spectacle were frightened and immediately scattered running away from him.


    Alex smiled happily when he fired the revolvers and saw the result. "Hahaha! I actually preferred these handguns to a sword."


    Then suddenly, came a voice in his head.


    [Master, without this sword those weapons are nothing]


    Hearing that, Alex couldn''t help butugh even more, "Hahaha! You''re right, Strokes. I''m sorry. Of course you''re still the best!"


    Alex then loaded the same bullets as the ones Aria used with her rifle into the revolvers. James then realized that the bullets were covered with strange patterns that glowed when Alex held it.


    These new weapons surprised not only the attacking gargoyles but also the other fighters. They couldn''t understand how those weapons were capable of killing gargoyles, whose bodies could only be injured by magic weapons.


    In fact, the two weapons that Alex and Aria had were ordinary weapons that were only slightly modified. After all, it was not difficult to create a new custom weapon with the number of craftsmen on Bali Ind.


    The secret of these weapons'' destructiveness lies in their ammunition, more precisely the modified .950 caliber bullets. After trying various sizes of cartridges, only this .950 cartridge casing has a surface wide enough to be reced with a magic casing.


    Alex then went ahead and used pieces of tier 3 mutated animal skins that were quite thin to serve as the basis for the new cartridge casings. After countless trials and countless skin types, he finally managed to find several skins that were suitable to use.


    With the ability [Drawing], Alex managed to create a new .950 caliber bullet that has new ability the power of spirit, [Magic Bullet].

 Chapter 312 - Chosen Fighters

    Thundering sounds caused by the special bullets shot by the firearms Alex and Aria used travelled through the air, creating a strange yet harmonious dynamic in this battle. Every time they heard those deafening gunshots, the fighters, who were busy fighting their own battles, could see gargoyles fall from the sky, followed by a loud thud as their bodies hit the ground.


    As far as one''s eye could see, currently the number of fighters and the number of gargoyles who were still fighting against them began to change. The fighters were slowly but surely starting to get their momentum back. However, this situation didn''t include the dozens of other gargoyles that were seen approaching from the distance toward their battlefield location.


    As more and more gargoyles approached and attacked the group, the fighters, who were about to gain their momentum, were pushed back once again by the gargoylesing their way.


    One hourter, without realizing it, the fighters that were still fighting vigorously were already pressured by the huge number of gargoyles until the previously rhombus-shaped formation turned into a circle. At the moment, the gargoyles were surrounding and attacking the fighters from all sides, giving them no chance to take a breath.


    From the sky one could see that the formation was divided into two: the inner circle, where the long-range fighters were positioned, and the outer circle, where the closebat fighters were battling. The long-range fighters continued to hurl their spells at the flying gargoyles, while the fighters who had abilities and weapons specialized in closebat and survivability fought with the fallen gargoyles..


    In this precarious situation, where they were attacked from all directions, the fighters began to show their team capability as well as their individual abilities. Of course, among this crowd of fighters, it was the middle stage Sky realm Magus fighters who stood out more than the others.


    All representative groups from each country obviously had their own unique and extraordinary fighters. However, the leaders of the representative groups wanted to rate Alex''s chosen fighters, to perceive the prowess of the people chosen by the man, who was said toe from the future and was able toplete the Doomsday Pir''s challenge with the highest score.


    On one side of the outer circle, a very prominent fighter with a giant silver colored ymore with a ck handle was seen standing with the American fighters. The man was standing next to Winter, who wielded a sword and shield on his hand.


    This man, who gripped the massive sword nearly three meters long with his two hands, was fighting fearlessly in the front line, cutting and killing every gargoyles heid his eyes on. This man, who had an ability named [Ares Strength], an ability no less prominent than Winter''s [Warrior Spirit], could be seen wrecking havoc among the gargoyle horde. And coupled with the new tier 3 sword made by Alex, the man''s lethality shot through the roof.


    [Silver ymore - Tier 3 Weapon]


    [Special Skill - Silver Layer]


    Combined with his metal element spell [Silver Body], the strength and sharpness of the sword doubled, when the special skill [Silver Layer] activated at the same time. Every shing from the man was able to easily cut through the gargoyles'' tenacious bodies, sending chills down the other fighters, who saw the spectacle. The man was Arief, the strongest fighter of Alex''s group.


    At the other side of the battle, a Russian man was seen fighting against the gargoyles. The man was Sergei who, although Russian, had always been part of Indonesian fighters from the very beginning. Sergei was currently swinging towards the iing gargoyles as he used his favorite [Earth Crusher]. The gargoyles hit by the hammer immediately smashed into pieces, while the wind sts created by the momentum of the hammer blew up the line of the gargoyles in front of him, injuring them in the process.


    In the middle of the formation, Theo with his 5 flying swords also joined the attack, as the swords swiftly flew towards their target. Even though these swords were not enough to kill the gargoyles in one attack, Theo decided to order his 5 swords to target the wings of the gargoyles who had fallen to not let the gargoyles couldn''t fly up again, making them easy targets for the other fighters.


    Daisy and Tommy, who were both in the middle of the circle, also did not remain silent. They casted spells that could summon spirits. Daisy summoned an eagle spirit that shone brightly, while Tommy summoned a two meter tall darkness spirit. The eagle spirit immediately attacked and chased the flying gargoyles, while the darkness spirit advanced to the front line to help the struggling fighters. While their summons were busy fighting against the gargoyles, the two of them also started helping the others using the tier 3 short knife and a revolver Alex gave them each.


    The most intense fighting took ce around the blitzkrieg, which were divided into 4 groups for better mobility, each with a dozen fighters. These four blitzkrieg groups moved independently outside the circle to reinforce and help areas under too much pressure. They also acted like sharp knives that stabbed through the enemy ranks, creating chaos wherever they passed. When their speed buffs ended, they returned to the circle to regroup and rebuff before striking once again like deadly spears.


    When Alex scanned the battlefield, while continuing to fire his two revolvers, he saw a group of gargoyles fighting a blitzkrieg group dominated by Egyptian fighters led by a man with a tattoo covering his face. The man, who was currently fighting using two machetes, was named Ardeth. Jerry who also saw the group immediately approach them with the aim of helping.


    Ardeth, who saw Jerry attacking the gargoyles, nodded his head while continuing to swing his machetes. Thanks to theirmon element, the two men''s fighting methods were very simr and could evenplement and help each other.


    The second blitzkrieg group that caught Alex''s eyes was the one consisting mainly of fighters from Greece, where half of them were Lightning element Magi. In that group, Alex ced Makali, the shaman from Papua. The man effortlessly killed any gargoyles he came across thanks to his distinctive dance-like sword style thatpletely befuddled the gargoyle. The gargoyles could only stand there in confusion as Makali unleashed his swordy and began to sh their body.


    The third blitzkrieg group was filled by the fighters from China led by Christina. Alex could see a powerful st of attacks in the distance exactly where the group was, creating a sea of mes and burning every gargoyles in their path. Next to Christina was another fierce man fighting with a ming spear. Rama the pencak st fighters were able to closely catch up to the firebirds group.


    The fourth group was dominated by fighters from France, with their leader being a fighter wearing full te armor and a long sword like a medieval knight. This knight-like fighter was named Clement, a handsome brown haired man, who could have easily been imagined to seduce innocent young women in ancient Europe. Unexpectedly, this man was not a Sky realm Magus. However, he was lucky to have a battle art skill [Dash] which could increase his speed up to two times.


    Together with him, a woman was seen fighting using an iron chain that emitted a shadowy glow. In this woman''s hand, the chain skillfully and flexibly moved around the gargoyles, binding their legs and arms, while its sharp tip struck the gargoyles'' weak spots such as the eyes and mouth. This iron chain was a tier 3 weapon artifact Alex created for this blonde woman.


    [Darkness Chain - Tier 3 Weapon]


    [Special Skill - Vile Curse]


    A skill that weakened the creatures bound with it.


    Watching the blond woman fight with such elegance, Clement couldn''t help but say, "I''ve never seen ady as fierce and beautiful as you."


    The young woman giggled at the man''s words. "Heheheˇ­ Thank you, handsome. You''re not too bad either," said the woman before adding, "Too bad you are French."


    Throughout the battle, Clement always tried to show off his ''superior'' strength in front of Cindy. Unfortunately for him, the man could only stand there dumbfounded as soon as Cindy used her transformation skill, showing a strength he couldn''t match.


    This battle went on for several hours until they finally managed to kill all the gargoyles that attacked them. The group then quickly dispatched the scouts to find a resting ce. A few minutester, one of the scouts found arge ice cave not far from their location and the group headed straight for it.


    When they arrived at the location of the ice cave, Alex immediately instructed the fighters to rest for a while. While he watched the fighters resting, Alex''s mind estimated the distance between their current location and thest gate of the Abyss. A smile appeared on his face when he finished estimating.


    ''We''re almost there.''

 Chapter 313 - Gift

    In the ice cave, somewhere within the main chamber of Abyss, a group of people were resting. From the state of their bodies, where one could clearly see bloodstains and wounds covering their entire body, it looked like the group had gone through an extremely harsh battle. Some of them looked very tired and disheveled, but were still trying to be on guard, while others just straight offid on the icy ground, unbothered by their surroundings and the piercing cold ground.


    After fighting ceaselessly against the countless waves of gargoyles for a whole day, the group finally managed to find a giant ice cave where they could rest and regain their energy. Before the expedition began, these 160 people were filled with contempt and impudence, as if there was nothing that could stand and block their way.


    It was true these fighters could effortlessly kill the critters and hellhounds in the antechamber. However, from when they passed the gate guarded by the Cerberus and began to fight against the gargoyles of the main chamber, their worldview was shattered, as they were hit by the cold hard truth in front of them.


    Even though those who joined the expedition were the strongest fighters their respective region had, these abyss creatures: the gargoyles, were the strongest enemies they had ever encountered. A creature on par with the trolls and the white zombies in strength and speed, but which possessed a body and skin that could only be prated by magic enchanted objects.


    Alex, who saw the condition of the fighters, couldn''t help but shake his head. Some of them looked very exhausted after fighting all day against enemies that were equal to them.. There were also some who were injured and took this rare opportunity to receive a healing treatment from the Sky Magus which could use healing spells. Scanning the fighters in the cave, Alex sighed in silence thinking about what he could have done to make this situation impossible in the first ce.


    He remembered the first time he came here followed by Aria, where both of them managed to survive for 6 months and gained a lot of benefits in Abyss''s main chamber. However, the only reason that could happen was because they used gueri strategies when fighting the gargoyles, not fighting them head-on like now. Moreover, the two of them possessed abilities beyond the standard of even other elite fighters.


    Aria with her dual element could easily obliterate several gargoyles at once and Alex with his hexagram technique, that provided immense enhancement and mysterious footwork, allowed him to swiftly kill the gargoyles.


    All these factsbined with Alex''s tier 5 sword, as well as the ability to create magic scrolls, allowed them to kill dozens of gargoyles quickly and efficiently, giving no chance for the Abyss creatures to call for reinforcement. Thus, resulting in an instance where the two of them could survive and even thrive in the Abyss''s main chamber. However, the same could not be said with his current group.


    Even though Alex has repeatedly warned that only mid stage Sky realm Magus were allowed to participate in the expedition, these representatives still ignored his warnings and came with their own agenda. As a result, some of the fighters, whocked the ability to fight when needed, could only be a burden, hindering and disrupting the expedition. The lives of those, who didn''t have magic powers or magic weapons capable of killing gargoyles, will continue to be threatened as long as they follow the expedition.


    It was indeed true that everyone on the expedition knew more or less about the dangers they would face and agreed to risk their lives. However, those with the ability to fight back had at least a better, if not higher, chance of survivalpared to those without the ability. Thinking of this, Alex could only shake his head sadly, letting out a deep sigh.


    -


    When the fighters were taking and enjoying their chance to rest, several people were seening over to Alex.


    These people were the representatives of several countries; to be precise America, Germany, Singapore, and Australia. They seemed to have something they wanted to ask as they approached Alex together. This strange yet intriguing scene where representatives from four different countries walked together towards the leader of the expedition immediately lured the representatives from other countries to approach as well.


    Seeing this group of people, Alex smiled and said, "What can I do to help you, gentlemen?"


    Captain Liam, the American fighter and soldier, the representative from General Max''s camp was the first to open his voice.


    "Mr Alex, we would like to inquire about the weapons you used before. If you have such technology, why don''t you share it with us?"


    The crowd behind him also seemed to want to ask the same thing. Hans, the representative from Germany, then added.


    "What Mr Liam said is true, Mr Alex. Not only your fighters are strong, they are also wearing top of the line artifacts. What is your secret, Mr Alex? Please share it with us."


    Before Alex could open his mouth, Prime Minister Sidao of Singapore spoke up.


    "Mr Alex, we are your neighbouring country and we have been working together since Doomsday began. Howe that we never heard about this? We havee here to help you clear your trouble, but you seem to keep something from us."


    Listening to the simple and polite questions that were asked, turning into demands, Alex became silent. But inwardly, he smiled. It seemed everything was going ording to his n.


    James, who also approached Alex, hurriedly joined in the conversation lest the situation turned worse, "Calm down, everyone. I''m sure that Alex has a perfectly good reason for all of this." said James, turning his head towards Alex. "Am I right, Alex?"


    Alex stared at James and spoke with a smile, "Of course you are, James."


    He then took his attention away from James and looked at the others, "Of course I will share the information I have, gentlemen. After all, there have been no secrets among us since the beginning."


    Quickly scanning everyone around him, Alex then continued his words, "It''s just that I only found out about the matter recently and what you saw today was part of the experiment. A testing trialˇ­ you could say."


    He then drew Strokes from its sheath and said, "This is a powerful artifact that allowed me to create the miracles you saw today, allowing me to enchant equipment."


    Alex then proceeded to exin the function of an enchantment, which could upgrade a normal object into a magic item.


    Currently, the Doomsday Pir only granted the fighters ess to tier 2 artifacts. Meanwhile, they could only get tier 3 artifacts inside relic ruins, but it was very rare for them to find relic ruins with tier 3 artifacts. The rarity of magic weapons made the information Alex disclosed very shocking for them.


    Alex then showed them a [Magic Scroll] which shocked their souls even more. Seeing their reaction, he then went ahead and made a magic scroll directly in front of them using Strokes. The next thing Alex showed was the [Magic Bullet], using his revolver and Aria''s rifle. He simply exined the concept of the creation very quickly, giving them a rough understanding of it. In the end, the representatives standing there were dumbfounded by the information revealed by Alex.


    "To bepletely honest with you all as requested, this artifact that made all this possible is a tier 5 artifacts. And it has chosen me as the only one who can use it. So that means only I can do the enchantment. Therefore, I sincerely apologize that mass production is not possible" said Alex with a small smile.


    Alex was sure that the information he revealed gave mixed feelings to the group. Some would see this as good news for mankind, while others would feel threatened by the existence of an item that could make high tier equipment.


    Seeing the still shocked representatives, Alex said, "I once again must remind you all that we are all here for one main goal. The survival of humanity. Thus, I hope that we can work together and put our differences aside."


    He then took out severalrge boxes from his storage ring, "As my gratitude to everyone who helped this expedition, please ept my gift," said Alex, smiling faintly.


    Alex gave one box to each group, inside there were ten pieces of tier 2 protective vest that he made. All with protective energy better than themon tier 2 protection vest bought from the Doomsday Pirs.


    "I hope you like the present. With these, I hope we can clear and destroy this Abyss more quickly and without causality."


    Alex just gave out the tier artifacts for free which made some of their previous protested faces turn to smile, except the group in red robes. Anas their speaker of the Heavenly gate approaches Alex asking for their share of the gift.


    "Ahhh.. i am really sorry, the artifacts were prepared numbered as the invitation,. But don''t worry i am sure your god will be much better protection than this silly armor"------------


    ----

 Chapter 314 - Abbys Pit

    After two hours had passed and the fighters had enough rest, Alex decided to continue their advance through the main chamber again, towards thest gate of the Abyss.


    Previously, when the fighters took their time resting, Alex had dispatched a group of scouts with the same people to go ahead and scout the path they needed to take to reach the Abyss''st gate. After he received the reports from the scouts and read it thoroughly, Alex was certain of the path they needed to take to reach thest and final gate.


    Thanks to their ample rest earlier, which allowed the fighters to recover their lost energy and address their wounds, the group could confidently fight to the best of their abilities, as they ughtered through the hordes of gargoyles like a gardener mowing wild grass.


    If one looked at the equipment the fighters were wearing now, they could definitely see the fighters covered in brand-new protective vests that gave off a translucent sparkling glow around them, protecting the wearer from being attacked. Those protective vests were the one Alex gave to the representatives group as a sincere gesture of good will towards them.


    Looking at the protective vest they wore, the fighters were amazed by its durability and toughness, which helped them withstand more blows from the gargoyles than their previous vests.


    Their recovered conditionsbined with their new equipment made the battle against the gargoyles much easier as they now managed to kill the gargoyles while still maintaining their advance. The group kept their pace as they trekked through the icy hills while fighting the gargoyles that approached them along the way..


    As the group fought more and more gargoyles and became ustomed to fighting together, the battles gradually became easier and quicker to end. However, when Alex thought that things would go on smoothly, problems still urred within the group among some of the fighters. A problem that involved the spirit stones.


    It was a well-known fact that, when someone fought together with a group, it was often difficult to tell who was the one actually doing the kill. Therefore, conflicts over this matter tend to ur, from a simple confrontation using words and curses to a full-blown group battle.


    Seeing the animosity in the air, Alex could only shake his head in puzzlement while sighing deeply. Inhaling another deep breath, Alex couldn''t help but think, "Even when the world was on the brink of destruction, these people can''t still put their greed aside and pursue short-term gain instead of looking to the future and working together for it. Aiˇ­"


    Alex, obviously, was not a naive man who believed the world was filled with flowers. No, he knew there were always these kinds of people, who wouldn''t get along with anyone, no matter what. Fortunately, he was the one in charge in this expedition, hence, he decided that those who didn''t listen to him were allowed to leave on a good note, lest they cause even more troubleter down the line. Hearing Alex''s warning, those who were about to fight immediately hold themselves back.


    Currently, the one that Alex found hard to get along with was the Heavenly Gate people. Alex knew that people like Sidao from Singapore, Hans from Germany, and a few others who seemed like bad choices to make friends at first nce were actually opportunists.


    Those people would absolutely support him as long as they needed something from him and would then stab him in the back, without second thought and with a smile on their faces, if they could gain from it. Even so, those people were still easy to handlepared to those Heavenly Gate people. Because those people still act with and within reason, they were easily predictable.


    Meanwhile, that Heavenly Gate organization was a group of fanatics and one of the characteristics of someone, who could be called a ''fanatic'', was their unpredictability and lunacy. For that, Alex gave the Heavenly Gate group extra attention.


    After another half a day of continuous fighting and travelling, Alex could see arge pit in the distance, where a group of gargoyles could be seen flying out. He then shouted while pointing his finger at therge pit, "There it is. We are so close. Let''s keep going!"


    Seeing the goal that brought them here was immediate, the fighters grew even more excited and increased their speed as they ran towards therge pit. When they reached the area near the pit, Alex could see the enormous pit that oozed extremely dense malevolent aura with dozens of gargoyles in their statue forms and active ones guarding around it. Alex and the fighters immediately began to exterminate all the gargoyles, as they zed through the cluster of gargoyles like a lightning strike.


    After they had cleared the area from the gargoyles, Alex finally had the opportunity to observe this pit in detail. The size of the pit was about 50 meters in diameter, while its shape was a perfect circle as if it was made using a mold. Seeing the perfect shape of the pit, the fighters were amazed and wondered who could make such arge pit inside this ce. When he tried to look into the pit, Alex could only see bottomless darkness in it.


    "Is this the ce, Alex?" asked James as he approached Alex.


    Turning around, Alex said, "Yeah, we are here." He then shouted, "Everyone gather up!"


    Hearing Alex''s shout, all 160 fighters immediately approached and surrounded Alex to hear what appeared to be the next Abyss challenge they needed to face.


    "Alright, listen up everybody." Pointing his finger at the pit, Alex said, "This is what the pir really meant as the Abyss Hole", Alex continued his words, "At the bottom of this Abyss Hole lies thest creature we must defeat. If we manage to kill that creature, the Abyss Hole will then be cleared."


    Hearing that, some of the fighters simultaneously cast their gaze towards the pit, their gaze filled with curiosity and confusion.


    "For this final boss, I have to say beforehand that I cannot guarantee your safety. Therefore, I will only ask those who are confident to join me. I won''t say much anymore. Those who are ready can follow me," said Alex as he stared at the group of renowned fighters in front of him.


    He then calmly took out several re sticks and then lit them up. As the re sticks radiated an intense red glow, Alex quickly threw them down the hole. He then proceeded to jump into the pit as he went down towards the bottom of the pit by jerking his feet against the walls, using the wall of the pit as a stepping stone and momentum breaker.


    Aria and Arief immediately jumped and followed, leaving Alex the lead. Seeing the trio taking the initiative, one by one people began to jump down, following their path. Some fighters used fire spells, light spells, or even summon spells to help them go down the pit.


    After he darted down for about 1 kilometer, Alex could finally see the bottom of the pit. Twisting his body in midair as hended with a loud boom, he immediately casted his [Illuminate] spell to brighten the surroundings. Looking around, Alex heard soundsing from behind and turned around to see what it was. He could see Aria and Ariefnding, followed by others who decided toe down to fight against thest boss.


    Waiting for a few minutes, Alex saw that only about 120 of them had arrived and were willing to risk their lives. It seemed that not all of them were confident to face the final hurdle. In fact, Alex didn''t need too many fighters to beat thest boss. He was just worried there would be too many casualtiester, therefore, this situation where some of them gave up was even better for him.


    Observing his surroundings again, Alex noticed arge tunnel in front of them that emitted a malicious aura. With the guidance of several [Illuminate] spells, the group went deeper into the tunnel. As they walked along the tunnel, the group saw severalrge stone pirs filled with carvings. Seeing the mysterious yet peculiar pirs, Cindy couldn''t hold her curiosity and approached one of the pirs.


    As she reached the pir and saw the carvings engraved on it, Cindy shouted, "Alex,e here!"


    Hearing her shout, Alex immediately walked over to her. Pointing her finger towards one of the carvings, Cindy said, "Look here, Alex. Isn''t it the Ancient Greeknguage?"


    Alex was inspecting the carvings when suddenly, one of the fighters from Greece recognized the writing and its meaning. "Creatures locked by the gods-"


    Before the Greece fighter could finish his words, another fighter interrupted him and said, "This is not the time to read those."


    Alex was about to say something, when he suddenly heard a faint grunt in the distance. Raising his head as a sign of caution he ced his finger on his mouth, Alex said softly, but still loud enough for everyone to hear.


    "We are close. It''s here."

 Chapter 315 - Final Gate

    *Urgh*


    Another grunt echoed through the air, but this time it was clearer. The other fighters, who were at the back, could finally hear the grunt. Hearing that, their hearts immediately tightened, as apprehension gradually crept on their faces.


    Just as the fighters were about to diffuse the tension, another sound reverberated in the tunnel.


    *Thump* *Thump* *Thump*


    At the moment, dread stered their faces as the 120 fighters could clearly hear the sounds of heavy footsteps slowly heading their way, as evidenced by the sound grew louder with each passing second. The sound was also followed by the sound of something heavy, perhaps a metal, being dragged across the ground.


    Taking out his revolver, Alex calmly said, "Everyone, get ready. It is here. We will go ording to n.".


    Right after he said that, Alex took out and lit a number of re sticks at once. He then proceeded to throw them in different directions of therge tunnel. As soon as the re sticks that glowed brightly were thrown, the fighters could see a faint shadow of a giant figure of at least 10 meters high in front of them.


    ROOOAAARRR!!!


    A thunderous roar resounded through the air, making the fighters'' eardrums tremble violently with it. The creature, which was nearly 60 meters long, stepped forward and headed towards the group location. The fighters could feel that ground intensely shook as it walked and stomped its feet.


    Slowly but surely, as it stepped out of the darkness and its figure was lit up by the glowing re sticks, the group could finally see the being who was thest opponent they had to face in the Abyss Hole.


    [Chimera]


    [Tier 5 Abyssal Creature]


    The Chimera was a creature mentioned in Greek mythology. However, differently from its counterparts described in Greek mythology, as a creature with three heads: one of a grim-eyed lion, one of a goat and a one of a snake instead of a tail.


    The colossal creature standing in front of them had two snake heads protruding from the left and right of its body, a lion-like head, with an ash-colored mane fluttering madly and, in its center, a goat''s head with bipr horns, tail like scorpion''s stinger and a crocodile-like scaly body with a pair of wings folded at its side.


    Many Greek mythology stories were based on this mythological creature and were widely spread as ancient lores in society. However, it never urred to them that the creature woulde alive and stand in front of them.


    Alex had already exined about this creature during the briefing session before entering the Abyss. He also mentioned the possibility that it was thest monster they had to fight. Alex had done everything he could to ensure the best preparation of the fighters for the uing battle, but even so, they stood frozen when they saw this monstrous abomination standing in front of them.


    The Chimera red at the group with its ominous red eyes that shone in the darkness. The group could clearly see its intimidating sharp ws were out in the open. One of the creature''s heads, the head of the lion, which was the size of a small house, with a face that looked like it was made of stone, howled loudly.


    ROARRRRR!!!


    From its right back, a giant reddish snake breathed out a me of bright fire, while from its left back the giant bluish snake let out a breath of the abhorrent frigid cold air.


    Meanwhile, from the midsection of its body, towering in the middle of the snake''s heads, they could be seen the yellowish goat''s head faintly surrounded by amber vapor.


    On the neck of the creature, there was a giant iron te that became the cor for its four heads. Alex could also see dozens of chains tied to it dangling in the air.


    Seeing the menacing monster, Alex immediately said, "Alright, everyone. We will now attack ording to the n exined before." Turning his head towards the group, he added, "I will say it once again. For those who are not ready, it is better to stay and watch carefully, lest you be a burden."


    Not waiting for an answer from them, Alex immediately walked to the front row. He then stared right at the creature''s eyes as he used his technique.


    [Hexagram Technique - Stage 4]


    As strength filled his body and countless formation runes orbited around him faintly, Alex began the attack by using his ''shiest'' spell, [Blind - Tier 1 Light Spell].


    A sudden burst of piercing light appeared in front of Alex, startling the Chimera as it roared again, but even louder. Alex was sure the creature, who lived in the darkness, was furious because of his provocation. In fact, its roars were now tinged with rage.


    "Now!" shouted Alex.


    Several figures immediately dashed forward when they heard Alex''s shout. Sergei, Winter, Maxine, and several other Sky realm Magus fighters who had above average physical strength swiftly ran and stopped right around the colossal figure of the Chimera.


    They then quickly leaped into the air and each grabbed an iron chain, as they began to pull the chains violently at the same time. This instantly made the monster fall on the ground and restricted its movement, causing dirt and gravel flying in the air. The Chimera roared loudly as it happened.


    Seeing the Chimera had fallen to the ground and couldn''t move, Arief immediately used his [Silver Body] and [Ares Strength] ability and shot forward towards the downed creature. Arief swiftly reached the front of the creature, to be precise in front of the falling lion head.


    He then quickly used the [Silver Layer] skill before he thrusted his huge tier 3 sword and stabbed it into the lion''s mouth that was falling to the ground. The purpose of this action was to keep the lion''s mouth closed, making sure it was unable to bite or to use its [Lion''s Roar] ability that could severely affect the fighters'' mind.


    When the Chimera saw what was happening, the heads of the red and blue snakes took a deep breath until their cavities looked like they were about to explode and then they immediately fired their breath.


    [Ice Breath] [me Breath]


    A line of azure beam exuding an extreme coldness descended on the fighters on the left side on the Chimera, while a crimson ray emanating scorching heat was crashing towards the fighters on its right, who were grabbing and pulling the chain.


    ording to the n prepared, the fighters on the right side immediately clustered together as a white luminous barrier appeared and covered the entire group.


    The me breathing at them was blocked by the barrier. This lustrous barrier was the oue of a spell prepared by Daisy, the [Halo - Tier 3 Light Spell]. This spell was a unique spell that could block elemental-based attacks and even deflect the weaker ones.


    Meanwhile, on the other side of the Chimera, the ice breath was blocked by the huge me screen that almost reached the ceiling of the tunnel. This me screen was the unique [Fire Wall - Tier 3 Fire Spell] from Marc, the fighter from the Philippines, who had a burn scar on his face.


    Seeing the Chimera''s breath attacks being blocked by the two defensive spells, Alex nodded in satisfaction. With everything going ording to the n, the next step was to deploy the swift-footed and powerful fighters to chop off the heads of the Chimera, starting from the yellowish goat head that towered above the lion''s head.


    Although it appeared that so many things were happening, all these actions all happened in less than 5 seconds. All ording to the perfect n.


    Looking at the desirable situation, Alex immediately shouted, "Do it now!"


    After the Chimera was restrained and unable to move anymore, all the fast-moving fighters like Nathanael, Jerry and Ardeth immediately lunged forward and activated their spells, as they tried to cut off the yellow monster''s head, which was the secret key to defeating the Chimera creature.


    However, after all the fighters moved and right when the blitzkrieg troops were just about to cut the yellow goat''s neck, Alex noticed an unusual movement.


    At a nce, the group of fighters in ck robes were seen attacking the Chimera, but what actually happened was that only some of them attacked the yellow goat while the others lunged at Arief who was busy holding the lion''s fangs.


    Alex who saw it immediately ran to prevent this, but unfortunately he was toote.


    Arief, whose back was wide-open and wasn''t alert because he was too focused on his task, got stabbed from behind. The red robed fighters from the Heavenly Gate betrayed them.


    "Arief!!"


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 Chapter 316 - Betrayal

    "ARIEF!!!" shouted Alex with all his might as he watched the Heavenly Group bastards backstabbing Arief.


    In Alex''s previous life, there were a lot of powerful and famous fighters, who died in order to let the others know the best way to defeat thest monster that guarded the Abyss. After countless trials and failures followed by uncounted sacrifices, the fighters in his previous life had finally found the perfect approach and defeated this abomination.


    Therefore, it was for this exact reason Alex made sure the representatives from these countries could find out about it in his life this time. So there were no more casualties when these people tried their respective Abyss Holes.


    Actually, if they already knew how, Alex was sure that it would not be difficult to defeat this giant monster. If these people watched how he took care of this monster, they would realize that defeating this Chimera beast only required the cooperation of at least 15 fighters. That figure was insanely smallpared to the number of fighters needed to fight other boss-level monsters, which could easily need more than 50 people.


    Now, these were the way to take down this 10 meters high and 60 meters long Abyss creature.


    First.. Restrain its movement.


    Because this Abyss creature had wings and its frame was huge, it would be easier to defeat it while it was still in its nest, where there was very little space for it to fly and maneuver freely.


    Next, instructed a few fighters to approach the beast before they grabbed and pulled the chains dangling around its neck. This action would send the beast crashing to the ground, further restricting the beast''s movement and immobilizing it.


    Second. Recognize the threats.


    During the battle against this beast, they needed to always observe and pay attention to the four threat sources that could easily kill the fighters. Those things were the mighty ws and ear-piercing roar of the lion''s head, the two heads of the ice and fire snake, and the razor-sharp stinger''s tail.


    Third. Prioritize beheading the goat head.


    The goat head of the Chimera had the special ability to swiftly regenerate all wounds suffered and received by all other parts of the body. Hence, it was of the highest priority to remove this head from the board.


    With all of this valuable information in his mind, Alex proceeded to make a n and exin it to others before the expedition began. He then assigned the fighters with the highest physical strength to pull the chain and held the lion''s jaw, preventing it from using its [Lion''s Roar], while the other fighters would attack the two snake heads and hold the Chimera''s tail.


    Everything had gone ording to the n. But unexpectedly, right at the critical moment before they cut off the goat head, the Heavenly Gate fighters moved out of the n and betrayed them. Those five people in red robes attacked the fighters who were near the goat head, causing them to be distracted, while the 4 other people attacked Arief.


    "Arief!" screamed the others when they realized the situation..


    The attack of the five people at first nce looked like they were aimed at the goat head, but they were actually aimed at Jerry and the others, forcing them to dodge and thwart their strikes on the goat head.


    Meanwhile, on Arief''s side, one of the four people who attacked him managed to sink his sword at his back. However, they all managed tond their blows on the colonel, Alex not sure how many times the colonel armor could hold the attack when a loud sound suddenly resounded and the head of one of the red robed men burst like a watermelon.


    When the three other attackers were startled by the sudden death of theirpanion, five short swords could be seen flying violently at the group. Two people were stabbed by the flying swords in the head and chest, while thest one who managed to recover himself was able to ward off the attack.


    The source of the loud explosion''s sound and the one that popped one of those bastard heads obviously came from Aria, who aimed and fired her rifle from afar, while the five swords came from Theo''s signature sword formation attack.


    Theo, who was still livid when he saw the actions of the Heavenly Gate people, immediately catched up with Alex, who now heaved a sigh of relief and said, "I''m really sorry, Alex. You''ve told me to watch their actions closely, but I wasn''t fast enough and let you down."


    Shaking his head at one of his closest friend''s words, Alex said, "Let''s just make sure nothing happened to Arief." Hearing that, Theo nodded and followed Alex, who was approaching Arief.


    Thest person who managed to block Theo''s swords turned around and nned to give thest blow. However, Aria, who was still watching him, quickly fired another shot. The bullet went out of the rifle''s barrel and zoomed towards the man''s chest, ready to take his life, but the man surprisingly managed to move his body slightly to the side with a sidestep.


    As a result, the bullet missed its target and instead hit the person''s shoulder,pletely destroying it. The man was flung backwards from the impact of the bullet as his body spun in the air before falling to the ground.


    Normally, a person shouldn''t be able to get up if their shoulder were destroyed, but it seemed that these strange fanatic people could still move, as they had shown before. Their unique yet strange regeneration ability made them extremely tough, so much that they could still move even with severe injuries. The other two who had been stabbed by Theo''s swords and should have been badly injured also got up and continued their attacks.


    Seeing this sight, Alex could only curse loudy, "Those damn crazy people!"


    However, as the three men leaped and carried out their attacks, the lion''s head mouth suddenly moved. Seeing the iing attacks, Arief shifted his body to the side, putting his body out of the path of attack, while the three fanatics who lunged forward at him were greeted by the sight of a wide open giant mouth.


    Evidently, Arief had taken out the sword that was holding the creature''s mouth, allowing the creature to use its mouth again. The lion''s head, enraged by the things that happened to it, quickly opened its mouth and bit down the first people who found in its path, in this case, the three red robed humans.


    Seeing the frightening sharp teeth inside the lion''s mouth, the three men panicked and tried to retreat. Unfortunately, it was toote for them and they could only scream hysterically as their bodies were chewed and swallowed by the lion head.


    Seeing the gruesome scene, Arief immediately moved a few steps back, while Theo, who had been nearby, quickly healed his back with [Healing Ray] spell. Alex, who was also there, eyed the lion''s head.


    Seeing Alex was only a few meters ahead of it, the monster quickly moved to devour him, however, the dozens of fighters once again pulled the chains to bring the monster down. Alex also didn''t stand there and doing nothing, he immediately sent several [Smite] spells on the monster''s head to make sure it remained on the ground.


    Meanwhile, the fight next to the goat head went awry thanks to the five Heavenly Gate people who instead of attacking the monster, they protected it.


    "What the fuck do you think you are doing?!!" screamed Ardeth in extreme anger.


    "You all infidels don''t belong to the new world God has prepared for us. Therefore, you are destined to die in this hole. This is the will of god." said one of those fanatics.


    Just as Ardeth was about to beat up those people, he saw the Chimera''s tail lifted into the air. Seeing that, the faces of Ardeth, Jerry, and the others turned pale as they quickly retreated and ran back as far as possible.


    The Heavenly Gate people who had their backs against the Chimera''s tail did not see the sight and were confused by the sudden retreat. However, their confusion was soon answered when they felt pain on their whole back.


    Just like the information that Alex briefed before, the Chimera, who had raised its tail,unched the hundreds of poisonous spikes attached to it. The spikes flew in all directions like a fountain and attacked the fighters.


    The fighters who managed to maintain their distance dodged the attack, while those who didn''t run far enough immediately used their shield to block or casted [Mud Wall] or [Ice Wall] spell and hid behind it.


    Those poisonous spikes flew faster than bullets in very random paths, difficult to predict. Thanks to this, it was very hard, almost impossible, to dodge these spikes in close distance. The most appropriate course of action would be to retreat and stay far away from the monster.


    As for the five Heavenly who were near the goat head and oblivious to the attack, their bodies were ''graciously'' gifted with dozens of poisonous spikes. Alex and the others saw that they were still alive and grimaced in pain. Their abnormal regenerative ability turned against them and only served to prolong their suffering.


    Alex and the other fighters just stood there, coldy watching them suffer, until the Chimera''s fire snake suddenly burned them to a crisp.


    Turning his head around, Alex said, "The show is over. Let''s go for round two now."


    When the others began to attack the Chimera again, using the same pattern, Alex stared at the back looking for Anas, the Heavenly Gate leader who had secretly left the area.

 Chapter 317 - Chimera

    Now, with the intruder bastards gone, while their leader fled like a tunnel rat, the remaining 110 fighters immediately prepared themselves to once again fight against the giant monster in front of them.


    The fight restarted with 10 less problems and plus one extremely furious monster.


    This time, the Chimera had not been fooled by the [Blind] spell Alex casted. When the spell was cast, one of the Chimera''s four heads closed its eyes. So, even though the other three pairs of eyes were temporarily blinded by the piercing lights, there was still one head that could see its surroundings, nullifying the purpose of the spell itself.


    This was the advantage of a monster with four heads andbined with the fact that Chimera was a tier 5 Abyss creature, which made it have basic intelligencepared to lower-tier monsters, the fight would only be harder from now on. Moreover, the Chimera already saw and experienced the strategy Alex used to take it down. Thus, the situation didn''t look too good for the fighters.


    When the other fighters were about to run forward and tried to grab the chains dangling on its neck, the Chimera suddenly raised its tail again and fired another hundreds of poisonous spikes. This attack made the fighters, who were already rushing forward, stop their advance abruptly and retreat back..


    Same problem ured when the fighters tried to grab the chains dangling around its body. The Chimera violently shook its body, sending the iron chains flying around and crashing into the fighters.


    Meanwhile, the condition of the fighters, who were assigned to attack the Chimera''s goat head, was also not smooth. Ever since it had seen the fighters focus their attacks on killing its goat head, the Chimera was currently protecting the goat head with all its might.


    The fire and ice snakes, which had previously attacked the fighters who were pulling the chains, were now firing their breaths at the fighters who lunged and threatened its goat head. Since the Chimera was not immobilized on the ground anymore, the two snake heads could freely fire their breath towards the approaching fighters.


    Thanks to the things that happened, a few fighters were injured as a result of this failed second stage attack.


    Seeing their wounded friends, one of the fighters couldn''t help but curse, "The Heavenly Gate bastards are making things harder for us."


    Fortunately, they were currently fighting the Chimera inside its own nest. The limited space of the tunnel made it unable to exploit its wings and restricted its mobility. Otherwise, the situation would definitely not have happened like now, where their attacks could reach the Chimera.


    In Alex''s previous life, when the second tribtion began and the Abyss Holepletely released all of its monsters inside it, dozens of Chimera would begin to be seen flying outside . They then began to attack every major city in the world, causing chaos wherever they passed. Therefore, it was really the best opportunity to kill it, while it was still inside the abyss hole.


    Right now, the Chimera couldn''t go anywhere and just stood and looked at the fighters with its four pair eyes that radiated an eerie vibe, making the fighters feel cold shivers running down their backs. The fighters also stood there, watching the Chimera, showing the monster their unbreakable determination. A strange yet harmonious stand-off happened between these two different entities, each with the same intent to kill the other.


    Seeing the stalemate situation and their failed attacks, Alex was forced to change the strategy a little. He told the other fighters to charge forward together and struck any part of the Chimera they could attack.


    The fighters became restless and worried, when they heard the so-called ''strategy''.


    "Can this even still be called a strategy?" asked one of the fighters.


    Alex only smiled when he heard that. He then took out more than one hundred scrolls from his storage ring and gave one each to everyone. The scroll was [Stone Skin - Tier 1 Earth Spell] magic scroll.


    Looking at everyone, Alex said, "With this scroll, you should be safe from the ice and fire breath for at least one minute. Just make sure to dodge the Chimera''s tail and the lion''s mouth, cause that will be suicidal indeed"


    Every magic scroll cost one yellow spirit stone worth of energy. While giving the scrolls to everyone, Alex just hoped his wife would not be angry with this charity act of his.


    Hearing Alex''s words, everyone finally agreed and were willing to try again.


    -


    After everyone received their share of magic scroll, they immediately went ahead and prepared themselves for the third try.


    "Let''s move. Attack!" shouted Alex as he zoomed towards the Chimera.


    As soon as Alex shouted, all 110 fighters immediately moved. Closebat fighters casted their abilities and spells that enhanced their strength as they darted towards the Chimera, while the long-range fighters instantly casted their spells and fired them at the Chimera. A myriad of different types of spells were seen flying through the air towards every visible part of the Chimera, while the melee fighters followed right behind the flying spells.


    The Chimera, who watched all this happen, quickly opened its mouth and used the spell that Alex prevented at all cost, [Lion''s Roar].


    ROOOOAAAARRRR!!!


    Thunderous sound escaped the Chimera''s lion mouth and travelled through the air towards the iing spells and approaching fighters. As soon as the wave of roar touched the volley of spells, the spells were unexpectedly being pushed back and disintegrated into nothingness. Meanwhile, the fighters, who were charging forward, were pushed back by it and received slight injuries to their bodies while their eardrums rang.


    After staggering for a moment, the melee fighters quickly got up to their feet and continued their charge. When they reached the Chimera, they immediately began their assault and bombarded the Chimera''s body with a flurry of attacks.


    After all, all the fighters in this ce were the best from their respective countries. So, no wonder that this second n could run smoothly. Most were able to read the situation and adjust their area of attack, opening up gaps and providing opportunities for Alex''s few selected fighters.


    Aleric, the dual element fighters from Germany, Christina with her [Firede] spell and Alex himself with his tier 5 weapon, Strokes. The three of them were the main damage dealers. while the other fighters served as support and diversion. The trio immediately did their assault on the goat head.


    Alex, who was enhanced by the fourth stage hexagram technique, was able to run around the Chimera''s massive body dodging every attack from the beast, while firing shot after shot into the Chimera''s eyes. Each time a shotnded on its eyes, the goat head immediately healed the wound as if nothing had happened. However, the shots still managed to obstruct the Chimera''s vision, making it unable to respond when it saw a figure jumped andnded on its back.


    Aleric, the figure on the Chimera''s back, immediately stepped forward and grabbed the goat head with all the strength he could muster. Thanks to the tier 3 gloves he wore and his powerful physique, he managed to immobilize the goat head.


    Meanwhile. Christina followed the attack by stomping her legs against the ground and leaped towards the Chimera''s goat head. In midair, she quickly used her [9 Sun Manual - Stage 6] technique, which made her shrouded in scorching mes.


    She then dived towards the goat head like a fireet, while her sword was instantly engulfed with zing mes. When she nearly reached the goat head, she swung her sword diagonally. The zing mes immediately left her sword and moved through the air in an arc towards the goat head. The Chimera''s ice snake head saw its ice breath destroyed by the fiery arc that continued undisputed towards the goat head, severing it.


    The Chimera roared in pain when its goat head was severed by Christina''s Fire de. When her feet touched the Chimera''s back, the goat head already fell to the ground with a loud thud, causing dust to fly everywhere.


    After losing its goat head, the Chimera could only receive the fighters'' attacks without any hope of healing it. One by one, the Chimera''s heads were severed, starting from the ice snake heads to the fire snake head.


    The two snake heads tried to fire their breaths at the fighters, but the sheer number of attacks they received made them unable to do so. Their opened mouths would always be greeted by rain of spells or storm of strikes, making them thwart their attacks. The ice snake''s head was then torn off by Aleric''s hands, while the fire snake''s head was ravaged by Alex''s bullets.


    After the three Chimera''s heads were killed, Alex showed the fighters thest head they needed to kill before they attacked the lion head. Unexpectedly, thest head was located behind its tail, hidden from in sight.


    This was the biggest secret in order to kill the Chimera, they needed to destroy this head to allow them to kill the Chimera. If this hidden head was not killed, then the Chimera would not die, no matter how many hits it received, and would continue to regenerate.


    When thest head was killed, the Chimera, who was still struggling, immediatelyid limp on the ground. Alex smiled when he saw that, he then approached the lion head to do thest blow.


    Raising Strokes in the air, Alex then stabbed it into the forehead of the lion. Followed by a pained roar, the Chimera was finally dead.


    The battle was finally over.

 Chapter 318 - Threat

    On the horizon, one could see the dark sky slowly filled with orange splendor as the sun slowly rose, sharing its dazzling radiance to the world, while the morning dews dripped to the ground, signifying the start of a new day in the apocalypse.


    Half a day had passed since Alex and the other fighters killed the Chimera monster.


    On Bali Ind, or to be precise in the Abyss Hole, a figure was seening out of it with flustered expression and ragged breath.


    The figure was draped a big red-colored robe over his body, while his head was covered with a cloth covering his face. This figure was Anas, the speaker of the Heavenly Gate group, who came and joined the expedition.


    He was a confidant of Hafiz, one of the important figures in the Heavenly Gate organization. Anas was instructed toe and join the so-called Abyss Hole Destruction expedition with the aim of thwarting Alex''s n. He was also given a personal order by Hafiz himself to unravel the secrets of the Abyss.


    That was the reason why he brought 30 people to this ce and insisted on bringing all of them on the expedition. Unfortunately for him, his demand was met with a strong refusal from Alex, to the point of threatening him to follow his regtions or get out of the ind at that instant.. Therefore, he could only keep his mouth shut and ept the regtion, otherwise the operation would fail before it even started.


    Whether he wanted it or not, Anas was forced to choose ten fighters between his men to join the expedition. Along the way, Anas and his men continued to observe the others, whoever was on the expedition. At the same time, his men were only fighting with the bare minimum effort so as not to appear suspicious or get hatred from the other fighters, not that they didn''t already receive plenty in the first ce.


    When Anas decided to do his backstabbing, he was shocked to see his fighters'' attacks being stopped by already prepared fighters. The n was crumbling, he knew he was screwed and so he could only immediately run away, leaving his ''brothers'' behind. As he ran through the main chamber and antechamber of the Abyss, Anas''s thought was ready to carry out the second n.


    As a Wind Sky realm Magus, Anas had incredible speed that allowed him to speed through the Abyss''s chambers like a storm. He managed to reach the entrance of Abyss Pit within only half a day.


    When Anas came out of the Abyss Pit and was greeted by the streaks of the orange and grey dawn sky, he was even more grateful to his God. With His blessings, Anas was sure the endeavor of his second n would go smoothly.


    Running towards the hotel, Anas swiftly avoided all the guards and sped towards the ce where his remaining men were waiting like rabid dogs. He needed to move fast, because he was sure Alex and the other fighters were only an hour or two behind him.


    When he reached the ce where his men were, Anas saw them still tucked in their beds, sleeping soundly. Fists clenched, Anas shouted, "WAKE UP!"


    The deafening shout startled all of them, making some of them even stumble to the floor while others quickly took their fighting stances. Scanning their surroundings, they finally realized their brother was the one who shouted at them.


    "Brother Anas?"


    "Yeah. It''s me. Get up and prepare for a battle."


    Hearing that, the Heavenly Gate people were stunned. Eyes bulging with disbelief, when they noticed Anas was the only one there, one of them finally dared to ask, "Where are the other brothers, Brother Anas?"


    Anas only fell silent when he heard his brother''s question.


    "Is the n failed?"


    "... Yes, brother. They are now with our god." Everyone''s expression fell when they heard that. Anas then added, "However, don''t worry, brothers. Our god is absolute, therefore, believe in His n, that was encased in a mysterious way."


    Seeing everyone nodding their heads and their eyes were filled with conviction, Anas continued, "We have a better purpose now."


    "We understand, brother Anas. What is our god''s purpose for us now?"


    Spreading his arms, Anas said loudly, "Their leader, the man named Alex, is the reincarnation of the Devil itself. Our god told me he will bring the end onto us. and Therefore, to make sure he repents his evil ways, we are going to bring his family to our holy city."


    Nodding their head vigorously, they said together, "Yes. brother! We are all with you."


    -


    As the morning sun was rising and when most of the people were still asleep, Anas and his twenty fighters sneakily slipped out of the hotel, under the watch of the exhausted guards. They then headed straight for Alex''s family residence, which was located on the outskirts of the Bali base near the Doomsday Pir.


    Anas knew that the ce must be heavily guarded with dozens of fully armed soldiers. However, he also knew that now was the best time to strike as Alex''s family must still be asleep and the most elite fighters were still in the Abyss.


    Thus, knowing he didn''t have much time, Anas gritted his teeth and said his order.


    "Let''s go! We will charge our way through."


    The twenty fighters were seen charging towards the gate residence and quickly broke into Alex''s residence. Their reckless action quickly gave amotion and attracted the guards'' attention.


    "Intruders!!! Raise the rm!"


    Hearing the ring rms that reverberate throughout the entire residence, Anas knew they had to move faster. They had to take Alex''s family and bring them to their boat before the reinforcements could arrive here, trapping them in this ce. In his mind, Anas assumed he had at least ten minutes until stronger magus fighters coulde and stop them in their tracks.


    At the moment, the guards in Alex''s residence were all just early stage Sky realm Knights. They were no match for the Heavenly Gate top fighters that he brought over.


    Eric, the head guard of Alex''s residence guard troop, the friend who helped Alex in his past life, was currently fighting against the intruders. Even though he tried his best to hold them down, Eric knew that he would not be able to hold out for long, due to his insufficient strength.


    When Eric and his men were slowly being pushed by the intruders, Devita and her two daughters suddenly went out of the house to see themotion.


    "What is going on?" asked Devita with shock in her voice, when she saw the sight before her.


    Eric, who heard Devita''s voice, turned his head and spotted her and Alex''s two daughters on the balcony watching the battle, "We are under attack! Stay inside!" screamed Eric.


    Anas, who noticed Eric had turned, followed his gaze and saw their target. Seeing that, he quickly shouted, "There they are! GET THEM!"


    Anas knew they would definitely win if they could catch one of the three. Eyeing their targets, Anas and his two fastest fighters dashed forward and went straight at Devita and her two daughters.


    To his surprise, Tiffany, Alex''s oldest daughter stepped in front of her mother and her little sister, then shouted.


    "Don''t you daree any closer!!"


    When he was about tough at the little girl''s brave yet silly action, he suddenly felt a strong wind blowing in the area. This was immediately followed by a very powerful pressureing from the sky and pushing them to the ground, stopping their advance.


    With difficulty, Anas lifted his head and nced at the dim orange sky, trying to find the source of this immense pressure. His eyes narrowed when he could faintly see the shadow of a giant bird descending from the sky.


    "What is th...?!" asked Anas.


    Before Anas could even finish his sentence, therge bird, with wings that spanned for more than 5 meters, plunged towards their direction. One of his two fighters got crushed under the bird''s sharps talon, while the other one was thrown backwards by a sweep from the bird''s massive wings, hitting the trees nted inside the residence before his body fell limp.


    Anas, who saw the bird''s dive first, managed to dodge it thanks to his quick reaction and formidable strength. Cold sweats dripped off his face when he saw the fate of his two brothers, one became an unrecognizable meat paste while the other oney on the ground motionless, his state unknown.


    Turning his head towards his targets again, Anas immediately lunged at Alex''s youngest daughter with a ferocious expression on his face.


    "MOMMY!!!"


    --------------


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 Chapter 319 - Danger

    This bird was Tiffany''s pet mutated animal, a descendant of the mighty mutated beast Garuda. This bird looked as if it was the offspring of a hawk and an eagle that had been erged five times. It had white luminous feathers covering from its head to its neck, while its body and wings were covered with striking golden brown feathers. Its eyes were ck with a faint golden glint in them, while its beak and talon looked terrifyingly sharp.


    With a swoop attack using its sharp talons and a sweep from its wing, the bird managed to stop the assants and kill two of them. Anas, who barely managed to evade the bird''s wing sweep, was frightened by its prowess, however, when he saw that his targets were within reach, he couldn''t just let go.


    [Windwalk]


    Swirls of air currents enveloped Anas''s body as he activated the spell, enhancing his already impressive speed even further. Seeing, with corner of his eyes, another sweep attacking from the side, Anas quickly dodged the bird''s attack by jumping and somersaulting in the air, before he immediately dashed towards the easiest target in his opinion, the youngest daughter of Alex, the eight years old little girl, Tiarra.


    Seeing the intruder approaching and intending to take Tiarra hostage, putting her in danger, Devita, who was right beside the little girl, did not remain silent. Even though she was not a spirit enhancer or a fighting expert, Devita didn''t forget to and still continued to improve herself to reach Sky realm Knight..


    Eyeing the intruders with indescribable tranquility that even she didn''t know to possess, Devita took out an object, the newest created weapon, a double-action revolver with modified and improved bullets, [Magic Bullet].


    BANG! BANG!


    Two bullets fired from the revolver and flew through the air. As soon as Anas saw the object Devita took out, his alertness was immediately raised to the maximum, because he knew how dangerous and terrifying those bullets were. Therefore, he immediately dodged them, making the shots miss. Unfortunately, Devita did not have sufficientpetence to use this weapon to its full potential.


    Enhanced by his [Windwalk] spell, Anas quickly changed his path of advance and once again tried to approach Tiarra with his hands stretched out, intending to grab the terrified little girl. If he managed to capture the girl, Anas was sure that he could escape this ind on his own and take her to the holy city. Even if he had to leave his ''brothers'' to act as decoy and die, the mission would still be counted sessful.


    When the distance between him and Tiarra was only three steps away, the sound of gunfire was heard again. However, this time the sound was heard from a distance and was a little different. Realizing that, Anas''s eyeballs immediately moved to the left in a split second, ncing at Devita.


    When he saw Devita was currently putting down her revolver, a terrifying thought suddenly struck his mind, as his face immediately drained of any color. At the same time that thought arose, Anas felt extreme pain in his lower body and he immediately fell to the ground rolling. Casting his gaze at his feet, Anas saw his legs were gone, reced by mangled pieces of flesh, a pool of blood rapidly forming below him.


    Devita was shocked by the sudden gunshot and immediately threw her gaze to the source of the bullet. In the distance, she could faintly see a figure slowlying out of the rippling water from her invisibility spell. When the figure was illuminated by the sunlight, Devita saw a woman with a rifle in her hand, Aria.


    As if the shot was a signal, a group of fighters appeared together with Aria''s arrival. Dozens of spells quickly flew in the air towards the red robed intruders. Dinda and Ark immediately provided assistance as one could see fire arrows darted through the air, piercing and burning red-robed fighters, while others were hit by flying boulders.


