Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

Hitori and Reon's bodies disappeared into pixels. Fierce lifted her head, she had sensed something, but she did not see anyone. Fierce went back to sleep.

In the Pontianak lair's courtyard, Kamiya was sitting on his throne which was lowered down to the size of a normal throne.

He lifted his head after sending his messages. In the empty courtyard appeared two figures that were revealed to be Hitori and Reon.

They both dashed towards their respective thrones, "Give me a glimpse of the other side." Hitori strode and sat on his throne beside Kamiya.

Kamiya tapped his screen and opened another screen that read: Outside View. Kamiya clicked on it and a large screen appeared above their heads.

Reon placed herself on her throne and watched the numerous players in various outfits and of different levels. She took a deep gulp.

"Not moved yet, they are still assembling." When Kamiya reported, Reon's eyes went wide.

She twisted her head to Kamiya, "Even when they are already this much?!"

Hitori did not move his eyes from the screen. He studied his enemy. The number of players assembled in front of their territory exceeded fifty and still counting.

Players from all classes were assembling, everyone wore all different kinds of outfits, and they wielded different weapons. Although Hitori could not take a closer look, he could tell from afar that from Kuzu's army not a single player was a mage.

"Kamiya," Reon said, "please, explain the strategy to me once again." She rubbed her hands together and bit her lip. Probably trying not to freak out due to nervousness.

"Right." Kamiya opened their territory's map.

Reon gets up and walks to Kamiya, her throne shits and she sits beside Kamiya. He placed the map in front of them.

"So this is what our defense line-up looks like," He said, "the first dungeon in the line-up is the Kori dungeon level seven—"

"He is here." Hitori interrupted Kamiya– he was done anyway– "Kuzu is here." Hitori jerked his head to the duo sitting behind him.

Hitori got up and walked up to the screen. He turned back to the display screen and focused the vision on Kuzu.

Kamiya and Reon stared at Kuzu as he walked down the crowd. He wore a black hooded coat. If Hitori knows it correctly then that was an assassin's syndicate coat. It described Kuzu's class: An Assassin. It was a dark leather hooded jacket that reached his bottom, inside he wore a black sweatshirt.

Hitori switched off the screen, "Let us go down there," Hitori said. He turned and walked to Kamiya, "We should go down to the Kori dungeon."

"W- why?" Reon said.

"Yeah, why?" Kamiya frowned, "I have already activated the defense shield, we are prepared, and there are still thirty minutes before zero o'clock."

Hitori opened his mouth to protest but stopped midway. He had received a message.

[Chat with Emperor's Scrap Picker has started]

[Hitori. I think we should have a pre-battle talk for a minute or so. Just for the sake of battle ethics, come to your Kori dungeon.]

Hitori glanced at the two of them. He opened his screen and decided to teleport to the Kori dungeon.

"Hey—" Hitori disappeared, "Tch. Come on, Reon-san!" Kamiya hurriedly did the same.

"God… you two!!" Reon grunted but she had no choice. She did the same.

Hitori was the first one to appear in front of the dungeon's entrance. He saw Kuzu staring at him from the entrance of the dungeon.

As Kamiya had told, there was a defense shield that separated the enemy's army and Hitori's territory.

Hitori walked towards the entrance, Kuzu grinned, and he walked closer to the entrance. Hitori's eyes widened and his heart jumped suddenly when he saw a familiar face.

A muscular guy who was wearing a visible battle suit. Hitori slowed down and stopped a few feet from the entrance. His lips parted, "Gigi…" the guy from the VR-cade, yes.

From behind, Kamiya appeared and he froze at the sight too. He first saw Kuzu with no expressions, then Uragi with a creased forehead, and then his eyes caught Gigi who had a big smirk on his face.

Kuzu bent down and picked a snowball. With all of his might, he threw the ball at Hitori.

Hitori was startled but the snowball did not hit him, it was blocked by an invisible barrier between him and Kuzu. The defense shield was only visible to Hitori, Reon, and Kamiya.

"There was no need for this," Kuzu said, "we will not attack before zero o'clock." They ignored Kuzu.

Hitori glanced at Uragi, who lifted his thumb and intimidated with a murdering gesture. Kamiya was shocked to see Gigi back to being the Gigi he knew.

"But when it hits zero… I still want my freaking drops back." Kuzu growled in anger. "Shit is going down, Saibai Hitori."

"And I want your fucking head, you motherfucker!" Uragi shouted out of nowhere.

Hitori shifted his eyes to Kuzu. They both stared at each other. The tension between them made Reon even more nervous.

"Are you sure you want to do this battle?" Hitori asked in a low voice but full of confidence, "Are you sure you want to execute this raid to conquer our territory?"

Kuzu stayed silent. He averted his eyes for a moment. Gigi's smirk faded because he felt as if Kuzu was getting angrier with each passing moment.

"I do not want your territory," Kuzu lowered his sharp yellow eyes, "I just want revenge."

Hitori pulled his head back in satisfaction. He smiled. Hitori nodded his head four times.

"Shit is going down in twenty-five minutes then, Kuzu Erabu." Hitori pulled a gentle smile on his face.

"Yeah." Kuzu ordered Uragi and Gigi to turn around immediately after he said, "Come on."

Uragi glared at Hitori for the last time before disappearing into the crowd, Gigi walked to the left side to handle his unit.

