Early in the morning, the employees from Titan Security issued a notice to everyone in the city. They had requested everyone to gather on the spacious grass fields behind EC Drury School at noon, stating that they had a critical announcement to make.

Since Titan Security was a famous security company, over half of the people gathered at the school, curious to hear what the critical announcement would be.

Over 50,000 people came, making the spacious grass fields look crowded. Antonio and the employees from Titan Security stood waiting at the west side of the grass fields.

Lieutenant Bennet was also in the crowd. He looked around and saw Kaius standing near the back of the crowd.

“Thank you all for coming,” Elroy spoke into a microphone. “I have some very important announcements to share. As you know, the world is becoming more and more dangerous by the minute. You’ve seen it for yourselves how the surrounding cities fell one after the other. It’s clear that the Canadian military is no longer capable of protect the innocent civilians.”

“But fear not. I recently had the fortunate opportunity to be acquainted with Mr. Antonio Valentino, from the great Valentino family. He had magnanimously agreed to take on the challenging leadership position of managing this city. Under his leadership, I can guarantee that Milton will become a safe and prosperous city for years to come!”

“Next, I would like to invite Mr. Antonio Valentino to speak a few words to everyone.”

Elroy’s announcement sent a wave of uproar throughout the crowd. Lieutenant Bennet, who slowly made his way to the front of the crowd, frowned deeply.

“What’s he talking about?”

“Antonio will be Milton’s leader?”

“How can some random guy just declare himself to be the city’s leader?”

Antonio received the microphone from Elroy and took a moment to observe the noisy crowd. The sight of this group of weaklings complaining caused him to frown in annoyance.

“Silence!”

The crowd quickly ceased all chatter due to the unexpected shout from Antonio.

Antonio looked directly at the crowd of people and addressed them in a supercilious tone.

“Bunch of useless trash dare to complain when you can’t even protect yourselves. Where do you get this sense of entitlement from?”

“Starting today, I’m in charge of this city. Obey my orders or be exiled.”

“I have no need for useless trash. Everyone must work to retain their right to stay here. Each person will be assigned tasks everyday. Those who don’t finish their tasks will be punished, while those who make great contributions will be rewarded.”

“Do I make myself clear?”

The crowd had thought Elroy was speaking nonsense earlier, but Antonio’s speech made everyone livid.

“Who do you think you are?”

“You think you can tell us what to do? What a joke!”

“How about you mind your own rich ass business!”

A brown-haired man near the front of the crowd stepped forward and shouted at Antonio, “You think you’re some hotshot just because you have money to hire some bodyguards? I heard reinforcements from the military are on their way here as we speak. Let’s see how tough you are once the military gets here.”

“Yeah!”

“You tell’em!”

“Get lost you rich snob!”

Hearing the support from the crowd, the brown-haired man felt a surge of confidence as he held his head up high and puffed his chest out. Wanting to strike the iron while its hot, the brown-haired man became even more unbridled and rebuked Antonio further.

“You hear that? Nobody wants you here. So how about you go f –”

Puchi!

The sickle portion of a kusarigama flew out of nowhere and penetrated the brown-haired man’s forehead. Blood sprayed onto the face of a nearby woman.

Clank!

The metal chain attached to the sickle was tugged and the sickle flew back into the hand of a man standing beside Antonio. It was Elroy.

“Anyone else want to object?” Elroy said in an indifferent tone as he looked at the crowd.

Thud!

The brown-haired man’s lifeless body slumped to the ground.

“Ahhhh….. AHHHHHHH!!!!”

“You… you killed him!”

“Murderer!”

The people that stood near the brown-haired man shouted and backed away in panic.

The attack was so fast that Lieutenant Bennet didn’t even have time to react. He was about to activate his skills when Antonio shouted once more.

“Shut up!”

After witnessing the senseless killing of the brown-haired man, the crowd became frozen in fear at Antonio’s intimidating shout.

“The government has nearly collapsed,” Antonio continued. “Law and order will soon cease to exist. Only the law of the jungle will remain. If you wish to live safely in this city, pledge your loyalty to me. Otherwise, you will suffer the same fate as that man.”

“What’s going on here?” A booming voice sounded out from the southwest side of the grass fields.

Everyone’s attention was promptly drawn to the newcomer.

A black-haired man wearing a high-ranking military uniform had just walked out of a nearby school building and was making his way towards Antonio. Following closely behind him were four other men in military officer uniforms.