    On the other side of the battlefield, thorny roots began to emerge from the ground and crept to the feet of several fighters in red robes, immobilizing their movement. And, as if that wasn''t enough to send the red-robed people into despair, two shadow figures emerged shing through the battlefield like lightning, finishing the immobilized fighters with swift and vicious strikes. The culprit of this sight were Raufgar and the twin brother, Oscar and Oliver.


    The five of them were all Sky realm Magus fighters Alex had assigned to guard the headquarters, thus their quick response and immediate reinforcement. When they continued fighting against the remaining Heavenly Gate fighters, Aria immediately ran over to Devita to prevent the unexpected.


    When Aria reached the three people, she immediately said, "I''m sorry, sister Devita. I have been following him from the start, but he''s just too fast. When I caught up to him, he was already with his men, therefore, I decided to go and seek reinforcement."


    Hearing that, Devita smiled and said, "It''s okay, Aria. We are fine, really.I am grateful for your help."


    With Aria and the young eagle standing guard around them, there was only a very slim chance, very close to none, that Alex''s family could be in danger again. Not long after, another group of reinforcements were seen approaching the residence with President Rico leading them.


    Seeing the red robe, President Rico''s eyes turned cold as he ordered, "Do not let any of them get away."


    The Heavenly Gate fighters, who were previously evenly matched with the five Sky realm Magus fighters and able to maintain their ground, were currently being slowly pushed into a precarious situation as they were surrounded by many fighters.


    However, right when the fight appeared to be over, the Heavenly Gate''s people started to transform themselves into weird forms. With the transformation, their whole body became unnaturally pale and their eyes turned bloody red. This transformation allowed them to have special abilities, such as making them feel less pain, being able to regenerate their wounds more quickly, and so on. But as a side effect of the transformation, they turned wild and seemed to lose control of their minds.


    The ability made the fight a little difficult, but after a while, Alex''s fighters would find the ssic act of decapitating their heads from the body was certainly still effective to do the trick. In fifteen minutes, they finally ended the battle with four of them being caught, while the rest were sent to their way, since they were too wild to be of any use.


    The transformation gave them great powers and made them hard to kill, but if the price was losing their mind and with it their fighting tactics and techniques, it was hard to say if it was worth it.


    Obviously, Anas, who had lost his legs, was one of the four captured people. All of them were immediately tied up with strong and durable ropes. Anas, who was already tied from head to toe, remained calm and watched his legs regenerate.


    President Rico approached the tied captives with an expression full of hatred.


    "How dare you people cause trouble here?!" shouted Rico. Scanning his gazes past them, he added, "Tell me what is your n and maybe, maybe I will spare your life."


    However, Anas and the others did not even flinch, as if his wordsnded on empty air, instead they were seen praying and chanting something. Seeing that, President Rico became furious.


    "Do you think that I do not dare to kill all of you?!" raged President Rico as he violently drew his sword and put it on Anas''s neck. The de was so close that it caused cuts and drops of blood began to drip. However, despite all of this happening, Anas kept calm and continued his prayer.


    At the same time, another group came over to their location. Alex along with several of his chosen fighters and several representatives from other countries happened to see this urrence.


    "What are they thinking doing this?" said Angus, the colonel from Australia.


    Alex walked over to Rico, who was fuming with anger, along with Theo and Daisy.


    "Mr President, calm yourself." said Alex while pulling the man''s hand who was holding the sword around Anas''s neck.


    Anas suddenlyughed loudly and said, "Hahaha, you all infidels will one day be burned by all of your sins."


    Surprisingly, it was not Rico who moved first, but Alex, who immediately grabbed the sword and stabbed it, piercing deep through Anas''s shoulder.


    "ARRGGHHHH!" Screamed the guy in pain.


    Eyeing the squirming guy coldy, Alex said, "You better shut up. The only reason I stopped the president is because I don''t like to see him dirty his hand. For me personally, I don''t mind at all and honestly don''t really care."


    Pointing his thumb to Theo, he continued, "This man here can extract the information from all of your followers. As for you, your life will end here."


    Thebination between the pain in his shoulder and the seriousness in Alex''s made his body shudder in fear. Seeing Alex swinging the sword, Anas suddenly shouted, "Adam!"


    Hearing the name, the president suddenly shouted, "Stop!"


    Alex paused his movement and watched Anas, waiting for his next words.


    Anas opened his mouth again, continuing his words with a stutter.


    "A-Adam. He is the president''s son, isn''t he? We have him."

 Chapter 320 - Interrogate

    "Where is my son, Adam? What did you do to him?" Rico frantically asked, as he violently grabbed Anas''s cor, bringing the man''s face near him.


    When Anas saw the president''s emotional reaction, the fear that had previously appeared on his face because of Alex''s action, quickly turned into a calm expression. Upon seeing the calm visage on the man''s face, President Rico turned even more agitated.


    Alex, who saw all this happening, ced his hand on the president''s shoulder to calm him down. He also sent all the people away, especially his wife and daughters. Only a few of his fighters and some of the nation leaders who wish to know more about this heavenly Gate sect stay and listen.


    ncing towards the tied man, Alex saw Anas shing a faint smirk, as if the man already won the battle. He then immediately swung his sword again, into Anas''s other shoulder.


    sh! *Thud*


    "ARRGHHHH!" Anas fell to the ground and screamed in pain as Alex detached his other arm from his body..


    Staring at Alex with a gaze full of hatred, Anas said, "Damn you, devil!!! Don''t you care about the president''s son?"


    "Actually, I''m more fascinated by this ability of yours. In a short time, your legs have started to growˇ­ Oh, and your shoulders that I cut the first time too. I want to see if your right shoulder and leg will heal at the same time." said Alex with a faint smile while examining Anas''s body as if he was ab rat.


    Anas''s entire body shuddered when he heard Alex''s next words, ""Which part of your body should I cut off this time? I wonderˇ­"


    "Y-You..! You! Damn you! You crazy bastard!" Anas screamed loudly.


    Alex slowly crouched down until his face was at the same level with the screaming man. He then looked directly into Anas''s eyes with the same faint smile Alex used when he scanned him earlier. Receiving Alex''s gaze together with the faint yet dangerous smile, Anas couldn''t help but shudder.


    "Well, well, well. That''s not exactly how a captive talks to his captor, is it?" said Alex with a small voice, which made Anas''s body shudder even more. Seeing that, Alex continued, "But yeah, I do want to know what you know about the president''s son. Therefore, I''ll give you an opportunity to do so. And if I like what I hear, I promise I will do my experiments on someone other than you."


    Upon hearing that, Anas tried his best to calm his shuddering body. He then looked at Alex and said, "Huh?! After you hear what I have, I''m sure you will set me free!"


    "ARGH!"


    This time, Alex stabbed the sword into Anas''s thigh. "Let me be the one to judge that.." said Alex while letting the de stick there. He then continued his words, "Now speak. And don''t you dare lie. The person beside me here can tell if you are lying, so think carefully before you speak, otherwise this sword of mine will move and cut another part of your body."


    When Anas heard Alex''s clear threat, he gulped and spoke very carefully, lest he said the wrong thing.


    ording to the story, 9 months ago Hafiz and the professor himself were surprised, when one day the result of his failed experiment suddenly came back to their headquarters, like a sheep entering the wolf''s den. It turned out the young man came to look for a serum to prolong his life. Obviously, the naive young man was immediately captured by the Heavenly Gate people and because of that, the professor was able to continue his experiments.


    "To tell you the truth, the only reason that we managed to have this kind of freakish regenerative ability was because of that stupid young man. Thanks to him, we managed to upgrade our form and enhanced the strength of all of our fighters. Hahaha!" said Anas, whileughing maniacally.


    The man''s loudughter made President Rico emotional again. However, he tried his best to restrain himself. He then asked Anas, "What''s he like now?"


    Stopping hisugh, Anas smirked and said, "Release me and I will tell you."


    sh!


    Blood sttered as the head flew through the air while the sword Alex was holding was covered in blood. Anas was shocked and panicked to see that the colleague next to him had be a headless corpse. Anas immediately turned to Alex only to be greeted with his cold murderous gaze.


    "The next one will be yours if you keep doing this and don''t speak." Alex coldly said as he swept the sword, removing the blood of his deadrade.


    In Alex''s previous life, the Heavenly Gate made so much chaos in the world as well as Indonesia. Their brainwashing made humans fight each other, ignoring the real threat to the world, all because of their so-called God''s will.


    Alex saw for himself that Heavenly Gate''s actions and interference, there were many battles betweenrade, friends and even families. Therefore, Alex felt this time he didn''t need to hold back against people like them, otherwise he would end up being the one who got hit by the stone.


    "A-Alrightˇ­ Okay! I will talk!" said Anas, stuttering. "Just please don''t kill me! I have a lot of valuable information that I''m sure can help you. Information that other people don''t have. You can kill them, but not me" Anas quickly continued, it seemed watching death in the eyes had broken him.


    Anas''s body was shuddering while he muttered something in fear. Apparently, behind the figure of a sect leader who could easily kill people without batting an eye, actually stood a coward, who was afraid of death itself.


    "Now speak!" Alex snapped.


    "Alright! He is still alive! He is still aliveˇ­ he is currently one of our members."


    Hearing thest word spoken by Anas, Rico shouted, "Don''t you dare to lie! My son is in your organization?!!"


    Alex ignored Rico''s sudden outburst and looked at Theo, looking for an answer. Seeing Alex''s gaze at him, Theo nodded signing that what Anas said was true.


    "How is that possible?" asked Alex while putting the sword on Anas''s neck.


    Feeling the cold de of the sword threatening to take his life, Anas panicked for a while before he said, "Aaaˇ­ I know this. It''s because of a girl. He kept saying this girl''s nameˇ­ what is it? Uhmˇ­ Daisy. Yeah, Daisy!"


    Daisy, who was watching behind the crowd, began to shed tears. Rico, who also heard that, asked Anas again with bloodshot eyes, "Why didn''t he go back if he is alive?!"


    "He...he.. I-I don''t know."


    Alex once again turned to Theo and saw him shaking his head. Alex looked at Anas like he was a dead man, while Anas was smart enough to know what that gesture meant.


    "STOP!!! Stop!! Wait! We are experimenting on him, alright! He is not himself. But.. I can help you!! I can help you! Take me back and I will help you."


    After that, Anas began to tell the state and situation of their headquarters and the development of Heavenly Gate Sect. Currently, they have under control almost the entire Middle East and its poption. After bing a Sky realm Magus, their leader Hafiz''s mental abilities were even more extraordinary. The more powerful the Heavenly Gate became, the easier it was for him to spread fear and made his skills more effective.


    That afternoon, Alex immediately discussed with the representatives from Egypt and Israel to confirm this information. Receiving their confirmation about this matter, Alex had a brief internal meeting to discuss what responses they should adopt.


    "We can''t let this happen any longer. We have to destroy them." President Rico firmly said.


    Hearing that, Alex frowned his eyebrows. "With what? You want to send ten thousand troops and wage a war with them? What about the tribtion?" asked Alex, while it was Rico''s turn to frown. He then added, "As much as I hate them, I''m not prepared to wage a war between us right now, at least not at the moment."


    In the end, after a lot of argument, Alex agreed to send a small elite squad to save Adam and assassinate Hafiz. If the man died, Alex believed the Heavenly Gate''s influence would be greatly reduced.


    For this, Jurgen from Israel and Ardeth were willing to help in this mission. They then proceeded to prepare a n for this mission. President Rico repeatedly reminded Alex how important this mission was. He himself wanted to be involved in this matter, but of course he knew he couldn''t and could only hope for Alex''s support.


    However, before the covert operation could be carried out, Alex had to finish his ns for Indonesia and the representatives from various countries first.


    ----------------------------------


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 Chapter 321 - On Sale

    D-day #475


    Twenty-five days before the first tribtion.


    All the events with the Heavenly Gate ended with Anas and his two remaining brothers locked up inside the highest security jail in the Bali headquarters. When he received the news of the matter ending, President Rico wanted Alex to carry out the n immediately.


    However, President Rico was able to stop insisting after a while, because he knew Alex couldn''t do it right away due to theplications and preparations that needed to be taken into ount. He truly understood this and could only be patient while putting his trust in Alex.


    The evening of that same day, Alex returned to entertain his 150 guests who came from various parts of the world. A sumptuous banquet was held outdoors, under the starry sky. Apart from giving thanks to each of them for their cooperation and efforts made during the expedition, Alex and the representatives began to discuss their next n, or rather, what they should do now.


    There were only twenty-five days remaining until the first tribtion began. When the countdown hit zero thousands of gargoyles, hellhounds, and critters woulde out from each of the thousands of Abyss Holes and swarm the Earth''s surface, leaving their imprints wherever they went..


    Hundreds of millions of Abyss creatures would fill the world, both in the sky and onnd. When this happened, mankind would no longer be gripped by the threat of the zombies. However, the next biggest threat woulde: the gargoyles, who flew with Sky realm level speed and possessed bodies that were immune to non-magic weapons.


    This matter made them eager to return to their respective countries immediately, to better prepare their people for this tribtion. But before leaving, they all waited for the information from Alex they had all been waiting for.


    Devita stepped forward and went up to the podium which had been set up. She then tapped the microphone several times to get the representatives'' attention away from their talks and food. Seeing everyone staring at her, Devita started talking about the magic raisin that would make them not have to worry about the condition of the food, let alone the logistics.


    At the moment, Devita even stated she was willing to give up the magic raisin recipe if the representatives were willing to order a certain amount. The statement shocked all the representatives, because ever since they knew the existence of magic raisins, they always tried to make Alex willing to divulge the recipe. s, they were never sessful. Now, however, they would be able to earn the recipe if they bought a certain amount.


    Alex had discussed with Devita about this. At this moment in time, there really was no need to monopolize such items anymore, the magic raisins will eventually be the future ofbat rations, therefore, sooner orter, the recipes will be found. Might as well to spread it when the world needed it the most and make a big profit on top of it. Moreover, the other countries would still take a lot to create the infrastructures to cultivate enough magic raisins.


    The next item on sale was the hardened weapon made by craftsmen on Bali Ind. Some of the representatives'' eyes lit up when they saw the item''s stats and price tag. Many had heard about these items before, but for some, like the representative from Spain and France, this was the first time they saw and tested it. With this they could easily and tremendously strengthen thebat ability of their troops at a much more affordable price than the price of simr artifacts sold in the Doomsday Pirs store.


    However, the next items put on sale made everyone''s eyes sparkle without exception, their gazes were immediately filled with the desire to possess these objects.


    The most awaited one, the new items Alex had shown in the battle inside the Abyss: tier 3 weapon artifacts, tier 2 protective vests and magic scrolls.


    Most of the representatives had made business and resources transactions with Devita in the past 6 months. Therefore, they had acknowledged Devita''s expertise in doing business. On the same day, Devita showed several samples of items for sale and was ready to ept orders. Some representatives immediately used thework ess on the pirs to gain the permission and authority from their leaders.


    Since the supply was currently limited, Devita decided to sell the items to the highest bidders. The starting prices were 5000 spirit stones for a tier 3 weapon artifact and 3000 spirit stones for a protective vest. Finally, the magic scrolls were each valued at 200 spirit stones. Since all items sold were currently not avable in the Doomsday Pirs store and coupled with the fact the time for the tribtion was approaching, all the items painstakingly made by Alex were quickly sold out to the highest bidders.


    All items sold, except the magic raisin, required Alex''s involvement, because he was the only one who could use Strokes. This was what Devita had been waiting for the past month. It was the reason why she was so supportive of Alex''s practice, making him not have to worry about the number of spirit stones used for engraving. Now it was the time to reap the maximum profit from the sales.


    Whether it was just a feeling, but from a distance Alex was almost sure he saw Devita smiling evilly as her gazended on the excited representatives, like a butcher eyeing a bunch of fat pigs ready for ughter. But maybe it was just Alex''s tired mind ying tricks.


    In no time at all, the hundreds of weapons and thousands of magic scrolls Alex had prepared over the past week were sold out, as if a storm passed by and brought away all the items. And there were many more orders that were epted by Devita for Alex to work onter.


    Seeing the outrageous amount of orders, Alex quickly approached Devita who was still busy epting orders.


    Nudging her arm, Alex then said, "Ehem. Viˇ­ you know I really have a lot of things I need to do, right?"


    "Of course, honey." answered Devita while nodding, but her attention was still on the orders.


    Seeing that, Alex''s expression slowly turned weird, he then added, "You seeˇ­ the president''s son is in danger. Soˇ­"


    "Of course you can go, honey."


    "Oh, really?" asked Alex with a smile.


    "Yeah! After you finish making all of the orders, then you can go" Devita replied calmly, throwing a bucket of cold water on him.


    Apparently, neither Cerberus nor Chimera were strong enough to kill him. But his wife probably would seed soon enough.


    The representatives obviously asked about the [Magic Bullets] too, however Alex decided this weapon was currently off limit and will not be sold until he had sufficient supplies for himself and his chosen fighters first.


    However, James had another idea on his mind and didn''t let this happen. He had put a great deal of time and effort into creating the new energy weapons. Therefore, he would not let his work be obsolete because of [Magic Bullets].


    Further discussion was opened by President Elizabeth, who was raising the topic of technology exchange, between the US energy weapons and ess to [Magic Bullets].


    US was the biggest firearm producer, added with their new invention of energy weapons, made Alex open minded about a future coboration. The thought about using Strokes not only on firearms but also on war machines like tanks and turrets excite him.


    But then again Alex wondered when will he have the time to make all those [magic bullets].


    One by one, all representatives wanted to make an agreement with Alex. Finally, the next day, the delegation groups began to return to their respective cities.


    The remaining representatives, apart from representatives from Egypt and Israel, who were waiting for the mission, were representatives from Singapore and China.


    One special note was given by Hans representative from Germany, he gave a message from the pope and asked Alex toe visit the vatican at his earliest convenience. Interested about the risen power of the pope Alex epted the request.


    After all of this was over, Alex still had an obligation to his wife. Devita had already informed him about the orders for thousands of artifacts he needed to work on. Before he once again became a vebor, Alex decided to meet up with the China and Singapore representatives, because it seemed they had something to talk about with him.


    At first Alex thought this would be a simple meeting, seeing Christinae from a well-known family in Singapore and even Mr Sidao, the Prime Minister of Singapore who came together with Christina''s uncle.


    But once he read the report made by Cahya about the situation in Singapore, Alex suddenly frowned. When he went inside the room the two sides: China representative Zhao Wei and Christina were already arguing with the Singaporean Prime minister.

 Chapter 322 - Devastated

    Alex quickly made his way through the corridor of the Bali headquarters as he headed towards the meeting room where the representatives from Singapore and China were. When he was about to open the door, a group of people beat him to it as they came out of the room. Leading the group there was a young girl, Zhao Wei, the granddaughter of Earth''s strongest spirit enhancer Zhao Fan.


    Seeing the group that seemed to be leaving, Alex asked, "Miss Zhao Wei, are you guys leaving already? How about the meeting?" He then continued with an apologetic tone in his voice. ''I''m sorry I had kept you waiting. Today has been a very busy day for me. Let''s head in now."


    The usually cheerful 20-years-old girl now looked gloomy. After hesitating for a while, Zhao Wei opened her mouth.


    "I''m sorry, Big Brother. For some reason, we are not joining the meeting.".


    Upon hearing that, Alex was stunned. "You are not joining the meeting?"


    "...Yeah." said Zhao Wei in a small voice.


    With an incredulous expression, Alex asked, "Why?"


    Zhao Wei was fidgeting as she answered. "Uhmˇ­ I''m sorry, Big Brother. I can''t really say the reason."


    Seeing the troubled expression on the young girl''s face, Alex decided not to inquire any further.


    "Alright, I will not pressure you into answering. Then, let me check what is happening inside."


    However, Zhao Wei suddenly blocked Alex''s path, when he stretched out his hand to grab the door handle.


    "Big Brother Alexˇ­ Before you enter, Iˇ­"


    A look of apparent hesitation appeared on Zhao Wei''s face. The young girl seemed hesitant to say something.


    Seeing that, Alex immediately tried to calm her, "Zhao Wei, please tell me what you want to say. You can tell me anything, if you think it might be helpful."


    Zhao Wei lifted her head, worry shed through her eyes. "Big Brother, I heard that you are good friends with Big Sister Christina. So...can you please help her?"


    Alex asked calmly, "What happened? Tell me."


    Remembering Christina''s attitudetely, Alex was greatly worried for her. The usually friendly and easygoing Christina seemed to have vanished, reced by a new cold and indifferent Christina. Therefore, Alex was eager to know what had happened.


    Resolving her thoughts, Zhao Wei asked, "Have... Have you heard the news about the situation in Singapore?"


    "Yeah, of course. But I only know about the general situation." replied Alex.


    From the reports he had received and read, it seemed in thest month there had been a coup by the Singaporean generals to overthrow their president, President LeSimo. However, it appeared their n was thwarted before it coulde into fruition. One of the rebellious generals, along with hundreds of troops, managed to escape to Mysia. Meanwhile, the rest of the rebels were arrested and thrown into the prison.


    Thest intel he got regarding the issue was that the escaped general seemed to have received support from the Mysian government to fight against Singapore.


    However, Alex was puzzled about what this had to do with Chirstina''s changing attitudes and emotions.


    "Here''s the thing, Big Brother. What happened in Singapore really affected her. However, her mind was devastated due to something else," exined Zhao Wei.


    The words that Zhao Wei said brought an explosion into Alex''s mind. He quickly asked, "Devastated? What made her like that?"


    "S-Someone''s death. A boy to be more precise."


    !!!


    "Caleb died?" asked Alex in disbelief.


    Alex knew that, ever since the death of her daughter Cally, Christina considered her son Caleb to be the most important thing in her life. He grew even more convinced about this when Christina asked a personal favor from him to personally pay attention to Caleb.


    Alex had dispatched an overseer and informant who were monitoring Christina''s son in Singapore. And it seemed that in thetest information Caleb was still doing well.


    Zhao Wei quickly waved her hands in denial, when she heard Alex''s words. "No, no, no, Big Brother. It was another boy she picked up from Hong Kong. I think his name was Ma Sing, an orphan Big Sister Christina rescued in Hong Kong. And ever since then, Christina had cared for him as if he was her own son."


    "Butˇ­ he died in a crossfire during the incidentst month." continued Zhao Wei. "And since then, she''s been like that..."


    Alex frowned when he heard Zhao Wei''s exnation. He knew Christina was a woman with very deep feelings. Hidden behind her friendly visage, there was a woman who was hurt because she lost someone she loved, starting from her daughter Cally, and now that boy named Ma Sing. Thinking about the situation, Alex realized that Christina was surely in a very delicate situation now.


    "I see... I understand, Zhao Wei. Thanks for telling me this" Alex said with a smile. However, it appeared that Zhao Wei still wasn''t done.


    "There''s more, Big Brother. Even though her son Caleb was fine under her uncle''s care, apparently the man has been keeping Caleb away from her. And after what happened with Ma Sing, this has been a very sensitive issue for her."


    Hearing all that, Alex hade to understand Christina''s current situation a little more. And of course, as a close friend of hers, Alex nned to give Christina hisplete support over this matter.


    Zhao Wei then took out a letter from her storage ring and gave it to Alex. Alex received the letter with a confused look on his face.


    "Big Brother, it''s from my grandma. As you already know, she is a seer who can see what we cannot see," said Zhao Wei with a smile. She then continued, "And for some unknown reason, my grandma specifically said that I and my fellow countrymen are not allowed and should not interfere with what has happened in Singapore."


    "However, I hope you will do it, Big Brother. For our stead and for Big Sister Christina," she said while shing a smile. "Will you do it, Big Brother?"


    With a faint smile hanging on his face, Alex answered, "Of course."


    Hearing that, Zhao Wei bowed to Alex. She then brought the other China representatives away, while Alex waved her a goodbye. Pocketing the letter he received, Alex was about to enter the meeting room when he heard a loud sound.


    Crash!


    A loud sound of ss breaking could be heard from inside the meeting room. Alex then immediately rushed into the room only to find a furious red-haired female fighter with ss pieces near her feet.


    Christina, who was seated across from her uncle, said to the woman, "You should go out, Maxine. You only make things harder here."


    The woman''s expression changed. "I''m sorry, sister. But that man is outrageous!"


    "Just go."


    Maxine then walked out of the room in exasperation. She just nced and passed Alex who stood at the middle of the door. At this moment, Alex could see there were two people standing behind Christina. The woman with long hair named Corrie and the man who had a tattoo on his shoulder named Nam.


    When Alex entered the room, the situation inside felt extremely tense. However, Prime Minister Sidao kept his smile and weed Alex as if nothing had happened.


    ''Ah! Mister Alex, I see that you are here. Come in and join us in our discussion," said Sidao. He then added, "Please help me convince my nephew toe to her senses."


    Alex ignored thetter part of the man''s words as he calmly entered and took a seat among them.


    "What can I help you with, Mr Prime Minister?" asked Alex calmly.


    "There''s indeed something you can help, Mr Alex. You seeˇ­I''m sure that you already know about the current political situation in Singapore." Alex nodded in recognition.


    "Because of the coup, we lost many of our fighters and due to that, I''m worried that the good citizens of Singapore won''t survive the next tribtion."


    Prime Minister Sidao then stood up and pointed his finger at Christina, who eyed the man calmly as if this had nothing to do with her.


    "Despite our extremely dire situation, this stubborn niece of mine instead chose to keep herself busy with the Chinese."


    BAM!


    Christina mmed the table while ring at the Prime Minister coldly. "Uncle, stop it."


    "Cut to the chase and don''t dramatize anything. What exactly do you want from me this time?" asked Christina with a toneced with extreme coldness.


    Hearing that, Sidao smiled evilly. "It''s simple. I need you to protect Singapore from the tribtion. It should be easy with your strength, right?" and.. yes! Please destroy our Abyss Hole as well while you are at it. Simple, right?"


    Christina was silent for a moment before she said, "I will help you, uncle. But, please let my mother and my son Caleb go."


    Sidao feigned a surprised expression when he heard that. "Huh?! What do you mean with ''let go''? They are my family too! They are currently living happily in my ce, so you don''t need to worry about them." said Sidao while waving his hand. He then added, "Oh!? And also your famous bodyguard, the girl with a scar on her face. She''s fine too!"


    Upon hearing that, Christina and Corrie were shocked. The woman in question was Jennie, the oldest member of the firebirds and Christina''s best friend.


    Clenching her fists, Christina asked, "What did you do to her?"


    "The girl? Nothing. I just confined her for trying to sneak into the prime minister house like that. But overall, she''s fine."


    Alex could tell from this conversation the prime minister was using Christina''s son and mother as hostages to control her. It seemed a lot of things were going on behind the developing politics in Singapore.


    Sidao then threw his gaze at Alex and said with a smile, "Oh, yeah, Mr Alex. I heard that the two of you are a pretty good friend. Therefore, if you can send us your best fighters to help, I''m sure things will be much easier for us."


    The man then bowed his head before he left the room. Christina, who had been silent, turned around and looked at her twopanions.


    "Corrie, Nam. Please leave us alone. I need to talk to Mr Alex here."

 Chapter 323 - Emotions

    After Sidao and the two fighters who followed Christina left the room, Alex immediately looked at Christina. Currently, in the meeting room that provided views of the Bali coast, there were only Alex and Christina left.


    Before the expedition to destroy the Abyss Hole, thest time they met was at the first world conference that was held inside the pirwork. It was 8 months ago. At that time, Alex remembered she looked exhausted and restless.


    Even though she looked much tougher this time, after knowing her so long, Alex could tell the strong front was merely a facade to hide the tremendous amount of pain she had suffered inside.


    Alex just waited for her to speak patiently, as Christina kept staring outside the window. After a moment, she finally turned around facing him and said, "Alex, do you remember? It was onlyst year that you came to Singapore to warn me about the apocalypse."


    "Yeah, I remember. I met you at the Hawkers Market.".


    Christina then walked a step closer towards Alex as she stared at his eyes and said, "Then, why did you warn me?"


    "Why? What do you mean with why? I don''t understand," Alex said, confused with the weird question.


    Looking at Alex''s reaction closely, Christina then continued.


    "At that time, you are about to give your speech the next day. To tell the world about the apocalypse. I believe at that time, you were very busy dealing with various things and the fact that you came from the future. Soˇ­why? Why did you personally take the time toe and tell me things I would have heard the next day?"


    Alex wondered about what she was trying to know from him.


    "Why? Of course because you are my good friend, Tina."


    Christina turned around and walked towards the window. She then proceeded to look out of the window. There she could see the beautiful view of the Bali beach with waves crashing onto the shore. She continued her words, "What a paradise you created here, Alex."


    Upon hearing that, Alex said, "What are you trying to say, Christina? "


    She once again turned around and said, "Whyˇ­? You came to see me and warned me of the apocalypse, but you didn''t ask me toe with you to Bali. I know you have had prepared this base before you went to Singapore and you have been inviting people to the base. So, why didn''t you invite me?"


    "..."


    Alex was stunned by her question. With all the events that happened during the apocalypse, things like this were far from his mind. However, when he saw his best friend being emotional in front of him, Alex thought hard to find out the real reason he didn''t invite her to Bali.


    "To be honest, I once thought about it, bringing you to Bali. But, you are Christina... Christina Young from the famous Young family. I certainly couldn''t just take you and your family to Bali. And what about your husband? At that time, he was in the military. What would he have thought about this?"


    "Damn you, Alex!" Christina shouted as her emotions exploded.


    "You know that my rtionship with my husband has never gone well. Why did you take him as an excuse?"


    "That''s not-" Before Alex could finish his words, Christina cut him off.


    "It''s about that. Isn''t it?"


    "About that? What do you mean?" asked Alex, truly puzzled.


    "All these years, youˇ­ you still me me for not choosing you and following my family''s choice. Am I right?"


    "..."


    "You always have been intimidated by my family and you didn''t fight harder enough for me. Well, you should''ve!"


    Alex was speechless when he realized what Christina meant. The things she was saying right now were such a distant past for him. The current Alex was not the same Alex in his youth. For him, so much time had passed until he reached this point. Starting from his previous life college days in Australia, his previous life marriage, the beginning of previous life doomsday, plus the ten years he spent in the apocalypse, and, finally, the restart he had gone through in this life.


    Alex admitted there was such a feeling inside him before and probably there was still some of it now, seeing how he was affected when he saw her current emotional state. But currently, his mind was only filled with thoughts about the apocalypse. Therefore, he unconsciously and forcefully rejected all other thoughts beside those, especially the emotional ones.


    Therefore, the fact the problem was that her friend felt neglected by him when she needed him the most. Alex then proceeded to think back about his decision to not take her. He wondered if that time he should have asked or tricked her toe to Bali, regardless of the consequences. But at that time, it was impossible for him to know if his ns in Bali would be sessful or that hers would turn badly.


    Alex was truly speechless. He was not sure on what to say to pacify this, thus he just stood there awkwardly. Christina, on the other hand, was currently feeling anger and sadness. She looked like she was about to cry, but she forcefully held back her tears from dropping. She then forced herself to calm down.


    "I''m sorry, Alex. I cannot control my emotions recently. Please don''t mind all the things I just say."


    She paused for a while and continued her words, "I''m so messed up, Alex."


    "That boy, Ma Sing. He was so pitiful. He had to see his sister die right in front of him, thus I decided to take care of him and promise myself to protect him. But look at the situation now! He died and now, I''m not sure if I can even help my son, Caleb."


    She turned back to the window. "Seeing your paradise here, your family, and your two daughters made me jealous, and angry at you."


    Turning around and approaching Alex, Christina then grabbed his hand. "Please, Alex. I really need your help."


    Alex nodded and said, "Of course, Tina. What can I do for you?"


    Staring at Alex''s eyes directly, Christina said, "Come with me tomorrow to Singapore and help me save my boy Celeb."


    "..."


    Alex was stunned, not knowing what to say. Previously, he had promised Rico to help save his son. He was also required to make the entire order of artifacts prepared by his wife. He couldn''t just drop everything and leave with her, his te was truly full.


    Seeing Alex was silent, Christina became emotional again. "Can you help me? I''m sure that with your help, it can be done easily. Please, Alex. It will only take a few days, I already saw what kind of force you have here."


    "I will definitely help you. But my hands are full at the moment and I cannot go with you tomorrow."


    Hearing that, Christina grew even more emotional. Alex became more and more worried seeing Christina, who was currently unable to think clearly because of her emotions.


    Grabbing her shoulders, Alex said, "Calm down, Tina. Listen here."


    "I''m sure your son is fine at the moment. Therefore, I promise you I wille to Singapore before the tribtion begins. I will ept the prime minister''s invitation ande help you, but not right now. Trust me ok?"


    Alex believed this was the best possible solution for the situation. He wasn''t sure how long it would take to rescue Rico''s son Adam. However, he was sure he could fulfill both promises with this arrangement.


    Whenpared the two boys, Caleb was not under immediate threat, while Adam was being experimented by the Heavenly Gate. Alex also considered the threat the Heavenly Gate posed to the world, thus the reason he decided to do so.


    It''s the most logical.choice.


    Christina froze for a moment when she heard Alex''s answer. She then said, "You''re right, Alex. I''m too impulsive. I''m sorry, Alex. Sorry for being so emotional." She then went ahead and hugged Alex, who was surprised by the sudden hug.


    A few secondster, she released him and smiled before she left the room.


    Later that day, Alex received news that Christina and the firebird members were at the dock and ready to leave for Singapore.


    Not knowing why, Alex suddenly felt a heavy heart. He felt a bad feeling for her that made him want to follow her to Singapore right away.


    Then suddenly, Alex remembered about the letter given by Zhao Fan. He quickly took out the letter out of his pocket and opened it.


    Inside it, there was only one sentence.


    [Do not follow her. Our world survival depend on it]


    --------------


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 Chapter 324 - Tribulation Force

    D-day #477


    The birds chirped on the tree branches and flew freely in the sky, as if weing the second day after the Abyss Hole in Bali had beenpleted. At the moment, all the representatives from the various countries had returned to their respective regions.


    There were only the representatives from Israel and Egypt who remained here, waiting for the operation against the Heavenly Gate. However, the leader of Israel representatives, Jurgen was suddenly forced to return to their country, leaving Ardeth to help solve the situation with the Heavenly Gate group.


    There were only 23 days left before thousands of Abyss Pits around the world opened and unleashed their terror. It seemed Alex couldn''t leave behind in his own preparation for the first tribtion too.


    After the death of the Chimera monster, Alex ordered his men to continue exterminating the remaining gargoyles inside the Abyss Hole for thest 2 days. Three thousands elite fighters were chosen to be dispatched and do the cleanup inside the Abyss Hole. It was estimated it would take two more weeks topletely clear the Abyss Hole of all its inhabitants, the critters, hellhounds, and gargoyles.


    Using the clues and directions that Alex gave, the troops began their sweep across the Abyss, searching for the monsters'' nest.. In the end, they found several breeding grounds for those three types of Abyss monsters, with the gargoyles nests located in the hole where the Chimera nest was.


    With the destruction of all these nestsbined with the cleanup operation, the greatest threat where the Abyss monsters would continue to multiply and overwhelm the Earth would not ur, at least not from this hole.


    Alex''s original n was to destroy all those nests so as topletely eliminate the threat to Bali Ind. However, Cahya asked him to give him some time to let him study the phenomenon of the breeding of the gargoyles. Along with him, there was also Jane, the spirit nt enhancer, who was very interested in the way these monsters reproduce like nts.


    Seeing that there were still more than three weeks before the tribtion came, Alex agreed on their request. Therefore, the two of them were currently busy researching inside the Abyss, protected by dozens of elite fighters.


    Moving his attention away from the matter, Alex felt it was the time to start mapping out the n for world liberation from the Abyss Holes. After seeing all the information he had, Alex decided to start the operation from the inds around Bali first.


    ording to data collected from the Doomsday Pirs across the territory of Indonesia, there were 43 Abyss Holes spreading around the regions, with seven of them on Java Ind and six of them on Sumatra Ind.


    Deciding on where they should go next, Alex immediately left his study room and went to the headquarters.


    -


    In the main meeting room inside the Bali headquarters, Alex''s main fighters were already gathered. Along with them, one could also see Regent Suryo and President Rico. There were also Devita and Cahya, thetter had just returned from his research for this meeting.


    Last but not least, there were the spirit enhancer fighters and the battalionmander from the troops who had gathered in Bali.


    After Alex entered the room, the meeting immediately began. The meeting started by reporting the military strength they had.


    Total Military Personnel : 360.000


    Elite troops : 10.000


    Division 1 : 80.000


    Division 2 : 80.000


    Division 3 : 80.000


    Militia : 50.000


    Cadets : 20.000


    All members of elite troops were Sky realm fighters. They were a mix of experienced Knight fighters as well as Magus. On the other side, inside the Division 1 to 3 there were only around two to three percent of fighters, who had reached the Sky realm stage.


    Indonesia had 5 main inds: Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Swesi and Papua. Among these, the inds of Java and Sumatra already had their own main headquarters; on Java Ind was the New Java City, the headquarters of President Rico, while on Sumatra Ind there was the Sumatra Marks, the headquarters of Regent Suryo.


    For Borneo Ind, since the Doomsday Pir there was located in the north of the ind and controlled by Mysian state, the Indonesian poption there was already in the process of being moved to the Doomsday Pir located in Sumatra Ind or Java Ind.


    Meanwhile, for Papua Ind''s poption, all of them had left the ind and evacuated to Bali Ind. Therefore, the situation only left the pirs in Swesi, which were guarded by Captain Donny.


    In this meeting, Alex decided to dispatch the entire divisions out of Bali Ind. The Division 1, 2, and 3 with a total of 240.000 fighters would set off and clear Java Ind from the 7 Abyss Holes together with the troops from New Java. Their goal was to swiftly clean Java Ind from the threat of Abyss monsters, from critters to gargoyles.


    Alex''s bold n raised a question of how they were supposed to kill the Chimera with only the division fighters. Because in order to have a chance to kill this monster, the problemy on the quality of the fighters, not their quantity.


    "It''s simple, actually," answered Alex.


    Sweeping his gaze over everyone in the room, Alex said, "We will create a special team to kill Chimeras."


    Alex then exined theposition of the team. The team would consist of 100 elite fighters, who would focus on approaching the Abyss Holes one by one with the sole purpose of killing Cerberus and Chimera. This arrangement would make the division fighters focused on their tasks of killing all the Abyss spawns.


    When he saw everyone had understood, Alex began to name the people who would be included in this special team.


    "The team leader will be Jerry, with Karra as his vice leader. As for the members, I will choose Karra''s 100 elite fighters with Sergei, Makali, Russel, Dinda, Ark, Oscar, Oliver and Raufgar as the squads captains with nine other fighters below them."


    Alex then continued, "There are 23 days left. So, you should be able to clear three to four Abyss Holes before the tribtion begins. However, even though the time is tight, please be careful, as I still wish all of you to return safely."


    Alex really hoped that 3 months after the first tribtion ended, the three divisions would be able to clean all the Abbys Holes on Java Ind. So, they could continue their operations to the other inds of Indonesia.


    Obviously, Alex''s goal to move the entire army was not only to clean the Java Ind from the threat of Abyss creatures, but also to give these fighters more fighting experience against real enemies, because they trulycked it.


    Another goal was to acquire more spirit stones for their cultivation. With this cleansing expedition, they would have enough spirit stones to advance themselves to the Sky realm, greatly increasing theirbat strength. They would also be able to equip themselves with stronger artifacts, that would serve to prepare them for the next threat.


    After the matter of Abyss Holes was decided, President Rico once again asked Alex about the n regarding the mission to save his son from the hands of Heavenly Gate. Due to that, Alex proceeded to exin he was busy creating tier 3 artifacts for the elite troops and asked for his patience.


    When President Rico heard that, he suggested sending a team first to monitor the situation. Therefore, Alex assigned Theo, Rama, and Daisy to go with Ardeth, who would be the guide in the Middle East.


    "I sincerely apologize, president. I assure you I will arrive there in ten days at thetest. Please be patient."


    The president understood Alex, as the most important person here, got his hands full and there was an even more important matter for him to deal with. Hence, he knew there was actually no need for Alex himself to go there. However, the president felt grateful and calmer when Alex said he would go there and do it himself.


    Unbeknownst to him, the reason Alex decided to interfere directly was to make sure their leader, Hafiz, died once and for all. Alex wouldn''t rest easy until that man was dead and his organization copsed.


    "Alright, the meeting ends here. All troops should be prepared and do their tasks. I should be able to create a few hundreds tier 3 weapons before you leave. All the teams will leave in 2 days."


    The teams had been formed, Aria and Arief''s names were not mentioned on the n. So, Aria was worried about Alex''s arrangement for her.


    When Aria was confused and worried about theck of tasks from Alex, Regent Suryo approached her and said, "Aria, it''s time for you to go home with me."


    "..."


    --------------


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 Chapter 325 - Leaving

    D-day #480


    As the morning sun rose and showed itself on the eastern horizon, hundreds of thousands of people were seen gathering at therge field in front of the Bali headquarters. Currently, all the military personnel that Bali headquarters had were dispatched outside the ind.


    A total of 3 divisions with 80.000 fighters each and 6.000 elite troops had been assigned to thisrge scale operation. Eighty percent of fighters in Bali were deployed to form this special force with the aim to destroy all the Abyss Holes in Java Ind, cleaning the ind from the threats of zombies and Abyss creatures.


    Jerry was mandated as the highest leader of this operation, apanied by Karra, who was a military officer. Thisbination was the perfect choice to carry out this mission. Having ced his trust on them to execute the n Alex could rest in peace and focus on his other tasks.


    In the past 2 days, Alex had spent all the time and energy he had to create tier 3 weapons to equip these fighters with the best equipment possible. In 48 hours, taking minimum rest, Alex managed to create a thousand weapons to distribute to 100 members of [Boss Killing] special force and each captain of the elite troops..


    1000 of these tier three artifacts cost a whole month of the Base gross profits from selling magic raisins, hardened weapons and all other items. That''s around 3 000 000 spirit stones. A very huge amount of spirit stones, but Alex knew these tier 3 artifacts were essential to deal with what they will be facing in the future.


    This Tribtion Force would head towards Java Ind by a ferry at Gilimanuk harbour. They then began making their way to the west of Bali Ind, forming a very long and thick line.


    After giving his encouragement and sending off the Tribtion Force on their way, Alex immediately made his way to the Bali harbor. There, a ship containing the representatives from Egypt and the monitoring team Alex prepared to leave for the Middle East was anchored.


    Theo, Rama, Daisy, along with the thirty of his best fighters were assigned by Alex for this covert operation. Before the group left, Tommy asked Alex if he could join the group to apany Daisy. Unfortunately for him, Alex immediately rejected the idea due to various reasons.


    One of them was because he was still too young to venture so far away, especially into the enemy territory. The other reason was that Alex had other ns for Tommy. The doomsday pirs detected dozens of spirit enhancers who are still underage and Alex''s n to form a new younger generation spirit enhancers team that will be nurtured from young. Tommy already following Alex thest 9 month will be the best candidate to connect and be the leader of the group. When Tommy heard Alex''s logical reasoning, he could only helplessly agree and said his goodbye to Daisy, telling her to pay attention to her safety.


    Alex handed over the artifacts he had prepared for their operation to Theo and Rama due to his trust at them. Rama, who had been staying in Bali for a year due to his responsibility of guarding the headquarters, was truly excited for this mission as he couldn''t wait to take some actions after all this time.


    Meanwhile, Theo was specially chosen by Alex to deal with Hafiz, which they would certainly faceter. Because of Hafiz''s speciality in mental abilities, Alex truly needed someone like Theo. Moreover, with the fact that Theo was a former pastor, he may be able to sway and help those people who were given the false promises of salvation.


    Before the ship sailed, Theo approached Alex. "When will you join us? How will you get there?"


    "Just upy the closest Doomsday Pir you can find there and I will find you in a week''s time. I promise." said Alex, giving a vague answer as to how he would get thereter.


    Seeing Alex didn''t n to borate, Theo nodded his head and boarded the ship. The ship then swiftly left the harbour as it sailed towards its destination. After the departure of the group, the next groups to depart from Bali would be those of President Rico and Regent Suryo.


    Their groups would leave Bali Ind and go to their respective headquarters. Along with them were Aria and Arief, who regretfully had to leave as well. Alex himself was certainly not willing to let them go, the two of them were his top two fighters. However, a promise was something that had to be fulfilled when made. Therefore, he had to let them leave.


    There was also the fact that there wasn''t much Alex could do to help them to increase their strength at the moment. Thus, the two of them would be better off helping Regent Suryo to clean Sumatra Ind from zombies and Abyss creatures.


    sping Alex''s hands, Regent Suryo said, "Thank you for the hospitality, Alex. I actually wish I could stay longer."


    Upon hearing that, Alex quickly said, "Actually, if you like living here I would be very happy to receive you again as my guest. In fact, forget receiving you as a guest, you can live here permanently if you like."


    The man chuckled when he heard Alex''s offer. "There''s no need for that, Alex. At times like this, I will not settle a quiet life. I has enough of it already," the regent replied.


    Nodding his head to show he understood, Alex noticed Aria who was ready to leave.


    Noticing Alex''s gaze at Aria, Regent Suryo patted his shoulders and said, "Anyway, I can tell you have treated my granddaughter really well. So for that, I''m grateful. I know she still wants to stay with you, and so do you. However, I guess this is for the best." After saying that, he immediately went to the ship.


    The next person who approached him was President Rico. The man once again showed his concern regarding the operation in the Middle East. Alex just told him to focus on the cleansing operation in Java Ind, while he took care of that matter. President Rico nodded and expressed his gratitude again before he boarded the ship.


    As Alex turned his attention away from President Rico, he noticed Aria who was walking to him. When she had approached him, Aria looked a little hesitant to say something. But after a moment, she looked at Alex and said, "If you wantˇ­ I''ll stay."


    Alex was surprised by Aria''s words. Seeing his reaction, Aria got even bolder. "I''m sure you need me for your mission. My skill will-"


    "I''m thankful for your offer, Aria." Alex said, as he cut her words off. "Aria, I''m truly grateful for yourpany. And honestly, I feel much better with you by my side. However, this time, please help your grandfather... he needs you. Do you understand me?"


    Aria was silent for a moment before answering, "I understand."


    "Thank you, Aria." Alex said. He then gently ruffled her hair. "Please take care of your grandfather and yourself, alright?"


    Aria didn''t say anything and nodded her head. She then turned around and walked towards her grandfather, who was already waiting for her on the ship deck. But then, she suddenly stopped on her tracks and turned around as he walked back slowly towards Alex and hugged him.


    She then whispered a sentence to Alex, "I wille to you as early as possible." Aria then released her hug and immediately ran towards the ship.


    Alex thought it was fortunate that there were not that many people here who saw that. However, a familiar voice suddenlying out of nowhere shocked him to the core.


    "Daddy, what was that just now?"


    Turning his body awkwardly like a robot, Alex saw Tiffany who stood behind him along with a bunch of animals, the unique kind of them. A mutated bear, a mutated cat, and, obviously, a garuda. Currently, Tiffany looked like she just robbed a zoo of their animals.


    Seeing that Alex didn''t say anything, Tiffany quickly said, "Don''t ignore me, daddy... What''s with that hug?"


    shing the brightest smile he had, Alex answered this daughter of his. "It''s just a friendly, kinship type of farewell hug. It''s really nothing."


    Hearing that, Tiffany''s face changed, "It doesn''t look like that to me, daddy. I''m 13 years old now. I''m not a kid anymore, daddy."


    "Yes, Tiffany. Sure you areˇ­ Just don''t grow too fast for daddy, okay?" Alex joked as he carried his daughter.


    Not long after, Alex saw a group of people approaching him and along with them was Cindy. She came with her research results about the pictures and letters spotted on the weird pirs inside the Chimera nest.


    "So, what did you find?"


    --------------


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 Chapter 326 - Myths

    Before the apocalypse, Cinday was an assistant of a renowned professor at Harvard University. She had followed the professor as the man travelled across the globe in order to study relics and the strange engravings that appeared.


    Therefore, when she expressed her intent to study the engravings inside the Chimera''s nest, Alex agreed because he was also curious about the meaning of those engravings.


    After receiving Alex''s approval, Cindy didn''t waste any more time and immediately dived into the nestter that day. Inside the Abyss, she had spent thest few days studying the engravings inscribed on the pirs, where the Chimera''s nest was located.


    "So, Cindy. What did you find?" Alex asked.


    Alex was inside a meeting room at the Bali hotel, together with Devita and Cahya. Currently, the three of them were listening to Cindy''s report about her findings.


    "Here''s what I''ve found. I have noticed a simrity between the engravings in the Chimera''s nest and those on the Doomsday Pir. But this time, the engravings on the nest had an ancientnguage tucked between them."


    "Ancientnguage? What does it say?" Cahya asked in curiosity.


    Turning her head towards him, Cindy said, "It''s mostly talked about a ce for those who hadmitted unspeakable acts against god or humanity: the Tartarus. Thus based on this, I believe those Abyss were like prisonsˇ­" she dwalded. "And if you think about it, it could be true as in the ancient lore, it was mentioned that Cerberus and Chimera were the offspring of those beings locked in Tartarus."


    Upon hearing that, Alex opened his mouth as he asked the important question. "How is that rted to the Doomsday Pir?"


    "That, I don''t know yet. I can''t seem to find anything about it yet. However, I did find another piece of information which I believe is no less important. Unfortunately, the information appears to be iplete."


    "What kind of information? Let us know even if it''s notplete."


    "It''s like parts of maps showing the location of a ce of importance and how to ess it. Based on the things I already inferred, I believe this ce could be of some help for us."


    "What is it and where is it?" asked Alex immediately when he heard that.


    "I''m not sure, boss. That''s why I wanted to search for more information about it, so I need your approval."


    Alex folded his hand and ced them in front of his chin. He then said, "What''s your n?"


    "I want to go to the other Abyss pits outside of the ind. I want topare the engravings between the pirs and see if there are more clues I can find."


    Alex was silent as he thought about the idea. After a while, he said, "Alright then, I approve this n. As for where you will go, you can follow the expedition troops who went to Java Ind."


    In the end, Alex gave a group of fighters to Cindy to act as her escort. She then immediately set off to pursue the expedition group. After saying that, he immediately ended the meeting.


    After all the military matters were finished and people were already on their way, Alex finally had time to do other things, such as the artifact orders. He couldn''t help but sigh when he remembered the sheer number of artifacts and magic scrolls he had to make. Shrugging his shoulder, Alex immediately jumped into the matter to finish it as soon as possible.


    -


    When he entered his workshop, Alex was immediately weed by the sight of piles of weapons and yellow spirit stones. Looking at the mountains of materials, Alex stretched his body and took out his tier 5 artifact.


    "Let''s do this, Strokes. We have so many things to make."


    [Yes, Master]


    Grabbing a random sword from piles of weapons, Alex immediately engraved the weapon. Few momentster, a notification appeared.


    [Used the skill: Draw]


    [Enchantment Sessful!]


    [Due to sessful enchantment of the item [Long Sword], its name has changed to [me Sword] and the item tier was upgraded]


    [me Sword - Tier 3 Weapon]


    [Length : 90 centimeters, Weight : 4 kilograms]


    [Increased attack speed]


    [Added Special Skill : me Touch]


    [Coating the sword withyers of fire element to increase its lethality]


    Seeing the bright luster on the surface of the de, Alex happily said, "Alright! A smooth sess on my first try." Putting the sword aside, he added, "Just 4999 more to goˇ­"


    [Enchantment Sessful!]


    [Enchantment Failed!]


    [Enchantment Sessful!]


    [Enchantment Failed!]


    [Enchantment Failed!]


    ˇ­


    The amount of spirit stones Alex had to spend in order to use Strokes'' ability was 1,000 stones. However, Alex''s current rate of sess in engraving was around 1 to 3. Therefore, the greatest possible cost of making one tier 3 artifact was 3,000 stones. Combined with the price of the sword itself, the total cost would be 3,500 stones. Whereas, the price Alex set when selling the artifacts was 5,000 stones.


    This made the profit he got from every artifact sold 1,500 stones. Therefore, if he could increase his engravings sess rate, the costs would be much lower and the profits would increase.


    Five thousands worth of artifacts required a minimum capital of 15 million silver. A fantastic number that some countries in the world couldn''t even dare to dream of. But of course, Devita wasn''t worried about it. For the sake of ''assurance'', she stated in the contract the buyers would need to pay a certain amount of spirit stones before their orders were processed. Thus, on the third day, the down payments began to appear.


    From that day on, Alex spent most of his time every day just engraving, while he spent the rest of his limited time with his family. Alex used this rare opportunity and time to spend his day with Devita, Tiffany, and Tiarra, because he knew he would be going far away again and won''t be able toe back for a while. He was sure his two daughters would not be happy about it. But fortunately, as they were getting older, they were starting to understand what he was going through at the moment.


    [Enchantment Failed!]


    [Enchantment Failed!]


    [Enchantment Sessful!]


    Day by day, the pile of weapons in his workshop swiftly turned into tier 3 artifacts, while the spirit stones were slowly spent. 2000 pieces, 3000 pieces of tier 3 weapon artifacts,muntil finally, on the fifth day, Alex finally finished creating 5000 pieces of artifacts.


    However, Alex''s struggle, or rather hisbor, was not over yet. After he finished engraving 1000 of the tier 3 artifacts on the first day, he decided to switch the things he worked on, so as to not get bored. He proceeded to make the magic scrolls when he felt too stuffed with artifacts making.


    On the sixth day, when he was focusing his effort on creating the magic scrolls, Alex suddenly felt a change in his body, more precisely in his spirit core.


    Feeling the sudden sensation, Alex immediately dropped the skin piece in his hand and concentrated his mind as he swiftly went into meditation. He felt the light element spirit energy inside him was undergoing an evolution as it rapidly flowed through all parts of his body towards his spirit core.


    Suddenly, a burst of energy appeared inside him when the energy reached his core as Alex felt afortable sensation across his body. His attention was then caught by a notification that appeared from his bracelet. Alex rejoiced when he saw the information stated there.


    [Your understanding of the light element has increased]


    [You have reached the high stage of light spirit element]


    [Alex]


    [Sky realm level 41 - high stage]


    [Sky Magus - Light - high stage]


    "!!!"


    Alex did not expect he could reach the high stage of Sky realm this quickly. It was indeed true it had been more than a month since Alex had reached level 40. However, it was not easy to break through the limit of understanding the spirit element, especially for him who was someone with an aptitude B. Alex previously estimated that he would need at least 3 months before he could break through this stage. Therefore, this situation truly shocked him.


    There was only one reason why this could happen, the engraving.


    In the past month, Alex had been continuously making weapon artifacts and equipment. And every time he did an engraving, he used his ability of light element. For thest one month, Alex had been using the [draw] skill for more than 30,000 times. Thus, this was the reward for his hard work.


