Born in apocalypse

’What is this? Am I still dreaming?’ the boss thought, baffled by the sudden appearance of the darkness, he rubbed his eyes and then looked.

Even after rubbing his eyes the world remained the same and it was still completely enveloped in impenetrable darkness. Before he could determine if it was a dream or reality, the darkness started to retreat and began to slither toward a man who had just appeared in front of him.

However, referring to this being as a man would be improper, for the creature in front of him resembled something out of folklore. It was a being entirely composed of shadow, with only two glowing dots for eyes. Apart from these features, there was nothing noticeable about him.

’What is that?’ Although he was scared shitless inside, the boss attempted to maintain a false sense of courage on the outside, so that he could fool the being in front of him.

"W-Who a..are you?" but all that courage quickly disappeared when he tried to ask the question about the identity of this mythical creature.

The shadowy creature stared at him for a moment, then suddenly a sweet yet powerful sound echoed in the room. The boss didn’t exactly know from where it came but he had his guesses.

"I am but a humble servant of my master," the creature... replied?

’W-what he is, only a servant. Does that mean he isn’t that strong and is just standing there to scare me, so he can buy enough time for his master to arrive? I can’t let that happen. I have to put him to sleep and then ask ’them’ for help,’ he quickly devised a plan in his mind.

The boss lowered his head, showing his sincerity to the creature, and started casting a spell. After casting the spell, he held it for a moment and glanced at the creature once more. When he realized that it wasn’t taking any action, he lifted his hand as if he were about to scratch his head, but midway through the motion, he directed his hand toward the creature and whispered,

"Force sleep."

The boss expected that he had won the moment the spell was cast, as even if the creature did something, the mist would eventually reach him and put him to sleep. To destroy the spell he either had to use fire or flee from here, and both of that is good for the boss.

But what happened next left him completely baffled. A white, transparent box was created in front of him, surrounding him from all sides. The mist was trapped within the box as well. If the boss didn’t already have sleep resistance, then he would already be asleep by now from the effect of the spell.

If Dhruv were present there, he would probably be surprised to found the abnormality in Alaric. He would have already noticed that Alaric was toying with the boss. What would had surprised him even more was that Alaric hadn’t shown this side of himself on the island, not even once. He would also be pretty astonished to find this new side of Alaric.

How Alaric was playing with the boss was pretty evident. He wakes the boss from sleep and then envelops him in darkness. After the boss came to his sensed he just stood there, motionless like a statue. When the boss asked who he was, Alaric deliberately tried to present himself as weak.

And when the boss finally launched an attack, he effortlessly captured and placed him within his protective shield. If he had wanted to, he could have killed the boss a hundred times within that time frame, but he chose to simply stand there and watch like it was a show of monkeys.

Alaric wasn’t that petty to simply play with the boss without reason. He was doing so because there were only five minutes left before the rest period was due to begin.

And when he noticed that just five minutes had left he thought, ’Why not play with the prey?’ As for where the idea of playing with the prey came from, he didn’t have a precise answer, nor was he particularly concerned about it.

He just found it intriguing and decided to go along with it. There wasn’t any grand motive behind his actions; he was simply following his curiosity.

When the mana behind the mist was depleted, the mist simply dissipated, leaving nothing between him and Alaric except for that shield. Even at this moment, Alaric didn’t launch an attack he just continued to watch him.

’When did he prepare for this spell?’ All the hair on him stood on its end as he wiped the sweat from his forehead and thought.

Realizing that he was clearly outmatched, he looked at Alaric and dropped to his knees, and began to beg, "Please spare me. I haven’t done anything to you. I have kids and a family to feed." His pleas continued.

Listening to his begging, Alaric was lost for a moment. And why wouldn’t he be lost when since the moment he was born he hadn’t encountered any monsters who begged for mercy when he was about to kill them?

’No, when they realize that it’s their time to die, they usually attack with even more ferocity. Are these humans even worse than monsters?’ he pondered. Despite his inability to comprehend their behavior, he appeared quite satisfied with his actions.

"You didn’t do anything!? so how come there are so many humans captured in this place?" Alaric asked.

Upon hearing this question, the boss became still, as if everything within him had been sucked out. With great difficulty, he composed himself and explained, "If I don’t do that, ’they’ will kill me and my family," the boss clarified.

"But didn’t you have an army with you? Why are you afraid of ’them’?" Alaric asked, curious.

"This is nothing compared to their army. They are probably even stronger than your master," the boss expressed his belief about the strength of those above him.

"Stronger than my master... hahaha! Hahaha!" Alaric suddenly burst into laughter, sounding like a madman upon hearing this statement.

Gazing into the boss’s soul, he shouted, "Listen, there is no one stronger than my master in this whole world," he said while continuing to laugh.

The boss nodded and was about to praise his master even more but halted when he heard the sound of someone knocking on the door.

Knock! Knock! Knock!