Chapter 62: It’s Over

Suburbs, inside the Underground Casino.

The spatial distortion faded, and Ethan stumbled out of the teleportation point.

The dizziness from the jump had barely begun to fade when a sharp, sour smell hit his nose.

He immediately coughed.

What the hell...

The faint light filtering through the ventilation shaft barely illuminated the room.

Then Ethan saw what had happened.

His expression changed.

The Underground Casino was almost unrecognizable.

The concrete walls and floor were covered in hundreds of small holes, as though something had been chewing through them like termites through rotten wood.

The generator and fuel drums that had once been stored in the corner were completely gone.

Not even the metal containers remained.

Only patches of melted plastic were scattered across the floor.

Ethan’s gaze hardened.

He had deliberately left two-thirds of his diesel inside the Survival Space before leaving so the women could continue using the generator for electricity.

Now, every last drop was gone.

There wasn’t even the slightest smell of diesel left in the room.

Something had actually been drinking it.

Mutant creatures...

His eyes moved toward the entrance.

The thick iron door had been reduced to a twisted metal frame. Tiny shavings covered the floor beneath it, clear evidence that something had gnawed through the metal.

Ethan slowly turned in place.

Food scraps were scattered across the floor.

The women had always been careful with their supplies. Even during an emergency evacuation, they would never leave food behind unless they had absolutely no choice.

If they had abandoned these supplies, then either...

Something had forced them to leave in a hurry.

Or something much worse had happened.

Ethan’s chest tightened.

He immediately forced those thoughts away.

Stay calm.

He couldn’t afford to panic before knowing what had happened.

He retracted the Space Anchor Point he had left inside the guest room and moved deeper into the casino.

The passage leading toward the hidden exit was covered with dried vines.

Rose Lynn’s plants had completely withered.

But there were also obvious marks where something had torn and chewed through them.

Ethan crouched and examined the damage.

There were signs of a struggle.

And the traces continued all the way from the guest room to the entrance of the secret passage.

The women had fought their way out.

They hadn’t been wiped out instantly.

That small detail gave him a little hope.

Ethan continued forward.

The moment he stepped out of the secret passage, bright sunlight forced him to squint.

The open area outside was littered with corpses.

Dozens of Mutant Red Ants lay scattered across the ground.

Ethan approached one of them and split open its head with his sword.

There was nothing inside.

No Core.

Just an empty shell.

His eyes narrowed.

He continued down the mountain path.

A few minutes later, he found more bodies.

Vipers.

Their skeletons were covered with bite marks, while blackened patches of earth surrounded several of the dead Mutant Red Ants.

The corrosion was unmistakable.

Snake venom.

Ethan stopped.

Did the Vipers and Mutant Red Ants fight each other?

His expression darkened.

He quickened his pace.

The farther he descended, the more violent the signs of battle became.

Dead Mutant Red Ants were piled into small mounds along both sides of the road.

Some were still locked around the bodies of dead Vipers, their jaws clamped into the snakes even after death.

The Vipers were scattered everywhere.

Some had been torn apart.

Others had been crushed beneath the sheer weight of the swarm.

The sight was disturbing.

When Ethan finally reached the open area at the foot of the mountain, he stopped.

For the first time since arriving, he saw living creatures.

Thousands of Mutant Red Ants were engaged in a massive battle with the Viper Swarm.

The two groups covered almost the entire area.

Ethan’s scalp prickled.

If the women had been caught in the middle of this...

Even with their Abilities, escaping unharmed would have been nearly impossible.

He immediately pulled out his walkie-talkie and pressed the transmit button.

"Debbie? Daisy? Can you hear me?"

Only static answered.

His grip tightened around the walkie-talkie.

Come on...

He tried again.

"Rose? Sofia? Penny?"

Nothing.

Only the faint buzz of interference.

Then Ethan sensed something.

He looked toward a large rock.

A Viper Leader slowly raised its head from behind it.

Its triangular eyes locked directly onto him.

"Hissss!"

The moment it released that sound, nearly a hundred Vipers broke away from the massive swarm.

They turned toward Ethan.

Then they charged.

"Damn it!"

Ethan immediately drew his sword.

Spatial Cut!

A white arc flashed through the air.

The heads of the two leading Vipers were severed before they could reach him.

At the same time, Ethan activated One-Way Teleportation.

Space twisted.

His body vanished and reappeared on a large tree roughly three hundred meters away.

He barely had time to catch his breath.

The Viper Leader had already spotted him.

The swarm changed direction and chased after him.

"Persistent bastards."

Ethan clenched his teeth.

He raised his hand.

"Time Stop."

The space around him seemed to freeze.

Every Viper within five meters suddenly stopped moving.

One second.

That was all the ability could currently give him.

But one second was enough.

Ethan jumped from the tree.

As his body dropped, Gravity Control activated.

An invisible force slammed down.

The Vipers beneath him were crushed against the ground.

Their scales scraped violently against the dirt as they struggled to move.

"Spatial Cut!"

White flashes tore through the swarm.

The pinned Vipers were sliced apart one after another.

Black blood splattered across the ground.

But more were already rushing toward him.

Ethan’s expression hardened.

He couldn’t stay here.

If the women were still alive, they would eventually make their way toward the city center.

That was where he needed to go.

He chose a direction and activated One-Way Teleportation again.

Then again.

And again.

He used several consecutive jumps to put as much distance as possible between himself and the swarm.

Once he was finally certain the Vipers had fallen behind, Ethan pulled a fully fueled off-road vehicle from his Survival Space.

He jumped inside and floored the accelerator.

The vehicle roared down the road toward the city center.

For several minutes, everything went smoothly.

Then Ethan glanced at the rearview mirror.

His blood ran cold.

Far behind him, something enormous moved between the buildings.

A massive serpentine body rose above the surrounding trees.

The Snake King.

Its enormous eyes were fixed in his direction.

It’s over.

Ethan’s heart sank.