    Thanks to this breakthrough, Alex felt the energy he possessed had gone up one more level and he could also start learning tier 4 spells.


    ''What a wonderful feeling.'' Alex happily thought.


    "It''s time to upgrade myself. And then, I''ll be heading out tomorrow."


    ------------------------------------


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 Chapter 327 - Conflict Nations

    The Middle East, a region situated between 3 different continents, Asia, Europe, and Africa; and acted as their crossroads. This made this region be one of the mostplex regions in the world, where a single mistake could easily disturbed several parties'' interests.


    Before the Doomsday descended to the world, there were 4 problematic states and 3 wars already happening in this region alone, as major powers taking opposite sides and doing their things in this region, using the Middle East as their chessboard. It was a known fact the region had been caught up in conflicts since the 20th century.


    Due to that very reason, countless armed militias and terrorist groups rose from this region in the name of ending the tyranny the major powers imposed on them, making them saviors in the eyes of the Middle East''s poption. However, these so-called saviors either chose violence as their way of exhibiting themselves, or started with a more peaceful method and then, slowly, lost their initial morale and purpose, resorting to the same violent approach.


    -


    D-day #482


    Yemen, Middle East.


    A ship could be seen roaming the Arabian Sea before it entered the Gulf of Aden. The ship then immediately headed towards the harbour near Aden city, which was one of the two capital cities of Yemen..


    The city itself was located at the south of Yemen with the Gulf of Aden on its southern, eastern, and western borders; making only the northern part of the city connected to the maind.


    On top of the approaching ship, a young woman was seen standing at the bridge of the ship, as she saw the harbour of Aden city, which was getting closer. Looking at herplexion, it appeared the young woman was in her twenties with her short hair tied up.


    The young woman looked pensive, her hand holding a yellow hairpin. Gripping the hairpin tightly, the woman muttered softly, "Adam, are you still alive?"


    A voice came from behind the woman, startling her.


    "Don''t worry, Daisy. We will definitely find and rescue him from those bastards."


    Turning her head around, Daisy saw a woman and a man approached her and stand beside her. They were Melissa and Rick.


    Melissa was Adam and Daisy''s school friend who was the daughter of a high-ranking Indonesian official, while Rick was her apartment neighbor who by chance went through the apocalypse together with them.


    The two of them were members of Misfits, who fought and went through fire with her in Jakarta. Because of that, the both of them obviously decided to apany Daisy in her journey when this ship stopped in New Java to replenish its supplies before heading to this ce.


    Seeing the ever closer harbor, Melissa nudged her and said, "Daisy, we are almost at the harbor. Let''s get ready."


    Momentster, the ship finally docked at the harbor. The people inside the ship immediately disembarked and gathered at the harbor tform. Together with the three of them, this group was formed by 30 selected fighters, as well as Alex''s best fighters. Rama, the fire spirit enhancer, who was also a martial arts expert, and the mentalist Theo, the leader of this group. Not to forget, there was also Ardeth the great fighter from Egypt, the guy with tattoos on his face. Before disembarking, the group saw how Ardeth was kneeling in prayer asking for safety in theing mission.


    These people were a group Alex chose to find out and confirm the existence of the Heavenly Gate headquarters, rescue Adam, and capture or kill Hafiz, the head of the Heavenly Gate.


    When the group got off the ship, they were weed by a group of Yemeni government soldiers, who were already lined up neatly. After doing some basic pleasantries between them, the Yemeni soldiers quickly took them to the quarters that had been prepared for their temporary residence.


    Of course, the reason this Yemeni party knew of their arrival was thanks to the connections Ardeth had, who was a very influential person in Egypt.


    As they made their way towards their residence from the Aden city''s harbor, Daisy and the others except Ardeth, could truly sense a difference which was in stark contrast to the conditions in Bali Ind.


    Along the way, Daisy could see hundreds of malnourished children sitting on the side of the road, who watched their vehicles passing through, and adults who did not haveplete body parts on the streets.


    This city managed to survive the apocalypse only because of its geographical condition, where there were only two ways to enter the city: the harbour and the north. The harbourpletely eliminated the chance of monsters storming the city through there, while the north was bordered by the Iron Mountain, which served as a natural defense point, making the route to enter the city viand closed.


    However, even though the border Aden city had was naturally advantageous, the condition of the residents who live in the city was still poor.


    When Ardeth noticed the expression Daisy had when she saw those unfortunate people, he immediately said, "Those people were already living like this, even before the doomsday began. This is how Yemen is as a nation, and how Aden is as a city."


    Yemen was a country gued by decades of bloody civil war, exacerbated and sustained by foreign intervention. The country had a poption of 28 million people, with two thirds of its city starving because of the food scarcity and the ongoing civil war. It was both amazing and puzzling the nation could still manage to survive for a year after the apocalypse happened. After a year of apocalypse, there were currently only ten thousands of survivors staying in this city.


    When the group arrived in one of the quarters, they were weed by a Yemen general named Nasser. After shaking hands with the man, Theo immediately asked the man to send the other fighters to their residence, while he and a few people he selected would hold a closed meeting together with the general.


    The general then went ahead and began to tell the condition of the Middle East region during the past year. Before the Doomsday happened, the Middle East was dominated and controlled by the two big states: Saudi Arabia and Iran, which continued to spark conflicts between each other, as if they couldn''t see the other side continue existing.


    Even after the Doomsday began and zombies started killing people, both countries still seemed unable to see eye to eye with each other and coexisting peacefully during these difficult times.


    With the fact that nations in the Middle East were disconnected with the outside world and free from the influence of major power because of the apocalypse, Saudi Arabia finally showed its prowess and swiftly dominated the region, putting it under their rule.


    The country shocked the others as they had the resources and manpower to sessfully be the first Middle East nations who imed to be zombie-free. However, when the situation looked favorable to the Arabians, Iran suddenly made their move with the new Heavenly Gate group that suddenly appeared out of thin air.


    And just three months ago, the king of Saudi Arabia epted an offer of peace with Iran. Ever since then, the Heavenly Gate had moved its bases to Saudi Arabia. The whole situation was reported and became shocking news to all neighboring nations.


    The intelligence they received seemed to say Hafiz was actually in Saudi Arabia, just across Yemen''s border. There was also a bizarre information that stated most of Saudi Arabian''s poption had be devoted followers of the Heavenly Gate.


    When they heard that information, the group was especially disturbed by the fact most Saudi Arabian citizens had been converted. They then decided to find more information regarding the situation, so as to not let things go wrong, while they were waiting for Alex''s arrival.


    A dayter, after countless hours of scouting and searching for information, the group finally found some leads about one of the Heavenly Gate''s important establishments. The facility was located just near the border between Yemen and Saudi Arabia. As its location was quite close to a Doomsday Pir, Theo decided to move and made the pir as their operating base in this mission.


    However, when the group had just crossed the border and entered Saudi Arabia, Daisy suddenly felt something wrong.


    "Be careful I can sense a group of people merge in on us"


    But for some reason, the message seems unable to be received by the General. A momentter, their convoy was suddenly ambushed by hundreds of Insurgents.


    BOOOMMM!!!


    Hearing the loud explosion, Theo asked the general, "What''s happening here?"


    "We are under attack, Mr Theo. It''s a trap!"


    Daisy added "We need to get away quickly before more surround us"


    --------------


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 Chapter 328 - Insurgents

    D-day 483


    Yemen, near the Saudi Arabia border.


    In the vast wastnd located near the border between the two Middle East nations, one could see countless sandy and rocky hills. A convoy of ten vehicles was driving fast through the road.


    The convoy was the one Theo and the others were using, as they headed towards one of Doomsday Pirs located in the Saudi Arabia territory.


    However, as the convoy crossed the border and went into the Saudi Arabia, Daisy, who was in a vehicle with Melissa and Rick, suddenly felt lifeforms closing in on them, hundreds of them. Feeling the hundreds of possible hostiles, she quickly called upon Theo, who was in the vehicle in front of the convoy, but for some reason her call was not being picked up.


    Seeing Daisy who seemed in a hurry, Melissa asked, "What happened, Daisy? Is something wrong?"


    "That''s right. Be careful, guys. I don''t feel good about this situation.." Daisy replied, as she nodded her head.


    Tapping the driver''s shoulder, Daisy shouted, "Rush to the front and catch up to the general''s vehicle! I need to reach him!"


    Shaking his head, the driver said, "I''m sorry, mam. But I can''t do that. Let''s just wait for the order from the general."


    Daisy was stunned when she heard the driver''s reply. Melissa, on the other hand, rebuked the driver. "What do you mean you can''t? This is an emergency situation!"


    "I''m sorry, but I truly cannot do so without an order from the general."


    However, before Melissa could yell the driver even more, a voice speaking Arabic came over the radio and suddenly, the whole convoy stopped at once. Because of the abrupt stop, all of them almost knocked their heads.


    Seeing the whole convoy stopped, Daisy said, "What happened? Why are we stopping? We need to keep moving and get out of here! I can sense hundreds of people are approaching our location!"


    Daisy kept urging the driver to start the vehicle again and drive towards the general''s vehicle in front. But unexpectedly, the driver quickly took a handgun from his waist and pointed it at Daisy.


    "!!!"


    BANG! BANG! BANG!


    Consecutives gunshot reverberated inside the vehicle, as the soldier silently fired his gun at Daisy who was sitting behind. However, when the soldier thought he had managed to kill his target, Rick fortunately managed to move at thest second and block the bullets using his body. Gritting his teeth as the bullets hit him, Rick immediately took out a knife from his belt and stabbed it into the soldier''s neck. The soldier died with disbelief on his face.


    Seeing Rick was shot at close range and blocked the bullets, Daisy immediately pulled his body and checked him. Looking at the anxious Daisy, Rick said, "I''m fine, Daisy. I''m wearing the artifact vest, don''t worry about me. Quickly go ahead and warn the others."


    Nodding her head, Daisy immediately opened the vehicle door and stepped out. But, just when Daisy got out of the vehicle, she was immediately greeted by a loud explosion, followed by dust flying towards her.


    KABOOM!!!


    Apparently, one of the vehicles on the front was blown by a missile and being thrown from the side of the road.


    "We are under attack!!" somebody shouted.


    Daisy quickly saw the situation had turned chaotic. There seemed to be a fight in each of the vehicles, seeing only them and a few others managed to get out of the vehicles. It appeared the Yemen soldiers betrayed them, as they led their group into a trap.


    Rick and Melissa quickly got out of the vehicle. But before they could act, a loud buzzing sound was heard and grew louder. As soon as the trio heard that, they immediately knew what it was. It was a sound of something dangerous flying towards them.


    KABOOM!!!


    A missile flew through the air causing the explosion of the vehicle, Daisy and the others just got out from. Smoke appeared and dust scattered into the air, obstructing the vision. When the smoke dissipated, the car was unexpectedly intact protected by a bluish round barrier.


    The bluish barrier was the result of a spell Daisy casted: [Halo], a tier 3 light spell that could create a dome able to block several attacks.


    After the second explosion, dozens of people wearing civilian clothes were seening out of the hills around the road and dashing towards them. Daisy could clearly see there were a myriad of different kinds of firearms in their hands.


    Tra.Ta.Ta.Ta.Ta Tra.Ta.Ta.Ta.Ta


    "Insurgents?!"


    A rain of bullets immediately fired towards the location where Daisy and the others were. The barrier stood strong as it received the bullets, however Daisy knew sooner orter the barrier would disappear. If they still couldn''t find a way by then, they would definitely be wounded by the dense rain of bullets, or worse die.


    Seeing the barrier could still do the job, Daisy quickly used another spirit spell, [Spirit Bird]. After the chant was finished, a ball of energy appeared in front of her and quickly molded itself into a bird. The spirit bird immediately flew upwards into the sky and began to scout their surroundings.


    A momentter, the dozen sky realm fighters starting out from the vehicles and start returning fire at the insurgents at the top of the hills.


    At the same time, zing mes suddenly rose at the back of the convoy where Rama was supposed to be. It looked like Rama had started capturing and gathering the Yemen soldiers in the back.


    Meanwhile, at the front of the convoy where Theo was, Daisy could see that another missile was heading there. When she tried to cast a spell to stop the missile, Daisy spotted an object flying towards the approaching missile.


    BOOM!


    The missile immediately exploded in the air when the object hit and went through it. That object was obviously the sword formation Theo owned. From behind the smoke, 5 short swords flew towards the one who fired the missile and instantly finished it off.


    Seeing the overall situation from the bird''s eye view and the almost dissipated barrier, Daisy immediately beckoned to others, especially Rick and Melissa to follow her. She then swiftly ran, ducked, rolled, jumped and took cover between the vehicle, as she moved towards the front of the convoy.


    When she reached the front, Daisy saw Theo squatting down beside the general, who was lying on the ground, while using his spell [Light Heal] on the general''s wounds. Not far from their position, Daisy noticed Ardeth swiftly running and yanking out the fighters from the exploding vehicles.


    Seeing the wounded general, Daisy approached Theo and asked, "What happened to him?"


    "His own soldiers shot him. It appears the enemy has infiltrated the Yemen soldiers."


    After making sure General Naseer''s condition was stabilized, Theo immediately asked Daisy about their current situation: the number of hostiles and friendlies as well as their location. Closing her eyes and connecting her vision with the spirit bird, Daisy quickly processed the information and reported it to Theo.


    "There are about a hundred people shooting at us in the west, but they are currently in chaos because of your flying swords. However, there are several hundred moreing our way and will be here in around 5 minutes."


    Theo''s expression changed when he heard that. "Several hundred people? Civilians?"


    "No, looking at their aura, they are mostly Earth realm fighters with a dozen of Sky realm ones."


    Ardeth, who had finally managed to rescue all the fighters from the blown cars, heard Daisy''s words and said, "We can''t stay here, Theo. I suggest we retreat and regroup somewhere safe. We currently don''t know the enemy enough and already entered their trap, plus I assume the information we got from Yemen about them is likely to be wrong. If we stay here, we will be surrounded and die in vain."


    Rama who was in the back also came over to them along with the others, bringing more bad news. "We have two fighters badly injured here."


    Theo immediately asked Melissa to quickly find a ce to ce for those who were injured. Thinking for a while, Theo said, "It''s not safe anywhere. We don''t know who to trust and we are in enemy territory."


    Daisy, who was still scouting the area, suddenly said, "There''s a ce! There is a Doomsday Pir 50 kilometers east of our location. We can bring them all there."


    "Excellent job, Daisy. Alright, let''s go there."


    They quickly jumped back into the vehicles and immediately headed for the Doomsday Pir before the enemy''s reinforcement could reach them.


    ---------------------------


    Author Note:


    Dear Reader thank you. Your support is much appreciated. As a return, I will give more time to give more quality chapters. hope you will keep supporting the novel with a power vote and if possible please give a minute or two of your time to write a simple review for the novel. Thank you very much

 Chapter 329 - Diversion

    Looking at their current situation, it appeared their n to sneak into Saudi Arabia territory in secret had failed miserably. Their attempt to covertly destroy one of the Heavenly Gate establishments was met with failure as the ranks of Yemen soldiers were infiltrated, causing them to be led into a trap.


    Currently, a total of 35 people were inside several vehicles, as the group was driving fast through the wilderness and made their way towards the Doomsday Pir that Daisy located. Thanks to Daisy, a spirit enhancer specialized in tracking and sensing abilities, the group managed to avoid the ambushes the enemy prepared along the way.


    At first, the group could still drive fast and avoid the enemies. However, as they went deeper into the territory and drove quite a distance, Daisy, through the eyes of the spirit bird who scouted the surrounding area for them, found out that there seemed to be more and more groups of people who were roaming around, as if stalking them. This meant that either there were just too many enemy troops surrounding them or there were still spies among them.


    After telling her findings to Theo to prevent the same incident happening again, he immediately went ahead and interrogated the 5 Yemeni soldiers who were still with them. However, after he asked them a series of questions, Theo found out they really knew nothing.


    This left the matter with one more possibility: there was a spirit enhancer on the other side too. Someone who had an ability like Daisy, who could track their whereabouts.


    "God Damnˇ­ from insurgents, to crazy cultists. And now, we also have a super terrorist we must deal with. What an eventful day!"


    As if this was not enough, the situation got even worse when the vehicle in the front exploded due to a mine. Luckily, all the people inside the exploded vehicle were Sky realm fighters and also wore the tier 2 protective vests Alex made. Apart from some concussions and mild wounds, all of them were fine.


    "How far are we from the pir?" Theo asked.


    "There are still about 30 kilometers left. But..." Daisy answered, while her face showed a conflicted expression.


    "But...? But what?"


    "It appears our n was predicted by the enemy. They have put thousands of fighters on the road between us and the pir."


    Upon hearing that, Theo, Rama, Daisy,and Ardeth immediately discussed another n that could help with their current predicament. Analyzing the information Daisy had gathered and the surrounding area''s general intel by General Nasser, who was still injured, they finally came up with a n.


    Since some of them were injured and they were currently being chased by the enemy, they decided to choose someone to break away from the group and head towards the pir as fast as possible. The chosen would inform others of their current situation and seek reinforcements, while the others would be the diversion and barricade themselves in a vige Daisy spotted not far from their current location.


    General Nasser believed the president of Yemen would send reinforcement in less than 8 hours after the information had been conveyed.


    Among these 30 capable fighters, Ardeth was selected to be the one who would send the message. He was a renowned strong fighter, he was also a Wind element fighter which could run faster than others. Ardeth was sure he was able to cover 30 kilometers in less than an hour.


    However, the most important reason he was chosen was because Ardeth could speak Arabic and did not look foreign to the native. Therefore, he could easily blend in with the locals when he arrived at the Doomsday Pir.


    A small number of the Star Army fighters were worried about the selection due to the fact that Ardeth was an outsider, but Theo convinced them Ardeth could be trusted.


    They then immediately carried out the n. The group swiftly split up; Theo and the others made their way to the small vige, while Ardeth used his fastest speed and rushed towards the Doomsday Pir.


    When Theo and the others arrived at the outskirts of the vige, they were finally able to see the vige clearly. The vige, which was filled with dozens of small and medium houses, looked barren and undeveloped. At first, when the group saw the vige, they were quite sure there wasn''t anyone who would want to inhabit this kind of ce. After all, it had been almost 2 years since the apocalypse happened.


    However, much to their surprise, their assumption was proven wrong as Daisy could find at least two dozens of people still living in the vige. After sensing all of those people and making sure there were none who escaped her sense, Daisy immediately reported to Theo.


    She estimated their pursuers would be able to find them in at most an hour. Hence, they had to quickly decide whether to keep moving or enter the vige to wee the enemy. Looking at the dpidated state of the vige, Theo wanted to find another ce. But unfortunately for him, General Nasser''s wounds and the other two wounded fighters conditions were not fit to travel anymore.


    Theo considered his choices for a while and then decided to stay here to wee their guests. Theo thought there was no guarantee they would be able to find another ce within their limited timeframe. He also believed it was likely that all the areas of Saudi Arabia were in the same condition.


    Theo would rather have the limited protection provided from the buildings than no protection at all. And also, they would have time for preparation if they stayed here.


    After deciding on the course of action, the group immediately entered the vige. Theo ordered the others to group the vige''s residents, as he wanted to talk with them. After the fighters brought all of the residents, Theo found that all the locals who lived in the vige were women and young children without any shadow of man in sight. The strange sight dumbfounded Theo and the others.


    "P-Please don''t hurt us sir, please," a woman weakly said.


    Approaching one of the women, Theo gently said, " I sincerely apologize for our sudden intrusion, mam. But there are hundreds of dangerous peopleing here to hurt us. I think it would be safer for you all to leave the vige for a while.


    Theo then noticed this group of women and children were scared and starved. Seeing their miserable state, Theo immediately asked the others to share their rations with them.


    When the vigers received the rations, Theo asked them what happened to them and howe there was not a single man here. Upon hearing his questions, the women immediately started telling about what happened.


    Apparently a group of people in red robes came here and took all the men about a month ago. The red robed people promised them their men would be back, thus they were still waiting until now. Theo and the others who heard this secretly clenched their fists in anger, as they realized these women and children would probably never meet their men again.


    After giving them enough ration, Theo still told them to leave this ce, because it would turn into a warzone in no time. The vigers immediately decided to flee from the vige when they heard that. After thanking and apologizing to them again, Theo swiftly instructed the others to start preparing for the enemy.


    Theo and Rama began to prepare the perimeter, as there was no way the two of them would let their ''guest''e freely. They immediately installed the machine guns and explosive mines stored in their storage rings. On the other hand, Daisy, who had currently summoned 3 spirit animals, quickly ordered them to scout the area and check the situation.


    But the more time passed, the more worried she became.


    A bad feeling appeared and gnawed at her. The event of the battle in the vige where all the troops of her division died and were caught came back to haunt her. Theo, who noticed Daisy''s expression, approached her and asked, "So, what''s the situation?"


    "There are about two to three thousands of them, Brother Theo. Half of them are in the Earth realm with only a hundred or so in the Sky realm. But, that''s only the first wave we have to face. I predict there will be another waveing in two to three hours after them." Daisy said.


    She then looked at Theo''s eyes and said, "Brother Theo, I amˇ­"


    "Are you scared?" Theo asked with a smile.


    After staying silent for a moment, Daisy opened her mouth, "...Yes. Brother, I.."


    "What are you scared of? Dying? Or... seeing others dying?"


    Falling silent again, Daisy thought about Theo''s words for a while. "I guess it''s about seeing others die... I had always hoped I could prevent them from dying the next time I found myself in a situation like this." she said, while lowering her head.


    Hearing Daisy''s answer, Theo grabbed her shoulder and made her face him directly. "Daisy, you don''t have the strength to control everything. Even Alex, who we see as omnipotent, can''t do that. There are just some things we can''t control and we need to ept that."


    Patting her shoulders, he continued, "Once you ept that, you can start doing better with the things you can do and actually control. Do you understand that?"


    "Yes, brother." Daisy replied, while nodding.


    Shortly after that, a roaring screeching sound echoed through the vige.


    "Kill the infidels!!! Our god is absolute!"

 Chapter 330 - Captured

    "Our god is great! Kill the infidels!"


    Thundering shouts resounded through the vige as the desert sands rose up in the distance. Even though the one who made the shouts couldn''t be seen yet, they certainly announced their presence.


    Slowly but surely, hundreds of people were seen approaching the vige from behind the small hills around it. Looking at their demeanor that emanated pure hostility, one could be definitely sure they were noting with good intentions.


    If someone was here, they would realize there were more than 2,000 people approaching, all geared to the teeth. Meanwhile, there were only 35 people defending inside the vige. The sharp contrast between the two sides would have bbergasted those who spectated it.


    The crazy and fervent shouts of these people were usually enough to terrorize and intimidate those they were up against. However, those things weren''t enough for these Star Army''s fighters, who had followed Alex to fight against zombies, orcs, hellhounds and gargoyles.


    These fighters had already experienced even worse and more hopeless situations.. So, they just put an indifferent expression, as they calmly watched the thousands of people approaching them. Some of these Star Army''s fighters were also members of Death Squad that had experienced even more of these kinds of battle before.


    However, among these ''indifferent'' people, there were two people who looked very worried about the current situation, Melissa and Rick. The reason was because, not only did they have less fighting experiencepared to others, they were also victims of the atrocious acts the Heavenly Gate did on Java Ind. The memory of people close to them being ughtered by those fanatics made them incredibly angry and scared.


    Meanwhile, Daisy clenched her fists tightly, as she was worried about what would happen to them this time. She was terrified of the possibility of them failing again, just like that time. While waiting for an order from Theo and for the enemy toe closer, Daisy noticed Theo looked worried too.


    Approaching him, Daisy asked, "Brother Theo, are you worried?"


    Hearing Daisy''s words and seeing her concerned gaze, Theo smiled and said, "I''m not really that worried about their strength or numbers. It''s just that this time we are fighting against humans, our own kind, not monsters. I just wish there was a way we could win this without taking too many lives. Most of these people are brainwashed and merely victims of circumstances."


    After saying that, Theo slowly joined his hand and began praying. It looked like he was asking for guidance about what he should do.


    Momentster, the thousands of people already surrounded the vige, now not even a fly could escape unnoticed.


    Among the group that surrounded them, Theo could see a young girl who looked no more than 15 years old stepping forward and began walking towards the vige.


    The girl, who was dressed in a simple overalls, continued walking until she arrived at the front of the vige and stood there. She then opened her mouth and shouted, "Dear sir, our leader wishes to speak to your leader. Will you agree?"


    Upon hearing that, Theo said, "Tell your leader we agree to do so."


    The girl then immediately ran back to her group. Not long after, a fat, bearded man stepped out of the group and walked over to the vige apanied by 5 people.


    Seeing the approaching people, Theo beckoned Rama to apany him. But before he could take a single step, Daisy immediately shouted, "Stop!!!"


    Turning his head to the side, Theo asked, "What''s wrong, Daisy?"


    "Brother Theo, they do not wish to talk! Their so-called talk is just a way to lure you out and kill you. This is exactly what they did to us in Java Ind!" Daisy anxiously said.


    Theo smiled faintly when he heard that. "I know, Daisy. Don''t worry, I know what I can do."


    "No! I''ming with you, brother Theo." Daisy said in a tone that indicated she would not ept the word no.


    Thinking for a while, Theo nodded helplessly and said, "Well, if you insist. Let''s go."


    So, the trio of Daisy, Theo and Rama approached the six people who were already waiting outside the vige, right between the middle of both sides. When they arrived, the fat man in a arrogant expression immediately said, "Who is the leader?


    Seeing the arrogant look on the fat man, Theo just calmly answered, "I am."


    "Are you really?" the man asked, while scanning Theo''s entire body. "You look harmlesspared to the guy next to you. This guy looks more suited to be a leader than you," the fat man said, while pointing at Rama.


    "Well. I''m going to take your word as apliment, then." Theo replied with a faint smile.


    The fat man was not happy to see Theo being so rxed and ignoring his taunt, as if it was nothing. So he decided to be straightforward.


    Looking at Theo haughtly, the fat man said, "You are surrounded. Surrender yourself to us and receive the mercy of our god, infidels, or die!"


    Theo looked to his left and right, as if he was searching something, and then he said, "Ahˇ­ Actually, I was just about to say the same to you." Theo''s gaze turned sharp, "Surrender yourself to reason and confess your sins and all will be forgiven... by God I mean, men not so much"


    The fat man''s expression turned livid when he heard Theo''s words. With a wave from his hand, the five men who apanied him immediately took out a small tube filled with red liquid and then drank it.


    In an instant, the eyes of the five people turned red while the veins on their faces bulged and became visible to the eye. They then shouted loudly like they were enraged.


    "Now you all can die!!!"


    However, just when the fat man was letting out those words, he heard sounds from behind him.


    *swish* *swish* *swish*


    SPLAT!


    Blood sttered as the five figures behind him simultaneously lost their heads. Turning his head around, the fat man could see there were 5 swords hovering on top of the dead bodies, devoid of blood. The sharp-looking edge of the swords were now pointing at him.


    Since the beginning, Theo''s five short swords had been hidden behind his back and were ready to strike at any time. Hence, when Theo saw the five men drinking the red liquid and transforming, he knew the situation changed and decisively took the initiative. It was pretty easy since everybody''s attention went to the screaming men. As a result, the five of them died in just a split second.


    "I''m sorry Lord that I have sinnedˇ­" Theo muttered. At the same moment, Rama dashed towards the man and struck his stomach, knocking him out. He then immediately lifted and put the fat man on his shoulder like a sack of potato.


    "Let''s head back. We got what we want."


    Daisy was shocked by what happened in front of her. In a blink of an eye, the five fighters died, while the fat man was taken captive. Apparently, this was Theo''s n from the start.


    Seeing that their leader was captured, the hundreds of troops behind immediately opened fire towards Theo and the other two. Fortunately, Daisy was here; she immediately casted [Halo], which fended off all the bullets as they ran back into the vige.


    Gazing at the familiar dome, Theo smiled and said, "It''s good that you came along, Daisy."


    "How..? What..?" Daisy was still shocked by how fast Theo and Rama''s actions went.


    Rama quickly put the knocked man inside one of the houses and then, Theo immediately did what he was best at. He casted his spells and began to interrogate him to pry some information out from the fat man.


    The still shocked Daisy, on the other hand, was puzzled as to why Theo had acted so easily before their opponent. It wasn''t his usual style to do that kind of thing.


    Seeing Daisy''s confusion, Rama exined he and Theo already knew about the red liquid the men had drank earlier from their interrogation with Anas. The two of them had also studied the records of this group and their modus operandi.


    Therefore, they agreed to capture their leader if there was a chance to do so. Even though the enemy didn''t care about their leader safety, this matter could still buy them a fraction of time to organize and determine their approach.


    There was also the fact they desperately needed information about their enemy from someone who understood the enemy''s side. Just like what the ancient strategist, Sun Tzu, said, "Know thy enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles, you will never be defeated."


    Not long after, Theo walked out of the room where he was carrying out the interrogation.


    "So, what did you find?" Rama asked.


    "The main troops are about an hour away. So, we only have that much time left."

 Chapter 331 - Three Choices

    When the hundreds of insurgents saw their leader was captured by Theo and Rama, they immediately fell into a state of crazy frenzy, as they began to chant their slogans and scream their lungs out. These groups of people asionally fired bullets into the sky, in an attempt to intimidate. This was the usual tactic they employed to bring terror to their opponents. s, their cheap tricks didn''t even faze the 35 people inside the vige, let alone scare them.


    "More of them will arrive soon, Brother Theo." Daisy said, as she received the information from the spirit birds who flew in the sky scouting their surroundings.


    It appeared the enemy was waiting for a new leader to rece the one they had captured. Then, after their leader was done quelling the chaos, they would charge into the vige.


    Realizing their situation would turn worse with every second passed, Daisy turned to Theo and asked, "What should we do, Brother Theo?"


    cing his hand on his chin, Theo calmly watched the enemy, as he threw the question away, "What do you think we should do, Rama?"


    Rama was silent for a moment and then said, "Well, there are only three options I can think of. Defending until our reinforcements arrive, running away to another ce, or attacking first.."


    Theo fell into his thoughts when he heard Rama''s answer. A few secondster, he opened his mouth.


    "First, we are not sure about when or even if the reinforcement wille or not, so let''s shelve that idea aside for now. As for running away, I am quite sure with our strength, we can easily break out of this encirclement by focusing our attack in one point. Thi-"


    "We indeed could do that. But If we want to run away, I think we should do it before their main troopse. There is also the problem of where we should run to."


    Hearing how meticulous Rama''s exnations were, Theo couldn''t help but p his hands, hard. The man also provided the most important question before they ran away: where to go.


    "Wowˇ­ I wonder why Alex picked me as the leader. He should really choose someone with some military background for a mission like this. At the very least, he should have chosen you, Rama." Theo said with a sad smile.


    Everyone fell silent when they heard Theo''s words. It seemed like Rama and several other fighters also felt the same way. Looking at the awkward situation, Daisy tried to ease the mood by giving Theo apliment.


    "Brother Theo, don''t be dispirited. I am sure Alex chose you because he trusts your capabilities. Remember when you used your critical mind to face the previous problem? Moreover, you are always calm when faced with a problem".


    Turning his head towards Daisy, Theo asked, "Am I really like that?"


    "Of course! What else then?" Daisy said enthusiastically.


    Theo smiled again when he heard Daisy''s confirmation. Patting her head like an adult would do to a child, Theo said, "You are truly a good girl, Daisy. Alright! I feel much better now."


    Turning his head towards the others, Theo then said, "I''ve made my decision. Let us attack them first!


    "..." Daisy suddenly felt that shouldn''t have spoken and regretted it deeply. However, she still supported his decision.


    "So, this is the n!" Theo said confidently. "With the enemy spread out too thin I am sure we can defeat them before the main force arrives. If theybine with the force and get bigger it will be way harder for us then".


    -


    The hour worth of time they had got before they were surrounded was really helpful to make sure the three wounded fighters were at least back on their feet. The wounded General Nasser also looked much better than his previous condition. But despite the fact they were mostly recovered from their wounds, Theo advised them to not join the fight lest their condition worsen again.


    When the sun was right above their heads, 30 figures were seen rushing out of the vige, as they made their way towards one ce in the encirclement. That ce was the insurgents'' temporary headquarters.


    Using her [Lifeform Detection] spell, Daisy could urately pinpoint the location where most of the enemy''s Sky realm fighters were gathered, as well as the possible location of their temporary headquarters. When Theo was reported about this, he instantly knew where they were going to do their surprise attack.


    Previously, Daisy had detected one hundred or so enemy Sky realm fighters among the thousands of insurgents. She had noticed they were spreaded out around the vige when they were being surrounded.


    If that was only the case, Daisy wouldn''t find it strange. However, she then realized there were fifty of those Sky realm fighters congregated in one spot. When Theo heard this piece of information, he was almost one hundred percent sure that ce was their headquarters. Therefore, he immediately ordered the fighters to attack the ce.


    In less than one minute since Theo gave the order, all the 30 plus Sky realm Knight and Magus veteran fighters led by Rama rushed under enemy fire and arrived at the suspected location of the enemy headquarters abruptly and gave a shocking surprise to the enemy in the area.


    Rama, who led the charge and was the first one to arrive, swiftly leaped into the air, while brandishing his tier 3 spear. Raging mes appeared and engulfed his whole body as he casted [Fire Aura - Tier 3 Fire Spell]. This spell enhanced his strength and speed as well as gave him fire-augmented attack.


    With his body on fire, Rama looked like a me dragon descending from the sky. Hended on the ground with a loud bang, knocking down those around hisnding zone. He then swiftly zoomed through their camp wreaking havoc.


    Meanwhile, while the insurgents were still shocked by the sudden attack, some of them were silently beheaded by several flying swords. Theo''s signature [Sword Formation] didn''t remain silent, as he started attacking every enemy in sight.


    Daisy, who was on the back of the group, also joined the party as she casted [Bright Shield] on the fighters in danger, while asionally firing [Light Missile]. She also summoned spirit wolf to charge at the enemy.


    Currently, there were around 100 or so enemy fighters in the area, half of which reached the Sky realm stage. The group could clearly recognize the ones who reached Sky realm stage, since they wore red robes, while the Earth fighters were in a matching uniform. There were also civilians wearing in clothes among them. These distinct attire actually helped Theo and the others to decide which one to kill and which one to disable.


    Facing a group of in clothes civilians, Theo immediately used his [Mind st] spell on them. The spell sessfully knocked all of them unconscious in an instant.


    When most of the red robes fighters had already died, leaving only the civilians and several Earth fighters, Theo shouted loudly, "We do not wish to hurt you! Run back to your home! We are here to make sure the Heavenly Gate people don''t bother you anymore."


    The shout was followed by the others as the area quickly filled with shouts that told them to leave. The in clothes civilians and some of the Earth fighters, who were still conscious, just stood there confused about what to do. The terror and threat they received from the Heavenly Gate made them hesitant to flee.


    Even though more insurgents from outside the headquarters were arriving, the 30 plus fighters easily destroyed them too; with this, the message became more effective as some of them began to flee. Seeing the situation getting better, Theo immediately ordered the others to start attacking the other sides while spreading the message as well.


    This was the strategy Theo concocted when he learned about the enemy''s situation from the captured leader. Thanks to the fat man, Theo knew the red robes were the Heavenly Gate most devoted followers, while the uniformed and the in clothes people were just forced to join their cause. Therefore, when these people saw Theo and the others killing the red robes fighters, their fighting morale plummeted.


    There were a few of the red robes fighters who managed to drink the red liquid, thus giving Theo and the others some trouble. But, with all of them using tier 3 weapons and tier 2 protective vests, those fanatics didn''t stand a chance.


    In the end, in order to lower the enemies'' morale even more, Rama decided to use his AOE spell [Burning Field - Tier 2 Fire Spell] to burn the bodies and headquarters. The more chaotic the insurgents were, the better for them. Daisy then began to see groups of insurgents escaping from the battlefield.


    At the moment, after fighting for a while, they were able to repel thousands of those surrounding them while killing hundreds of them. However, Daisy knew the main troop would arrive shortly. Seeing that the enemies had been routed, Theo turned to the others and said with a smile.


    "Let''s head back and reorganize in the vige."

 Chapter 332 - Bad News

    When they returned to the vige, Theo and the rest of the group cheered in celebration for their victory against the thousands of insurgents. The result of the battle was anything but ordinary. After all, they were able to kill more than 200 enemies, while injuring hundreds and making the rest flee from the battlefield, thus effectively breaking the encirclement.


    However, the most important fact was that none of them were seriously injured after the battle. Some of them suffered some minor wounds from the bullet''s impact, that were already suppressed by the tier 2 protective vests.


    Theo noticed Daisy looked distracted


    "What''s on your mind, Daisy?" Theo asked, as he sat next to her.


    "Uh?! Brother Theo?" Daisy asked, startled by the sudden question. Silent for a moment, she then opened her mouth, "I''m only worried about our current situation, brother. It''s true we already passed the first hurdle, but there will still be more enemiesing our way. So, how could I not be worried?" Daisy said, while shing a bitter smile..


    Upon hearing that, Theo patted her shoulder and said, "Cheer up, Daisy. We can only do our best. I know we''ll make it out alive."


    Sighing deeply, Daisy replied, "Brother. It''s just... There are so many of them and we''re being surrounded from all sides. If not for your decision to take the initiative, I really don''t know what would have happened to us. Al-"


    "..."


    Theo noticed Daisy suddenly stopped her words and turned quiet.


    "Daisy? What happened?"


    Turning her head, Daisy said with a grave tone. "Someone just destroyed the spirit bird I sent to follow the escapees."


    Theo''s expression turned serious when he heard that. "It seems their main troops are here."


    Theo immediately got up and looked into the distance. There, he could clearly see the groups of insurgents, who were already escaping, running back to the vige, as if something was chasing them. Theo felt like he could vaguely see another group behind those escaping insurgents.


    On the other hand, Daisy immediately casted her [Detect Lifeform] spell to sense the number of approaching enemies. She didn''t opt for the [Summon - Spirit Bird] spell, because it would take a while before she could cast it again.


    Daisy''s face turned pale when she sensed the enemy''s number. "There are around 5,000 of them approaching us within a kilometer radius, Brother Theo."Her body was trembling when she sensed how strong their enemies were. "There are almost 500 Sky realm fighters among them, ˇ­ and more areing! This is bad, extremely bad.


    With such arge number of Sky realm fighters, it looked like they wouldn''t be able to use the same strategy again. Theo wondered if it was time for them to run away. They couldn''t allow themselves to be captured otherwise they would put Alex in an unfavorable situation against the Heavenly Gate people.


    s, before Theo could decide anything, the thousands of insurgents on the hill 300 meters behind them, who were oblivious to the destroyed headquarters, suddenly moved into a position 200 meters from the vige. It appeared they didn''t care about their current position being exposed without the protection from the hill.


    Thanks to the closer range, their shots which previously looked like random shots, became more urate and started hitting the location where Theo and the others were. Deafening sounds of gunshots echoed across the vige, as the insurgents crazily shot their rifles.


    nk!


    A stray bullet hit Daisy, or rather her protective vest.


    [Protective Vest - Tier 2 Artifact]


    [Energy Shield 179/200]


    Even though it was only a single bullet, the situation was going to turn even more dangerous, if they didn''t do anything.


    The others who were resting got out from the houses when they heard the gunshots. Rama immediately approached Theo and asked, "What should we do now, Theo?"


    Rubbing his chin, Theo thought a moment before saying, "Let''s give Ardeth a bit more time. It''s been almost 2 hours since he went to the pir. If what I calcted is correct, he should be on the way back now. We would have a better n when he returns with the information about the reinforcements."


    Before long, the hundreds of insurgents marched to the 100 meter distance and started firing again. In order to avoid the bullets, they were forced to takeplete cover behind the houses.


    Tratatatataa! Tratatatataa!


    Heavy rain of bullets rained down on Theo and the others. Facing the endless bullets, they could only continue to take cover.


    "Where the hell do they get so many bullets?! Are they bringing their whole warehouse here?"


    When the houses looked like they were about to copse by the sheer amount of bullets hitting them, a figure shot fast like the wind towards Theo and the others. The fighters readied their stances when they saw the blurry figure approaching them, but they dropped their guard after they realized the figure was Ardeth.


    "Ardeth! You are finally back!" Theo happily said. He then looked behind Ardeth and asked, "Where''s the reinforcement? What''s the situation?"


    "Theo, We are all in grave danger!!!"


    Together with Ardeth''s words, a peculiar sound appeared, a sound that sounded like something streaking across the sky caused them all to worry.


    *swish* *swish* *swish*


    KABOOM! KABOOM! KABOOM!


    A huge explosion appeared in the vige and shocked them, and before they could recover, it was followed by another explosion.


    "Artillery!!! Everyone gathered here!" Theo shouted loudly.


    It seemed the Heavenly Gate people were intending to level the entire vige before advancing to attack.


    KABOOM! KABOOM!


    Even though the explosions didn''t hit them directly, yet, the impact and debris flying towards them contained force and depleted the energy of their protective vests. If this continued, sooner orter they would lose the durability of their vests. It was even worse to the Yemeni soldiers, who didn''t wear them.


    Hearing Theo''s shout, all 35 people quickly came out of their hiding ce and carefully approached the house where Theo was and entered it. Some of them were nearly blown up by the artillery on their way. Fortunately, Daisy managed to cast her [Shield Barrier] spell on those who were unfortunate enough to get hit by the artillery. She also casted the shield onto the Yemeni soldiers and those who had their vest''s energy depleted.


    Inside the house, Theo looked very busy operating an item. And then, the familiar sound was heard again. But this time, it was getting closer to their location.


    "Isn''t it a bad thing to be in the same ce together when artillery rains down on us?" Melissa asked. "If an artillery shell falls on this ce, it will be a disaster for all of us"


    Right when the squeaky sounds were almost on the house where they were gathered, Theo suddenly eximed.


    "It''s done!"


    KABOOM!


    When the smoke dissipated and the house couldn''t be seen anymore, a bluish dome was seen protecting Theo and the others. The dome was a barrier simr to Daisy''s [Halo] spell, but wider and stronger. This was a tier 2 artifact Alex gave Theo before they sepatared, the one Alex had used before.


    [Defensive Formation- Tier 2 Artifact]


    [Energy Shield 951/1000]


    Seeing the artifact could easily handle the artillery shells and had seeded in protecting them, Theo heaved a sigh of relief.


    "Alright, It seems this artifact should hold at least a dozen direct artillery sts." Turning his head to Ardeth, Theo asked, "So, how did it go?"


    "It''s bad. I''m sorry, friends."


    Theo was silent for a moment before he asked again, "How bad?"


    "The Heavenly Gate apparently uses us as the excuse to attack the Yemen government. They are saying the President of Yemen is involved in harboring infidels. Thus, they are also in trouble right now. "


    "That''s full of b-" Theo stopped himself from swearing and tried to calm down. "So, we can''t even return to Aden City and our ships are stuck there in the Aden harbourˇ­"


    "What options are left for us?"


    "I already contacted Israel and Egypt, but the fastest reinforcement they can provide is within 24 hours. I also contacted the Bali Headquarters, but of course, it will take even more time for them toe."


    Hearing that, Theo crossed his head and fell into deep thought. "Now, what should we do..."


    Suddenly, the group heard a loud sounding from somewhere. Theo and the others immediately turned their eyes to the source, looking through the rubble of the house. There, they could see at least half a dozen vehicles made of steel on the hill. The tank battalion has arrived.


    Seeing the tank''s cannons pointing towards the vige, or rather the bluish dome, Theo smiled wryly, "Well, the situation just turned from bad to worst."


    The first tank immediately fired its cannon. The shell rapidly flew through the air and hit the barrier protecting them.


    BOOM!


    When the shell hit the barrier, it was flickering while the ground shook by the impact of the explosion.


    [Defensive Formation- Tier 2 Artifact]


    [Energy Shield 792/1000]


    The tank shell had more than twice the strength of the artillery. In this condition, their barrier would be destroyed in just four to five hits.


    Realizing their dangerous predicament, Theo awkwardly smiled and asked, "Does anyone have any bright ideas?"


    --------------


    Written and Directed by Avans, Published by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 333 - Sky Realm Terorist

    332


    KABOOM!


    The bluish dome flickered again, as another tank shell hit the barrier. This time, the barrier was rattled as cracks appeared on it. Fortunately, the cracks were only visible for a moment, before the shield turned wless again. However, Theo knew the situation was turning bad and they were gonna die if they didn''t do anything.


    [Defensive Formation - Tier 2 Artifact]


    [Energy Shield 589/1000]


    Feeling the tremor because of the explosion, Rick couldn''t help but shout, "We are sitting ducks here!"


    Realizing their situation wouldn''t get better without their initiative, Theo tried his best to look calm and make a decision. They had to make one, otherwise they would be soon sted by the tanks.


    "Alright! I guess we have no other choice than to escape. Let''s just break out and make our way to the Doomsday Pir.. That way, even though we will still be surrounded, bombarded, and may possibly die on the way, at least some of us will manage to escape and update our situation to others."


    "Sounds like a terrible n. But I guess we have no choice here." Melissa replied with a wry smile.


    Seeing everyone nodding their heads, agreeing with this reckless n, Theo immediately turned to Daisy, "Daisy, can you infer the best escape route for us? The one with the most chance of sess. It''s important to know exactly how they spread their Sky realm fighters. So, we are counting on your abilities and analyses."


    Daisy immediately casted her [Detect Lifeform] spell to the best of her abilities. The result she received made her frown.


    "They distribute their fighters evenly, Brother Theo. There are roughly an equal number of fighters on all sides."


    Upon hearing that, Theo''s face fell. He then rubbed his forehead, while sighing deeply.


    "Alright then. If that''s the case, let''s attack this side." Theo said, pointing his finger in one direction.


    The direction Theo chose made Rama smile. "Good choice, Theo. Let''s do it."


    The side Theo meant was the one where the tanks were.


    "We can get out of here while disabling or destroying their tank units in the process. Two birds with one stone. This also can be beneficial if we are going to fight against them againter on."


    After the direction was decided and the n was concocted using the intel provided by Daisy, all of them immediately prepared to carry out their attack, even the two wounded fighters. While the others were excited for the battle, courtesy of the bombardment they had endured. Theo, on the other hand, specifically instructed Daisy to focus her attention on protecting the 5 Yemeni soldiers and General Nasser from harm using her [Halo] spell.


    Daisy realized without protection these five soldiers, who were still at earth realm would not survive the fight. She would also try her best to protect them from harm. After they were prepared and ready to show their fangs, Theo immediately ordered the others to move out.


    -


    When the bluish dome blocking the tank shells suddenly disappeared, the insurgents were confused at first, especially those inside the tanks. However, their surprise didn''tst long, as they could see the infidels rushing out of the now nonexistent house in three separate groups. Seeing that, the insurgents immediately fired their weapons and their cannons.


    Theo and the others decided to split themselves into 3 groups to confuse the insurgents. Thanks to their separated position, the barrage of bullets they received were split into three thirds, letting them withstand them with ease.


    Meanwhile, they immediately moved out of the way, when they saw the tank cannons pointing in their direction, avoiding thempletely. Against mostly sky realms fighters running at full speed, tanks were way too slow, they weren''t made to be able to hit super humans.


    The 3 groups swiftly dashed and zoomed through the vige, as they made their way towards the hill where the tank units were. When the distance between the three groups and the hill were only 100 meters, the groups immediately merged and shot towards the insurgents who surrounded the tanks.


    The first to arrive was Ardeth, the Egypt fighter, as he was the fastest among the group. Enhanced by his [Windwalk] spell, Ardeth swiftly took down a few of the Heavenly Gate''s Sky realm fighters by surprise using [Airde] spells. Dozens of razor-sharp greenish des appeared and shot towards the enemies, decapitating them. While the insurgents were shocked by the abrupt death of many Sky realm fighters, Ardeth quickly cut more of them down with his tier 3 knives.


    The opening strike by Ardeth was quickly followed by the others, as the group began to rampage among the insurgents. The tanks, who saw the enemies were in their ranks, couldn''t shoot their cannons as they were afraid of friendly fire. So, the tanks could only stare, as Theo and the others did their best to make their way towards the tanks by annihting everything on their path.


    Within the short time, the groups were already deep within the insurgents'' ranks and reached the location where the tanks were. Without wasting any more time, they started destroying them. Breaking the barrels or damaging the tracks should be enough to make them unusable for a few days. With only a dozen or so tanks in here, it should only take them one minutemto finish the job and escape.


    Just like the previous battle, Rama leaped into the air and descended to the most congregated ce, as he began to wreak havoc. Circle of me appeared around him as Rama casted his [Fire Aura] spell and proceeded to zoom across the battlefield, thrusting and striking his spears to the insurgents.


    Meanwhile, Theo, who was right behind him, quickly controlled his [Sword Formation] to make sure none of the enemy''s bullets would hit his allies. Every insurgent who raised their firearm in a 100 meter radius around him would be gifted with one strike from one of his five flying swords.


    The group was winning for a few minutes, as their charge was led by these three outstanding fighters. Until suddenly, their momentum was broken when a figure managed to catch one of Theo''s flying swords, another figure dashed and blocked Rama''s spear with his bare hand, and Ardeth was knocked down by a lightning bolting out of nowhere.


    "Ardeth!"


    Theo immediately sent his two swords towards the third figure, just when the figure in red robe was about to cast another spell towards the knocked Ardeth. To Theo''s shock, the two swords abruptly stopped a meter away from the figure and dropped to the ground.


    Theo tried to send his remaining two swords towards the figure. s, the lightning bolt already left the figure''s hands and shot towards Ardeth, who was just about to stand again. Dazzling light appeared, as the bolt hit Ardeth.


    BAM!


    When the light receded, they saw Ardeth stood there unscathed, except the wounds from the first lightning bolt. Daisy had Fortunately managed to cast [Shield Barrier] in thest second, protecting Ardeth. However, the lightning bolt was so strong the barrier was instantly destroyed by it.


    Meanwhile, Rama, whose spear got blocked by a figure in stony skin, immediately swung his spear upwards as he made the figure lose his grip on the spear. He then spun his body and swiftlyunched a powerful thrust to the figure.


    nk!


    Sounds of metal hitting hard material was heard as the spear was unable to prate the figure''s body. At the same time, the figure who caught Theo''s sword casted a spell: a salvo of ice spikes were sent flying towards Theo. Rama was then forced to jump back in retreat. Theo, Ardeth, and Rama quickly retreated back, as they carefully observed these new threats.


    Three red robed figures with Sky Magus level of power stood there in front of them. The skinny-looking Lightning Magus, the bald Earth Magus, and the Ice Magus with curly hair.


    Daisy quickly told Theo all the three were in the middle stage of Sky realm, not inferior to Rama or Ardeth. She also mentioned the Lightning Magus was the most powerful among them.


    With their abrupt arrival, hundreds of insurgents that were previously retreating, quickly ran towards them. To make things worse, the Sky realm enemies around them began to drink their red vial. Theo could see dozens of them start to transform as their eyes turned red.


    "Weˇ­ are definitely in trouble now."


    As more enemies came and attacked them, Theo and the others began to be pushed back.


    The Lightning Magus opened his hood and said, "You all now surrounded, infidels! Just surrender and ept your doom."


    Daisy, who noticed Melissa starting to panic quickly hold her hand. "Don''t be afraid."


    Upon hearing the Lightning Magus''s ultimatum, Theo responded, "We don''t want to! Come here! Let us drag more of you down with us!"


    "Then you infidels will face my wrath!" The Lightning Magus was suddenly surrounded by electric currents. He then raised his artifact, a hammer into the air.


    "Face the wrath of me! The god of thunder, THOR!"


    "..."


    The whole group suddenly turned silent when they heard the brown-skinned skinny man, iming to be the Norse''s god of thunder. Some of them even stumbled to the ground due to the incredulousness of the statement.


    "I''m sorry, guys. I''ve let you down. How could we get surrounded by these craziesˇ­ of all the people in the world." Theo said with his head lowered.


    Rama grabbed Theo''s shoulder to show his support and then raised his spear again, ready to fight. The group quickly took their stances again, when suddenly, Daisy felt something approaching fast from the sky.


    She looked up into the sky and spotted a shadow falling. Realizing Daisy''s weird behaviour, everyone without exception looked up at the sky as well.


    "What is that?"


    "Is that a ne?"


    "No! That''s a bird!"


    "No, dumbass! It''s a man!"


    "It''s Alex!"

 Chapter 334 - Alexs Strength

    333


    The atmosphere on the field grew even more tense, as Theo and the others were surrounded and pressured by the 3 Sky realm fighters and the rest of insurgents. However, before the fight could happen, a figure was seen descending from the sky.


    A huge bird with white and brownish gold feathers swooped down from the sky. When the bird reached about 5 meter above the ground, a figure, who previously couldn''t be seen, jumped down from its back.


    The figure spun in the air before hended on the ground with a loud boom, blowing sands all over the ce.


    When the sand subsided, the figure was seen by those on the battlefield. Theo and the others'' faces turned bright when they saw who the figure was, while the Heavenly Gate people warily watched this new unexpected guest.


    With his hands in his pockets, the man''s demeanor looked carefree, as he nonchntly turned his back against the insurgents and greeted Theo and the others. The man was Alex, the leader of the Star Army..


    "Hello, everyone. I hope I''m not toote. Thank you for waiting." Alex said with a smile while raising his hand.


    The abrupt arrival of a man with a huge bird shocked everyone in the area, especially the Heavenly Gate people, made the fighting stops for a moment.


    "Who are you?" the skinny guy, who imed to be the god of thunder, asked.


    "I''m Alex, the leader of those guys there" Alex said, while pointing his finger towards Theo and the others "Who are you?"


    The skinny guy said his next words with an extremely haughty attitude. "I''m Zeus, the thunder god!"


    "..."


    Alex was so stunned he robotically turned and looked at Theo with a ''WTF'' expression. "Is this guy for real? Why didn''t you handle this crazy person first?"


    Theo clenched his fist at Alex''s words. "You think I didn''t want to?!" Sighing heavily, he continued, "There are just too many crazy people here that also makes me crazy. why are you sote?"


    "Well, I just finished all my business." Alex said. He then waved his hand. "Never mind about that, what''s important is that I''m here now."


    The ''thunder god'' and hispanions beganughing when they heard Alex''s words.


    "You are here, huh?! What can one person do? Open your eyes and look around you, infidel! You are surrounded by thousands of us."


    This was a very precise question and made Theo, Daisy, and the others wondered about Alex''s n. There was no way he wasing here without a n, right?


    "Hmm.. That''s a fair question. Luckily, I''m blessed with a very smart wife." Alex said with a smile.


    Theo was even more confused by what Alex said. Did Devitae too? There was no way, right? Devita was not a fighter. Everyone fell silent as they tried to understand Alex''s words.


