Nameless King

"Many of the Dark Elves use the attribute of darkness, it is true. However, we are not limited to one attribute. Some, like me, use the attribute of illusion, but this is a rare case. More often than not, we use the attribute of darkness mixed with another attribute."

"Hmm?"

"For example, the dark flame. It's the result of mixing two attributes, fire and darkness, but it's considered a full-fledged attribute. It is quite difficult, as you have to combine the two attributes into one, but it is a popular and well-known process. Most Dark Elves have no problem combining our native darkness with another attribute."

'They combine two attributes into one? That's interesting, although I myself have been using the same technique for a long time. My soul from the very beginning has been linked to dark lightning. Now I understand what Sven meant when he said that humans have no limits. Dark Elves need to know special methods, while I could easily use a mixed attribute.' Wain pondered.

"Reto, can you bring other Dark Elves here in case of war? Do you have any connections in the Elf World?"

"Of course, but don't expect to have legions at my disposal. The Elves and High Elves have been more active and attacking the Dark Elves more often lately. That is one of the reasons why I spend most of my time here."

'Elves... Will it all come down to me fighting against them one day on the side of the Dark Elves?'

Wain realized that if the number of Dark Elves in his ranks increased, it would at one point lead to discontent among the Elves and the High Elves. It was logical and perhaps inevitable.

Reto and Wain discussed the Forest of Frozen Dreams for the next hour. It was decided that Reto and the Dark Elves would assist Elegan in gathering and finding resources.

Also, the Elves, Reto, along with Frigus, would be involved in training monsters. Not everyone needed their help, but monsters like goblins required it. Reto would be in charge of the Magical Forest of Azure Rivers as before.

...

Wain had been in the World of Darkness for a huge amount of time and decided to return back to his world.

He appeared in a filthy slum alley and headed straight for the human base in that part of town.

He had to find transportation to get to the island, which would appear in two weeks. Wain also thought about looking for flying monsters in the Arenas and trying to get a flying skill from them but realized there was no point.

It would be a waste of time, and even if Wain's idea had been successful, he wouldn't have been able to fly several thousand kilometers. For that, he at least needed a helicopter, or better yet, an airplane.

The only place he could get transportation was a military base. Wain assumed people had taken it over from the touristy, coastal area of the southern part of the city. So he decided to head for the base in the slums.

He had to capture the military base, and he needed help to do it. Otherwise, the military base and all the equipment would be destroyed during the battle.

Wain was jumping on the buildings and moving at high speed. The weak Primary Chronicle monsters no longer interested him, but he noticed that something had changed.

'First Chronicle monsters are much more numerous. I've spent quite a long time in the World of Darkness, and a lot has changed here. Even First Chronicle monsters aren't worth my attention at this point, though. Their souls are of little or no use to me.'

The base in the slum was like a huge half-sphere of metal sheets, pipes, and various other materials. The sphere was open from above and looked like a crown with sharp peaks from a distance.

When the base was less than two kilometers away, Wain saw several groups of people in the distance heading toward the base. They were in different directions and trying to run as fast as possible so the monsters wouldn't attack them.

'What are they doing?' Wain pondered and looked closely at one group.

The men didn't have big backpacks on their backs, which meant they weren't going out for supplies at the store. They were dragging carcasses of monsters, mostly zombies and anyone else who had a lot of meat.

'They're eating monster carcasses? That sounds creepy, but it's the only option if they don't have food. If they roast that kind of meat and clean it, they can probably eat it. Hmm, it looks like the situation in the slums is pretty complicated.'

Wain jumped forward and looked at the groups of people. There were quite a few of them, and each was heading for the base. 

The people were dressed in shabby, tattered, and dirty clothes. They were thin and emaciated in appearance.

This was not surprising since it was easy to live in the slums, and food was scarce even before the apocalypse. 

Of course, no one starved to death, but after the apocalypse began, the situation became critical.

At one point, Wain stopped and took a closer look at one group. There were seven men there. Six of them had split into pairs and were dragging a corpse of big zombies one by one together. 

Behind them ran a guy with a backpack on his back. There were tools.

This group caught Wain's attention because of this young man.

"Hana, it looks like luck is on your brother's side..." Wain muttered.

The young man had unusual black and white hair and heterochromia. One of his eyes was gray, and the other was purple. 

This appearance was unique and inimitable. This guy's name was Marco Helzu, and he was Hana's brother, whom she asked to save.

Wain agreed to help her if he met Marco, and it happened.

'Well, Marco, you should thank your sister for taking such good care of you.' Wain thought and jumped in the direction of this group.

