The final system shop was only seconds away, and every faction waited with bated breath for the tutorial to end. Most tutorials had been conquered by a single faction. In others, uneasy alliances were forged. So were overrun by swarms of monsters, while a few had only a handful of survivors clinging desperately to life.
Far away, in a different tutorial, deep within a jungle of titanic trees that stretched well over a hundred ters high, a lone figure stood in a clearing. The earth bore scorch marks from past battles, and broken branches littered the ground. At first glance, one might mistake the figure for a man. His form resembled that of a human male, but his skin shimred with a dark green hue, his head completely bald, and his eyes glead like those of a predator, slitted and feline.
He wore no crown, no armor, no weapon. Only a black tunic inscribed with intricate runes, dormant and dull for the mont. His lean musculature seed almost unremarkable, but the aura he radiated told a different story. This was no simple being. With one hand, he lifted a woman from the ground by her throat, his grip tightening inch by inch. She, too, bore the green skin of his race. The Vorakai had mastered magic even before the System ca to their world, empowered further now by its high mana density.
A sadistic smile spread across the man’s face as the woman struggled in his grip. “Why did you betray us? You were the prince!” she cried, her voice trembling with anguish. A tear slid down her cheek, glimring in the fractured sunlight that pierced through the canopy.
Unlike Thalion’s tutorial, where multiple races were thrown together, this one had only orcs and Vorakai. The orcs were inferior and easily crushed. The Vorakai had been blessed, or cursed to have the crown prince among them. To them, he had been a beacon of hope, leading them through impossible odds, devising escapes when defeat seed certain, and slaying hordes of enemies with a strength no one could rival. Under his guidance, they built not just a camp, but an empire within the tutorial. They dread of erging as one united people, stronger than ever, ready to rejoin their kin on the new world the System had prepared.
Then, one by one, they began to disappear. At first, a few. Then more. Nobles and commoners alike vanished without a trace, no bodies, no weapons, no sign of battle. The killer left nothing behind. Whispers spread, fear grew, and the Vorakai searched endlessly for the murderer in their midst. When only a hundred remained, the truth revealed itself. The predator they feared was no outsider. It was their own prince.
At first, the Vorakai were paralyzed by horror. They could not raise arms against their royal blood, to whom they had sworn their lives. To break that oath was to doom their souls, forever barred from the afterlife. So they did the only thing left to them. They ran and scattered like frightened prey.
But the prince hunted them like a beast on the wind. When camps were unguarded and warriors slept, he struck. None could match his speed, none could withstand his might. And he possessed a power beyond any spell they had known. A mouth that opened to spew forth a dark green mist. Wherever it touched, flesh dissolved and souls unraveled. When the victim was gone, he inhaled again, reclaiming the mist, devouring both body and spirit.
Their only reprieve was that he seed unable to move while using this vile ability. Still, it mattered little. One by one, they all fell.
Now, only the High Priestess remained. She had broken her oath in desperation, sacrificing her soul’s eternity to fight him. Yet even she was powerless. Her strength failed the mont his hand closed around her throat. She could not summon her spells, could not move her body. Only her voice remained.
“Why…?” she whispered, her words fragile as glass.
The prince’s smile widened, his eyes glittering with hunger. “I’m just so very hungry.” There was no remorse in his tone, only raw, unfiltered malice. The priestess trembled, paralyzed as the green mist poured from his maw, enveloping her whole. Her body writhed in silent agony, her soul unraveling as she scread within, unable to escape. His gaze never left hers, savoring every fragnt of her tornt until nothing remained.
When it was done, he licked his lips and raised his eyes to the heavens. “Yes… all of them. Gone.” His arms spread wide, his grin stretching unnaturally. “Now, it is ti for the feast to begin, upon the new world.”
And with that, as the final seconds of the tutorial ticked away, the prince vanished, his body pulled toward the last system shop.
User Comments
0 comments from readers