Dark Warlock in the Apocalypse

Chapter 17: A New Alliance

"...Shouldn't we help?" one of the survivors muttered. It wasn't something they intended to say aloud, more like a reflex.

It was a natural question, but no one responded. Instead, one of the survivors even frowned.

"Help who?"

"Anyone out there. If we leave them like this, they're all going to die."

The screams and death cries outside hadn't stopped, though their frequency had significantly decreased.

In this situation, there were two possibilities: either they had managed to defeat the skeletons and were catching their breath, or they had been killed, silencing their screams. The latter seemed far more likely.

As silence filled the group, the tattooed man scoffed, opening his mouth to speak.

"Go ahead and help them if you want."

"What? You're not going to help?"

"Help them? Why the hell would I? Do you even know me? Why are you trying to drag me into this?"

"Does it matter? People are dying out there!"

"Yeah, well, if I wanted to feel good about saving people, I would've become a firefighter, not an office worker."

Spitting on the ground, the tattooed man pointed to the skeletons.

"I'm not risking my life to fight those bony bastards. If you want to play hero, go ahead. Do it alone or find some other idiots to join you."

"...."

The younger man who had spoken up went quiet.

These weren't weak goblins—they were skeletons with the strength of a full-grown man, armed with sharp swords capable of cutting people into pieces. Even beta testers could be killed in this situation. Asking for help was asking someone to put their life on the line.

"Uh... is anyone out there?" the younger man called again, his voice uncertain.

Everyone knew what he meant, but no one acknowledged him. They either averted their gaze or pretended not to hear. The man's eyes darted around until they finally landed on Justin.

Justin met his gaze directly and answered bluntly, "No."

"...I didn't ask you," the young man muttered, his face turning red with embarrassment.

Rejected by everyone, he quickly retreated into a nearby house. The other survivors, glancing around awkwardly, soon followed suit, disappearing into the buildings.

No one was willing to risk their life for strangers—especially not when that life could be lost in such a gruesome way.

'I don't blame them,' Justin thought.

If someone had to risk their life, there had to be a reward worth the danger. With no guarantee of even a word of thanks, it wasn't worth it.

Justin, like the others, was about to head inside when someone called out to him.

"Excuse me. Could I have a moment of your time?"

A man around Justin's age approached him. Unlike the young man from earlier, he seemed composed and confident. Instinctively, Justin recognized what that meant.

'A beta tester,' Justin thought.

This guy was one of them.

"My name is Ethan Cooper. I'm a paladin, one of the warrior classes," the man introduced himself once inside.

A paladin—an interesting choice. Though they weren't particularly strong offensively, they were the most stable class, especially in the early game, being one of the only ones capable of healing spells right from the start.

After the introduction, Ethan got straight to the point, his expression serious.

"I'll be direct. You're a beta tester, right?"

"Yeah, I am," Justin answered casually.

Ethan looked stunned. He clearly hadn't expected Justin to confirm it so easily.

Justin smirked, noticing his reaction.

"What? Did you think I'd be surprised or try to hide it?"

"N-no, it's not that," Ethan stammered.

'Sure it isn't,' Justin thought. The guy clearly expected to shock him into admitting it, like some kind of detective in a mystery novel. He probably imagined revealing Justin's secret and then giving a smug explanation of how he figured it out.

"Honestly, it's not that hard to tell," Justin continued.

"What do you mean?" Ethan asked, confused.

"In a situation like this, anyone who looks calm is basically guaranteed to be a beta tester. I mean, think about it—anyone who's never seen a monster before, never killed anything, should be exhausted or freaking out. But here we are, walking around like it's nothing. It's like advertising that we've done this before."

"Oh."

"And you're a beta tester too, right? You seemed awfully relaxed when you showed up. So, where were you on the World Breaker rankings?" Justin asked casually.

Ethan face turned bright red with embarrassment.

'Must be a pretty humiliating realization,' Justin thought. The guy had probably been feeling like the main character of his own story, only to be brought back to reality.

In an attempt to ease his embarrassment, Justin shifted the conversation.

"Oh, right. I didn't introduce myself yet. I'm Justin, a black mage."

"A... a black mage?" Ethan's face went blank.

Justin just shrugged, pretending not to notice his confusion.

"Is there something strange about that?" he asked.

"Well... it's just... black mages aren't exactly ideal, are they?"

"True, it's not the best class in World Breaker ."

"Then why did you choose it?"

"Because it's the best class early on."

Of course, there was more to his decision than that, but Justin wasn't about to share his strategy with anyone. There was no point in giving away information that others could use to copy him—or worse, sabotage him.

Despite his answer, it seemed Ethan still wasn't convinced. Justin let out a small sigh, offering an additional explanation.

"You're aware that black mages are only good early on, right?"

"Yes."