Chapter 46: The Green Behemoth

Lothe stared through the heavy gloom at the thirty-meter silhouette that had launched the acid spikes. The thick mist surrounding its frame made it impossible to discern its true anatomy.

"If we want to kill that thing and leave this academy alive, we’re going to need every combatant on the line," General Ashford said, stepping beside Lothe and Seana, his white Qi radiating steady pressure.

"Mmh," Lothe grunted, his eyes never leaving the shifting fog.

"Senior Seana! Are you guys alright?"

Seana turned as Ruth and the surviving girls from the library group approached. Her gaze lingered on Ruth, recalling Melody, whom they had lost only moments ago.

"We’re fine, Ruth," Seana said gently.

Ruth swallowed hard, her knuckles white around her twin daggers. "You should help the soldiers evacuate the students toward the helipads. They’ll need protection if the perimeter collapses."

Worry was etched deep across Ruth’s pale face. She knew her physical limits; against a monstrosity of that scale, her daggers would accomplish nothing.

Seana stepped closer, resting a firm hand on Ruth’s shoulder. "Hey. Look at me."

Ruth raised her head, tears shimmering in her eyes.

"Don’t ever call yourself weak," Seana said, pointing her blade toward the perimeter where military personnel were loading wounded onto the transports. "Look around. Those soldiers and students wouldn’t have survived long enough for the transports to land if you girls hadn’t stepped up to hold the line. You fought. You protected them. That isn’t weakness."

Seana’s Lothe stared through the heavy gloom at the thirty-meter silhouette that had launched the acid spikes. The thick mist surrounding its frame made it impossible to discern its true anatomy.

"If we want to kill that thing and leave this academy alive, we’re going to need every combatant on the line," General Ashford said, stepping beside Lothe and Seana, his white Qi radiating steady pressure.

"Mmh," Lothe grunted, his eyes never leaving the shifting fog.

"Senior Seana! Are you guys alright?"

Seana turned as Ruth and the surviving girls from the library group approached. Her gaze lingered on Ruth, recalling Melody, whom they had lost only moments ago.

"We’re fine, Ruth," Seana said gently.

Ruth swallowed hard, her knuckles white around her twin daggers. "You should help the soldiers evacuate the students toward the helipads. They’ll need protection if the perimeter collapses."

Worry was etched deep across Ruth’s pale face. She knew her physical limits; against a monstrosity of that scale, her daggers would accomplish nothing.

Seana stepped closer, resting a firm hand on Ruth’s shoulder. "Hey. Look at me."

Ruth raised her head, tears shimmering in her eyes.

"Don’t ever call yourself weak," Seana said, pointing her blade toward the perimeter where military personnel were loading wounded onto the transports. "Look around. Those soldiers and students wouldn’t have survived long enough for the transports to land if you girls hadn’t stepped up to hold the line. You fought. You protected them. That isn’t weakness."

Seana’s crimson eyes locked onto hers with unwavering certainty. "So go. Assist the evacuation. I’ll be fine."

Her words carried a quiet, undeniable conviction. Unconsciously, her passive ability, [Heart of Hope], was radiating an aura of mental resilience, steadying the terrified girls’ trembling spirits.

Ruth wiped her face and nodded firmly. "Okay... We’ll hold the landing zone until you finish here."

The girls turned and sprinted toward the evacuation corridor.

General Ashford observed the exchange silently. There was an undeniable magnetism to Seana—she didn’t just wield a lethal blade; she gave ordinary people the spine to keep fighting in a broken world.

Beside him, Oren stared at Seana as if the rest of the apocalyptic battlefield had ceased to exist.

Then Lothe stepped directly into Oren’s line of sight, blocking his view.

Oren’s hands clenched into tight fists. He glared at Lothe’s back, a bitter, helpless anger burning in his chest.

"She is remarkable," General Ashford remarked softly, glancing at his son.

"There is something about her background that doesn’t fit a standard student profile." His eyes shifted to Lothe’s black spear. "And that boy as well... I’ll look into their records once we return to base."

