Now back in his human form, Jaco turned away from the corpse of the third Chosen. His death had officially marked the end of their trio as a whole. Before walking away, he took just one last glance back at the body.

I should probably check him for artifacts. I won’t be able to use them right away, but better to keep them in my Bag of Holding for sake keeping anyway. He knelt down beside the corpse and opened his bag to start adding items, starting with the pair of daggers.

While doing so, his mind fell into a state of contemplation. Jaco wasn’t quite sure how felt about their deaths. Within his heart of hearts, he did feel accomplished. Yet there were mixed feelings hidden deeper within that accomplishment.

He took no joy in killing and would honestly be horrified of what had become of him if he ever did enjoy the act. But at the same time, the young man hadn’t quite expected the feeling of emptiness that he was currently experiencing.

It almost felt like it had been too easy. That their second meeting should have been a tough battle like the first, but one where he could edge out a victory. Instead, it was a completely one sided beatdown. Where for the most part, he had practically bullied them around like they were little kids. Not that they didn’t deserve that kind of treatment, because they totally did.

Yet beyond that feeling of empty disappointment, Jaco also felt a strong sense of catharsis. He remembered the first few days after escaping the trio. Of constantly looking over his shoulder for them and being extra vigilant whenever he took a break.

Now there would be no more need for that. Not for him or for anyone else that would have to worry about them. Their deaths would be a net positive for all the people around who simply tried to survive and make the best they could out of the Apocalypse.

He did wonder if perhaps he should feel happier than he did for his good deed to the world. But in the end, it didn’t really matter how he felt. It just needed to be done for the sake of the greater good, and so it would.

Jaco put the last of the Chosen’s equipment into his bag. In addition to the artifact pair of daggers, there was a second set of twin twinblades underneath his robes. The System didn’t tag them as artifacts, so he assumed they were just the base weapons of a Phantom Rogue.

Ones that clearly hadn’t gotten much use the guy found the artifacts that could be teleported to. But aside from the starter pair of blades and Twin Daggers of Blinking as they were called, there were only a couple other things. There was a Potion of Healing as well as a Potion of Mana. And that was it.

Huh, figured he’d have more artifacts than this by now. Though that other dude from a while ago did only really have the Sheath of 100 Blades on him. I guess either it’s just harder to find more after a certain point, or the other Chosen got to them first, Jaco thought to himself.

In which he then realized that perhaps he’d gotten a bit spoiled. As far as artifact collecting went, he was firmly a hoarder with an entire armory inside his bag. Though it wasn’t like he could be generous and spread them around to the people of the camp.

Jaco would probably do that with the Sheath of 100 Blades, the Twin Daggers, and any other non-consumables from the Chosen Few. Since only he could use the Infernal stuff due to the Devil’s Essence, he could certainly afford giving away those regular artifacts. But with everything now put away, the Druid got back up to his feet.

There were still thousands of monsters attacking the camp. But he actually wasn’t too worried about the horde. With how ridiculously large the gap was between his Level and the horde’s average, even their sheer numbers were no longer enough to threaten him.

At this point, dealing with them would be as easy as taking out the trash. Just a chore that could be done swiftly if he put his mind to it. The undead army would be nothing more, nothing less than that.

Yet as Jaco was about ready to leave the clearing and get back to the camp, he heard a stick snapping off to the side. At that same moment, his gut instincts warned him of danger. It didn’t scream of an already incoming attack. But just that there was an imminent source of danger coming from all sides.

“So, it wasn’t just those three after all. Is this all of you now?” Jaco addressed the Chosen Few as they entered the foerst’s clearing. His eyes quickly darted around to assess the situation. He counted six total members, and immediately checked their Level as his gaze fell on each one.

32, 35, 36, 34, 34, and 38. Well shit, weren’t there only supposed to like eight of these guys in total? With that Martial Artist I killed, doesn’t that make ten already? he asked himself.

But while the ones in the mid 30s were one thing, there was the man who stood a head above the rest at 38. He was the one that Jaco paid particular close attention to for his information, giving it more than just a quick glance.

Spellblade (Human)

Evolved (Conditional Magus)

Level: 38

Well this certainly didn’t seem good. Six versus one would already be bad enough. But the person closest to him in Level also had a unique Class as well. There was no way for him to tell if it was a Rare Class like his or not. Either way, it’d probably spell trouble.

Yet when Jaco glanced away from the golden screen and took a better look at its source, his eyes widened slightly. He assumed that the strongest one would have to be the leader of the Chosen Few. But what he hadn’t expected was for the man to be so… young.

What he saw was someone who was a late teen, maybe his early 20s at the very oldest. To imagine that the one leading these psychopaths was potentially not even old enough to legally drink was a disconcerting thought. While it’d place him at only being a few years younger than Jaco himself, the point was still there.

