Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

Kuzu walked down the long hallway to reach the elevator. He took the elevator and stopped back on the gaming floor.

'I could not ask him… at the end.' He face-palmed as he walked towards a door, it slid open, and he entered the gaming room.

Inside the big white color gaming room which consisted of ten gaming stations, Kuzu looked straight at his computer.

Kuzu was not happy with himself because he failed to achieve what he actually wanted to.

Request Onogi to ban Ryu's account after their battle. Only Onogi had the power to do something like that because the Alien Game Developers would not ban an account unless a serious crime is committed. Or they are caught using some cheat.

But on the other hand, Kuzu knew that Onogi does not have time for small players like Ryu, so if Kuzu had asked Onogi to ban Ryu's account, he would have only shouted at Kuzu.

"I better let Darkness know about the plan," he pulled his dark orange chair, sat on it, and inserted her card into the slot of a card scanner.

The monitor's screen lit up. The game's logo appeared on the screen, and the game started loading. Kuzu rubbed the back of his hair while he placed himself into his gaming chair comfortably.

After the game loaded, he grabbed the mouse and moved it to a mail symbol, he opened the chatbox.

Kuzu bent forward and typed a text message at an amazing typing speed, "Battle at Zero O'clock, Sunday eighth of December 2052." Did not take him even five seconds to write that much.

When he was done typing the message, he moved the mouse's pointer to an option that read- "Send to all ninety-seven friends." Kuzu clicked it and the message was sent to everyone.

He closed the window and was about to open his private messages with 'I am Darkness' when suddenly, he heard a phone call ring.

There was the symbol of a phone on the monitor screen, and it was shaking with the ringing sound. Kuzu looked at the caller- a call from 'I am Darkness.'

He took time full time to think about whether to pick the call up or not. And just when the call was on the verge of ending, Kuzu accepted the call.

"Hey, I am 'I am Darkness', you can call me Uragi." Uragi introduced himself as soon as Kuzu picked up the call, "I wanted to have a talk,"

Kuzu rubbed his left ear's piercing, "I am Kuzu Erabu, call me Kuzu. and yes, I want to talk too."

"Let us talk about business then." Uragi started, "why Sunday?" he asked, "why the hell Sunday? Why can't we attack him right now?!" he raised his voice slightly, "I already have twenty-five to thirty good men ready for–"

"Oh yeah? Even when you are already defeated, you want to rush things?" Kuzu's cold reply made Uragi stop and think for a while, "and this is my battle, you just follow my plan,"

Suddenly, the conversation died, nothing but silence remained. Uragi gulped on the other side. "h- how many men do you have?"

Kuzu sighed, "more than enough to cease his existence." Kuzu replied and hung up the call.

The call ended, the menu screen popped back up. Kuzu kept staring at his screen before he moved his mouse and opened up his inventory.

Weapons, items, money, skills. He changed his equipment, his weapons to make sure he takes only the best with him.

The best ninety men, the best equipment, the best weapons, the best strategy, everything was best but yet, Kuzu knew one thing for sure. It was not enough to defeat someone as experienced as HIM.

Kuzu stared at his monitor screen blankly. He tried to come up with a strategy that would destroy Ryu's territory.

Although this was not Kuzu's first time attacking another player's base. It was definitely Kuzu's first time dealing with someone he originally thought was capable of defeating him in a one-on-one battle.

Even with a hundred men, only half or less would be able to make it till the end. And surely, Kuzu thought, Ryu, has an army for himself. He has the gaming experience, with experience comes network and connections. That thought worried Kuzu.

'But what if he actually does not have any army?' If that was the case, well, then surely, Ryu would not be able to stand in front of Kuzu's army… at least, not for too long.

Eventually, Ryu and his teammates will die and their territory will become Kuzu's territory. But it was, in the end, the number of men over the quality of men.

Kuzu rolled his hand over his face and continued to think for a while. 'I need… something different. I need to find his weakness…'

'A strategy that would make Onogi-san ban his account… a strategy to take down his army.' Kuzu continued spinning in his chair with his right leg over his left leg.

"Ryu… eh." Kuzu rolled his fingers, cracked his knuckles, and went back to staring at the screen blankly.

Kuzu wanted to but he was not stupid to search- 'Best battle strategies in 'The Emperor of the Apocalypse.'' on the browser. Definitely not that stupid.

The frustration had started to take over Kuzu, he had not got even a single hint of what he was supposed to do next, he let out a grunt, "it is not helping."

The dark orange chair stopped spinning, Kuzu came to a stop. He suddenly leaned forward and looked straight at his game's screen.

A notification from the system had popped up, it read- [Christmas Sale! If you are new to the game, then this IS the perfect time to buy yourself and your loved ones a present!]

Kuzu clicked on the notification and opened up the ongoing event. [Buy gaming cards of the game 'Mokushiroku no Tennou.' At a discount rate!]

When he read further. [Buy a family pack of gaming cards at the rate of thirty percent discount!! Hurry up, the sale ends on the 16th of December 2052.]

"Hah." a grin spread on Kuzu's face, his scary yellow eyes had a glint of cunningness in them, and a grin that showed how delighted he was.

It was early evening right now, Hitori and Kamiya were sitting in the Pontianak dungeon. Reon had messaged them that she will not be logging in to the game for today. She will directly meet them tomorrow in the morning as early as possible.

Hitori was idly sitting on his throne with nothing to do. Leaving the dungeon was not an option as players other than Kuzu might discover and attack their territory.

Kamiya on the other hand was currently switching the dungeons' position, arranging them in order. Hitori glanced at him, kept staring for a few seconds then turned around.

Just when Hitori turned his head around, Kamiya said, "not enough," he continued with a pause, "our resources are not enough."

Kamiya took his head out of the map and turned to Hitori. "You need more money?" Hitori asked, "I only have a quarter of-"

"We need a stronger dungeon to protect the frontlines," Kamiya explained, "if they manage to break through the Pontianak lair, we are done for. We need a stronger defense, a stronger dungeon or a lair," he added.

Hitori looked forward. He started at the courtyard that stood in front of him. Well, it was not exactly a courtyard now, but anyways.

"Do we need… to conquer another dungeon?" Hitori's reply was exactly what Kamiya wanted to say.

He slowly nodded his head in agreement, "at least, above level twenty-five." Kamiya told him.

Hitori started to think again, "do you have any in mind?" Kamiya shook his head, "so we need to find a dungeon, conquer it. Without anyone knowing about our base." Hitori looked at Kamiya.

"If you want to defeat darkness… and if I want to defeat Kuzu, then yes…" Kamiya added after a pause, "maybe we can ask Reon-san to look after the dungeon while we two hunt one down?"

"Hm." Hitori nodded his head in agreement. He was not making eye contact with Kamiya cause, man, he had to turn his head behind him to look at Kamiya.

"The decision is yours to make." Kamiya closed his screen and waited for Hitori's reply.

Hitori grabbed his chin with his three fingers and started rubbing it, "hm." he hummed again, "alright," he got up from his seat. He turned his head to Kamiya and said, "Find me a dungeon."