Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

Kuzu held his head high and stared into the dark forest that was being tarnished by the Duergars. He held his hands behind him with an angry glare in his eyes, a plain expression, and he-- ready to wreak vengeance on Kamiya.

Hitori gulped as he watched the Duergars enlarge in size and run to the end of the Dreadful Retreat. No one knew what really happened after Kamiya activated his planted trap, and neither did Hitori.

Hitori's body had gone numb after the shock. Kuzu entered his dungeon and controlled the monsters from the dungeon. What if he manages to control the boss too?

"Hitori!" Kamiya shouted. "What do I do? Wh-what shall I do?"

Hitori dropped his head down and firmly closed his eyes. Hitori took a deep breath and listened to Fierce's screeching sounds from the other side.

"H-Hitori-san, I even pulled back my deployed attack. Now w-w-what shall I do?" Hitori heard Reon's weak voice. Hitori tried to focus on one thing at a time.

"Hitori... I am sorry," Kamiya said, "this is my fault. I should have set up a better defense. I think you need a be-better---"

"If you want to regret your decisions, do it after we lose the battle," Hitori said, in a deep and frustrated voice, "not while we are losing the battle."

Kamiya pulled his lips back, he wanted to argue with Hitori. He wanted to confess that he got overconfident and thought he had overcome his biggest fear Kuzu, but he was wrong.

Hitori opened his eyes. "Where is he?"

Kamiya quickly leaned forward and tracked down Kuzu. "H-he is still there," Kamiya reported. "Still standing in front of the cave."

Hitori rubbed his eyebrow. "And the Duergars?"

"Headed for the... exit portal."

"Of course, Kuzu does not want to risk his life," Hitori muttered. If Kuzu dies, well, the battle ends with the trio's win.

Hitori closed his eyes again and continued rubbing the corner of his eyebrow.

"What is he doing?" Magus asked himself.

But someone unexpectedly answered, "Waiting," the Territory Collector said. "Analyzing the best time for lighting the whole forest on fire."

Magus glanced behind him. Kuchiki, Yaban, the man in his thirties, and other players were watching the tense battle unfold.

"Do you have any other traps on this floor?"

"No. I saved them for the boss floor," Kamiya said. Hitori clicked his tongue.

Magus noticed something different about Kuzu, he squinted his eyes and zoomed the screen to Kuzu's chest.

'It was not there before,' He thought.

"Hey, what is that?" Magus pointed at a symbol that peeked from Kuzu's black jacket. It was slightly visible right below his neck where the jacket was not zipped up.

Kuchiki and Yaban squinted their eyes when Magus pointed out a skull's symbol. The skull had hair though, it was a face, but it looked like pale bones.

They saw a bald head-- the same as Duergar's head-- hollow eye sockets but a pale purple beard. The beard went under the jacket halfway through, they could not take a full view of the beard.

"Some kind of symbol, what do you think?" Yaban turned to Kuchiki.

"Hm... Duergar." The territory man's voice stopped them from thinking any further.

"D-Duergars?" Magus stuttered. "I knew it." Magus turned back to the symbol. "And if I am right... that symbol is painted on armor. And that armor belongs to---"

"The Duergar King's armor set." He turned to Magus. "Amazed. You know so much about Duergars."

"I am studying Monster Zoology," Magus admitted.

"W-what king?" Yaban twisted his face.

Kuchiki looked at Magus. "Kuzu is wearing some Duergar king's armor?"

"Not some king." Magus turned his eyes to Kuchiki. "The legend says, the Duergar King ruled the realm of dwarves, including Hobbits, dwarf Elves, humanoid dwarves, dwarf Goblins, and Duergars."

Kuchiki was speechless. I never thought a dwarf would have the power to rule a whole realm as an individual.

Magus continued, "His scale mail, the one Kuzu's wearing, is said to be made of Pangolin dragon and Ankylokyoryu dinosaur, who was known to be the monsters with the strongest scales."

The territory man was smiling as Magus spoke.

"If... the legend is true..." Magus opened his mouth in a wide 'O' as he turned back to Kuzu. "Then wearing that mail grants Kuzu the ability to command and control the Duergars."

A shill ran down Kuchiki's spine. Yaban was taken aback by the dangerous ability Kuzu gained.

"Why was that left there? Why did not anyone equip it though?" Magus placed his hand under his chin. "They are not that dumb to do such a blunder."

Kuchiki nodded his head in agreement. "Seems strange," he muttered.

Reon watched her enemies gradually killing Pontianak while she waited for Hitori's commands. Kamiya waited for Hitori to tell him what to do as the Duergars reached the end of the forest. Kamiya's heart was pounding against his chest, Kamiya feared the fact that Kuzu will enter the Lab anytime.

"Kuzu offered me this dungeon as if he was offering a lollipop to a country kid, and when he unwrapped the lollipop for me, I was blinded by the lollipop's sweetness and could not see the reason behind Kuzu's kindness," Hitori muttered.

Kamiya listened quietly to Hitori without saying anything. But on the other hand, he was replying to the scene where his trap exploded.

"The key he gave me did not even fit in that hole. It was the key to opening the Trio's Turf. And the key to the boss's floor? Oh, we opened it without a key."

Kamiya's eyes went wide when he replayed the explosion scene for the fourth time.

"Shit," he muttered, with an open mouth. "H-Hitori!" he shouted, "you got to see this!"

Kamiya shared his screen and played the video clip. When the video clip ended, Hitori's eyes were left wide open.