But the man’s age didn’t matter. He was still a serial killer with who knew how many victims piled behind him. And while he was only two Levels behind Jaco and had superior numbers for support, the Druid wasn’t dissuaded.

Jaco had faced greater odds before and came out on top. Compared to overcoming the Minotaur, this was still the lesser challenge. He gripped his staff, readying himself for the fight to come. Jaco already had a simple but effective plan in mind for how to deal with them.

Like with the trio, he’d start with the lowest Level members and steadily remove their numbers advantage. Then their leader would be saved for last after all the other distractions were removed from the playing field. That was his path to victory and ending the Chosen Few once and for all.

Jaco tensed, ready to react to whatever they struck with and then counterattack. But rather than commence the battle, the man before him spoke up.

“Hah, so you really did kill Steven and the other two fools. But to answer your question, no. This is not all of us. I’m Levi, and I’m happy to finally meet the infamous Druid in the flesh. Before we tear each other to bloody pieces like animals, how about we have a civilized discussion first?” the Chosen’s leader said with a smile.

Jaco scanned the reactions of the other Chosen. While their leader stepped forward, they remained at the perimeter of the clearing. From their positioning and the way they held their weapons, they were tensed up. They were still prepared to spring into action at any moment, but seemed to be holding back for the time being.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

So I suppose this Levi does just want to talk for now. Alright, I’ll humor him. I could use the chance to restore some of my Mana anyway, while I’m sure they’re more topped off in that department. So drawing things out a bit should just work to my advantage for when the starting gun eventually goes off, Jaco concluded.

“Infamous?” he cautiously asked. But while Levi had decided to introduce himself, Jaco wasn’t quite in the mood for sharing his name and playing nice. In the back of his mind, he continued to strategize instead. Worst comes to worst, the Druid could always make a tactical retreat.

His Bag of Mist could create the opening and time needed to chug down some consumables. There were still two each of his three different Hell Elixirs in his Bag of Holding. So if given the opportunity, they could be the key to turn things around if he ended up being on the backfoot.

Levi’s grin widened further. “Well of course. It’s not often that we come across high Level people you know? Especially those that neither join nor end up getting killed by us. And instead escape and seemingly vanish into thin air. Those three spent quite a while trying to track you down, thinking you would try to get out of the city. But now I’m guessing that you only went further in, didn’t you?”

“Maybe I did. What’s your point?”

“Alright. Well the thing is that I’ve recently adopted the policy of trying to recruit extra people to my group. And as you may have noticed, a few positions have recently opened up. You’re strong, you’re capable of killing, and you have a unique Class. I’m even willing to assume that it’s the same as mine and the System says it’s Rare. As of the moment, you're easily the single strongest human around. So I at least have to try and ask if you’d be willing to join,” Levi said.

Jaco raised a completely distrusting brow. “Really now? After all of this, and you’d really still try to sell a recruitment pitch? And I’m sure there aren’t any strings attached to that. Because you definitely aren’t just gonna try and stab me in the back for the Experience the moment my guard is down. Whether that be the moment I shook your hand or later when you know I’m eventually asleep.”

He almost couldn’t believe it. How many times had he received this exact offer by now? Two? Three? Did these people really think he’d be receptive to their willingness to commit murder just because he wasn’t afraid of fighting and had a high Level? What kind of screwed up logic was that?

No. At this point, he’d only believed it as a ploy to get in a suckerpunch later than to fight him now while he was ready for it. That was the only thing that made at least some sense.

“Ah, well there’s the thing. What do you think the ‘Chosen’ part of the Chosen Few really means. At first it was just a means to gather together those with the willingness to do anything to get ahead in this changed world. But then I came to see that the System didn't grant us powers equally. Most people are stuck with just the basic Classes. However, some get the option for an Uncommon or even Rare Class, one that’s obviously the superior choice in every respect.” Levi threw up his hands as he then continued.

“Yet no matter how I looked at it, there wasn’t any obvious pattern. The Level you reach before selecting a Class, how many things you kill, what you’ve killed. Who you were as a person before the Apocalypse. There just didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. But then I had an idea. The System was built by those who’ve only known eternal war while at the brink of losing it. You don’t give the highest quality guns to every single soldier, that’s just too costly. No, you give them cheaper equipment that can be mass produced. And save the actually good stuff for the elites that can best use it.”

He held his blade in the air and stared at its reflection in the light. Jaco just continued to watch as the Chosen’s leader seemed intent on continuing his monologue even further.

“I imagine that the System knows us better than we know ourselves. Both in mind, body, and heck even soul. So like how some people are genetically predisposed to be better at running in sprints or marathons, who’s to say that isn’t the case here? That the System kept an eye on all of us at the start, and then picked those who were the most worthy of a greater power. So if the System believes that these people have more potential, then I believe gathering these Chosen elites together will eventually be the best path forward,” he finally finished.

