Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

Hitori thought he would keep falling down the long deep and dark tunnel till he read these words- "YOU ARE DEAD!" And a notification appeared.

He was eaten by a bird as if he was an insect as if he was the bird's prey. That was an insulting experience, to be swallowed by a bird that was inside a game.

After his death in the game, Hitori has logged out automatically to the real world. So now he was in his chair inside the city Vr-cade with his head in his hands.

"How can I mess up such a great opportunity?" He blamed him for losing his focus in the middle of the fight, "Rotten Mind," He recalled the name of a player.

He lifted his head, pulled his hands down, and kept staring at his avatar. On the screen in front of him, a man covered in a blue-purple color cloak.

Beside Hitori's avatar was the status screen.

"Haha, let us see what this prick has in for us today,"

"Let us get today's payment, it is time."

Hitori heard two boys behind him whom he totally ignored. Those two boys with a good physique walked past Hitori and stopped at the end of the alley.

"So you really conquered it huh… Samurai?" Hitori moved his eyes away from his avatar and kept thinking about the samurai's words said in the broken building.

To check the remaining time, Hitori turned his head to the corner of his table, at the magic circle.

[Time Remaining: 20:06]

His eyes fell back on the magic screen that glowed above his head, "Leave it." He moved his eyes to the log-in option and kept staring at it for a while. As if he was trying to make a hard decision.

Hitori got up from his chair after thinking for a while. The floating magic circle disappeared but the screen did not.

[Time Remaining: 18:09]

"That is enough for today," he sighed, "I can not beat that bird in eighteen minutes," He declared this as the end of today's gaming session.

He stretched his hand to the end of the table to take his card out. But before his hand could touch the magic circle, he heard a loud bang behind him.

"Take. Out. Your. Money." Hitori turned his head in the left direction. He saw two tall boys who stood facing the dead-end wall.

"N- no, please, I have earned very less today and I need the money–" Hitori's body shuddered when he suddenly saw a splat of blood appearing on the wall in front of him.

"What did you say, prick?" One of the two boys leaned down, "See, we are in no mood to tolerate you, hand over your money," Hitori frowned as he adjusted his view.

"N-No, sir, please…I need this money," His eyes caught the glimpse of a timid guy sitting down on the ground.

The person held his knees near his chest tightly and continued to protest against the bullies.

"You stupid piece of shit!" A boy shouted at him again.

Hitori turned his eyes to the two boys who were bullying the same boy Hitori saw before.

They wore blue shirts underneath light blue blazers, blue jeans pants. The perfect formal wear. No doubt, they were from the science academy. They were science users.

Hitori bit his lower lip as he clenched his fists. He lifted his angry eyes at the two bullies.

"Stop it." His angry voice rang through the alley. The boy who was about to punch the victim stopped, "Why would you do that to him?" Hitori raised his dead blue eyes at the two bullies.

"Huh? Stay out of this, dude," The bully rose up from the ground. Hitori's eyes fell down to the ground. He could not suppress his anger anymore.

"You bastards…. Just because you are more powerful than him does not mean you should treat him like shit–"

Smack!

A fist came flying towards Hitori's guts. And before Hitori could cast a spell or dodge the attack, the punch made contact with his guts.

<HP: 65/75>

'Fuck the person who created those battle suits.' Hitori landed down on the ground and thought as he lifted his hand to rub his nose.

The student's blazer acted as armor and their blue full-length shirt was a battle suit in reality. Of course, they had the access to clad their whole body in that invincible metal alloy, to create a gauntlet to punch someone in the guts.

"What will you do? Save him?" Another boy grabbed Hitori by his jacket and threw him right beside the victim.

The timid guy reached out to Hitori, "A-are you okay?" He grabbed Hitori by his shoulders.

"Yes," Hitori quickly pushed himself off the ground and stood up.

The boy who was bullied looked at Hitori's back with surprise. The person dared to hurt Hitori, it only makes sense if Hitori makes him pay.

"F- Friend, I do not know your identity but you should not get involved," Hitori ignored the timid guy's warning.

"Dude, get out of the way."

"This is the last warning," The boy who seemed stronger spoke, "Let us have the fucking nerd and we will spare you,"

Hitori's eyes sparkled with even more anger in them, he glanced behind him. 'Nerd?' He clenched his fists. Hitori closed his eyes.

The timid guy's glasses slipped off his nose bridge, he looked like a scaredy-cat, he looked like someone who would spend hours playing games or watching anime.

Hitori took a deep breath and tried to fight his inner demons, "Haha!" He heard a burst of scornful laughter in his mind, "Look at this nerd!"