    Noticing the confused look on everyone, especially Theo and the others'' faces, Alex pped his hand and said, "Sorry if It wasn''t clear. What I mean is my wife is kind enough to pack me some things for my journey."


    Alex then proceeded to show one of his hands. Five rings were seen on his hand, five tier 2 storage rings, which have five times the space of the usual storage rings each. At the same time Alex showed his hand, twenty massive figures suddenly appeared in the area and encircled Theo and the others, protecting them. The figures were three meters tall with bodies made of stone. These were tier 2 stone golems Alex had brought for this mission.


    "!!!"


    The sudden appearance of more than a dozen stone golems shocked the Heavenly Group people. This tier 2 golem might not be as strong as a Sky realm Magus. But of course, things would be different if they were to fight Earth realm troops who used firearms.


    Seeing the twenty golems around them, Theo and the others heaved a sigh of relief. With this, they could break the encirclement and even possibly defeat the insurgents.


    "Huh?! That thing won''t be enough to defeat me!" the skinny guy said, while raising his electrical hammer. The other two Sky realm magus, the earth and ice guy, also stepped forward and stood next to him. Seeing that, Ardeth and Rama quickly dashed and stood beside Alex, while Theo decided to defend the backline and prepare to provide support with his flying swords.


    The six figures stood opposite each other, eyeing and observing their opponent. The three red-robed magus weren''t intimidated by Alex, Rama, and Ardeth. In fact, they became more excited with the thought of fighting them.


    "Three against three, huh?! We won''t lose!" the skinny guy shouted.


    Upon hearing that, Alex smiled faintly. Still keeping his eye on the three figures across him, Alex opened his mouth. "Can you two step back and watch? I''d like to fight these three by myself."


    Rama and Ardeth were surprised. Momentster, they nodded and then retreated back to the group. The sight of the other two suddenly retreating made the three red-robed magus feel insulted.


    "Everyone, kill the infidels!!!" the guys shouted, before the three of them charged forward followed by the insurgents.


    Hundreds of insurgents immediately flooded the 20 stone golems and 35 fighters, while the three magus charged towards Alex. The battle suddenly turned into a battle royale.


    The brown-skinned guy who imed to be the god of thunder of two different mythologies casted his best spell, [Thunderbolt - Tier 3 Lightning Spell]. Erratic streams of lightning appeared from his hand, before forming into a crackling ball of lightning. Seeing the spell was done, the skinny guy immediately threw the bolt towards Alex.


    Alex immediately knew what kind of spell the Lightning Magus would cast when he saw the familiar lightning pattern. In a blink of an eye, Alex swiftly casted several [Light Missile - Tier 1 Light Spell]. Specks of light materialized, soon condensing into several missile-like constructs.


    *zzztt* *swish*


    The two spells, one purple and the other white, rapidly flew through the air towards their targets. Both spells hit each other and caused an explosion. Seeing that neither of the spells was stronger than the other, Alex smiled widely.


    Meanwhile, the Ice Magus beside the Lightning Magus didn''t remain silent. Following the attack, he quickly casted [Ice Bullet - Tier 2 Ice Spell] and hurled it at Alex. Seeing the approaching ice chunks, Alex calmly casted [Shield Barrier - Tier 2 Light Spell] on himself. White translucent barrier quickly enveloped Alex''s body as it blocked the spell.


    The two spellsunched by hispanion gave an opportunity to the Earth Magus to close the distance between him and Alex. The man dashed towards Alex and stretched his two stone-covered hands, as he tried to catch Alex.


    [Hexagram Technique - stage 4]


    Mysterious patterns swirled faintly around Alex''s body, as he activated his hexagram technique. Alex calmly stepped to the side and smoothly moved his body away from the path, dodging the man''s attempt to grab him. Seeing the Earth Magus passed through him, Alex then drew Strokes from its sheath and swung it.


    St!


    The huge guy stopped in his tracks, his body slowly fell to the ground, split in two. Blood sttered from the wound and dyed the yellow desert with its crimson color. The two magus were shocked when they saw theirpanion being easily cut in half by Alex''s single sh. Terror began to sprout in their heart.


    Suppressing their feelings, the two of them immediately casted spells again. This time, consecutively.


    [Thunderbolt] [Thunderbolt] [Thunderbolt]


    [Ice Bullet] [Ice Bullet] [Ice Bullet]


    Alex calmly got rid of the blood from his wooden sword by swinging it. Meanwhile, his other arm was still maintaining the [Shield Barrier] spell. The lightning bolts and ice bullets rapidly flew towards him and hit the barrier. The spell flickered continuously, but it appeared that the barrier still stood strong.


    Seeing that, Alex couldn''t help but smile again. "This is the strength of a High stage Sky realm Magus. I never felt it in my previous life." Alex murmured.


    It turned out that, after Alex upgraded into the high stage realm, the advancement made all his spells much stronger than he expected. The wave of spells continued for a while, until Alex felt there was nothing else hitting his shield. Seeing the two magus were showing signs of exhaustion, Alex smiled and said, "You''re done? My turn."


    Alex immediately shot towards the two magus. With his new realm and the hexagram technique, Alex''s speed couldn''t be followed by the two of them. As he ran towards them, Alex sheathed Strokes and took out his special gun.


    BANG!


    Loud gunshot echoed through the battlefield, before the Ice Magus'' head exploded leaving a headless corpse. The Lightning Magus was still shocked by the sudden death of hispanion, when he realized Alex was already standing beside him with the gun pointed at his head.


    "The fight is over."


    --------------


    Written and Directed by Avans, Published by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 335 - Intel

    Tratattatatata! Tratattatatata!


    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!


    Continuous gunshots resounded and intense explosions arose in the battlefield as the battle between thousands of insurgents against 35 people plus 20 stone golems went really fierce.


    Theo and the others, helped by the stone golems, did their best to resist the endless bombardment the insurgents threw at them. Fortunately, the pressure they withstood was slightly elevated by the presence of twenty golems who assisted in blocking and deflecting the bullets.


    Even though there were thousands of insurgents, the majority of them were only ordinary Mortal realm fighters who use firearms or ordinary weapons. Nor were they able to simultaneously attack and take advantage of their numerical advantage due to the limited space the battlefield could offer.


    Meanwhile, each of these Star Army fighters was ustomed to fighting enemies inrge numbers, thanks to their experience against hundreds of red zombies who were stronger than the insurgents in front of them.


    Apart from the massive difference in average level of strength, the standard between their weaponry also differed greatly, where the Star Army''s fighters were armed with the finest equipment avable while the insurgents were poorly equipped.


    Even if the bullets fired by the insurgents'' rifles did hit the Star Army fighters, the tier 2 protective vests that they wore would be able topletely repel it.. While the insurgents'' weapons nearly did nothing to them, the fighters were able to wreak havoc among the insurgents using the tier 3 weapons that they had.


    The counterattacks issued by the fighters certainly made the insurgents afraid. Each of the tier 3 weapons in their possession had magical powers enchanted to them, such as elemental attacks that could create chaos in the insurgents'' camp. And coupled with their own spells and abilities, one could imagine how the insurgents currently feel about the situation.


    Not only the Sky realm Magus who was able to fight using spells terrified the insurgents, even the Sky realm Knights were fearsome. Each of those chosen fighters possessed some battle art skills; such as [Speed Up] which increased their speed, [Mighty Swing] a battle art for machete-type weapons, [Revolving de] a sword battle art skill, and [Vicious Barrage] a battle art specialized in spear.


    A circle of bullet-proof and de-resistant stone golems also stood around the Star Army fighters. These rarely seen creatures made the insurgents even more scared. Within minutes of the time these golems appeared, hundreds of Mortal realm and Earth realm insurgents immediately broke off their ranks and scattered to escape.


    Therefore, the main opponent of this Star Army was the 500 Heavenly Gate fighters in red-robes, the most zealous devotee who had the strength of Sky realm. These fanatics were so faithful to their so-called god that they still didn''t stop attacking when Alex managed to kill and capture their leaders.


    This was especially so for those who have consumed the strange red liquid. They would turn into an abomination that lost their logic and proceeded to attack wildly and blindly.


    Luckily for the presence of Alex, who not only raised their morale but also fought the Heavenly Gate strongest Sky realm Magus fighters; Rama, Ardeth, and Theo could move freely against the weaker Sky realm fighters.


    [Fire Infusion]


    Stab!


    Rama thrusted his tier 3 spear which was engulfed by mes towards one of the Sky realm enemies and pierced the man''s tier 1 protective vest. Before the man''s blood could fall to the ground, it was instantly evaporated by the zing mes.


    *swish* sh! sh!


    Casting [Windwalk] again, Ardeth swiftly dashed and flickered towards the enemy as he used his ability [Cross sh]. The two knives in Ardeth''s hands gave off a gust every time he swung them at the nearby red-robed fighters. With each sh, a single head flew into the air followed by a body that fell to the ground.


    Meanwhile, even though Theo was still using his favorite, signature [Sword Formation] as his means of taking down opponents, he began to use [Mind st] more frequently to reduce the bloodshed when he saw the situation slowly turn for the better.


    When the battle had been going on for more than 1 hour and there had been hundreds of casualties who had fallen, the situation finally could be counted as nearing the end. On the Heavenly Gate side, there were only dozens of red-robed fighters left and hundreds of other wounded insurgents who could only lie down and wait for their fate or death toe for them.


    Meanwhile on Alex''s side, most of the fighters were already injured. There were even 3 people among them who were in critical condition and desperately needed medical treatment. One of them was Rick whose chest was stabbed by a sharp weapon. Luckily, he and the other two were getting emergency healing treatment from Daisy and Theo.


    At thisst moment of battle, therge eagle that previously only circled in the sky suddenly dived to the ground. This made Alex''s expression turn aghast as he immediately ran fast toward the bird.


    The bird grasped and knocked down two fighters at once using its talon. The others who were bewildered by Alex''s sudden panic had finally realized the reason. Above the body of the giant mutated bird was a familiar figure of a young girl.


    Tiffany, Alex''s eldest daughter.


    As he ran towards the descending bird, Alex used the hexagram technique to make sure he reached the bird fasted and that no threat was approaching his daughter.


    ˇ­


    It didn''t take long for the battle to end with the remaining dozen or so Heavenly Gate fighters kneeling in surrender. However, instead of taking care of those people, Alex was currently busy scolding his daughter.


    "The deal is you stay in the air." said Alex firmly with an angry expression.


    However, Tiffany also didn''t want to lose and pouted. "Aaa! Come on, daddy! The battle was basically over when I joined. Snowy and I were bored and I knew that she surely can protect me, daddy."


    Veins appeared on Alex''s face when heard that. "The problem isn''t about the battle that''s over, Tiffany. This is a warzone! There are too many things you are not supposed to see."


    Still didn''t want to lose, Tiffany replied, "Daddy! I''m 13 now! I''m a teenager!"


    "Exactly! You are 13, still too young for this."


    "What about brother Tommy? He has been fighting since he''s 13."


    "Wellˇ­ he''s different." said Alex while surprised by the wits of his daughter.


    "What''s the difference between him and me?" asked Tiffany, annoyed.


    "He is not my kid, that''s why."


    Alex and Tiffany argued quite extensively, making it awkward for Theo and the others who were waiting for their next orders. A few momentster, the argument finally over and Alex joined the group.


    "Sorry about thatˇ­ Anyway, how is it, Theo? Any intel?" asked Alex as he watched the fighters tie the surrendered enemy.


    Theo grabbed the Lightning Magus, who previously imed to be the god of thunder, whose body was currently full of bruises because of Alex''s hits earlier.


    Squatting down, Alex asked the man with a smile,"Ah! The great and powerful Zeus! Do you have any intel for me?"


    The skinny brown-skinned man''s demeanor turned 180 degrees into apletely different attitude after he received ample beating from Alex. The man was currently kneeling on the ground while crying in pain. Seeing Alex''s devilish smile, the man desperately begged, "Please, please.. I am no god. Please let me go!"


    "That''s easy, tell me everything you know about the Heavenly Gate." said Alex.


    The man then immediately spouted out the information he knew. Surprisingly, this man was trusted with a lot of important information like the insurgents'' number and base location. After a while, Alex finally asked the most information question.


    "Where is he? Where is Hafiz? Tell me and I will not hurt you anymore." said Alex with a smile while grabbing the man''s shoulder. The man''s body trembled when Alex''s handsnded on his shoulder.


    "P-Pleaseˇ­ H-High Priest Hafiz is with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. They are currently staying at Burj Al Arab."


    In his heart, Alex slightly praised Hafiz for choosing the most famous hotel in Dubai, maybe even in the world, as his headquarters. Hearing the location of their target, Theo asked, "So, what is the n?"


    Thinking for a moment, Alex then opened his mouth. "To prevent more casualties, I think it''s better for me to just head there myself with the bird."


    "Her name is Snowy, Daddy! Not bird!" shouted Tiffany.


    "Yes, yes, Snowy.. Tiff, you don''t mind asking Snowy to let me take another trip right? It''s not that far."


    Turning her head to the side, Tiffany replied, "Huh! Snowy won''t let anyone ride her without meing."


    "..."


    Alex could only shake his head thinking why this daughter of his could be so stubborn. That behaviour definitely didn''te from himˇ­ right?


    After arguing with Tiffany for a long time, finally Daisy approached Alex. "Brother Alex, let mee along. I will definitely protect Tiffany from harm. I also can help you track the enemy''s whereabouts."


    Alex knew very well that her real reason was not that, but to look for Adam. However, it seemed like a good idea to let here too.


    "Alright, then. We will go immediately."


    Daisy nodded and approached Tiffany. "Hello, little sister. Can you tell good things about me to your friend here? You see, big sister is afraid to fly." said Daisy while pointing at Snowy.


    "I see. I will! But promise me one thing, sister."


    "Uhm?! Of course, what is it?"


    "Promise me you won''t fall in love with my daddy."


    "..."

 Chapter 336 - Fly

    The results of the interrogations with the captured troops, especially the fake god of thunder, were quite clear. From the skinny man''s confession, not only Alex did understand the important intels regarding the Heavenly Gate, he had also discovered the location of Hafiz, the man who led the organization, the target of this mission.


    Alex also learned about Hafiz''s maniption of the Saudi Arabia government. The man was currently controlling the mind of the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, thus the reason why they could take over the nation effortlessly andpletely. After he knew everything he needed to know, Alex immediately prepared for the trip to Dubai. He couldn''t wait to take the man''s head on his own.


    Before leaving for Dubai, Alex told Theo and the others to head to the Doomsday Pir, which was the closest to Dubai city, after they treated the wounded. He instructed them to take control of the pir to receive the army from Israel and wait for further instructions from him. Alex told them to go there to make sure they were safe if something were to happen to him.


    Now that the preparations wereplete and the orders were given, it was time for Alex to go, apanied by Daisy and Tiffany. Alex told Tiffany to summon the beast. The young girl didn''t even need to shout, as the flying bird immediately dived down from the sky when it saw Tiffany waving her hand..


    [Mutated Garuda]


    [Level 85 Mutated Beast]


    [Tier 3 Mid Level]


    Looking at the beast''s stats, Alex couldn''t help but be amazed by the incredible growth the beast had experienced in only a year''s time. When the magnificent flying beast reached the ground, it immediately bent its body to let those who rode it had an easier time.


    Alex carefully lifted Tiffany and put her on Snowy''s back. After making sure her daughter was safe, the next one to ride the bird was him. Alex stretched his hand towards Daisy to help her. Alex gave Daisy a protective goggle, which she received with a confused gaze.


    Making sure they were already on top, he told Daisy to attach herself to the bird, while he helped Tiffany secure hers. There were leather straps and ropes on the bird''s back to make sure those on top of it wouldn''t freefall in the air.


    "Hang on tight!" Alex said, while tapping the bird''s back.


    KWAACKKK!! KWAACKK!!


    The bird immediately shot into the air at breakneck speed. Because of its incredible speed, the gusts it caused were incredibly strong, making Daisy instinctively close her eyes. When she realized she was wearing a pair of googles, Daisy couldn''t help but blush in embarrassment. Thankfully, she sat in the back, with Tiffany in the front and Alex in the middle, thus no one saw her actions.


    Alex then pointed out the direction they should go to Tiffany, who was able tomunicate with Snowy through her mind.


    Initially, Alex was extremely shocked when he found out his daughter''s ability. An ability he had never found in any other spirit enhancers on Earth, no matter in his previous or present life. An ability tomunicate with mutated beasts and even be able to easily get close to them.


    Seeing the boundlessndmass before him, Alex estimated the distance between the Yemeni border and Dubai City to be around 800 kilometers. Therefore, he quickly calcted the time needed to reach the ce.


    "We should be able to arrive in 30 minutes or so." Alex softly muttered.


    When Daisy, who was hugging Alex''s back, heard this, she thought nothing of it. But then, she suddenly noticed an oddity in that statement. Tapping Alex''s body, Daisy asked, "Brother Alex, is this Snowy''s maximum speed?"


    Alex thought for a moment before answering, "Sort of. Why do you ask?" Alex asked, wishing to know the reason for Daisy''s question.


    Daisy was silent, wondering if she should ask her doubt. A few secondster, she finally decided to do so.


    "The numbers don''t add up. The distance between Yemen and Bali is around 8,000 kilometers, when drawn in a straight line. How were you able toe to our rescue so fast? It shouldn''t have been more than two hours since Mr. Ardeth sent word for help." Daisy said.


    Before Alex could open his mouth, she continued her words, "Were you on the way here already?? Hmmˇ­ there''s no way that''s true. How did you know where we were then?"


    Hearing Daisy''s adorable mumbling, Alex couldn''t help but loudlyughing. Realizing Alex wasughing, Daisy silently sulked and asked again, "So, how did you do it, Brother Alex?"


    Laughing a little bit more, Alex finally answered her question, "Hahahaˇ­ you will see the reason soon enough, Daisy. Like a wise person said, seeing is believing."


    Upon hearing that, Daisy gave up to pry the answer and just looked around enjoying the view. The yellow colored desert extended as far as her eye could see.


    ˇ­


    Half an hourter, the trio saw the clusters of skyscrapers in the distance, as well as the icondscape of Dubai City, the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa.


    They had finally reached the sky of Dubai.


    Dubai was not a part of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The city was part of the United Arab Emirates. a federal elective constitutional monarchy formed from a federation of seven emirates.


    Different from other Arabic states, Dubai was a cosmopolitan city with a lot of western influence.


    Looking at the city from up in the sky, Alex could clearly see its entirety. Even though it had been a year since the apocalypse, Alex discovered the great city still managed to retain at least half of its previous brilliance, which was an extraordinary feat in these difficult times.


    Alex shifted his gaze towards the southwest of the famousndscape, northwest his current position. A famous beachfront hotel was seen standing there, the location of his target.


    The Burj Al Arab hotel, standing at 1,053 feet tall, was the fourth tallest hotel in the world and was once described as the world''s only seven-star hotel.


    Pointing his finger towards the hotel, Alex said, "Daisy, that''s the ce. You can start using your ability."


    "Okay, Brother Alex." Daisy replied, while closing her eyes. At the same time, Alex also asked Tiffany to ask the bird to approach the hotel.


    [Detect Lifeform]


    Daisy frowned when she sensed the hotel. She then quickly told her findings to Alex.


    "It''s heavily guarded, Brother Alex. There are dozens of Sky realm fighters on almost every floor."


    "Did you find any sign of Hafiz? Can you see a ce where there are the most number of guards?"


    "Wait a minuteˇ­" Daisy said, "Yes, the top floor. There are about 30 fighters clustered together. Almost all of them are middle stage Sky realm fighters."


    "Alright! Tiffany, please fly lower."


    Snowy quickly flew near the top floor of the hotel. Seeing that, Alex slowly released his safety instrument.


    "Are you really going to jump in directly by yourself, brother? I must remind you there are at least 1,000 Sky realm fighters in total around the hotel. This is very dangerous." Daisy said, as she tried to make Alex reexamine his decision.


    Hearing that, Alex turned his head around and smiled, "Don''t worry, Daisy. The reason I do this is because we need to be fast. If they received the news about the failed attack, I worried that slick Hafiz would run away again. Just remember our deal earlier, make sure you look after Tiffany." He then patted Tiffany''s head and said, "Alright. Daddy will be going. See youter, Tiff."


    Just like that, Alex jumped off the bird without using even a parachute and plunged right into the hotel. In midair, Alex positioned his body to make sure he would crash the top floor''s window.


    PRANK!!!


    ss shards bursted into the room interior, as Alex broke through the window. He quickly did a roll to ease the momentum and stood up right in the middle of dozens of surprised people. He looked around and found his target sitting at the head of the long table, Hafiz.


    The man named Hafiz was quite shocked by the sudden intruder, a rare sight for a man who always liked to be in control of everything. Seeing the figure and realizing who he was, he pointed his finger and said, "You must be crazy! No matter how strong you are, in less than five minutes, hundreds of fighters will barge in to kill you!"


    Alex wiped the ss shards off his shoulder, as he said calmly, "I just need to finish you off before that then."


    "Hahaha! You really are crazy." Hafiz said. "Kill him!"


    Dozens of fighters inside the room immediately dashed towards Alex with the intent to kill. Alex, on the other hand, calmly took out Strokes and muttered,


    "Time to try out our new skill again, Strokes."


    [Yes, Master]

 Chapter 337 - Unique Spells

    336


    D-day #486


    Bali Headquarters, Bali Ind


    Two days before Alex went to the Yemeni and Saudi Arabia border.


    [Your understanding of the light element has increased]


    [You have reached the high stage of the light spirit element]


    [Alex]


    [Sky realm level 41 - high stage]


    [Sky Magus - Light - high stage].


    After spending more than a week of minimal rest to engrave thousands of artifacts and magic scrolls, Alex was surprised by an unexpected reward, one he never minded receiving. Thanks to the sheer number of stuff he had engraved, Alex managed to achieve a breakthrough in his understanding of the light spirit element.


    Due to the abrupt breakthrough, Alex suddenlynded himself in the ranks of high stage Sky realm fighters, a stage not everyone could reach in their lifetime. In his previous life, Alex clearly remembered how he didn''t manage to reach this stage. Not once did Alex ever think he would make it to this stage this fast.


    Feeling the new strength coursing through his body, a unique sensation he never felt before, Alex had the time of his lifetime as he enjoyed all these new feelings.


    Inspecting the newfound strength brought by this advancement, Alex was overjoyed when he perceived all the spells in his repertoire were much stronger than before. Alex hadn''t tested the spells yet, but he just instinctively knew they were.


    However, despite all the pleasant surprises happening due to the advancement, the thing that caught Alex''s attention the most was the other information he received from the bracelet on his hand.


    [You have one unique spell you are entitled to learn]


    [Please go to skill library to im your reward]


    This was a notification he had been waiting for a long time. Many exceptional fighters received their own unique spells when they stepped into the Sky realm stage and became a Magus, but not for Alex.


    Hence, Alex was a little annoyed by the fact he didn''t receive it when he stepped into the Sky realm stage. Thus, Alex didn''t know if he should be mad because of howte it was or thankful because he finally received it.


    ''It''s betterte than never, right?'' Alex thought, as he quickly went to collect his unique spell.


    Theo had the unique spell [Mind st], which specialized on attacking the mind, while Daisy had the [Life Detection] spell, which specialized on sensing lifeform''s signs. Both spells were light magic rted to mental power. And then, what about Alex? What kind of spell would Alex get?"


    Momentster, Alex entered the Doomsday Pir and approached the ess panel, as he immediately selected [Skill Library]. Outwardly, Alex looked calm and collected, but inwardly, only he knew how nervous he was right now.


    ''Please, be a great offensive spell! If I can''t get that, I''m also interested in a summoning-type spell!'' Alex wished, as he essed the panel.


    [You are eligible for your unique spell]


    "Yes! Give it to me!" Alex eximed, as he felt his excitement reaching the all-time high.


    [The spell will cost you 30,000 spirit stones]


    Alex couldn''t help but curse, when he saw the staggering amount of stones needed, "God Damn! That''s a lot of spirit stones!"


    Luckily, Alex still had plenty of spirit stones in his pocket, but he was still annoyed at how high the cost of this spell, that was supposed to be a reward, was. Alex then reluctantly took out 300 yellow spirit stones from his ring for the spell. However, after giving the 300 yellow spirit stones, Alex''s previously annoyed expression immediately changed 180 degrees, as if nothing had happened.


    [You have received 2 unique tier 4 spells]


    It turned out that Alex obtained 2 unique spells, no wonder the price of the spell was so expensive. However, it didn''t stop there, as Alex was once again surprised when he saw the description of the spells he received.


    [elerate - Tier 4 Light Spell]


    Allow the user to affect a moving object to move faster.


    [Decelerate - Tier 4 Light Spell]


    Allow the user to affect a moving object to move slower.


    Alex rubbed his eyes to make sure he didn''t read the spells wrong. After reading the spells'' description the three times, Alex finally stopped, being sure what he saw was correct. His body trembled and then Alex screamed out loud.


    "THESE ARE THE BEST SPELLS EVER!!!"


    Alex had never heard of a fighter who possessed these kinds of spells before. And then, a question appeared on his mind. Was the rebirth event the reason he got these spells or was this kind of talent the reason the rebirth could ur?


    It looked like only the mysterious man in grey would know the answer to this question.


    Alex threw this question to the back of his mind and immediately entered the Doomsday Pir''s training pir. He was excited to test out these spells and see what he could do with them. Taking out his favorite revolver, Alex went ahead and fired a bullet.


    BANG!


    A bullet immediately shot out of the revolver. However, at the same time Alex pulled the trigger, he also casted the unique spell [Decelerate]. In an instant, Alex noticed the bullet seemed slower than usual. The strange yet unique sight of a bullet travelling slowly in the air fascinated him.


    Alex then continued by firing another bullet. But this time, instead of [Decelerate], he casted [elerate]. The already fast bullet shot even faster when the spell took effect. Even though Alex noticed the increase and decrease of speed was not much, the slight difference caused by these spells could determine the difference between life or death.


    Although at first nce the spells looked the same as the speed-enhancing spell like [Windwalk] or a weakening-type spell like [Curse], which could increase and decrease something, Alex knew these spells weren''t the same, otherwise it wouldn''t receive its epithet of unique. There was no way that spells rted to the fabric of time were that simple.


    After testing the simple application, Alex began to do a thorough experiment, testing the maximum limits and the limitations the spells had. Several hourster, Alex had discovered some of the spells'' characteristics and effects.


    First, he found out the spells could have an effect on all matter, living and inanimate objects, humans and other creatures. He casted [elerate] on to a nt and saw the nt quickly bloomed and withered. Unfortunately, Alex could only affect a limited number of objects.


    Second, the farther the affected object, the less effective the spell would be. After countless trials, Alex finally discovered the most optimal range for the both spells, which was around 10 meters around him. Within that area, Alex could easily control, as well as increase and decrease the speed of objects by up to 4 times.


    Even though the spells had their own limitations, the possible actions Alex could do with them were endless, thus eliminating their shorings. Alex also believed he could use them to their full potential. After Alex felt he understood both spells well enough, he decided it was time to test the, in real battles.


    Alex swiftly summoned some of his fighters to act as his training partners. When the fighters arrived, Alex immediately instructed them to shoot him from different distances and timing.


    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!


    Several rounds of rubber bullets were flying towards Alex''s direction, but he kept his calm and casted [Decelerate] and [elerate] on the bullets entering his ten meter radius. Alex tried his best to make the bullets flew within the same line by decreasing and increasing their speed corresponding to their location.


    Alex''s objective in doing this was, so he could sh the bullets simultaneously with his sword. If he managed to do so, it meant he could sessfully control the objects in great detail.


    Unfortunately for Alex, his attempt was met with failure as some of them were too fast while some of them were too slow, resulting in Alex''s body being rained down by rubber bullets in different intervals.


    It turned out the matter feat wasn''t as easy as Alex initially thought. It seemed he would need more practice with these skills, before he could effortlessly control everything. But at least, Alex was able to use the basic function of the spells.


    When Alex wanted to practice again, he suddenly noticed the wooden sword in his hand looked different from usual. The two of the seven marks seen on the surface of the sword, the ones that looked like the Big Dipper Constetion, shone brightly.


    Alex was surprised, because he was sure that previously there was only one mark that shone brightly.


    "Stroke! What just happened?" Alex spoke in his mind.


    [What do you mean, Master?]


    Hearing the confused tone of Strokes, Alex was puzzled. "Howe there are now two lights shining on your body?"


    [Ah, that matter? It was because of your recent advancement, Master. When you increase your realm, you can ess more of my power] Strokes exined with a matter-of-fact tone.


    Alex was dumbfounded when he heard that. "What!? Why didn''t you tell me about this?"


    [You did not ask me, Master]


    "..." Alex was speechless by the reply.


    "Alright, alright, it''s my fault for not asking you. Now, tell me. What kind of power do you have, Stroke?"

 Chapter 338 - New Power

    Alex had nearly spent all day practicing his new tier 4 unique spells. Only now he learned that, thanks to his recent breakthrough into the Sky realm high stage, the power he could use with his tier 5 sword also increased. Recalling the nonchnt words spoken by Stroke, Alex couldn''t help but want to bang his head on the floor.


    Realizing there was something more he needed to test, Alex immediately dispersed the fighters he summoned. He turned his attention back to the wooden sword in his hand, or to be more precise on the two marks that were glowing brightly.


    "Soˇ­ Stroke. New powerˇ­ What kind of power? Perhaps you became sharper or stronger?" Alex asked with anticipation.


    [Master, I have told you that I''m not really a weapon. I am a crafting artifact]


    "Ah, yesˇ­ it just slipped off my mind. Anyway, what is it, Stroke? Is it a new skill?" Alex asked with an eager expression, as he knew whatever it was it should be powerful. After all, the skill [Draw] he had received from it was amazingly useful..


    "I really can''t wait. What is it, Stroke?" Alex asked again, not giving Stroke the opportunity to answer the previous question.


    [I am sorry to disappoint you, Master. But, it''s not a new skill]


    Hearing it wasn''t a new skill, Alex was a little bit disappointed. However, he was still hopeful with the new power.


    As if it could feel Alex''s disappointment, Stroke quickly said.


    [Don''t worry, Master. Although it wasn''t a new skill, you will not be disappoint about this]


    "Alright, I believe you. Come on, quickly. Tell me, tell me." Alex said, like a child that couldn''t wait to open his birthday present.


    In an instant, a notification appeared in the bracelet on Alex''s hand.


    [Draw Formation - Rank 2 Skill]


    [The second stage of [Draw] skill. Different from its counterpart, instead of being forced to draw on an object, it allows the user to draw a formation, enabling an area-type skill]


    Alex was stunned by the information stated in the notification. He pondered for a moment, trying to think about the meaning of the skill description. Momentster Alex discoveredˇ­ he didn''t understand anything.


    "So, tell me how it works, Stroke. I''m a bit puzzled here." Alex said, while scratching his nose.


    [It''s exactly as it describes, Master]


    "Exin it to me."


    [You already know the rank 1 universal pattern, don''t you, Master?]


    Alex nodded his head on that question.


    [This skill will allow you to create a formation based on those patterns, instead of engraving them onto an object. To put it simply, you will be to cast the pattern''s effect onto arge area with the help of the formation you created]


    After hearing Stroke''s exnation, Alex began to understand the gist of the skill. Therefore, he decided to put it to the test. Alex began to create a formation using a rank 1 pattern he had mastered by heart, thanks to thousands of artifacts and magic scrolls he had engraved with it.


    However, Alex found out that among the dozens of tier 1 spell patterns he had, it seemed that only buff-type spells like [Stone Skin] or [Windwalk] could be engraved into a formation. Hence, Alex created a formation based on the [Stone Skin] spell onto the ground he was standing on.


    [Used the skill - Draw Formation]


    [Enchantment Failed]


    "..."


    "Are you sure this skill is working, Stroke? Why did my first try not seed?"


    [Yes, Master. The reason you failed, it''s because you did it wrong. Is it too hard for you, Master?]


    "..."


    Hearing the mock-like words uttered by Stroke in a monotone tone, Alex truly didn''t know what to say. As usual, Stroke liked to say annoying things, but Alex could not really me the sword. After all, what could Alex hope for? A speaking object that could understand feeling?


    Acting as if Stroke''s words fell into deaf ears, Alex immediately tried to create the formation again.


    [Enchantment Failed!]


    [Enchantment Failed!]


    ˇ­


    After making dozens of unsessful attempts, Alex realized the energy in Stroke was running low and needed to be recharged.


    "Fortunately, my lovely wife gave me a lot of spirit stones to useˇ­ But!" Staring at the wooden sword in his hand, Alex added, "Are you sure this is working, Stroke? I have failed countless times!"


    [There''s something you do wrong, Master]


    "I''m sure I drew it correct!" Alex rebuked.


    [The training space is too big, thus the spell became too hard to create. Try to specify how big the area you want to be affected, Master]


    "..." Alex was speechless at this exnation. Alex also swore he heard a sigh before Stroke exined the problem.


    With an annoyed expression, Alex tried his best to control his emotion and said, "My dear, lovely Strokeˇ­ Don''t you think this was something you should have exined earlier?"


    [Yes, Master. Please specify how big the area you wanted to affect, Master]


    Alex could only shake his head, when he heard the obvious attempt of changing the topic. Not wanting to argue with an object, Alex then went off to create the formation again, but this time, he specified the formation would only affect everything 10 meters around him...


    [Used the skill - Draw Formation]


    [Enchantment Sessful!]


    [Stone Skin Array - Tier 1 Earth Spell Formation]


    Alex could see that his body was enveloped by ayer of stone, proving the formation was working.


    "Nice!" Alex eximed, as he felt the effect of the formation. Turning his head towards the wooden sword, Alex asked, "How long will this formationst, Stroke?"


    [Stored Spirit Energy - 100%]


    [Calcting the time based on the tier and radius of the spellˇ­]


    [Tier 1 Stone Skin, 10 meter radius - 24 hours]


    Alex''s eyes bulged when he saw the staggering amount of time the formation wouldst. "Damn! Not gonna lie, this [Draw Formation] skill can really be useful."


    Alex then proceeded to create another formation using other spells on his disposal. Spells like [Windwalk] and [Energize] could bebined with the [Draw Formation] to create a formation that could increase the strength of his troops. Alex also could use spells like [Curse], which could weaken the target''s strength.


    However, when he tested the formation with the help of the fighters he summoned back, Alex noticed the formation affected everything within its radius. Therefore, he inferred the skill would not differentiate between opponents and friends, thus the technicality of its use needed to be considered again. Alex also discovered the formation''s effect would vanish when they left the area affected by it.


    However, despite its shorings, Alex was still very satisfied with this new skill, as he could think of endless possibilities in utilizing this skill. But then, in the middle of his contentment, a thought suddenly crossed his mind, one that was really important.


    "Stroke, what about rank 2 universal patterns? Can I start learning tier 2 spells now?"


    [Yes. You can, Master]


    ted, Alex immediately demanded, "Great! Give them to me, then."


    [I don''t have them]


    "..."


    Taking a deep breath, Alex asked, "You don''t have them?"


    [Yes]


    "How can I get them, then?"


    [Information iplete]


    [It appears I don''t know anything about it or there is something prohibiting me to ess the information]


    "Hmm, that is really weird." Alex said, while rubbing his chin. It looked like there were still so many secrets and mysteries the universe stored for him.


    [But, Master. If it was a spell you already mastered, you can use it as the formation base without knowing the pattern]


    "..."


    "WTF! Are you saying that I can use [Draw] to engrave tier 2 or even tier 3 spells as long as it''s a spell I already mastered?"


    [Yes]


    Alex was stunned when he heard the answer. "Wait, that means I could create a [Smite] magic scroll since the very first time I received the [Draw] skill."


    [In order to have a chance to sessfully create a higher tier magic scroll, you would need a higher tier material, Master. But, yeah. Your assumption is absolutely correct, Master]


    "..." Alex truly didn''t know if he wanted Stroke anymore after he heard the confirmation. "WHY didn''t you tell me before?"


    [You never ask-]


    "@%^#%.*@#" Alex couldn''t hold his curses anymore and let it free lest he killed himself out of anger. "Damnˇ­ Thank you for telling me this now, though."


    Suddenly, Alex''s body trembled, as an idea appeared in his mind, a brilliant one.


    "Stroke, what about tier 4 spells? Is it possible with your current [Draw] skill?"


    [It would consume much more energy, but yes. It is possible]


    Hearing that, Alex''s eyes lit up as he immediately jumped into the action.


    -


    The next day, while Alex was busy with his new experiments, Devita ran into the training room and informed Alex about Theo and the others, who were in danger in Yemen. Upon hearing that, Alex''s expression changed, as he quickly left the room.


    "I see. I think I will need Tiffany help for this."


    Before Devita could go to bring Tiffany, Alex asked a question.


    "What time is it now?"

 Chapter 339 - Fair Fight

    PRANKKK!!!


    Loud sounds echoed as Alex crashed the ss window and sessfully made his way into the top floor of the 1,053 feet tall luxurious hotel. His sudden yet unpredictable entrance caused everyone inside the room to be in a daze.


    After a slight bout of confusion, Alex was immediately surrounded by dozens of Sky realm fighters. Their gaits indicated they were ready to pounce on him, if he showed any suspicious gesture.


    However, although Alex was being surrounded by a lot of hostiles, his expression did not change even a little bit. Instead, he calmly scanned his surroundings, as if he owned the room. Alex noticed most of the people here were wearing the Heavenly Gate signature red robes, with a few wearing ck suits.


    He also noticed, those who wore suits immediately put their hands on their ears. Probably reporting his appearance and requesting reinforcement through their earpieces. Despite the possibility of the situation turning worse, Alex merely ignored those people and focused his gaze somewhere..


    Alex was currently staring at the man in front of him, who sat on a gorgeous-looking couch with a stunned expression on his face. Beside him, there was also a young man wearing luxury clothes with a keffiyeh on his head. These two people were Hafiz, the leader of Heavenly Gate, and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.


    "56th floor? This is a nice ce indeed." Alex cheerfully said, as he looked around.


    Hafiz woke up from his shocked state and pointed his finger at the smiling Alex, "Y-You must be crazy! No matter how strong you are, in less than five minutes, hundreds of fighters will barge in to kill you!"


    Alex wiped the ss shards off his shoulder and calmly said, "I just need to finish you off before that then."


    "Hahaha! You really are crazy." Hafiz said. "Kill him!"


    In an instant, all the fighters, who had already readied their weapons, immediately dashed towards Alex. Meanwhile, Alex calmly drew the wooden sword and quickly began to [Draw] a formation on the room floor.


    A formation pattern quickly formed on the floor beneath Alex''s feet, unbeknownst to others.


    [Enchantment Sessful!]


    In the blink of an eye, the small formation on the floor erged and covered the whole floor. The floor was glowing brightly due to the activation of the formation, as the pattern in the formation swiftly turned into mysterious glyphs.


    The peculiar yet magnificent sight shocked everyone inside the room except Alex. While the fighters stopped in their tracks due to the unforeseen change of situation, Alex slowly took his stances indicating that he was ready to run amok.


    [elerate Array - Tier 4 Light Spell Formation]


    Seeing the unknown spell, Hafiz eximed loudly, "What kind of spell is this?!" Hafiz and his protectors were puzzled to see the shining symbols all around them.


    "It doesn''t do anything!" One of the fighters said, when he realized nothing really changed.


    Upon hearing that, Alex couldn''t help but chuckle, "Well, it would take too long to exin in detail." Alex replied with a smile. And then, his eyes instantly turned sharp. "Let''s just say, no reinforcements areing for you anytime soon."


    "Huh?! What the f*ck are you talking about? Even if you are right, the fighters in this room are enough to kill one nuisance like you!" Hafiz snarled, when he heard Alex''s words.


    "Oh yeah? We will see about that." Alex replied with a yful smile.


    "Kill him!"


    Hearing the order, the fighters, who had previously stopped, immediately continued their charge towards Alex.


    Alex saw there were more than 10 people equipped with tier 2 or 3 artifacts, while the rest were armed with tier 1 artifacts or firearms. Barrage of bullets immediately rained down on him, as they fired their firearms, followed by close-range fighters charging at him.


    Eyeing the approaching fighters, Alex immediately noticed two of them were using the [Stone Skin] spell, while three were enveloped by faint whirlwinds and sparks of lightning, the signs of the [Windwalk] and [Energize] spells.


    Alex immediately stabbed Stroke into the floor and activated his main skill [Hexagram Technique - stage 4], making faint mysterious runes appear and orbit around his body. Feeling it was not enough, Alex quickly used two of his favorite magic scrolls: [Stone Skin] and [Windwalk].


    In less than a second, Alex was prepared to wreak havoc, as his body was enhanced by multiple buffs that increased its strength and speed. Looking at the iing bullets, Alex immediately casted [Shield Barrier] to deflect thoseing from behind him, while he leisurely avoided those in front with side steps.


    The three red-robed fighters were a few meters away from Alex with their weapon artifacts ready to strike him down. Seeing the imminent strikes, Alex could easily dodge the attacksunched by the three, who were enhanced by speed-buff spells, because he had calcted their actions.


    However, when he was about to move, Alex felt his legs were bound by something. ncing down, Alex saw spiky nt roots were entangling his feet, restricting him and making him unable to dodge the opponent''s attacks in time.


    Realizing the situation, Alex immediately casted [Decelerate] onto the three iing fighters, as their speed dropped drastically and was even overtaken by the two other fighters. When Alex saw the enemy''s five Sky realm Magus fighters were in close proximity with each other, he smiled and casted a spell towards them.


    [Smite - Tier 3 Light Spell]


    In an instant, the five fighters were knocked back by a shining hammer-like construct. Their bodies flung in the air and crashed into the others behind them before they fell to the ground.


    "It''s my turn, now." Alex said, while smirking towards Hafiz.


    Just like his usual tactic, Alex started his advance by using his versatile light spell, [Blind].


    A light even more piercing than usual appeared, as the spell was greatly enhanced by Alex''s high stage understanding of light element. As a result, everyone except Alex instinctively closed their eyes. Seeing the spell never failing him yet again, Alex swiftly took actions. Taking out his revolvers, Alex aimed towards his intended targets.


    Before he casted the [Blind] spell, Alex had thought which of these people he would attack and finish off first. Assuming the young man in luxury clothes with a keffiyeh was the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and the fighters in suits were his bodyguards, Alex immediately crossed them from the must-die list. His number one target was, of course, Hafiz.


    Therefore, Alex shot two bullets towards his primary target in a split second, one in the head and the other in the heart. Shifting his aim, he shot another two bullets at the Magus who casted [Entangle] on him, before firing the rest at the magus that were lying down.


    nk! nk!


    The [Magic Bullets] directed at Hafiz were deflected by a protective barrier. Alex assumed the barrier was the result of Hafiz''s spell or one of the fighters beside him. Despite being deflected, Alex saw the barrier was flickering violently proving his bullets did their job.


    On the other hand, the other bullets hit the Sky realm Magus fighters with precision. However, Alex noticed all of these fighters were wearing protective vests. Thus, none of them were injured.


    The first wave of attack and the counterattack from Alex had ended with not a single victim from either side still.


    Looking at the deadlock situation, Alex couldn''t help but think, "I miss fighting the zombiesˇ­ I should have guessed it wouldn''t be that easy."


    Shaking his head, Alex swiftly essed his storage ring and brought out his golems. In a moment, 20 stone golems appeared and stood in front of Alex, filling the room.


    "Well, with this the fight will be fairer, right? Don''t you think so, Hafiz?" Alex remarked towards Hafiz, a wide smirk on his face.


    "Don''t you dare think you already won with the appearance of those golems." Hafiz said, while raising his hand.


    Looking at the signal, dozens of red-robed fighters around Hafiz, who weren''t Magus and only armed with firearms took off their robes and threw them to the ground. As their bodies were revealed, Alex was shocked seeing bulging veins all over their bodies.


    The reason Alex was shocked was because those veins were ck and moved like they were alive. He could even see that in some parts of their body the veins were popping out and dripping with ck liquid. As if the shock wasn''t enough, they suddenly howled in pain until several of them knelt on the floor.


    Unexpectedly, their bodies slowly flushed red, as if they were being boiled. Their stature and muscles rapidly grew until they doubled in size. Their current state hardly looked human anymore, more like a stage 3 ck zombie.


    One of them, who had finished the transformation swiftly leaped towards one of the stone golems. To his surprise, the fighter managed to pin it down, alone.


    "They are my sessful product." Hafiz casually said. "You won''t be able to defeat them, Alex."


    "This is where you will die."

 Chapter 340 - Cornered

    Seeing Alex''s stunned state due to Hafiz''s outstanding ''products'', the fruitful result of the countless experiments he had been doing with the professor. Hafiz felt he now had the upper hand and was sure he could easily finish off Alex anytime he wanted to.


    "Infidel! Make a reckon of your transgression and repent! Return to the path of righteousness and you shall be forgiven by our God!"


    "..." Alex wasn''t sure how to react to the abrupt sermon. The sermon was so out of the ce he could only stand there awkwardly staring at Hafiz, who was waiting for his answer. ''Is it normal to preach in the middle of a battle?" Alex thought confused.


    After a few seconds of pure silence passed, Alex opened his mouth, "Alright. So, if I say I''m sorry, you will let me leave. Is that the case?" Alex said with a smile, which looked like a mocking smile to Hafiz..


    Hafiz''s face fell when he saw Alex''s response to his ''gracious'' offer.


    "sphemy! How dare you make fun of our God?!" One of the Heavenly Gate Magus, who got up from the ground, eximed.


    Upon hearing that, Alex''s expression immediately changed, as he waved his hand frantically. "No, no, no. Do not misunderstand me. There is no way I dare to make fun of your ''god''." With a mocking smile, Alex added, "Actually, I was just making fun of all of you."


    This time, Hafiz''s face instantly turned dark, as he banged his hand on the table in front of him and roared, "Kill him!!!"


    Although at first nce Alex still appeared calm and joking around, in truth, he was currently assessing the situation. Thanks to the unexpected variable of those zombie-like figures, Alex needed to weigh his chances of sess again. Eyes wandering around the room, Alex silently calcted in his mind.


    There were 30 opponents in the room, 5 of them were fighters in ck suits, therefore he could probably cross them out. However, Alex decided to still keep an eye on them, lest they tried to do anything funny. Hence, the situation left him with the 5 slightly injured Sky realm Magus fighters and 20 of those grotesque-looking, veins-bulging, ck-skinned monsters with huge red arteries all over their bodies.


    Meanwhile, on his own side, Alex was apanied by 20 stone golems,which could easily take care of dozens of Earth realm fighters at once. But unfortunately, those crazy zombie-like monsters would be able to pin down his golems.


    Even though tier 2 golems had defensive capabilities on par with Sky realm fighters, even exceeding them slightly, their offensive capabilities were trulycking, only at the level of high stage Earth realm fighters. Therefore, these golems were excellent choices for a defensive approach or to stall enemies.


    However, it appeared these golems would not be able to achieve Alex''s intended effect in this battle, as they would be locked by those monsters. Thanks to their bizarre transformation, the strength of those monsters was heightened to the level of Sky realm fighters, allowing them to fight with the golems.


    Upon hearing the order, the Heavenly Gate devotees immediately made their move. The five Sky Magus immediately prepared themselves to resume the attacks, while the human monsters quickly pounced at the golems. In short, the situation didn''t look too good for Alex.


    Seeing the battle was about to start again, Alex immediately took the initiative.


    BANG! BANG! BANG!


    A dozen of [Magic Bullet] were fired towards the annoying Sky realm Magus, especially the one who immobilized him using [Entangle]. Noticing Alex aimed his revolvers at them, the Earth Magus swiftly casted [Mud Wall] to block the bullets. Ten bullets were sessfully blocked by the wall, but thest two managed to hit the magus.


    Although the bullets were deflected by the protective vest the Earth Magus wore, Alex knew the energy in the protective vest must be on the brink of being depleted, as their artifacts were outssed by his.


    Seeing the bullets being blocked by his spell and artifact, the Earth Magus sneered, "Your bullets won''t work on us!"


    Meanwhile, the other four immediately began casting their own spells. Colorful lights appeared, as the chants needed for the spells were beingpleted.


    [Ash st - Tier 2 Earth Spell]


    [Wind Sphere - Tier 2 Wind Spell]


    [Chain Lightning - Tier 2 Lightning Spell]


    [Vine Whip - Tier 2 nt Spell]


    Elements materialized in the air, as they swiftly formed into myriads of attacks and shot towards Alex. Looking at the iing attacks, Alex immediately casted [Shield Barrier] making a white translucent barrier instantly appear in front of him. As Alex reached the high stage Sky realm, his spells became stronger, thus his decision to only cast [Shield Barrier].


    Unfortunately for Alex, his spell wasn''t that strong where it could simultaneously receive spell bombardment from four magus and still remain intact. As a result, the barrier shattered into pieces before vanishing.


    The moment Alex casted the [Shield Barrier] spell, he also swiftly reloaded his revolvers. Therefore, when the barrier disappeared and showed Alex''s figure, he was ready to shoot more bullets. Aiming his revolvers once again, Alex proceeded to fire.


    BANG!


    BANG!


    BANG!


    BANG!


    Again, only two bullets out of a dozen managed to hit the Heavenly Gate Magus, with the same result of the bullets being deflected by the protective vest. Another volley of spells immediately flew toward Alex, followed by the appearance of the same translucent barrier.


    Seeing the situation where Alex couldn''t do anything to his Magus fighters, Hafizughed. "Hahaha! It''s obvious that you won''t be able to defeat them!"


    While Alex and the five Magus exchanged attacks, the golems were slowly but surely being crushed by the human monsters. The reason was because the monsters who already won their battle would help the others to bring down the other golems. If this kept going on, the golems would be defeated very soon, leaving Alex alone surrounded by enemies.


    Seeing the situation tipped on their side, the five magus became even more confident, as they were bing more eager to bring Alex down. As they casted their spells, the five magus walked a few steps closer to Alex, trying to push and pressure him. But, despite his barrier being broken and his ineffective attacks, Alex still shed his easygoing smile.


    Once again, Alex reloaded the revolvers and was about to fire at the 5 Magus. Seeing Alex raising his revolver, the Earth Magus shed a mocking smile, "Hahaha! You fool! It won''t work!"


    BANG!! BANG!! BANG!!


    The Earth Magus and the other four, who also had a ridiculing grin on their faces, were shocked when Alex fired the revolvers. The bullets zoomed towards them at four times the previous speed, causing them to be unable to react fast enough to either dodge or block them.


    Therefore, they had to receive the bullets with their protective vests like before. However, before they could have a sigh of relief, their expressions immediately changed when they noticed the bullets were far stronger than the previous ones.


    BOOM!!!


    As if they were hit by a truck moving at 100 kilometers per hour, the five Magus were thrown backwards before their bodies crashed into the wall behind where Hafiz was sitting. The five Magus fell to the ground, it was unknown whether they were still alive or not.


    The reason for this sight was apparently because Alex added the [elerate] spell onto 6 of his [Magic Bullets]. There was also the fact the bullets Alex fired were enchanted with the tier 3 [Smite] spell and were made with a high grade monster material. Hence, the result was a specially-crafted bullet with twice the power of normal [Magic Bullet].


    Alex had also depleted their protective vests'' energy little by little, until he was sure they wouldn''t be able to withstand the trump card he unleashed. The reason Alex let the fight go into a stalemate was to allow the Magus to be overconfident. Seeing Alex''s attacks were ineffective on them, they became confident that, even if they didn''t manage to dodge the bullets, their protective vests would be able to withstand one or two more of Alex''s bullets.


    s, Alex hadpletely fooled them, so they now had to face the consequences of their actions. Out of the five magus only the two Earth Magus with [Stone Skin] spell managed to get up, albeit wobbly, while the other three remained lying on the floor, unconscious and heavily injured.


    The abrupt turnaround made Hafiz extremely furious. He immediately ordered the human monsters to ignore the golems and focus their attacks on Alex. Half a dozen of them, who managed to crush their golems immediately dashed towards Alex, followed by the two Earth Magus.


    Seeing the iing enemies, Alex swiftly stored his revolvers in the storage ring before he took a step back and pulled the wooden sword out of the floor. The formation array was a channeling spell, therefore as long as the spell was active Stroke would not be able to cast another skill. However, despite the inability to use a skill, Stroke was still a tier 5 weapon artifact, something extremely lethal.


    Brandishing Stroke, Alex shouted, "Come!"


    [Hexagram Technique - stage 4]


    Stomping his feet against the ground, Alex darted towards the approaching monsters and Magus. Utilizing his movement technique, he flickered between the monsters, as he swung the sword horizontally.


    sh! sh! sh!


    None of the Heavenly Gate people managed to touch Alex, while he effortlessly moved through the crowd, shing and stabbing the enemies. One of the monstersunched a fist towards him, but Alex swiftly ducked before thrusting his sword towards its stomach.


    Another one wanted to m its body at Alex. Seeing that, Alex quickly pulled his sword and spun his body, allowing the monster to pass him before he swung his sword toward the limb of the monster, severing it.


    Realizing he was going to be surrounded, Alex took a step back and retreated, as he tried to recover his position for the next attack. However, much to his surprise, Alex saw the wound on the monster''s stomach was healing at a visible speed, while the one who got its limb severed was quickly regrowing it.


    Seeing that, Alex couldn''t help but smile wryly.


    "Oh, manˇ­ What the hell did you create??!"

 Chapter 341 - Run Away

    With each passing second, Alex''s situation slowly turned for the worse, as more and more of his golems were being crushed or overpowered. Thanks to that, Alex was currently being surrounded by more and more of those mutated humans, putting him inside a precarious situation.


    *swish*


    St!


    Fortunately, Alex''s hexagram technique was the best technique against multiple enemies. The technique not only provided increased speed and strength, but also a set of movement techniques, which would allow him to move in a way that confused his opponents.


    A slight side step to the right as a m passed by, a spin to the left as rocks flew by, a quick crouch as a punch headed his way, a dash to the back as a blow came from above. Thanks to his erratic movements, not a single of those monsters nor the Earth Magus managed to touch him, let alone hit him.. On the contrary, while Alex dashed around, he was able to make a ''few'' cuts to them.


    *swish*


    sh!


    Alex made a heavy horizontal swing, producing a cutting sound as it swung through the air. The sh managed to cut off one of the monsters'' heads, causing it to fly in the air before dropping to the floor. The monster''s huge body fell down to the floor, as it slowly returned to its original human form minus its head.


    "Well, looks like the old, ssic trick of cutting the head off is still effective. That''s good news, I guess..." Alex said with a smile, his chest heaved up and down. Although his breath was already gasping, Alex could not rest, as he was still in the rush to dodge another attacking at him.


    After they transformed, these mutated humans were as fast as the Sky realm fighters. Hence, Alex would not have been untouchable for this long, if he didn''t have the hexagram technique.


