Dark Warlock in the Apocalypse

Ethan's eyes held confusion rather than admiration.

Had everything Justin said up until now just been bluffing?

"W-was that a trick?" Ethan asked, flustered.

"I wouldn't call it a trick. It's more like I exaggerated the possibilities a bit," Justin replied casually.

"But if that prediction turns out to be wrong..." Ethan hesitated.

"What do you think will happen?" Justin countered with a smirk.

Ethan darted his eyes around before responding, "A lot of pioneers will probably die."

"Well, they're all enemies anyway. That'll make things easier when we go to war," Justin said with a casual shrug.

"And a lot of settlers will be massacred too," Ethan continued.

"That'll make the class system look like a blessing. It'll be easier for them to become commoners," Justin replied with a chuckle.

"They might turn their blame on us for deceiving them," Ethan added.

"Are you really afraid of the resentment from fools who threw away their chance to level up?" Justin said sharply.

At that point, Ethan paused, reconsidering the situation. Sure, many people might die, but was it really something to be overly concerned about? The pioneers clearly had an overwhelming desire to conquer and take over the city, and the settlers were only looking for protection while rejecting any form of hierarchy.

Was there really a need to tell them the truth? Especially when they would tear Justin and his group apart if they saw even the slightest weakness.

"Hmm," Ethan murmured.

"Do you understand now?" Justin asked.

"Yes, I don't see any issues," Ethan nodded, now in agreement.

"Exactly," Justin said as they both clapped their hands together, grinning.

Based on the system's patterns, the real-time situation might change, but there's always a small chance things could go wrong. If that happened, though, it wouldn't be their problem.

The chaotic attempt by the settlers to escape during the night had thankfully been resolved peacefully. However, even though the commotion had ended, Justin couldn't send the pioneers back home right away. More than 300 settlers had been added to the city all at once.

"I'd like to let them rest immediately in preparation for the third wave, but..." Ethan began.

"We can't, not for the sake of maintaining order. Damn it," Justin cut him off.

The settlers had only just escaped the terror of death. Without some form of control, they might panic or start acting unpredictably. If there wasn't a pioneer nearby to quickly suppress any disturbances, another incident could easily break out.

"We've accepted them for the city's sake, but they're not guests—they're unwelcome intruders. If they start causing trouble, don't hesitate to subdue them," Justin instructed firmly.

"As it is, some of the injured settlers' families were causing a scene, so we had to give them a beating—just enough to keep them from dying," Ethan reported.

"The injured? Did they get hurt while fleeing from the trackers?" Justin asked.

"No, they were injured by monsters they ran into while trying to escape," Ethan clarified.

"Ah," Justin nodded. He had almost forgotten about the monsters. The settlers had navigated through monster-infested forests in the middle of the night to get here, so it was no surprise that some of them had been injured or killed along the way.

"The severity of the injuries varies. Some people only have minor wounds, while others are critically injured and on the verge of death," Ethan explained.

"And how are we dealing with them?" Justin asked.

"We've distributed potions for now. We had prepared a decent supply, so there was enough. But..." Ethan trailed off.

"Potions don't work on serious injuries, do they?" Justin completed the thought. Lower-tier healing skills and potions were incapable of treating major wounds. People might think they could just pour more potions on, but that wasn't how it worked. In reality, for injuries beyond a certain severity, the healing effect was barely noticeable. It was almost as if the system itself was preventing players from trying to cheat their way around it.

"We could use healing skills to save some of the more seriously injured, but what should we do?" Ethan asked.

"Leave them," Justin replied without hesitation.

If it were any other time, he might have considered it. But right now, it wasn't even worth thinking about.

"The next wave is coming soon. Are you seriously suggesting that we use our healing skills to save settlers? Not even the ones who have sworn loyalty to me and paid taxes, but outsiders who just arrived? Absolutely not."

The other pioneers silently nodded in agreement. Frankly, the settlers should be grateful they were allowed inside at all. If Justin had kept the gates closed, they would've been captured and offered up as the first sacrifices. Now they expected potions and healing skills on top of that? Ridiculous.

"Be thankful you got potions at all," Justin added. "If anyone causes trouble, handle them like you did before—rough them up just enough."

"Understood," Ethan said.

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"Good. Are the houses all assigned?" Justin asked.

"Yes. We've placed them a bit away from the original settlers to prevent confusion," Ethan explained.

"I'd like to integrate them as much as possible, but this isn't the time for that," Justin sighed as he continued managing the growing list of issues.

It wasn't until after 5 a.m. that the situation finally began to calm down. The dark night sky was starting to turn blue with the early signs of morning.

"Ugh, this is driving me crazy," Justin muttered, pressing his fingers to his temple as exhaustion weighed down on him. The third wave was drawing closer.

Thankfully, there was enough time before the next wave. The system seemed to be giving them a chance to prepare thoroughly and rest. By simple calculation, they had over six hours to sleep—at least in theory.

"In theory, yes. But since our normal sleep schedule's been disrupted, there's no way anyone's sleeping well," Justin remarked.

"Exactly. I only managed about four hours myself," Rachel sighed, brushing her hair back with a tired hand.

Though she didn't look too bad on the surface, there was clear fatigue on her face. She wasn't the only one; the other pioneers seemed just as exhausted. The tension of the third wave and the disruption to their sleep schedule had left everyone worn out.

"The warriors seem to be holding up better, though. Thanks to their physical stats, they're not as exhausted. Mentally, they're a bit drained from yesterday, but they'll be fine," Rachel explained.

"And the mages are worse off, I take it?" Justin asked.

"Exactly. Most of them only focus on increasing their magic stats. How are you holding up, by the way?" Rachel asked.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"I'm not in bad shape. It's not like missing one night of sleep will throw me off. Though I am a bit tired," Justin admitted, glancing at the others.

It was clear the mages were more fatigued than the warriors. Even the settlers who had recently become pioneers didn't look much better.

"This is a headache," Justin muttered.