The General turned to address the assembled group, his commanding military presence taking full control.

"We’ll execute a coordinated probe in pairs," Ashford instructed, his voice cutting through the distant roars of infected. "Do not commit to a fatal strike yet.

Our primary objective is to test its armor density, reaction speed, and elemental properties before we launch an all-out assault."

He pointed toward the lingering green haze. "The spikes it launched are coated in high-potency acid. Do not allow the fluid to touch your skin or gear. Exercise extreme caution."

He no longer viewed these youths as students. In this new world, they were the vanguard of human survival.

"Form your strike pairs."

Asher instantly stepped beside Nyren, his black blade drawn. But Nyren’s gaze was fixed elsewhere—watching Lothe, no one knew what she was thinking

"Something wrong?" Asher asked, noticing her distraction.

"Nothing," Nyren replied neutrally, drawing her white [Frostveil Sword].

Oren stepped toward Seana, but General Ashford cut him off. "Not you, Oren. You’re taking the high angle. Our strike vectors rely on your long-range suppression."

"Daniel can lift you," Ashford added.

"No need," Oren replied coldly.

He activated his core skill: [Telekinetic Flight].

Golden Qi surged beneath his boots, lifting his body thirty feet into the air.

On the right flank, Adrian paired up with Daniel. Adrian drew a long, golden-edged steel blade while heavy yellow Qi wrapped around Daniel’s stone-encased fists. Diego stood beside the General, resting his massive broadsword against his shoulder.

Professor Sy and Lucan moved together, their white Qi and spinning circular blade creating a tight defensive arc.

General Ashford looked over at Lothe and Seana. "Are you two ready?"

"Ready, General," Seana answered.

Lothe simply offered a sharp nod.

The General’s white Qi flared, releasing a heavy wave of pressure that made the surrounding concrete groan. Yet Lothe didn’t even flinch, his posture entirely unaffected. Ashford’s eyes twitched in mild surprise.

"Nyren, Asher, you two take the lead—"

Before the General could finish his order—

WHOOSH!

Lothe and Seana launched forward simultaneously, blurring across the asphalt!

They didn’t wait for orders.

Both had learned long before the apocalypse that relying on others to keep you alive was a death sentence.

Seana had survived on her own since leaving home, hiding her abilities and identities behind a quiet scholarship profile.

Lothe had clawed his way through years of starvation and violence on the streets long before Old B took him in.

Years of hardship had taught them the same rule: Trust yourself.

And through the carnage of the past twenty-four hours, they had come to trust each other more.

"After them!" General Ashford bellowed.

Nyren and Asher sprinted right behind them. Nyren flicked her wrist, sending a sweeping wave of silver frost across the street, freezing and shattering a dozen stray zombies in their path. Asher swung his black sword, unleashing a golden arc of Sword Qi that cleaved a path through the rubble.

Lothe and Seana moved in complete synchronization, vaulting over crushed vehicles like shadows.

SWISH!

A thick, green bone spike tore through the fog, aiming straight for Seana’s throat.

Seana twisted her torso mid-air, letting the acid-coated projectile pass mere inches from her neck, before swinging her [Blood Moon Sword].

SHING!

The crescent blade sliced the five-foot bone spike cleanly in half.

CLANG!

Lothe parried a second incoming spike with the shaft of his Inferno Dragon Spear, sparks flying as he diverted the kinetic energy into the street. He spun his spear in a fluid, high-speed wheel.

CRACK!

The projectile shattered into dust.

Suddenly, dozens of acid spikes erupted from the mist simultaneously, raining down across the entire vanguard!

"Interception!"

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Nyren swung her [Frostveil Sword], sending sharp icy beams forward that froze the incoming spikes mid-air before they shattered.

Adrian slashed his blade three times, sending three golden light arcs to clear his sector.

Lothe’s dark eyes narrowed as violent purple Qi coiled around the tip of his black spear.

[Technique: Blazing Horizon Spear]

[Second Form: Flowing Horizon]

He thrust the spear forward with terrifying momentum!

BOOOOOOM!!

