Dark Warlock in the Apocalypse-Chapter 216 : Calm down

"L-Lord."

"Calm down, I'm not angry."

Justin spoke calmly, hearing Ethan's tense voice.

He wasn't just saying it; he truly wasn't angry.

Rather than feeling ignored, he felt more of a sense of unease.

'This is strange. How could no one come at all?'

People are the same everywhere.

If pioneers had emerged in a monster-infested Earth, then even without quests, a similar environment would have developed here.

Some pioneers would have gained power like warlords and ruled over the common folk beneath them.

Naturally, if they were given even the slightest hint, they would have easily guessed that this world operated similarly.

'But they all chose to rebel against the lord of the largest and most magnificent territory without hesitation? Even though the system gave them such a clear guidepost?'

It didn't make sense to assume that every single one of them was drunk on their newfound pioneer powers.

At least one or two of them should have been smart enough or cowardly enough to come.

Tapping his staff thoughtfully, Justin said,

"I'm retracting the decision to wait. We need to find out why it's so quiet."

"Lord, I know you're upset, but if you kill them all..."

"I'm not going to kill them. I'm just moving because I don't think we'll get any useful information otherwise."

"Well, in that case, I understand. Will you be taking Fafnir?"

Ethan, relieved, glanced over toward the stables.

Currently, Fafnir was the strongest force symbolizing the Black Dragon.

There was no need to unleash his breath; just showing up with him would be an overwhelming threat.

Those harboring rebellious thoughts might immediately regret their decisions and retract them.

But Justin shook his head.

"No. Everyone who's had a second class advancement, except for Nathan, will come."

"Huh? But even so, we only have five people who have advanced to the second class, including you, Lord. Without Nathan, that's just four."

"Will that small number be enough to intimidate them?"

Justin wasn't worried about the small number of second class pioneers.

Even a single second class pioneer could wipe out hundreds of subjects.

If any pioneers among the immigrants were low-level, they wouldn't be much different from ordinary subjects anyway.

The issue was that they wouldn't be a noticeable enough threat.

"Why not bring a group of lower-level pioneers or at least some of the elite equipped with gear from the previous quest? There's no need to escalate things unnecessarily."

"I am escalating things on purpose. If we don't make it clear just how big the power gap is, they'll challenge us again as soon as they think the threat has diminished."

"Well...!"

"Don't worry. I told you, I don't plan on killing anyone."

Though he did plan to beat them senseless before stopping just short of killing them.

Justin swallowed the rest of his thoughts and turned to Zachary.

"By the way, Changwoo?"

"Yes?"

"Before we scout the surrounding territories, let's go hunting through the dimensional portal together."

"I don't think my second class advancement is necessary. We already have enough strength."

"We may have enough strength, but I'm worried we don't have enough healing. I'm not comfortable relying solely on Ethan's advanced healing."

"...?"

Zachary tilted his head, confused.

He didn't seem to understand why they would need more healing when there wasn't much chance of anyone getting injured.

Justin smiled and offered him a motivational comment.

"By the way, if you don't advance to your second class by tomorrow, expect to keep hunting even if stars fill the sky. You're a warrior, right? Staying up all night should be no problem for you, right?"

"...!"

Zachary finally completed his second class advancement to Bishop two days later.

Even though Justin worked him to the bone well into the night on the first day, Changwoo had been unable to level up.

Considering the amount of experience he had accumulated, even Justin was surprised.

'Now I realize just how valuable that experience event during the monster wave was.'

At this rate, it seemed like it would take an eternity for the other level 24 pioneers to advance to their second class.

It was safe to assume there wouldn't be any new second class pioneers for at least a few months.

"Hah, hah! I—I did it! I advanced to Bishop!"

After two days of grueling effort, Zachary reported his advancement, looking like he was about to collapse.

Justin clicked his tongue at Changwoo, who looked like he might pass out any moment.

"If you've advanced, then use your healing skill. What, did you become a healer just to let your skills gather dust?"

Zachary, who had been dazed from exhaustion, snapped to attention at Justin's words.

Without hesitation, he activated his Bishop skill.

"Recovery."

A calm, green light glowed around him.

Unlike basic healing skills that only restored physical injuries, this one cured all ailments.

Recovery, along with the most powerful healing skill, Regenerate, was one of the two main skills of a Bishop.

After absorbing the green light, Zacharyo took a deep breath, his face looking a bit better.

"Phew. I feel alive again."

"That's good to hear. How many times can you use it in a day?"

"Five times in total. I have four uses left."

"And Regenerate? That's the most important one."

"I can use it twice. It's powerful, so it has a limited number of uses."

Hearing Zachary's response, Justin let out a sigh of relief.

He had worried that its power might have been reduced along with the number of uses, but thankfully, it was the same as during the World Rebuild era.

Now they had another strong healer, which felt like added insurance.

'Still, I don't think I can take Changwoo along for much longer. It's not just that he lacks combat talent, but he doesn't even want to be a fighter.'

There were also his administrative duties to consider.

The population was steadily growing, which meant more work for the chief administrator.

Up until now, Hong Se-yeon had been able to rotate with him, but as time passed, even that would become difficult.

'I need a proper combat healer. That cultist comes to mind, but I wonder how he's doing now.'

