Chapter 76: Massacring Radiant Stars (2)

Owen even began imagining how they would escape once Adrian took over, while Derek had already started thinking about how to make Adrian fight the strongest ants first.

Thud.

Something suddenly flew out from the darkness and crashed onto the ground directly beside their feet.

The sound was strangely heavy, causing all three of them to freeze in their places.

Slowly, almost instinctively, their eyes lowered towards the object that had landed between them. For several seconds, nobody spoke as Liam’s pupils shrank, Derek’s face went pale, and Owen’s mouth slowly opened.

It was a human head—Adrian’s lifeless head.

His eyes remained wide open, his expression frozen in the final moment of his life, while blood stains covered his severed neck.

༺━━━━━━༺༻━━━━━━༻

Seeing Adrian’s lifeless head on the ground, Owen, Derek, and Liam were stunned beyond belief, their minds completely unable to process what they were seeing in front of them.

It hadn’t been long since Adrian had even run away from this place, and even if they were to consider his injuries, it simply didn’t make any sense for a genuine D-rank awakener to die this quickly, not to mention this miserably.

Adrian had been injured, yes; he had lost a lot of blood, yes—but regardless, he was still a D-rank awakener.

He was someone who had spent nearly a decade fighting monsters, someone whose physical body had been strengthened by Nox, someone who possessed a class specifically designed to increase his speed.

Yet now, his head was lying on the ground as if it were nothing more than a discarded object.

Their vision flickered between blurry and sharp focus as their minds struggled to follow what had happened.

They were desperately trying to find some explanation that could make sense of what had just happened.

From a distance, faint footsteps could be heard slowly reaching towards them.

Thud...

Thud...

Thud...

The sound wasn’t particularly loud, however; within the narrow tunnel, every single step seemed to echo through the walls, causing the atmosphere around the three Radiant Stars to become increasingly tense.

Liam, who was standing closest to the back, gulped down his hesitation before finally calling out.

"Whoever it is, stop right there." His voice wavered so much that his words almost felt stammered, and even he could hear the fear hidden within them.

However, even after hearing his warning, the footsteps didn’t stop.

Thud...

Thud...

Thud...

Liam’s fingers tightened as he swiftly angled himself to attack. "Did you hear me?"

For a brief amount of time, there was no response. But not long after, a silhouette slowly emerged from the corner of the tunnel.

Even within this dark environment, his jade-green body could be seen rather precisely, his unusual appearance immediately separating him from every human they had encountered within this nest.

At once, the group recognized the creature walking towards them.

It... was a zombie?

The three Radiant Stars suddenly felt a wave of confusion mixed with a sense of relief wash over their minds.

On one side, they were relieved that it was nothing more than a mere zombie since it wasn’t something they feared anymore.

However, the very next moment, a chill ran down their spines as another thought emerged within their minds.

’Then how did Adrian die?’

Their expressions changed almost simultaneously. If the creature in front of them was merely a zombie, then who had killed Adrian?

The answer was obvious, yet none of them wanted to accept it.

At this moment, Owen’s pupil shrank as the rest of his broken mask finally slid off his face, revealing his aged appearance, with a short mustache and beard covering parts of his face.

His lower jaw hung low, as no words came out no matter how hard he tried.

Crack!

The moment the mask hit the ground, it shattered into several pieces instantly, the sharp sound echoing through the tunnel.

Hearing the sudden noise, Derek and Liam were immediately pulled out of their thoughts.

Their legs jolted instinctively as they bent their bodies slightly forward, ready to dodge at any moment.

However, they soon realized that it was merely a broken mask. Derek, who was standing next to Owen, slowly looked towards him out of curiosity.

Immediately, he felt the hair on his body rise in response. His eyes widened even further when he noticed Owen’s expression.

Let alone any form of vigilance, Owen looked more frightened than anyone else. His expression had turned darker than ever, his eyes drooping low as if he had suddenly lost all of his courage.

His hands, which had constantly been raised to defend against the incoming horde of Blood Ants on the opposite side, slowly lowered.

"Owen?" Derek muttered uncertainly, but Owen didn’t answer.

His eyes remained fixed on the zombie standing in front of them as something about him made his instincts scream.

He didn’t know why, but the moment he looked at that jade-green body, his entire body instinctively remembered something—the sense of fear.

The same feeling of helplessness that he had experienced when the Blood Ants first overwhelmed them.