    A few minutes passed. Alex only managed to chop off the heads of three more mutated humans. Besides the speed, these monsters also had the strength of Sky realm fighters. These two factors were prohibiting him from easily decapitating them, as they could dodge his attacks, causing Alex to be careful to not be caught by them. They also had a skin as strong as tempered steels. Therefore, it was not easy for him to remove their heads, especially with half a dozen or more of them trying to surround him.


    After the battle went on for almost more than 10 minutes, five men in red robes finally walked into the room, through the door.


    Seeing only five of his mening as reinforcements, Hafiz who was sitting at the end of the room began to be restless. "Where the f*ck have you been? What took you all so long toe here? And also, where are the others? Did only the five of you hear the report?" Hafiz rapidly asked, as his mouth fired questions like assault rifle.


    Receiving the barrage of questions, the red-robed men didn''t know what to do. Therefore, they decided to answer the most important question. "High Priest, we immediately headed straight here in a hurry after we heard the report."


    Upon hearing the red-robed man''s answer, Hafiz finally understood what the effect of Alex''s first spell was. Thanks to the four times elerated time, those who were outside of the room felt only 3 minutes at most passed by, while in truth, ten minutes had passed inside the room.


    Realizing the situation, Hafiz couldn''t help but throw more curses, "F*ck! Quickly kill him and get me that wooden sword!"


    The five red-robed men who just came in quickly took off their robes when they heard the order. Once again, they swiftly transformed into huge, ck-skinned monsters.


    Thanks to the five new reinforcements, Alex ended up being surrounded by a dozen of these monsters. Moreover, thanks to their huge stature, Alex did not have the space to move around anymore, as their bodies filled the entire room. Not to mention, there was also the chance of more reinforcementing as the time went on.


    Looking at the situation, Alex began to change his movement, as he started maneuvering and moving towards the broken window where he entered earlier.


    Seeing Alex''s movement, the Earth Magus shouted, "Stop him!!! He''s going to run away!"


    Upon hearing that, the dozen of monsters immediately rushed at Alex, causing his situation to look even more cornered. When all of them almost crashed into him, Alex swiftly casted several [Blind] spells to make sure they were blinded. The piecing lights made them hurriedly stop their steps. Right after that, Alex immediately took out two of his artifacts and activated their abilities.


    [Silver Dagger - Tier 3 Weapon] - [Haste]


    [Cloak of Light] - [Transparent]


    When the Heavenly Gate people opened their eyes, Alex''s figure had vanished before them. Seeing the broken window close by, they immediately rushed towards it to check if Alex had jumped. s, they didn''t expect Alex had zoomed past and appeared behind them.


    Focusing his concentration on the spells, Alex swiftly casted several [Smite] towards the monsters'' back. In an instant, several hammer-like constructs hit them in the butt.


    BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!


    PRANKKK!!! PRANKKK!!! PRANKKK!!!


    Loud breaking sounds resounded through the room as the monsters'' bodies were blown away by the spells and crashed into the windows. Their sights swiftly greeted by the blue sky and rows of skyscrapers as they flew through the air and fell from the height of more than 1000 feet.


    Alex smiled widely knowing that, even if those monsters still didn''t manage to die due to the fall due to some miracle, it would still take them too much time to return to the room.


    Hafiz was extremely furious when he saw a dozen of his creations being thrown away through the window, while the rest were still embroiled with the golems. He finally stood from his seat and forced the five bodyguards of the Crown Prince to attack Alex. s, before they could even reach out to their guns, Alex was already right in front of them.


    Gripping Stroke hard as he could, Alex swiftly did a swing with his tier 5 sword aiming towards the objective of his mission, Hafiz.


    BAM!


    With one swing, Hafiz''s magic shield barrier instantly shattered into pieces. Alex swung this sword once again, this time from below.


    "Nooo!!! Stop!! I yield!" Hafiz screamed in horror, as he saw the iing sh.


    BAM!


    This time, Hafiz''s protection vest energy shield shattered. Knowing Alex would not listen to his plea, Hafiz quickly turned and tried to run away. s, his attempt failed miserably, as Alex''s next sh was aimed at his legs.


    *swish*


    St!


    Blood sttered violently to the floor of the room as Hafiz''s two legs were separated from his body. As a result, Hafiz dropped and rolled on the ground with his lower limbs gone.


    "Please!!! I''ll do anythingˇ­ anything! Just let me live! Can''t you see that I''m the same as you?"


    Alex stopped for a second when he heard Hafiz said he was the same as him. Curiosity got the better of him, thus he stared at the man and waited for him to speak.


    "I-I am trying to save the world as well! Can''t you see? Because of me, the Middle East managed to unite! Even the two major nations, the archenemies, Arab Saudi and Iran were able to work together due to my interference. Thisˇ­ this is what is needed to save the world... Don''t you think so as well?"


    Alex discovered Hafiz''s logic seemed to have some ground. He could even feel some truth in it. Somehow, it made him able to sympathize with the man. Hafiz, who saw Alex''s expression change, began to smile and said, "I know that you of all people will be able to understand me. So, what do you think? We can help each oth-"


    Before Hafiz could finish his sentence, Alex swung his sword one more time.


    St!


    Hafiz''s head rolled to the ground and his blood spilled on the floor.


    Unfortunately for Hafiz, Alex knew of his power. The man might not have been able to control him like he did with the Crown Prince due to the difference between their realm. However, his words were still able to somehow influence his logic and emotion, and Alex could not have that. Therefore, he could not let Hafiz live.


    Exhaling a sigh of relief, Alex shed a faint smile. Finally, Hafiz, the head of the Heavenly Gate, was dead. With his death, the Crown Prince, who was under his control, was slowly regaining his mind. Now, Alex only needed to clean out thest bit of Hafiz''s devoted followers.


    Taking Hafiz''s decapitated head and lifting it in the air, Alex shouted, "Your leader is dead! Put down your weapons andy down your arms! It''s time to stop killing each other."


    ----------------------------------


    Written and Directed by Avans, Published by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,


    Check out our new website https://bit.ly/avansweb

 Chapter 342 - Responsible

    Alex''s shout attracted the attention of the remaining monsters, who were still entangled with the golems, and woke up the two Earth Magus fighters, who became dumbfounded seeing their leader dead.


    The Earth Magus just stood there awkwardly, as they didn''t know what to do. With Hafiz dead, their target of devotion was gone and the slight control Hafiz had over them slowly disappeared, causing them to be disoriented, not knowing exactly what to do.


    Their minds were stuck at the thought of taking revenge for their leader or listening to the warning. However, when they thought of taking revenge, their bodies shuddered when they recalled how easy their leader had died.


    Hence, momentster, Alex knew they had already given up, as he saw the two of them proceeded to walk over to the three unconscious Magus and just sat there closing their eyes, indifferent to their surroundings. However, the same couldn''t be said for the monsters, as they ignored the golems and ferociously charged at Alex.


    It looked like they were eitherpletely devoted to their organization or had simply lost their minds due to the transformation. Whatever it was, these ''people'' could not be saved anymore. Realizing that, Alex closed his eyes tiredly and sighed deeply. When he opened his eyes again, Alex''s gaze already turned sharp again, as he went ahead and did the necessary ''cleansing'' himself..


    ˇ­


    The battle swiftly ended after Alex had killed every monster in the room and restrained the remaining Magus, leaving the confused Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia with his bodyguards. Seeing the apparent confusion on the Crown Prince''s face, Alex proceeded to exin what had happened to him.


    When the Crown Prince realized and understood the situation, he was truly enraged by the tantcy the Heavenly Gate organization showed. Therefore, on the rage of the moment, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Prince Salem, told his bodyguards to publicly announce Hafiz and his organization as criminals for their crimes towards the royal family and the nation.


    -


    Dubai, United Arab Emirates


    Later on that very same day, the news reached all the citizens living in Dubai, followed by the Dubai city''s government and the Saudi Arabia central government, causing an upheaval. This matter caused severe turmoil across the city, as Dubai City government''s soldiers in coboration with its citizens joined forces to sweep the area around Dubai City.


    These led the Heavenly Gate people to escape and disperse from the city. ording to the news released by the Dubai City''s government, hundreds managed to be captured, while thousands ran away from the city.


    After Prince Salem vented his anger, Alex proceeded to ask the Crown Prince what had happened to him, how he fell under the control of Hafiz. Prince Salem then went ahead and told Alex thest thing he remembered.


    Apparently, one month ago, Prince Salem was on his way to attend a peace agreement meeting in a small town in Kuwait, a country located between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The peace agreement was the result of several weeks of diplomatic discussion between the two nations.


    As the two biggest forces in the Middle East who were able to survive the impact from the apocalypse, the two sides agreed on a peace agreement, as it would bring many benefits on both sides. This agreement would have allowed the two nations to grow even more powerful in this difficult time. Hence, Prince Salem''s decision to go to the meeting.


    Unexpectedly, the meeting was a trap designed for the Saudi Arabia''s government. The moment Prince Salem reached the town, he was immediately captured and brought to Hafiz. It was then revealed the Heavenly Gate had deeply rooted into the Iranian government and had schemed this agreement to gain control of Saudi Arabia.


    After that, there wasn''t much Prince Salem remembered until today, where he finally regained his mind back and realized most of his countrymen had been in the cult''s grasp.


    No matter how much Alex wanted to continue to his next objective, he could not just do that. He was worried the situation would only be more dangerous if he left the Crown Prince alone. After all, no one really knew whether the Heavenly Gate people had actually been driven out of the citypletely or not.


    Therefore, Alex decided to stay close with Prince Salem to make sure he was not in the harm''s way. With him as thest royal lineage of the Saudi Arabia kingdom, the prince legitimately would soon be the king and ruled over the people in Saudi Arabia. Thus, Alex would stay until the man could regain control of the situation.


    While Prince Salem tried his best to understand and control the chaotic condition the Heavenly Gate organization left for him, Alex was deep in thoughts, as he was still somehow affected by Hafiz''sst words.


    Personally, Alex didn''t agree, even repulsed, with the methods Hafiz used, which was mind control. However, the fact still stood, Hafiz managed to secure over 20 million survivors from all the Middle East. That was 3 times the number of survivors in Indonesia.


    Hence, Alex needed to make sure killing Hafiz would not make those innocent people suffer. Especially with the fact the tribtion would start in twelve days. If Alex didn''t do anything else for these people, Alex''s actions would have only brought more harm to them.


    Making up his mind, Alex used the Doomsday Pirwork to contact the surrounding Middle East nations for help on this matter. Receiving the news, countries like Egypt and China began to move into all the Heavenly Gate''s posts at the borders, as they rescued the civilians under Heavenly Gate organization. There was also the situation with Yemen that needed to be quickly managed.


    Hence, when Theo and the others arrived the next morning, Alex immediately prepared himself for the next move. After asking Theo and the others to protect both Prince Salem and Tiffany, he quickly went on his way.


    While Tiffany was enjoying her Arabian holiday in one of the world''s most luxurious hotels, Alex zoomed around Yemen and Saudi Arabia with the help of Snowy, destroying all the Heavenly Gate''s posts in these areas and driving them all back to the northeast.


    -


    D-day #491


    During the past three days, the overall situation had mostly resolved, as Prince Salem had managed to gather all of his loyal supporters, stabilizing his government. The Heavenly Gate''s posts were destroyed by the coboration between countries in the Middle East.


    There were only 9 days remaining until the tribtion started, which meant Alex didn''t have much time left. He still had to keep his promise to go to Singapore to help Christina, but he still hadn''t fulfilled his promise to President Rico. Although he had killed Hafiz, his other objective, rescuing Adam, was still not finished.


    From what he had learnt from the Heavenly Gate people he had captured, Alex found out that Adam was most likely held inside the Heavenly Gate main headquarters, the ce where they ''reformed'' their followers. It was also the ce where they did their research, which was currently overseen by Hafiz''s most trusted right-hand man, the chemist.


    Alex thought of using the same tactic he used when he killed Hafiz, but this time, he would be jumping into the Heavenly Gate main headquarters. Even if Alex was strong enough to wreak havoc inside the headquarters by himself, he was worried it would not be the best way to annihte these fanatics.


    Therefore, Alex decided that, with the help of Egyptian, Israelian, and Saudi Arabia governments, he wouldunch a campaign with battalions of army against the Heavenly Gate. This was not intended to wage war against the Iranian government but to deter them, lest they disrupted the operation. This campaign was also done to inform the Iranian government about the death of Hafiz and his crimes.


    Hence, within just 3 days, all the Iranian and Heavenly Gate''s forces were forced to stand down by the overwhelming number of troops marching through Iran. The allied force swept through Iran, cleansing and rescuing the brainwashed citizens. Meanwhile, the devoted and fanatics one were mercilessly annihted.


    The operation proceeded smoothly until finally, on the second day, the #494 day, Alex was just outside the main headquarters of Heavenly Gate. Together with him were a team of 30 selected fighters, apanied by Ardeth, Rama, Theo, and Daisy.


    The group was preparing for the final assault against the Heavenly Gate''s main headquarters, which was filled with thousands of fanatics, as they tried to wipe thest trace of this terrorist organization from the world.


    Daisy, on the other hand, came here for one reason: Adam.


    -------------------------------


    Dear Reader,


    Thank your for supporting the novel, as promise this April I have written 10 chapters of the novel. I apologize 8 of them are within the privilege chapters. Don''t worry tomorrow I will let out 4 of them for you all to read.


    I apologize for the slow update. FOr next month I will also publish 5-10 chapters. meanwhile please support my other Novel: Earth Greatest Magus or the new Blood Elf Monarch who is on spiritpetition. all are within the same universe of doomsday pirs.


    Thank you very much

 Chapter 343 - Terrorist Base

    In the north region of Iran. Dozens of kilometers west of the capital city Tehran. Near the small city of Fardis. There, a giant stoodpound with a massive steel gate. This was where the main headquarters of Heavenly Gate had been for the past year.


    Thepound gave grandiosity amidst the barren yellow desert, as it was built with top-tier materials in a magnificent way. Thispound was built using all the resources the Heavenly Gate organization had ''collected'' from various nations in the Middle East region. Hence, one could say this majesticpound was made from stolen riches.


    At the moment, Alex and his entourage of allied troops and fighters from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel had arrived five hundreds meters away from thispound. The more than 10,000 troops came together and spread themselves, as they surrounded thepound from all directions.


    This number was probably insignificant whenpared to hundreds of thousands of Heavenly Gate members. However, they were currently leaderless, since Hafiz was killed by Alex, and they were spreaded across the Middle East region. Alex also believed the other Heavenly Gate members must have been facing their own problems, as other countries swept through the Heavenly Gate''s posts for the past few days.


    The swift attack strategy Alex chose when he dealt with Hafiz was very effective for immediately paralyzing this terrorist organization. With the death of their leader, a vacuum of power was created and a period of chaos was inevitable in the organization, since they lost their guiding light. But, apart from killing their leader, thest thing Alex had to do was destroy their main headquarters, eradicating thest remnant of the Heavenly Gate.


    After their headquarters was obliterated for good, coupled with the fact the tribtion would begin next week, Alex was sure there would be nothing more the remaining members of Heavenly Gate could do other than unite against the apocalypse. Alex just hoped all these people had not lost theirmon sense.


    During thest 3 days of this operation, as they crossed the distance of more or less 1000 kilometers from Saudi Arabia to Iran passing through Iraq, the group managed to ze through many of the Heavenly Gate''s bases. However, on the other hand, more and more stranglers were now following them as a result of their operation.


    Several hundreds meters behind the ranks of encirclement, there were currently more than 10,000 people, who came to pay attention to what Alex and his entourage would do to the infamous Heavenly Gate. In truth, Alex was not sure who these spectators supported.


    Alex ordered the other fighters to keep their encirclement, while he and dozens of selected others would proceed to thepound. When they arrived in front of thepound, Alex was quite surprised when he found out there was no one blocking them, not even a single shadow.


    "Well, where''s everyone?" Alex jokingly said, as he saw the silentpound.


    "Could they have escaped and left the ce?" Rama said without much conviction.


    "The intel reports mentioned and suggested no such thing. There should be at least a thousand devotees inside thepound," a bearded man said.


    This time, together with Alex was Jurgen, one of the higher ups of the Israeli government, who participated in this operation. Along with him was the armymanders of the troops from Saudi Arabia and Egypt.


    Upon seeing the strange situation, Alex thought for a moment then said, "Nevertheless, we still don''t have much time until the tribtion starts. So, we need to move fast. Bring your best Sky realm fighters and follow me, we will go inside carefully."


    Immediately after, 300 people were selected and began to advance towards thepound, leaving the others outside in case the Heavenly Gate members tried to flee.


    Among this group of 300 people, Alex brought his 30 elite fighters, including: Theo, Rama, Ardeth, Daisy, Melissa and Rick. As the advancing group walked through the massive gate, Daisy and her two other friends looked around; their hearts filled with the hope of finding Adam.


    The giantpound was divided into several sectors with dozens of buildings in them, creating an orderly and pleasing sight to eye. However, even though the group had passed several buildings, there was still not a single figure that could be seen.


    Recalling what he knew about the right-hand man of Hafiz, Alex understood the old man, or in short the chemist, was a cruel and cunning scientist. There was no way the man didn''t prepare anything for them, when he heard the news of Hafiz''s death and their campaign.


    As the group moved through thepound, the atmosphere slowly grew even more tense, as the group didn''t see a single soul inside thepound. Thankfully, Alex had prepared a solution for this.


    Turning his head to the side, Alex said with a smile, "Daisy, could you please?"


    "Alright, Brother Alex." As soon as Daisy said that, she immediately casted her signature spell [Life Detection]. Few momentster, she opened her eyes and said, "It looks like there are a few dozen people in each building- Ahˇ­ they areing out right now."


    Right as Daisy finished her words, a few hundred full-robed people starteding out of the buildings and walked to the middle of arge field across the 300 fighters. They were clustered together as they faced the 300 fighters without an ounce of fear on their faces. However, they suddenly stopped their movement and unexpectedly knelt down on the ground and began chanting a prayer. The direction of their prayer looked as if they were praying for the 300 fighters.


    "Damn... I hate it when they do that." Ardeth said, while his expression turned bad.


    "Eh!? Why? Aren''t you religious, Ardeth?" Alex asked, curious about his ''questionable'' statement.


    "Yes, I indeed am. However, praying is an intimate act between you and God. What are they doing by praying outside, and even facing us like this? This is just wrong." Ardeth replied, as he nced at Alex.


    Currently, all the 300 fighters were waiting for Alex''s signal. As soon as he gave them the go, they would pounce and obliterate these fanatics. However, Alex would not just attack right away, at least not before he understood the situation.


    Seeing Alex''s silence, Rama approached him and said, "It''s probably a good idea to kill them before they can transform in those beasts and be much harder to kill."


    The same thought also crossed his mind, but Alex was still not convinced and hesitant about it. It was better to be safe "I am pretty sure it''s a trap. So, keep your guard up."


    On the other hand there was still a bit of hope from Alex that these people would just surrender.


    After that, Alex shouted loudly towards the kneeling people, "There is no need for us to kill each other. There will be much worse thingsing to us soon. Therefore, walk here and surrender yourself now."


    One of the kneeling figures suddenly took off his veil and shouted towards the sky, "Dear god, my life is yours! Please ept my humble offering!"


    The guy proceeded to run towards the group. And of course, Alex would not remain still, he quickly took out his revolver and fired it.


    BANG!


    The bullet hit right at the target as the running man''s head exploded, followed by the fall of his body. As the body hit the ground, Alex noticed a small jar rolled out from his hand.


    KABOOM!


    It appeared that the man was holding some kind of a grenade as the object exploded, and from within, a white smoke wasing out.


    Seeing that, Daisy''s face turned pale as she realized what it was, "Brother Alex, Watch out that''s poison! They used the same method to us back in Java"


    "Yes, I know, Daisy. Don''t worry." Alex replied. Turning his head around, he instructed, "Everyone, move back a few steps! Don''t let that smokee close to you."


    While the fighters hurriedly moved back, some of the kneeling figures swiftly did the same thing as their brethren. Shouting to the sky and running towards the group, a few of them were about to throw the same jar, while the others immediately threw their robes and began to transform.


    Alex swiftly took out his other revolver too and proceeded to quickly shoot those who were running towards them with the jars raised in the air. His action was immediately followed by others who brought long-range weapons.


    Next, Alex brought out his stone golems as twelve of them appeared in front of the group. The other eight were destroyed during the battle in the Burj Al Arab. Although there were only twelve of them, they would be a great help, since they would not be affected by the poisonous smoke.


    Seeing the somehow controlled situation, Alex shouted, "Alright! Although their n has kinda failed, you guys still need to be careful with these smoke. And also, don''t underestimate those monsters!"


    A battle was inevitable as the two sides immediately shed with each other. Spells and weapon artifacts were swiftly brought out to prevent these lunatics from approaching. However, more and more of them came out of the building and filled the battlefield. It appeared one or two bullets were not enough to knock them down.


    "Aim for their head!" Alex shouted loudly. Immediately after, the long-range fighters aimed their weapons towards the monsters'' heads.


    ˇ­


    As the battlefield was covered by smokes and explosions, one of the lunatics managed to get close to Alex, who was busy firing his revolvers. Alex was extremely startled when he realized what the lunatic was holding was not a jar, but a red-colored stick with a ming wick. Across the body of the stick, he could clearly see the bold word written there.


    ''DYNAMITE''


    "F*CK! These lunatics!!!"


    KABOOOMMM!!!


    --------------


    Written and Directed by Avans, Published by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,


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 Chapter 344 - Purely Science

    KABOOOM!!!


    A severe explosion arose as the red stick of dynamite blew up near Alex, or rather, right in front of him. The others who noticed the explosion couldn''t help but shout, as they were worried about their leader''s condition.


    As the thick smoke dispersed, the group was greeted by the sight of white translucent barrier with only faint cracks covering Alex''s figure. Fortunately, Alex reacted fast enough to immediately casted his [Shield Barrier] spell.


    However, despite him being unaffected by the explosion, Alex hurriedly turned his gaze around. He was mostly worried about the other fighters around him. The explosion resulting from the dynamite was quite huge, as the st knocked back a few others who coincidentally were near him.


    When Alex saw that the other fighters were mostly deafened by the thundering sound and suffered several grazes on their bodies due to the st and fall, he heaved a sigh of relief. But then his gaze turned sharp, when he turned his eye towards the Heavenly Gate people.


    These lunatics were willing to kill themselves only for the sake of their belief.. These kinds of people were the hardest to deal with. While Alex was thinking of how to handle these lunatics the best possible way, his attention was attracted by anothermotion.


    KABOOM! KABOOM!!! KABOOM!!


    Several loud sounds resounded through the air, as there seemed to be more and more explosions happening on many corners of the battlefield.


    Realizing the hectic situation they had to deal with, and the possibility of it growing even more chaotic, Alex swiftly shouted, "Keep your distance with those suiciders! Don''t get too close to them, barrage them from afar while battling those who transformed and don''t carry anything!"


    As soon as the orders were given, the already fierce barrage swiftly increased 3 times, as more bullets and spells were thrown towards those lunatics.


    But unexpectedly, despite receiving the 3 times intensity of attacks, these lunatics seemed to not feel anything, as they kept their advancement towards the group. It looked like they were able to ignore the attacks thanks to their high resistance and regenerative ability.


    Alex also noticed another problem with these madmen. It seemed they were unaffected by the poisonous smokes spreading around the battlefield, while some of the fighters on Alex''s side started to be affected by it.


    Those affected by the continuous exposure with the poisonous smokes began to feel their bodies weaker, as their limbs turned sluggish and their minds spunned. This made the fighters have to rotate and sent the affected one to the back to recover.


    Noticing the severe situation, Ardeth as a Wind Magus fighter decided to solve the situation. Coborating with other strong Wind Magus fighters, they swiftly casted [Wind Gust] spell, effectively blowing the poisonous smokes away towards the other side.


    Meanwhile, Theo, Daisy and the other Light Magus fighters also didn''t remain still. They quickly casted [Shield Barrier] on the side where the smokes came or where the recent poison jar explosion happened.


    The two parties coborated with each other to take care of the poisonous smokes. s, their spells and range was quite limited. Thus, dozens of Sky realm fighters were still affected by the smokes and became heavily wounded or dead.


    The intense battle kept continuing to ze on for several minutes, as the status quo was maintained. When Alex was sure there were no more surprises from the enemy, he immediately gave the signal.


    Immediately after, another wave of fighters led by Jurgen swiftly entered the battlefield and struck the Heavenly Gate people.


    *Tratatatata* *Taratatatat*


    Loud gunshots reverberated in the air. The people who rushed out of the buildings inside thepound were shot before they could get any closer to the group. Now, only the transformed were leff; grotesque-looking humans Alex needed to help deal with personally.


    There were still a few dozens of them locked in a brutal battle against the fighters. A few Sky realm fighters were working together and ganging up on one of these monsters to stop them, and still didn''t manage to defeat it in a short time. In short, these monsters were not so easily killed, as if they were strengthened cockroaches.


    When Alex was about to join the fight against these monsters, from thergest building located at the center of thepound, a group of people came out and quickly made their way over to the group.


    However, from the demeanor this group of people showed, they didn''t look like fighters at all, more like a bunch of scientists. Then, one of the men among the group attracted Alex''s attention. The second highest-ranking man in the Heavenly Gate, the right-hand man of Hafiz, the chemist.


    Seeing the figure of Alex looking at him, the spectacled man waved his hand and shouted from the distance, "Mr. Alex..!!"


    The unexpected greeting after all the hostile actions surely made Alex concerned about the motives of this man. So, he decided to approach the group, of course, still maintaining his guard to the highest level.


    The chemist, the most senior among them, quickly opened his mouth when Alex arrived several meters away from them. Alex, who saw the gesture, swiftly stopped in his tracks and waited for the man''s words.


    "Mr Alex, the future you were in was incredibly disastrous and dangerous. Is that correct?" The man asked with an inquisitive tone.


    "Yes, it was." Alex replied calmly.


    "Thenˇ­ Why did you go against us? The work I have done will help humanity survive longer and grow stronger. Look at that beauty." The man said, pointing his fingers towards one of the transformed humans.


    Unfortunately for him, his words were only received with a piercing re. "Helping humanity? By creating a mindless cult? That''s YOUR solution for the survival of humanity?"


    Ignoring the gaze he was given, as if nothing had happened, the man said, "Ah... yes, yes, you are right... Actually, I never liked what Hafiz did. It makes us look like a crazy cult. But what I did here is purely science. The method I chose is so unorthodox no other governments would support me, which forced me to resort to people like him. If you gave me more time to deepen my studies, I could really create something that would greatly help humanity."


    Upon hearing the logical exnationing out of the man''s mouth, Alex could only sigh deeply. At first nce, the man''s idea might help humanity, however, as the one who came back from the future, Alex knew the result of this path.


    "It doesn''t workˇ­ In the future, the result of your work will only bring harm to humanity."


    "There''s no way that would be true this time! Because of your interferenceˇ­ your early information about the Doomsday, the attack that drove us to this country. If it wasn''t because of you, there was no way I could have perfected these beauties."


    Alex could only keep his silence, as he heard the current reality spouted from the chemist''s mouth. It was indeed true this transformation ability could change Earth realm fighters into Sky realm-level fighters was new. He had never seen an ability like this one in his previous life. However, the cost of this easily gained power was too difficult to bear for humanity, truly difficult.


    "You might be sessful in creating a new, powerful being to stand against the apocalypse. But the cost itself is their humanity! That thing is no longer a human! What is the point of getting more power if you are no longer human? We might as well just surrender to the apocalypse, then." Alex spoke emotionally.


    However, the old man kept his calm when he was faced with Alex''s harsh words, then said, "That''s because you haven''t seen the real sessful product."


    Looking at Alex directly in the eyes, the man continued, "Mr Alex, I have found something here in this country, something precious that helped me perfect my research. I found remains from the Babylonian civilization!"


    "What did you find?" Alex asked, curious by the findings.


    "You should just see it for yourself, Mr Alex." The chemist said while chuckling.


    The chemist then brought out a wireless transmitter and said , "Bring it up."


    While Alex was confused by the man''s words, not far from where Alex stood, the field that looked like a helicopter pad suddenly opened and a huge metal cage emerged from underground. The sudden emergence of the massive cage attracted the attention of everyone, except those who were still focused on fighting and couldn''t even spare a nce.


    Inside the cage, Alex could clearly see a giant human-like figure 3 meters tall with a bulky, muscr reddened body. Apart from the figure''s face that still looked half human, his entire body seemed to be covered with nt-like roots that had hardened into muscles.


    A momentter, the cage swiftly opened up as the figure opened its eyes and roared ferociously like a starving beast.


    RRROOOAAARRR!!!


    From within the figure''s physique, Alex could feel an extraordinary power, one that was beyond himself. However, his expression quickly changed when he heard the deafening scream of a girl.


    "ADAM!! NO! What have they done to You!!"

 Chapter 345 - Adam

    Seeing the giant monstrosity, almost non-human figure in front of him, that roaring savagely, as if it was ready to consume the whole world, Alex couldn''t help but question himself if the creature before him was really Adam.


    Alex had never really been that close with the young man before, as their interactions were not many. The two of them only met for a short while. However, seeing the abomination before him, he was sure about one thing: the sight, the feeling and the emotion Alex felt from this monster. This huge monstrous figure in front of him was surely no longer human.


    After her hysterical screams that could have deafened the zombies, who already lost their five senses, Daisy tried to approach the figure, as she immediately broke out of the ranks. Thankfully, Melissa and Rick managed to stop her at thest moment by grabbing and holding her on the waist.


    At the moment, despite its raging roars, the figure looked lost and confused, as if it didn''t know its purpose in life.


    Alex quickly stomped his legs as his body shot, not towards the baffled monsters, but the smirking chemist. In the blink of an eye, followed by drifting dust, the glowing wooden sword already brandished near the man''s neck, an inch away from taking his life..


    "What did you do to him?" Alex asked calmly, but the tone of his words exuded cold hostility.


    Cold sweat flowed down his back, as the chemist knew any wrong words he said would spell the end of him. The presence of a sword near his neck did make the chemist startled and scared. However, it still didn''t manage to remove the smile stered on his face.


    "Mr Alex... please, curb your anger. I will tell you everything you need. There''s no need for this threat..." the chemist spoke fluently.


    Upon hearing that, Alex replied, while of course, still keeping the sword near, "Then exin quickly! That young man is very important to us."


    Upon hearing Alex''s words, the chemist nodded his head, as if he was agreeing with Alex''s statement. "I see... Indeed, Mr Alex. That young man is also very important to meˇ­ but you see, Mr Alex. I have lost control of him for days now."


    While Alex was still stupified by hisst statement, the chemist kept his smirk and continued, "Therefore, I hope you could tame ''him''."


    As soon as the words were spoken out, the monstrous ''Adam'' seemed to finally waken out of his confused state and found a target. He swiftly walked out of the cage and leaped into the air. Its figure created a massive shadow on the ground, making those who were fighting wondering if the night hade.


    His figurended where the battlefield was, causing a tiny quake and ground elevated to the air. Its sessfulnding managed to earn him the deaths of several unlucky people, who got squashed by its massive figure.


    The sudden earthquake startled everyone, as ''Adam'' began to run amok on the battlefield. Surprisingly, ''Adam'' did not only attack the fighters on Alex''s side, but also the Heavenly Gate members, whether the transformed or the non-transformed one.


    Alex was startled when he saw the prowess of the ''Adam'', and how it managed to easily wreak havoc on the battlefield. Realizing the situation would turn for the worse, he quickly shouted, "Everyone, move back and retreat! Do not go near that thing!"


    He then quickly grabbed the chemist by his neck as their eyes were only inches away, "How to stop and not kill him!!"


    However, the chemistughed at the question thrown at him. "Stop him and not kill him? Hahahaha! How can you kill something you cannot stop?"


    Alex released his grip and threw the man to the ground. He then called Theo to continue ''questioning'' him. He himself had another thing to do, he needed to stop that thing.


    Despite Alex''s order to get away from the monstrous figure, the reality was not that ideal. The thing moved so fast and there were just too many people on the battlefield, causing the retreat to be slow; the casualties inevitably kept umting.


    Seeing the monstrosity was freely wreaking havoc, Alex knew its death was inevitable. The three meter tall figure was even able to twist one of the transformed Heavenly Gate members apart like a piece of cloth. The poor thing had the prowess of a Sky realm Knight, but in the face of this new monster, it looked like killing a fragile puppy.


    In reaction to the havoc brought by the abomination, both sides, which previously fiercely fought with each other, stopped their actions immediately. In panic, the fighters in both groups instinctively began raining bullets towards the monster.


    As expected, the bullets, who still managed to deal a hit to the transformed human, did not even manage to faze him at all, instead they only made him angrier. It swiftly stretched its oundish hand and grabbed one of the nearby, unlucky transformed Heavenly Gate humans and beat it into a pulp, before throwing it towards the troops like one throwing away trash.


    Whether it was because of the rain of bullets it received or for just somepletely random reason, the huge reddened monster, who was previously busy bashing the Heavenly Gate members, was currently leaping in the air. His direction? Towards the retreating troops.


    However, before the figure couldnd on the ground and wreak havoc, it was greeted by a huge fireball crashing into it mid air like a meteor, causing it to be pushed back and fall to the ground, away from the retreating troops.


    It was Rama with his body covered with [Fire Aura], as he leaped into the air and crashed into the abomination with his tier 3 spear artifact brandished. The unexpected and abrupt attack sted the monster into the ground. However, the move that should have been able to pierce any materials only managed to create a small wound on the monster''s body.


    Seeing the result of his action, Rama wiped his eyes twice with his shaking hands to make sure what he was seeing was reality. "What is its body made of? It''s so hard my arms are numb because of it!"


    While the monster''s attention was caught by Rama, followed by a strong gust, a figure jumped to the monster''s back and stabbed two huge daggers into its neck. It was Ardeth with his pair of tier 3 daggers.


    ckish blood sttered into the air as the daggers went through the monster''s skin, wounding it. Seeing the blood in the air, Daisy screamed, "Don''t!!!"


    However, to everyone''s surprise, the reddened figure seemed unaffected by the wounds, as it swiftly proceeded to grab Ardeth''s body and threw him towards Rama, hard. Ardeth''s body spun in the air as his figure was barreling in the air towards the stupefied Rama.


    Seeing the iing ''missile'', Rama quickly opened his arms as he tried to catch Ardeth. But to his surprise, the monster rushed just behind Ardeth''s body, with its both hands stretched out trying to grab them.


    The unexpected movement caught the two of them off guard, especially Rama. Recalling about the previous victim who was grabbed by it, being twisted like a piece of cloth, Rama''s face instantly turned pale.


    CRAANKK!!


    Thankfully, the figure was stopped, as its hands were crashed upon by a glowing translucent barrier. The barrier was the result of a [Halo] spell casted by Daisy, who was standing not far from Rama.


    "Adam!! It''s me, Daisy! Don''t you recognize me?! Adam!!" Daisy frantically shouted, while waving her hand.


    Upon hearing the loud shout, the reddened figure stared at Daisy. Its expression seemed to be in curiosity. It then raised its arms and destroyed the barrier into pieces before it stretched one of its hand towards Daisy, trying to grab her.


    Stt!!!


    The hand suddenly separated from its arm by a wooden sword engulfed with raging mes. After cutting the monster''s hand, Alex quickly dashed next to Daisy, "Head back! Everyone get back!"


    From the way the situation went, it appeared none of the Sky realm fighters could handle this monster, not even the middle stage Sky realm Magus. Therefore, only Alex with his high stage Sky realm strength could have a chance to deal with this abomination.


    To prove that, Alex managed to cut the monster''s hand with his tier 5 weapon. But as expected, the missing hand was slowly growing back like a lizard''s tail. When the figure just stood there recuperating its wound, it gave the troops the time to retreat. Alex made sure everyone took a huge distance from him and the figure, as he knew the fight would be dangerous and fierce.


    "Daisy, listen to me. You should get away from here... Go!" Alex sternly said, keeping his eye on the figure.


    Hands shaking, tears spilling, Daisy grabbed Alex''s clothes and said, "Pleaseˇ­ Brother Alex. Please, help him..."


    "Daisy, if you get hurt from the process, even if we could save him, it would be for naught. Do you understand me?"


    Wiping the tears on her eyes, Daisy nodded and replied, "I understand, Brother Alex."


    It took less than a minute for the figure to regrow its hand. Seeing ''Adam'' was ready, Alex swiftly buffed himself with everything he got. Because he knew, he was going to need it.

 Chapter 346 - Unlimited Strength

    As Alex eyed the reddened abomination in front of him with his wooden sword in hand, he couldn''t help but recall the prowess the monster had shown in the past minutes. He estimated the speed and strength it showed was on par, or even exceeded himself, who was a high stage Sky realm fighter.


    Alex saw how the tier 3 weapon artifacts of the other fighters were not that effective against the monster''s thick, root-covered skin. Fortunately, Alex had Stroke, a tier 5 artifact.


    However, even though he had enhanced Stroke with the [Fire Infusion] spell which increased its lethality, Alex was still amazed at how much effort he needed to spend in order to cut the hand of the monster.


    Moreover, with the addition of its inhuman regeneration capability, Alex perceived the monstrosity before him was like a monster one tier higher than the golden tier 5 zombie. Something that never appeared in his previous life.. He estimated only those who had reached the Saint realm would be able to handle this monster with ease.


    Looking at the figure closely, Alex felt he would not be able to win against it, if he chose to fight it in a contest of strength. However, he was also not sure on how to tackle this abomination without actually bringing it to the death''s door. Thus, Alex decided to test the water by sending his twelve stone golems to block the monster.


    Minutester, the result of the experiment was a one-sided beating for the golems'' side. The monster easily crushed the twelve golems one by one as it punched, kicked, stomped and mmed the golems until only rock shards left on the ground. The sight would be unbearable to many, if the victims were not the stone golems.


    In conclusion, the monster was too fast and strong for the golems. Therefore, before the stone golems were destroyed without any merit, Alex quickly proceeded to test a magic scroll on the monster: [Curse - Tier 1 Darkness Spell].


    Next, he casted [Decelerate - Tier 4 Light Spell] to decrease the speed of the monster. As a result, the fight between the golems and the monster slowly turned to equal, as the monster''s actions turned slow and sluggish, causing the golems to be able to dodge its attacks and counterattacked.


    s, the monster''s strength was off the charts, as the [Curse] spell didn''t affect it in any meaningful way. If the golems were hit by one of its attacks, they would be sted and left in tattered state. Hence, Alex began to increase the firepower, as he aimed his two revolvers and fired his special bullets, [Magic Bullet - Tier 3 Light Spell Smite-enhanced], at the monster.


    BANG! BANG! BANG!


    Deafening gunshot resounded in the air, as the bullets zoomed through the air, creating mini air st in the path. Every bullet that hit the monster managed to tore through the monster''s thick skin, causing ckish blood gushing out of the wounds. However, the sess was minimal, the wounds would soon heal and be closed by its regeneration, as if nothing had happened.


    BANG! BANG! BANG!


    While continuing to move around and dodge the asional golem the abomination threwn at him, Alex kept casting his [Decelerate] spell. This time, he decided to aim his bullets at the joints of the monster. He continued to fire until the bullets broke its leg joints and it fell to its knees.


    s, as if it had unlimited strength, the monster quickly healed its injured body, as its wounds closed back indefinitely. Seeing the phenomenon, Alex knew this situation must not go on. The monster''s regeneration power appeared limitless, while his special tier 3 bullets were extremely limited and precious.


    Scanning its entire massive body, Alex thought of the most conspicuous, ssic way to finish someone. There was only one obvious area he could aim to defeat this monster, which was firing his bullets right in its head. However, he couldn''t use this ''ssical'' way with the president''s son, at least he would not do it before he had tried everything.


    Alex shook his head and sighed inwardly, as he continued his barrage of bullets, expecting the monster''s strength to decrease or its regeneration to slow down.


    More than 10 minutes passed, dozens of tier 3 bullets were already fired, but the monster was still energetic and its prowess didn''t decrease even one bit. On the other hand, Alex''s bullets were almost depleted, while his golems were almostpletely annihted, leaving him with only half of his initial number.


    Looking at the pitiful situation bestowed upon him, Alex didn''t know what to feel. However, he definitely knew he needed a new tactic. It was time for him to do the hands-on approach.


    [Hexagram Technique - stage 4]


    [Magic Scroll - Stone Skin]


    [Magic Scroll - Windwalk]


    [Magic Scroll - Fire Infusion]


    [Bless - Tier 3 Light Spell]


    Colorful elements and mysterious runes swirled around Alex''s entire body, as he brought out every buff he could activate. zing mes enveloped Stroke''s de, after he stored his two revolvers.


    Alex proceeded to use the Silver Dagger''s ability, [Haste]. Over the next few minutes, Alex would be in his current most powerful state, with buffs enhancing its overall capability. If he still wasn''t able to defeat this monster within the timeframe, then not a single human in the world could.


    BOOM!


    Thunderous sounds reverberated through the air, as Alex jerked his legs and darted at breakneck speed towards the monster, who was still entangled with the golems.


    *SWISH*


    Ear-piercing sounds, followed by wind gusts appeared, as the wooden sword travelled through the air, heading towards the reddened figure.


    St! St! St!


    The shes and thrusts delivered with Stroke managed to cut and tear through the monster''s skin open, as Alex exhibited his swordsmanship. ckish blood was sttered in the air to the ground, following the new emergence of wounds on its body.


    Even though the monster had extraordinary strength and speed, it still did not manage to touch Alex, who was currently in his most powerful state, let alone catch him.


    Several minutester, as Alex carried on with his rampage, he began to see bright results. Observing the monster, he noticed the monster was weakening and its regeneration was slowing down. But on the other hand, his [Haste] buff had also ended, robbing him of a substantial amount of speed.


    Either it was a coincidence or the monster was much smarter than he expected, as soon as Alex''s [Haste] ability had finished and his speed considerably dropped, the monster hit the ground many times with its massive hands. The consecutive blows to the ground created a powerful quake, causing Alex to suddenly lose his bnce.


    *swooosh*


    Hearing the mysterious sounding at him, Alex nced at the direction and found out the monster''s massive hands were reaching out to him. Realizing the dire situation he would be in, Alex swiftly swung his sword towards the approaching hands.


    s, due to the imbnce he was going through, Alex''s zing sword missed its target and only cut off a few of the monster''s fingers. As a result, the monster managed to catch Alex with its both hands.


    "!!!"


    As soon as Alex was caught, he and the others knew he was in big trouble. Therefore, Rama, Ardeth, and Theo, who were still around in case anything happened, immediately advanced together as they attacked the monster from various sides, trying to force it to release Alex.


    However, with Alex being caught and his hand that was casting [Decelerate] locked, the spell was gone. The monster was able to dodge all of the attacks with ease. Even though one of Theo''s flying swords managed to stab it, the monster seemedpletely unfazed.


    Alex released all the strength he could muster as he tried to break free from the monster''s grip. However, the monster gripped Alex even harder, when it felt his struggle. Alex was forced to correct his previous assumption. This monster was definitely stronger than him, between the peak stage of Sky realm or Saint realm.


    "Aaarrrggghhh!"


    As the monster''s grip got increasingly hard, Alex felt his body would soon turn into paste. If he did not do anything, his life would definitely end here. His mind then swiftly ran, as it tried to think of a way to escape his current predicament.


    A body with strong defensive capability, a strength and speed equal to that Saint realm stage. How to fight this monster, how the chemist was able to create such an abomination. Alex''s thought was filled with those thoughts.


    Momentster, a sh of idea crossed through Alex''s mind, one that might let him keep his life. Releasing Stroke that was still in his hands, Alex used his [Telekinesis] and directed the wooden sword towards the distracted monster. The sword then swiftly flew to its head!


    "I''m sorry, Daisy. I''m sorry, Rico." Alex muttered to himself as the sword flew and aimed at the back of the monster''s head.


    St!


    Blood gushing out like a waterfall, as half of Stroke''s de stuck in its head. The monster roared in pain the second it felt the sword pierced through.


    ROOOAAARRR!!!


    Alex was then released from the tight grip, his whole body still felt crushed. At this moment, Theo shouted, "Alex, the chemist told me a possible way! Let me try it!"


    Theo then immediately approached the still roaring monster. Five of his flying swords swiftly stabbed into the monster''s joints, immobilizing it. He then proceeded to climb the monster''s back and ced both of his hands on its head.


    [Mind st] [Mind st] [Mind st]


    Theo quickly casted [Mind st] in quick session. The monster screamed very loudly before it fell to the ground head first.


    "Daisy! Now!!!" Theo shouted while keeping his eyes on the monster.


    Upon hearing the shout, Daisy immediately ran over to ''Adam''.


    "Adamˇ­ look at meˇ­ look at me! It''s me, Daisy. It''s meˇ­ remember?"


    The monster lifted his head with difficulty when it heard Daisy''s voice. The expression on its face clearly showed its confusion.


    Seeing that, Daisy excitedly said, "I think it''s working!! ...It''s working!!"


    s, the monster suddenly stretched its hand and grabbed Daisy, hard.


    "Adam! Noooo!!!"


    --------------


    Written and Directed by Avans, Published by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 347 - Missing For A Year

    One year ago.


    Java Ind, New Java City.


    Adam watched as Daisy went with the group of people heading to Australia, something about making her stronger and helping humanity. Well, at least that was what he thought about it on the surface.


    In all honesty, he just did not want Daisy to see what he had be and make her sad, as he would die in a slow and gruesome death. There was no way he would let the people he cared about see him in such a manner..


    Adam thought he had more time, but unexpectedly, he felt something inside of him started to change on the exact day she left for her journey. Even thest syringe he injected himself, which was supposed to give him 3 more days, appeared to not be working.


    ck colored blood gushed out of his ears and nose, as pain wrecked his body from inside out. Not wanting anyone to see him in such condition, Adam decided to run out of New Java City on that very same day, leaving his father and friends behind.


    Adam was devastated by the pain he felt physically and wrecked by the agony sprouted in him emotionally. All of this was because of one single thing, something that shouldn''t have happened. s, it had happened.


    He just ran and ran ceaselessly, without any goal or even direction. Adam knew that the corruption power from the ck liquid would soon emerge and take control of his body, as it slowly changed his body turning his skin darkish.


    After almost a day of continuous running, he stopped his tracks and looked around, Adam found himself returning to Jakarta, the city he grew up in. Seeing the sight in his surroundings, he could not help but reminisce about his memories in this city.


    Ever since all the Indonesian survivors had left for the New Java City, this former capital of Indonesia had be the biggest zombie infested city in the country. Looking at the wide clearing filled with multitude zombies before him, Adam ran into the city without any concern in his life whatsoever.


    But surprisingly, none of the zombies were able to stop him, or even block him. In fact, they appeared to be scared of Adam as they hurriedly took quite a distance from him, running away.


    As he entered the lifeless city, Adam unconsciously made his way to the various ces he had memory of, trying to grasp whatever was still left of his blurring consciousness and humanity. He could tell the changes brought by the ck liquid caused him to forget those ces, those precious memories that proved he was human.


    Stopping for a moment, Adam realized he had arrived in his old home. He then proceeded to enter his childhood house, the ce where he grew up. As he sat on the dusty couch in the living room, fear began to take over and hopelessness flooded Adam''s entire being.


    The next day was the third day since thest time he injected the syringe, Adam could tell he would not survive without the ck liquid. Truly an irony. The thing inside of him started to take over, as he perceived his surroundings turning blurry.


    However, the piercing morning light shining on him gave him the wake-up call, as Adam regained the persistence to not give up no matter what. He swiftly rose up and thought of a way that would probably help his situation.


    Momentster, an idea crossed his mind, but one that was not so good for him. However, Adam knew he could not afford to be picky in his current situation. Therefore, he immediately made up his mind and took action.


    Adam quickly left his old house and searched around the city. As he moved through many dark and abandoned buildings, which were crowded by countless zombies and mutated beasts. He kept killing them until he finally found it, the possible solution to his problem. A dark cocoon storing a ck zombie that hadn''t yet matured.


    Without much thinking, Adam immediately approached the cocoon and tore it open. He then fought and killed the ck zombie with his newfound power. He then took the zombie''s bones apart and began drinking every drop of liquid inside its bone.


    Not knowing if it would work or not, Adam just continued his hunt as he searched for more of these ck zombie cocoons for days. With each day passed, he kept getting stronger and stronger as he killed more and more ck zombies and drank their liquid.


    Although it looked like he was able to stop the growth of the thing inside of him, deep down inside, Adam knew that he was only dying the inevitable. But despite that, he kept relentlessly trying as he still wanted to see the smile of a certain person again.


    Weekster, Adam coincidentally found the remains of the Heavenly Gate who gathered in the capital city while he did his usual hunt. Seeing this group of people, the rage he felt towards the organization for killing his friends caused him to run amok and kill most of them.


    The few remaining people who managed to survive Adam''s onught told him about their leader''s order to sail back to the Middle East. That was the reason Adam decided to force the surviving ones to take him there.


    At first, the main objective he went to the Middle East was to take revenge, to kill as many of those lunatics as possible. However, the situation said otherwise as Adam found out the chemist, who told him about the possibility of curing him.


    Of course, Adam would not believe the words of the enemy easily, thus he went ahead and did his initial goal. Hundreds of Heavenly Gate members were sacrificed and died in the process of capturing him.


    Since then, he truly wished to die and be forgotten as he was already captured in the enemy''s hands, but the chemist had his own way to keep him alive, denying Adam''s desire to end his pitiful life.


    Weeks by weeks passed, and the constant experiment he had gone through made Adam unable to differentiate between reality and dream. It was only the dream of his friends, especially Daisy that kept him going through the torture.


    Weeks quickly turned into months, and when he thought his body was at the end of its limit, the chemist decided to give something new for him.


    "Adam.. I have a very big surprise for you!" the chemist said, his expression ted.


    The chemist immediately injected the syringe into him, the color of the liquid clearly showed it was something different; and the moment it flowed through his body, Adam began having a different kind of dream. Inside it, he saw the back figure of a man with stell-like muscles and golden armor.


    On the outside, it appeared that the mysterious stuff the chemist gave to Adam caused the thing inside him to evolve as Adam''s body slowly turned to reddish ck. Meanwhile, violent rage and despair quickly took over his mind.


    Kill.


    That was the only thing Adam could think in his mind. This thought kept going until one moment he only knew he was in a painful and difficult fight until he felt a jolt in his head, knocking into his mind and absolving the haziness over his consciousness.


    "Adam.. lookˇ­ at me.. I..ts.. me... Daisyˇ­ rem...ber?"


    A figure of a girl that felt like a distant past was standing in front of him, staring into his eyes with a concerned look in her face. The sight of this girl caused his body and mind to feel something else other than anger and despair.


    His arms unconsciously moved and grabbed the beautiful thing in front of him. Just a little twist and the beautiful thing would break like a fragile vase. Something told him to do that, but his body and mind were struggling and fighting against it.


    He pulled the beautiful figure close to him and looked at her closely. In her hair tied a yellow flower pin, a kind of flower that he recognized dearly, a daisy flower.


    That was when the buried, precious memories were crashing into him as his mind started to fight back, his willpower was zing. The thing, the darkness all over his body being dragged inside as his body started to change.


    The bright red color over him began to recede as his skin slowly returned to normal and softened. The bulging veins were shrinking until nothing left in the sight. His massive figure slowly got smaller.


    However, Adam still didn''t let go of the beautiful figure in his arms, holding it tight as if it was his life. And then, he passed out.


    --------------


    Written and Directed by Avans, Published by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,


    Check out our new website https://bit.ly/avansweb


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 Chapter 348 - God Essence

    The battle at the Heavenly Gate''s main headquarters was mostly wrapped up after the red monstrosity turned into a human and copsed in the middle of the fight. The only thing left was receiving those who were surrendering and ''clearing'' those who were too headstrong.


    Soon, the remaining Heavenly Gate members, seeing the situation was hopeless for them, swiftly surrendered themselves. Naturally, there were some extremists in these groups of devotees, those that could not and did not want to be helped. Hence, there were some struggles until the end. Those people were bestowed with swords'' shes and raging bullets on their heads and bodies.


    As for the chemist, the right-hand man of Hafiz, he surprisingly epted his fate with a wide smile, confusing the other fighters with his bizarre reaction. It looked like the chemist was truly happy knowing his best creation was a sess and survived the fight.


    With the nature and condition of Adam still unknown, Alex decided to lock up the chemist and his other associates for the time being. The same thing also applied to Adam, especially him. Although he was unconscious, he would still be strictly watched and guarded. Who knew if he suddenly awoke and started a rampage once again..


    When the other fighters were done clearing the battlefield from the corpses and debris, the battle report came in. Reading through it carefully, the expression on Alex''s face couldn''t help but turn grim. There were a dozen fighters dead and almost sixty severely and lightly wounded. Sighing deeply, Alex could only shake his head in sadness.


    The group decided to use the Heavenly Gate''s main headquarters as their temporarymand center. Meanwhile, Jurgen, the leader of the Israeli entourage, along with the leader of the Saudi Arabia entourage worked together to deal with all the aftermath and unrest after the battle. After all, there was no way those outside troops would directly listen to Alex.


    When all the chaos and matter settled down, Alex himself silently chose a room and healed himself with the [Light Wound] spell. He could feel several of his bones were creaking as he walked. It was probably because of the transformed Adam''s overwhelming strength, injuring his internal body.


    However, Alex could feel the main reason was because the previous battle was the hardest fight he ever went through. That was the first time he ever used all the buff he had in store. The hexagram battle art, three magic scrolls, [Bless] spell, and [Haste] artifact ability. All of this had taken a toll on his body. He also pushed all of them for the whole 10 minutes. Alex felt his spirit core was chaotic and all his muscles were strained. After healed himself, his body suddenly copsed with fatigue, a side effect he had to deal with whenever he pushed his body to the limit.


    -----


    D-day #495


    Fortunately for Alex, the next morning his body returned to its usual self. The first thing Alex did after waking up was checking on Adam, which was currently still being confined and treated.


    Theo, who used to be a doctor before the apocalypse, was coborating with a dozen medical expertsing from the Iran and Saudi Arabia government. However, none of them had any clue on what could be happening with Adam other than checking his lifesign. Seeing the helpless situation, Alex decided to also bring the chemist and his associates into the room, as there were no more medical experts in the area.


    Of course, Alex would not let the chemist and his associates alone with Adam, otherwise who knew what would happen, if they were left with the unconscious Adam. Therefore, Alex could only trust Theo''s judgement for this. Not only did he have a medical background, his mind reading skill would alsoe in handy, in case the chemist wanted to do something funny.


    Watching the chemist''s expression that turned from astonishment to extreme happiness as he examined Adam''s condition, Alex did not know whether to be worried or happy. Several minutester, the chemist excitedly lifted his head, in his face Alex could see exhration, absolute ecstasy.


    "Hahaha! A new mutation!!!" the chemist eximed, as he turned to his associates, who also turned excited.


    Seeing the chemist and the others were in their own world, bulging veins appeared on Alex''s forehead as he shouted, "What do you mean with a new mutation?! Exin!!"