A torrent of dense, superheated purple Qi erupted from his blade tip, carrying overwhelming pressure and searing heat. The heat wave was so intense that even Nyren and Asher felt their skin sting from thirty feet away.

General Ashford’s eyes widened.

Seana moved instantly alongside Lothe’s thrust. Crimson Qi flared around her dark steel blade as she executed her own advanced martial form.

[Technique: Crimson Call]

[Second Form: Blood Crescents]

She executed a fluid, spinning slash. A massive, ten-foot crescent of blood-red Qi shot forward, then multiplied! One became two, two became four, four became eight!

Eight crimson energy crescents wove through the air in a lethal, intersecting lattice, carving through the green mist and burning the atmosphere.

Nyren and Adrian stared in shock at the raw destructive output of the pair.

"Glacial Rain!" Nyren yelled, summoning dozens of ice swords behind her that rained into the haze.

Adrian added his golden sword waves. General Ashford raised his right fist, launching five concentrated white Qi spheres. High above, Oren unleashed a storm of multiplying arrows, while Daniel drove massive earth pillars through the street.

Every high-tier combatant attacked the exact same coordinate simultaneously!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

The combined barrage detonated inside the fog cloud!

An apocalyptic shockwave blasted outward, far violently than any previous explosion. Nyren, Asher, Adrian, and Daniel were thrown backward across the street, their boots skidding through the concrete.

Then—

ROOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR!!

A terrifying, primordial shriek tore through the air, shaking the foundations of every building within a two-mile radius.

An oppressive, suffocating wave of pure, high-tier pressure slammed down on the battlefield like a collapsing mountain.

"Shit!" Lothe’s face changed. He lunged sideways, wrapping his arm around Seana’s waist. "Hold on!"

BOOM!

The oppressive shockwave slammed into them.

Nyren and Asher crashed heavily onto the street. General Ashford was forced back twenty paces, his boots plowing deep furrows into the asphalt. Oren lost control of his [Telekinetic Flight] and crashed onto a rooftop below.

Lothe gritted his teeth, forcing himself up on one knee, keeping Seana protected beneath his frame.

Seana pushed herself up beside him. "You okay?"

"I’m fine," Lothe gasped, his dark eyes locked ahead.

The thick, poisonous mist was finally blown away by the shockwave, revealing the true form of the commander beast.

A colossal, thirty-meter-long Mutated Crocodile.

Its massive frame was encased in thick, dark-green armor plates, each scale as dense as reinforced tank steel. Deep green, reptilian pupils burned with ruthless intelligence as it looked down at the human ants before it.

Its eyes swept past General Ashford and Nyren, settling squarely on two individuals.

Lothe and Seana.

It had felt their attacks. Their purple thermal Qi and crimson Blood crescents were the only strikes that had actually pierced its outer scales and burned its flesh.

The beast’s pupils narrowed into lethal slits.

Seana stared up at the mountain of armor and muscle. "Looks like we pissed off the big guy."

Lothe tightened his grip on the Inferno Dragon Spear, purple Qi flickering along the blade. "Yeah. And he’s coming for us."

Before his sentence even finished—

The crocodile moved.

Despite its thirty-meter mass, its speed defied every law of physics. It vanished into a dark-green blur!

Lothe’s pupils shrank to pinpricks as his [Spatial Perception] screamed in alarm.

"MOVE!"

He grabbed Seana and threw them both thirty feet to the left!

BOOOOOOM!!

A massive, armored tail slammed into the exact spot where they had been standing a millisecond ago, pulverizing dozens chunks of concrete into fine dust.

Before they could even touch the ground, dozens of razor-sharp, dark-green scale spikes detached from its tail, splitting into two lethal volleys—

Shooting straight for Lothe and Seana’s hearts! eyes locked onto hers with unwavering certainty. "So go. Assist the evacuation. I’ll be fine."

Her words carried a quiet, undeniable conviction. Unconsciously, her passive ability, [Heart of Hope], was radiating an aura of mental resilience, steadying the terrified girls’ trembling spirits.

