Rise Of The Hoarder

[The Present]

“… You’re a bit interesting…” I smiled, raiding my head a little to see the terribly massive man.

Despite the difference in our height, with me on the receiving end, the effects of my dominance did not change. The giant cowered in fear before me, taking a few steps away from me in response to taking on his attack.

Unfortunately for him, his hand had been caught by me, lodged deeply in my right grip… and I had no intention of letting it go!

“You’re Kevin, right? The one they call a fiend…”

My voice grew more intimidating and I could feel my rage surface.

Standing right before me was the bastard who killed Ana. He really disrupted everything. After turning everything into a mess, the bastard now cowered before insurmountable power.

“I… I can’t see your level…” His voice shuddered as he spoke.

Judging from his expression, he must have deemed it impossible that someone possessed so much strength that they far surpassed him in Level.

“If it’s worth anything, I have to say… I’m surprised about you too. You managed to reach this height in such a short span, a feat that should be impossible.”_.

‘Damn it, I don’t remember any of the earlier players in the beginning phase of the Apocalypse. I have no idea if he’s an important character later on or not…’

For some reason, even if I knew the events that would occur later on, I was missing details. As I suspected, my memories had been tampered with.

“Kevin Smith… I didn’t really interfere with his life, so if he achieved this, that means it’s following the normal progression of events. He is most likely going to be a major player later on!” I found myself mumbling.

Perhaps he would be one of the Gifteds who would have challenged the Horde in the normal progression, gaining more power. That made sense, considering his current state.

“I have to say, you’re really good, Kevin. Not only do you specialize in killing humans to gain EXP, but you also obtain EXP and special privileges from your subordinates. That’s a pretty Overpowered build you’ve got there, don’t you think? I’m jealous.”

As I said this, his eyes bulged in more fright as he seemed to be questioning how I came across such information.

Fear and frustration mixed into him and for a moment, I could only assume, he lost himself in the torrents of emotions.

“Rahhhhh!!! You bastard!”

>WHOOOOSHHH<

His hand charged at me with great speed, the fastest I had ever seen a human go. Judging by his Level, which was 122, I had to assume he took on the Job of a ‘Brawler’ since the man’s speed and the power packed in his punch were more powerful than his Level accounted for.

Well, he was still very slow compared to me, though.

“It’s pointless.”

Just as one swatted a bug, I used my unoccupied hand to push away his approaching fist, nonchalantly changing its trajectory.

>BOOOOOMMMMMM!!!<

The Camp building behind me received the shockwave caused by his fist, devastating the building walls.

“There’s no point. Why don’t you try using your Skills? You have a lot of them, don’t you? Oh, wait…”

I could barely contain my chuckle. Perhaps some minutes ago, he would have lots of Skills at his disposal, but now… he was nearly helpless.

“Hahahahaha!!!”

“You bastard… you know about my Gift, my Skills, my abilities… w-who are you?!” He growled.

I shrugged.

I would have loved to relish the battle and tell him all about how he crossed me by killing Ana, no, invading the Camp. Unfortunately, there were too many witnesses.

‘Come to think of it… I could resort to that!’

A dark gleam appeared on my face as I thought of the perfect way to make the man pay.

“You don’t deserve to live, but your time has not come yet.”

“What the fvck are you—”

>WHAP!<

Before Kevin Smith said any more, I gave him a dirty slap, sending shockwaves reverberating across the area.

I didn’t even need to rely on any Skill or Mana. No, I even held myself back. That was enough to send him unconscious, though.

“G-Guhhh….”

The ebony terror made a heavy groan, falling to the ground in a crash. Effortlessly, I had secured victory. I could kill him if I wanted, or let someone else finish the job. But, what was this feeling within me?

It wasn’t satisfying enough.

That was why I had to do more… but now wasn’t the time.

“May I assume you are the Camp Leader?” I turned to see Charles.

He was staring at me with his jaw completely dropped. He must have already surmised it was ‘Jeremy Lewis’ who was under the mask, but I was certain I didn’t need to remind him to keep his mouth shut.

“Y-yes, I am. I-I assume you must be the Masked Hero that my Camp members spoke of.” The man let out stuttering words, clearly trying to get into character.

“Oh, I don’t know about being a hero, but I suppose I did save a few of your Camp members. There a few things I would like to discuss, however…”

My eyes went toward the Camp building and I was certain Charles followed my gaze. We were surely thinking of the same thing.

“There are a few more enemies inside. Please, a moment…”

>WHOOOOSHHHHH<

In a flash, I vanished from the presence of all the Gifteds outside and made my indoors. Due to my sensory prowess, I was able to completely detect where everyone was.

‘So, they’re monitoring the borehole construction team and the farm manufacturing team.

It made sense, considering Kevin Smith would need a few men to monitor the activities of the Camp members to show them who was boss.

From my line of vision, I saw Lily working as well. She did a lot of the heavy lifting, considering her Level was considered quite high among the regular denizens of the Camp.

‘Poor kid… she must have witnessed everyone’s death and must surely blame herself.’ I thought to myself, observing her hollow expression.

Still, I didn’t come here for her. I came for the naughty ones who took the Camp Members hostage. It was only going to take a few seconds to deal with them, though, so I wasn’t very concerned.

‘I’ll trap them into [Subspace]… they’ll surely be useful for (G) Karma Points farming!’