Chapter 64 No other choice
After Ailee, Oliver and Dilan gathered quite a few pieces of clothing to provide it to everyone who was in need of it, they made their way downwards.
Earlier, nobody had dared to think of going towards the fifth floor, let alone the third floor.
There were too many powerful monsters and nobody except the dozen men had been able to receive ability crystals as they were the only ones who had been able to kill zombies.
Oddly enough they didn’t even think of using the other survivors to receive more abilities.
If the dozen men would have forced the survivors to kill a single zombie each, they would have gotten 50 ability crystals.
But that was not something possible as Max had killed every single hostile being on the fourth floor that had reached level 5 at the end of the day.
This was certainly not high in comparison to Dilan’s level, but the [Spiritual hand] ability made the biggest difference as it was a truly powerful ability if used properly.
Thinking about it yet again, Dilan had to acknowledge that Max had been much stronger than he initially presumed.
Yet, instead of focusing on an already dead person, Dilan couldn’t help but sigh when looking around at the others.
Everyone looked extremely exhausted, and it was quite obvious that they would need a few days until their body would be fully recuperated.
On the other hand, their mental health was a different topic altogether.
Dilan was not sure what to do with all the mentally broken women, and men, who had been scarred for their entire life, and the few younger kids that had witnessed mankind in its cruelest form.
‘This will definitely turn into a mess if I make even a single mistake. A decisive leader should be better than a heartless dictator…I guess?’
He had never thought of becoming the leader of a place, but at the same time, Dilan didn’t really feel like abandoning the other survivors.
For now, he didn’t have anywhere to go, or a particular future plan as well.
That meant he might as well consider building up a strong front of powerful Ascenders.-.
His focus would be on himself, but there were specific monsters that would have an advantage over him.
Having someone powerful by his side, who could even out his weaknesses such as being restricted to short ranges that prevented him from hunting all kinds of flying monsters, would certainly be great.
Thinking about it again, Dilan hoped for the best outcome for everyone.
He was deep in thoughts and took a moment before he heard Kathrine squeal from behind him.
“What?! You have an Origin ability??…Wait… what even is that…?” She exclaimed in shock as she stared at him wide-eyed and with a disbelieving look.
Her Log of the Ancient didn’t have something like a column for Origin abilities.
However, Dilan, who heard Kathrine, slowed down his steps. They had already reached the second floor, and it wouldn’t take them much longer before he would face the other Survivors in the cafeteria.
As such, it was a welcome surprise to hear something new and interesting that had nothing to do with killing or doing something frustrating.
Thus, he couldn’t help but answer Kathrine’s question.
“If I understand Origin abilities correctly, they’re powerful abilities that don’t belong to the active and passive ability sections.
Instead, they have both active and passive functions, and their effects should be more powerful than ordinary abilities!”
Dilan was curious about Yvonne’s Origin ability.
After all, she was the first Survivor with an Origin ability, whom he encountered.
At least, she was the first one he knows about.
This would mean that Yvonne was able to share her experiences about her Origin ability, once she was to figure out something about it.
With some research, it might even be possible to gain some experience about Origin abilities to assess if others have one or not.
But there was no time to start research or talk right now because they had just reached the cafeteria doors.
Sighing deeply, Dilan requested the doors to be opened.
Only a few seconds later, the chains were removed from the cafeteria’s doors, and Dilan stepped through them, followed by the others.
The sudden appearance of Dilan, and around 50 new faces made everybody look at them in doubt.
“What is going on here?” Sarah asked, confused to see so many new people.
Even if it was expected to find a few more Survivors in the following days, witnessing an unexpectedly large crowd of devastated humans entering the cafeteria hit everyone off-guard.
“Is everyone doing fine?” Dilan suddenly asked with a faint smile on his face.
He wanted to break the ice with small talk but encountered stupefied expressions.
“I think we have a very big problem. Who allowed you to bring so many Survivors with you? It’s not like you are our leader!” The angry voice of a man reached him from further behind.
Dilan was not able to see the man, but the voice sounded somewhat familiar.
Thus, he frowned before addressing not just the man but the entire crowd.
“Okay, so if I were to be the leader of the group, I would be allowed to do whatever I want, right?”
It was obvious that ‘being allowed to do whatever he wanted’ was not exactly what Dilan wanted to point out.
However, his voice had indicated to the others what the words had not- he would become the leader of their group if that was necessary!
