Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

<strong>Five hours before the trio's first battle.  </strong>

Kamiya got up from his seat and rushed to the cafeteria counter. He spotted Hitori standing in the line for the third round of mocktails. Kamiya thought Hitori was addicted to drinking mocktails till he found himself craving mocktails.

'Better than cocktails.' They were getting nervous with the passing time and needed something to calm their nerves. Mocktails were better than Cocktails.

Kamiya slid on the polished floor, his long coat swiping past his knees as he came to a stop.

"Hitori." He panted. Kamiya extended his hand to grab Hitori's shoulder.

Hitori was easy to spot in the crowd. Wearing a dark navy blue jacket over a black T-shirt. Always the same. But today he wore black jeans beneath.

Hitori turned his head, his hair blew from his eyes and his hood fell down when Kamiya tugged his jacket from the shoulders.

Everyone in the cafeteria turned to Kamiya, the counter lady (no, the cafeteria counter lady) stopped placing orders when Kamiya struggled with catching his breath.

Hitori pulled his hands out of the pockets and grabbed Kamiya's shoulder. "What?" Hitori pulled Kamiya up and made eye contact.

"It is not opening," Kamiya reported. "I tried everything but no matter what, we can not open it. I-I have a bad feeling about this."

Hitori opened his mouth to calm Kamiya but then he realized the crowd around him. Hitori glanced at the other people staring at them.

Hitori pushed Kamiya around, he walked out of the cafeteria and appeared in front of their tables. Hitori softly pushed Kamiya down in his chair. Hitori turned his chair to face Kamiya.

"Now tell me, what is it?" Kamiya lifted his head. He stared at Hitori before turning to the screen.

The skull cave appeared again. "I visited the cave myself but still, I could not open it. I am not able to access it from the control panel either."

Hitori placed his hand on his chin. "Any idea, why?"

Kamiya shook his head. "The system says that we have not cleared this optional territory of the dungeon and hence we can not access it. It belongs to no one."

"Will we have to conquer the cave to access it?" Hitori asked, Kamiya, nodded firmly. "But... it is not possible now," Hitori said, shaking his head. "The battle is around the corner."

"But what if Kuzu---?"

"Kuzu what?" Hitori asked. "What about him?"

Hitori's voice was higher than usual, probably the never hitting him. Kamiya lowered his head and clenched his fist. "I do not know, it is just this feeling that... something is, something seems suspicious."

"Coaxed." Hitori nodded. "Do not worry." He stood up. "If we can not open it, then no one will be able to open it."

Hitori walked past Kamiya and Kamiya kept staring at the floor. He knew Hitori had more experience dealing with such things but Kamiya's hunch was disturbing him.

Hitori said as he walked back to the cafeteria for their mocktails, "Just plant some kind of trap there, just in case."

Kamiya's hand trembled, and his legs wobbled when he was sitting on a chair. He gulped but did not move his eyes from Kuzu. Kamiya looked around the control panel without knowing what to do while Kuzu took a step closer to the mouth.

'Plant a trap, just in case.' Kamiya stopped. He recalled Hitori's words as if Hitori whispered in Kamiya's ears right now.

Kamiya navigated to the cave's entrance. He saw Kuzu take another step forward. Kamiya waited for his prey to step into the trap, Kuzu took another step, and Kamiya banged the button on the panel.

As soon as Kamiya threw the key into the mouth, a massive explosion wiped out his mates and even him, he disappeared inside the fire as if he was teleported in an instant.

Kuzu dropped back into his seat. "Hitori, done." Hitori did not reply. "I used the trap to kill Kuzu!"

Kamiya still found it unbeliever and too good to be true. He killed Kuzu in a flash as if it was nothing. And he was sweating about that thing for weeks!

"What just... hey?"

"Where did he go?"

"He vanished... looked like he teleported."

"No way he could have dodged that massive explosion. He died, for sure."

Their stares shifted to a person who had declared Kuzu's death. "Emperor's Scrap Picker is dead."

The rumor spread through the audience like wildfire. Reon's heart jumped back into her chest when she heard the news from Kamiya. She sighed and looked down at the control panel.

She was currently gassing the remaining men with two hundred cubic feet of Phosgene gas. She saved only one hundred cubic feet of gas and used the rest.

Hitori smiled in joy. Finally, they defeated Kuzu. But... the male Fierce was still soaring above Hitori's head.

The audience broke out into a cheer. "Well done!"

"They killed him!"

"They won! The freaking won!"

Kuchiki and Yaban, both were frozen. They could not figure out what happened. The trio killed Kuzu in a flash? They defeated Kuzu's whole army and became successful in defending their dungeons.

"They broke Onogi's streak," Yaban said.

Kuchiki did not need to be reminded about that. "They are incredible. Probably stronger than our duo,"

Yaban's eyes widened. "Y-you are saying that?" Kuchiki looked at the destructed forest in front of the skull.

Only two minutes had passed since Kuzu's death and everybody was celebrating in joy.

Kamiya got up from his chair, still could not believe the facts, when notifications sprouted.

Two kills. Two notifications for killing two players. Kamiya grinned and opened his menu to teleport. Before he could punch the teleport button, his finger started shaking.