Ruth wiped her face and nodded firmly. "Okay... We’ll hold the landing zone until you finish here."

The girls turned and sprinted toward the evacuation corridor.

General Ashford observed the exchange silently. There was an undeniable magnetism to Seana—she didn’t just wield a lethal blade; she gave ordinary people the spine to keep fighting in a broken world.

Beside him, Oren stared at Seana as if the rest of the apocalyptic battlefield had ceased to exist.

Then Lothe stepped directly into Oren’s line of sight, blocking his view.

Oren’s hands clenched into tight fists. He glared at Lothe’s back, a bitter, helpless anger burning in his chest.

"She is remarkable," General Ashford remarked softly, glancing at his son.

"There is something about her background that doesn’t fit a standard student profile." His eyes shifted to Lothe’s black spear. "And that boy as well... I’ll look into their records once we return to base."

The General turned to address the assembled group, his commanding military presence taking full control.

"We’ll execute a coordinated probe in pairs," Ashford instructed, his voice cutting through the distant roars of infected. "Do not commit to a fatal strike yet.

Our primary objective is to test its armor density, reaction speed, and elemental properties before we launch an all-out assault."

He pointed toward the lingering green haze. "The spikes it launched are coated in high-potency acid. Do not allow the fluid to touch your skin or gear. Exercise extreme caution."

He no longer viewed these youths as students. In this new world, they were the vanguard of human survival.

"Form your strike pairs."

Asher instantly stepped beside Nyren, his black blade drawn. But Nyren’s gaze was fixed elsewhere—watching Lothe, no one knew what she was thinking

"Something wrong?" Asher asked, noticing her distraction.

"Nothing," Nyren replied neutrally, drawing her white [Frostveil Sword].

Oren stepped toward Seana, but General Ashford cut him off. "Not you, Oren. You’re taking the high angle. Our strike vectors rely on your long-range suppression."

"Daniel can lift you," Ashford added.

"No need," Oren replied coldly.

He activated his core skill: [Telekinetic Flight].

Golden Qi surged beneath his boots, lifting his body thirty feet into the air.

On the right flank, Adrian paired up with Daniel. Adrian drew a long, golden-edged steel blade while heavy yellow Qi wrapped around Daniel’s stone-encased fists. Diego stood beside the General, resting his massive broadsword against his shoulder.

Professor Sy and Lucan moved together, their white Qi and spinning circular blade creating a tight defensive arc.

General Ashford looked over at Lothe and Seana. "Are you two ready?"

"Ready, General," Seana answered.

Lothe simply offered a sharp nod.

The General’s white Qi flared, releasing a heavy wave of pressure that made the surrounding concrete groan. Yet Lothe didn’t even flinch, his posture entirely unaffected. Ashford’s eyes twitched in mild surprise.

"Nyren, Asher, you two take the lead—"

Before the General could finish his order—

WHOOSH!

Lothe and Seana launched forward simultaneously, blurring across the asphalt!

They didn’t wait for orders.

Both had learned long before the apocalypse that relying on others to keep you alive was a death sentence.

Seana had survived on her own since leaving home, hiding her abilities and identities behind a quiet scholarship profile.

Lothe had clawed his way through years of starvation and violence on the streets long before Old B took him in.

Years of hardship had taught them the same rule: Trust yourself.

And through the carnage of the past twenty-four hours, they had come to trust each other more.

"After them!" General Ashford bellowed.

Nyren and Asher sprinted right behind them. Nyren flicked her wrist, sending a sweeping wave of silver frost across the street, freezing and shattering a dozen stray zombies in their path. Asher swung his black sword, unleashing a golden arc of Sword Qi that cleaved a path through the rubble.

Lothe and Seana moved in complete synchronization, vaulting over crushed vehicles like shadows.

SWISH!

A thick, green bone spike tore through the fog, aiming straight for Seana’s throat.

Seana twisted her torso mid-air, letting the acid-coated projectile pass mere inches from her neck, before swinging her [Blood Moon Sword].

SHING!

The crescent blade sliced the five-foot bone spike cleanly in half.

CLANG!