“It’s the soldiers!”

“We’re saved!”

“Officers! Please arrest that man! He just killed someone!”

“Yeah! Arrest him!”

The crowd noticed the arrival of the soldiers and immediately grasped onto this new strand of hope.

The group of five military officers quickly made their way to the west side of the grass fields, where Antonio and the Titan Security people stood.

The man in the high-ranking military uniform took a quick look at Antonio before turning his attention to the crowd.

“My name is Major Alonzo Valentino,” the man in the high-ranking military uniform took the microphone from Antonio addressed the crowd. “How dare you trash behave so rudely to my brother. Know your place!”

“What…?”

“Wait… Antonio Valentino… Alonzo Valentino…”

“They’re on the same side!”

The realization caused an uproar in the crowd once more.

“Quiet!” Alonzo shouted.

“Everything my brother said is true. Those idiotic politicians in Ottawa caused over 70% of our military forces to perish. After their screwup, those cowards took most of the remaining military forces and went into hiding in underground bunkers.”

“There is nobody left to protect you. There are only two options in front of you now. Pledge your absolute loyalty to Antonio or die!”

A cold glint flashed across Alonzo’s eyes.

“You…! You guys are trying to start a coup! That’s treason!” Lieutenant Bennet shouted in disbelief.

“Who says it’s treason,” Alonzo nonchalantly replied. “In this new world, the one with the biggest fist gets to dictate what’s right and wrong. Lieutenant, since you managed to reach level 20, you barely qualify to join us as a ruler of this new world. Come up here and stand amongst us.”

“You people are crazy,” Lieutenant Bennet frowned deeply and shook his head. “You’re dreaming if you think I’ll ever stand on your side!”

“What a pity,” Alonzo sighed.

Blue mana flashed across Alonzo’s eyes as he casually waved his hand.

Whoosh!

Over a dozen ice pillars that were four meters long and half a meter wide formed in the air and hurled towards Lieutenant Bennet.

Shield Wall!

Surprised by the sudden attack, Lieutenant Bennet barely cast his skill in time.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

One ice pillar after another crashed into the translucent barrier. With Lieutenant Bennet still in a partially weakened state, cracks quickly appeared on the barrier.

Crack!

The translucent barrier only managed to hold on for a few seconds before shattering into pieces.

Pfffftt!

The backlash from the barrier breaking caused Lieutenant Bennet to spray out a mouthful of blood, leaving him in a defenseless position against the remaining incoming ice pillars.

Boom!

The remaining ice pillars crashed into the spot where Lieutenant Bennet stood, creating a two-meter-wide crater, and causing grass and dirt to fly everywhere.

When all the debris finally settled down, Lieutenant Bennet was nowhere to be seen.

“Hm?” Alonzo narrowed his eyes in surprise at the unexpected outcome.

Over to the side, Antonio also frowned slightly.

Standing at the back of the crowd on the far east side of the grass fields, Kaius watched the entire event play out with a calm expression.

A dark shadow flashed by and landed beside Kaius. It was Cenos holding an injured Lieutenant Bennet.

“We need to leave,” Kaius muttered in a low voice. “We’re not their match right now.”

“Why? Don’t you still have your undead army plus two evolved zombies?” Lieutenant Bennet questioned. “Surely, we can take on those 11 people?”

“My undead army had been nearly depleted after the battle in Oakville,” Kaius shook his head. “Also, those 11 people are strong, especially Antonio and Alonzo. Lastly, you’re mistaken about something. They don’t just have 11 people on their side. They have a battalion of 400 soldiers standing by outside the school.”

“What?!” Lieutenant Bennet cried out in shock. “How do you know that? Is it another skill of yours?”

“Yeah,” Kaius nodded.

“But what about all these defenseless civilians? Are we going to leave them in the hands of these dictators?” Lieutenant Bennet asked in exasperation.

“We don’t have a choice. But since they need people to work for them, at least the civilians will be safe for now if they comply,” Kaius comforted. “The only thing we can do now is to leave this place and become stronger so that we can come back for them later.”

“You’re right,” Lieutenant Bennet sighed in reluctance. “Let’s go.”

Cenos carried Kaius and Lieutenant Bennet east and darted out of the city.

Over on the west side, Antonio and Alonzo took notice of Kaius and Lieutenant Bennet’s escape.