However, just then, Derek noticed a strange detail, causing his heart to skip a beat.

"The ants..." he muttered out loud, slowly moving his gaze towards them.

As strange as it could be, the ants weren’t attacking them anymore.

They didn’t even bother putting up any resistance. The large horde of zombie Blood Ants that had been attacking them relentlessly only moments ago had suddenly fallen silent, their sharp mandibles remaining still as their bodies stood completely motionless.

They weren’t rushing forward or attempting to bite them.

Instead, they had abandoned their defenses completely and simply stood behind the three humans.

Their heads touched the ground, while their bodies remained lowered.

Hundreds upon hundreds of zombie Blood Ants stood neatly behind the three Radiant Stars, forming an almost perfectly organized army.

Derek’s breathing became heavier as he couldn’t come to finish his words. "What..."

Liam also slowly turned around, his face becoming increasingly pale as he witnessed the same scene.

"Why aren’t they attacking?"

In that moment, even if the three humans had attempted to take advantage of the ants and kill them, the ants wouldn’t have put up any resistance.

Why? Did they not cherish their lives?

Not at all.

The Blood Ants had already become true zombies; they had already died.

Although their will still existed within their bodies, it had already lost its purpose. A soul’s true purpose in this world was to live.

It was to continue existing and survive against everything that sought to destroy it.

However, why did such a purpose matter to someone who had already died?

Since the moment they became zombies, their lives had been claimed by another zombie.

A human zombie who, although he looked different physically, was someone they could never oppose.

The Blood Ants instinctively knew not to look at this man. It wasn’t because they hated him or feared death, but because he was something they could never become.

A higher being they could only look up to from afar—their ruler.

Perhaps it was because of how deeply they admired their ruler that they could instinctively feel his emotions.

Back when he had raided their previous nest and turned them into zombies, they could feel his happiness.

When he had overcome his evolution, they could feel his pride.

And right at this exact moment... They could feel anger.

It wasn’t wild in nature but rather greatly suppressed and controlled, making it even more frightening to the Blood Ants.

The ants knew that they weren’t the true targets of his rage; however, their bodies instinctively remembered the times when they had faced him as an enemy.

Even now, although their minds had already become those of zombies, those memories hadn’t completely disappeared.

It was precisely because of this that their bodies began trembling in fear.

Their legs shook against the ground, producing faint clicking sounds throughout the tunnel as hundreds of Blood Ants bowed as deeply as they could.

They didn’t dare raise their heads or look at him directly.

In their minds, they could almost feel a pair of jade-green eyes coldly staring down at them.

The same eyes that were now coldly observing Owen, Derek, and Liam. Ethan’s gaze slowly moved across these three humans as his expression remained completely emotionless.

There was no hatred visible on his face or any sort of rage. Yet the atmosphere around him felt incredibly heavy.

In front of his eyes, a small system notification hovered.

---

———————————————————

[#~System Notification~#]

———————————————————

[Class Skill Activated.]

└ Zombie Sovereignty (SSS)

[All of your subordinates in the area submit to your will.]

---

Ethan glanced at the notification for only a brief moment before his attention returned to the three humans.

’This isn’t a normal zombie.’ Owen’s body shook as he positioned himself correctly between the ants and the zombie.

For several moments, Ethan simply stared at the three remaining Radiant Stars before taking in a long breath.

His jade-green chest expanded slightly as air filled his lungs. His eyes remained fixed upon the three humans who had invaded his nest and killed countless members of his undead army.

He had already killed Clara, Christine, and Adrian.

Three members of the Radiant Stars had already fallen by his hands.

As for the three remaining ones that were still standing before him, Ethan wasn’t planning to let them leave.

The moment his lungs were filled, he opened his mouth.

"Everyone." His voice erupted through the tunnel. The narrow walls amplified the sound several times over, causing his voice to travel through the entirety of the nest.

The Blood Ants raised their heads as, at that exact moment, another system notification appeared before Ethan’s eyes.

---

———————————————————

[#~System Notification~#]

———————————————————

[Class Skill Activated.]

└ ■ Undead Command (SSS)

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[Skill Description:]

└ ■ All undead within the range of the user’s voice will receive and follow the user’s commands.

└ ■ The command will take effect regardless of whether the undead can physically hear the user’s voice.

└ ■ As long as the user’s voice reaches the area, even at a volume too low to be perceived by ordinary hearing, all undead within range will be affected.

---

"Attack!"