Although the timeline had been disrupted due to the second Great Migration, Justin decided he would visit that person's territory once this was all resolved.

Or perhaps he should stick to the original plan and check in on what Jin Suhyeok was handling over at Im Hajoon's territory.

Lost in thought, Justin glanced at the sky, watching as the sun set.

"Well, it looks like we won't be checking on the immigrants today either."

"I-I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I didn't expect it would take this much experience to reach level 25."

The amount of experience required to reach level 25 was far greater than Justin had anticipated.

Even if Zachary had better combat instincts, it would have only shortened the time by a day or two.

At this point, it wasn't Zachary's fault; it was clearly the system's issue.

"Looks like we ended up giving the immigrants an extra three days."

As Justin thought about the immigrants, his expression soured slightly.

An extra few days wouldn't change much.

But the fact that none of them had come to him, even after all this time, was starting to bother him.

This wasn't a harsh land where people had to scramble just to survive, thanks to the safe zones.

They had more than enough time to think, yet none of them had changed their minds.

'We'll see. Now that we have a Bishop for healing, if their reasons are as pathetic as I suspect, they'll wish they had died instead of getting beaten to within an inch of their lives.'

Of course, depending on the reason, some of them might really end up dead.

Suppressing his irritation, Justin crossed through the dimensional portal once more.

"Ethan!"

"...Nathan? What are you doing here?"

To Justin's surprise, Nathan greeted him.

Justin hadn't asked for anyone to meet him.

As if reading his confusion, Nathan urgently shouted,

"Ethan, they've come!"

"Who?"

"The immigrants! One of the territories controlled by the immigrants has come to surrender!"

At Nathan's words, Justin immediately snapped to attention.

This was what he had been expecting, though the fact that it had taken so long annoyed him.

"Where are they?"

"They're gathered in the plaza. Ethan said we couldn't bring them inside the castle...."

"Well done. How long have they been waiting?"

"About ten minutes. I was just about to go through the portal to find you."

That made sense.

It seemed Nathan had been on his way to fetch him when they crossed paths.

"Good. Let's go right now."

Without hesitation, Justin headed for the castle gates.

He wanted to find out why they had rebelled and what made them change their minds.

And he was curious to see the faces of the ones who had made that decision.

"..."

"..."

An oppressive silence filled the center of the plaza.

Despite the presence of thousands, the plaza was eerily quiet.

The reason was the arrival of the newcomers and the officers standing by.

More precisely, it was the officers glaring sharply at the newcomers.

'Who are they?'

'They're the immigrants who rebelled.'

'Oh boy, they're in for it now.'

'Shh, be quiet before the higher-ups hear you.'

The subjects were curious about the newcomers, but the tense atmosphere made it impossible for them to speak freely.

Especially since the two martial leaders, Derek and Ethan, were clearly in foul moods.

Everyone knew how dangerous those two could be, so even the pioneers held their breath.

"Spit."

Flinch.

Derek, who had been glaring at the immigrants in irritation, spat on the ground with a loud sound.

One of the immigrants flinched violently at the noise.

Derek frowned, clearly displeased by their reaction.

"You little cowards. Are we that scary?"

"..."

"If you were so scared, you should have surrendered sooner. You took over someone else's land and now you're shaking in your boots...."

"Derek, calm down. At least they've come, even if it's late," Ethan said, stepping in to stop Derek as his voice rose.

But Ethan didn't look particularly pleased either.

"I get how you feel, but you can't lay a finger on them. The decision is up to the Lord."

"I know. Damn it, if I had any say in this, I'd break their legs and arms first."

Hearing the two men's conversation, the immigrants began sweating profusely.

They seriously considered kneeling right then and there.

There was no way they could resist if these two decided to kill them.

"Brother, did we come to the wrong place? This feels really dangerous," Alex whispered nervously.

"Shut up. If they notice us talking, they'll get even angrier," David, the leader of the immigrant group, scolded.

He had been with his junior since the apocalypse began.

But the junior was so scared that he couldn't stop talking.

"It feels like we've walked right into a tiger's den. Maybe we should come up with an excuse and come back later...."

"Don't be an idiot. What excuse are you going to give? Do you think they'd even let us leave after that?"

"But still...."

"And don't fool yourself. Do you think these people would stay holed up in their den like tigers? They've been sitting here while their territory was stolen right in front of them."

David thought they were lucky to have changed their minds and come, even if it was late.

These people didn't seem happy at all, even though the immigrants had voluntarily surrendered.

If they didn't have the power to easily kill the immigrants and take back their land, would they be acting like this?

"For the love of—pull yourself together. You might be regretting coming here, but I regret not coming sooner. We're lucky to be here now, at least."

"..."

His junior -Alex- opened his mouth to protest but then closed it again.

No matter how much David tried to reassure him, the fear wouldn't go away.

David sighed inwardly, understanding but frustrated.

At this rate, they might make a mistake out of sheer anxiety before they even met the leader.

'Please, just get here quickly. I don't care if I have to grovel; just show up before things get any worse.'

As David nervously licked his dry lips, a sound echoed through the silent plaza.

New novel chapters are published on freewёbn૦νeɭ.com.

Footsteps approached, followed by a loud voice.

"So, the rebels are here? Let's see their faces!"