On the outside, I carefully followed the armed men footsteps. But since they were so busy bragging to each other about their “night” adventures, they didn’t even notice when I made a few mistakes or when I almost slipped on the snow. After walking fifty meters, the armed men and the survivors split into four groups, and each group went to a different direction. They already did that action many times, so, soon they began to lure and kill the monsters.

‘I have to put the time-bombs near them while they are shooting.’

And so I did. Fortunately, the members of the brotherhood gang knew each other for a long time. So, on the outside, they always walked in groups of two or three. That gave me the chance of putting four or five bombs near each other, the chances of them escaping the explosion were zero. But even so, I had to be fast. I hid the time bombs in the snow behind them, but if something happens and they take a few steps back, they will notice the bombs.

After I put the first group of time bombs near the two most powerful man on the north side of the hotel, I retraced my steps until the midway point. After that, I followed the footprints left in the snow of the group who headed to the east side of the hotel. I repeated those same actions a few more times, and after ten minutes, I was ready to detonate the bombs.

‘What a tiring job.’

Taking every single step carefully not to make a single sound was hard. But in the end, I succeeded. I moved away a little bit from the last group, and then I activated the time bombs.

You killed a survivor, you have obtained his 3541 Evolution Coins.

The survivor you killed had the skill: domination. You obtained his skill progress and active effects. You now have ten survivors under your control.

You killed a survivor, you have obtained his 2816 Evolution Coins.

The survivor you killed had the skill: domination. You obtained his skill progress and active effects. You now have ten survivors under your control. ...

Along with the explosions, those messages appeared inside my mind a few more times, and the number of evolution coins that I obtained surprised me. But I put those thoughts aside because the work wasn’t over yet. That skill jumped to level three, but I had one hundred and twenty-eight survivors under my control. Surprisingly, I knew where every single one of them was. Thanks to it, I could easily pinpoint the ones who would cause me trouble inside the hotel

‘I guess the explosions killed a few of the armed men.’

My plan had worked better than I had expected; every single armed man outside the hotel was under my control. In just a second, I obtained an army of thirty-eight assholes and ninety unlucky survivors. I will eventually cancel the effect of the skills on those survivors, so it was fine.

The assholes who survived the explosions began to panic, but with a single thought, they stopped moving. Although I lost half of my MP because of my command, that skill was just too damn useful. However, I didn’t have time to waste. The survivors were still luring the monsters, and the assholes stopped attacking, it was time to put them to work again. I canceled the cape’s effect, and they looked astonished at me.

“Kill all the monsters which approach this place, at any cost.”

Because of that order, I lost even more MP, but I drunk some lemonade before I could collapse. While I was trying to recover my MP, almost a hundred survivors appeared, and Charles was leading them.

“You did it!” Charles said, looking very excited. “I can´t believe that you managed to this by yourself.”

“I was lucky; this skill has too many flaws. That’s the only reason I succeeded. But it’s not over yet; Ken is still inside the hotel. Besides, some survivors are still luring the monsters without moving.”

“Yeah,” Charles said while glaring at the armed men. “Those who didn’t come with me are under control of them.”

“Then just give me a minute, I need to recover my MP, after that, I’ll make them bring the others.”

However, I didn’t have the chance to recover. I felt a chill run down my spine when I heard a slight change in the air; for an instant, I saw something moving at high speed on the radar. That thing was moving toward the center of the radar; it was moving toward me. I threw myself to the side, and I avoided the direct attack, but then I felt my legs being electrocuted.

“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!”

For a second, I thought the muscles in my legs had been toasted, but that didn’t happen. My legs were numb, but aside from that, I didn’t suffer that much damage. I looked at the place I was before, and I could see a screen of steam around it. All the survivors around me also suffered damage, but they seemed to be alive. Inside the screen of steam, I could see a shadow with a spear in hands, and I could see that spear emanating electricity.

“What the hell…”

“I’m so lucky,” The shadow said while grinning. “As I expected, the end of the world isn’t so bad after all. I searched for you for two years, but this situation brought you to me. I’m one hell of a lucky guy.”

Ken: HP: 520/520 MP: 440/520 STA: 440/520

Ken stepped out of the screen of steam and showed a big smile. He was a lot stronger than I thought, it seemed that he wasn’t focusing on a single limit, and by the look of it, he broke his limits more than forty times. Involuntarily, I picked the metal crossbow, but soon I discarded the idea of using it. There were too many people around us, a single mistake, and I could explode one of them. Besides, he was too fast. Probably thanks to a skill, but he was a lot faster than me.

“Hey, don’t ignore me,” Ken said, showing a disappointed expression. “Say something.”

“Sorry for making your nose look weird.”