“Brother, you let them leave just like that?” Alonzo questioned.

“Forget them. Those two rats won’t be able to survive outside for long,” Antonio said dismissively. “It seems they still have no idea of the existence of those things.”

Hearing Antonio mention those things, Alonzo couldn’t help but tense up.

Turning his attention back to the frightened crowd, Antonio began to address them once more.

…

Outside the east city entrance of Milton, Kaius and Lieutenant Bennet finally breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing that there was nobody chasing after them.

“What now?” Lieutenant Bennet asked. “All the surrounding cities have fallen. There’s nowhere safe to go.”

Kaius thought for a moment and answered, “Let’s try our luck in Georgetown, which is directly north of Milton. Both Milton and Georgetown are close to Mississauga, but Milton hasn’t been attacked by the cursed beasts from Mississauga yet. So, there’s a chance that Georgetown might still be safe.”

“Sure, let’s go check out that place,” Lieutenant Bennet nodded.

The duo ran northeast along Highway 6 for ten minutes before turning northwest onto Trafalgar Road. Given the duo’s enhanced physiques, they managed to reach the southeast side of Georgetown after jogging for 90 minutes.

Along the way, the duo met a few Dust Spiders and stray zombies. But Kaius easily took care of them and turned them into part of his undead army.

Before going into the town, Kaius retrieved the corpses of Steelclaw Crab and Fallen Rainbow Snail from Fay’s Ring. He materialized Bloodthirst and stabbed into the two corpses, absorbing their blood and gaining 4 Blood Essences.

Over to the side Lieutenant Bennet was surprised once more by Kaius’ equipment abilities.

“You have some sort of storage ring too? Is there anything you can’t do?”

“I just got lucky,” Kaius waved his hand dismissively. “Here, take the sword and absorb some Blood Essences. I can’t have you continue to be in a weakened state.”

“Hm, thanks,” Lieutenant Bennet did not stand on ceremony and took the sword.

Lieutenant Bennet activated Bloodthirst’s Blood Revitalization ability and began to absorb Blood Essences. Massive streams of life forces entered Lieutenant Bennet’s body, restoring his strength at a rapid rate.

While Lieutenant Bennet was busy absorbing Blood Essences, Kaius summoned Starpho and commanded it to go scout out the town from the sky. Starpho wiggled its feet in obedience and floated up into the sky while camouflaging itself.

After a few minutes had passed, Lieutenant Bennet finally managed to completely remove his weakened state.

“Sorry, looks like I used up 2 Blood Essences,” Lieutenant Bennet apologized as he handed Bloodthirst back to Kaius.

“It’s fine. At least we now know it takes 3 Blood Essences to completely remove the weakened state.”

Kaius took back the sword and stored the two corpses back inside Fay’s Ring. Then, he took out the Basic Sword and gave it to Lieutenant Bennet.

“Here, use this.”

“Thanks,” Lieutenant Bennet gladly received the sword.

“I just scouted the town quickly from a bird’s eye view. No sign of any people, just a few cursed beasts wandering out on the streets,” Kaius shared the info he obtained through his shared vision with Starpho.

“Let’s go eliminate them. Maybe we can even find some survivors hiding somewhere within the town,” Lieutenant Bennet suggested.

“Hm, let’s go,” Kaius nodded.

Just to be safe, Kaius summoned his entire undead army, including Dio and Cenos, and had them lead the way.

As soon as Kaius’ group entered the town, they attracted the attention of several nearby cursed beasts.

Eye of Mana!

Name

Stonetusk Piglet

Class

None

Level

11

Health

Normal

Mana

5/5

Strength

23

Vitality

16

Dexterity

20

Intelligence

4

The Stonetusk Piglet was a cute pink piglet with a height of 80cm. Two stone tusks protruded out from both sides of its snout.

Kaius only had a few seconds to look at the stats of these piglets before Cenos mercilessly ripped them into pieces.

“I almost feel sorry for these things,” Lieutenant Bennet commented.

“If only they were edible,” Kaius lamented. “I wouldn’t mind having some BBQ pork ribs right about now.”

It was widely known that the flesh of cursed beasts was inedible. Their flesh contained traces of poisonous mana, which would be fatal to level 1 players. Although this poisonous mana wouldn’t be potent enough to kill high-level players, it would still cause them to have certain illnesses such as diarrhea. Hence, even high-level players would not choose to eat this flesh.

