Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

Reon bolted from her spot, she reached the door and grabbed Hitori's hand. With a tight pull, Reon pulled Hitori away from the door.

She jerked Hitori's hand away, "are you out of your mind?" when she pushed Hitori, he stumbled and almost fell to the ground.

Hitori glanced behind him. His ankle touched a chair which screeched against the wall behind him but he was saved by the chair.

Hitori could feel the strong glare at him. He quietly lifted his head, "I suppose not." And replied.

Hitori shook his leg and rubbed his hand as he stood straight in front of Reon. Hitori saw her tight fists and the ugly frown.

"We can not, Hitori-san!" her muscles contracted as she spoke from the heart, "you need to understand who Onogi-san is!"

Hitori had already sensed the fear and urgency in Reon's voice which was enough for him to understand Onogi's power. Hitori was still a student while Onogi was a one-year graduate, of course, there would be a difference between Hitori's experience and Onogi's experience.

"We can not defeat Onogi-san in his own house. He will come for us if we conquer this dungeon." Hitori moved his eyes to Kamiya.

Hitori sensed his will of going inside and conquer the dungeon but he sensed Kamiya's fear too.

But ignoring everything, Hitori walked, "Hitori-san!" She shouted, "Do not take Onogi-san lightly. You should fear sometimes!" Hitori stopped. Reon panicked, "shit." she muttered.

Hitori glared at her without turning around, "drop 'san'" he whispered, "this… is not the time when I should fear." Hitori turned and reached the door.

'I am ending this once and for all. If it is inside the game then we can win.'

"I know when shall I fear," Hitori continued his talk with Reon, "and what shall I fear."

Reon gulped when Hitori walked past her and placed his hand on the door once again.

The door had not opened previously when Hitori pushed it with all of his might and there was a key socket at the door's lower end.

It did not require a password to open the door, it needed a key to open the door. Hitori opened his inventory and pulled out a thin key.

Reon's eyes widened at the sight, "Kamiya, stop him!" She turned to her last resort– to ask Kamiya for help.

But Kamiya grunted and did not reply. He clenched his fist. Hitori paused and glanced at Kamiya, he was staring at the floor so Hitori continued.

Hitori inserted the key into the large keyhole and tried to twist the key but obviously… the key was smaller in size compared to the large keyhole.

Hitori pulled it out and tried to unlock the door once again but failed miserably. Hitori stared at the keyhole with wide eyes.

'What is going on?' why did the key, handed to him by Kuzu, not work?

It was short, "enough." Hitori hissed. He lifted his hand and threw the key to the ground in anger, he swirled on the polished floor and slid across the room to sit on a chair in the corner.

Reon watched as the scene unfolded in front of her. She glanced between Hitori and the key, "W- were we scammed?" she stuttered, "w- w- why is not the key working?"

Hitori dropped his head. He pulled his elbows on the corner of his knees, he held his head in his hands that swiped deep through his wood and hair.

Then Hitori shook his head, "Kuzu…"

Kuzu watched this scene from his room. He had logged in using Onogi's account and hence had full exposure to watch the dungeon raid, he could interrupt their raid too.

But Kuzu just watched as Hitori failed to open the door. "I am not a fool…" he dropped his yellow eyes, "you need more than the key to unlock the door." He scoffed, "and now you are stuck."

Kuzu leaned forward on his table– since he was in the spectator's mode there was no need for him to transmigrate inside the game– he ran his hand down his blond hair and grabbed his hair in the middle.

"Now you have two choices…" Kuzu continued talking with himself, "you either leave the dungeon or… find the required skill to open the door." he chuckled, "what a pity… you came so far and yet… you are totally unaware that I have led you here, you did not came here on your own."

Hitori thought about multiple options such as bursting open the lock socket or freezing the lock before breaking it or burning the door or using the war hammer from hell.

While none of the above options granted a perfect victory Hitori was not able to come up with another idea. Maybe the fact that he was scammed real bad had got to his head.

Reon sighed as she walked toward Kamiya, "Good…" she placed her hand on Kamiya's shoulder, "let us leave now, right, Kamiya?" he was still not looking at them, "Kamiya?" he was thinking deeply.

Suddenly, a movie started playing in front of his eyes. A blur vision and through the blur vision Kamiya heard, "it was awesome…" Onogi's voice.

There were a few more men around Onogi who were laughing at Kamiya and at someone else.

Onogi shouted, "probably the best course I ever had!" then he lowered his voice, "inter… course, you know." His boys laughed.

Kamiya's vision cleared a little and he saw a forearm full of scars, "give her brother a good thrashing, make sure he remembers about the beating every time he thinks about reporting us."

Onogi looked down at Kamiya but Kamiya could see Onogi's face because blood and tears had covered his eyes, making his vision blur.

"But Onogi-san," Kuzu stepped beside him, "what if he still reports?"

"Then kill him." Onogi's voice turned cold all of a sudden, "would not be your first time, right?"

"N- no, sir!" Kuzu shook his head and bowed.

"Now get this pair of siblings out of my fucking house. Throw them on the road or something."

A chair screeched on the floor as Hitori got up, "melt it." light gleamed in his eyes.

Hitori furiously walked past Reon. She turned to stop but stopped herself when Hitori pulled out his wand from the left side of his waist.

"Hitori…" a weak voice filled the waiting area and stopped Hitori.

Kamiya's eyes were watery and he could not see a thing before a drop of tear fell and his vision cleared.

Hitori stopped and looked at his partner. Kamiya was shaking– whether it was due to anger or fear, Hitori did not know– but Kamiya had tightened his fists.

Reon felt kind of… well, victorious now that Kamiya said something to stop his partner. Maybe he has realized the risk too, she thought.

Kamiya sniffed, "Open…" he paused, "the fucking door." This was the first time Hitori had ever heard Kamiya curse so he was taken aback.

Reon was shocked when the guy she thought would never curse just cursed without any care. Added to the fact that he asked Hitori to open the door.

Hitori scoffed and shook his head.

"I can not live my life like this… in fear, I can not." Kamiya sniffed. And now Reon was curious as to why Kamiya was crying, "I can not keep fearing them anymore." and what fear was he talking about.

"I wanted to tell you that way before when we first encountered Kuzu but I was scared…" Hitori turned to Kamiya, "scared that you might have got offended."

"Yeah…" Kamiya rubbed his eyes, "I would have." Kamiya agreed, "but not now. You can tell me that every time I am scared,"

"Face your fears, Kamiya." Hitori pulled his wand down, "and… FUCK Onogi Masao along with Kuzu Erabu."

Reon gasped. That was a big statement but Reon decided not to ruin the moment.

"Please… open the door, Hitori. I want this dungeon."

Hitori was satisfied. As expected of him, he was right to choose Kamiya as his partner– or wait, did Kamiya choose Hitori as his partner?

Whatever the case was, Hitori chuckled as he lifted his wand.