Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

The whole field was in chaos. All kinds of monsters were wreaking havoc, many players shouted for help, and some were stuck fighting the monsters for a few hours now.

Amid this mess, a player shouted, "Hey! Oi! That is mine!" Unfortunately, that player had dropped his guard and was soon slaughtered by a monster.

Another player who was meters away started looking around himself. "Hell, where are my drops?" He stared at the empty ground in confusion.

"I am sure I killed a zombie… where is my drop then?"

"No way! My treasure is gone!" another player, a woman shouted, as she threw her weapon on the ground. "Who the fuck took it?!" she demanded.

The shouts flew through the air and soon reached Hitori, who was still dealing with a few unclassified monsters.

Hitori released a fireball from his hand. The fireball soon split into three balls and took down three monsters at the same time.

Hitori turned around to see the monsters he had killed since the beginning of the game. He saw numerous things shining on the ground.

The bodies of a few monsters had disappeared but there were still more than half of the monsters' bodies lying dead. Besides their bodies were mana gemstones, and dropped items. Weapons, charms, enchantments, defense items, storage items, etc.

"I better collect them—" Hitori bent down to pick a drop when it suddenly disappeared. "Did the game…?" He saw another drop item disappear all of a sudden.

He silently pulled his arm down, Hitori got up from the ground and kept staring at a player who had stolen his drops.

Although the player was not visible, it was obvious that someone was stealing the items from the drops' pattern of disappearing.

'Still a noob. He does not even know the basics of scrap picking.'

[Murasaki Ju Lv. 20]

[Speed- 54  Power- 33 Magic- 25]

[Equipped]

From the side of his hips, Hitori pulled out a dark purple gun. It was bigger than a pistol, yet shorter than a shotgun.

Black dark blood fell everywhere. 'Pretty nice.' Hitori glanced at the gun in his hands.

A dark purple bullet, enchanted by his mana, came out and blew another monster's brain.

"Hi no Mahou: Ring of Fire."

Hot orange and red flames of fire covered Hitori in a circle. A monster still tried to attack Hitori but was burned down even before its snout could pass through the ring of fire.

Hitori pulled the gun straight in front of him. He could not see the moving player as he must have used an invisible spell or potion or a berry. But his movements were clear.

Hitori aimed at the player, the top of his gun moved from left to right, up and down.

The number of monsters Hitori killed exceeded fifty, there were plenty of drop items around him.

That bought him enough time to figure out the player's position. But just to make sure, Hitori used another skill. "Mana Shujin: suck."

For a second, Hitori saw a glimpse of the player. Because of Hitori's skill, whatever item the player used had its effect reduced even if it was for a moment.

He reduced the gun's movements, then stopped moving the gun.

Hitori's finger touched the gun's trigger, he pulled his index finger.

Hitori took a deep breath in and held it there. He closed his left eye and aimed his gun at the target. He pulled the trigger.

The player's body appeared once again. He stopped moving when he noticed his HP had gone down by good fifteen points.

Hitori did not move an inch. He held his breath, patiently, he pulled the trigger once again.

The scrap picker moved away from the shot. But till now, he already lost twenty-seven health points, unless that player was a high-ranked one, he would die soon.

Hitori paused once again. Each time the bullet hit the scrap picker, his body would glow. That player was confused about how someone would have his position figured out.

He started to look around while he continued to run at an average speed. He saw nothing but monsters dying everywhere, a few dropped items lying on the ground.

He could not dodge the bullet once again, but thankfully, he got hit on his waist in place of his upper body. So the damage was relatively low.

It was perfectly on his waistline, where the bones were.

After three shots, Hitori figured out the player's escaping strategy. Therefore, he did not pause after the third shot.

The scrap picker took three shots out of five bullets fired at him. Time was the time for Hitori to reload his gun with mana-covered bullets.

"Just who the fuck is this player? Is he some kind of sniper or an archer?" he looked around, "but it is not possible unless he is a high-ranked player…"

The sniper was a class that players would later evolve to after reaching a specific level.

It has not been six months since the game was launched. And to think someone would reach the top levels by now… it was hard to be true.

"But even Onogi-san has not reached the evolution level yet!" he grunted and tried to find a safe place but there was none.

"This area…" the scarp picker's eyes turned to the area with a big fire lit in the middle of the ground, "this area has lots of drop items in comparison to other–" he ducked a bullet, "that means," he turned his head towards the direction the bullet came from, "from the fire."

Inside the fire was Hitori who again reloaded his gun. He continued shooting at the scrap picker before he could run out of sight.

"Tch. Guess I will have to stop for today." He ran away from the man who fired at him from the ring of fire.

When Hitori saw the player was running, he stopped shooting him. Now he had become invisible once again. Fortunately, by now, Hitori had learned the noob's moving pattern.

"Full blast. Mana overdrive," Hitori muttered the spell while he aimed his gun at his only target, the scrap picker.

The gun turned dark purple in color. A small sphere of energy formed at his gun's tip. He pulled the trigger.

[Speed increased, power increased, magic increased]

Shot!

[Critical hit, Headshot! -30]

[Player 'Emperor's Scrap Picker' has been killed by player 'Ryu']