NOVEL NEXT Chapter 60: The Horrors Of The New World
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Johan and his party of three other bootlickers were having the time of their lives hunting weak monsters, mostly Horned Rabbits, weak Goblins, and the occasional Silver Lizard. As soon as they entered the hunting field, they started tracking monsters using his Innate Skill, [Monster Detection].
It was a skill that allowed him, a rookie hunter who had started his new career just half a year ago, to not only evade danger easily but also seek monsters when he needed to hunt a lot, especially with allies that could take down foes he couldn’t.
Therefore, even when he was raised from nothing, he became widely successful and popular among low-ranked hunters and was always required at many parties. Despite his amazing potential, he quickly became cocky and self-conceited.
CRASH!
“Kryaakkkh…!”
A sharp blade swiftly pierced the neck of a Goblin, blood splattering out from the blood. The creature gave out its last cry before dying on the spot, falling head-first onto the floor.
The last of the dozens of Goblins they hunted down in a matter of minutes, their points were rising rather swiftly.
“Phew, that was rough. Johan, shouldn’t you be fighting a bit more too?” Asked one of his party members. “The only thing you do is barely hurt them with your bow and sit your ass waiting for us to finish them off.”
“Huh? And you want me to get hurt when I am the one that brings the monsters to you so easily?” Johan raised an eyebrow. “Who the fuck do you think you are? I’m already a D-Rank hunter; if it weren’t for you losers who begged for my help, I wouldn’t be here. And don’t talk to me in that tone either.”
Johan glared down at the insolent party member as the young man swiftly stepped back before meeting his gaze again. Between hunters, especially inside of Dungeons or Danger Zones, most of the time it was “anything goes”.
This meant that provoking someone else could also bring the death of oneself. It was unwise to go around provoking people, especially those who were stronger than you.
“Leave it be.” Another party member sighed. “Anyways, let’s take a break for now; we’re all tired.”
“Break?” Johan asked. “We need to get at least a thousand points. I need to get that Magic Bow. We’re going to hunt again.”
“Wait! Let us rest a bit, at least!” Another party member complained.
Johan stopped walking away and then glanced back at the young man.
“I’m not in the mood for your shit; let’s go. If you dare get cocky and not work, I won’t hold you responsible for what happens to you. Johan threatened him.
One of the things Johan was capable of, and which was a bit known around hunters, was that he could not only detect monsters but lure them around. which meant that with enough tactics, he was more than capable of killing hunters indirectly by cornering them and leading monsters to kill them; afterward, he would simply reap the benefits and take whatever they had.
He was someone extremely dangerous who had grown strong really quickly and couldn’t be messed around with. There were many rumors of him killing other hunters that he didn’t like.
“Hahhh… Fine…”
His tired party followed him around, and as Johan’s greed for this event’s point-shop system continued to grow, the party came to a halt as they saw something out of the ordinary.
RUMBLE!
Only a few dozen meters away from them, a gigantic purple jewel surged from beneath the floor, shattering any buildings on its way. It started glowing with a bright, purple light, which continued to spread around constantly.
“W-What the heck is that?!”
“Eh? A purple jewel?”
“I-It’s emanating something ominous. Oi, Johan, we need to go tell this to the instructors; this wasn’t in the info we got."
However, Johan was smiling, fascinated by this. While his companions were thinking about their personal safety first, Johan was only thinking about profits.
“I can feel a lot of weak monsters around that thing! Move!” Johan laughed. “We’re up to a nice haul, fucktards.”
Johan rushed to the scene, forcing his allies to follow him, or else he would simply lure monsters to chase them down. Johan quickly led them to the area, only to find a dead end between the ruins of many buildings around a large street.
However, it looked empty.
“Huh? There’s nothing here."
“Where are the monsters, Johan?”
“Oi, Johan!”
“Huh?” Johan looked around, confused. “But I am pretty sure they’re here. They should-”
“GRUOOOHHH…!”
