Chef in the Apocalypse

’Blood Reaper...’

Jayce looked the man up and down, his face expressionless. He remembered the name from the list of supporters sitting at #14 in the rankings.

He also remembered this man’s question to Rubick...

’Are there any penalties for killing another player?’

His name and the question he asked was enough to paint a picture about what kind of guy he was. Now that he had seen him in person, it only further added to his already sketchy impression of the man.

"Colin."

"Yes Leader?"

Colin clambered up to the stage, his imposing frame towering over Jayce and Vlad.

"How about a nice friendly spar with our friend here." Jayce said, turning his heel and walking past Colin.

"Don’t kill him" he whispered on his way passed.

"I’ll do my best." Colin replied, his trademark grin appearing a moment later.

Vlad looked at the behemoth of a man in front of him, yet his facial expression did not change. He had killed countless people in his life, all different shapes and sizes.

Colin placed his hands together and began to crack his knuckles, full of anticipation for the battle ahead. In fact, he had been starved of a good fight for quite a while now, being forced to complete errands constantly over the past 6 months.

Today was the day he could finally let loose once again.

Vlad reached into his inventory and summoned his weapon which looked to be between a machete and a saber. There were bits of rust upon the blade that was copper red in color.

Once he retrieved the weapon, the metallic stench of blood filled the stage, bringing with it an uncomfortable feeling.

Holding his rusty blade, Vlad’s face warped in derangement. The madness which was hidden within his eyes earlier jumped to the forefront, transforming his aura.

"Hehehe it’s time for your meal darrrling~" The man brought the blade towards his face and stuck out his tongue, running it along the face of the saber.

Quite a few people in the audience shuddered at the deranged sight in front of them, instantly feeling a sense of repulsion at his actions.

"Leader is about to go into a blood frenzy again" A man in his forties commented.

"Blood Frenzy?" Someone asked, overhearing the comment.

"It’s one of his class skills. The more blood the opponent sheds, the stronger he gets. That’s why our leader can never lose 1 vs 1." The middle-aged man responded, jutting his chest out with pride.

"Where is your weapon?" Vlad asked, looking Colin up and down like he was a piece of meat, ready to butcher.

Colin almost laughed out loud, his grin widening even further. "Don’t need it."

"Oho. Confident are we?"

"You bet princess. Don’t disappoint me." He quipped, waiting for the opponent to make the first move.

"Hehe haha... HAHAHA. Oh boy, I can’t wait to taste your blood." Vlad’s face contorted as he laughed, giving the onlookers a creepy feeling.

He kicked off towards the big man, his posture low and almost horizontal to the ground as he picked up speed. In the blink of an eye he had already crossed the 5 meter distance between them.

His low angle meant that the much taller Colin would have a hard time blocking whatever attack came his way. Yet the man in question seemed unfazed.

Colin’s gaze never left the psychotic killer. In fact, he had already seemed to predict where Vlad would be and had already taken actions to counterattack.

All of a sudden, Vlad felt a tremendous danger flood his senses, pricking up the hairs on his neck. Out of instinct, he rolled to the right hand side to create some distance.

As soon as his body began to move, he felt a pressurized wind flash past his head, narrowly missing his face.

After rolling on the ground a few times, he found his feet, turning his gaze to see Colin who was standing in the same place with his foot raised in the air.

’W-What the f*ck was that.’ Vlad felt cold sweat run down his back as his mind tried to process what had just happened. Seeing Colin’s current pose, it was obvious that he had just thrown a simple kick, so why was it so damn scary?

’That guys a monster...’

"Ah damn, I missed." Colin said, sounding a little disappointed.

’How could there be such a disparity in strength? I’m already level 65 from constantly leveling up. Is he level 100 already?’ Vlad’s mind was shook, his earlier confidence was nowhere to be seen.

"Okay, round 2 lets go." The trademark grin returned once more as Colin made his way towards his opponent slowly.

Watching the big man approach, Vlad almost jumped in fright. "W-What level are you?"

Colin stopped in his tracks, tilting his head in thought. "I’m not sure, I haven’t checked for a while."

He flicked his finger, opening his status window in front of him to check.

"Ah, that’s right. I’m level 62" He responded after a moment.

Vlad’s jaw almost dislocated as it dropped in pure shock. His mind was immediately filled with doubts, yet there was no way to prove ones level as no one could see each others status window.

"W-Wait a minute, I don’t believe you." Vlad held out his hands, telling Colin to stop.

In the next moment he turned around to the audience and asked, "Does anyone have a skill to analyze and verify his level?"

Colin frowned, starting to lose patience. It was one thing delaying this fight that he had been looking forward to, but now he was being called a liar as well?

He turned to Jayce who was standing just off the stage, wordlessly asking what he should do. Jayce grinned, gesturing for him to wait.

"I do." Sophie, the buxom woman stood up in the crowd, answering Vlad.

Vlad felt as if he had been thrown a lifeline, looking at the appetizing woman with gratefulness.

"Please come on stage and verify his level." He asked politely.

Sophie did as she was asked, making her way to the stage promptly. She walked up to Colin and held out her hand towards him and muttered a few words.

Colin felt a foreign energy around him begin to probe his body, yet he did not resist it, even though it would have been simple with his Inner Qi.

After a few moments, Sophie got her answer and her face paled.

Vlad, who was checking her expression the whole time suddenly felt his stomach sink, fearing the worst. However, he needed to be sure.

"Well? Is he telling the truth?"

Sophie nodded, "It is as he says. Level 62"

Despite suspecting this news from her reactions, Vlad suddenly felt the strength leave his body and he fell to his knees. It was a huge psychological blow to be so overwhelmed against someone who was 3 levels lower.

While he had only experienced one move, it was more than enough for him to know that he was out of his depth. He had fought tens of thousands of battles throughout his life, giving him great insight when it came to such things.

Jayce watched on with satisfaction at Blood Reaper’s reaction. The only problem was, would the audience understand Colin’s strength? Considering there had only been 1 attack thrown throughout the entire fight.

He made his way up the stage and addressed the audience, "Are you all satisfied? Colin shares the same strength that I will help impart to you all, should you comply with my contingencies."

Chatter broke out amongst the audience once more, with a lot of people not understanding the whole chain of events. They looked towards their leaders for confirmation.

"I have no objections." Sophie and Dave’s leader, the man in the hooded cloak was the first to stand up and voice his opinion.

"No objections."

"No objections."

Another few dozen people stood up, one after the other and stated the same thing. Most of these people were supporters and had expected Jayce to be strong, however seeing his underling carry a similar, if not higher strength had truly opened their eyes.

Jayce watched on smilingly as everyone stood up and gave their opinion.

"Very good. Is there anyone not in favor?" He asked, directing his gaze to the middle-aged man who had given him such a hard time earlier.

However, the man looked ahead blankly as if it had nothing to do with him.