He got there in a few leaps across the buildings and landed in front of them. They were stunned by such a sudden appearance. The ground beneath Wain's feet cracked, and a club of dust rose.

Wain paid no attention to anyone. He walked over to the surprised guy and calmly said, "Are you Marco Helzu?"

Marco nodded uncertainly. He didn't know who the stranger was, but he didn't want to get in too much trouble.

"Okay." Wain said briefly and took Marco under his arm, then jumped high.

The guy didn't have time to react, and when he saw how high above the ground they were from closed his eyes. However, a second later, he landed on the roof of the building and jumped again.

"Who are you...?"

"The one who agreed to an idiotic request. If you don't want me to let you go, and you turn into a bloody scone, then be quiet."

Marco didn't know what to say, but he knew he had no choice in the situation. Wain's grip was tight, and there was no way Marco could get out.

Wain wanted to go to the slum base, but he promised to rescue Marco if the opportunity arose. He wasn't going to break his word, especially since the west side of town wasn't very far.

That would have been a real challenge for a normal person, but not for Wain. All his stats were close to 300, which was huge. Even a fall from a height of one hundred meters could not seriously hurt him.

Wain made wide leaps and jumped several small houses at a time. Some monsters tried to attack him, but they were too slow.

When they reached the canyon, Wain jumped down without a second thought, and within minutes he was on the other side. 

It only took one hour to get from the south to the west. There was no way Marco could have done something like that alone.

Wain decided to head straight for the base of Last Light on the west side of town. There he would have no trouble finding Hana or Vineta. He could hand Marco to them.

The former base of Twilight Steel no longer existed, nor did that organization. Last Light had completely taken over the area and most of the city.

"Boy, you're lucky you could survive. How did you end up in the slums?" Wain asked, heading toward the organization's base.

"Oh, it's a long story. I was originally supposed to end up in the tourist part, but suddenly, monsters showed up, and the world changed. I was lucky I was able to survive. Tell me, where are we going?"

"To your sister's."

"What? My sister is alive?" Marco exclaimed.

"Yes, she asked me to save you. You're very lucky that I noticed you. Otherwise, you would have stayed in the slums forever. Tell me, those corpses of monsters you dragged behind you, do you eat them?"

"We have no other choice. We ran out of food weeks ago. Supplies were scarce, to begin with, so eating monsters was the only option." 

Marco spoke softly. The monsters, especially the zombies, were unpalatable. If it wasn't necessary for survival, there was no way he would force himself to eat something like that. 

"I think your sister will take care of you now. She became a sniper and is now a member of the strongest organization in Overion."

"Unbelievable!" Marco was amazed when he heard that his sister had accomplished so much, "Hana has become so strong, and I still haven't achieved anything."

"Marco, have you activated your Soul Altar yet?"

"No, I was afraid at first, but when I found the courage to realize that the monsters had become more dangerous. Now I realize that I should have acted initially when weak and slow zombies were walking the streets. Even I could have killed someone like that."

Marco got a soul like everyone else after the apocalypse began, but he had to kill a monster to become strong and gain abilities. 

Every human being had to go through this. However, every day it became more and more difficult to do so.

Some purposely killed monsters when they appeared. Others defended themselves, some, like Lea, killed a monster by accident and activated their Soul Altar. However, even after almost five months, many people still had no abilities.

This was a big problem for all of humanity, as fewer and fewer people would activate their Soul Altars each day. 

The reason was simple, the weak monsters were becoming fewer, and the strong ones, on the contrary, were constantly increasing in numbers.

Weak monsters died or evolved. One day, it would be almost impossible to find a regular zombie. 

This was an alarming trend because people who had not yet activated their Soul Altars had no options to do so but one. 

They had to ask for help from another person who would catch the monster for them and provide an easy and safe way to kill it and get a soul.

It was possible to do it but finding someone willing to risk their safety and catch the monster was hard. Although it depended on the person's strength, it was not difficult to kill a mutated zombie.

"I see. Tell me what Rating your soul is and what is it called?"

"Moon Farmer, it is a Heroic Rating Soul." Marco answered uncertainly.

The people in the organization in the slums possessed powerful souls with crushing skills. He dreamed of having something like that, but instead, he had the soul of a farmer. This frustrated Marco.

He didn't know that craft souls were extremely useful and necessary for survival. Nor did anyone in the slums give it much thought.

"Huh, it looks like I was kind enough to save you for a reason.. Marco, don't you want to get your powers finally? Say yes while I'm in a good mood."