    Even though he was startled by the sudden shout, the chemist was more than happy to exin what happened to Adam to this new superior of his. Actually, the man sounded so proud when he exined it, as if he had conquered a continent.


    This was the summary.


    The first experiment he did wasbining the bone marrow of a high level zombie with the blood of a man called Axel, a spirit enhancer with high regeneration ability. At that time Adam was miraculously able to survive the process. Although still dependent on constant bone marrow liquid of the high tier zombie, the experiment was deemed sess.


    And then, months after months of high level zombie''s bone marrow injection made Adam''s body mutate into the second stage. But, the mutation was too vtile at that time, and the spirit enhancer''s blood was not strong enough to sustain it. Adam''s body was about to break apart, unable to resist the mutation.


    That was when the liquid nicknamed "God Essence" was found. Looking through the list of test subjects before him, the chemist decided to inject this miraculous liquid into Adam. When the essence came into Adam''s body, it unexpectedly became the third force that surpassed both the zombie mutation and the spirit enhancer''s blood. The imbnce between these three ''objects'' created a tension, which resulted in the uncontroble strength they witnessed. Then, yesterday another miracle happened, as the mutation stabilized.


    That was all the chemist knew about this situation. Unfortunately, the chemist said he didn''t have the necessary equipment to further study, thus he didn''t dare to say anything lest what he said was wrong. For this matter, Alex decided to go to the closest Doomsday Pir andmunicated with the other countries.


    As there were only 5 days left until the start of tribtion, it was decided to directly bring Adam to the US, which currently had the best facilities and resources to do these kinds of experiments. President Elizabeth and James were happy to amodate and help with this issue. Hence, a group was quickly organized to apany Adam to the US. Daisy and both of her friends Melissa and Rick were included in this group.


    They also brought along the chemist to make sure nothing happened to Adam. Even though President Rico wished Adam to return to Indonesia, he agreed on this matter, as he knew this was for the good of his son. He could only hope Adam could quickly recover and return home as soon as possible.


    Finally, now that the Heavenly Gate was pretty much annihted, Alex''s promise to Rico had been fulfilled, it was time for him to handle his other matters.


    First, there were only 5 days remaining until the tribtion started and hell was brought upon Earth. Alex once again reminded everyone, especially the leaders and representatives of countries, to quickly relocate their citizens to the closest Doomsday Pir.


    Second, Alex took all the information given by the chemist about this liquid he imed to be "God Essence". He then left with some old scriptures left behind by the Ancient Babylonian, a civilization that could be traced back to more than 5,000 years ago.


    The information stated in these scriptures led into certain important ruin, which the Babylonian imed to be "The Gateway to Immortality". The hidden ruin was opened at the same time when the Doomsday Pirs descended to the world. It was the ce where the Heavenly Gate found the so-called "God Essence''.


    No matter how interesting it may sound, currently Alex had another promise he needed to fulfill. He had promised Christina toe to Singapore and help her out. Moreover, he heard things had turned for the worse with Christina''s situation. Therefore, Alex decided everything else must wait after he finished this matter.


    He quickly prepared himself for another journey to Singapore. Alex ordered Theo, Rama and the 30 fighters to go ahead to Singapore using the boat, while Alex himself would use his own transportation. He went back to Dubai to pick up his little princess and her Garuda - Snowy.


    But to his surprise, Tiffany and the Garuda were nowhere to be found.


    ''What happened? Where did she go?''


    Alex suddenly had a very bad feeling about this unexpected situation.


    --------------


    Author Note:


    Dear Doomsday Pirs Reader


    I apologize for the slow update with the story and thank you for your patience


    The truth is that the story of Doomsday Pirs is currently around 70% done and My concern is the chapters towards the ending will be too much a spoiler for my other Novel "Earth Greatest Magus". Therefore I am kinda reluctant to write chapters daily.


    For that reason currently, I can only promise 5-10 chapters per month and will gain daily again as soon as I am ready to finish the novel. But please do not worry, I will never stop writing this novel until the ending.


    Meanwhile, I hope you would keep supporting me by following my other Novel. Earth Greatest Magus that''s happening 2000 years before Doomsday Pirs started or thetest one Blood Elf Monarch that started just right before the Doomsday pir started


    Your sincerely, Avans

 Chapter 349 - Missing

    Not seeing the presence of his beloved daughter made Alex fall into a panic, almost hysterical state.


    "What happened?! Where did she go!?" Alex asked, his voice rising. The anxiousness in his voice was apparent, as Alex was truly worried about the safety of his daughter.


    Alex had left Tiffany in Burj Al Arab Hotel 4 days ago, as he went ahead and did other matters at that time. He thought while he was upied with his business, Tiffany could have her own vacation here in the world''s 7-star hotel.


    The reason Alex could feel assured was because Tiffany was guarded by two of his elite fighters and the prince''s bodyguards for extra pacification. She also had the Garuda, a tier 4 mutated beast, protecting her. He could not imagine how in the world she was harmed or kidnapped.


    From the guard''s information, it was said Tiffany wasst seen in the pool this morning, ying happily and energetically. The hotel''s workers and executives also did not know how it was possible..


    The news of Alex''s daughter gone missing was turning into such a shock that even Prince Salem himself sent all of his bodyguards to look for her. The hotel was put into high alert state, as the bodyguards swept the entire floors of the hotel thoroughly.


    Despite all of this, Alex still could not stop to be worried. He truly hoped Tiffany was only bored and went flying and she would be back to the hotel or home by herself with the flying beast.


    Initially, Alex prohibited her to do that, as he couldn''t imagine letting her fly at high speed across the ocean by herself. But now, he only wished that was what she did.


    Alex did not remain still as well. While the others were busy with their own tasks of finding Tiffany, he contacted Bali''s Doomsday Pir through the pirwork and asked about this matter. Unfortunately, he only received an earful of scolding from his wife.


    "I don''t know what to say anymore, Alex. You need, no, you must bring her back. Do not let anything happen to her." Devita said, while angry at first then worried in the end.


    Looking at the expression on his wife''s face, Alex fell silent and said, "...Don''t worry. I will. I definitely will."


    The day almost passed, as the sun made its way to the west horizon, but still there was no sign of Tiffany at all. That afternoon, Ardeth had returned from his mission to eradicate thest remnants of the Heavenly Gate in the Middle East region. Upon hearing about the disappearance of Alex''s daughter, he immediately went to find Alex.


    The man with the tattoo on his face was the guardian of Egypt. He knew almost everything regarding the surrounding states. Therefore, when Alex saw the arrival of Ardeth, the gloomy expression on his face slowly turned for the better.


    "Ardeth? It''s good you''re here,e. Let''s talk." Alex said, as he beckoned Ardeth to sit opposite of him. "Ardethˇ­" Alex said with a sigh, "I am truly hoping she was only being disobedient and ying around with her bird, but what do you reckon? Is there any threat I should worry about? Any other state? Or, any other terrorist organization here? Or is it the Heavenly Gate? Could this be their work? As a form of revenge to me?"Alex said gave voice to all his spections and suspicions, no matter how absurd.


    Ardeth sighed as he saw Alex, the usual calm and brave warrior ended up in such a state.


    "Mr Alex, there are no longer terrorist organizations in the Middle East. The Heavenly Gate and the apocalypse have helped us in this matter. As for the other statesˇ­ currently, the Middle East region is mainly led by us, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Israel. Hence, the other states will not be so easily involved. Moreover, even if they really did it, what is their purpose? They will only be gifted with your wrath." Ardeth exined his logic in this matter.


    Upon hearing Ardeth''s words, Alex seemed to be enlightened, "You''re right... There is no way she could be taken without a fight with the Garuda guarding her. No one could easily win against a tier 4 mutated beast, let alone without leaving a trace. So... this should be her leaving on her own ord." Alex spoke to himself, nodding his head.


    But then, Alex understood, even though there was no one as carefree as Tiarra was, she wouldn''t just leave without a word. Alex realized Ardeth seemed to have something to say, but could not blurt it out. It looked like what he wanted to say was notfortable for him to say.


    "What''s wrong, Ardeth?" Alex asked, puzzled. "You can freely say it, if it''s something regarding this matter."


    Ardeth was silent for a second before he opened his mouth, "Here''s the thing, Mr Alex. if there are indeed other forces or states involved in this, there is actually one possibility. But..."


    "What do you mean with but? What is it? Which organization? Who?"


    Hesitating for a while, Ardeth made up his mind, "Mr Alex, as one of the Medjai warriors, the patron army of the kingdom. It is indeed my responsibility to know many things, especially regarding the Middle East region."


    Before Alex could ask what was the connection between his status and Tiffany''s disappearance, Ardeth beat him to it, "To be honest, we have been shing with this group of people for quite some time, even before Doomsday began. Although they didn''t do much harm, their activities gave us concern."


    Hearing that, Alex stood up from his seat, "Who is it? Which group?"


    "I''m sure you have heard of them, Mr Alex. The Ahnenerbe organization. Hanz and his men were part of the expedition in Bali." Ardeth said calmly.


    "Ahnenerbe organization? The group consisted of Nazi remnats?" Alex asked for confirmation.


    "Yes. They have been lurking around Egypt, more precisely around Ancient Egypt''s important ruins since World War One. So yeah, we have been having problems with them."


    Alex recalled the same thing happened when he went to the ruins in Mexico along with the professor. This organization had a hidden and inexplicable agenda, they also had some of the best fighters in the world, as shown by their Doomsday Pir''s challenge score. However, he couldn''t find any connection between all of this and Tiffany''s disappearance."


    "Why are you thinking about them?" Alex asked, sitting down again, "Is there any particr reason?"


    "Actually, we had our suspicions before, Mr Alex. Now, after we destroyed the Heavenly Gate organization, we found proof the Ahneherbe was in rtion with the Heavenly Gate. It appeared they have been involved in the rise of the Heavenly Gate."


    The revtion was quite shocking for Alex, but after contemting it for a while, it made a lot of sense. After all, the speed of the rise of Heavenly Gate was too abnormal.


    Ardeth then added, "Mr Alex, the recent discovery we had found strongly implies both groups had one cooperation project, one that was closely rted. It''s about a certain ce, which said to be a ruin left by the Ancient Messapotamian civilization."


    Alex knew this ce was mentioned in the scriptures given by the chemist. The ce where they found the "God Essence". He gave the suspicion a lot of thought, as he also didn''t like the Ahnenerbe organization that much.


    "Ardeth, let''s say both groups indeed have a connection. But I can''t seem to find the rtion between this and the disappearance of my daughter. It seems that they have nothing to do with each other at all."


    "Correct, there is indeed no specific connection between the two matters. However, if there is a group capable or brave enough to do this sort of thing, I can only think of them."


    The notion sounded far fetched, but it was the only thing Alex had at the moment and seeing the sun was about to set, he might as well follow the only lead he had.


    "Thank you, Ardeth. For the information and your concern." Alex said with a smile, before swiftly leaving the room.


    Once again, Alex went to the Doomsday Pir to speak with the Doomsday Pirs in Germany. His intention was to find Hanz or their leader Heinrich. But unfortunately, it appeared none of them could be reached.


    Alex was probably only being paranoid, but he truly didn''t like the fact the higher ups of the Ahnenerbe organization were away in some kind of business 4 days before the tribtion began.


    The sun rose in the air, signifying morning came and only 3 days remained before the tribtion. There were still no news about Tiffany at all, despite Alex and Prince Salem''s effort searching the entire Dubai City. Therefore, Alex decided to follow the only clue he had.


    "Ardeth, where is this ruin located?" Alex immediately asked when he met Ardeth.


    "Just a few kilometers from the city of Eridu, Iraq. We can reach the ce in 5 to 6 hours."


    "Alright, let''s go."


    Anything was better than just sitting and doing nothing. Alex does remember Christina who needed him, but he couldn''t just leave his daughter missing like this. Moreover, the tribtion day was near.


    Alex told his elite fighters to contact him as soon as they heard the news of Tiffany if she returned. Meanwhile, he would go to Eridu City.


    -------------------------------


    Dear Reader,


    Thank your for supporting the novel, as promise this April I have written 10 chapters of the novel. I apologize 8 of them are within the privilege chapters. Don''t worry tomorrow I will let out 4 of them for you all to read.


    I apologize for the slow update. FOr next month I will also publish 5-10 chapters. meanwhile please support my other Novel: Earth Greatest Magus or the new Blood Elf Monarch who is on spiritpetition. all are within the same universe of doomsday pirs.


    Thank you very much

 Chapter 350 - Eridu

    Eridu.


    The most ancient city on Earth. ording to the official scientific version, this city was founded at 6500 BC, around 8,500 years ago. It was part of the Ancient Mesapotamian civilization and currently it was located within the borders of Iraq. It was bordered by Saudi Arabia in its south, Turkey in its north, Iran in its east and Israel as well as Egypt in its west.


    In the Sumerian''s king list, Eridu was named as the city of the first kings. The grandeur and magnificence of the city spreaded wide and far in its time, until many of its legacies were gone, swept away by the great flood. Right now, of the once glorious city only a ruin in the middle of the yellow desert was left, abandoned in the river of time.


    D-day #496


    In the middle of a vast yellow expanse, two cars were seen driving fast towards a location. It appeared the two vehicles were approaching a location 7 kilometer south of the old ruins. Alex was inside one of the cars together with Ardeth and a few of his Medjai warriors..


    Ardeth nced at Alex, who sat beside him and was looking at the surroundings, "Mr Alex, do you believe all of this deste desert was once a beautiful tropical paradise?"


    "Yeah, I''ve once read about it in history books." Alex answered, without turning his gaze away.


    Upon hearing Alex''s answer, which sounded unsure about the fact, Ardeth said, "It''s all true, Mr Alex." Alex turned his head towards Ardeth, his expression looked interested, "Oh?"


    "We, the Medjai warriors, were entrusted with ancient wisdom. Hence, we know for sure. There was indeed such a city in this desert."


    "Hmm, is that so? No offense here, but does ancient wisdom mean an old tale passed down between generations? Is that what you mean?" Alex asked with an intrigued expression.


    "No, Mr Alex. It''s more like relics and symbols."


    "Butˇ­ from what I know, there are dozens of different symbols in Egypt alone. How and where did you learn all of this?"


    "Well, I actually have a bachelor degree in Archeology from Cambridge University. I''m pretty proud of it." Ardeth said with a smile.


    "..."


    Alex would have never imagined Ardeth, a guy with a bizarre-looking tattoo on his face, the chief guard of an ancient warrior group, had a degree, let alone in archeology. Imagining the fierce-looking Ardeth with hiking boots, military-issued pants and a fedora quietly study in a library, Alex really didn''t know what to feel.


    "Are you surprised, Mr Alex? After all, we are here protecting history and legacy, not only just stones and sands."


    Alex found a new respect for this guy named Ardeth. A great wind spirit enhancer, a chief warrior and a schr on top of that. "Then, I think you will be a good friend with Cindy."


    Confused expression appeared on Ardeth''s face before turning into a shocked expression. "The blonde girl that can turn into a human cat? No, no, no, Mr Alex. I don''t think she''s right in her head." He said, while waving his hand rapidly.


    "..."


    The conversation ended with the unexpected statement.


    -


    When they were not that far from reaching the ruin, the group suddenly found a group of locals on the road. It looked like they needed some help.


    "What happened here?"


    The group of people was about a dozen, all men. From their demeanor they didn''t look like fighters. The clothes they were wearing suggested they might be workers of sorts. However, the weird thing was that these people looked terrified. They had half dried blood covering all over their clothes.


    At first, Alex thought they were a group of people who were attacked by roaming critters or hellhounds from the nearest Abyss pit. However, he noticed Ardeth looked shocked by the words spoken by these people.


    "What happened to these people, Ardeth? Why do you look so shocked?"


    "Thisˇ­ Mr Alex, they said they were attacked by a flying beast."


    "Flying beast? Did you say a flying beast attacked you?" Alex asked, while staring at these people. "Tell me what it looked like."


    The man was too traumatized and terrified by the event and he could not describe the beast in detail. However, from the rough description he gave, it looked like the flying beast was a huge bird-like creature. Its size was around the same size as the Garuda. This got Alex interested, so he asked Ardeth to question these people.


    After several minutes of questioning, Ardeth and the other Medjai warriors had extracted any valuable information from these people. Apparently, these people were hired for an excavation of a ruin for almost two months now. The project went smoothly until yesterday, when a flying beast suddenly came and killed hundreds of employees and soldiers at the excavation ce.


    "Soldiers?"


    From the men''s description, Alex and Ardeth were almost sure this excavation project was the product between the Heavenly Gate and Ahnenerbe organization coboration. The location stated by these people was quite differentpared to the information Ardeth had received, but Alex decided to check the ce stated by these terrified people first.


    After giving these people enough supplies for them to survive until they reached the nearest settlement, Alex and the others swiftly boarded the vehicles and went to the said location.


    When the group arrived at the vicinity of the described location, they found dozens of dead bodies on the ground, each of them were too gruesome to look at. Some of them seemed to be Caucasian. These bodies could possibly be the Ahnenerbe organization''s fighters.


    The group immediately came out of the vehicles and readied their weapons as they didn''t know what kind of dangers still lurked around.


    "Be careful everyone." Alex said, as there were only him, Ardeth and 5 other Medjai fighters within the group.


    Seeing the situation, Ardeth ordered his subordinate to call for reinforcement. However, it appeared the radio was not working. Hence, they couldn''t call any back up.


    Alex proceeded to check the bodiesying on the ground. From the wounds on their bodies and parts of their bodies strewn around, Alex assumed they were attacked by a beast. But from the look of it, the attackers were not critters or hellhounds.


    "Ardeth, have there been any recent sightings of mutated flying beasts around this area before?" Alex asked, as he continued checking the other bodies.


    "No, Mr Alex. there should be only mutated rats and snakes in this area. Nothing that can fly and nothing that could mutte these people to such extreme extents."


    Alex imagined the Garuda, as a tier 4 beast, could easily do this deed. The w marks seen on the dead bodies also showed the possibility of this. But, he found it hard to believe that Tiffany was involved in such a massacre.


    "Mr Alex!!!" One of the Medjai warriors shouted, attracting everyone''s attention.


    Near the shouting Medjai warrior, a man was seenying on the ground with severe wounds on his body. Surprisingly, the man seemed to be still alive, but it looked like the man was on the brink of death. Realizing that, Alex swiftly ran to them. When he reached the wounded man, Alex quickly casted [Light Wound] spell.


    As he healed the man, Alex asked him a question, "Who are you? What had happened here?"


    "To...oˇ­ strong... We... didn''tˇ­ standˇ­ a chance... against it." The man muttered with great difficulty, he then threw up a mouthful of blood.


    "What beast was it? Was it a bird?" Alex urgently asked again, as he could feel the man was losing his consciousness.


    The man appeared to be confused for a second before saying, "Notˇ­ a..beast.. the.. theˇ­ Girl."


    "!!!" Alex was shocked when he heard the man''s words, "Girl?! What girl?"


    The dying man passed out shortly after mumbling some words that could not be understood. However, Alex clearly heard the man said the culprit was a girl. A flying beast and a girl, there was no way this could be a coincidence, right?


    After sweeping and checking through the area, Ardeth told Alex about the situation.


    "There are 40 dead bodies, 32 of them are high level fighters that I assume at least Sky realm level."


    Alex fell silent as he wondered what could kill 32 Sky realm fighters into such condition.


    Seeing Alex was silent, Ardeth asked, "Mr Alex, should we call for backup? I can send two of my men to return and get reinforcement."


    Waking up from his contemtion, Alex nodded his head. "Yes, Ardeth. That''s a good idea."


    The two selected Medjai warriors then quickly drove one of the cars. When they had been only driving for a few hundred meters, Alex suddenly sensed a powerful aura approaching from the sky.


    Looking up at the sky, Alex noticed a dot diving towards the moving vehicle. Narrowing his eyes, Alex spotted a flying beast. It flew incredibly fast and quickly stomped its w on the moving car. Receiving the sudden impact, the vehicle stopped in its tracks. It then took the car into the air and threw it back to the ground.


    The speed of the beast was much faster than the gargoyles or any beast Alex had seen before. And no, it was not the Garuda. The beast was a ferocious lion with wings and a human-like face. Alex seemed to have seen this creature before. Rummaging through his memories, he finally found what he was looking for.


    The beast had a simr look to one of the mythical creatures mentioned in Egypt''s myth.


    The Sphinx.

 Chapter 351 - Sphinx

    Sphinx, a legendary creature mentioned in both Egyptian and Greek mythology. There might be very minute differences regarding the creature inside the two mythology, but the outline description was still very much simr. A lion with the wings of an eagle and the head of a human. The beast currently standing in the distance had all the characteristics simr to the legendary creature.


    Looking at the beast, Alex thought it was unlikely for the beast to be the result of normal animal mutation. There was also the fact he could feel the creature in front of him was very powerful.


    After crashing the car to the ground from several meters in the air, the beast swiftly sent its final attack, as it once again plunged towards the car. The car was immediately destroyed by the sharp talons of the beast, and the two Medjai warriors inside it were probably dead as well.


    When the beast threw its gaze at their direction, it let out a loud growl and immediately took flight into the sky again. Realizing the creature was locking on them, Alex immediately activated his [Hexagram Technique - stage 4].


    Sensing the aura emanated from the creature was very powerful, Alex was unwilling to underestimate it.. While the familiar runes circled around his body, Alex also took out his two revolvers and loaded them with his special bullets, [Magic Bullet - Tier 3 Light Spell Smite-enhanced].


    The creature rapidly flew in the air before it dived towards Alex at breakneck speed. Howling sounds resounded in the air as the creature made its way towards their location. When Alex was about to fire his revolvers, he suddenly heard a familiar sound in his mind.


    [Run, Master]


    In a split second, Alex''s thought fell into bewilderment, as Stroke never warned him before. Countless thoughts ran through his mind, trying to understand the situation. Realizing the graveness of the situation, he swiftly took out his silver dagger and activated the [Haste] buff. When the ability took effect, Alex immediately stomped the ground, as his bodyunched to the side, narrowly dodging the beast''s strike.


    BOOM!


    Deafening sound echoed through the air, while the ground seemed to be elevated when the creature crashed into it. Casting his gaze to the side, Alex''s face couldn''t help but turn pale.


    When the dust receded and one could see clearly, a 7-meter wide and 2-meter deep crater was formed on the spot where Alex was standing before, as if a mini bomb had exploded in that area. In the middle of it, the beast was seen without an injury on its body while its ws embedded into the ground.


    Raising his two revolvers in a hurry, Alex immediately fired a rapid shot as several bullets flew towards the beast in parallel lines, ready to take its life. Meanwhile, he continued to take a distance away from the beast.


    BAM! BAM! BAM!


    Continuous loud shouts were heard, signifying the bulletsnded straight on their target. s, when Alex turned his head, wanting to see the result of his bullets, he was bound to be disappointed and terrified. The [Smite] enhanced bullets, which were supposed to be able to destroy anything, seemed to be unable to leave even a scratch on the beast''s body,


    "What the f***?!! What is that thing??!" Alex cursed loudly, an incredulous expression distinctly seen on his face, showing he could not believe what his eyes saw.


    Well, it was normal for the usually calm, steadfast Alex to curse to such a degree. Even the strongest opponent Alex ever fought to this date, the red abomination, was still injured by the [Smite] enhanced magic bullets. But this time, they didn''t even manage to graze this beast''s skin!


    Alex quickly used the bracelet in his hand to check the flying beast information. The information showed in his bracelet brought a shock to Alex''s entire being.


    [Unknown]


    [Legendary beast - unknown level]


    ''L-LEGENDARY? What the f***?!!'' Alex thought. Right as he finished reading the information, Stroke spoke again.


    [Run. Run. Run.]


    As if Stroke''s words were the cue, the flying beast flew up from the crater and headed towards Ardeth and his other 3 warriors. Without even seeing the beast clearly, Alex knew the beast''s intent was dangerous. The speed of the beast also made so Alex couldn''t stop it on its track. Therefore, he chose to do one thing. Shout, as loud as he could, using all the energy he had, "RUN ARDETH RUN!!!"


    Ardeth certainly heard Alex''s shout, as the beast wasing towards them. However, where could they run?


    Alex obviously knew about their current situation. Hence, he quickly threw his gaze around to check his surroundings. Naturally, he also fired his revolvers at the beast while doing so.


    Looking around, Alex found there were only two possible escape routes in the area. Between the endless sandy desert and the mysterious ancient ruin, he decided thetter. Thus, he quickly ran towards it while still firing his revolvers.


    While running, he could see the Medjai warriors were killed by the flying beast one by one. Even Ardeth as a Sky realm stage wind spirit enhancer was almost killed by a swipe from the beast. Fortunately, he managed to dodge the attack albeit barely and ran towards Alex''s direction.


    As the two of them approached the ruin, they noticed the ruin had nothing but broken pirs and stones strewn around the area. There was practically nothing here at first nce. Until suddenly, they saw a suspicious lighting from one corner of the ruin. It looked like a signal sent by a person.


    Even though they were suspicious by the sudden help, the two of them didn''t have much choice in their current predicament. Therefore, Alex and Ardeth immediately adjusted their direction and went towards that person. They ran as fast as they could.


    They heard the pained scream of the dying warriors behind them. Alex really wished to turn back and help them, but hearing the stark warning from Stroke, he decided to keep running. Alex also beckoned Ardeth to keep running lest he lost his life here.


    Nodding his head with difficulty, Ardeth kept running, leaving his men behind. However, Ardeth gritted his teeth, clenched his fist, while also swore to take revenge for his men. The pain his men had gone through would be paid a hundredfold.


    The flying beast seemed to have killed its prey and immediately looked after Alex and Ardeth. Fortunately, the two of them had arrived in front of a tunnel about the size of an adult man. They then quickly followed the figure who kept running, the one who shed the light.


    When Alex and Ardeth only ran dozens of meters into the tunnel, a tremor suddenly appeared followed by a loud sound. Based on the sound, it appeared to be the sound of arge object crashing upon the tunnel''s entrance. The flying beast probably rammed its body into the entrance, trying to enter it.


    "Keep running!" Said the figure in front, when he noticed Alex and Ardeth stopped for a second. The three of them then continued to run through the tunnel. Alex felt they had run a few hundreds meters and wondered when they would stop. Luckily, Alex''s thought was soon answered as their sighted were greeted by an appearance of arge chamber.


    When they entered the chamber the figure finally turned around and showed his appearance. Alex and Ardeth were surprised to see who the figure was. It was Hanz from the Ahnenerbe organization.


    "I''m sure we are safe here, Mr Alex." Hanz said with a smile.


    "Hanz?! Tell me, what is that thing? What are you doing here?"


    "Follow me, Mr Alex. We will exin inside."


    "We?"


    "Yes, Mr Heinrich is also here. He will exin everything to you." Hanz replied calmly, while began walking.


    Heinrich was the leader of the Ahnenerbe organization, him being here meant this wasn''t a normal site. Knowing the strength of that flying beast was stronger than cerberus and maybe on par with the chimera itself, Alex could only wonder what they were doing here.


    Alex and Ardeth followed Hanz, as they walked through the tunnel passing many small chambers, from the looks of the dpidated tools and equipment within the chambers, Alex could guess that this tunnel had been dug for quite some time.


    "I know what you are thinking, Mr Alex." Hanz said, when he noticed Alex observed the tools. "It''s indeed a century old tunnel."


    The three of them walked for around a kilometer until they finally saw an evenrger chamber. Inside it, there were more than two dozen people inside. All of them were wearing grey uniforms, and Alex could estimate that they were all Sky realm fighters looking from their aura.


    "Mr Alex, these people here are the Iron Eagle squad, one of the top squad of Ahnenerbe organization." Hanz said, while pointing towards those fighters. He then shifted his finger and pointed in another direction, "And here, I introduce you to the Supreme Commander of Ahnenerbe organization, Mr Heinrich."


    Alex had seen this mysterious-looking middle aged man when he attended the world conference in the Doomsday Pir''swork, but this was the first time he saw the man in person.


    "You don''t know how d I am to see you here, Mr Alex. Your presence here is a godsend." Heinrich said with a warm smile.


    "What happened here, Mr Heinrich? What is that thing outside?"


    Instead of answering, Heinrich gestured Alex toe closer, "Here, Mr Alex. It''s better for you to see this first."


    Alex approached the man, followed by Ardeth. The three of them then walked to the edge of the ground they were in, it appeared they were currently standing on a tform. From where he was standing, Alex could see what appeared to be arge space of garden with rushing rivers flowing from four sides. There was even a lighting from the ceiling, as if there was a sun there.


    "Mr Alex, you are currently inside the biggest discovery in human history. The Cradle of Life! The secret of our origin will be answered here."


    --------------


    Written and Directed by Avans, Published by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 352 - Garden Of Eden

    The scenery presented in front of him was so amazing that Alex could only stare at it in awe. The lush and vibrant trees and grasses in the garden, the rushing rivers that exuded vitality, the warm lighting from above; Alex almost couldn''t believe that he was kilometers deep into the ground.


    Alex then threw his gaze to the horizon, trying to find the edge of the garden. To his surprise, the garden was sorge that Alex couldn''t see the end of it from the ce he was currently standing. Ardeth who stood behind Alex also dumbfounded by the miraculous sight before him. Meanwhile, Heinrich smiled when he saw the expected reaction from these two people.


    The warm light shining from the ceiling, the artificial sun on the ceiling, made Alex consider for a second that this ce was a modern technology that was installed recently, but Alex quickly erased the thought as he could tell some parts in the garden like the tform he was standing on was a natural rocks that had been shaped with time.


    "What is this ce, Mr Heinrich?" Alex said without turning his head.


    "And a river departed from it to water the garden, and from there it divided and became four tributaries. Genesis 2:10¨C14." The middle aged man quoted a verse from the Bible with such excitement in his tone


    "Can''t you see it, Mr Alex? This ce is the Garden of Eden!"


    Upon hearing the words spoken out from Heinrich''s mouth, Alex wondered for a second if his hearing had a problem. He couldn''t believe it. Garden of Eden was the story of creation. People had been looking for the ce since centuries and no one could ever find it. Alex never imagined and found it hard to believe that this was the said ce.


    "It.. it is amazing, really." Alex replied, then his eyes turned sharp. "But please exin, what does it have to do with that creature that attacks us, and what exactly are you doing here?"


    Heinrich still kept his smile when faced against Alex''s sharp gaze. He then opened his mouth to answer Alex, but the words blurted out of it surprised him.


    "Why don''t you start by asking about your daughter..?"


    "!!!"


    Looking at the shocked expression on Alex''s face, Heinrich continued, "Well, I am sure that she is the reason you are here in the first ce."


    Alex suddenly felt something was definitely wrong. He then quickly drew his revolvers from his ring and aimed at Heinrich, lightning fast. "What did you do to her?!!"


    When Alex drew his gun, all two dozens of fighters around him also drew their own weapons. However, Heinrich was still calm, he proceeded to raise his hand, signifying that he wasn''t doing anything wrong, and said, "No, no, no, Mr Alex. You are truly mistaken. We didn''t do anything to her.. In fact, it was the other way around. She was the one who harmed us."


    Alex was in disbelief as he heard Heinrich''s words. And then, he recalled thest words the dying man said. He was telling him that a girl was the one who killed them. "No way! There''s no way she would do things like that. It''s not possible."


    As if he had expected Alex''s reaction, Heinrich only chuckled and faintly smiled, "Well, if you don''t believe what I said, why don''t you ask her yourself?"


    "!" Alex was dumbfounded at Heinrich''s words.


    "Come, Mr Alex. Follow me!" Heinrich said while turning to the path at the side. The path was going down towards the garden. At the moment, Alex was truly confused by the situation. A high-level monster he could not beat, a mysterious yet wondrous garden, and now the fact that his daughter was involved in all of this.


    As much as Alex was careful about Heinrich and his men, he also really hoped to see Tiffany. Therefore, he followed Heinrich.


    The group quickly made their way down as they walked through the long winding path towards the garden. A few minutester, they finally reached the end of the path. In front of them was one of the many small rivers in the garden. Alex could see the garden just across this small river.


    Meanwhile, Heinrich and his men just stood there at the edge of the river doing nothing. Seeing the strange attitude they showed, Alex proceeded to walk closer to the river. Alex noticed that the river wasn''t that deep and wide, hence could be crossed easily. As a Sky realm fighter, it should be easy for them to cross this river. Therefore, he was truly confused on why they were waiting here.


    "What are we doing here?" Alex asked, confusion apparent on his face. "Why aren''t we crossing the river? The water isn''t that deep."


    Seeing Alex almost crossed the river, Heinrich quickly took hold of him. "Just wait, Mr Alex." Heinrich said with a smile. "Be patient."


    Puzzled by the strange behavior, Alex then decided to listen. After all, he didn''t know much about this ce. Thus, it was better to be safe than sorry. However, despite that, Alex was still wondering what they are doing here. Their attitude looked like they were waiting for something. The question was what or who.


    When Heinrich noticed Alex was looking at them with puzzled gaze, he could only sigh and point his finger upwards. "Mr Alex, look there. Look closely above the river."


    Followed the direction where the finger pointed at, Alex was startled to see there was a bluish glow several meters above the river. "Is that a shield barrier?"


    "Yes, and it''s a very strong one at that. Trust me, you wouldn''t want to crash into that. The one created by the Doomsday Pir''s monolith is child''s ypared to this one."


    Alex''s body shuddered as he previously thought to leap this river. Fortunately, Heinrich stopped him. And then, Alex became even more confused about what was going on right now. When he wanted to ask Heinrich more, he noticed there was a figure of a girl walking towards the river. Appearing from the treeline across the river, the girl slowly made her way towards their direction.


    At first, Alex thought that the girl was his daughter. When there was only a few meters separated between them and Alex could clearly see the girl, he found that she wasn''t Tiffany. However, Alex recognized this girl, whose feature looked like an Egyptian doll.


    A ck short hair and dressed in an ancient costume one could see in history books. This girl was Cerri, the beetle creature who became Tiffany''s friend for a while until the incident in Bali which made her show her true form.


    At first, Alex guessed that the girl was a powerful deity, but in the end, he never really knew what she was. But now, the mystery suddenly began to reveal itself in his head. Alex remembered that Cerri was said to be an Egyptian descent, and it was possible for Tiffany toe with her, by freewill or by her own power. After all, she was able to take over Tiffany''s bodyst time.


    "You are Cerri, aren''t you? Is Tiffany with you?" Alex asked hurriedly, as he truly concerned about her daughter.


    Upon hearing Alex''s words, the little girl turned towards him and looked at Alex in respect, "Yes, she is. Do not worry, she is fine. I can allow you to enter and meet her, but those people cannot!" she said while pointing toward Heinrich and his men. The expression on her face suddenly turned into extreme hate and despise.


    Heinrich, on the other hand, wasn''t angry at Cerri''s reaction and only politely bowed, " Please ept our apology. It truly wasn''t our intent to disturb the God Temple."


    "Huh?! You aren''t only disturbing, you are also a thief!"


    Suddenly, the rocks on the ceiling were crashing down. Alex was not sure how it was possible, but the high-level, no, legendary flying beast that was supposed to be outside appeared in the sky above their head.


    "All of you thieves deserve to die for desecrating our master tomb!!"


    --------------


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 Chapter 353 - Legendary Beast

    CRASHHH!!


    A loud explosive sound resounded throughout the garden, shocking everyone out of their mind except for Cerri, who still maintained her calm. The humongous creature with the body of a lion, wings of an eagle and face of a human showed up from the ceiling, followed by countless debris falling to the ground.


    The sudden appearance of the monstrous beast caused the expression on everyone''s faces to change greatly, especially Alex and Ardeth''s. Although this time there were about three dozens of Sky realm fighters in the area, after witnessing the prowess the legendary beast exhibited previously, Alex was pessimistic about their current situation.


    Perfectly knowing the [Magic Bullet] wouldn''t work on the beast, as it would only be deflected by the beast''s thick hide, Alex quickly drew out Stroke and brandished it before him.


    He swiftly prepared his fighting stance, set his mind to full alert and used all the buff-type spells and scrolls he had, such as: [Hexagram Technique - stage 4], [Bless], [Stone Skin], [Windwalk], [Energize]. Alex then eyed the beast sharply, ready for a fight if necessary.


    When the flying beast broke through the ceiling and looked down towards Alex and the others, it swiftly swooped down towards them with its talon spreaded apart. The speed of the swooping beast was insanely fast. It quickly crashed upon a fighter, thetter didn''t even realize when it hit him.


    In an instant, the fighter was mmed to the ground, creating a small crater around him. All the other fighters immediately dashed away, scrambled and surrounded the crater where the huge beast was currently.


    When the dirt and dust flying in the air settled, everyone could only see broken and separated parts of the body strewn inside the crater, while the beast eyed them with a gaze full of hostility.


    Even though each of them was either a Sky realm Knight or Magus, which could be called a top powerhouse in the world, they couldn''t help but sweat when they saw the fate of their poorpanion, that nowid beneath the beast.


    Naturally, the fighters didn''t remain still. As they surrounded the beast, they immediately sent out their attacks. A barrage of spells and bullets swiftly flew in the air heading towards the beast.


    s, their efforts werepletely futile, as the beast received the full brunt of their attacks without taking any real impact at all. Seeing the unscathed hide of the beast without any wounds, all these veteran warriors were currently sweating bullets.


    As expected, the beast was only further provoked by the attacks, as it roared angrily.


    *ROAR!!!*


    A sharp piercing roar, reminiscent of a lion''s roar, echoed through the air. In the blink of an eye, powerful gusts of wind like some kind of magic spell materialized, as the beast did a sweep with its huge wings. As a result, several unprepared fighters were thrown away by the wind currents. Some of them even knocked against the wall near the path they took and received a concussion.


    At the moment, the beast was walking slowly, eyeing each and every fighter in the area, as if it was a lion in the middle of its prey selection. Every fighter who received the beast''s gaze waspletely terrified.


    Unexpectedly, Alex jumped in front of the creature''s line of sight with his wooden sword in hand. The gait Alex''s body showed indicated he wasing to fight. Provoked by his action, the beast swiftly dashed towards Alex.


    When the creature charged towards him, Alex immediately casted [Decelerate] to slow down the creature and dashed forward himself. When the two figures were only a meter away from each other, he swiftly swung his sword diagonally, as Stroke created a beautiful arc of light.


    Not only that, Alex also subtly shifted his feet, as his body leaned to the right. With this, he would be able to instantly spin and dodge the beast''s strike the moment his own attacksnded.


    St!


    Alex was able tond a significant wound on the creature''s body. Immediately after, he spun his body to dodge the iing talons and retreated back. Thankfully, Alex managed to evade the sweep rather easily, as the beast''s speed had been lowered by his spell. Meanwhile, Alex''s sessful attack made the beast roared again, this time, beside anger there was also pain.


    It appeared that with his [Decelerate] spell, Alex could at least win in the speed aspect. As for the strength aspect, he didn''t dare to try and test himself against the beast.


    When Alex was finally able to smile a little bit seeing the wound on the creature, it suddenly healed itself to a speed apparent to the naked eye.


    "Shit!! Hanz! Mr Heinrich! Any way to kill this monster?"


    Upon hearing Alex''s question, Heinrich shook his head and said, "No, Mr Alex. We hoped you would know..."


    Meanwhile, the creature didn''t stop his rampage when Alex was busy ''interrogating''. When he saw the creature instantly killed another fighter, Alex quickly dashed towards it while still using the [Decelerate] spell. He wanted to do another swing at the beast, this time aiming at its neck. Alex was hoping that cutting off the creature''s neck he would win him the fight.


    When he saw the opportunity wasing, Alex quickly positioned himself on the beast''s blind spot and immediately channeled all the power he could muster to his arm, as he swung Stroke.


    CLANK!


    To Alex''splete shock, his tier 5 sword was only able to cut an inch deep into the skin. When the sword got in contact with the creature''s neck, Alex felt as if he was hitting a metal wall.


    On the other hand, the creature was in rage when it felt pain in its neck. It snapped his head around and spotted the retreating Alex and swiftly charging towards him.


    With the footwork of Hexagram Technique, Alex was barely able to dodge the monster''s furious charge. It didn''t stop there, the beast immediatelyunched a series of w attacks towards him, followed by countless de-like wind currents towards him


    Finally, the fourth attack the beastunched was able tond on Alex''s body, causing the protective barrier he had to immediately shatter and tore the protective vest apart.


    [Energy Shield 0/200]


    [Condition : Destroyed]


    Alex was utterly shocked when he saw the tattered state of his vest, "Just one attack, and the tier 2 protective vest was totally wrecked! What a powerful attack!"


    Alex swiftly moved back, as he tried to break away from the beast. Unfortunately, the beast was still moving towards Alex and following him like a glue. It then quickly sent another w strike at him.


    This time, Alex was much more panicked. He really didn''t dare to imagine what would happen when another attack managed tond on him. Hence, he swiftly did a backward tumble to dodge the strike and once again swung Stroke to block another wing at him.


    nk!!


    The moment Stroke met the beast''s w, Alex felt a tremendous strength channeled to his body through the sword. As a result, he was thrown several meters away and fell to the ground, coughing out blood.


    Coincidentally, Alexnded near the location of Heinrich and Hanz.


    "The creature is too strong, Mr Heinrich." Alex said, still coughing some blood.


    "Mr Alex, we do have another n. But we think you will not like it."


    "At a moment like this, any n will be appreciated."


    Right as Alex finished his words, Heinrich gave a nod to Hanz and Hanz quickly drew a knife out of his ring and stabbed it on Alex''s shoulder. With his protective vest pretty much a goner, the de went straight through into his bone.


    The stab was surely hurt, but it was still bearable for Alex. He was about to struggle when the other Iron Eagle fighters suddenly brandished their swords towards Ardeth.


    "What the hell, Hanz?! What are you guys nning?" Alex asked, panting while still coughing blood.


    Hanz pulled out the knife and ced it near Alex''s neck. He then whispered, "Just y along, Mr Alex. This is probably the only way for us to survive."


    With the current condition, where Ardeth was also held hostage, Alex thought he might as well wait and see what was their n. Heinrich walked near the river and shouted towards Cerri, who stood behind the barrier with her arm crossed.


    "If you don''t order that creature to stop its attack, I will kill this man." Heinrich said, pointing his finger at Alex.


    Unexpectedly, Cerri appeared to be unbothered by the threat, "Just kill the man. I don''t know him and I don''t care."


    The legendary beast seemed to just finished devouring another Sky realm fighter when it suddenly turned around facing Heinrich. It then swiftly charged towards him.


    Upon seeing the iing beast, Heinrich shouted, "If you don''t order it to stop right now, Alex''s head will roll!"


    Naturally, Alex would not let this happen. He was about to use his energy to free himself when he suddenly realized something made his spirit power unable to channel properly. A thought then shed in his mind.


    ''Poison!?''


    Meanwhile, the creature kept his charge towards them, the knife near Alex''s neck kept inching forward.


    But at thest moment, a sudden loud shout stopped the beast on its tracks. Everyone''s gaze turned towards the source of the shout.


    It was a shout from a little girl, who came from across the river.. Alex''s daughter, Tiffany.

 Chapter 354 - Tiffany

    The little girl was the person Alex desperately searched for several days.


    She swiftly ran out from the trees. Looking at her pale contenance, Alex thought she probably had been hiding there for a while, observing everything that had been transpired.


    From the woods across the river, Tiffany once again shouted, as she was afraid that Cerri didn''t hear her, "Stop Stop! Please don''t hurt my dad!" She said, while moving next to Cerri and grabbed the hem of the mysterious girl''s clothes.


    To Alex and the others''plete surprise, his daughter was able to make the legendary beast stop its charge, even when Cerri didn''t give the order yet.


    Seeing that his gamble was working, Heinrich appeared to be extremely d, "Hahaha, I knew it! The little girl is the key."


    Heinrich''s ambiguous words made Alex extremely irritated. After all, it was his daughter that he was talking about!


    "What are you nning, Heinrich?" Alex said firmly. He once again tried to channel his spirit power and move his body, but he was still unable to do so. Turned his head around with great difficulty due to the wounds and poison, Alex asked, "What did you do to me?!"


    "I am truly sorry, Mr Alex. But don''t worry, just follow along and we all will be alive at the end of this."


    Alex of course would not willing to y along, especially when the situation involved the safety of his daughter. He sneakily took a nce at the danger. At first, it only looked like a rusty dagger made of bronze. However, Alex knew it must be an artifact as there was no way a ''rusty'' dagger could inflict debuff on him.


    He assumed the dagger had the ability to inflict some sort of negative effect, such as [Poisoned], [Paralyzed] or any other effects, to his body, which then made him unable to channel his power properly.


    Alex knew this type of ability etched in an artifact would have some sort of time restriction, just like his Silver Dagger''s ability [Haste] that could onlyst for 10 minutes.


    And for this kind of ability that affected him, Alex estimated the time should be the same, or at most would only be 30 minutes. Hence, he decided to y along for now, until he found another solution or the debuff wore off him.


    Across the river, Alex could see Tiffany appear to be talking with the mysterious girl. Apparently, Cerri also seemed to be listening to what she had to say. This made Alex even more confused about the situation.


    After a few minutes, Cerri turned around and looked at them across the river with a disgruntled face. She then floated up into the air and flew above the river, shocking everyone. She then said, "You all should be grateful. I have decided to let you leave from here with your life intact. Now, go away!"


    Unfortunately, Heinrich, as the leader of Ahnenerbe organization, would never let his sacrifices and those of his men be in vain. Hence, he replied to Cerri with determination, "Dear Supreme Being, I have been living for more than a hundred year, looking for the origin of humanity. All the evidence I have collected through my lifetime finally led me to this ce. Therefore, please let mee along and see this magnificent ce with my own two eyes!"


    Without even hesitating, Cerri replied Heinrich with the same amount of determination, perhaps even more, "No! You certainly cannot! This is no ce for a thief like you! Leave now or die in this ce!"


    Heirich appeared to be disappointed, but it was just for a moment. The next second, he swiftly said, "Dear Supreme Being, I am willing to die in my journey to search for the truth! So yes, I am not afraid of death! Supreme Being, please listen to my reason... I have evidence to believe I could do something about the obstacle inside this ce. So please! We can help you face it together."


    Upon hearing that, Cerri turned silent and seemed to be deep in thought. After a while, she finally moved from her position.


    While still floating in the air, Cerri moved towards the barrier which separated the two areas and touched it with both of her arms. Slowly but surely, everyone who was still alive could see a gap was opening in the barrier.


    Heinrich didn''t think much anymore, he quickly beckoned everyone to follow him. He swiftly led everyone as he walked through the gap inside the barrier and touched the other side first.


    Naturally, Alex and Ardeth followed the group. Especially the wounded Alex, who was supported by the other Iron Eagle fighters.


    As Heinrich''s feet touched the lush grasses, he suddenly turned so excited Alex thought for a second he was on drugs. Being in the mythical garden in person and seeing the wonderful sight around him made so Heinrich didn''t care about anything else anymore. He even let go of Alex and Ardeth.


    Meanwhile, Tiffany quickly ran towards Alex and dived to his embrace, hugging him tightly. For a moment, Alex ignored the pain he currently felt and hugged his missing daughter tightly as well. He also did not forget to pat her head with affection, as he tried to calm her down.


    "I am sorry, daddy. Iˇ­ I was just helping out a friend. I... am sorry." Tiffany said, crying in Alex''s embrace.


    "It''s alright. The most important thing is that you are safe. But you still need to exin it to your mom." Alex said, continuing to pat her head." Now daddy needs to talk to your friend."


    Carefully released his embrace, Alex beckoned Ardeth to guard Tiffany. He then walked towards Cerri, nearly stumbling to the ground during the process, and sternly said, "Let us go now and I will consider this never happened."


    "Human.. Your love towards your offspring is really fascinating. But no, I can''t let Tiffany go. After all, I need her."


    Alex, of course, unconvinced by her words, "She is still too young and this ce is very dangerous. I will help you with whatever it is. Just let her go."


    "No. You definitely can''t help me, only she can. But I understand your concern. Don''t worry, I will definitely protect her. She, after all, is my friend as well."


    Realizing that Cerri would not budge on her decision, Alex could only helplessly shake his head. He then returned to Ardeth and Tiffany and beckoned them to follow.


    The group finally walked together toward the center of the garden, led by Cerri. As they made their way through verdant grassfield, abundant trees and lively small rivers, each and everyone of them couldn''t help but be amazed by the stunning sight.


    Alex also found that Snowy, the Garuda that always apanied Tiffany, was also here. But he just flew around the ce, ying around.


    After a while, they finally arrived at a ce that waspletely different from what they had seen before. A ruin with a dozen of snake statues erected around it.


    As they walked closer, they discovered arge staircase heading downwards to the depth of ruin. They proceeded to walk through the staircase until they could only find a stone bridge at the end of it.


    The stone bridge was only around 5 meters wide; at first nce, it looked like a normal stone bridge, one could find in many cities. However, Alex and the other couldn''t see the end of the bridge as it waspletely shrouded in darkness.


    Looking at the unknown before them, Cerri gestured something to Heinrich and he seemed to understand what her intention was. He ordered two of his fighters to walk in front, scouting the path ahead.


    And just as expected, when the two fighters only walked a few dozen steps, arge snake-like creature suddenly rose from the pitch-ck darkness and quickly devoured the two poor fighters.


    Seeing the gruesome fate of the fighters, the expression on Cerri''s face didn''t seem to change. Meanwhile, Alex had swiftly blocked Tiffany''s line of sight with his body the moment Heinrich ordered his fighters to ''scout'' the way.


    Cerri then opened her mouth and said, "This is the time to use your ability, Tiffany."


    ----------------------------------


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 Chapter 355 - Basilisk

    Alex could vaguely see the huge snake creature swirling at the bottom of the abyss. It swiftly slithered its way up and rose to the top of the stone bridge.


    When the creature slowly showed its appearance, Alex spotted a tusk-like horn on top of its head, exactly at its forehead. When itpletely exposed its body, the creature was around 2 meters in diameter.


    Alex couldn''t estimate its length as half of its body was still inside the abyss. Turquoise-colored scales could be seen covering the creature''s whole body, giving it an aesthetic yet dangerous look.


    [Basilisk]


    [Legendary Creature]


    The creature was able to devour two strong Sky realm fighters with ease like eating a chicken drumstick. It even didn''t give the fighters a chance to fight back.


    At the moment, the two unfortunate fighters were inside the creature''s stomach, moving up and down, pressed and squeezed until their body became nutrients for it.


    When he saw the information from his bracelet, Alex was shocked, extremely so. How could there be another legendary-ss creature hidden inside this hidden ce?


    From the looks of it, the Basilisk and the Sphinx both had at least the power level equal to a Saint realm fighter, two levels higher than he currently was.


    Moreover, this creature was also never seen or heard of in Alex''s previous life, causing him to worry about the current situation. Alex wondered what was this ce he stumbled into and how many mysteries it contained.


    Alex couldn''t help but be anxious, especially with his 13 years old daughter by his side following this journey. Heck, he couldn''t even let her daughter go from this ce either.


    However, the most surprising thing he had heard today was the mysterious girl Cerri calling Tiffany to take care of the creature. The very same creature who just devoured two people alive.


    "Tiffany, it''s time to use your ability." Cerri said once more, as she thought that Tiffany didn''t hear her.


    Alex, as the protective dad he was, surely would not allow Tiffany to evene closer to the snake. Not a chance. So, he stood in front of Tiffany blocking her way and crossed his two arms, his attitude clearly questioning Cerri''s words.


    "Please, Alex. If she won''t do it, we will all die here." Cerri anxiously said, when she noticed the snake was about to finish its digestion.


    When Alex was about to open his mouth, he suddenly felt a pull on his clothes. Turning his head around, Alex saw Tiffany who was smiling, "Don''t worry, daddy. I know what to do."


    Looking at the smile on Tiffany''s face, which seemed like trying to assure him, Alex was silent for a moment before releasing a deep sigh. He stepped out of the way, allowing Tiffany to walk past him.


    s, there was no way Alex would let her go easily just like that. Therefore, he apanied his little girl, as she walked closer to the snake. Naturally, Alex already drew and brandished Stroke in his hand, in case anything dangerous came towards them.


    At the same time, the monstrous snake seemed to finish her snack and red at them with a gaze full of rage andˇ­ curiosity. Alex unconsciously gripped Stroke''s hilt harder when he saw that.


    [We can not beat this creature, master] Stroke''s voice echoed in Alex''s mind.


    "I know, Stroke. But we still need to try. There''s no way I will just stand still."


    While Alex and Stroke debated whether it was a good idea to attack the creature, Tiffany, on the other hand, raised both of her hands and aimed them at the creature. A split secondter, her body was glowing brightly, while her eyes turned all white.


    Alex was stunned when he felt a strong yet calming energy radiating from all over Tiffany''s body. Currently, Tiffany totally had the traits of a goddess, with her body shining and her hair fluttering. Unfortunately, Alex''s state of awe didn''tst long as Tiffany''s struggling voice traveled through the air.


    "Sis.. ter.. Cerri sh..e is.. re..sis.ting.. too strong!"


    Cerri''s face immediately changed when she heard that. It appeared the creature was too strong for the current Tiffany. Cerri swiftly looked around, her gaze quicklynded on Heinrich. "You! It''s time to show your usefulness! I need you to buy time and stop the creature for a few minutes."


    Surprisingly, Heinrich didn''t even try to argue, not even one bit and quickly ordered his fighters to attack the creature. Immediately after, half a dozen Iron Eagle fighters stepped forward and brought out their weapons. The weapons in their hands seemed to be the tier 2 energy weapon.


    The fighters began to fire their weapons, while three other fighters, that appeared to be equipped with tier 2 or 3 weapon artifacts, charged fearlessly toward the monster. The trio used the barrage of attacks as their cover.


    Meanwhile, Hanz also didn''t remain still as he swiftly followed behind the three moving fighters.


    [Windwalk]


    [Energize]


    As their enhancement spells took effect, the three of them began to cast their own unique spells and quickly swung or thrusted their weapons towards the creature.


    Loud sounds reverberated in the air as the weapons hit the scales of the creature. Evidently, the creature wasn''t happy with the barrage of attacks it received. However, the first being the creature struck was not Hanz and the three fighters who were nearby. Instead, it was the half of a dozen firing squad''s fighters.


    From within the abyss below the bridge, a massive tail suddenly emerged andshed towards the bridge, right at the location where the firing squad was. As a result, two of the fighters were crushed to mincemeat, while another two fighters were thrown from the bridge into the abyss.


    To Alex''splete surprise, Heinrich still looked calm despite instantly losing four of his men from that strike. He even calmly sent some of his men to fill the gap left and created another firing squad.


    While the backline was mostly destroyed by the creature''s sneak attack, Hanze and the other three, who used melee weapons, were only able to make small scratches on the creature''s body. The scales of the creatures were simply too formidable.