“Uhuh. And I’m sure it’s logical for a military’s special forces to decimate their main army. Like how you go around killing other people. Because that totally makes sense for that analogy,” Jaco sarcastically replied.

Levi shook his head. “It does when the elites gain strength through the death of those masses. This a fight for survival where only the strongest will be able to remain. All the weak can do is drag us behind and consume resources that could have been better saved for those that’ll actually still be alive within a year from now. From an efficiency standpoint, it makes perfect sense to farm them for the one thing they’re still good at providing: Experience Points.”

The Druid just stared, his expression unmoved by the argument. To him, it sounded like a load of nonsense no matter how it was spun. All he heard was the empty logic of someone that clearly liked to hear themselves talk a lot.

The Chosen’s leader sighed. “Alright, fine. I didn’t come here for a debate. Talking any further would clearly be pointless since you’ve made your stance rather clear. I was truly genuine with my offer, but it seems that you’ll have to die after all.”

Jaco’s body immediately tensed back up. At the very least, that had bought a few minutes to recoup a bit of spent Mana. But right before their battle could start, he heard the sound of rapidly stomping feet. And just a second later as the Chosen shifted, they too noticed the noise and turned toward it.

“Jaco!” a familiar voice yelled out. He turned to see as several figures ran through the woods. At the forefront were Eveleyn, Noah, Sam, and even a heavily bandaged Alex. And though they hadn’t arrived yet, he could hear the marching of many more people not far behind.

“You guys! What about the camp and the horde?” Jaco asked. He was thrown for a loop to see that they were here and how they knew where he was. But at the same time, his expression turned into a genuine smile upon seeing them all.

As they arrived, Levi motioned back with one hand. In an instant, the Chosen surrounding Jaco immediately moved to be directly behind their leader.

Evelyn was the first to get to his side. Sweat was running down her brow, but otherwise she seemed fine. Jaco had been concerned that her internal injury still might not have fully healed and would have acted up. But it seemed that either a Potion of Healing had helped or perhaps just her Endurance finally fixed things up.

“They got everyone else safely evacuated. So since the horde will just move away on its own, there was no reason to potentially die for a bunch of empty tents. But I noticed you flying away in your hawk body and that you hadn’t come back after a while. Looks like I was right to trust my gut and get people over here,” Evelyn explained. As she did so, the others caught up and began to enter the clearing to also stand by Jaco’s side.

And as Sam came to the front, Jaco noticed as her expression suddenly tightened with what was clearly a chaotic storm of emotions. When he looked over to the Chosen’s leader, he saw that the man’s smile had shifted into a toothy grin.

“Well well well, I wasn’t expecting my sister to show up alongside a dead woman. Guess that means you’re officially filing your resignation notice, huh, Evelyn?” Levi said with a mocking tone.

Sam flinched upon hearing his voice. While at the same time, Evelyn glared with cold daggers in her eyes. Jaco glanced between the leader of the Chosen and the redhead he’d recently met. Questions would have to come about that exchange just now. But it would have to be saved for a later time.

For a moment, things were still as two groups stared each other down. All the while, more and more people from the camp continued to rush in. Finally, one person was the first one to break the tension as he shrugged with a disappointed sigh.

“You know what, I’m actually feeling quite satisfied with how things played out so far. So with that being said, I think the time has come for use to make our exit. Lick your wounds, bury your dead, and try to rebuild if that’s what you want to do. But if you do so, know what sooner rather than later, your camp will be completely razed to the ground. And you’ll truly understand that today was just a taste of what was to come,” Levi said with a cruel sneer.

Jaco internally scoffed at his words. Beyond the threat, the Chosen were just planning to run away now that they were losing in both highest Level and total numbers. For a moment, he considered just calling their bluff and attacking right there and then. But right before he gathered the Mana to do so, the Druid hesitated.

While they did have many more people, their average Level still left a lot to be desired. If a fight broke out right now, how many would die simply from being caught in the crossfire? Jaco found himself stuck between two conflicting sides. He knew that if left to run around, the Chosen Few could continue to cause damage. They’d even just threatened to soon come back and finish the job, after all. So that was the potential lives that could be lost.

But then there were the almost guaranteed deaths that’d happen if they fought now. Could he live with those deaths if he were the one to take the first shot? And effectively bring what didn’t have to happen? The only way to prevent that would be to kill all the Chosen before they could retaliate. Yet even with his powers, there was no way to truly guarantee that.

Jaco’s jaw tightly clenched with frustration. He just couldn’t bring himself to bring that upon the people around him. As loath as he was to admit it, the Chosen Few would get their chance to walk away.

The death and destruction they’d caused so far would go without retribution. At least for now.