Chapter 165: Fear Emperor

Jack finally finished applying the overlay armor, boosting the Humvee’s Defense Power by several levels. Now, even a direct hit from a main battle Tank wouldn’t harm it.

“You look serious. What did Li Changde say?” Jack asked with concern.

“Sharpening the axe won’t delay the woodcutting. Good thing we took defensive measures for the vehicle in advance.

Every city has spawned a regional Boss Creature, and I hear they’re incredibly tough to deal with. Their goal is the same as ours—the Black Sphere. They want to destroy it, while we need to find and Protect it before they do.

Also, there are some strange lunatics around. Li Changde warned me to be careful.” Kamiyu summarized.

“Ability Users?” Jack guessed.

“Exactly. Ability Users are products of mutation. According to the intel Li Changde has gathered, they can only level up by killing. These maniacs don’t even spare Normal people—they kill everyone for Experience.” Kamiyu said disdainfully.

Players can only level up by killing other Players or Aberrant Beast Demons, but Ability Users gain Experience even from stepping on an ant. There’s a huge difference between the two.

“Damn, there are actually such scum? I’ll kill every one I see.” Jack spat.

Kamiyu nodded. These “human viruses” were even more dangerous than Aberrant Beast Demons and must not be spared.

Kamiyu thought to herself: Aberrant Beast Demons, regional Bosses, Players, and those damn meddling Ability Users—the situation was getting messier by the minute.

“Let’s go, get in the car. We’re heading to Dragon Roar City.” Jack couldn’t wait to set off.

Thud. Kamiyu closed the car door. She didn’t sit in the passenger seat but instead took the Backline, as she needed to be ready to pop out of the roof and set up her Sniper Rifle for Attack at any moment.

Vroom, vroom. The exhaust roared, the diesel engine’s torque immense. The several-ton armored Humvee charged forward like a raging beast.

The road was littered with scattered cars, and the streets were almost empty of pedestrians, eerily quiet. Everyone had vanished. Kamiyu saw many shattered car windows and bloodstains everywhere.

“Is this the apocalypse? Feels strangely familiar.”

“Take the highway?” Jack seemed unfazed, carefully avoiding the vehicles on the road.

“Yes. From here to Dragon Roar City, we’re heading into the city, so there shouldn’t be traffic jams.” Kamiyu replied.

Just as the two turned at the intersection toward the highway entrance, Jack noticed several people waving frantically about 400 meters ahead.

Jack tightened his grip on the steering wheel. “What should we do? Run them over?”

“Wow, no need to be so violent. They don’t have any Weapons on them.” Kamiyu said.

“I think you’re the violent one.” Jack glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Kamiyu already aiming her Sniper Rifle at the people, looking ready to fire at any moment.

“Stop and ask for information. Aberrant Beast Demons aren’t zombies; they don’t cause chain reactions. Supplies aren’t scarce at this stage yet, so they probably won’t try to rob us.” Kamiyu reasoned.

“Up to you, but don’t get out of the car.”

“Of course not. Do you think I’m some kind of Holy Mother?” Kamiyu retorted irritably.

Screech—screech. With practiced skill, Jack stopped the vehicle about 50 meters away.

“Here, take this.” Jack handed Kamiyu the vehicle-mounted loudspeaker.

“Oh ho, you even have a megaphone. This apocalypse base vehicle of yours is impressive, very impressive.” Kamiyu raised her eyebrows.

“Stop, state your purpose.” Kamiyu didn’t even stick her head out, shouting from inside the vehicle.

“Sir, we’re civilians, please don’t kill us,” a middle-aged man said, taking the lead.

“Huh? Feels like we’ve become the villains.”

“Don’t mind them, keep questioning,” Jack advised.

“Raise your hands, state your purpose,” Kamiyu continued.

“Sir, are you heading to Dragon Roar City to provide support? There are man-eating Demons over there. We barely managed to escape just now. Don’t go there to throw your lives away.” The middle-aged man trembled as he spoke, the mere memory of what happened there nearly making him wet himself.

“Go on, what kind of Demons are they? What’s the current situation in Dragon Roar City?” Kamiyu’s eyes lit up. She had been wanting to find someone for information, and this person had just escaped from Dragon Roar City—perfect timing.

Jack still didn’t drive forward, and the group of people didn’t advance either.

“Dragon Roar City is surrounded by a giant tree.”

“Not surrounded, but swallowed,” a spirited young man riding an electric scooter exaggeratedly added. “Last night around midnight, I was delivering takeout when a crack appeared in the sky. A meteorite crashed directly into the Kingdom’s city hall, and then a tree grew wildly. Within a few hours, it had swallowed Dragon Roar City whole. Luckily, we escaped quickly.”

“Yeah, the ground tilted, and the buildings in the entire city were split and knocked askew by the tree roots,” the middle-aged man added.

“We barely made it out alive. Sir, please don’t go to support them. The people in Dragon Roar City are probably all dead,” one person said with a look of despair.

“And those Ability Users are all insane. To save themselves, they kept killing, not even sparing children or infants. They killed every living thing, and after killing, they even ate them. They’re mad, all of them,” a woman stammered.

“Swallowed?” Kamiyu carefully considered the Aberrant Beast Demons in the Beta Tester’s guide.

“No need to think about it. It’s the high-tier Demon, Fear Emperor,” Mephisto’s voice emerged from Jack’s backpack.

“Explain in detail,” Kamiyu said, not bothering to question how Mephisto had suddenly appeared again.

“Hehe, no need to think about it. Fear Emperor isn’t someone you two youngsters should mess with,” Mephisto said.

Fear Emperor—even the Demon King found him an ill omen. Mephisto didn’t even want to talk about him.

“If you don’t talk, I’ll feed you to those insane Ability Users. They’ll eat anything anyway,” Kamiyu said.

Feeding a Demon King to humans would indeed be a devastating blow to its dignity.

Mephisto sighed and said, “Fear Emperor was originally human, the monster who killed the most people on Crimson Earth. The number of people he killed far exceeds the combined total of angels and Demons.”

Kamiyu widened her eyes, listening to the ancient tale.

“How did he manage that?” Jack asked.

“Hehehehe, is that so difficult? When you become the supreme existence, you can turn clouds with one hand and rain with the other, dominating everything,” Mephisto laughed heartily, as if stating something obvious.

“Fear Emperor was the emperor of a human empire a thousand years ago. His self-destructive actions helped us a great deal in turning Crimson Earth into what it is today.”

“After he died, his soul couldn’t ascend to heaven or descend to Hell. He turned into a tree, and the size of the tree is the evidence of the sins of the people he killed.” Even Mephisto felt fear as he spoke.

“Then why did you say he is a High-Tier Demon? Your words are so contradictory,” Kamiyu pointed out the flaw in Mephisto’s statement.

“Such an evil thing can’t be called human, much less an angel. The Lord of Terror, Diablo, seeing how wicked the Fear Emperor was, granted him a position.”

“But to be honest, the Fear Emperor’s soul is eternally tormented by those he has killed, so within the range of the Fear Emperor Tree, humans become insane and bloodthirsty.”

“I strongly advise against going in. Go retrieve the other Black Spheres instead,” Mephisto said.