Trash in the Apocalypse

Chapter 117: Everyone's Hidden Quests

[The One True Boss]

[Description] The last part of the quest. Can be repeated. You have now proven yourself as someone who can become an overlord. Now rise to the top and become the true overlord!

[Requirements]

[Kill or subordinate another lord. 0/1]

[Reward(s)]

[Random Loot Crate x1]

[Increase follower count.]

[Title Upgrade]

Jun examined his quest as they walked towards the cemetery entrance. He received the quest as continuation for his chain quest right after he finished the last one. He just didn't paid attention since he doesn't know where to find another lord.

[Pickpocket attempt failed!]

"Can you stop doing that?"

Jun said towards Adrian beside him.

"We both know that I have higher stats and I'm too aware of what you're doing, so can you stop trying to pickpocket me? I know its your quest to pickpocket a lord, but even if I stand here all day, you won't succeed. Maybe, I should close my eyes.

[Pickpocket attempt failed!]

Jun realized a few things about the difference between rob and pickpocket.

Rob could be used any time while pickpocket should be used only when the target is unaware.

Earlier, Adrian was caught trying to pickpocket Jun and was almost punished for it. Thankfully, he was quick enough to explain that it was his quest. His quest requires him to pickpocket one lord. He received the quest a long time ago, but doesn't know what a lord means. He never asked what it meant nor share his quest since Jun didn't asked for it. He just got some hints after some time that Jun might be a lord, resulting in their current predicament.

Jun allowed him to steal from him, so he could complete his quest.

But things didn't go according to plan.

Since he was aware that Adrian was going to pickpocket him, this information unconsciously raised his attention and waited for it. At the same moment that Adrian used the skill, it was immediately blocked by the stat check. Afterwards, Adrian used the skill every other second when Jun wasn't paying attention.

"Just try it when I'm asleep." said Jun.

"So I can enter your room at night?" replied Adrian.

"Nah, you either do it when I'm unaware or just forget it. I personally think that you should absorb some bodies, so you can quickly raise your stats. And I know you don't like it, but you have to. At some point, you will."

"Hey, Sheila." Jun called. "You have your quest too, right? Is it complicated? Do you need to heal me too?"

Jun was all smiles feeling like the only star under the heavens. Having Adrian's quest somehow related to him raised his mood. He felt elated and generous enough to comply if she ever requested.

Though that didn't last for long as Sheila shook her head.

"Nope," Sheila said. "...my quest needs me to nurse up a thousand patients. A thousand "unique" patients. That means someone who I nursed him up won't raise the count the second time I nursed them up."

"Uh-huh." Jun replied disinterested. "So you won't heal them anymore after you healed them once?"

Sheila quickly turns her head and denies Jun's claims. "Ofcourse not! Why would I do that? I would heal anyone who comes to me. As long they pay, right?"

Jun didn't really set any rules about anything, but everyone assumes that whenever he doesn't say anything, it means he agreed. He doesn't answer because he sometimes doesn't care or just find answering troublesome.

"Do you think they'll be okay?" said Sheila.

"They have some of Jun's elite guards, so they should be fine." Adrian replied

as he walked behind Jun. Adrian was there when Jun first told those prisoners that they belong to him and when they signed the contracts. He couldn't tell her that they were actually prisoners, so he used elite guards as an alternate call sign.

The BES group was led by Toby, who volunteered as escort leader for the escort mission. Jun wasn't suspicious of anything since he knew that the contract prevents him from doing anything that would cause him trouble. Besides, he could just ask them later if they were planning anything.

There were ten people in the cemetery clearing group. Jun, Adrian, Sheila, Edward and Jennie, who insisted on coming, together with Nik and his squad from earlier. His three elite team members were a must while Jennie was just additional baggage. He really doesn't want to bring her, but being reminded that he looks like her brother, Jun allowed her to join them. They can use her as additional loot bag.

Jun was supposed to bring everyone here, so they have a faster clear than the respawn rate, but things have to change. He didn't know that the community that they were about to visit was governed by someone he knew nor did he know that people would willingly rush to go there. Though he thought that the events weren't natural and something felt really wrong, he had no idea what the unease in his heart actually means.

With the crew about to enter the mouth of the cemetery, bright lights appeared a distance from them and ten more carriers respawned. Unlike the earlier hassle, the carriers were spread out evenly among the Area A of the cemetery. There's about sixty of them scattered along, standing on tombstones all over the vicinity.

"So they really respawn." Jun thought.

"They came back!" Nik burst out in shock. The masked men beside him appeared awed but not as surprised.

"Yeah, they respawned." said Jun.

"You fought them already?" Adrian asked curiously.

"They found this earlier, so I decided to explore it. All of them were regular carriers, so we don't have to worry about anything. Walk straight to them, kill them and watch your backs. Let's go!"

The group lined up and fought the carriers that they encountered. The only thing that Jun felt different about the carriers here was that they were stronger than the ones outside. More resilient to knockback and has more power on their every strike. Their skins were tougher and requires precise cuts for the blade to cleave them.

Jun's death slaves fought strategically and use the tombstones to their advantage. They would kite carriers and make them bump onto each other before going in for the kill. It appears tiresome but it was effective. The kill rate was faster than the spawn rate. Sixty carriers were slowly thinned down to fifty, forty, twenty-five...

The more carriers died, the faster their numbers dwindled. Jun also started using his Burst Mode. Its just him channeling higher energy output onto his bone hammer causing the carriers to burn and die faster.

After several minutes, they killed the last one and no carriers respawned. They warily looked around and waited for more. When they were sure that it was safe, they regrouped around Jun as the center.

Sheila casted Cure on everyone to increase their energy regeneration. No one got heavily injured, but some of Nik's friends got pummeled since they served as meat tanks. They really didn't have to do it since Jun never ordered them to do so, but they instinctively stayed as vanguard. Sheila used heal on those who got hit while trying to recover some energy for herself.

Jun noticed her quick energy depletion since she was only able to do one skill rotation on everybody and asked her: "Did you not eat the fruit?"

Sheila shook her head and Jun urged her to use it. She nodded her head and consumed it in front of him. Her cheeks glowed and appeared more glossy as the process of her max energy increasing coursed her body. Afterwards, she casted cure and heal onto those who haven't received support.

They rested for ten minutes for everyone's energy to recover. Then they continued to head onto the Area B of the cemetery.

Jun led the group and stood on the bridge that connected the two areas. There were clustered carriers standing idly on the other side of the bridge. If they want to own the place and use this as a leveling grounds, they have to do something about the clustered carriers, something permanent.

Jun looked around and found a simple mausoleum, four walls and a roof, then walked towards it. He scanned and created a blueprint out of it. Afterwards, he trudge forward on the bridge, slowly inching closer towards the clustered infected, before throwing the blueprint to the ground.

As the blueprint materialized into a 3D version, the carriers were quickly pushed to the side. As if angered, the carriers mauled the 3D mausoleum, destroying it, then resumed standing idly on their spots.

"Well, I knew that wouldn't work, but I learned something new, so..." said Jun as he backed off and pulled out a stress ball from his dimensional storage.

"Back to this I guess."

Jun squeezed the stress ball, then threw it after a few seconds. The ball glowed in mid-air, then suddenly enlarged itself as it fell onto the crowd of carriers.