    But even though their attack gave miniscule, almost nonexistent effect to the creature, all of them continued their attacks. They even became even more ferocious.


    One of the frontline fighters, who held a sabre in his hand, wasn''t prepared when the creature suddenly turned its head around. Without being able to do anything, the poor guy was gulped by the creature at a shocking speed.


    When they saw that, Hanz and the rest of the fighters immediately split up andunched their attacks on different parts of the creature.


    This time, the creature ignored Hanz and the others again, and spat a green liquid towards the newly formed firing line. The liquid hit one of the fighters, who instantly screamed in agony as his body started melting like a burning candle.


    "This is a massacre!" Ardeth shouted, as he witnessed the sight before him.


    s, Ardeth''s shout didn''t do anything, as the monster spit out more green liquid, even more this time. Luckily, before it could reach the fighters, Alex swiftly dashed and appeared in front of them as he casted his [Shield Barrier] spell to hold the attack.


    Indeed, the barrier immediately melted into a void. But at the very least, it had saved their lives and carried out the purpose it was created for.


    "Heinrich, tell your men to retreat!!!" Alex loudly shouted, but Heinrich seemed to not hear him, as he sent another line of fighters.


    The creature was no longer concerned about the fighters close to it. Instead, it directed its attention towards the group at the back, where the glowing Tiffany, Heinrich and Cerri were. While Tiffany was focusing her effort on controlling the creature, leaving her totally vulnerable, Alex quickly jumped in front of her and casted another [Shield Barrier].


    Alex knew it would not even hold more than one attack from the creature, but he prepared to do anything for his beloved daughter.


    The snake rapidly slithered on the bridge towards the group, utterly ignoring Hanz and the other two who attacked it without stopping. When it almost crashed into the barrier set by Alex, the huge snake creature suddenly stopped in its tracks and froze one meter in front of Alex.


    "I did it!" Tiffany shouted in her usual happy tone.

 Chapter 356 - The Ark

    "I DID IT!" Tiffany excitedly said in her joyful tone.


    Right as Tiffany said that, the legendary creature, the Basilisk, abruptly stopped in its track. It then lowered its head until itid on the stone bridge. On the other hand, Alex only stood there with Stroke brandished in front of him, behind the barrier he casted, clearly surprised by the sudden turnaround.


    Tiffany, who now had returned back to her normal condition, stepped closer to the creature, which evidently made Alex anxious, apparent from his pale expression and rising heartbeat. However, to much everyone''s surprise, except Cerri, the previously ferocious snake had suddenly turned into a docile creature.


    It onlyid there frozen still, while being patted on the head by the little girl. Heck, Alex was sure he could even hear a faint, happy, hissing voice from the creature.


    Seeing the situation was basically defused, Cerri also approached the snake. The creature was staring at the mysterious girl for around a minute long, until it slowly retreated and slithered back to the bottom of the bridge into the dark abyss. Momentster, the creature was no more.


    If there were no traces of something slithering on the bridge, such as the puddles of unrecognizable objects with a nasty stench and the destruction of the bridge fences, Alex would have thought everything was just a dream.


    When the creature went for good, Alex immediately approached Cerri and demanded an exnation. "What just happened?"


    Cerri, who looked at the creature with a sorrowful gaze, turned around after she schooled her expression back to normal, "That is Neheb, she was my friend. As for the reason why she attacked us when I was her friend... This ce had made her forget who she was. Fortunately, she hase to her senses. Your daughter has once again reminded her who she was."


    Honestly, Alex found it hard to believe what the mysterious girl said, but he could only believe her statement for now. Moreover, he knew Cerri herself was actually a beetle, so the chances her exnation was true were bigger than its counterpart.


    Realizing Alex received her exnation, Cerri swiftly turned around and walked deeper into the bridge, "Let''s go. We are no longer far from our destination."


    The group continued their journey, as they made their way across the bridge. When they reached the end of the bridge, the group found a huge, metallic door, which had strangely opened. The moment they walked through the door, Tiffany screamed in shock and swiftly hid behind Alex''s back.


    Behind the massive door there was arge open area, which waspletely filled with ck blood and corpses. Countless body parts were strewn around on the ground, creating a horrendous sight to the eye.


    When Alex examined the state of the bodies, he found out all of them were new. Based on his estimation, they died probably just a few days ago, as their bodies still had some flesh and were decaying. Alex also knew their origin, as he recognized some of them were wearing the same uniform as the Iron Eagle squad soldiers, who stood behind him.


    Turning his head around, Alex gazed at Heinrich, while pointing his finger at the corpses, "Those are your men, Heinrich?"


    "Yes... we lost contact with themst week. Hence, the reason for our arrival."


    Not even needing to know their motive, Alex knew he would never like this man named Heinrich. He didn''t even flinch seeing the corpses of his men, as he walked past their bodies with a calm expression.


    As they walked deeper into the area, the group discovered a few military tents that had already been set up. They also found some equipment and supplies scattered around.


    "How long have they been here?" Alex asked, as he examined the supplies on the ground.


    "Two weeks." Heinrich answered calmly, "This was abined project between my organization and the Heavenly Gate. So yeah, they had been here since two weeks ago."


    Upon hearing that, Cerri that walked in front became irritated, "You thieves deserve such punishment!"


    "We only wish to find out about the truth of humanity." Heinrich retorted, earning him a piercing re from Cerri.


    Before the two of them could start their own argument again, Alex swiftly cut them off, "And you? What about you, Cerri? What are you doing here?"


    Turning her head with a huff, Cerri replied, "Just keep walking. You will see it soon enough."


    After an unknown amount of time, probably an hour, the group finally arrived in front of a pyramid-like structure, but it was shaped differently than the pyramids Alex had seen on the surface. Instead of themon pyramid form, this structure had its own distinct appearance but still kept its pyramid-like essence. It was a ziggurat.


    Heinrich immediately rushed into the structure the moment heid his eyes on it. Alex and the others swiftly followed the man, otherwise he would be going alone into the unknown.


    When they entered the inside of the structure, the group was greeted by the sight of a massive hall that screamed archaic, with walls filled with mysterious symbols and inexplicable images. At the moment, one could see the extremely excited Heinrich examining the area.


    As Alex scanned the entire hall, he noticed there were two 5 meters statues standing at the end of the hall. Both of the statues had human-like figures, but their heads weren''t. One had the head of a crane, while the other had the face of a dog.


    From how the statues were positioned, Alex guessed they were guarding something, and his guess wasn''t wrong. Right between the two statues, located a little behind from them, there was something that appeared to be a coffin.


    While Heinrich and Ardeth were fascinated by the symbols and images on the wall, Cerri ignored them and quickly approached the end of the hall, exactly where the coffin was. The moment she reached it, Cerri immediately knelt in front of the coffin with a submission posture.


    "Master, I have finally returned to your side."


    Nudging the awed Ardeth, Alex asked him, "Do you know who could possiblyy there?"


    Unfortunately, his question only earned him a shaking head from Ardeth, which showed he had no clue. For a moment, Alex really wanted to question the eligibility of this man''s bachelor''s degree in archeology.


    Meanwhile, Heinrich, who finally noticed the coffin, swiftly approached it. While trembling all over, the man knelt towards the coffin and opened his mouth, "Here lies the Allfather, our creator, Anu."


    When Alex nced at Ardeth asking for exnation, this time the tattooed man was able to give information, "Anu is the heavenly father written in the ancient transcriptions from the old Mesopotamian civilization. Many believe Anu came from space and was the one who brought civilization to our world."


    A momentter, Cerri took out arge box from her ring. It was a chest with a golden sheen all over. Alex could see the of two statues of winged people facing each other on top of it. Surprisingly, Ardeth and almost all the Iron Eagle fighters instantly knelt on the ground when they saw the chest''s appearance.


    Heinrich was also shocked the moment his eyes spotted the object in Cerri''s hands.


    "The Ark of Covenant!"


    The Ark of Covenant was perhaps the most valuable artifact that had ever existed in the history of mankind. It was brought by the Israelites when they left Egypt. Since then, the ark had been following them and giving them victory in their wars, until it was lost the moment Israeli Kingdom was destroyed by the Babylonian.


    Ever since then, the ark had been missing from the world, with its whereabouts unknown. Through the centuries, many people had been trying to find the ark, but to no avail. Hence, this was the first time it ever revealed itself again.


    Heinrich was bbergasted and the wordsing out of his mouth were incoherent, "Y-you? The Ark? How? It was you who took it from Babylon, didn''t you?"


    "Yes, when you people keep disappointing my master''s will, I decided to keep it."


    "Then, it is true! It is true!" Heinrich became more and more excited.


    Surprisingly, Cerri turn around facing at Heinrich and raised her hand letting Heinrich to approach the artifacts


    ----------------------------------


    Written and Directed by Avans, Published by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,


    Check out our new website https://bit.ly/avansweb


    For discussion Join Avan''s Discord server: https://discord.gg/7ngn7yN9xN

 Chapter 357 - Butchered

    As soon as he saw Cerri''a gesture to him, Heinrich walked forwards with a face full of expectation, fervor and ador. For him, for someone who dedicated most of his life searching for the truth, this was like a dream came true, one he didn''t mind repeating all over.


    Step by step, second by second, Heinrich slowly made his way towards the object of legend, something that existed in history, but was lost within passage of time. The moment he reached the Ark, one meter away from this legendary artifact, Heinrich immediately dropped to his knees.


    While kneeling and showing utmost reverence to the Ark, Heinrich nced at the mysterious girl. The gait he showed looked like he was asking for permission. Seeing that, Cerri nodded her head, which earned her a joyful look from the man.


    Slowly raising up from his kneeling position, Heinrich gave the Ark a bow before he turned around. He then called upon 4 of his men with a gesture of his hand. Immediately after, the summoned fighters approached Heinrich. He then ordered his men to stand at the four corners of the Ark. The fighters then grabbed the four corners of the wooden cover and slowly lifted it up.


    The ornamented cover was slowly separated from its main part; as it was being lifted, a lustrous light could be seen seeping through the gaps, attracting the attention of everyone in the hall. When the Ark was finally shown, the previously mellow light instantly turned into a bright piercing light. It then swiftly epassed the entire hall.


    In an instant, the four people, who were the closest to the Ark, began howling loudly, as their bodies started melting. The sound they released indicated they were in an excruciating pain. Momentster, what was left of them were only piles of goey and ckened bone.


    Heinrich himself, who stood not far from the Ark, was also screaming in pain. When the light receded, Alex could only see the figure of standing Heinrich slowly fell down. His knees hit the ground and strangely stopped there, causing him to kneel in front of the Ark.


    The sudden incident made the others, who watched the entire sequence dumbfounded. Thanks to that, they also didn''t realize there were tworge figures approaching the entrance of the ziggurat. If Alex turned around and looked at the entrance, he would definitely be extremely shocked. The two figures were the Sphinx and the Basilisk.


    At that moment, Cerri turned around, her body faced towards the group and said, "Kill them all."


    The moment Cerri''s mouth pronounced the word kill, Alex immediately pulled Tiffany into his arms, keeping her close to him. He also drew and held Stroke in tight grip, while swiftly taking his fighting stance. He was ready to fight.


    Alex then eyed the surroundings and finally noticed the new arrivals at the entrance of the hall. Looking at the two monstrous figures, a grave expression appeared on his face.


    Even one of those legendary beasts would be able to kill them all with ease. Now, there were even two of them standing there, eyeing them with gazes that couldn''t possibly screamed more hostility. As if it wasn''t enough, the beasts had guarded and blocked the entrance with their massive build.


    Realizing the predicament they were in, Ardeth immediately rushed towards Alex and stood next to him, hoping he could help them escape.


    The already precarious situation turned even more precarious, when the two statues that stood silently beside the coffin suddenly moved. The abrupt movement startled and terrified Alex and the others. Starting from their hands and then heads, before finally their feet. The statues quickly woken up from their who-know-how-long slumber.


    Between the slithering and hissing snake, the ferocious flying beast and the two standing giant statues; Alex didn''t even want to pick one of them. Heck, if they were released into the world, Alex believed continents would be razed to the ground within a week. With this ster line-up, they could easily butchered everythinging their way. They didn''t even need to cooperate with each other!


    Fortunately for Alex, none of them seemed keen on closing on him, Tiffany, or Ardeth. The legendary creatures were just massacring the two dozen or so Iron Eagle squad fighters, whilepletely ignoring the existence of the three people, acting as if they didn''t exist.


    Alex clearly saw Hanz was fighting to the best of his ability, only to be torn apart by the Sphinx''s sharp paws. On the other hand, all the other fighters were either being mmed to the ground, crushed into paste, or immediately entered the creatures'' belly.


    Shots were fired, spells were casted, weapons shed, but these Sky realm veteran fighters, who shouldn''t be less powerful than Alex''s special force, were unable to do anything against the legendary creatures. What Alex was currently seeing was only a futile struggle, something that appeared when one would end up with death.


    One by one, Heinrich''s men were perishing under the hands of the creatures. Only Heinrich, who was still on his knee unmoving, waiting for the fate stored for him. Alex could clearly see that even at thest moment, the middle aged man was still showing a smile of satisfaction before aser-like energy beam pierced his half-ckened body, killing him for good. In the distance, Alex saw the statue with the dog head was the one who did the deed.


    In less than three minutes, two dozens of Sky realm fighters were all massacred. At the moment, the hall''s floor was littered by blood and countless body parts scattered around. On the other hand, Alex was still positioning himself close to the wall, while closing Tiffany''s eyes with his other idle hand, not letting her see the bloodbath scene before them. Beside him, Ardeth was seen with his massive ax brandished.


    For a split second, Alex wondered if this was the reason that in his previous life, he never heard the Ahnenerbe organization''s involvement in the fight against the apocalypse. They probably met the same fate as right now.


    When all was finally over, Cerri walked towards Alex, "Those people deserve to die."


    While Cerri''s words travelled through the air, the four creatures were all slowly moving towards the end of the hall, before creating a line in front of the Ark and the mysterious coffin.


    "Who.. no. what are you?" asked Alex while still keeping his vignce on the highest level.


    "We are the followers of the once great man." said Cerri as her gazended at the coffin. The expression on her face showed that she was reminiscing in memory.


    Upon hearing the vague answer, Alex decided to change his approach. "Is your master the one in the coffin? Who is he exactly?"


    "I believe you deserve to hear our story, Alex."


    Although Cerri was saying his name, she was actually staring straight at Tiffany as she said the words.


    ----------------------------------


    Written and Directed by Avans, Published by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,


    Check out our new website https://bit.ly/avansweb


    For discussion Join Avan''s Discord server: https://discord.gg/7ngn7yN9xN

 Chapter 358 - Ebiru

    Alex closely watched the four monsters: the sphinx, the basilisk and the two huge humanoid yet animalistic statues, one had a crane head and the other a dog one. He shifted his vision to the girl standing right in the middle, Cerri, who was surrounded by the two items, therge golden coffin and what appeared to be the Ark of Covenant.


    At the moment, the Ark still exuded its luminous light, but it didn''t melt anything it touched anymore. Meanwhile, the girl seemed to be operating it, as she touched different parts of the Ark, tinkering with it. Suddenly, a cluster of light congregated above the Ark, forming into a hologram-like image of the entirety of Earth when seen from outer space.


    Alex was shocked when he saw the hologram-like disy, as he knew there was no way an ancient civilization had this kind of high-end technology. If they did, he just could not believe it. Hence, the spectacle made Alex believe a little about Cerri''s statement that she wasn''t from Earth.


    While Alex was still shocked, Cerri, who had stayed silent, finally said something. "Alex, my master and us, we all came to Earth more than 5,000 years ago. We came on a mission and we have seeded."


    Cerri then continued to operate the Ark, as Earth disappeared and it zoomed out of the gxy and into a certain green.


    "This is our, our home, Ebiru."


    Alex could clearly see that all the four figures seemed to react when they saw the image of the.


    "Mankind knew my master with many names: the god Anu, Uranus, the allfather and many others. He was a great man, until his creation turned against him and killed him. Ever since then, our master has been sealed from us, until today."


    Before Alex could process the new unexpected revtion, he suddenly heard a strange sounding from the Ark. At the same time, the two statues immediately moved towards the majestic coffin and lifted it up together.


    Looking at the scene before him, Alex couldn''t help but ask, "What do you want to do?"


    Cerri turned her body around and gazed at Alex and Tiffany before saying, "We are going home."


    In an instant, a bright pir of dazzling light appeared all around the Ark, covering Cerri who was near it. On the other hand, the two statues slowly made their way to the light while carrying the golden coffin.


    Tiffany, who understood the situation, shouted loudly, "Cerri! Are you leaving? How long will you leave? Will I ever see you again?"


    Cerri shifted her gaze to Tiffany, as she looked at the little girl with fondness, "Yes, my friend... We''ll meet again, maybe after all of you have seeded in your world tribtion. Until then, it''s time to say goodbye."


    This time, the words Cerri just said really piqued Alex''s interest, "What do you mean?"


    Right after the two humanoid statues walked into the light, the two legendary creatures swiftly followed them. Cerri, who had walked out of the light, was standing still right outside the pir of light, staring straight at Alex, "I hope your world can survive the test, Alex, I really don''t know much about it, what I know is that your daughter is very special, Alex. Even more than you can imagine. She has the same ability as my master. Maybe... She will be the key to Earth''s survival."


    Upon hearing that, Alex was stunned, "What do you mean? Tell me more." Alex was still asking for more answers, but Cerri had already walked one step into the light, "I''ve already said more than I''m supposed to."


    She then nced towards the Ark, "This Ark is a device that can connect our two worlds. Maybe we can meet again in the future. Good luck Alex and goodbye Tiffany."


    After Cerri took thest step and went inside the light, the Ark suddenly closed itself up and all the light instantly disappeared. Now, there were only three of them left inside the ziggurat, while the rest were already turned into corpses.


    Alex turned around and faced his daughter, "Are you okay, Tiff? Are you hurt anywhere?"


    "Don''t worry, daddy. I am fine."


    Alex checked his daughter''s body onest time before he lifted his head and looked at Ardeth, "I guess this is it. We should leave this ce immediately."


    Noticing that Ardeth seemed to have something in his mind, Alex asked, "What''s wrong, Ardeth? What is it? Is there something else?"


    Ardeth scratched his head and pointed towards the walls of the hall, "There are so many unknown engravings here. They are very interesting and I wish to study them."


    Alex shook his head and let out a smile when he heard Ardeth''s answer, "Yes, of course. You can study them, butter. After all, there are only three days left before the tribtion starts. We can return here another time in the future. We actually really should return to bury all these corpses as well. They might have people waiting for them at home."


    After thinking for a while, Ardeth thought what Alex said made sense. So, he replied, "Alright, Alex. You are right. Let''s go."


    The three of them swiftly walked out of the ziggurat, crossed the stone bridge and headed to the garden. When they reached the garden, Snowy, who had been waiting there for a while, was very happy to see Tiffany''s return.


    Three humans and one beast quickly traced their path back. When the four of them reached the river, Alex was startled, as the barrier existed on the river was still there.


    "Now, how to get past this barrier?"


    Alex suddenly be really worried, with Cerri already leaving how will he leave this ce


    --------------


    Author Note:


    Dear Doomsday Pirs Reader


    I apologize for the slow update with the story and thank you for your patience


    The truth is that the story of Doomsday Pirs is currently around 70% done and My concern is the chapters towards the ending will be too much a spoiler for my other Novel "Earth Greatest Magus". Therefore I am kinda reluctant to write chapters daily.


    For that reason currently, I can only promise 5-10 chapters per month and will gain daily again as soon as I am ready to finish the novel. But please do not worry, I will never stop writing this novel until the ending.


    Meanwhile, I hope you would keep supporting me by following my other Novel. Earth Greatest Magus that''s happening 2000 years before Doomsday Pirs started or thetest one Blood Elf Monarch that started just right before the Doomsday pir started


    Your sincerely, Avans


    PS: Don''t buy the highest tier as I will drop 5 free chapters from the Privilege chapters at the end of month.

 Chapter 359 - Barrier

    358


    Alex and the others were standing next to the riverbank, staring at the glimmering barrier in front of them. The river was a small and shallow one, but the problemid on the barrier existing before them. After all, Alex and Ardeth had seen first hand how strong the barrier was.


    Realizing Alex was standing still, Tiffany was puzzled, "What happened, daddy? Is there something wrong?"


    "Aaahˇ­" Alex was speechless, scratching his head in frustration, as he didn''t know how to exin about the situation to his daughter.


    Previously, it was Cerri who opened the barrier, letting them enter the garden. And now, Alex was not sure how to get past it.


    A thought suddenly shed in his mind, as Alex turned towards his lovable daughter, his eyes shining. "Tiff, when you first came here, how did you get in? Do you happen to know how to open the barrier?"


    "No, I don''t know. Why? Are we trapped here?" Seeing the downcast expression on Alex''s face, Tiffany eximed, "Really?!!"


    Alex hurriedly waved his hand and stered a reassuring smile on his face, "No, no, no. I''ll find a way, Tiff. I''ll... find it. Definitely. Yes." Alex said, while his voice was getting lower and lower, as he reached the end of his words.


    Alex turned towards Ardeth, only to find the man was as clueless as him. Yeah, let''s not count on the archeology bachelor. Alex then went into deep thought, trying to think of any solutions. And then, it hit him.


    Alex started thinking of the barrier as if it was the same kind as the one the monoliths created. If that was indeed the case, then there were two possible ways to break it. First, by sheer, unaldurated, massive force or, second, by finding the artifact that created it, in short, its source.


    The three of them then immediately searched around the ce for such artifacts. They made their way through the garden, the stone bridge and the ziggurat. But the only thing they found that resembled an artifact was the Ark, which was still lying peacefully in the ziggurat''s hall.


    Recalling how the Anhenerbe organization''s people died a tragic death because of the Ark, Alex would only try to operate the legendary artifact as ast resort.


    The four of them, including Snowy, who also searched the area through the air, spent three hours looking through every possible location. But, they didn''t find anything substantial. In fact, they didn''t even really know what to look for.


    After three hours of fruitless endeavor, Alex decided to opt for the second method, breaking the barrier with force.


    Alex swiftly casted multiple [Light Missile] and [Smite] spells, and threw them at the barrier continuously like a crazy person. But he could not really tell if his efforts made any impact or even a difference.


    Seeing the strength of his spells wasn''t enough, Alex immediately took out the strongest weapon at his disposal, the tier 5 artifact, Stroke.


    Alex raised the wooden sword in his hand, grasped it tight with his two hands and he leaped into the air to deliver a sh at the barrier.


    *swish*


    The sword caused air friction as it travelled through the air. When it hit the barrier, Alex was surprised to find the force behind the sh was redirected by the barrier. Instead of destroying the barrier, the force was bounced back at him, causing him to be pushed back.


    Alex was thrown a dozens of meters back, as he spun in the air andnded on the ground with a loud bam.


    [You are not strong enough, master]


    "Do you know what that barrier is, Stroke? Do you have a way to break through it?" Alex asked, as he remembered Stroke wasing from the mysterious man.


    [The barrier is medium-grade Shield Barrier]


    "Aaah, mediumˇ­ then, it shouldn''t be too difficult for you to break through it. Am I right, Stroke?"


    [Yes, master. I am a tier 5 artifact. I can break through this barrier]


    Alex cheered, as he had finally found hope amidst despair. He was honestly worried he was going to miss the tribtion. Thankfully, Stroke could solve their problem, allowing them to emerge to the surface again. s, Stroke''s next words made a frown appear on Alex''s face.


    [But it really depends on my user, master. If it''s you who use me, it''s not possible.]


    "Dammit Stroke. I am probably the strongest man on Earth right now. If I can''t do it then no one else can!"


    [Yes, master. Exactly. You are the strongest on Earth. But this barrier is not made from Earth. I am sure you know about this fact.]


    Alex didn''t want to start acting crazy and argue with a sword again. So, he took a deep breath and calmed his protruding veins. "There must be a way to pass through this barrier."


    [Master, I have a possible solution, but it''s only a possibility.]


    Alex''s face immediately brightened when he heard that, "It''s okay! Anything that could possibly work it''s worth trying right now. Quick! Tell me!"


    [Alright then, master. Try using the strongest buff you have and stab through the barrier. You then need to hold it as long as you can. If you do it right, you will probably pierce through the barrier]


    "That''sˇ­ a sound idea! Alright! This is more like it, Stroke! Let''s do this!"


    Alex immediately used his [Hexagram Technique - stage 4], his spell [Blessing] and a [Stone Skin] magic scroll. The reason he added the scroll was to add a little bit of strength and grip power. Even though the improvement was miniscule, it was an increase nheless.


    [Remember, master. You need to stab the barrier, not sh it.]


    "Yes, yes, yes. I get it." Alex replied. "Get ready, Stroke. Here we go!"


    Alex immediately dashed towards the barrier, as he ran through the shallow river with Stroke brandished in front of him. Momentster, the tip of the wooden swordnded on the barrier.


    Zaaaapppp!!!


    Loud sizzling sounds resounded through the air as the piercing attack somehow was able to go through the barrier about 10 centimeters. Alex felt a powerful force pushing him back, but Alex resisted it, trying to hold his stand as long as possible.


    Alex felt as if his body was being electrocuted continuously, but he kept gripping the sword tight.


    "Can we do it like this, Stroke?!!"


    [You need to hold it longer, master]


    "How much longer do I need to do this, Stroke." Alex asked, as pain was wrecking through his body and he was nearing his limit.


    [Keep doing it, master]


    "Iˇ­ can''t hold it anymore.."


    [Only one more minute, master]


    Upon hearing the word one minute, Alex firmed his willpower, as he held the sword even more tight, as if his life depended on it. Even though the pain was unbearable, as it began to make him numb, Alex persisted.


    ˇ­


    "It''s already one minute, Stroke. Why does it not open yet?"


    [I never said it would break it, master]


    Hearing that, incredulous expression appeared on Alex''s face, as he unconsciously let go of his resistance, causing him to be knocked back into the river.


    "WHAT! Seriously, Stroke! What are you trying to do?!"


    [I am calcting your strength, master. Comparing it to the barrier.]


    Before Alex could ask Stroke to borate, Stroke added his words.


    [With this approach, if you continue for a period of time, you will eventually break through the barrier]


    "Why does it seem I would not like to hear itˇ­ F*ck! Just give me anyway. What''s the number?"


    [You can break the barrier after holding the stance for 2 years 7 months 11 days 3 hours 43 minutes and 35 seconds]


    "WHAT THE FUCK!?"

 Chapter 360 - Trapped

    [You can break the barrier after holding the stance for 2 years 7 months 11 days 3 hours 43 minutes and 35 seconds]


    "WHAT THE FUCK?!"


    Alex had expected he would need to hold his position for some time in order to crack the barrier, but that amount of time was just absurd. Even if he somehow exhausted all his options and kept on holding the sword in such a tiring position, he didn''t have two years to waste locked in this ce.


    The uing tribtion would be held in three days and even with all the preparation he made, he had to be there for his family and friends.


    "Stroke, is there really no other way to break the barrier?"


    [With your current condition, that is impossible]


    Ardeth and Tiffany stared at Alex, concern evident in their gaze. As he was the only one capable of hearing Stroke, he was the only one who knew the gravity of their current situation.


    "Daddy, what happened?" Tiffany walked closer to his father and asked.


    Despite Alex''s heart telling him his child didn''t need to know, there was really no way to avoid telling them about their current situation. Alex jumped back, away from the barrier and exined what he knew, hoping the two of them would have some ideas.


    "Daddy, what if I and Snowy join you in attacking the barrier? This ckbeard uncle can also help us. Maybe the barrier will go down faster."


    Hearing the nickname given by Tiffany, Ardeth looked at her in a slight disbelief. The girl scratched her head and looked away from him.


    "Ahaha, I''m sorry, uncle. But you really do look like a pirate."


    Tiffany''s actions made Alex feel a little more calmer, but there was no progress to be made in solving their current predicament. Even with Snowy and Ardeth joining in, they would not be able to impact the required time significantly, unless they also had a tier 5 weapon like the one he had.


    In the end, though they racked their brains, there was no possible solution to be found. They decided to put the matter to the back of their minds for the moment and do anything they could to improve their situation. Alex and Ardeth walked towards the ziggurats, collecting all the corpses on the way, before burying them right outside in the huge garden. Meanwhile, Tiffany and Snowy were in charge of finding food.


    As the legends said, the Garden of Eden was really a paradise. The air felt crisp and clean, with various trees bearing equally colorful fruits as far as the eyes could see. Small animals skittered through the bushes here and there, some of them seemingly impossible to exist, yet here they were, moving between their legs and brushing the two of them with their fur.


    On the bright side, even if they had to stay here for two years, there was probably enough food to survive.


    Other than the nts and animals, various equipment could be seen scattered all around, clearly left behind after the disastrous Ahnenerbe expeditions. Tents, light generators, and other supplies would make staying alive here even easier.


    Tiffany and Snowy finally returned and they sat down on the grass to feast on all the food and get a little bit of rest. Feeling his strength returning, Alex decided to give the Ark another try. He was hesitant before, as he had seen the effects it had on Heinrich, but as of now, he had no choice. There was no way he could stay here in such a tiring position for two years.


    The three of them returned to the main room of the ziggurat and looked at the artifact known as The Ark of Covenant.


    From what the historical records indicated, the ark was once used as a tool tomunicate with God. He also had seen Cerri use the ark to move quickly to other ces.


    Other than what he had seen happen to the members of the Ahnenerbe expedition team, Alex was also concerned about Tiffany. He had seen Cerri getting teleported somewhere unknown and he couldn''t leave Tiffany alone in such a situation. He stared at his daughter in concern.


    "Alex, let me be the one to try it first." Ardeth said, snapping Alex out of his thoughts.


    On one hand, what Ardeth said was the logical solution, but Alex knew the only real option was to use Strokes and figure out some way he could use the artifact. If he failed, at least he would still have Ardeth to help look after his daughter. Even though it would not be ideal, that was only the worst-case scenario n, in case he failed.


    The other real option was not to try at all, something he did not have the luxury of choosing. The more time he spent here, the less time he had before the tribtion.


    Alex stroked Tiffany''s hair and hugged her before stepping forward, towards the direction of the artifact.


    Right in front of it, he took out Strokes before touching the item.


    Tap.


    Nothing happened when he touched it. He decided to use his bracelet to try and analyze it.


    [Ark of Covenant]


    [Length: 130 cm]


    [Function: Unable to identify]


    Alex sighed. The attempt went as well as he thought. In other words, his bracelet gave no useful information.


    "What do you think, Strokes?"


    [I suggest you to put your hand on it and channel your spirit energy in order to activate it. I can''t know anything about it if you don''t at least activate it.]


    "Dang, I guess that''s the only way then."


    Alex did exactly as he was told and concentrated on channeling his spirit energy towards the ark. Right as his energy touched the item, he was forced to step back and shield his eyes. A blinding light, coupled with pirs of me, appeared around the artifact.


    [Master, this artifact is some sort of power source.]


    "What do you mean?"


    [This artifact contains massive amounts of pure energy. Simr to the energy you could get from the stone of origin. This energy would be very beneficial for your cultivation.]


    Alex has no idea what a stone origin is but his main question still remains.


    "Strokes would it be useful to get away from this ce?"


    [Master, if you manage to advance your cultivation realm, ording to my calctions you would be able to break the barrier several times faster.]


    That was definitely good news. He could get stronger and get out of this ce faster.


    Thinking of getting out made Alex remember a certain friend who was definitely looking for him right now.


    ----------------------------------


    Written and Directed by Avans, Published by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,


    For discussion Join Avan''s Discord server: https://discord.gg/7ngn7yN9xN

 Chapter 361 - Singapore

    D-Day #495


    Singapore, 5 days before the arrival of tribtion.


    Deep within the Abyss Hole in the Ind of Singapore, where pitch darkness resided as if swallowing all lights entering it, a series of painful screams and loud shouts were heard. The ''bustling'' atmosphere was also apanied by the roar of a mighty beast.


    ROAR!!!


    Belligerent roars echoed inside the hole, as the beast seemed to be enraged by those who attacked it.


    "Watch for the tail!! Everyone, watch for the tail!! Those who have shields go and raise them!!!!"


    A middle-aged woman with a scar seen across her face was giving orders to 40 or so Sky realm fighters around her. As the sequence of orders were delivered, the woman eyed the creature in front of them with extreme resentment.


    "They are iing! Everyone be prepared!!"


    Hundreds of poisonous spikes rapidly flew towards the group of Sky realm fighters. Loud nking sounds resounded in the air, as most of the spikes were able to be blocked by the massive shields that fortunately had been prepared beforehand.


    s, this group of Sky realm fighters could not rx yet, as they knew the threat, or rather, the creature was not dead yet. After all, the spikes were just one of the various means of attacking from that beast.


    "Nam!! Hold it! Hold it!" the middle-aged woman shouted.


    A figure with a bodypletely covered by a dazzling silver luster and a striking tattoo on his shoulder. Huge chains connected to the massive beast were wrapping over his entire body tightly. Through great effort the beast was restricted in its movement.


    "Just a bit longer, Nam! You just need to hold just a little longer!"


    On the other side of the beast, another part of the chains were held down by a huge woman with red zing hair. While her face was pale and her body drenched in sweats, the woman still shed a wild grin, as she looked at the tattooed figure.


    "You are not going to lose to a girl, aren''t you Nam?!" the red-haired woman shouted with vigor.


    Upon hearing the female''s provocative words, the tattooed figure only snorted. Of course, he also began to pull the chains with even more power, as he was indeed somewhat provoked by her. Naturally, the tattooed figure didn''t forget to throw some words at the woman as well, "Huh! I am not sure if you are a girl or not, Maxine."


    While the tattooed man and the red-haired woman argued and threw shades at each other, the area around them wasn''t calm in the least!


    Around them, at two different sides, a man with a weird and intriguing hairstyle and a girl with long ck hair were seen moving around,unching strike after strike onto the restricted beast. The two of them were cooperating andplementing each other as they attacked every part of the beast, while also dodging the attacks the monster threw at them.


    The other Sky realm fighters didn''t remain still either. They casted everything they had in them and delivered countless spells and weapons towards the beast, in their endeavor to distract or even injure said beast.


    While they continued to do their actions, the group held their ground as they waited for the perfect moment, the figure who would do the final attack. Momentster, a bright red light appeared and lit the entire cave, catching the attention of everyone.


    "She''sing!!"


    A figurepletely cloaked with fiery mes plunged down towards the massive beast like a zing meteor. Using the momentum the gravity bestowed her, the figure inside the me swung her sword downwards.


    [Nine Sun Manual - Stage 6]


    [Fire de]


    From the cusp of the sword''s de, a wave of fire materialized and formed into a crescent-shaped sh that swiftly zoomed towards the massive beast. In the blink of the eye, the ming sh had reached the still clueless beast.


    SPLAT!!!


    The beast was cut from its head to the bottom of its tail by the raging fire. It was almost split in two!


    When the beast''s body fell to the ground it caused dust and smoke to rise in the air, one could see the wounds the sh caused had already been cauterized and ckened, proving the me reached an extremely high temperature.


    s, it appeared the beast still hadn''t died yet, as the dying head on the back of the beast was screeching in pain before its huge tail beganunching its poisonous spikes in frenzy.


    All the Sky realm fighters quickly retreated back to their shields, while those who didn''t have enough time to do so gave their best to dodge the iing spikes.


    The zing figure quickly dashed towards the woman with the scar who had been shouting orders to the fighters. When the middle-aged woman saw the figure, a joyful expression appeared on her face as she said, "Good job, Christina!"


    Christina could only nod her head, as she was still panting out of breath. It looked like she was at the end of her stamina, as thest attack consumed most of what she had left.


    "Last one, Sister Jennie... Only one left."


    "Yeah! Just onest head remaining! Everyone, let''s go!"


    The middle-aged woman named Jennie looked at the other Sky realm fighters and shouted, "Everyone! Just one more! Onest attack!!"


    The group''s spirit immediately rose through the sky, as they swiftly spent the remaining of their energy to jump in andunch their most powerful attacks towards the massive beast.


    Dozens of Sky realm fighters were dashing towards it made the extremely bloody lion head confused and cower.


    Noticing the opportunity hade, Christina leaped into the air and made her way to the beast with the sword in her hand already engulfed in the mes again. She tried to give thest-breath beast thest blow from above to end its life.


    Realizing it would be dead if the attacksnded on it, the Chimera used its [Lion Roar] ability as itsst resort. The piercing roar caused the charging fighters toe to aplete halt before they swiftly returned to where they were before, as the roar flung them all backwards through the air.


    However, the roar didn''t manage to stop Christina due to her high stage Sky realm strength. Hence, she pushed on the dying beast.


    St!


    The zing de went straight into the lion head.


    "We won!!!"


    The lion screamed in pain, shaking its head as itsst attempt which resulted in the exhausted Christina thrown to the ground from its head. However, the sword still stuck in its head causing it unimaginable pain.


    When everyone, without exception, thought that it finally ended, the chaotic movement due to the beast''sst struggle caused its tailunching its few remaining spikes randomly.


    Unfortunately, one of the spikes headed straight for Christina. She noticed the iing spike, but she was too exhausted to even lift her finger after thest attack, which already drained all the energy she had.


    *swish*


    St!!


    Blood sttered as some of them covered Christina''s body and face. However, the blood didn''te from her, but from her best friend and sister, Jennie.


    Jennie was towering over Christina with her back pierced by the poisonous spike, gazing at Christina with a caring smile on her face. Jennie was about to say something when she suddenly spurted ck blood and fell down to Christina''s embrace, unmoving.


    "Jennie! NO!!!"

 Chapter 362 - Pain

    Christina could onlyy on the ground, while she was squashed by Jennie''s motionless body. Her mind went awry. She opened her mouth a few times trying to say something, but nothing coulde out from it.


    Hands trembling, Christina tried to nudge Jenni hoping she was still okay and she had just lost her consciousness. s, all she received was zero response, zero heartbeat, which then followed with the feeling of Jennie''s body gradually losing its warmness. Unconsciously, a streak of tears flowed down Christina''s eyes, as she still tried to wake Jennie, unwilling to believe what she was thinking at the moment.


    "J-Jenniˇ­ Wake up! Please... wakeˇ­ up..."


    Jennie''s sudden death came as an utter shock for the unprepared Christina. The woman was her friend, sister and mentor. Not only did she represent all of those things to Christina, but also to the whole member of the firebirds group.


    Since the beginning, Jennie was the only one who had a military background under her belt. Ever since the apocalypse hit the Earth, Christina had always thought of her as the real leader, the one who actually led the group. The reason Christina was more famouspared to Jennie was only because her illustrious family background and higher cultivation.


    Now that Jennie''s lifeless body was within Christina''s embrace, the whole member of the firebirds group cried.


    As for Christina herself, this was like another blow to her already high emotional distress. First, the death of the young boy she adopted, MaSing, and now even the death of Jennie, the closest sister to her in the world. Right at this moment, Christina could feel her spirit breaking and her heart crumbling apart.


    Nam, the ex Triad leader, now one of the strongest people under Christina, quickly approached the dazed woman when he noticed her just lying there motionlessly.


    "Christina... I... We... we need to move right away. I''m sorry to say this, but we are behind the schedule. Hence, please choose someone to carry her and the other fallenrades'' bodies. While youˇ­ you have to head back quickly."


    Upon hearing the words ''the other fallen'', Christina finally jerked out of her reverie and casted her gaze to the side towards Nam. Pained expression was seen on her face, as Christina asked the heaviest question for her at the moment.


    "Who else did we lose..? H-how many..?"


    Nam could clearly sense Christina''s words were shaking, as if she experienced extreme agony. Sighing inwardly, Nam looked at the stricken Christina, hesitating for a split second before he letting out the unpleasant fact before her.


    "Carol, Mirtha and one of my men, Joe."


    Anguish filled Christina''s entire being. Including Jennie, that meant four people lost their lives in the fight against the Chimera. However, the fact was this whole one-week expedition had cost her 11 people. Some of them died when facing the Cerberus, while others died in the chaotic fight against the gargoyles.


    Christina stood up with difficulty, wiped the tears dripping down her face and turned towards the others. When everyone looked at the current Christina, they felt goosebumps crawling on their backs, as they realized her eyes were filled with absolute rage.


    Gritting her teeth, Christina tried her best to restrain the every-growing killing intent within her, " Uncle. You will pay for this!"


    Christina then split the rest of the Sky realm fighters into two groups, the first one was led by Nam and they were in charge of taking care of the dead bodies. Meanwhile, Corrie, Chicken and all the fastest Sky realm fighters, together with her, would run back to the surface as fast as possible to bring a piece of the Chimera as proof of clearing the Abyss Hole.


    The journey back also wasn''t as easy as they thought previously, because the closest they were to the tribtion day, the crazier and frenzier the creature inside the Abyss became.


    It took Christina and the others one day and a half to exit the Abyss Hole. They still took that much time despite going at full speed. One could imagine how ferocious the creatures inside were to dy the group of strong Sky realm fighters that much.


    The dozen or so Sky realm fighters emerged from the entrance of Abyss Hole and proceeded to quickly grab their vehicles. The group drove the vehicles at top speed as they headed to the city. When they reached the outer area of the city, they were shocked to see the view in front of them.


    "!!!"


    "Sister, look! What happened there?!"


    In the distance, Christina and the others could clearly see plumes of ck smoke rising to the sky above the city and vaguely hear the chaos amidst the citizens of Singapore.


    "S-Sister, could it beˇ­ Are wete?"


    "No! There''s no way!" Christina firmly replied.


    s, despite her strong front, Christina''s heart was racing like crazy. The group ignored the turmoil around them and headed to the presidential pce as fast as they could.


    The moment their eyesid on the ce, Christina noticed there were far fewer guards stationed in the area, unlike thest time she was here.


    Without waiting for the vehicle she was in to stop, Christina immediately jumped down and dashed towards the pce. Christina broke into the main hall at breakneck speed, only to find several corpses on the floor.


    Due to the still flowing blood and fresh wounds on the corpses, it was apparent a fight happened here not long ago. Among the dead bodies on the floor, Christina spotted Lieutenant Choi, the guy who had been assigned to her since Hong Kong.


    Realizing the guy was still breathing, Christina swiftly ordered her subordinates that just entered the hall, "Treat him now!"


    One of the Sky realm Magus fighters who possessed the water element approached Choi and casted a healing spell on him. As he felt his wounds getting better, Choi finally had the energy to say something.


    "I-I''m sorry, Miss Christina... I-I tried to hold them, but there were just too many of them."


    "It''s alright, Choi.. but, my boy..? Where''s my... my Caleb?"


    Lieutenant Choi shook his head, because he didn''t know the fate of Christina''s son. Seeing Choi was unaware of Caleb''s whereabouts, Christina immediately went to one of the guest rooms where her uncle previously held Caleb, only to find a dead body in the room.


    Christina immediately went over and checked the body as she recognized the outfit it wore and unfortunately her guess was correct. It was the body of the old maid who had been taking care of her family since childhood.


    In an instant, Christina felt as if there were thousands of sharp arrows piercing her heart. Pain, unimaginable pain. The pain wasn''t physical, but it still hurt nheless.


    Christina''s heart beat faster than ever before, followed by a stinging headache. The worry of her son''s well being, the sadness of her loved ones'' death. Christina was devastated.


    Before Christina could drown deeper in sorrow, her attention was caught by a sudden knocking sound. Turning her head, Christina saw Corrie standing at the door.


    "Christina, your friend from Bali is here. It looks like he knows what happened."


    The words felt like a refreshing breeze in scorching desert in Christina''s ears. She quickly bolted towards the door, as her eyes were greeted by the sight of a man. Christina couldn''t see the face of the man because the headache caused her sight to be a bit blurry.


    "A-Alex... Is that you..? You are here! ...like you have promised...."

 Chapter 363 - Downfall

    Singapore was probably the one ce that could effectively handle the iing doomsday when the disease started and hit the entire world.


    The ce''s advantageous geographical conditions, excellent information distribution, trained officers as well as citizens and, most importantly, its government''s decisive policies during the apocalypse were the key factors of its survival.


    Unfortunately, due to conflict of interests between the two parties, these past few months the government was divided among themselves. Mistrust and suspicion amidst its higher ups became the main reason for its downfall.


    Prime Minister Sidao, the second highest ranking leader of the Singaporean Government, deliberately created false information that caused the general and the president to sh with each other, bringing a civil war into the prosperous country.


    With the general turned into a traitor and leaving for Mysia, Sidao finally decided to take thest hurdle to be the Supreme Leader of Singapore himself, overthrowing the current controlling party.


    Naturally, after such a big political drama, Sidao needed to find a way to soothe the restless and wrecked citizens. If he did not do so, he was sure that the poption would not support him.


    Fortunately, Sidao had the famous firebird, the Nation Champion, Christina as his blood niece. Knowing Christina''s main weaknesses was in Singapore, he quickly took hostage both her child and mother, granting him the leverage to make her do his bid.


    Even so, the increasing level of threat, courtesy of the iing tribtion,pelled the anxiety of the citizens to its highest level, which meant having a poster girl was no longer enough. He needed something else, something that could appease his citizens and make them at ease.


    Clearing up an abyss gate was the solution.


    There were two Abyss Holes within the outskirts of the region of Singapore. Just like what was advised by Alex, for a city who did not have the adequate resources to clear up the Abyss by itself, the best course of action was to hold up inside the Doomsday Pirs and utilize the Monolith to act as a defense parameter. Then, the fighters could either choose to slowly clear up the threats or wait for reinforcements.


    Unfortunately, the civil unrest caused by the civil war became a headache-inducing problem for Sidao and his government. This was truly the case of hitting yourself with a stone.


    Left without any possible actions, Sidao finally forced Christina to clear one of the Abyss Hole using the life of her child, Caleb. What was even more outrageous, Christina was only given a limited number of forces and a short time limit toplete the task.


    After sending Christina and her men away, Sidao quickly announced the matter to Singaporeans. Upon hearing that one of two Abyss Hole would be cleared by the government, the citizens that were about to go crazy were finally appeased. However, Sidao knew all this was only temporary.


    If Christina did not manage to clear the Abyss Hole, it would be the start of discord amidst the city, which would then develop into a pandemonium. Of course, Sidao hoped Christina wouldplete the task as fast as possible because she knew he still had her child on him.


    s, Sidao''s worst nightmare, something he desperately didn''t want to happen, ended up happening.


    -


    D-Day #498


    Two days before the tribtion hit the world.


    The deadline given to Christina had long passed and coupled with no news of sess from the Firebirds, Sidao could not use his influence to appease the citizens anymore.


    When the sun rose from the east horizon, one riot sparked a mass panic among the other citizens inside the city. Such chaos led to even more chaos the moment the Abyss creatures managed to bypass the city gate.


    Within a short few hours, Sidao finally could not take it anymore and decided to abandon the city.


    Hence, this was the current condition of Singapore that Christina had to deal with, aplete mess was left behind by her ''dear'' uncle. If her dear friend had note, Christina wasn''t sure if she could handle this helpless and desperate situation. Luckily, he was here and gave her a hope. Something she truly needed at the moment.


    Christina bolted towards the man that walked through to the door, only to feel disappointment when she saw he wasn''t him.


    "T-Theo.. It''s youˇ­ Where''s... Alex? Is heing?" Christina asked, as she looked behind Theo, trying to see the one she wanted to see.


    Noticing the look on her face, Theo smiled faintly, "Don''t worry, Christina. He wille, he sent me here first to help you."


    "I... I see..."


    Theo could tell Christina was not in her best condition. It was apparent the body lying on the floor was someone important to her.


    "Christina, I heard the prime minister already left two hours ago. Meanwhile, the city is inplete chaos... Tell me what I can do to help and I will do it."


    At this moment, Christina was still affected by the death of Jennie, her old caretaker, and also the unknown situation of her son. Therefore, she could not think of anything.


    "What should I do, Christina?" Theo asked again, as he noticed she was absent minded.


    Christina unconsciously answered, "Findˇ­ Ask someone in charge..."


    Hearing that, Theo shook his head, "Christina... There''s no one else here. They are asking for you."


    Irritated, Christina shooed Theo, "Theo... go away... I can''t deal with it at the moment... Even if I could, I''m afraid I will only make it worse..."


    Theo once again tried to convince Christina, only to aggravate her even more.


    "Jennie... Yeah, Jennie. She knows what to doˇ­ Yes, ask her..."


    When he heard that, Theo quickly asked Corrie and Chicken who were with Christina, "Who''s Jennie?! Where is she right now?!"


    Theo received a strange silence from the two of them, instead of the answer to his questions. Thanks to his mind reading capability, he can get a gist of what happened.


    ''It looks like she''s in a worse condition than I thought.''


    Sighing, Theo asked one of the firebirds to look after Christina. Meanwhile he, Chicken, Corrie, Rama, the firebirds, who had already arrived and the 30 fighters brought by him, quickly went out and made their way to the city gate, annihting any Abyss creatures they met. The group tried their best to save as many citizens as possible.


    ...


    An hour had passed, but nothing really changed.


    People were still in panic, some of them were revealing their nature while others were just hiding in their home, hoping that trouble didn''te to them.


    While she was sitting in the room where the old caretaker died, shuddering, Christina suddenly heard a faint voice of young boy.


    "Mommmyyˇ­. Mommmyy.."


    "!!!" Christina abruptly jerked her head, while perking her ears.


    "Calebbb!! Calebb!"


    Christina instantly stood up and walked out of the presidential pce, searching for the source of the sound.


    "Caleebb!!"


    Christina used her [9 Sun Manual - Stage 6] to its limit and began rushing through the streets, searching for her boy. Seeing the Abyss creatures blocking her way, she immediately killed them without mercy.


    The citizens of Singapore, those who were outside and inside, saw Christina wildly attacking the creatures, fighting by herself. One time, she got hit by the creatures and dropped to the ground. Even so, she quickly got up and continued her massacre, despite her wounds and dripping blood.


    The valiant sight of her moved the citizens, causing them to grab anything that could be used as weapon, and came out to the street, joining and fighting alongside her.


    The movement multiplied, citizens came like a raging wave, as Christina crossed through the city and before the sun set itself from the sky of Singapore, the city gate was finally secured again.


    The city was basically safe for the moment, as the Abyss creatures were wiped out.. Meanwhile, Christina was lying down on the street, unmoving.

 Chapter 364 - Last Day

    D-day #499


    Nervousness, anxiety, helplessness. Tomorrow was the day of the tribtion, the day where all the Abyss Holes spreaded across the globe would bare their fang and release the beasts hidden within.


    From the information provided by Alex during the World Conference, the surviving governments around the world knew the first day of the tribtion would be the hardest of all, as the Abyss creatures from tens of thousands of Abyss Hole would be pouring out together, submerging the Earth like raging waves that could not be stopped.


    At the moment, Theo was having a urgent meeting with Nam and Lieutenant Choi. There were also Rama, Corrie, Maxine and Chicken participating in the meeting.


    Other than Lieutenant Choi, the only one withmanding experience here were Nam, Theo and Rama. There were no real military figure left in the city since the generals had left Singapore during the end of civil war, while the rest were following Sidao escaping from their responsibility.


    Turning his head towards Corrie, Theo asked, "What about Christina''s condition? Is she well yet?"


    Receiving the question, Corrie could only shake her head in resignation, "She''s already awake..."


    The words caused Theo''s face turned bright. s, she still was not done talking yet, "But her condition is not good. Her body is burning due to a fever. The healer has been trying to help her and is still trying as we speak here."


    Shaking his head helplessly, Theo turned his attention to the only military officer here, "Lieutenant Choi, I have to trouble you to lead and direct the citizens. None of the Singaporean will listen to Nam or me, as we do not have the prestige to be listened."


    Lieutenant Choi nodded his head firmly, "Will do, Mr Theo. I will do whatever I can to help."


    The group then quickly asked someone to bring the map of Singapore Ind and began checking out their surrounding geographical condition stated on the map.


    There were two Abyss Hole in Singapore. One of them was located 10 kilometers north of the city center, near the Sembawang Park. Meanwhile, the other one existed on Jurong Ind, a little bit further about 30 kilometers west of the city.


    Looking at the two Abyss Hole which were located not that far from the city, Theo could not help but feel a little headache.


    Fortunately, Christina and the firebirds already cleared the closest Abyss Hole from its creatures as well as its boss. So, there would be less Abyss creatures that woulde out to swarm the ind from the north. Nevertheless, they still had to assign fighters across the city.


    The main problem would be the Abyss Hole at Jurong Ind, where the iing swarms would be the most terrifying. Hence, Theo and the others would have to make sure the remaining fighters in the city were prepared for the attacksing from the west.


    "How many civilians and fighters are ounted for?"


    "There are two thousands trained fighters, all of them have Sky realm level cultivation, eleven thousands militia, with the majority of Earth realm level, as well as twenty three thousands civilians, with half of them willing to be deployed as logistic and reserve forces."


    Hearing there were still around ten thousands of civilians needed to take care of, Theo rubbed his forehead in frustration. During the tribtion, Alex told him the Doomsday Pir would only open its first floor and facility floor, while the rest would be closed off. That meant only about one thousand people could hide inside it, safe from the dangers outside.


    The situation forced Theo and the others to decide that only children and elders would be put inside the Pirs, while the rest would be posted and assigned in several defensive ces, such as hall, malls and hospital. ces that allowed arge number of people gathering together.


    With the poption gathered together in one ce, the manpower needed to keep an eye and guard them would be greatly reduced.


    After the matter of Singaporean finished, Theo asked the most important question of all, aspect that would allow them to drastically reduce the difficulty of tribtion.


    "What about the monolith? How many do we have?"


    "We have five of them, which are enough to create a shield barrier that covers the entire city. But..."


    Theo felt bad premonition from the pause. Clenching his fist, he asked, "But what?"


    "Prime Minister Sidao took most of the spirit stones away with him."


    *BANG*


    Loud explosive sounds resounded through the room as Theo banged his fist on the table, destroying it. He was furious, extremely so.


    "DAMMIT!!! That sick bastard!! It wasn''t enough that he fucked up the whole city, event this?!"


    Calming his raging heart, Theo took a deep breath and asked, "How many do we have? How long can they maintain the barrier?"


    "Probably... Two or three days at most."


    Hearing the miniscule amount, everyone in the room turned deadly silent. Theypletely understood three days would not be enough for them, as the tribtion would go on for a week. They needed 7 days worth of spirit stones, or the city would be razed into nothingness with all its citizens.


    After a few seconds of suffocating silence, someone finally broke it.


    "I will go down the streets and beg for people''s spirit stones." Maxine, who was silent all this time, said.


    Upon hearing the temporary solution of the problem, Theo could only nod his head, "Yes, please do that, Maxine. Hopefully it can give us one or two days worth of spirit stones. Thank you for your effort, by the way."


    Nam, who had also been quiet for a while, finally spoke, "Is there really no other way? What about evacuating to other bases? Like the one in Indonesia for example. Or, is there really no reinforcementing?"


