20 20: Wall of Rose

'Their conversation turned serious real quick.' With a grim expression, Caleb excused himself from the four and returned to his room. 'Tier 9 hollow. It seems that there is a clear division of rankings when it comes to monsters.'

Caleb began to review the information that he learned from the dark conversation of the four. 'Didn't expect to chance upon the information about the situation of this world while eating. What's worse, it turned out that we are under the threat of those damned Apokalips all this time. And here we are, eating meat merrily. What the fuck are we even doing outside near the well if there's such a danger outside? Are they stupid!?'

If earlier, he didn't know if he was going to join the hunting party. This time, he must join! At first, he thought that the only threat was the wild beasts, but after he heard about the Apokalips, he knew that he must do his best to become stronger as soon as possible. Even if he doesn't go to them, somewhere inside him, he can feel that they would come to him. It's only a matter of time due to his cursed luck!

Caleb pushed the door, walked inside, and paced back and forth uneasily. He stared at the wooden ceiling, where he saw spider webs in the corners. 'So what did I learn?'

First of all, they are on the third wall. They are actually in a Kingdom called Emberlund. In the past, the Kingdom of Emberlund had only one great wall. A defensive means to prevent the invasion of other kingdoms. However, on a fateful day, waves upon waves of abominations called Apokalips invaded the world, wreaked havoc, and destroyed the unprepared kingdoms. The kingdoms fought, but the Apokalips were just too powerful. Even the best-crafted cold weapons couldn't even break the skin of Tier 8 Apokalips and above, and it's only effective against the weakest Tier 9.

No one knew where the Apokalips came from and what their origins were. They just came out of nowhere. The kingdoms all around the Emberlund suffered from the catastrophe. Only a few kingdoms survived the invasion of Apokalips. And those survivors scattered all around the continent. Some built Citadels, some rebuilt their kingdoms.

Of course, Luna, Clifford, Fatty, and Andre didn't know much, which made Caleb helpless. He still has a lot of questions, such as how many kingdoms have survived. Is there one nearer Emberlund? Unfortunately, there will be no answer anytime soon. Andre told him that the captain of the hunting party might know information outside of the kingdom.

Fortunately, when it comes to details about the Emberlund itself. Andre, the oldest among them, knows a lot, not counting Caleb, who was a pre-historic bastard.

The Emberlund erected four walls to protect the kingdom against the terrifying Apokalips. And the walls did a great job as it brought them peace. The walls are made by the best of the best engineers and craftsmen with the best materials that humanity can offer. The kingdom didn't spare any resources to strengthen its defense. As a result, the Apokalips of Tier 6 and above can't damage the four walls.

Apokalips of such rank are rarely seen. Unfortunately, a time has come, after fifty years of living within the wall. The disaster finally struck. A horde of Apokalips led by a tier 8 Shadow Leopard destroyed the peace. It was known as the "First Coming". They breached the first wall, also known as the "Wall of Damaskus".

And that's it. The group of teenagers didn't know the full details of the story. They only know that the second wall, also known as the "Wall of Ling" was destroyed after ten years following the "First Coming" incident. The second incident was also known as the "Second Coming".

Then the last incident, the "Third Coming", the third wall was breached eighty years after the collapse of the Wall of Ling. The Third Wall or Wall of Rose gave up under the crushing tail of a Tier 7 Dark Centipede.

'So that's the gist of what happened.' Caleb let out a depressed sigh. 'Who knew that this world turned out to be hell?'

Yes, Caleb and where the house was located turned out to be from the abandoned Wall of Rose. It's easy to figure out that the place must be littered with damned abominations. Such a dangerous situation made Caleb aware that they could die at any time. He even finds it suspicious how they manage to hide for such a long time.

"I have to go to the last wall as soon as possible. Curses! What is the last wall called again? Wall of Hope? The City of Phenos might be the key for me to survive in this hellish world!" Caleb's expression turned gloomy, darker than even the clouds outside. "City of Phenos... It seems I need to risk my life to reach that place. The question is, how to do that?"

Thinking of this, Caleb could already feel the headache of all the work that he had to do to execute such an undertaking. 'How about joining the hunting party and then convincing them to join my endeavor somehow?

For now, he knew that he needed to train. He wasn't sure if, with his grade 1 Taboo energy, could he take Tier 9 Apokalips, or worse, Tier 8 ones. Luckily, those big guys were rare, according to Andre. It was said that Tier 9 is still susceptible to cold weapons, so Caleb still has confidence as long as you give him a sharp weapon.

Caleb stopped in his pacing back and forth. After all the thinking, he knew that rushing things wouldn't achieve anything and would only become detrimental. He needs to do things one step at a time and the first step is.

'Join the damned hunting party and become one of them!'

No man is an island. He doesn't believe that he can do such a task by himself alone. That's why there's a reason why they say that there is a power to collective. Caleb went to his bed and lay down. He looked at the ceiling dazedly. 'This time... I will surely break the cycle.'

Just like that, the night had fallen to the Wall of Rose. Caleb closed his eyes and then the tiredness from all the thinking had caught up to him. The darkness pulled his consciousness to slumber.