Chapter 19 - Facing The Wolf Pack
Everything came down to knowledge again. Just when I considered what the old man told me as the truth, I started to lay down this trap.
According to the old man, if coins were the main currency of this world then blessing would be its hard currency and the most precious one.
To gain blessing, one had to do difficult quests and wait for a long time to accumulate enough to make a difference.
I knew the angels were acting like the facilitators, like the organizers of any event. Such a position gave them many privileges that I wouldn't be able to compete against at this early stage of the apocalypse.
So I had to use my brain and act slightly cunning here.
According to the old man's words, the guides came to this world with empty blessing. To make things fair, the angels had no access to any blessing they accumulated before, not until a certain point of this dangerous game.
The system acted as the fair judge here, trying to balance things out. So putting them as my main enemy, and the foremost danger of all against my current plans, I had to undermine their authority by any means possible.
I knew they were coming for me, for my team. So I patiently waited and didn't give any indication of leaving. Despite that field already doing its part here, I didn't show any intention of even looking for another one.
Even when my teammates asked about changing it, I refused with logic to express my resolve to stay there.
All this was to lure these bastards to plan ahead of time based solely on that. And they did. The group of humans mixed with traitors was the best evidence for that.
But it was far from enough for me. I had to force them to consume the little blessing they accumulated during part one of the first quest.
As they were the ones who issued the dark quests of the traitors, they accumulated little amount of blessing during that part of the quest. Despite being little, I was wary of their actions.
Just like what they did to stop me, they could easily use their blessing and issue subquests and even enforce them upon me.
The old man told me in the recording I listened to after the completion of the first part of the quest that the angels acted in zones of dominance. Despite belonging to one camp, they competed fiercely among each other.
So it wasn't possible for any angel other than those three to step in here and act. Even if the three angels realized what I was going to do, no other angel would help as this would be like helping their rivals.
And so I tried to make a situation where I would slip away with my entire team. At the same time I made sure to show off my leadership and showed a part of tyranny that I didn't have for real.
All that made them be fooled by me. They mistook my intentions and issued that subquest which would take a large amount of their blessing.
But it wasn't enough yet.
So I played that little act there to push them deeper into my trap and force them to use the remaining blessing the three of them had. And they did. Just like a magician who tricked his audience using distraction.
As for my main goal, I was now walking with confidence towards it.
I knew my actions would be closely monitored. Getting away from the team in such a manner would enrage these bastards. They wouldn't hesitate to send a lot of monsters to hunt me down, leaving the group back there slightly in a more secured position.
And that was why I wasn't worried about leaving the group behind with traitors.
'I can't go directly there,' I thought to myself as I knew the moment my real intentions would be revealed to those angles, they wouldn't stop at anything and might even call for a monster crusade against me.
My target was something I yearned earnestly for my entire life. I would never allow anything to stand between me and that goal.
So my next step was to roam the park aimlessly while killing as many monsters as I could.
The size of monsters summoned here was determined by many factors. The number of humans determined by the system, their overall powers, and the intervention of outer forces like the angels.
As the main event of unlocking the real access of those celebrities in the sky, then the only ones who possibly could intervene and add more monsters here were the angels.
But they couldn't do anything for now, not until the end of the second part of this quest anyway.
So I started my journey in the darkness while looking around. I didn't get close to the area where I wanted desperately to reach first, as I headed east towards the metropolitan museum of art.
As Isabella told me before, many youths from various countries were supposed to have an event there. According to the old records and the old man's words, this place held the largest group of survivors here in the park.
I doubted their strength would be matching my current team, however I didn't want this chance to slip by.
As I nullified the nasty angels for this round, why not add more salt to their wounds then?
'Just wait for me, traitors,' I inwardly snorted, 'I won't be late to catch your lives.'
I didn't know if some good seedlings would be present there to recruit or not. However if a large number of people survived then it meant they must have decent powers among themselves.
In fact the little trick of using the generator was inspired by many humans, but one of them was the group at that museum. Of course they didn't use it in the first round, but they'd use it in the next one perhaps.
