Beyond the Apocalypse
Chapter 449: Countermeasure

Chapter 449: Countermeasure

After months of experimentation and countless resources, Overlord finally managed to create it—a virus that would target the Leviathan Race with such overwhelming power that no one beneath the Champion Realm would have even the slightest chance of survival. It was a crowning achievement of biological warfare.

This virus fused with unique components found only in the blood of the Leviathan Race. Once inside a Leviathan’s body, it would attack the nervous system with ruthless precision. It would produce massive hemorrhages from every part of the creature’s body, shatter its muscles until they tore themselves apart, and force the victim to vomit uncontrollably, literally puking its own organs until nothing remained but a lifeless husk. The mere concept of it was horrifying—even monstrous. But the Leviathans had brought such methods upon themselves with their endless predation and cruelty.

Viruses were extremely dangerous because they tended to mutate, and no one could predict when or how they might adapt. There was always the slim, terrible possibility that the virus might evolve to infect humans. That would have been a catastrophe beyond comprehension, so this Leviathan Virus was designed with a very short lifespan. It would render itself and its replicated copies useless in a matter of weeks before any mutation could arise.

If the human forces had seen these horrors inflicted on a human population, especially on civilians, any sense of battle will and honor bound to this war would have shattered. The army would have recoiled in revulsion and despair. But the victims here were Leviathans—creatures that existed only to kill and consume. There would be no compassion or mercy for them. The fate of the world hung in the balance, and these monsters had shown no mercy themselves. Against such an enemy, few would shed tears for their agonizing demise.

"Pile up the bodies. We must burn all of them," Vlad’s voice descended from the sky like a heavenly command, snapping the soldiers out of their stupor and urging them into motion. Although all those Leviathans were dead—some still twitching in their final moments—they could not simply be left to rot. The corpses could spawn disease or, worse, represent precious biomass that the hive mind might reclaim. Soon, pyres arose all around the terrain; each heaped with tens of thousands of Leviathans. Vlad and Jormugandr released whips of fire into the pyres, allowing them to burn hotter and faster before moving to guide the army forward once more.

"Formation Cerberus. Begin," Vlad shouted, and in the next second, the massive army was divided into three fronts, each heading into a different section of the Ztan Country. The Leviathan Virus would consume all the drones in the country, and those infected bodies needed to be incinerated swiftly. However, aerial units could still retain enough strength to fight even if infected, as could the insect-humanoid hybrids. Splitting the forces too thinly would be a mistake, which was why a three-headed formation was chosen—to ensure that every threat was addressed while maintaining enough strength at each front.

The human forces advanced extremely fast across the Ztan Country, each contingent under the watchful guard of a Sky Seed Depravita protecting the skies. With the virus ravaging the Leviathan populations, they were able to set ablaze millions upon millions of drones that had perished due to the infection, as well as wipe out tens of thousands of aerial units and insect-humanoid hybrids. Those creatures were too sick and weakened to pose even the slightest form of effective resistance. The carnage was immense, a grim testament to the new, horrifying advantage humanity had seized.

Every single moment of that carnage was transferred directly into the hive mind. A burning hatred spread across the collective consciousness of the Leviathan Race. It understood that the enemy was using biological warfare against it. Rage and a murderous intent almost blinded the hive mind’s reason, but focus soon returned. It knew it must learn and adapt. It sent an important command, and soon, one of the infected aerial units appeared before the obsidian obelisk. While the rest of the Leviathans hurriedly moved away from the infected creature, dark whips emerged from the obelisk, grabbing the aerial unit and swallowing it whole.

The hive mind paused its King Project as it dissected the infected aerial unit, analyzing every cell until it found the virus and understood its nature. This painstaking research took nearly three days, and generating a countermeasure to the human weapon took another three. Finally, after six days of intense study and adaptation, the maw of the obsidian obelisk opened once more, preparing to release something new. The Leviathans would not remain helpless forever.

In the south of the Ztan Country, Vlad observed another wave of drones being incinerated with a wide, cold smile on his face. The entire country was already falling under human control, and they had not lost even a single soldier. This filled the Xaos King with incredible happiness.

However, just as he was about to command the soldiers to move further south, his eyes narrowed as he detected something in the distance—a dark, moving cloud approaching ominously. It drifted closer, and a bad feeling arose in Vlad’s heart. His eyes sharpened, giving the signal for the human forces to stand in formation as he dashed forward to investigate.

It did not take long for him to see the true nature of that cloud. It was not a storm or a flock of harmless birds. Instead, it was a swarm of millions of mosquitoes—no ordinary insects, but likely another creation or adaptation by the hive mind. Perhaps the Leviathans had found a way to spread a counter-infection, or maybe these mosquitoes served a different, more sinister purpose. Whatever the reason, the sight of this enormous swarm drifting toward the battlefield struck fear into Vlad’s heart.

The Leviathan Race may have been caught off guard by the virus, but it was not foolish. It learned quickly, and the presence of this mosquito swarm hinted that the hive mind had discovered a means to fight back.