Last Ruler Of The Empty Throne

"I want to kill too."

Jon's eyes widened at Alexa's words. She was his best friend's sister, and he would do his best to help her especially in her state. To the point that even if she said, she wanted to leave the university amidst all the problems, he would leave the university with their problems and leave with her.

But amongst all the other possible options, she wanted to risk her life.

And an involuntary sigh escaped Jon, and he nodded, 'Maybe the best kind of protection is self-protection', he thought.

"Just promise me you'll stay close," he said softly, and Alexa nodded.

Jon could literally see it in her eyes, her resolve was unshakable, she never wanted to be in that situation again.

And he too should not keep trying to find sadness in the situation, not while she stood so determined.

Closing his eyes, he finally stopped trying to find sadness and let everything go. The thought of his friend, even the meaningless dream he previously had. And the moment he exhaled, a wave of calm washed over him, the pain that had been wracking in his body vanished like mist under the sun.

But that wasn't the only change.

His Mind World trembled, expanding outward by several meters.

At that moment Jon realized something significant in that moment, He first thought the 'Mind world' was just a store for his memories and skills and for his blacksmith.

However, now he was realizing that the state of his mind was actually connected to the Mind World.

And as if responding to his realization, the space within his Mind World immediately doubled. Where he had once only been able to perceive 10 meters, he would now be able to perceive and move 30 meters in all directions.

[YOUR *** LEVEL HAS INCREASED]

[YOUR FOUNDATION HAS INCREASED]

"Whew..." Jon then let out a slow breath as a strange, new aura emanated from him.

This unexpected mental growth left him feeling lighter than he had in days. Free from his thoughts, he could finally think clearly, then ever before.

"Let's move. We've got a lot of work to do." He turned around to see the survivors coming this time around, he saw the people who went along with him on the first scout and new faces.

The fact they stood here meant they wanted to survive this new world. And despite their trembling legs, Jon admired their courage.

The group was much larger than it had been on previous scouting trips, likely due to their earlier success. It most likely bolstered the confidence among the other people.

Turning around to take the lead again, he turned to Tunde, a lighter expression on his face and asked, "What have I missed all this time?"

Tunde smirked, "Ermm...which part?"

Jon cocked his head, surprised. "Part? Did that much happen?"

"Actually, if it wasn't for you, things would've been much worse," Tunde said, as if reminiscing about something dark.

Jon frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You slept for two days straight, Jon," Tunde revealed.

"WHAT?"

The shock almost made him stumble to the ground.

Tunde chuckled and started talking, "Don't get too worked up. I haven't even started. So..."

Jon mistakenly blurred it out, "T-Two days?"

He had only wanted to take a short nap, and somehow, two days had slipped by.

Including the other two days he had slept since arriving in this strange new reality, Jon had slept away four of the days since the fall.

'Where did It go wrong?' the thought became apparent in his mind from the moment he was told how long he had slept for. And sadly, he couldn't even remember he made saying even though he spent 2 days sleeping he didn't care.

"It's been 10 days, Jon. Ten days," Jenny's voice cut through his thoughts as if she knew his next question. She had suddenly appeared beside him at some point, her presence both comforting and heavy with unspoken words.

The world was shifting toward something worse, and trust seemed like a luxury he could no longer afford. However, even after sleeping for four days in total, the girls watched over him.

The moment, he was trying to give up on trust, the two girls were trying to gain it. 'It's so confusing.' he didn't know what to do for now.

However,

"I need to talk to you two later," he said, glancing at Jenny and Cynthia. Then he turned back to Tunde and said, "Continue."

"W-What? But I just finished explaining everything!" Tunde stammered, clearly flustered.

Jon then looked around, momentarily disoriented. He actually hadn't heard anything after hearing that he slept for two days, "Err…"

Laughter erupted from the group. It was a rare moment of levity, seeing Jon, normally so composed and serious showing an almost childlike confusion.

"Where do I even start again?" Tunde muttered, annoyance displaying on his face.

And just as he was about to start again, the ground shook beneath them.

BRRRRMMMMMM

Jon stopped and Tunde's words were interrupted by an explosion in the distance.

Jon hadn't even realized it yet, but they had left the cafeteria a while a go now. And now, about 500 meters ahead, a group of green monsters were clustered together.

And they looked exactly like grasshoppers, but not ordinary ones. These creatures were the size of fully grown men, with their appearance a grotesque magnification of the familiar insects.

"G-Grasshoppers," a female fighter stammered while pointing at the grasshoppers.

She was among the new faces, who got their skills before the storm but hadn't gone for the scout. So, it was right to say they had only faced zombies so far. So, the sight human sized grasshoppers suddenly turned into a deadly threat was chilling.

Thankfully, the monsters weren't focused on them. In the center of the grasshoppers, two grasshoppers even larger than the rest were locked in a fierce combat.

They were moving so fast that they were mere blurs to most onlookers, some couldn't even see anything. And though, they were confused as to what was happening, they could hear the continuous explosions resounding.

But, they knew one thing, if they were close to this explosion, they would die without traces of them.

Jon, however, could follow their movements.

The 50-point increase in all his stats made him, faster, stronger and more attuned to his surroundings. He didn't even need to activate his Moon Gaze to track them.

"What is that?" someone who couldn't see the fight shouted, breaking the tense silence. But he quickly tried to cover his mouth, hoping he wasn't heard; however, it was too late.

The grasshoppers heard them this time.

After giving the one who shouted a death glare, they looked back at the grasshoppers, however it didn't matter anymore, the danger was already upon them.

The grasshoppers all turned their attentions from the fight going on to the group. Even the two who had been fighting for dominance stopped and looked.

SCREEECH… SKREE… SREKKK.

The grasshoppers then communicated in high-pitched, ear-splitting sounds, quickly deciding to put aside their differences and deal with this new enemies first.

Jon immediately activated 'Moon Gaze' in the surrounding. And as expected, zombies were also closing in on their location.

'We need to finish this fast', he thought. He didn't know if Jenny and Cynthia could handle first time realm monsters, so he would take them on and leave the rest to them.

Without wasting time, Jon used his Shadow Step to blur into motion, appearing between the shadow of the two strongest grasshoppers.

He then lashed out with a powerful punch at the one on the right. However,

CLANG.

The sound echoed as Jon's fist collided with the creature's exoskeleton and it sounded like metal hitting metal.

KIEEE!

But the grasshopper screeched in pain, though it had blocked the attack, it took a dent in its body.