It seemed that I had a natural talent to make people angry, I had to buy some time to solve that situation, but I only made things more difficult. Ken showed a fed-up expression, and for an instant, I saw him tensing his body. My legs were still numb, but I still managed to evade the direct attack. However, again I felt the electricity crossing the lower part of my body, and I also felt a sharp pain on my right leg. When I got up, I saw blood dripping because of a long cut.

Ken: HP: 520/520 MP: 360/520 STA: 360/520

‘Damn it! As I thought, it was a skill. But at least he can’t use that attack many times.’

I didn’t know the name of the skill, but such powerful and fast charge powered by thunder could, without a doubt, kill a mutant polar bear in an instant. I was in deeper waters, like always, I was just a single mistake from my demise. But in that situation, I wouldn’t lose just my life; I would lose many things. By killing me, Ken would obtain the absolute control of a small army of super assholes. He was already troublesome enough by himself, with an army, he will condemn all the survivors in the city.

I could use the armed men to give me some time, but by doing that, the survivors luring the monsters would die. So I decided to play his game. Ken wanted to talk a little after all.

“Sorry my bad.”

“So, do you want to talk now?” Ken asked after raising an eyebrow. “Very good, very good. I know that you want to buy some time by talking to me, but it doesn’t matter, you don’t stand a chance against the current me. I didn’t want to spoil the surprise, but I will make you feel the pain and the shame I felt two years ago, but you will feel it ten times more.”

“It wasn’t my intention; we all were in the wrong. So, sorry for beating you and your friends. And sorry for killing your new friends.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Ken said showing a small smile. “I didn’t care about them; I was just using them to make me stronger. I can always obtain new lackeys.”

That was strange. He was indeed strong, but he used them? It was because of that skill? If that was the case, the effects of that skill were just too crazy. But that explained why all his status were too high. Fortunately, for me, his newfound powers made him complacent, and that was why he was talking instead of just finishing me off. Or was he just trying to scare me?

“Come on, dude. This city is filled with monsters; it’s not time to act like this. Ninety percent of this area population already died, and you are playing with the remaining survivors, why are you doing all this?”

I wasn’t really interested in his plans or ideas; I was just avoiding the inevitable. I didn’t have a single idea to make me escape from that situation, and since I was bleeding his next attack would cause a lot more damage. Perhaps it would even kill me.

“I’m doing because I can,” Ken said after he opened his arms. ”I’m doing it because I’ll become the emperor of this new world. Not even the most powerful monsters can stop me now, so, it’s only obvious that I deserve to be this world new ruler. Every single human in this world belongs to me now. I can do whatever I want with their bodies and their lives. Your life is also mine, so, I will take it.”

I never heard so much bullshit from a single person; he was probably even dumber than me. What is the point of becoming the ruler of a world full of monsters? Every human belongs to him, and he can use them to become strong? For me, it would be boring as hell to sit on a chair and keep seeing those messages appearing in my mind. Besides, I would feel really embarrassed in trying to make others do things they wouldn’t usually do for me. That was just too shameful.

I couldn’t remember much about Ken, but he had his share of friends. When we fought, they tried to help him, so why was he acting like that now? Did they abandon him after that incident? That was why he wanted to stand above the other humans? That was possible.

“Are you serious? You have parents and relatives, right? What would they think of you if they see you right now?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Ken answered. “They are all dead anyway, and I don’t intend to bring back them. I don’t care about the opinion of the weak or those who abandoned me.”

He was quite talkative for a thug, but at least that explained why he was acting like that. We had the same age, but he didn’t grow up in the last two years. His mind was of a teenager who thinks that he had never made mistakes and those who oppose him are wrong and his enemies. But I guess we were similar; I also didn’t grow up in those two years. I was still seeking the approval and the attention of my parents, and I wasn’t trying to understand why they left me in this zone. In my own way, I was ignoring the others and putting myself above them. I was always taking the small risks to obtain the best rewards. I only came to that place to satisfy my own selfish desires and to do everything by myself. I still wanted to continue doing everything by myself, so I wasn’t better than him.

“I guess that I don’t have the right to judge you.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Ken asked.

“It’s nothing. So, do you really want to kill me?”

“It's not that I want to,” Ken answered, smiling again. “I will kill you.”

“Well, you probably will. But I have a proposal. Let’s fight with our fists; by doing so, you can defeat me, as I defeated you in the past. What do you think?”

“You are a crazy bastard,” Ken said while laughing loudly. “Why should I do that? Do you think that you can make me drop my guard? You are stupid. I’ll crush you with all my power!”

After saying that, Ken aimed his spear toward me and began to tense his body again. Well, at least I tried.