Rise Of The Hoarder

“I see… so that’s why most of your members aren’t here…” Kevin Smith smiled, rubbing the rough beards that covered his chin.

Charles nodded and explained the Subjugation plan, though not in detail, and the gravity of the danger that loomed on all of them.

He bit his lip and clenched his fist in frustration several times while speaking. He was terribly upset by Ana’s death, as well as the early demise of all her Party members except Lily.

‘Forgive me, Ana, Daniel, Peter… even you, Lily … I’m such a coward!’

Even though Lily hadn’t been killed, her fate was already sealed. Charles could predict that the reason they spared her was that her Level was too low to give any reasonable amount of EXP.

While he was of a considerably high Level, enough to give EXP, they hadn’t killed him either. The reason for this was due to his position as leader. He held a strategic position of relevance, so Kevin and his minions decided there was worth in keeping him alive… at least, for now.

“And? They’ll be returning in four days? That’s awfully optimistic considering the emphasis you placed on the level of ‘threat’ the horde in question is…” Kevin muttered in response to Charles’ brief explanation.

The Camp leader, no, ex-Camp Leader gulped. What was he to say?

‘We have a Jeremy on our side?’ No, that would be foolish. He clenched his fist once again and readied himself for spouting as much information that made his relevance more established.

His daughter was low-leveled, so there was no worth in killing her now. She was sure to survive. As for his wife… he had to think of a way to protect her too!

While he couldn’t guarantee victory, Charles was certain that Jeremy would fight Kevin due to their opposing interest. He would need to find a window of escape during that period and leave with Tasha.

‘There’s so much to do and think of… but, I have to endure… just for a few more days…’

*************************

‘Ahh, just a little more, and we’ll be done.’

My grin became wide enough to reach both sides of my ears as I stared at everyone working so hard.

The monsters in the second compound included Casters, so I had to handle those ones while the others managed to make good use of their newly acquired Skills to fight.

Their movements were uncoordinated and crude at best, but, with my assistance, they didn’t suffer many injuries and managed to Level Up quite a lot.

We were already done with over half of their forces and Lara, who had the highest Level, was already in the late eighties.

Their growth was frightening, but it was to be expected considering the fact that they were killing monsters that would usually take stronger people to handle.

It wouldn’t be long before they reached Level hundred or more.

‘I should be careful, though…’

While it was profitable to raise their Levels as high as possible, I couldn’t allow myself to become too greedy. If these Gifteds became more powerful than I could control… it wouldn’t bode well for me.

In the first instance, I needed to neutralize them using Demons. It would be stupid if I made them too strong for the Demons in my possession to handle.

I couldn’t afford to kill them myself, after all.

I returned my gaze to the group of Demons that was left and saw the fright in their eyes. The Gifteds wanted to push on, but I could sense the exhaustion that pervaded them. After enduring such an intense third round, they were simply too tired to do more.

It was funny, but I allowed it.

“Stay back, everyone!”

Using a combination of <Fireball>, <Venomous Spikes>, and <Spike Attack>, I rained destruction upon the rest of the Hobgoblins and got me some EXP while I was at it. My current Level was 243, barely moving from its previous position, even after killing so many Hobs during the Subjugation.

‘Am I getting uneasy because everyone seems to be Leveling Up so quickly and mine is barely moving?’ I sighed at my pettiness.

Logically, there was no reason to feel moved by the Gifted’s progress, but I couldn’t help it.

The burning desire to become so strong and hoard all the EXP kept gnawing at me. Even with my goal in mind, I could barely restrain myself from acting on my emotions.

‘Jeremy, calm yourself… you wanted them to be strong, now they are!’

I couldn’t complain, things were moving exactly as I wanted. It was now just a matter of time.

>BOOOOOOMMMMM!!!<

The explosion caused by my countless rains of destruction filled the area, dragging me back to reality. The Demons within the second compound were all eliminated.

“Good…”

I turned to the group and congratulated them. They all made cheerful and joyful noises the moment my praise reached their ears.

It hadn’t been easy, but everyone had overcome what seemed impossible. It was clear they were overcome with unspeakable happiness.

“You should all take a break… while this might be a little bit ahead of plans, I intend to handle the third compound on my own.”

My sudden declaration shocked everyone.

The group of Gifteds all looked at me with puzzled glances, and for a few seconds, no one spoke. Taking this as his queue, Daniel represented the intentions of everyone well and voiced his concern.

“B-but, will it be okay? We should all go as a team and work together. I understand that you’re way stronger than us, but… wouldn’t it be better if we overcame their numbers with ours?”

I rolled my eyes underneath my mask. These people didn’t get that they were slowing me down. I had to hand over injured versions of the monsters so they could kill them. In essence, it was spoon-feeding.

Even though their Stats were high and nearly all of them possessed Jobs, they still weren’t ready enough to fight with no holds barred.

Besides, it was late afternoon and they were tired and hungry.

At our current pace, we would reach the Boss Area in the evening/night. While I could see things perfectly in the night, I didn’t want to prolong my confrontation with the ‘Big Bad.’

It had to be now!