Weirdly enough, nobody dared to answer his question. Whether this was because of the glint in his eyes or the expressions on his face as if he was waiting to be challenged, nobody knew for sure.
This glint felt like a warning that came straight from the deepest parts of Dilan’s heart, which prevented anyone from saying anything.
By now, Dilan was getting tired of the charade.
But the words he had in mind were likely to burst everybody’s bubble.
“You guys need me to survive, and to live a good life, right? To be honest, we can also vote a leader democratically, and I leave if I lose the ‘voting’. There is more than enough space in the hospital. Wouldn’t that be nice of me?”
He simply shrugged his shoulders, before shutting his mouth for a few seconds.
The moment Dilan decided to leave, it was quite obvious that Ailee, Oliver, and most likely most other Ascenders would leave with him, even if that meant they had to become his subordinates.
Dilan was the strongest person they had met until now, and he was the only one to have survived fights against the most powerful existences they had ever seen, which is why every survivor would think twice before going against him.
Letting his words sink in for a few seconds, Dilan continued with a calm observation of the given situation.
“Let’s be honest, even if I were to leave with the others, once I’m hungry, I could just take the food from here….who is going to stop me, after all?”
Smiling brightly, he looked at everyone and made his stance clear.
In the end, they only had two choices- either accept him as leader, or choose to leave.
This was quite simple and something everyone could clearly understand.
His words and behavior might sound cruel, but he couldn’t care about that at all right now.
However even after he said all of this, some were still unwilling to understand it, especially those Survivors who hadn’t seen him fight yet.
They thought that the Ascenders were praising him way too much and that he was nothing against the great weaponry of mankind before the Primordial Ascension.
As such, the same old man, who was always complaining about Dilan, was unable to hold back anymore.
He believed that everything Dilan said was bullshit, which lead him to pull out one of the two Glocks they stored inside the cafeteria.
Seeing that the same old weapon was pointed at him for the third time in a week, Dilan’s smile turned even brighter than before.
He was not even scared of the gun anymore.
The ten minutes of his debuff had long since passed, and his mana had recuperated by more than one unit.
Thus, without the need to think about what he should do, his body took charge. A thunderous sound emerged from Dilan, and electricity currents appeared around his feet.
Just a moment later Dilan catapulted himself towards the side before using all his Strength and Agility at once to shoot toward the old man.
In a blink of an eye, Dilan emerged in front of the old man, who was shell-shocked.
His left hand grasped the old man’s wrist tightly before carefully taking away the Glock from his hand.
“May I ask why you were pointing a dangerous weapon at me?” Dilan asked in a mocking voice, while still smiling brightly.
However, his eyes were ice-cold, and he felt like killing the old man.
It was pretty obvious that the old man was ready to end Dilan’s life. Thus, he should simply behead him to make an example out of him and show the others that he wouldn’t tolerate nonsense anymore.
Yet, instead of doing this, Dilan chose to show his generosity once more.
“This is the last warning…for everyone! If someone ever dares to point a gun at me or breaks the rules I will set up, I won’t hold back from killing that person, is that clear?!”
The last few words were uttered in a low growl, only for a cracking noise to follow suit.
Dilan tightened his grip around the wrist of the old man and twisted it easily as the man howled in pain.
“Oops… that must have been an accident,” Dilan said in a casual voice, unmoved by the painful scream of the old man.
This behavior was unlike Dilan but his tolerance for rubbish was rapidly wearing off.
The constant killing and bloodbath were starting to affect his behavior and sanity.
He could have been said to be a rather ordinary human before the Primordial Ascension but now he was turning into a predator- a ferocious beast, who would do anything to survive, even if it meant putting some sense into brickheads the harsher way.
What followed his words was an eerie silence because everyone clearly understood the devastating speed he was able to reach in a moment and his mercilessness as he broke the old man’s hand without hesitating for a quarter of a second.
Most of the survivors were not even able to see his movement properly!
This was simply insane, and there was a stunned silence, which followed suit as Dilan looked at the others who were staring at him with an aghast look.
“By the way, if nobody saw them yet, I brought a few Survivors from the fourth floor to live with us. Isn’t that nice?”
Dilan swept his gaze through the row of Survivors that had been residing in the cafeteria for quite some time already.
“We don’t accept them,” a lady he had never seen before suddenly announced,
In return for this, Dilan just nodded his head before asking the most important question.
“Who are you even?”