Apocalypse with my SSS Harem Beauties-Chapter 132: Different Again

[You have killed Blazingman Avatar – Rank B]

[EXP gained: 450]

The red panel notifications appeared in front of every pair of eyes as the last fragments of crystal finished crumbling into dust.

One by one, additional lines appeared. This time, no one shouted in excitement. The feeling was different now. After learning how to manipulate Ether directly through their own bodies, after feeling that raw tangible power coursing through muscle and bone without depending purely on the system’s numbers, the glow of the notifications felt less explosive.

But it still mattered. It still meant growth and it still meant that their strength was climbing in measurable, undeniable increments.

Myles stood at the center of the broken asphalt as the final notifications faded. Level 41. The black mutated monster before had already pushed him forward in a massive surge of 10,000 EXP.

At this point, in this zone, he was undeniably a powerhouse. Not just because of his level but because of his understanding. The energy of Ether no longer felt like an external resource he borrowed but felt like something he wielded from within.

The difference showed in every movement and reaction. And the others had reached that same threshold.

Victor was now level 35, the second highest after Nadine’s absence left a gap in their formation. Daniel, George, Clara, and Kade stood at level 33.

Ethan and Samantha were also level 33. The difference in numbers between them was no longer dramatic yet their actual combat output exceeded what those levels suggested.

Their stats were elevated not through simple stat points allocation, but through their Ether conditioning.

Their bodies had adapted. Their reactions had sharpened, and their endurance had thickened beyond system expectations.

Myles looked at each of them carefully. Their expressions were not terrified anymore. The battle against a Rank B crystal monster that would have once left them trembling now felt almost just like a familiar routine.

"The system says it was just an avatar," Daniel said, glancing at the fading text.

"Right," George muttered. "So maybe that wasn’t the real thing."

"The real one is probably still deeper in this zone," Victor added quietly.

That statement settled over them. If an avatar had been that strong, then the original body would not be simple.

"Don’t be scared, guys. We’ve handled worse already. We understand Ether now. We are strong," Myles said.

They looked at him. The tension in their shoulders eased.

George let out a short laugh.

"Heheh. You’re right. It’s not a problem anymore," he said. Then his gaze shifted toward the scattered orange crystal fragments covering the ground.

The material still pulsed faintly with residual energy.

"And these aren’t just trash. With my Forgemind skill, I can turn this into something useful."

His eyes sharpened with interest as he crouched and picked up a shard, inspecting its structure and density.

"This quality is high. If we refine it properly it can reinforce armor or become... Uhh, I don’t know. Something else."

"Then we should gather everything," Victor said immediately.

Without hesitation, the team spread out across the street, collecting every fragment of orange crystal.

The earlier gloom did not vanish completely but it no longer paralyzed them.

They moved deeper into the zone without slowing their pace. The air grew thicker with the metallic scent of blood and Ether energy filling the air.

Mutated shapes crawled out from inside hollowed buildings whose walls pulsed like living organs, while other creatures tore themselves free from the fleshy growths clinging to lampposts and concrete.

One monster lunged from a second-floor window with elongated limbs and a ribcage split open like a blooming flower, but Victor’s huge cleaver cut through its torso before it could land.

A cluster of sinewy masses detached from the street and tried to wrap around Clara’s legs, but Kade immediately burned them apart with fire from his gauntlets that flared slightly blue instead of orange now. It also looks cleaner and denser than before.

The fights no longer dragged for too long. They moved as a unit, their control sharper, and their reactions precise. Each kill triggered red panels in their vision, steady increments of EXP stacking one after another.

Stat points accumulated and without hesitation, they allocated them. The changes manifested immediately.

Through it all, Lilian remained silent. She walked beside Myles, steps measured. Her eyes seemingly scanned more than just the physical terrain.

After another skirmish ended with a deformed crawler split in half on the asphalt, Myles glanced at her and finally asked, "What’s wrong?"

Lilian looked at him briefly before returning her gaze forward. "The monster before might have been recently created. Its energy felt new."

"So what of it?" Myles asked, wiping dark residue from his blade.

"You know it was only an avatar," she replied calmly. "The real entity is hidden and definitely stronger. If something that strong and can create an avatar appeared only recently, then something strange must have happened to accelerate its manifestation."

Myles frowned. "Like what?"

"I don’t know," she admitted. "Even I can’t predict everything in this Etherfall, especially in higher zones. But when new power forms this quickly, it usually means an external catalyst. Or interference."

"Hmph. That doesn’t sound reassuring," Myles muttered.

Lilian gave him a faint, bitter smile. "It isn’t meant to be."

They continued forward and eliminated several more monsters without much difficulty.

A bloated humanoid stitched to a building façade fell under George’s hammer. A serpent-like mass slithering through drainage pipes was frozen and shattered.

The EXP kept flowing. Their levels crept higher, steady and controlled.

Then the road ahead changed abruptly.

The cracked asphalt ended abruptly as if the city had been sliced open. Beyond it stretched a vast expanse of dark red soil that looked damp and freshly turned.

Above them rose structures that did not belong to this city, or this world. Jagged towers and archways of unknown architecture fused grotesquely with familiar skyscrapers.

Concrete merged with bone-like pillars. Windows were replaced by organic membranes. Thick veins crawled along surfaces, connecting building to building as if the entire district had become a single organism.

No sound came from that direction.

The air there felt even heavier.

This deeper part of the zone was something else entirely.

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