Lothe parried a second incoming spike with the shaft of his Inferno Dragon Spear, sparks flying as he diverted the kinetic energy into the street. He spun his spear in a fluid, high-speed wheel.

CRACK!

The projectile shattered into dust.

Suddenly, dozens of acid spikes erupted from the mist simultaneously, raining down across the entire vanguard!

"Interception!"

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Nyren swung her [Frostveil Sword], sending sharp icy beams forward that froze the incoming spikes mid-air before they shattered.

Adrian slashed his blade three times, sending three golden light arcs to clear his sector.

Lothe’s dark eyes narrowed as violent purple Qi coiled around the tip of his black spear.

[Technique: Blazing Horizon Spear]

[Second Form: Flowing Horizon]

He thrust the spear forward with terrifying momentum!

BOOOOOOM!!

A torrent of dense, superheated purple Qi erupted from his blade tip, carrying overwhelming pressure and searing heat. The heat wave was so intense that even Nyren and Asher felt their skin sting from thirty feet away.

General Ashford’s eyes widened.

Seana moved instantly alongside Lothe’s thrust. Crimson Qi flared around her dark steel blade as she executed her own advanced martial form.

[Technique: Crimson Call]

[Second Form: Blood Crescents]

She executed a fluid, spinning slash. A massive, ten-foot crescent of blood-red Qi shot forward, then multiplied! One became two, two became four, four became eight!

Eight crimson energy crescents wove through the air in a lethal, intersecting lattice, carving through the green mist and burning the atmosphere.

Nyren and Adrian stared in shock at the raw destructive output of the pair.

"Glacial Rain!" Nyren yelled, summoning dozens of ice swords behind her that rained into the haze.

Adrian added his golden sword waves. General Ashford raised his right fist, launching five concentrated white Qi spheres. High above, Oren unleashed a storm of multiplying arrows, while Daniel drove massive earth pillars through the street.

Every high-tier combatant attacked the exact same coordinate simultaneously!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

The combined barrage detonated inside the fog cloud!

An apocalyptic shockwave blasted outward, far violently than any previous explosion. Nyren, Asher, Adrian, and Daniel were thrown backward across the street, their boots skidding through the concrete.

Then—

ROOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR!!

A terrifying, primordial shriek tore through the air, shaking the foundations of every building within a two-mile radius.

An oppressive, suffocating wave of pure, high-tier pressure slammed down on the battlefield like a collapsing mountain.

"Shit!" Lothe’s face changed. He lunged sideways, wrapping his arm around Seana’s waist. "Hold on!"

BOOM!

The oppressive shockwave slammed into them.

Nyren and Asher crashed heavily onto the street. General Ashford was forced back twenty paces, his boots plowing deep furrows into the asphalt. Oren lost control of his [Telekinetic Flight] and crashed onto a rooftop below.

Lothe gritted his teeth, forcing himself up on one knee, keeping Seana protected beneath his frame.

Seana pushed herself up beside him. "You okay?"

"I’m fine," Lothe gasped, his dark eyes locked ahead.

The thick, poisonous mist was finally blown away by the shockwave, revealing the true form of the commander beast.

A colossal, thirty-meter-long Mutated Crocodile.

Its massive frame was encased in thick, dark-green armor plates, each scale as dense as reinforced tank steel. Deep green, reptilian pupils burned with ruthless intelligence as it looked down at the human ants before it.

Its eyes swept past General Ashford and Nyren, settling squarely on two individuals.

Lothe and Seana.

It had felt their attacks. Their purple thermal Qi and crimson Blood crescents were the only strikes that had actually pierced its outer scales and burned its flesh.

The beast’s pupils narrowed into lethal slits.

Seana stared up at the mountain of armor and muscle. "Looks like we pissed off the big guy."

Lothe tightened his grip on the Inferno Dragon Spear, purple Qi flickering along the blade. "Yeah. And he’s coming for us."

Before his sentence even finished—

The crocodile moved.

Despite its thirty-meter mass, its speed defied every law of physics. It vanished into a dark-green blur!