Kamiya and Reon opened their tabs to teleport back to the Pontianak lair. Kuzu was about to head right when Hitori called him.

"Hey, Kuzu." Kuzu stopped at the instant and glanced at Hitori from over his shoulder, "Be careful, that dude will stab you in the back. His greed to take over our territory might make him betray you."

Kuzu turned and walked near the entrance, "Yeah? Thanks. But I am going to kill him anyway."

"He will come back—" Hitori stopped. Kuzu's dead serious expressions explained everything, "Oh." Hitori nodded, "I see. You do not mean in the game."

Kuzu shook his head, "I mean both sides. I kind of hate this guy," Kuzu whispered.

"I think he will not be a huge threat," Hitori said, "he is bad at backstabbing and betraying his team…" then he added, "just as you are at scrap picking."

Kuzu clicked his tongue and turned around, "I will show you what I am good at." And Kuzu walked in the right direction.

Hitori turned "Ah." He stopped and walked near the barrier. "Here." Hitori pulled out a thin, short, delicate key. "Your key."

Hitori's hand passed through the barrier. Kuzu glanced down at the key before accepting it. "I had fun watching you struggle."

"Yeah…" Hitori groaned. "Life feels pretty boring without struggle." Hitori teleported back to the courtyard followed by Kamiya and Reon, she shook her head before teleporting.

Kuzu walked to his army and shouted, "Only twenty minutes left before we destroy our enemy!"

Kuzu continued giving his guild powerful doses of encouragement, motivation, and anger.

When five more minutes passed and only fifteen minutes were remaining… Players noticed the crowd that had gathered in front of four dungeons.

Both Kuzu and Uragi's men had assembled in front of Hitori's territory, the number exceeded one hundred. And that created a huge crowd and gained many players' attention.

When a few of them decided to stop and take a look at the guild's boss, they saw no one but Kuzu shouting at his guild members.

"Is not that the guy who was with Onogi?" a player recognized him.

"Yeah, it is him." The other player quickly sent his friends and guilds messages.

"You mean it?"

"I do!"

"Onogi's right hand is preparing for a battle?"

"Onogi's men have assembled in front of a trio's territory."

And hence formed a huge crowd of spectators. They were gathered because they had heard about Kuzu and Onogi's men but never really met them before.

Others had gathered there just for fun. But many– almost half– were there for revenge. They were the players whom Onogi and Kuzu had raided, the players whose dungeons, and their territory was taken away by Onogi.

It was fair in the game but they still wanted revenge, at their level, it was impossible to fight Onogi, but they still demanded revenge.

That crowd attracted even more players which added up to sixty more. Hitori and others panicked when they saw the numbers increasing like crazy.

The crowd did not fail to grab a duo's attention. This was noted as the unbeatable duo that rivaled Onogi's power in the game.

"Oye, Kuchiki, come here for a second." The guy with a strong build called his friend.

"Now what is it, Yaban? I am done for today, I want to sleep—"

"Take a look at this." Yaban lifted his arm covered under a thick red kimono.

Kuchiki adjusted his eyes, "what is going on there?"

"Let us take a look." And the samurai partner took off without waiting for his partner.

"Hey! Wait!" Kuchiki was left with no choice, "Crap you!" He followed his samurai friend.

The players who had gathered there hoping to see Kuzu go down started sending spectating requests.

The trio let out a sigh of relief when they realized fifty players from the crowd were spectators. Accepting this request meant letting the spectators an insightful view of your dungeon, so they all agreed to decline the request.

"That is a huge crowd," Yaban muttered with an open mouth, "What's the name?"

Kuchiki said, "Trio… it is."

"Of?" Yaban turned to his friend.

"Ryu… God's Hell… and Leonine—" his words choked in his throat, "W- what?!" his eyes widened.

"Hey…" Yaban rubbed his chin, "I think I have heard those names…"

Kuchiki's mouth dropped open, "Of course you have…" he muttered, "these guys are from the world announcements!"

"Right!" Yaban snapped.

The nuisance Yaban and Kuchiki had created grabbed the attention of players beside them.

"Ryu #1845, the player to take down a level twenty-eight, off-limits ghost lair on their own." Kuchiki explained, "Adding God's Hell and Leonine gives you the trio who recently conquered Emperor Onogi's clone dungeon."

"Eh, what?" a player frowned, "are you serious?"

Kuchiki turned to his right, "I am." he frowned.

"You mean, these are the same people who made it to the world announcements twice?" Yaban and Kuchiki nodded.

"No wonder Onogi's had to assemble an army of more than a hundred people to take down four dungeons."

"And we have made it only once…" Yaba gritted his teeth.

"Twice." Kuchiki interrupted, "Once… we were announced out of nowhere."

The people around them frowned, "Who are you…" he checked their names, "Rotten Mind and Ronin Samurai…" he gasped.

"The Unbeatable Duo is here!" A person shouted.

The news spread like wildfire. Almost everyone knew this duo and the trio and now the players wished their vengeance to be fulfilled. Getting to know who Kuzu's opponent gave them a certain hope to wait and watch the whole battle.

The excitement of seeing two gaming professionals fight each other attracted more and more traffic. When the number hit a hundred, the spectators became invisible but Kuzu had already caught their glimpse.

When Kuzu noticed the crowd, he grinned for some reason.