If not then I'd tell them how to defend themselves better while hunting traitors on the way.
"Howl!"
"Howl!"
"Howl!"
But first I needed to clear those annoying wolves which seemed to trail me for a while now.
The museum wasn't that far from the great lawn. And now with the skill to see through the darkness I could easily spot their giant bodies from far.
"Come, what are you waiting for?" as I walked away for enough distance, it was time for me to play fully against them.
Each monster in the apocalypse had some sort of weakness. It was like the system wanted the fight to be balanced from the start. Knowing that weakness would help in facing a large number of enemies like I was now.
However I knew that unlike hyenas, these wolves didn't have a weakness of their bodies, but their souls.
"Howl!"
A one long and mighty howl came from one direction. "Finally you decided to come closer and show yourself to me," I smirked before starting to run towards that direction with my full speed.
My body was well rested now from the fatigue I got from the previous quest. All my injuries were healed when I acquired the system, and they would also heal if I started gaining levels.
But to gain levels I needed to either get a blessing or acquire a class.
I never intended to have a blessing after this quest was over. And finding a class was something equal to a miracle here in this early stage.
Classes weren't easily acquired. The main classes would be gained after completing the class quest successfully, a thing that wouldn't happen soon anyway.
But I wasn't helpless here either. I got a plan, and I would make sure to do anything to become a force not to be reckoned with. After all those angels wouldn't just swallow their bitter loss in this round and would come at me with everything they got afterwards.
Only strength would protect me, my own strength.
"Howl!"
"Howl!"
"Howl!"
However, going in that direction wasn't that easy even for me. The path was blocked fast by tens of wolves who started to howl in fierceness.
"Stay out of my damn way!" I didn't hold back my speed as I simply evaded their known pattern of attack and moved my sword to slash their heads and necks.
Their skulls were so heavy that I could not cleave them smoothly. I didn't flinch as this was expected. After all my stats were just the baseline here and my sword wasn't any special at all.
"Slash!"
"Slash!"
"Slash!"
However that didn't prevent me from leaving a long trail of dead bodies behind my steps. I wasn't just like any normal human who would be inexperienced to face such brutal monsters.
I was acting calm without a speck of worry while getting closer to my target.
The sole weakness of the wolves was in their alpha. The alpha was their mightiest, and also their leader. Killing the leader would sever the mind link between him and the other wolves of this pack.
Normally a pack of wolves would have from two to five hundred wolves in it. Facing all this power alone or even with a group was a suicide.
The wolves tended to surround their prey, cutting any routes of retreat or reinforcements from him. This way they would slowly wear him down before the alpha moves to kill him.
But this time I wasn't acting the prey. I didn't wait in my place waiting to be hunted. I was the predator, the one coming to that big black alpha and I was going to kill it.
No matter how the alpha perceived my actions, it wouldn't try to retreat or run away. The pride of it would prevent that. Plus if it did that, the other wolves would start acting in disarray for a long time.
It was considered a sign of weakness in this harsh world. The alpha knew I was coming for it, and yet it kept itself standing there without any sign of retreat.
That was my main tactic against wolves. As they had their large numbers scattered around, they thinned their ranks and left their alpha vulnerable to me.
"Got you b*tch!" In less than two minutes I found my way to the alpha. It still had a group of strong looking ten wolves protecting him from the side. But it wouldn't make any difference.
Just like the wolves, this alpha had a weakness as well.
"I challenge you," I calmly raised my sword in its face before adding in a domineering tone, "a weak alpha like you can't be allowed to remain alive."
"Howl!"
I knew it could understand the concept of my words despite not knowing the human tongue. It was the trick of the system, and that howl was the angry response I got for my challenge.
I knew the alpha wouldn't let any challenge bypass without accepting it. That was its sole weakness. No matter how many wolves it still had here, it would turn out to be a solo duel between me and it.
"Let's begin," despite reaching this far, I knew that killing it wouldn't be that easy feat to accomplish.. After all it wasn't the alpha for nothing.