    Theo looked at Nam, with a gaze full of question marks, "That n isn''t possible, Nam. Not when there is literally only one day before the tribtion begins. Moving ten thousand civilians in one day would be a crazy thing to do."


    "As for the reinforcementˇ­ We can only hope that there''s one for us. I already asked the Sumatra bases, but it''s hard to tell if they''lle, as everyone is preparing for the first tribtion and has no manpower to spare."


    ˇ­


    At the end of the meeting, Theo and the others had divided the Singaporean fighters into 5 groups. The first group led by Lieutenant Choi, second group led by Nam, third group led by Theo, fourth group led by Rama. As for the fifth andst group, it would be an independent unit led by the firebirds, Corrie and Maxine.


    Each group was filled with roughly 300 Sky realm fighters and 2,000 militias.


    After the matter was decided, Theo and the others immediately dispersed, doing everything they could to prepare for the tribtion.


    -


    The next day, the countdown on each and every Doomsday Pir on Earth finally reached itsst remaining seconds.


    [00:00:05]


    [00:00:04]


    [00:00:03]


    [00:00:02]


    [00:00:01]


    [00:00:00]


    The moment the clock hit zero, the sky above Singapore instantly turned dark and the familiar purple storm, which had appeared on the day the disease spread, causing everyone to tense up.


    Everyone knew the Doomsday Tribtion had just begun.

 Chapter 365 - Tribulation Begin

    [00:00:00]


    [The First Tribtion has begun]


    When the notification appeared on the bracelet of every person across the world, the sky gradually darkened as roaring thunder and purple lightning filled out the vast blue expanse all over the Earth. The sight was both terrifying and enchanting.


    At the same time, the people of Singapore could clearly feel the ground under them tremoring fiercely, as if its location shifted and something was about toe out of it.


    Theo was standing on top of the city walls, facing towards the north where the Abyss Pit was located, the one that was included inside the Monolith''s shield barrier protection.


    The reason for this was to allow the limited amount of Singaporian fighters to focus their attention on that, while the Abyss creatures that wereing from the other Abyss Pit would be blocked by the Monolith''s barrier.


    "I hate you for being right, Alex! This is bad... Where are you right now!?" Theo cursed, as what he saw at the moment greatly frightened him.


    From the direction where the Abyss Pit was located, Theo could see a ck wave that covered the sky and the ground on the horizon. When he narrowed his eyes to see it better, he spotted hundreds of critters and hellhounds running through the ins like raging waves.


    Team 3 led by Theo, Team 2 led by Nam and Team 4 led by Rama, which amounted to almost a thousand Singaporean Sky realm fighters were preparing to hold the iing wave, as they made a semi-circle formation towards the north with the city behind them.


    "Attack!! Do not let even one of them in!"


    The hundreds of Singaporean fighters quickly rushed forward, blocking and hindering the Abyss creatures that aimed to breach the formation and flood the streets of Singapore. These Sky realm fighters were definitely too strong for the hundreds of critters and hellhounds, as thetter were steadily annihted by the former.


    In the frontline, Theo could be seen using his signature move Sword Formation. as the familiar 5 flying swords zoomed and flickered around the battlefield, chopping off the heads of unsuspecting critters and hellhounds.


    Rama was rampaging and wrecking havoc through the sea of Abyss creatures using his ming spear, as one could asionally see bursts of zing me from his direction. While, on the other hand, Nam utilized his artifact weapons, a pair of gloves, to block and defend the three sides.


    Nearly all of the Sky realm fighters that entered this battle had an artifact to defend themselves. This factor caused the hellhounds and critters to be chopped and beaten to the blue before they had any chance to pass the formation.


    Stt!! Satt!!


    Myriads of cries and sounds echoed through the battlefield, proving the battle was an extraordinary one.


    "Hold the line!! Hold the line!!"


    Bam!!


    "Kill that hellhound that got away!"


    nk!! nk!!


    Boom!!


    "We need reinforcements here!!"


    While Team 2, Team 3 and Team 4 were fighting with the Abyss creatures from the north, Team 1, which was led by Lieutenant Choi, was stationed around the Monolith device. His team was the biggest team of the five as it was filled by the Earth realm fighters and had to guard the perimeter around the Monolith.


    "Hold the Line!! Hold the Line!!"


    They saw that the other Abyss Pit, the one at the west, also began to pour out its content, as hundreds of Abyss creatures started rushing out of it and dashing towards the city. Fortunately, with the Monolith barrier in ce, none of the creatures could pass through and reach the city.


    Of course, the existence of the bluish barrier did not stop the Abyss creatures from trying, as they crashed, scratched, bit and mmed on it to no avail.


    As for those who got into contact with the barrier first, their fate did not look good as they were crushed under those who came from behind them, oblivious to the barrier before them. Therefore, one could slowly see the bodies of Abyss creatures piled up in front of the barrier.


    Lieutenant Choin and the other fighter were delighted to see that the barrier was able to hold the Abyss creatures. However, just to be on the safe side, Lieutenant Choi swiftly ordered all the fighters to stand around the perimeter ame make sure that none of those creatures got through.


    Team 5 led by the firebirds was still on the standby in the center of the city, acting as a reserve force. While the other officers of the firebird organizing Team 5, Maxine and Corrie were still apanying Christina who stilly in bed, burning with fever.


    ˇ­


    On the first day of the tribtion in Singapore, they decided to focus their attention on the Abyss Pit in the northern area. As a result, Theo, Nam and Rama with the thousand Sky realm fighters managed to hold the defensive line tightly.


    Every two hours, the fighters would do a rotation, where those at the frontline would retreat and rest at the back, while their position was covered by the substitutions. This method would help maintain the fighters in a good condition, as the fight against the Abyss creatures would continue for days.


    On the secondyer of the semi-circle formation, there were ces already prepared for those who retreated, meals, drinks and aodations. There were also healers in the area, ready to act, if any of the fighters received injuries.


    When the second day arrived, the most troublesome Abyss creature in Alex''s previous life finally came out of the Abyss Pit.


    Exceptional speed, extraordinary strength and a tenacious body that could only be damaged by spells or magic items: the Gargoyles.


    Among the thousand of Sky realm fighters, only 50 of them were sky realm Magus, with the majority of them being Knights. Moreover, there were only 200 people who had the aptitude that allow them to cast basic augmented spells on their weapons.


    This meant only a quarter of the fighters the three teams had were able to fight against the gargoyles, trying to injure or kill them.


    At this moment, Team 5 that consisted mostly of the firebirds and was led by Corrie and Maxine finally decided to join the fray.


    Thanks to the reinforcement from Team 5, the Singaporean fighters, who were being pushed back by the gargoyles, were finally able to retaliate, causing the fight to be more manageable again.


    With every Abyss creature killed, Theo ordered all the spirit stones to be collected, so they coule be sent directly to those in charge of the Monolith device. This way, they could extend the duration of the barrier, giving them a breath of space.


    ˇ­


    Surprisingly, the third and fourth day of the tribtion were going smoothly like the first two days, as the Singaporean fighters were still able to repel the Abyss creatures. Even though the number of Abyss creatures constantly increased, they still fell within the controble range.


    If Alex''s information was correct, they only needed to hold on for another two or three days before the creatures'' attacks would slow down. Hence, Theo looked at the fighters and shouted, "We can actually do this guys!! Keep holding on!!!"


    All the fighters that had been fighting relentlessly for 4 days were yelling in high spirit. No matter if they were resting or fighting, those who heard Theo''s shout would let out a powerful roar. The well-rested would immediately enter the battle again, while the still-fighting became even more fierce.


    Theo smiled as he saw the fighters becaming energized. He then entered the battlefield as well. He thought that they would definitely be fine if things kept going like this.


    s, Theo''s thoughts were shattered when the fifth day came.


    The moment the sun rose on the horizon, strong tremors suddenly shocked the city, as something was trying to emerge from the western Abyss Pit.


    GRRROOOAARRR!!!


    Arge creature walked out of the Abyss Pit. Its three heads and tail brought terror to those who saw them. The creature proceeded to spread out its wing and took off to the sky before it came crashing down on one side of the Monolith barrier.


    BOOM!


    The loud piercing sound attracted the attention of everyone.


    When they turned towards the sound, the scene presented before them terrified them.


    Arge crack could be seen on the bluish barrier.

 Chapter 366 - Broke

    "It''s the Chimera!!!" shouted someone, as the monstrous beast being was knocked back by the Monolith''s barrier.


    Before the first tribtion began, with the sacrifice of a few elite fighters, with Jennie among them, the firebirds were able to kill the Chimera that resided in the Abyss Pit located at the north.


    This fact, coupled with the ''cleaning'' the firebirds did beforehand, caused the threat factor of the Abyss creaturesing from the north to greatly lessened to a manageable point.


    However, the same could not be said for the Abyss pit on the western side of the city, it inevitably ignored due to theck of manpower. Luckily, the barrier provided by the Doomsday Pir''s Monolith could save the day.


    Well, at least that had been the case, until the fifth day of the tribtion.


    In the morning, a Chimera, the boss monster thatid deep within the Abyss Pit, finally came out and graced the Earth with its appearance. The moment it smelled the fresh air, the Chimera immediately flew into the air, before proceeding to crash its massive body on the barrier, considerably cracking it.


    The sudden and terrifying attack by the monstrous creatures instantly frightened the citizens of Singapore, who saw the entire process unfolding, from the speck of ck dot in the distance to the massive figure that smashed into the barrier.


    BANG! BANG! BANG!


    Loud thunderous sounds resounded through the air as the Chimera continued to attack the barrier, causing the bluish translucent surface to shake, making streaks of cracks appear across it.


    "The fourth Monolith is no longer functioning!! The barrier won''t hold!!"


    The faces of Theo and the other immediately turned pale when they realized the barrier would break anytime now. If it broke, the consequences would be disastrous.


    The worst problem Theo and the fighters would have to face when the barrier broke was not the Chimera. Yeah, not the monstrous, massive beast that could easily turn everything into debris and smithereens.


    The worst problem, even worse than the Chimera, was the crowds of Abyss creatures that had been gathered in front of the barrier for thest 4 days. There were tens of thousands of them and all of them were in a frenzy state due to their inability to break the barrier.


    The situation instantly became critical, where one mistake could probably cost them everything.


    Noticing their precarious situation, Theo immediately blurted out a series of orders, "Rama, you stay here! You must hold it with everything that you have! The others will go to the west to fight the Chimera! We have no time to waste! Let''s go!"


    The order left Rama with only around 300 Sky realm and two thousands Earth realm fighters to hold the northern area, continuing their fight against the Abyss creatures that came from the north Abyss Pit.


    As for Nam, Chicken, Corrie, Maxine, the 20 Star Army fighters and the firebirds fighters, they would go to the western area as fast as they could. They had to defend the area where the soon-to-be broken Monolith''s barrier would be left open.


    One thousand Sky realm fighters were preparing themselves, waiting for what was probably going to be the hardest they ever fought.


    Theo never knew he had it in him to lead the group. So, before the barrier waspletely broken by the Chimera, he went to his knees in front of everyone and took a prayer posture. "God, if now is my time... At least give me the strength to carry it until the end."


    CRAAAACKKKK!!


    The fourth Monolith''s barrier that covered the west area was destroyed. That meant there was a kilometer worth of opening across the western side of the city, bared open to the Abyss creatures, free for them to rush and wreak havoc.


    Nam and the others made their stand in the Queenstown area, across the Clementi Road, directly faced against the iing waves of Abyss creatures.


    Seeing rows after rows of critters, hellhounds and gargoyles, coupled with the sight of the Chimera, Nam gritted his teeth and roared with all his might,


    "HOLD THE LINE! DO NOT LET EVEN ONE OF THEM PASS!!!"


    The moment Singaporean fighters and the sea of Abyss creatures got contact with each other, it quickly became the most chaotic fight in the history of Singapore.


    Hundreds of the best fighters of Singapore, no matter young or old, were fighting fiercely and ferociously against the thousands of gargoyles and ten of thousands of other Abyss creatures.


    As time passed by, it was apparent the battle was one-sided. The defensive line was gradually pushed back by the Abyss creatures, constantly on at risk of breaking down.


    The battle was so tumultuous and cruel one out of every five Sky realm fighters departed from this world in just 5 minutes, leaving their bodies buried under the hundreds of Abyss creatures'' corpses.


    The chaotic scene was enough to make the citizens of Singapore that watched from the top of their buildings cry in panic.


    At the moment, Theo was flying in the air using his Sword Formation, killing as many Abyss creatures as fast as he could. However, it seemed futile as there were just too many of them.


    Suddenly, a loud sound was heard from the back of the defensive line. When Theo turned around to look at themotion, he spotted Lieutenant Choi who brought his team, the whole thousands of remaining Earth realm fighters and all the able-bodied Singaporean citizens to close the broken gap and enforce the crumbling defensive line.


    Even with all the people filling up the street and blocking the Abyss creatures, Theo and the others clearly knew that they still had the boss creature to kill.


    Said boss was currently flying in the air, searching for the most opportune moment to enter the fray. Finally, it decided to descend from the sky, right to the center of the most clustered area.


    Its two snake heads were breathing fire and ice beams, killing both humans and Abyss creatures alike.


    One man stepped up as he leaped to the air and used his powerful spell, turning his body into silver that reflected the morning sun. Nam, the man with a dragon tattoo on his shoulder, decided to fight the Chimera head-on.


    Nam zipped through the air before he delivered a blow on the lion''s head with the strongest punch he could muster. As a result, the Chimera, or rather, the lion head''s attention went on him.


    Meanwhile, Corrie and Chicken were trying to distract the two snake heads from two different sides. After all, if they were left behind and free to cause damage, it would be devastating for the other fighters.


    Maxine, on the other hand, also leaped towards the Chimera andnded on its back, as she proceeded to attack the goat head with her two Tier 2 massive battle axes.


    "Aarrghhhhh!!" The red-haired muscr woman roared as she used everything she had to try chopping the giant head without caring of anything else. As a result, Maxine managed to get a few shes in.


    However, fighting the Chimera inside the hole where the space was limited was different than fighting it outside in the open.


    The moment the Chimera noticed it was getting surrounded, the monstrosity immediately spread its wing wide and flew upwards to the sky, away from the other fighters while bringing with it Maxine who was still standing on the back of the beast.


    "MAXINEEE!! JUMPP!!"


    s, with the abrupt move the Chimera did, Maxine instantly lost her footings. She fell into the air and only managed to look to the sky before she found the lion head was already before her.


    *CRACK*


    Loud crisp sound was heard as Maxine''s body was snapped by the sharp fang of the beast.


    "NO!!! MAXINE!! NO!!" Corrie hysterically shouted as tears fell on her cheek, watching her close friend bitten by the huge monster and being spit to the ground like a pile of rubbish.


    With her super-speed, Corrie captured the body right before it hit the ground. The muscr woman already lost half of the bottom of her body, but she was still alive. Her entire body was currently shaking in excruciating pain.


    Corrie was crying on top of her lung, when she suddenly saw a figure standing right in front of her.


    "S-Sister Christinaˇ­. H-Help.."


    Christina was there standing, her eyes covered with the blood tears she cried, watching the pale Maxine. All of a sudden, Christina screamed in pain and something came out of her shoulders.


    Tworge, red ming wings.

 Chapter 367 - Bloodline

    Christina was just a normal young mother who wished to have a peaceful life, taking care of her two kids, building and giving beautiful experiences for her two precious.


    s, that could not happen anymore when the apocalypse descended onto Earth.


    The disasters struck repeatedly and Christina, who was right in the middle of all the chaos, lost her sweet daughter. She was devastated thinking about having to live in a future where she could no longer see her daughter''s beautiful smile, her vibrantugh, her lovely mischievousness. She did not dare imagine it.


    s, that was exactly the reality she had to face the moment she found out her daughter was no more.


    Fortunately, despite the tremendous loss she received during the apocalypse, Christina managed to persevere and diverted her sadness towards another good: doing what was right for her people.


    The firebird was the crystallization of her hard work. The group was formed shortly after the disaster struck, with her as the strongest and bravest member.


    It was not long before people began to follow her,ing under her wings, putting their hopes on her. From Singapore to Hong Kong, then China, before returning back to Singapore. A lot of people ced their expectations and lives on Christina, hoping she would be able to lead them during this troubled time.


    During the journey, Christina continued to lose more and more friends, people she could call as family. With each life that was lost, it burdened her heavily. Starting from her daughter Cally, the boy Ma Sing, her best friend and mentor Jennie, as well as the old caretaker who raised her since she was small.


    In the end, Christina felt all those emotions and frustration burning her from the inside, and she began to lose herself. At the moment, sheid helplessly on a bed, trying to fight this force that had been boiling inside of her.


    Christina could sense all the screams and shouts when the fight began; they were calling to her. she gritted her teeth, forcing her wrecked body to get up. She wanted to help those people, she had to, it was her mission.


    But Unfortunately, her determination was not enough, she was lying there, unable to do anything. Sadness and desperation consumed her. The thought of more people dying brought her to despair. The face of her uncle came to her mind and brought rage to her heart. But in the end, the rage turned back to herˇ­ she med herself for being unable to do more.


    Rage...


    Suddenly Christina felt the burning energy inside of her had begun coursing through her body, building up until, suddenly, an explosion of power took control of her body.


    [Bloodline activated]


    [Bloodline Gene - Raging Phoenix]


    [Gene ssification - Mythical Bloodline]


    [Bloodline Rank 4]


    [Your understanding of fire element has increased]


    [You have reached the high stage of the fire spirit element]


    [Sky realm level 45 - high stage]


    [Sky magus - Fire - high stage]


    [Your Nine Sun Manual battle art upgraded to stage 7]


    [Your battle power has increased exponentially]


    [You have received Innate Skill - Wing of Pain]


    [Spirit aptitude upgraded]


    [Spirit aptitude S]


    A series of notifications crashed onto her mind, followed by a fierce flood of energy that flowed all around her body, rejuvenating her exhaustion and healing all wounds she sustained.


    With her newfound power, Christina quickly stood up and rushed to the frontline headed towards west, the direction where the main battle was.


    As soon as she arrived at the battlefield, Christina saw another spectacle that gave her more pain.


    Maxine, her firebird sister, getting snapped in two by the flying monstrosity. Her body was thrown to the ground and caught by Corrie before it could hit the ground.


    When she arrived, she clearly saw Corrie was tearing her eyes up.


    "S-Sister Christinaˇ­. P-Pleas.. H-Help.."


    When she heard Corrie''s plea, Christina subconsciously activated what appeared to be her innate skill. In an instant, bones blurted out of her back and spread out into ming wings made of bones.


    [Wings of Pain]


    [Increases Battle Power]


    [Increases Fire Element Power]


    In this state, Christina could vividly perceive and sense her power building up with every second passing. Turning her gaze to Corrie,"You need to take Maxine to the pir! Hurry, Corrie!"


    Unexpectedly, Corrie seemed hesitant, "But sister... The fight?!"


    Christina looked directly at Corrie''s eyes, her eyes were lit up by fire as she shouted, "Go! Now!! Before it''s toote!!"


    Corrie immediately picked Maxine''s body and scrambled to the backline. On the other hand, Christina took out two Tier 2 swords from her storage ring. She was prepared to fight. As soon as she wished, by just directing her thought towards a direction, the zing wings on her back immediately took her into the air, taking her body to the destination.


    At the moment, Christina was hovering in the air, watching the Chimera and sea of Abyss creatures below her. Surprisingly, her first target was not the massive Chimera, it was the Gargoyles, who gave the most headache to the fighters.


    [Fire de]


    As the spell took effect, the two swords in Christina''s hands got engulfed by scorching mes. She rushed into the field and began to wreak havoc.


    With her swords, Christina zoomed around and cut all the gargoyles that were in her path at breakneck speed. The area that was passed by her was left with burning marks on the ground and a burnt smell in the air.


    *swish*


    St! St!


    *swish*


    Christina flew around so fast that only her shadow could be seen. A path of destruction was left behind as she continued to ughter every gargoyle sheid her eyes on.


    With the increase in her realm and the boost in the fire element, her swords, which were enchanted by spells, were able to cut the thick, durable bodies of the gargoyle like butter. The fighters who were saved by Christina''s actions could only see a shadow pass by them and the next moment, the gargoyles before them were already cut into two and burned into charcoal.


    All the fighters without exception saw how a familiar ming figure was flying and whizzing around, turning the area around the defensive line into a gargoyle massacre.


    "Is that...?!"


    "That''s Christina!!"


    "Christina, the Firebird!!"


    "She''s here! We are saved!!"


    "Everyone, rise up! Get those creatures out of our city!!"


    "Let''s go! Christina is here! We can win!!"


    "Christina, Christina!!"


    ...


    Numerous cheers and shouts resounded in the air, all directed towards Christina.


    Unfortunately, Christina did not have the time to react to them, as she was busy pushing her new skill to its utmost limit. She continued her ughter until she finally saw it, the Chimera, right in front of her eyeing her with clear hostility.


    "Grrooolll!!"


    This was the third Chimera she fought, there was nothing more that would surprise her. Well, except the wings, but she had those too, now.


    With confidence filling her to the brim, Christina brandished her two zing swords and rushed to attack the abomination.

 Chapter 368 - Restored

    Two figures could be seen hovering in the sky above Singapore City. Their auras were intimidating, one even swore they could faintly see waves of wind around them.


    Even though her size was not even one tenth of the Chimera, Christina was standing there in the air, ring at the monstrosity. Her current appearance looked like a fiery angel of death, one that would bring demise with its mere presence.


    Her whole body was shining brightly due to her zing wings and ming swords, bringing awe as well as dread to those whoy their sight on her.


    RRROOOAAARRR!!!


    The Chimera''s lion head was roaring loudly, injuring many fighters on the ground and also the gargoyles, due to how deafening it was.


    Because of the thundering roar, Theo, Nam, Chicken and Lieutenant Choi, who were busy fighting on the ground, defending against the waves of Abyss creatures, stopped in their actions for a moment, as they threw their gaze to the air. More precisely, to the two figures floating there.


    While the others received some degree of injuries, the force of the Chimera''s roar, as powerful as it was, didn''t affect Christina one bit. Instead, her aggressive gaze towards the monster became even more fierce.


    The roar did affect her during herst encounter with the same beast, but her sudden breakthrough in her realm, coupled with the fact that her body transformation made Christina increase her prowess, caused it to have virtually no effect on her. She was now two levels stronger than she previously was.


    Not wanting to waste anymore time, Christina decided to rush at the Chimera, or rather, the goat head positioned on its back.


    Battle art, [Nine Sun Manual - stage 7]


    As the technique was activated, another explosion of speed and power coursed through Christina''s entire being. She then used the full control and exceptional speed she had on her wings to maneuver around the Chimera, causing the two snake heads of the Chimera to be unable to hit her with their ice and fire breath attack.


    It did not take much time for Christina to finish Maxine''s previous works, sessfully separating the massive goat head off the Chimera''s back.


    St!


    Realizing its life-saving head was decapitated, the Chimera instantly fell into a state of panic. It tried to harm Christina byunching the hundreds of poisonous spikes on its tail, but she could easily block or dodge them with the overwhelming advantage she currently had.


    Out of the expectation of everyone, the battle between the two figures surprisingly became a one sided battle, where the Chimera was getting beaten badly. Not only did Christina know all the monster''s weaknesses, she also had the required mobility to keep up with the flying beast.


    [Fire de]


    Familiar ze of me once again engulfed the two swords in Christina''s hands as her body zoomed towards the Chimera.


    St! St!


    Blood sttered in the air as Christina managed to cut the two snakes'' heads in one straight line, leaving a trail of red on the blue sky. However, she did not stop at that. She continued her actions by cutting the Chimera''s wings, robbing its flying ability.


    The huge beast rapidly fell from the air, crashing into dozens of Abyss creatures in the process. The unlucky creatures werepletely crushed because of the sheer size of the Chimera and the massive momentum it carried due to gravity.


    Seeing the beast hit the ground, Christina did not let the beast go, not yet. She immediately dived down andnded right on top of the Chimera''s lion head with her two swords pointed downwards.


    As a result, the two swords pierced through the lion''s eyes, causing it to roar in pain.


    Crack!


    When Christina wanted to pull the two swords out, they instantly broke, shattered into pieces of ckened metal. This showed how potent Christina''s me was now, even a Tier 2 sword did not manage tost long when used with it.


    The Chimera, who was under her feet, was unmoving, blind and dying.


    Christina did not want to waste anymore time and energy on the beast and began moving towards another group of gargoyles.


    As she currently had no weapon on hand, so she began to use her spells.


    [Tier 3 Fire Spell - Fireball]


    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!


    She rarely used her spells, but this time, Christina could clearly see the power of the Fireball spell was several times that of the past. Instead of a normal sphere of fire, one could even say it was like a bombardment by missiles.


    The moment the gargoyles or the hellhounds got in contact with the spell, they were immediately being hit by a massive explosion and scorched until death.


    The death of the Chimera and the chaotic, gory sight created by Christina made the spirit of Singaporean zed once more as they raised their weapons to fight. The fighters became even more passionate about their fights, while the civilians did anything they could possibly do to help the fighters.


    An hourter, everyone''s attention was attracted by a sudden rain of explosion that came from the Abyss Hole in the west direction. However, the perpetrator was not Christina, as everyone could see she was still wreaking havoc amidst the ocean of Abyss creatures.


    When Christina looked over, he spotted dozens of ships that were on the sea. The bombardment came from them.


    Looking at the g fluttering on the ships, she realized the reinforcements were the people from China. When the ships hit the shore, a few thousands of skilled fighters swiftly filled the streets of Singapore from the south.


    And before night arrived, Theo had managed to rece the broken Monolith and restored the shattered shield barrier.


    At the end of Day 5, the city of Singapore had seeded in repelling the first tribtion.


    -


    When the fighting was basically over, the Chinese mainship docked at the pier and a group of people quickly got off.


    When Christina finally returned back to her normal condition, among all the rubble and ruins of west Singapore city, a group of fighters from the ships approached her. Unexpectedly, the representative from China who came was none other than Zhao Fan herself, the elder of Zhao''s family.


    "Congrattions on the sess of defending the city, Christina. But most importantly, congrattions for finally reaching your breakthrough."


    Christina was stunned when she saw Zhao Fan in person. The timing of her arrival was too coincidental.


    Christina calmed herself, turned her head towards Zhao Fan and asked, "Elderˇ­ Did you know this will happen?"


    Even though Christina''s tone was calm, Zhao Fan could notice the hate in her eyes, directed towards her. Hearing the young woman''s question, Zhao Fan nodded her head,


    "Yes, I was counting on it"


    Within days of the China fighter''s arrival, the situation in Singapore was finally restored to its previous greatness. Not only that, apparently the elder Zhao Fans had been following the progress of Singapore city attentively. Among other things, they captured the cowardly prime minister Sidao.


    It wasn''t long until finally Christina was able to meet with her son again.

 Chapter 369 - World Tribulations

    368


    Day #500


    The awaited tribtion came as expected. It began with purple lightnings rampaging across the vast firmament. The spectacle looked like hundreds of violet snakes dancing amidst the dark gloomy thunderclouds. It was followed by strong tremors on the ground, causing tree to fall and buildings to crack. Then, the tribtion began.


    Tens of thousands of Abyss Pit spread across the Earth all simultaneously bared their fangs to the world, releasing hundreds of millions Abyss creatures hidden within. They had been waiting for this moment and when it finally came they immediately poured out of the Abyss like raging floods, marking the Earth with their presence.


    This disaster was the next catastrophe that marked the end of days for the people on Earth. It did back in Alex''s previous life and it would still do the same in this life.


    Fortunately, things would be different this time as 80% of the current Earth survivors had been warned, which hopefully could reduce the damage and loss received. More than 120 millions humans had made their own preparations to wee the tribtion.


    Those people had migrated all their family and belongings to the nearest Doomsday Pir where they were. They worked together in whatever capacity they could to face the iing threats.


    The Earth realm and Sky realm fighters, the soldiers, even the normal civilians with nobat capability; all of them were banding together. All of this for one purpose: survival.


    Through the Pirwork, it was ounted 252 Doomsday Pirs out of 1000 had been activated and used as defensive bases and shelters all over the world. These were all that was left of humanity.


    As for the other 20%, whose situations were not known, their fate was left to the mercy of God and Abyss creatures.


    -


    The first 7 days of the tribtion was the hardest period that humanity had to go through, especially for those located near an Abyss Pit.


    Only a few capable and aplished Pirmunities with experienced leadership managed to clear up the closest Abyss Pit in their area and killed the Chimera. This caused the difficulty of attacks they had to face tremendously reduced.


    Some others were fortunate enough to reside in a Doomsday Pir that was located quite a distance away from the Abyss Pit, which meant the attacks they had to face were much less violent.


    However, the majority of people in the Doomsday Pir across the world had to face the tribtion in itsplete form. This meant they had to depend on a sheer number of fighters or arge amount of spirit stones.


    The former would make them able to defend themself when the horde of Abyss creatures break in, while thetter would allow them to always maintain their Shield Barrier fully charged at all times.


    Either way, the Doomsday Pirs that were strategically ced geographically would always be the ones who had the most advantage. For example, the Doomsday Pirs in Bali Ind.


    Since there was only one Abyss Pit in the ind, the people found the area was very safe from the attacks, other than the asional gargoyles that could be seen flying from the nearby inds.


    Likewise, the Pirmunity who found themselves located in not-so-adventurous regions would be the most challenging of all. For example, those who had to cover a lot of area due to the many Doomsday Pirs in their possession.


    Day #503


    Novosibirsk. Russia


    Russia, thergest country in the world, and once again bestowed with the title after the apocalypse as the country with the most number of Doomsday Pirs came under their control. A total of 25 Doomsday Pirs, shared among its 3 millions and more survivors.


    Ever since the fall of Moscow during the pandemic, its central government took a hit for a period of time before they managed to create a defensive parameter on the eastern south of its territory, on their three currentrgest cities.


    But even though they now focused their defense on the three cities, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk, they still found it very difficult to cover the protracted defensive line with hundreds of monoliths spread around the area.


    It was only because of their sheer forces of strong fighters and massive supplies of weaponry, especially their 10000 plus tanks that lined up across the line, the Russians were able to hold their ground.


    Day #506


    Madurai, India


    On the opposite side of Russia, who had a lot of Doomsday Pirs but barely any people, the world also had India. A country who had thergest number of survivors ounted for. As many as 7 million people were in India, sharing their living space of only 3 Doomsday Pirs.


    It took weeks for the government to convince all these people to gather at the south tip of the country, using Madurai City as the focal point of the defensive line. They held out together and faced countless waves of Abyss creatures. Thanks to their fighters'' do-or-die attitude and their high numbers, they were also able to hold out the 7 days worth of hell.


    When the 7 days were over,rge parts of Abyss creatures would return to their Abyss Pit, while some would have a sh of power, taking over therge, abandoned cities that were upied by the undead.


    In conclusion, after 7 days passed the world was no longer the same. The undead and Abyss creatures were now the main resident of the, while the humans were struggling to survive and only able to move around the Doomsday Pirs.


    While most were only able to cower behind the barrier that the Pirs provided, there were also some who hoped to regain control of theirnd.


    One of these people were the Americans.


    When the 7 days were over, unbeknownst to others, they began to carry out the next phase of their n.


    ----------------------------------


    Written and Directed by Avans, Published by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,


    For discussion Join Avan''s Discord server: https://discord.gg/7ngn7yN9xN

 Chapter 370 - USA

    Dday #510


    Nevada, Las Vegas


    VROOOOOM!


    An orange color ''baby'' Porsche 924 Carrera GT could be seen speeding through the Las Vegas Freeway, heading in the north direction. The beautiful sound that the V10 engine generated was roaring throughout the road as it was being driven by an Asian man. Sitting next to him was a native American dressed in soldier uniform.


    "Woohoooo!!! Such a beauty!! Who the hell manages to get this car up and working again?!!" said the Asian man as his foot pressed the pedal to its end, elerating the car to its maximum potential as it sped through the freeway that was filled with many abandoned and wrecked cars.


    There was an earpiece on his ear, where a woman''s voice could be heard speaking.


    [Please keep your focus, Mister James! In 500 meters! Take the left exit to Bruce Woodbury Beltway!]


    s, the Asian man called James was too exhrated by the thrill of driving such a luxurious car at full speed that he didn''t answer the woman''s voice.


    Noticing that there was no reply from the other side, the woman''s voice was heard once again. This time, it was full of worries.


    [Mister James?! Do you hear me?!! I repeat, do you hear me?! Mister Jamess!!]


    "Yes!! I know! I know!! Can''t you give me a break already?! Don''t you realize how many of those dogs I must dodge?!"


    Immediately, the woman''s voice was heard from the earpiece.


    [Mister James, it''s imperative that you don''t take the wrong exit or we will fail the mission!]


    "Don''t worry! I have buddy Nathanael here! Everything is going to be alright!" James said in a casual manner.


    Right at the moment he spoke those words, a fiery looking dog jumped into the middle of thene their speeding car was about to pass.


    However, James didn''t even have a chance to say anything, much less do something, as in the blink of an eye, the man sitting next to him had cut open the car roof and swung an ax that seemingly came out of nowhere at the dog, splitting its body into two equal parts.


    "NO!!" James screamed, a horrified expression on his face. "You destroyed the car!!!"


    Even though he was upset by Nathanael''s action of ruining the beautiful car he was driving, James didn''t lose his focus and quickly spun the steering wheel, making the car turn left and taking the exit to the Beltway just as instructed."


    Right as the car turned and entered the Beltway, it was shown that hundreds of those fiery looking dogs had been chasing after the car the two rode in. Thanks to the turn, the car speed slowed slightly which made some of the dogs caught up.


    Fortunately, Nathanael was prepared and quickly cut any dog that threatened tond themself into a free ride. Knowing that they would be screwed if the car kept its current speed, James pressed the gas pedal again and drove the car as fast as possible, trying to get away from the crazed dogs.


    Seeing that they once again gained distance, the quiet native American man calmly grabbed a bag ced on the back seat and took out a belt full of military grenades. Immediately, he pulled out all the grenades'' pins from their sockets at the same time and threw them toward the chasing monsters.


    Kaaboomm!! Kaboomm!! Kabooomm!!


    A loud continuous ear-piercing sound echoed in the air as consecutive explosions rapidly appeared at the intersection in an instant. The sound it created was so loud that it awakened something even more disastrous than the hundreds of fiery looking dogs.


    It was as if the explosions had be the rm clock that roused all the monsters that were hidden and slumber inside the abandoned city. Hundredsˇ­ thousands of hell hounds as well as tens of thousands of crittersing out of every building within Las Vegas City as they swiftly made their way towards the source of themotion.


    VROOOOOOOMMM!!!


    If one were to be in the air at this moment, they would certainly see the sight of tens of thousands of human-eating creatures flooding the road and chasing after a lone orange sports car.


    "The whole city came for the party!! Woo-hoo!!"


    James quickly changed to the next gear transmission before pressing the gas pedal again, blowing up the V10 engine, as the orange cheetah roared throughout the road. As if they were in an ensemble, the thousands of fiery looking dogs chasing after it also unleashed loud growls.


    The car drove past the luxurious and sky-reaching buildings of Las Vegas City while still being chased by a literal tsunami of bloodthirsty creatures. It didn''t take long for James and Nathanael to reach the outskirts of the city and enter the desert, where the distance between them and the creatures who wanted to have a bite of them slowly but surely widened.


    Once again, the woman''s voice sounded from his earpiece.


    [You did it, Mister James. Now, you just have to continue driving north. We are around five kilometers ahead from your current position.]


    Hearing that, Jamesughed loudly. "What did I tell you?! You can definitely put your trust on me, James Randall. Whether it''s driving a sports car or a pretty girl, both are my forte. You see, this is all easy peas-"


    Before James could finish his sentence, one of the car tires suddenly blew up and at the current speed of the Porsche, it instantly made the car skidded to the side and sent the car flipping over on the freeway.


    Baammm!! Bammmm!!!


    Just before the car crashed into the gutter, Nathanael quickly grabbed James off his driver seat and jumped out of the car by kicking his own side of the door. The two flew out of the still overturned car andnded heavily on the scorching desert road.


    Nathanael together with James rolled on the ground to disperse their momentum. Immediately after, they stood up and checked their situation.


    They were both d that they managed to get out of the wrecked car safely, but as soon as they turned around, they knew they were far from the word ''safe''. Just hundreds of meters away from them, the danger they ran away from was still chasing them.


    In fact, they seemed to have grown even more ferocious when they saw their prey lose their means of transportation.


    James immediately panicked when he saw the trauma-inducing sight of countless vicious creatures revealing their sharp teeths.


    "RUN!!"


    The two of them quickly ran north. However, even though he had an artifact on him, James was still a lower Sky realm fighter. He couldn''t possibly match the speed that Nathanael disyed, a mid Sky realm wind spirit enhancer.


    As the two continued to run with thousands of hordes of monsters following right behind them, James couldn''t help but scream when he saw that he was falling behind.


    "Buddyy!! Wait!!! Wait for me buddy!!"


    When he saw the situation turn dire, Nathanael quickly cast [Windwalk] on himself and grabbed the panicked Asian.


    With James in his tow, Nathanael immediately felt the extra burden. Even so, he only gritted his teeth silently and continued speeding off toward the north.


    They ran and continued to run north, but the monsters chasing after them were still not that far behind them. Some of them even managed to catch up. Fortunately, Nathanael managed to quickly dispatch them before continuing their escape.


    Several minutester, after a do-or-die run where they spent everything their body got, the two could finally ease the worry in their hearts as they saw the designated location where they were supposed to be going by car.


    There, dozens of tanks and hundreds of machine guns were set up. Hundreds of military personnels wearing U.S Army uniforms were seen crowding the road. It was apparent that the American armed forces had prepared their banquet and werepletely ready to wee the hordes of monstersing their way.


    Seeing the enormous cloud of dust behind the two people, Captain Marcus quickly gave the order.


    "Ready!!! Fire!!!"


    Assault rifles, machine guns, rocketunchers, grenades; all kinds of firearms were fired at the waves of creatures. Countless critters and hellhounds were killed by the explosions the rocketunchers and grenades caused, while numerous others died under the relentless barrage of bullets.


    However, the loudmotion caused by this direct sh between humankind and monsters seemed to have attracted even more monsters from Las Vegas. More and more monsters came out of the city and joined their kin in their endeavor of breaking through the blockade.


    James, who had been let go by Nathanael, entered the defensive line and quickly made his way to the HQ where the woman who had been speaking to him through the earpiece. As he walked through the ce, he spoke to his microphone.


    "Team B you are Go! Rescue mission is a go!"


    ----------------------------------


    Authors Note:


    Dear Doomsday Pirs readers, I currently just created a new novel titled, [Young Master in Apocalypse], I really hope you could check it out and please tell me your opinion about it.. It is ced in the universe and world with Doomsday pirs, but it will be slightly different. your opinion will be much appreciated

 Chapter 371 - Venetian

    Just like what Alex ''predicted'', the world abruptly came to its end. Sudden outbreak of a gue, the dead rose from their graves, and if you think that was crazy then wait when they evolved into more menacing red zombies. The situation became even crazier when the ck one came into the picture.


    As the saying goes, what didn''t kill you will make you stronger. Slowly but surely, humans adapted and overcame every trial thrown at them. The stronger the enemy they faced against, the stronger they became.


    The doomsday pirs that appeared exactly on the hundredth days after the apocalypse gave hope that once again humanity would survive. At least that was the case, until the Tribtion arrived.


    The tribtion days, the days when hell literally broke loose and announced its advent on Earth. Thousands of seemingly bottomless pits opened their maws and unleashed millions of abominations, flooding the with terror. Once again, humanity was under siege.


    Just like all the other ces on Earth, the United States too had to pull all their citizens who had been able to upy their lost city back toward the nearest doomsday pir all the while battling critters, hellhounds and gargoyles that swarmed them like hive bees.


    Unfortunately, not all bases managed to be emptied before the tribtion day. One of such ces was the Las Vegas base managed by General Daniel Campbell.


    While on the north side of the city, an operation was beingmenced which was then followed with a huge battle between United States marines and fighters alike. From the west, another group was seen heading toward the city.


    "All right fes. We are on a search and rescue mission team for the one General Daniel Campbell, or what is left of him and his team. The main army has A-team who lure and battle those abominations in the north side of the city as we speak, so it will be somewhat easy. But with those monsters, who knows what they have in store."


    Lieutenant Erick was speaking in front of his men, a toon of sky realm fighters.


    Among these toons, five of them were seen a little out of ce. They didn''t have any military ranking, instead they were all previously professional sportsmen. Gordie, Dan, Chris Rob and Glen. They are the famous 5 The Grogs brothers.


    The past one year since Doomsday had started, they have proven themselves as great fighters and been doing a lot of missions with the military. All of them have reached sky realm warrior, with Rob the most talented among them having sessfully reached the mid skyrealm spirit enhancer. With that, he was the strongest fighter of the whole toon.


    "What''s the situation, Lieutenant?" Gordie the eldest of the Grogs brothers asked.


    "Our intel said that the General and his men as well as several civilians have been bunking up in Vian Casino ever since the first day of the tribtion day."


    "Ten days? They must be something if they can manage to hold those monsters at bay for that long." Dan said, somewhat amazed.


    "Add that to the fact that they garrisoned the building with a minimum amount of weapons and were hundreds of miles away from the nearest pir. So yeah, they are something."


    Suddenly from the earpiece that was attached to the lieutenant''s ear, a female voice gave them the signal they had been waiting for.


    [Team B Lieutenant Erik, you are good to go!]


    "That''s our call sign team, pack up and roll out." Lieutenant Erick ordered.


    "Sir, yes sir!"


    Momentster, tworge armored vehicles swiftly drove into the city from the west. The trucks were fully armed and heavily fortified with tes of tier 2 metal, making it look like a pair of ferocious metal beasts.


    As they drove into the city of Las Vegas, loud booms were heard now and then signifying that the battle to lure the critters was still ongoing.


    "Sounds like a fun party! Too bad we ain''t invited!" muttered some of the soldiers.


    "Don''t worry soldier, we will have our fair share of fun on this side too." said the lieutenant as he nced at those who spoke.


    "Yes Sir! I look forward to it, Sir!"


    The ride into the city was uneventful to say the least. Aside from the wrecked cars or flipped cargoes, nothing a fully ted armored vehicle could deal with.


    The soldiers who rode the truck were sweating buckets. But even then, despite the scorching heat of the sun and the dry air of Mojave Desert, the spirit among the soldiers was at an all-time high.


    A momentter, the tworge trucks finally came to a stop. They stopped just a block away from Las Vegas Boulevard. They came into view of a tall rectangr majestic building of one Vian Casino.


    "Here we gods, ramp down!" Lieutenant Erick barked along the way to the back of the vehicles.


    The teams were fully armed with the newest protective gear that protected their body from head to toe. They also came bearing the new assault rifle that was recently researched sessfully and one rod with a peculiar button as their standar weapons. These equipment wereparable with the top of tier 2 artifacts, all built and made from the Area 51 research facility.


    However, considering their situation now, the group must keep their gun on their back and take out their rod and their own personal melee weapons. after all, they weren''t dumb enough to announce their presence with the loud gunshots.


    As the toon were moving into the famous casino, another voice came into the lieutenant''s ear pieces.


    [B team, are you in position?]


    "We''re here!" the Lieutenant answered.


    [Ourst contact with the general stated that they locked themselves up in the vault room. Remember, the VIP is the top priority! Do you copy?]


    "Loud and clear."


    [Good luck lieutenant, over!]


    The Lieutenant quickly said to his toon


    "Listen up boys! Armed and ready, we are going in."

 Chapter 372 - Clear The Path

    Upon entering the grand lobby of Vian Casino, the teams were weed by the chaotic sight of the once glorious entrance hall. Shattered ss crunched under their boots, Tables, and sofas that were flipped over while scratches and dried blood stains painted the wall and floor.


    "Listen up boys! Like usual, we will spread into three squads."


    "Alpha squad, you are the front team and you will be clearing and securing the second and third floor.


    "Right away, sir!" said Dan and Chris among the ten men Alpha squad as they hurried up to the nearest stairs.


    "Gordie, you and the Bravo squad will guard this spot!" Lieutenant Erick indicated the front door with his hand. "Barricade the windows with tables and broken furniture. The rest of you are with me! Let''s pick up the General."


    The Bravo squad led by Gordie Grogs proceeded to fortify their defense by piling tables, chairs and other broken furniture scattered across the lobby.


    It was impossible for the normal human to lift broken furniture, let alone piling it up as a defense perimeter. But for these men who most of them had reached mid-stage sky realm, the task was merely like a child''s y of building blocks.


    In no time, the wreckage was piled into a makeshift fortress that reached the lobby ceiling. Three men then pushed four cars into the entrance hall as additional cover.


    Now that the barricade was ready, the Bravo squad didn''t just rx and go idle. They still maintained their vignce and even raised it as they understood their task was extremely important, not only for any threat from the front gate but also if the other team needed their assistance.


    In the meantime, the Alpha squad moved swiftly through several flights of stairs. All of them were trying their best not to grumble andin about the malfunctioning elevators that made them climb the stairs.


    Nevertheless, they needed to check upstairs to ess any threat from above and check for any sign of survivors. Although judging the current situation, it was highly unlikely that any normal human would still be alive.


    The Alpha squad led by Dan Grogs quickly arrived at the second floor and then third floor. The once luxurious entertainment center was now nothing more than a wrecked space of destruction. Several giant poker tables and slot machines piled in one corner seemingly were set to defend something while thousands of colorful chips scattered all over the floor.


    As they entered the room, Chris suddenly raised his fist up. The soldiers behind him immediately stopped in their steps because this was a sign to stop for the group as danger was near.


    "Threat sighted, it''s the undead," Chris whispered to the men behind him.


    "I can see at least fifty red and three ck," Dan confirmed after consulting the scope mounted on his rifle.


    The team looked at each other as they were at loss as to what to make of the situation. They found it weird that these numbers of zombies were still up and about after the tribtion day. They figured, the hordes of hellhounds and gargoyles should have chewed them out by this time.


    "Let''s take them down silently," Chris took out an elongated metallic ball, an artifact he got from the pirs. It was as clear as day that he was itching for some action.


    "Weapons at the ready! At the count of three." A few took out their artifact while the rest activated their rod. The beam emanated a soft bluish glow. Silent hums filled their ranks. Middle-ranged weapon was indeed the most suitable to deal with multiple opponents.


    The team waited for themand with bated breath. Sweat pouring down their temple. Their hands itched to try the new toys.


    "Go! go! go!!"


    [Windwalk] a spell that was casted by Dan as he shot toward one of the ck zombies. He moved in a zigzag pattern to avoid the red zombies in the path and quickly maneuvered his way toward the nearest ck zombies.


    Upon reaching the unsuspecting ck zombies, he crouched and tackled it. He then stabbed the rod in hand and the ck zombie quickly found itself electrocuted, stunned for a second before it dropped to the ground which Dan quickly took advantage of by stabbing its head with his tier 2 dagger.


    His brother, Chris shot his metal ball toward the second closest ck zombies. He too jumped just as fast as the ball and in no time was able to grab it. Armed with the ball, he pounded the ck zombie right in the head.


    The two brothers didn''t have any particr fighting style or martial art. They solely relied on their superb power and agile moves honed from their years of experience in their sport.


    The rest of the team quickly snapped out of their stupor and reacted just as swiftly. Two of them even ran through the crowd of red zombies and blocked the ck zombie that was about to pounce on Chris.


    Felt left out because they ran out of ck zombies to deal with, the rest of Alpha squad began activating their own rods and put down the nearest zombies. Their rod buzzed with energy and with each stab it would take a zombie down.


    Dan knew that he had to deal with this ck undead quickly. After all, it would be unwise to drag the battle out for too long. With the [Stone Skin] spell covering the entirety of his arm, he crushed the abomination''s maw with his right hand and crushed the undead''s head to finish it.


    The Alpha squad led by Dan and Chris Grogs hacked and shed the zombies. and in no time, the room that previously was full of undead less than ten minutes ago was now clear of any standing undead.


    The team managed to clear the third floor with no casualty. However, they quickly once again stopped when they checked the fourth floor. With a quick peek, Dan noticed that there were dozens undead still on the fourth floor. Hence, to make sure the mission ran smoothly, they decided to barricade the path to the fourth floor and reported this matter.


    "This is the Alpha team. The third floor has been cleared."


    "Affirmative, Alpha squad. You may now return to the main lobby."


    Before they left the floor, they hastily took all the spirit stones from the zombies. Now the toon only had to wait for the sess of the main squad that headed toward the basement.


    ----------------------------------


    Written and Directed by Avans, Published by W.e.b.n.o.v..e.l,

 Chapter 373 - VIP

    Lieutenant Erick and Rob Grogs led the main squad skimming through the ground floor. This team consisted of the same ten-man squad of low and mid-stage sky realm with Rob being the highest level mid-stage sky realm.


    The Lieutenant, Rob, and the rest of Charlie''s squad moved silently across the casino. Thanks to the crazy Asians who were able to lure the monsters away from this ce, the journey across the Vian Casino was done without any hassle.


    "That must be the vault room." Lieutenant Erick said as he and the football yer motioned the soldiers to fall in behind him. He quickly but silently made his way toward the far end of the corridor.


    This corridor led to a gigantic circr metal door. The door had bars and handles that criss crossed here and there. It seemed the zombies and who knew what other creature had been trying to enter the vault only to no avail because of this.


    Making sure the area was clear, Lieutenant Erick then beckoned the soldiers toe over. Afterward, the group slowly rotated the lever while wishing dearly their target was still safe inside. As soon as the huge steel door made a loud sound and opened, Lieutenant Erick quickly shouted.


    "US Marine! We havee to rescue you all!"


    The lieutenant shouted their identity to make sure if there were people who survived, they wouldn''t shoot them as soon as the doorpletely opened.


    "Enter slowly, soldiers!" shouted a voice from inside, and this surely meant that there was really at least a survivor inside the vault.


    And as soon as the doorid itself bare, the soldiers immediately caught sight of them. A group of people, to be exact, inside the huge vault living among the gold and cash for thest ten days.


    There were 20 people who could be seen, half soldiers and half civilians. Among them, one of those in the soldier uniform was the VIP they were looking for. A valiant-looking middle-aged man with stars embedded on his uniform.


    "General Daniel Campbell, Sir. We''re ordered to escort you and everyone here out of this god-forsaken ce."


    As soon as Lieutenant Erick finished his words, there was a sudden cheer among the group of survivors.


    The soldiers who hid in the vault were somehow still in their prime condition as they were at least Earth realm fighters who needed less sustenance, however, the civilians were definitely not the case. Hence the Lieutenant quickly told the soldiers to help the civilians with drinks while he personally asked the general to move out first.


    However, the general unexpectedly refused to go.


    "Lizzie should have prioritized other rescues first," said General Daniel wryly. Despite the haggard-looking face, the general still managed to make an amused smile. "Get the civilian first. They need your help more than me."


    "I''m afraid we can''t do that, Sir. You are our top priority." Rob insisted.


    "I serve the states and its people. Look after them first. This is an order." General Campbell stated firmly.


    Rob and Glen took another look at the civilians and quickly understood how the general felt. Their eyes were empty, seemingly lost hope and tried very hard to hold thest sliver of life hanging in their bodies. After all, extreme malnourishment andck of liquid consumption tend to cause severe innards damage.


    "All right, we''ll help the civilians first. Bring the stretchers!" Rob instructed the men. The marines seemed hesitant at first to leave the general''s side and waited for his confirmation. Seeing how his subordinates reacted, the general quickly instructed his men to assist the evacuation of the civilians.


    With the number of survivors plus the civilians'' overall bad condition, it would be hard to evacuate all of the survivors through the front door. If they insisted on doing that, the evacuation process would only slow down their advance and could severely jeopardize the whole mission.


    The time was ticking and the Lieutenant knew he had to take immediate action. Fortunately, he had read the building scheme beforehand and just knew where to proceed.


    "Alpha squad, do you copy?" Lieutenant Erick spoke to his earpiece. "We''ve found the VIP and are going to extract him right now. Find a way to move the truck to the backyard now!"


    "Copy that, Lieutenant!"


    The lieutenant ordered 2 of his men to stay with the survivors while he brought the rest to secure the path to the back door.


    The group silently made their way to the nearest corridor which led to the extraction point. When they safely passed the corridor, they arrived at a hangar which should''ve led to the backdoor; however the Lieutenant''s expression quickly changed upon seeing what blocked their way.


    The hangar in front of them was full of stone gargoyles. Fortunately, the flying beasts were fast asleep like a statue as it was still midday. Still, they would certainly wake up if they were heavily disturbed.


    Thus Lieutenant Erick quickly gestured, and the soldiers slowly retreated back to the corridor. They had to find another way out because this hangar was a one-way trip to the underworld.


    [Stone Wall]


    Rob, as an earth spirit enhancer decided to raise a wall to seal the hangar entrance so that when something got out of hand the gargoyle wouldn''tplicate things. The wall was ten feet thick andpletely covered the corridor entrance.


    "Find me another way, soldiers!"


    The group quickly found the buildingyout on the wall near the stairs. They naturally managed to find a different path, however, the next room was so dark that they needed to use a shlight to be able to see. Charlie''s squad of eight people proceeded to sweep the room carefully, looking for any possible danger.


    As they entered and scoured the room, Rob quickly felt a bad feeling with the ce.


    "Lieutenant, I believe we should find a different path.."


    "This is the fastest route! We don''t have much time.. Those dogs could return any min-"


    The lieutenant''s word died out in his throat as he heard a loud roaring from his side.


    There were 6 pairs of bloody red eyes staring at them from the corner of the darkroom. The growl that reverberated from the beast sent shivers down their spine, making them feel weak on the knees.


    There, right in front of the lieutenant, hulking with its tall body, the three headed dogs of hell, The Cerberus.


    Before the lieutenant could give an order, the creature had lunged at him and took a chunk of his head and upper torso. His body was then flung across the room with a swipe of a gigantic paw. The mutted body went quite the distance and stopped right in front of the evacuation team.


    "Liutenant!!"


    Just like that, Lieutenant Erik the toon leader died in front of them.


    The team tried to suppress the horror that filled their hearts. Even the bravest of them, all would tter in the face of imminent danger. With the lieutenant dead, it was Rob who was now in charge by default.


    Rob was debating with himself about the situation. He could manage to fight or hold this beast alone on his own for several minutes till the reinforcement came. But the general and several civilians had yet to be evacuated. Besides, the situation could likely escte and get worse the longer they were here.


    With this option, he finally decided to lure the beast away from them. With that decision made up in his mind, Rob had to get the beast away from the exit door first.


    He quickly took out an ax from his storage ring and used his famous arm to throw the ax directly to one of the three heads. A pained howl was heard in the air before the Cerberus simultaneously turned its heads toward Rob.


    Seeing that, he immediately dashed to the room next door, luring the three headed monster away from the exit path it blocked.


    "Come after me you big fucking animal!!"


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