Kaius’ group continued to make their way deeper into the town.

Thanks to Kaius’ undead army, Kaius and Lieutenant Bennet were able to easily make their way deeper into the town. Soon, they came across a plaza that contained a grocery store.

“Let’s go in and stock up on some food and other supplies,” Kaius suggested.

“Good idea. Let’s go,” Lieutenant Bennet nodded.

The duo walked up to the grocery store and waited outside while Kaius sent in a few reanimated Ash Spiders to scout out the place.

Kaius waited for a while before he suddenly lost connection to one of the reanimated Ash Spiders.

Oink!

A loud snort came from within the grocery store, followed by continuous rumbling sounds.

Lieutenant Bennet caught the glimpse of a large figure charging towards them from inside the grocery store through the glass windows.

“Dodge!” Lieutenant Bennet yelled.

Bang!

The front doors of the grocery store were rammed open by a large figure. Shattered glass scattered all over the ground.

Kaius and Lieutenant Bennet did a delta split and leaped away in opposite sides.

Boom!

The large figure landed on the spot that Kaius and Lieutenant Bennet stood half a second ago.

Kaius turned towards the large figure and quickly used Eye of Mana on it.

Name

Stonetusk Sow

Class

Rank 1 Evolved Cursed Beast

Level

28

Health

Normal

Mana

20/20

Strength

75

Vitality

70

Dexterity

65

Intelligence

13

Stonetusk Sow is a 2.5-meter-tall adult female version of the Stonetusk Piglet. Its entire body was covered in a thick coat of brown fur. The twin stone tusks that protruded from its snout looked sturdy and sharp.

Kaius quickly shared the info on the Stonetusk Sow with Lieutenant Bennet.

“Looks like we pissed off mama pig,” Lieutenant Bennet turned serious.

“It’s just a rank 1 cursed beast. We can easily take care of it,” Kaius said confidently.

Oink! Oink!

The Stonetusk Sow began to squeal nonstop.

Off in the distance, another source of rumbling sound could be heard coming towards the grocery store.

Soon, Kaius and Lieutenant Bennet were able to see the silhouette of a giant boar.

“And here comes papa pig. You and your big mouth,” Lieutenant Bennet looked over at Kaius and grumbled.

The giant boar quickly arrived by the Stonetusk Sow’s side in a matter of seconds.

Eye of Mana!

Name

Stonetusk Boar

Class

Rank 1 Evolved Cursed Beast

Level

30

Health

Normal

Mana

20/20

Strength

80

Vitality

80

Dexterity

70

Intelligence

14

The Stonetusk Boar is the male adult version of the Stonetusk Piglet. It stood tall at 3 meters and was coated in a thick layer of dark brown fur.

“Don’t worry, it’s only two rank 1 cursed beasts. We can still manage,” Kaius reassured.

Oink! Oink!

The Stonetusk Boar also began to squeal loudly.

In a matter of seconds, over a hundred Stonetusk Piglets appeared from inside the various buildings and houses and surrounded the plaza.

“Would it kill you to stop talking…” Lieutenant Bennet couldn’t help but facepalm.

“…”

“I’ll be quiet now,” Kaius felt depressed at his seemingly newfound ability to summon cursed beasts on demand. He quickly snapped out of it and laid out his plan for the lieutenant.

“I’ll hold off these two rank 1s with Dio and Cenos. You go help the rest of my undead army to eliminate the piglets.”

“Will do. Be careful,” Lieutenant Bennet nodded.

With Lieutenant Bennet and most of his undead army keeping the piglets at bay, Kaius focused his attention on the two rank 1s in front of him.

Netherlord’s Aura!

Corrosive Armor!

Vital Break!

All of Kaius’ undead creatures gained a 6% boost to their attributes.

Corrosive nether energy wrapped itself around Kaius’ entire body, forming a layer of armor. Strands of dark mana coated Bloodthirst as well.

Kaius took the initiative and commanded Dio and Cenos to focus on distracting the Stonetusk Boar, while he took on the Stonetusk Sow by himself.

Dio stood from a distance and sprayed massive amounts of spider silk at the Stonetusk Boar.

Snap! Snap!

The Stonetusk Boar’s superior strength easily allowed it to snap many strands of spider silk in half. It turned its attention to Dio and charged towards him with lighting speed.