Everyone. Every single person laughed at him, "He got what he deserved!" A boy laughed.

The boy then lifted his finger and pointed at a broken game card that lay on the ground.

"Seriously," A girl gave a little boy a disgusting look, "Such a nerd. Disgusting." The whole class started laughing again.

Helplessly, a guy quietly got on his knees as he warped his things up and gathered his broken game card from the ground.

He had a timid build, his long dark hair covered his painful blue eyes. Tears formed in his eyes making it hard to see clearly with the blurry vision.

From the corner of the classroom, in a class where everyone was laughing, there was a person who did not laugh. She kept staring at the helpless poor boy who had his gaming card broken and his self-respect hurt, dignity thrown away in the river, self-esteem? Fuck it.

"Oi, are you alive?" A cold voice woke Hitori out of his memory, "So will you step aside or still stand there for him?" A strange grin appeared on the bully's face.

"Yes," Hitori grinned back at the bully with blood running down his nose, "In front of suckers like you, I will stand for nerds like him."

"You did it, do not blame us for what happens next,"

"Try me." Hitori clenched both of his fists beside his thighs, "Hi no Mahou," Fire started sprouting out from Hitori's fists.

The bully who was about to punch Hitori again, took a step back with a frown, "You!"

The guy behind him pushed him aside, "You filthy little magic users!!" A big guy with a big frown on his face stepped forward.

He raised his hand, and suddenly, Hitori faced a gun pointed at his forehead.

Hitori calmed down, he pulled his hands down. He stared at the gun pointed at his forehead, "That is a fancy gun you have there," Hitori did not hesitate even a little.

"Gigi! Do not! You will be in trouble!" His partner gasped and shouted. The victim boy who sat behind Hitori gasped in fear.

Gigi's finger touched the gun's trigger. Hitori gulped, one second, and his head would blow up. Gigi started to pull the trigger.

A cold voice called both of the bullies' names from behind before Gig could pull the trigger, "Gigi, Hiki." they both turned around, "Come on, we are leaving," A man appeared at the entrance of the alley, "What are you two doing?"

His piercings danced in the air as he started to walk toward Hiki. His eyes glanced around the area till they met with a student who lay on the ground and wore the magic academy uniform while the other held balls of fire in his hands.

"Stop wasting your time with these mages, we have got a bigger problem,"

"But sir-"

"Shut up and do what you have been told," He hissed at Gigi, "Do not piss me off. I am already pissed off enough for the day,"

"W- why, sir?" Hiki asked while Gigi pulled his gun down.

"Tch, a newbie rookie player killed me in the game," Hitori's magic wore off, "Because of that little fucker, I lost more than half of my drops that I collected today,"

"What?!"

"S- someone killed you, sir?!"

"Huh~" The guy with dead yellow eyes glared at both of his subordinates, "Is something wrong?" He pulled his hand behind his head and rubbed his blonde hair.

"N- no, sir!"

On the other hand, Hitori's hands trembled in fear. His eyes made contact with the blonde man and he felt chills down his spine.

Hitori gulped as the man took a step forward. He kept his eyes on the guy's strong body frame, scary features where the piercings just added even more fear.

"Some fucker known as Ryu…" He turned his glare to Hitori who constantly stared at him, "What are you looking at?"

Hitori shuddered. He quickly raised his hand and tapped his console station's magic circle.

"Eh~?" The blondie's eyes went past Hitori and fell on Hitori's magic screen.

Hitori's card jumped out of the slot, he quickly grabbed his card and stepped back near the guy who was lying on the ground.

His dead eyes met with Hitori's eyes covered in fear, the blonde guy and Hitori exchanged glances. The tension started forming between the two of them as the blondie took a step forward.

Suddenly, Gigi called him, "Sir? Where are you going?" He came back to his senses and stopped moving.

"Uhm," he turned around, then after a pause, he continued, "Anyways, this player Ryu, I want you two to investigate this guy…" He stopped moving and coldly glared at Hitori with, a scary glare, "I will report him to Onogi-san," He said while slowly moving his glare away from Hitori, "Get moving."

"Yes, sir!" They both left the Vr-cade before their sir.

The blondie started to walk out of the fourth gaming alley. Hitori stood in his position without moving, as if he was frozen.

Gulp.

He could feel his hands turning sweaty, he took a hard gulp while staring at the blondie's broad back. Hitori kept staring at his back till he disappeared.

Hitori's sweat dripped down his neck and forehead. He took another hard gulp.