Rise Of The Hoarder

“Fine…” The masked savior said with resolve, lighting the fading hopes in the hearts of everyone who heard him.

“I’ll kill them all!”

**********************************

‘Psych! This is just too good. Pfft!’ My mind rang in absolute amusement.

From the start, I knew this would be a silly plan, but it was even funnier than I had pictured.

The reason I suggested that our group run, in the first place, was not to escape the stampede but to offer a false sense of hope to everyone.

As soon as we reached the flatlands, I used <Summon> to pour out a number of the Hobs I had captured before now. This stopped everyone in their tracks and greeted them with despair, but it wasn’t enough. To fully drown them in despondency, I summoned more Hobs behind them, very close to me.

I called their attention and made sure they all witnessed me getting brutally ‘killed’ by the Hobgoblins. That was another reason I made sure I was at the very rear of the group.

Of course, the Demons didn’t actually hurt me in any way. Just before their slow bodies came into contact with mine, I used <Camouflage> to cloak myself and also summoned one of the few Gifteds I had in [Subspace]. Other than Larry and Lara, I had one other Gifted in my storage. It was the same guy whose arm I had cut off for touching my shoulder._.

The Demons killed him and mutilated his body beyond recognition, serving as the perfect sacrifice for my death.

After this, I remained hidden with <Camouflage> and quickly changed into my ‘Masked Hero’ costume. While I did this, I watched the Hobs kill some of the scared Gifteds. It served as a good way to pass time, plus I needed them to experience enough loss to trigger even greater gratitude when I saved them!

Using <Rule>, I made the unease of everyone dissipate when they saw me and caused them to incline their trust toward me.

While useless against Demons, <Rule> was useful for the Gifteds since we were of the same kin. I often used it to intimidate others, but it had other uses. One of which was to control the emotions of others.

The fact that their intelligence had drastically reduced and they were in a precarious situation helped. Everyone trusted me wholeheartedly. It was perfect!

‘By killing off ‘Jeremy’ and taking on the title of ‘Masked Hero’, I can act more freely.’ I reasoned.

Now confronted with the very Demons summoned through [Subspace], I considered it a waste to kill them, but it was necessary to keep up appearances.

>BZZZTTTTZZZ<

Red lightning flashed across my body as I felt a surge of power surge through me. I refused to use any other combat Skill except <Aura> to subdue the Demons since I needed to conserve the ‘big guns’ for my fight against the oncoming stampede.

“GAKURIUUUKKK!!!” The Hobs growled and came after me.

A total of 231 Demons from both sides. It would have been quite difficult for me in the past, but this wave consisted of mostly Brawlers, a few Archers, and two Tankers, one from each side.

‘Piece of cake!’

>FWOOOSH<

My body fluidly brushed with the wind as I gripped my daggers tightly. The crimson light emanating from my body lit the way, and the sparks of lightning energized me even more.

Swinging my arms powerfully, I made sure to kill five or more Demons in one strike.

>SWISH!<

My body moved fluidly, cutting down ten at once with both hands active.

I leaped, using some Hobs as footholds, and spun midair. My next targets were supposed to be the Archers since they could prove troublesome if left alone. However, they couldn’t hit me anyway, so they were useless.

I cut off the head of one Tanker, infusing the energy sparking from my body to the weapon I wielded expertly.

As soon as it died, I quickly used its vanishing body as a foothold and jumped to the other Tanker that was already attempting to assault me.

Spinning horizontally, I sliced through its outstretched arms, rendering it limbless within a second.

“Garui-“

Before it concluded its scream of agony, I ended its pain with one sharp slash to sever its head.

The bodies of the fallen Demons turned to dust, leaving only the little ones to take care of. Considering it a waste to even finish them off with Mana Core Bombs, I decided to go one final round.

Dancing fluidly, while evading their very slow attacks, I cut off their heads and sent them all flying in a bloody parade.

[You Have Leveled Up]

I smiled at the notification. It was fortunate that I was able to Level Up from such a weak bunch. After my last battle with the Demons in the compound, I was already Level 169. As expected, facing stronger enemies gave a considerably higher amount of EXP. The many Hobgoblin Tankers and Archers gave higher Experience Points, and even though the wave was less than the first one I dealt with, they gave more EXP overall.

‘With this new Level Up, I guess I’m now at Level 170! Not bad…’ I reasoned with a grin.

In any case, the subjugation of the Hobs was complete, and all the Demons around had been extinguished.

“It is done…” I whispered, using <Recall> to take back my bloodied daggers.

Only the daggers vanished, causing the residual blood to drop to the ground and evaporate shortly after.

I barely worked up a sweat, but this could still be considered a warm-up exercise for the real battle to come. Looking behind me to see the people I saved, I once again played my ‘hero’ card.

“Are you all okay?”

Their eyes displayed pure surprise and amazement by my brilliant display. I was certain none of them had been able to follow my movements at all or comprehend how I was able to kill over two hundred Demons in three minutes, no, even less.

Considering it could have been done faster if I had used <Summon> and <Recall> I nearly burst out laughing at the weakness of the other Gifteds.

Drawing closer to them, the group of Gifteds all knelt before me, bowing their heads in reverence to offer their absolute gratitude to their savior.

“T-thank you! Thank you so very much!”

“We owe you our lives!”

“We will be forever grateful to you!”

As I heard their words, I smiled. It didn’t feel too bad being praised for saving people from danger, even though the danger was orchestrated by me, to begin with.