Beyond the Apocalypse
Chapter 442: Half-crippled

Chapter 442: Half-crippled

Just as Vlad and his group rose into the air on the backs of demonic souls, King Viserin signaled his forces on the battlefield below. The human armies, bloodied but unbowed, had succeeded in a daring assault against the Leviathan swarm. Now, it was time to withdraw before exhaustion led to their downfall.

"Fall back in formation! Initiate Protocol B!" King Viserin commanded, his voice resonating across the chaotic field. The soldiers, despite their fatigue, responded with disciplined precision. They began a well-coordinated retreat, each unit covering the others as they pulled away from the vast Leviathan horde.

As they moved, the soldiers took small rocks from their space rings and left them on the ground at measured intervals. This was all part of Protocol B. At first glance, they looked like ordinary stones—nothing to raise suspicion, so the Leviathan did not even notice them on such a chaotic battlefield.

The Turkin Riders formed a rear guard, their demonic beast souls acting as living shields, intercepting and distracting Leviathans that might attempt to pursue them. Although losing these demonic souls would be a heavy blow, they could be replaced without much effort, as the number of trapped demon souls collected over the last couple of years by the Xaos Kingdom was simply staggering.

Freya positioned herself at the very rear of the retreating forces. Her mace glowed softly with energy, and though she was weary, she mustered enough strength to provide cover. "Keep moving! I’ll hold them off!" she shouted, her voice cutting through the tumult of the battlefield. She swung her weapon, creating massive waves of light that blasted forward. While their power was modest at this stage, it was enough to send nearby Leviathans flying away, pushing them back just far enough to allow the human forces to gain more distance.

The Lords of Horror narrowed their eyes as they realized it was finally time to leave the battlefield. No longer was there a need to conserve their strength.

"Sobremarcha!" Captain Ned shouted. Immediately, he and all the other Lords of Horror burst with power. Their size grew by nearly half a meter, and their armors glowed with golden matrices that generated scorching heat. With this surge of strength, they blasted the Elite Units away before dashing plunging into the swarm, crushing and throwing Leviathans aside, carving a clear passage for King Viserin and the rest of the human forces to escape.

Sensing their prey fleeing, the Leviathans lurched forward in a frenzy, driven by the hive mind’s killing intent and absolute wrath. They wanted nothing more than to butcher every last human. Yet the humans had timed their withdrawal perfectly and had just enough energy left to match the Leviathan swarm’s speed. Furthermore, that was not all the humans had prepared.

Once Viserin was confident that all the human forces had left the immediate swarm zone, he took a small rock from his space ring. It looked identical to the tens of thousands of stones scattered earlier by his soldiers. With a cold and decisive look, the Turkin King crushed it between his fingers. In doing so, all the small rocks left amidst the Leviathan swarm began to glow simultaneously.

The hive mind had no time to understand what was happening before those tens of thousands of rocks exploded, each triggering a chain reaction with the ones nearby. In a matter of seconds, oceans of fire spread across the swarm!

The intensity of the flames was not high enough to harm the aerial units or insect-humanoid hybrids. Still, it consumed the drones entirely and—crucially—burned every single corpse to ashes, leaving no biomass for the Leviathans to scavenge and recover.

The eyes of the Leviathans glowed with surprise, reflecting the utter shock that the hive mind was experiencing. It had adapted to the explosive devices the humans previously used, able to use seismic waves to force them to detonate prematurely. But these were different—equal to small rocks, the same kind one might find anywhere in the world!

These stones were Overlord’s response to the hive mind neutralizing the Echo Bombs. They went by the name of Silent Flares, and while they lacked the overwhelming destructive power of the Echo Bombs, they were much easier to hide and cheaper to manufacture.

King Viserin couldn’t help but smile widely as he saw the raging inferno emerging behind him, watching how the Leviathan swarm halted their chase. While aerial units and Leviathan warriors could still cross the fire, sending them alone after the human forces would be suicidal. Without the bulk of the drones to support them, they lack the power to face the human forces-

"Let’s move. To the rendezvous point," King Viserin ordered, maintaining his focus. He guided the soldiers away from the battlefield. After roughly twenty minutes of marching, they entered a small forest far from the L-shaped path where the battle had raged. Soon, they saw Vlad, Jormungandr, and the others waiting inside.

"Disperse around the forest. Search for a spot to rest," Viserin commanded the Turkin Riders, Golden Wave Legion, and Shadow Strike Legion. With that, he, Freya, and Ned flashed over to the main group, reuniting with Vlad, Jormungandr, Grand Marshal Anglius, and the highest-ranking officers.

As they gathered, the only thing visible on their faces were wide smiles. Vlad, Jormungandr, Freya, Grand Marshal Anglius, King Viserin, and everyone else could barely contain the excitement rising in their hearts. They had taken the offensive, striking the Leviathan force in the open instead of waiting for them and relying on a defensive stance. The outcome was nothing short of fantastic.

Their offensive strike had killed millions of Leviathans, and even more importantly, thanks to their careful targeting of the strongest units, they managed to wipe out over sixty percent of the insect-humanoid warriors and over seventy percent of the aerial units. Drones alone were not a real threat to the human forces; their power relied on draining the enemy’s energy so the stronger Leviathans could finish them off. Without the support of aerial and warrior units, drones posed minimal danger.

This meant that the swarm marching through Keny Country was now half-crippled already.