The corner of his mouth fell, followed by his jaw. "Shit..." he trembled as he mumbled to himself. "No, shit."

Kamiya pulled back his hand, and the notification screen popped in front of him.

[you have killed KamuKamu, level twenty-nine]

[Killed Ro-Loyal, level thirty-one]

In the audience's crowd, Kuchiki and Yaban were not ready to leave the site yet but many players, who were here for fun, had already started leaving.

"Guess I will leave too." But Magus did not care about his former friend.

"I can not believe... they defeated the enemy so easily," Magus said.

"Kuchiki," Yaban said, "to be honest, I am disappointed."

"Hm. So am I."

"I mean, Kuzu, the one everyone feared so much, was killed. Just like that."

Kuchiki stared at the fire as it started reducing. Kamiya did not bother to clean the dust and debris of the explosion.

"I had my hopes up for Kuzu, I thought he was better than that. And a perfect rival." He looked at Reon, Hitori, and Kamiya all at once. "But fate has something different."

"Kuzu... he was weak."

A man lifted his eyes and glared at two young men. This guy walked toward them, a man in his thirties (looked like it.) wearing a sky blue cloak and normal armor set.

"Let us leave," Kuchiki said, he opened his menu.

"A good number of dungeons and lairs," the man spoke.

Kuchiki and Yaban stopped instantly. They stared at this muscle freak whose muscles were barely visible but his large chest, thick forearms, and legs explained everything.

"And I could do nothing. I watched as Onogi's guild took over the gaming world even after starting a month and a half after me."

Magus turned around. Everybody's eyes fixed on the not-so-old man.

"Kuzu is like fire," he said, "and his obstacles are fuel," he continued. "The more his obstacles are, the fierce he will become, the furious he will be. The more you fuel the fire, the dangerously it will spread."

Kamiya swiped the notifications, scrolled up, and read them once again. No changes. It was the same no matter how many times he read it. Two players, only two.

"Who are you? And what do you know about Kuzu?" Yaban grabbed his sword and Kuchiki his wand.

"Territory Collector." Kuchiki's eyes displayed surprise and shock. "The one who used to be the owner of over twenty dungeons. "                                              "S-sir..." Kuchiki unfolded his hands. "We finally meet."

Kamiya, tremblingly, fell back into his chair. The chair was not fixed to the ground it screeched back and almost took Kamiya down with it. But he did not care.

"Kuzu... Humans with a terrible past, become either gangsters and criminals; or holy priests, and fathers. Kuzu is one of those humans, he is a man who comes from that terrible past." The man turned to glance at Kuchiki. "Terrible, not traumatic pasts," he added. "And Kuzu sends people to hell."

Kamiya's hand swept his bangs and grabbed his forehead. He hesitantly went for the control panel to connect with Hitori.

"I-I have not finished my fight yet," Hitori replied.

"Kuzu... is alive."

From the smokey grounds of dust and fire, erupted a silhouette of a man. His hood landed on his shoulders as he took a step forward.

Everybody turned back to the main screen when they heard a blast.

The silhouette took another step forward, his foot came out of the smoke. His blond hair jumped when he took another step.

Kuchiki gulped. Magus' smile faded as he saw a familiar figure step out of the fire and smoke.

"W-what is that?" a man pointed. "Who is that?" he corrected himself.

Kamiya did not even want to take a look.

[Emperor's Scrap Picker, level twenty-nine]

Kuzu's angry yellow flashed.

"Duergars. Send the Duergars." Hitori's voice popped in Kamiya's head. Reon was still unaware of this till she saw it herself.

Kamiya leaned forward and did some quick movements. "T-They are moving."

"Good." Hitori sighed, he took cover from the phoenix.

"Not good." Kamiya shook his head, and Hitori frowned. "I never summoned them or ordered them to move."

The whole Dreadful Retreat shook when three duergars ran through the woods, through the mud, and through the gravels and dead leaves.

Kamiya continued, "They are moving on their own." He grabbed his forehead again. This time, in fear. "Or someone else is commanding them."

"Kuzu." Kuchiki muttered.

Yaban squinted once again. "H-he is alive?"

"You can not extinguish a fire with fuel. You need water," he said, "but even water can not stop a wildfire until it swallows the whole forest. Only time can."

Hitori opened his screen. Three duergars arrived at the spot, Kuzu stepped out and pulled his hands behind him. Without him saying anything, the furiously running Duergars bowed down to Kuzu immediately.

Kuzu lifted his head, his eyes flashed the anger in them. "Destroy this dungeon," Kuzu ordered.

Hitori slipped against a wall. His mouth dropped open. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." He clenched his fist. "There was no trap inside the dungeon... the dungeon itself was a trap." Hitori's eyes fidgeted. "He had it all planned, since the beginning." Hitori's wand trembled and fell to the ground.

"Ready! Advance!" The Duergars pulled their hammers out and charged through the dungeon... slowly increasing in size with each step.

Everyone was shaken from inside, everyone was shocked from the bottom of their heart when the Duergars from the trio's dungeon followed Kuzu's orders.

Kuzu glared from distance. "Revenge is on its way."