A furious and loud groan echoed around the abandoned ruins. As the entire environment started to move and shake furiously, the hunters panicked, seeing as if the very environment around them started to move.
CRASH!
A gigantic piece of rubble suddenly fell over one of them, crushing them before they could even realize what was happening.
“W-What the fuck?! Where did that-”
The earth continued trembling as Johan and his party saw, in horror, something they never thought possible within this newbie Danger Zone. The monsters were always here. They have been in front of them from the beginning.
“N-No… W-What?! This is… This wasn’t supposed to happen!” Johan began running while his party members were being crushed to death one by one, screaming.
“Uwaaaggh! Johaaaannn!!”
“Help! HELP MEEEE!”
“I-I don’t want to die- AGH!”
A face filled with despair was all Johan had now as he ran away, running through the same corridor that led him and his party to this dead end. only for a shadowy figure to greet him.
With shining silver eyes.
“What are you doing here, boy?” It spoke. “Don’t you know that you shouldn’t be looking for trouble so openly?”
“E-Eh? W-Who are you?!” Johan cried as the beings that killed his whole party in less than a minute approached him slowly.
The silver-eyed figure smiled as he waved his hands, a bracelet on his right hand glowing with a strange, black and purple-colored energy emanating a demonic power.
The monsters instantly stopped moving, staying still and glaring down at the scene with their emotionless expressions.
“Y-You can control the monsters?!” Johan cried, beginning to step back but then smiling. “A-Ahahaha! Thank you so much for-”
Slash!
“H-Huh?”
Before Johan could realize what was happening, the man moved at a speed he couldn’t recognize and pierced his stomach with a weird-looking dagger, emanating a demonic power made out of purple crystal.
“G-Gaagh… What did you- Ugh!”
Johan fell to his knees as his wound started to spread a strange energy across his body, beginning to change him from the inside out.
His face distorted, and so did his body, as it started to swell and transform constantly. Johan screamed in agony as he cried, but the silver-eyed man in front of him watched the scene with fascination.
“Ahahaha! Rejoice! It seems you’re a chosen one that has survived the Demonite’s energy. The man laughed, watching the thing that Johan had become.
A powerful, dark entity behind him watched the scene, its two red eyes glowing brightly within the shadows of its being, which seemed to be slowly forming and manifesting itself.
“Strong, but still not a fitting vessel." It spoke. “Yet it might prove to be a good asset to our army."
“I’m sure it will!” Giggled the silver-eyed man. “Now… What should we do next? Should we fish for more newbies? Hah, they’re all so easy to hunt.”
“There’s one that is concerning.” Spoke to the shadow entity. “The spreading of suffering and chaos might be stopped by this one strange girl... If I cannot manage to embody enough of my elements, I cannot properly manifest myself, you know? It is thanks to this girl that I’ve managed to come so early, but it is also her who could end me easily.”
“Heh, don’t worry about that, friend.” Smiled the silver-eyed man. “My little sister got that covered, especially when I use THAT on her.”
“Hmph, you treat your own family as tools.” The shadow laughed, an abyssal being. “You’re indeed someone fitting to be my servant.”
“Servant?” The man laughed. “We are simply sharing a similar goal, that’s all." A smile surged on his lips as he glanced at the purple crystals beginning to grow rapidly over the corpses of the dead and crushed hunters. “And cooperating with you might give me a nice shortcut to my goals as well.”
The man glanced in front of him, finding several powerful creatures emerging from the ground, overflowing with these purple-colored crystals all over their bodies. And there were also several former hunters who no longer looked human.
“The Dawn of a New World is upon us.” He laughed. “A world where only the strong will survive, an ideal world without capitalism, socialism, or any stupid politics... A world where we can truly be freed from humanity’s worst creation, morality.”
He stood above a tall, ruined building, glancing at the faraway City of Stronghold.
“I wonder… Who will try to stop me? How many will die?” He smiled, showing his sharp teeth. "I can’t wait.”
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