Chapter 8: Undercurrents and King candidates
Skyline hotel
Time: 6:45 pm
Since the hotel was very famous throughout the country, it hosted many prominent events.
One such event was the meeting of foreign investors with many prominent businessmen of the country.
Representatives of multinational companies along with their security guards were currently present on 8th floor of the building, their total count being almost 500 people.
When the mana burst occurred they were all knocked out and when they returned to being conscious, almost 60% of them were mutated to zombies.
Currently on the 8th floor of the building a life or death battle was taking place between 300 zombies and 200 humans.
The room was soundproof which was the reason why no one could hear the battle.
Inside the room in pitch black darkness the fight took place by trusting only their sense of hearing.
With the sound of zombies growling and gunshots being the only testament to the battle for survival.
"Sir! We need to evacuate this room right now!!"
A man clad in bodyguard uniform addressed a middle aged person in front of him. Though his features were not visible properly due to the darkness, the lighter in the bodyguard's hand provided enough light to take a look at the man.
" I am afraid that even if we escape this room, things would never be the same as before." The man said with a deep voice.
"What do you mean sir?" the bodyguard asked seemingly confused.
"Looks like the situation demands me sacrifice something." With a sinister grin on his face the man spoke.
The bodyguard seemingly understood his intentions and said. "I understand sir. I will instruct our boys how to proceed." after saying this the bodyguard left his side.
"So I have been selected as a king?", the man mumbled to himself.
[THAT'S NOT QUITE CORRECT. YOU HAVE BEEN ONLY SELECTED AS A CANDIDATE. YOU NEED TO GO THROUGH MANY TRIALS TO PROVE YOURSELF.]
"What would I be the king of exactly?" The man asked.
[EVERYTHING! THAT IS ON THIS PLANET WOULD BE UNDER YOUR RULE IF YOU MANAGE TO DEFEAT OTHER CANDIDATES]
The man's eyes shone with greed and he further asked.
"What did you say my first trial was?"
[YOU NEED TO SURVIVE THIS SITUATION AND GET OUT WITH ATLEAST 20 OTHER HUMANS]
"That's quite easy." He said with a sinister grin and looked in front of him where the bodyguards and security officers were barricading against the zombies and slowly getting overwhelmed.
The man's name was Joseph, he was from the slums of this affluent city. As an orphan he was able to rise as a boss of medium sized gang in the slum.
Later on he was recruited as a henchman of a big business tycoon of the city, THE Chopras.
He used to do their dirty work and accompanied one of their representative to this conference.
"Let's do it then", he said as he pulled out his gun and shot a zombie.
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In a place, that seemed to be resemble a parliament hall.
There were billions of figures shrouded by darkness.
The place looked like it exists in a different dimension and on looking one could not find the ceiling of this hall.
In the centre of the hall, there lied 3 thrones on which 3 figures were seated.
The whole hall was in chaos and the figures were currently chatting with each other except for the three on the throne.
[SILENCE!] the figure on the Left throne said in a calm voice, but his voice seemed to resonate within the hall.
Hearing his voice the hall became quiet and a pin drop silence prevailed.
Satisfied, the figure continued to speak.
[MY FELLOW GUARDIANS! TODAY IS TRULY A REMARKABLE DAY. FOR WE ARE FINALLY FREED FROM OUR RESTRAINTS]
[BUT DON'T MISTAKE IT FOR A COMPLETE FREEDOM. BECAUSE WE NEED TO FULFILL OUR DUTIES FROM NOW ON]
The audience was keenly listening to his address as he continue.
[NOW AS THE KING SELECTION HAS STARTED, I WOULD LIKE TO ASK THE RIGHT GUARDIAN TO SHARE THE DETAILS WITH YOU ALL.]
As he sat down, the figure on the right throne stood up and started to speak.
[SO ACCORDING TO THE DATA I HAVE COLLECTED FOR THE LAST 4 HOURS]
[Approximately 5 billion humans have already perished.]
[OUT of the remaining humans 1 million King candidates were shortlisted for the preliminary phase]
[And currently all the species from the abyss have sent their vanguard into the human realm.]
[OUR GOAL IS CLEAR, WE AS GUARDIANS NEED TO CULTIVATE THE FITTEST SPECIMEN FROM THIS PLANET]
"But why do we need to do so?" someone from the crowd asked.
[THE ANSWER TO THAT REMAINS A MYSTERY TO EVEN THE CORE GUARDIAN]
The left Guardian said this as he looked towards the figure on central throne who did not speak a single word from the start.
[BUT WE KNOW THIS FOR SURE THAT THE GODS WANTED US TO DO THIS ONCE THIS WORLD WAS FLOODED WITH MANA] the left Guardian continued.
As the meeting progressed many things were discussed that included highest level of humans, highest kill counts etc.
But throughout all this a figure remained seated in a spot very far away from the thrones.
Under it's hood it mumbled, [Those cowards I will make sure to eradicate their kind].
With these words the figure disappeared from the spot.
Back to Skyline Hotel
In the conference room their remained a group of 20 people standing.
These were all part of Joseph's gang that were here to escort the of The Chopra family's representative.
In front of Joseph a man who looked to be in his 20s was kneeling. He was trembling from fear because he witnessed something horrible.
When Joseph started to fight the zombies, instead of killing the zombies his men shot at other human's legs and made them a bait for zombies. By doing the zombies were easily cleared.
"Boss, I have found this orb near one of the zombie corpse and the voice of Guardian tells me it's a level orb." One of the gang member presented the orb to Joseph.
As Joseph took the orb, instructions on how to use it came from the Guardian .
With a flash the orb presented Joseph's level it was LEVEL 4.
During this time using a gun Joseph managed to kill many zombies thus resulting in the level.
"Jo—Joseph, what do plan to do with me?" the kneeling man asked with a trembling voice.
Joseph did not even look at him and BANG!
He shot him straight in the head.
"Hmm… seems like the life pearl gain varies with the strength of enemies I kill." He mumbled.
No one around him found this even a bit disturbing as if they were used to it.