Apocalypse: King of Zombies-Chapter 391: Was that… mercy?

Chris felt his scalp tingle and sucked in a sharp breath. "That's… a lot of scorpions."

"Didn't you just say they were nothing to worry about?" Brandon said, deadpan.

"..." Chris's face twitched. "Okay, maybe I'm worried a little now."

These scorpions were just regular mutated beasts—nothing Ethan couldn't handle.

As he unleashed his Domain of the Dead, a crushing aura spread out like a shockwave. The scorpions were hit like they'd been slammed by a boulder—bursting apart in sprays of thick, blue blood.

"Blueberry juice, huh…" Ethan muttered, casually waving his hand as he collected the remains into his spatial storage ring.

He tore through the swarm like a force of nature, leaving nothing but carnage in his wake.

Chris and the others trailed behind, keeping their distance and watching the show. Sean, who'd just finished gnawing on some vulture meat, was picking his teeth with a bone fork, looking completely relaxed.

The four of them were basically just along for the ride—no chance to even get involved.

"Is it just me, or do I look kinda useless right now?" Chris muttered.

"Oh, definitely. You should own it," Brandon replied without missing a beat.

"...Right." Chris sighed, speechless.

But then, something shifted behind the swarm. A new presence. Heavy. Menacing. The air grew thick with killing intent, and the stone floor beneath their feet began to tremble.

Ethan tilted his head, eyes narrowing.

From the shadows, a monstrous head emerged—grotesque, with jagged mandibles and rows of sharp, interlocking teeth.

A giant centipede.

Its body was pitch-black, massive enough to nearly fill the entire corridor.

"Okay, now that's not exactly a new flavor," Ethan muttered.

He drew his tachi, the blade humming with lethal energy as he prepared to strike.

But then he noticed something odd.

The centipede's belly—one section of it was swollen, round and bulging unnaturally. Something inside was… moving.

"Pregnant?" Ethan raised an eyebrow.

Curious, he vanished in a blur, blade in hand, his Domain of the Dead crashing down like a divine punishment.

The surrounding scorpions were caught in the blast, exploding into blue mist.

Ethan shot over them, blade flashing as he closed in on the centipede's monstrous head.

"Hssssss…"

The creature shrieked, trying to fight back—but it was hopeless.

Under the crushing weight of Ethan's domain, it was like a lamb waiting for the slaughter.

His tachi slid cleanly into its skull, but he didn't stop there. With one fluid motion, he sliced all the way down, cutting open the swollen belly.

Blue blood gushed out like a waterfall, splashing across the stone floor.

Organs spilled out in a wet, steaming heap.

To Ethan, the scene before him just looked like someone had spilled blueberry juice all over the floor. But when his tachi sliced into the swollen part of the centipede's belly, something unexpected tumbled out.

Thud.

A humanoid figure hit the ground.

It was a mangled body—skin and chunks of flesh eaten away by the centipede's stomach acid, exposing raw red muscle fibers and gleaming white bone.

The shocking part? The guy was still alive.

Barely.

He was gasping, twitching, his hand reaching out weakly as a low, guttural moan escaped his throat. The pain etched into his face was unbearable—he looked more like a demon than a man.

With the scorpion swarm obliterated and the giant centipede lying in pieces, Chris and the others cautiously stepped forward to get a closer look at the half-digested man.

"Damn… that's brutal," Chris muttered, wincing.

"Yeah. Looks like he got swallowed not too long ago," Brandon said, crouching down.

"You think it could be Mia?" Sean asked, frowning.

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"No way… this one's a guy," Oliver replied flatly.

Chris blinked. "Wait, how can you tell? His skin's gone."

Oliver didn't even look up. "Pelvis."

"Oh…" Chris nodded slowly, though the sight clearly unsettled him. The guy's condition stirred something in his chest—a mix of pity and dread. Just imagining the moment he got swallowed alive… the terror, the helplessness.

"Poor bastard," Sean muttered.

But before anyone could say more, Ethan raised his tachi and, without hesitation, brought it down—cleanly severing the man's head.

"Now he's at peace," Ethan said simply.

"Uh…" Chris and the others froze for a second.

Was that… mercy?

Ethan didn't linger. He calmly stored the centipede's massive corpse into his spatial ring.

That thing had been at least an A-rank beast—deadly for most Awakeners. But in front of Ethan, it might as well have been a sluggish worm.

Chris scratched his head. "So far we've run into snakes, scorpions, and now a giant centipede. This place is like a damn poison zoo."

"Dark, humid environments attract these kinds of creatures," Brandon said, nodding.

Oliver chimed in, analyzing the situation. "There must be more survivors. Think about it—earlier I found a bracelet next to a half-digested arm bone. That guy just now still had a pulse. He must've been swallowed minutes ago."

"There's definitely human scent lingering," Ethan said, eyes narrowing as he stared deeper into the corridor.

"And those scorpions and the centipede… they didn't show up randomly. Something drove them toward us."

"Ohhh…" Chris's eyes widened. "That explains it! I was wondering why we kept running into monsters like we're cursed or something."

"They're coming," Ethan said suddenly.

Everyone went quiet, ears straining.

Sure enough, faint footsteps echoed from the distance—soft, cautious, human.

They were moving slowly. Carefully. Like they were expecting danger around every corner.

Ethan didn't move. He just stood there, waiting.

A few moments later, three figures emerged from the darkness—two men and a woman, weapons drawn, backs pressed together as they crept forward.

Their eyes darted around, scanning every shadow. Every few steps, they stopped to reassess their surroundings, clearly on edge.

Eventually, they spotted Ethan and his group.

"Careful!" the older man in front barked, raising a hand to halt the others.

The younger man and woman behind him stiffened, gripping their weapons tighter as they stared ahead.

But as they got a better look, confusion flickered across their faces.

Ethan stood at the front, dressed in a crisp white shirt, spotless despite the carnage around him. His face was calm, strikingly handsome, and completely unbothered.

Behind him were four guys who looked like they'd wandered in from a bar fight.

Sean was still picking his teeth with a bone fork, looking like he didn't have a care in the world.

His sharp eyes swept over the newcomers, cool and calculating.

...