As soon as Kuzu threw the key into the skull's mouth, he was teleported inside the cave. he adjusted his jacket, revealing the scale mail with a symbol, as he walked out of the smoke and fire.

Hitori stopped rubbing his eyebrow. "We can not lose this dungeon," Hitori said. "We still have to unravel this cave's mystery."

Hitori pushed against the ground. His cloak's end flapped behind him. Kamiya closed the video and stood up from his chair.

"Reon-san, you never pull your already deployed attack, even if you are winning or losing. You fight till the end, till your enemies can not move anymore."

Reon moved her eyes from the screen and stood straight. Hitori nodded to himself.

"You know what to do, right?"

Reon nodded, although Hitori could not see it, she hummed an answer. "Beat my fears."

Hitori smiled. "And Kamiya," Hitori said, "Kuzu is coming for you. And you will have to face him and the Duergars on your own."

Kamiya gulped and licked his lip nervously.

"Because I am not coming back till Fierce is mine again." It sensed no danger so it was back in its nest. "All the best." Hitori took out his war hammer and bolted towards the nest.

Kamiya sat back, his chair screeched, and almost fell once again. "I am not alone though..." Kamiya lifted his head to look at a guy whose head was covered under a hood, he wore blue robes and glasses that looked as if they might fall from his nose bridge anytime, and his eyes were shining under the bright lights.

"Oh, shit. Look." A man lifted his finger at the screen displaying the Dreadful Retreat.

Many players gasped. "H-he is on the move," they declared.

"I-I can not watch him," said a girl, as she covered her eyes.

Kamiya turned to the screen. Kuzu was walking into the forest, leaving the cave behind. And as soon as he stepped into the forest, he disappeared into the woods.

"He will be here anytime!" Kamiya threw his hands over his head. "W-what do I do? W-what---?"

A sweet voice entered his ears. 'For me... Jiko, calm down.' A woman with blond hair appeared. 'Please. For me, kill that bastard.' She looked at Kamiya with her light blue baby-like innocent eyes.

Kamiya clenched his fists and dropped his head down. "For Akemi-nee-chan, I will fight anything."

"Oh, wait." Yaban frowned. "Kuzu and three Duergars? How? If they all enter the floor at once, God's Hell stands no chance!"

"Says who? Yeah, I mean, he would not stand a chance if that happened but." Kuchiki took a pause. "Monsters can not leave their floors and enter other floors. Remember!" Kuchiki was annoyed once again, Yaban asked such a question.

"Eh, no." Magus disagreed. He swung his head around. "Those Duergars are under his control, I know they can enter if he wants!"

Kuchiki frowned. "Not possible." He shook his head and folded his hands tightly. "I have never seen any monster leaving their floors."

"...no?" All Magus ever did was hunt new monsters every day and try to unlock their full description. He was never interested in doing dungeon raids.

"I... wait, can they?" Magus's uncertainty confused Kuchiki.

The Territory Collector raised his head to let out a light chuckle. "You both need to stay firm on your opinions... even if they are wrong."

They both turned to the man. "W-what do you mean?" Magus asked.

"Have you ever seen loyal servants leaving their masters behind?" he asked with a smile. "Or have you ever seen loyal soldiers leaving their King behind?"

Knock, knock.

The door knocked, and Kamiya's head jerked up.

"Open the door, Kamiya." Kuzu's deep and rusty voice on the other side. He knocked again.

Kuzu took a step back and stared at the door which once read: Onogi, and now it reads Lab Dungeon. Kuzu scoffed and knocked again."No use hiding. I have the key."

Kamiya frowned. "Open the door yourself then," Kamiya called from inside.

"I can always break it, and unlock it." Kuzu banged on the door. Kamiya ignored him.

Kuzu rubbed the back of his blond hair and pushed his hood down. "Fine." Kuzu pulled out a key bigger than the previous one and moved it towards the keyhole.

"For Akemi-nee-chan." Kamiya continued. He took a look outside. No one standing outside other than Kuzu. It was expected, that monsters can not leave their floor and enter other floors.

"Lab dungeon? Fuck, you are even scared of naming it after you or Hitori," Kuzu said, he chuckled. "Right, right. Anything the Kamiyas can do is fuck and then suck."

Kamiya pulled his neck muscles, his eyes wide in anger, and his breath behaving like an angry bull.

He interlocked his fingers into each other and crushed them with all of his might.

"I will show you what else the Kamiyas can do." Kamiya got up, threw his hands away, and opened the control panel.

"I hope you are ready, I am coming in." Kuzu unlocked the door, slowly, took a step back, and pulled out the key.

Kuchiki slowly unfolded his arms as the territory man opened his mouth. "As long as he wears the mail, he controls the duergars."

Kuzu took another step back and slid to the side but came to a sudden pause. His eyes creased and his forehead wrinkled, a frown took over then.

"Motherfucker." Kuzu bit his lips tight as he stared at the label that read-- Jigoku's Clone Lab.

Kuzu rushed to the side, threw his hands, and opened his mouth. "Razon!!"

Kamiya's grin fell from his face when he heard the familiar name.

"As long as he controls the Duergars, Kuzu rules them. He is the king." The man did not turn his gaze away from the screen.

"Break the fucking door!" Kuzu pointed his finger at the door as the chairs in the waiting room bounced up and a ten feet tall silhouette emerged from the dark.

"And as long as he is their King, they will follow him to the world's end."

Razon lifted his strong hammer, then with a swing that would guarantee more than just a home run, he blew away the door and charged inside.