Sudden Burst!

Cenos’ blurry figure rushed towards the Stonetusk Boar and slash at its butt, leaving behind a long but shallow wound.

Oink!

The Stonetusk Boar let out a pained squeal and instinctively kicked at Cenos with its hind leg.

Cenos contracted her muscles to activate her innate ability and raised her speed to the max, barely managing to evade the sudden leg attack at the last second.

Over to the side, Kaius also started his assault on the Stonetusk Sow. Since he had 77 points in his dexterity stat, his speed was slightly superior. He ran around the sow and delivered quick attacks in rapid succession.

One hit, two hits, three hits…

Stacks of Vital Break quickly racked up in a matter of minutes.

Grasp of Enfeeblement!

A deathly ray of energy hit the Stonetusk Sow accurately on its body, giving it the Enfeeblement status effect and making it take 12% of all incoming damage as True Damage.

Focused Strike!

With his Strength attribute enhanced to an impressive 108, Kaius delivered a devastating slash against the Stonetusk Sow’s body, leaving behind a deep long gash.

Oink!!!

The Stonetusk Sow let out a blood-curdling squeal. Massive amounts of blood pour out of the gash and flowed onto the ground, forming a small puddle of blood.

Just when Kaius was about to go in for a follow up attack, he instinctively felt a great sense of danger.

The eyes of the Stonetusk Sow suddenly turned red. Disregarding all defenses, it dug all four of its chubby pig legs into the ground. With a firm grip of the ground, the Stonetusk Sow charged out towards Kaius with incredible speed.

“Shit! It has an innate ability!”

The sudden attack left Kaius with no time to dodge or seek help from Cenos.

“I can only gamble on this,” Kaius gritted his teeth and activated Fay’s Ring before bracing himself for impact.

Puchi!

The sharp tusks of the Stonetusk Sow pierced the corpse of a Devourer that appeared out of nowhere.

On the other side of the Devourer’s body, the overwhelming impact from the charging attack sent Kaius flying.

Bam!

Kaius flew a few meters in the air and crashed into a nearby building.

*Cough* *Cough*

Kaius pulled himself up with great effort. A trail of blood trickled down the corner of his mouth.

“Luckily I had Corrosive Armor active, and the Devourer’s corpse absorbed the majority of the damage.”

Turning his head, Kaius saw the Stonetusk Sow was still rampaging wildly in the plaza. Due to the strong charging force, the Stonetusk Sow managed to embed its entire head deep inside the Devourer’s corpse. It was flailing around madly, trying to shake off the Devouer’s corpse.

“That’s enough out of you. Know your place you oversized pig.”

A cold glint flashed across Kaius’ eyes as he activated his spell.

Corpse Explosion!

A fiery explosion engulfed the Stonetusk Sow. Dirt and chunks of pavement flew up everywhere.

When all the debris finally subsided, the Stonetusk Sow could be seen lying motionlessly on the ground. Most of its head had been blown off by the explosion. Its entire body had also been charred black, with huge chunks of flesh missing.

Since the Stonetusk Sow’s head had been embedded inside the Devourer’s corpse, it took on the full force of the explosion at point blank. In addition, the high Vitality stat of Devourer, the stacks of Vital Break, and the Enfeeblement status effect further increased the damage dealt by the explosion.

[Level up!]

[3 attribute points acquired.]

[1 additional attribute point acquired due to Nether Physique.]

[Intelligence increased by 5 due to Nether Physique.]

[2 additional attribute points acquired due to Favor of the Nether God.]

Two white orbs of light floated out from Stonetusk Sow’s body.

Kaius distributed all attribute points into strength and collected the two items dropped. One of the white orbs gave 529 System Coins, while the other one gave a skill book. Then, he stored Stonetusk Sow’s corpse inside Fay’s Ring.

Kaius quickly examined the skill book to see if it could be useful for dealing with the Stonetusk Boar.

Name

Beginner Mana Cooking Techniques Skill Book

Category

Skill Book

Class Use Restriction

None

Description

Upon use, allows the Player to learn the passive skill: Beginner Mana Cooking Techniques.

Beginner Mana Cooking Techniques: beginner cooking techniques for cursed beasts, making them safe for consumption.

“It’s not what I hoped for, but it looks like we’re having pork for dinner today,” Kaius rubbed his chin in delight as he eyed the Stonetusk Sow’s charred corpse.