Dark Warlock in the Apocalypse

Chapter 63: A Change in Attitude

"It's better to do it sooner rather than later, to avoid any complaints."

Justin decided to follow Zachary's advice after observing the atmosphere in the territory over the past two days.

"From now on, I'll stop speaking politely. Is that alright?"

"Of course, my lord," Zachary replied with a smile, as if this response felt more refreshing.

"It seems there's something else I need to address regarding the power structure. I'll call the other pioneers right away."

"Please do."

Watching Zachary quickly head outside, Justin let out a small chuckle. He was truly becoming a medieval lord now, and the feeling wasn't entirely unpleasant.

Zachary was right. Even after Justin changed to speaking informally, there were no complaints. Not only Rachel and the other pioneers, but also Zachary and his companions accepted the change without objection. Even Ethan, who had always been addressed respectfully, had no complaints.

"I feel much more comfortable now. Honestly, I was uncomfortable being the only one addressed formally."

"Uncomfortable? Why?"

"People often mistook me for the real leader."

Because Justin treated others bluntly while being respectful only to him, many people assumed Ethan was the leader. Although Ethan denied it each time, he seemed uncomfortable with the situation. There was a risk of being isolated from his teammates if his companions misunderstood.

As a result, Ethan welcomed the change, rather than being angry about the shift in Justin's tone. After this incident, the other pioneers became even more cautious in Justin's presence, reaffirming his authority.

"Not bad."

If this atmosphere continued, new pioneers would naturally fall in line. It was a perfect change in terms of preventing conflicts in advance. Personally, Justin also found it quite satisfying.

With the issue of titles resolved, they continued their hunt for gnolls. However, this time, their team had an additional member.

"Hyaah!"

The problem was that there had been no progress since then. Even Justin himself had only managed to gain one level after taking down the gnoll warrior.

"We want to move to a new hunting ground, but there's nowhere to go!" Derek complained.

"Exactly! Why is there no path leading elsewhere?" Nathan chimed in.

They had once spent considerable time searching for another hunting ground, but despite wandering until nearly sunset, they found nothing. Other than their territory, the previous territory, and the circular gnoll habitat, everything else was dense forest that was impossible to enter.

"Maybe it's because we're too far ahead."

"Too far ahead?" Nathan asked.

"You saw the gnoll warrior, right? Honestly, if I hadn't been there, who could have taken it down? It's the kind of monster that would need a much higher level and a group effort to defeat."

The system probably intended to grow the pioneers through a series of step-by-step trials. If everything were left open, people might wander into dangerous areas without realizing the risks and end up dead. When enough people had defeated the field boss, the system would have likely opened a new area with a new quest.

The problem was that they had taken down the field boss too early.

"Maybe the system was caught off guard. It probably expected it to take much longer, but we took it down before it even had a chance to appear properly. It couldn't have opened a quest just for us either."

This was merely Justin's speculation, but it wasn't far from the truth. So far, quests had always been given to everyone simultaneously once a certain time had been reached. This time was likely no different, which is why they couldn't get the next quest in advance.

"But it's been over two weeks now. Shouldn't it be opening soon?" Derek asked.

"True. By now, they should have had enough time to reach the level to challenge the field boss."

By now, those willing to take on the quest would have at least tried hunting once. Since it wasn't a quest that could be retried after failure, the results should be in by now.

Just then, as they were talking, a system message reached their ears.

"Ding ! It has been two weeks since the field boss appeared."

"Ding ! The sub-quest 'Field Boss Hunt' is being removed due to time expiration."

"Ding ! The main quest 'Dungeon Conquest' has been newly added."