Apocalypse with my SSS Harem Beauties-Chapter 156: Keep Moving

"They have arrived at the Brown Soil."

The man who served as one of Red’s trusted subordinates lowered his head slightly as he delivered the report. Dust clung to his boots from the constant excavation beneath their headquarters.

His voice carried restraint, but there was tension behind it. The arrival of Myles’ group at that place was not a trivial matter.

"Good. Let them do that job as well," Red said. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

He sat on a reinforced metal chair inside what used to be an underground lecture hall, now reshaped into his command chamber.

A faint smirk curved across his lips as he dragged a whetstone slowly along the edge of his short sword.

The blade was compact, designed for close-quarters brutality rather than flashy reach. Its metal surface was predominantly matte black and faint purple veins ran along the fuller.

Thin wisps of Ether mist coiled around it, rising and fading in a steady rhythm as if the weapon breathed on its own.

That sword was his greatest asset. It had cut through countless enemies. It had turned desperate skirmishes into overwhelming victories. With it in his hand, he had dominated battlefields.

He had obtained the weapon from an Ether Rift that had long since closed. Back then, in the lower zone while he was still fighting like a scavenger among scraps.

The moment he got that blade his growth accelerated. His kills became easier. His confidence became absolute. Not long after, he discovered hints about another Rift buried beneath the very headquarters he now occupied.

That discovery was the reason they dug.

"When will we attack them?" his right-hand man asked.

Red continued sharpening for a few seconds before answering.

"Wait," he said calmly. "We can’t rush this. I’m still curious about that new group. Let Rafe gather information first before we move."

His subordinate nodded but remained silent, clearly thinking. After a moment, he spoke again.

"In your opinion... that winged woman. Is she one of the survivors?"

Red paused. The whetstone stopped moving.

"I’m not sure," he admitted. "But is there any other explanation?"

"I don’t know. Maybe... there’s another creature from another world that crossed over. You’ve seen it yourself. Our world has merged with structures and things from somewhere else. It wouldn’t be impossible if a being crossed too."

Red gave a slow nod. "That makes sense. That’s exactly why I’m letting Rafe watch them first before we act."

"What about Michael and his group?"

"Hahaha." Red burst into laughter.

"You don’t need to worry about them," he said dismissively. "They won’t be able to touch me. If I want to, I can kill them easily."

"But—"

"What? The altar?" Red’s smirk widened. "It won’t be a problem. Trust me."

The right-hand man exhaled. "Alright. If you say so."

Red nodded. "Now go back and keep digging. What floor are we on?"

"13th."

Red clicked his tongue. "Slower than I expected. Keep going."

The subordinate nodded and left the room.

Red lifted the short sword in front of him. The purple veins glowed faintly in response to his grip.

—

Amber veins flared beneath the glowing brown soil.

The ground erupted and more Aberrant Burrowers burst upward in rapid succession, tearing through the earth with wet violent motion.

Their elongated pale bodies writhed as the human faces twisted at their fronts. Their eyes wide and grinning mouths stretched unnaturally.

There was no time to hesitate.

Myles stepped forward and said. "Hold formation."

Another worm lunged from the right. Ethan fired immediately.

BANG.

BANG.

Two bullets tore through its cheek and eye socket. Black fluid sprayed. The creature shrieked but kept moving.

Myles closed the distance and slashed downward, cleaving through its neck in a single clean motion. The body collapsed and died.

More soil bulged.

George swung his hammer into the ground as another creature surfaced beneath him. The impact cracked the glowing earth and crushed half the worm’s upper body before it fully emerged.

Clara followed with a thrust, her spear piercing through a distorted human mouth and pinning the creature in place.

Daniel moved like a shadow between them, daggers flashing as he cut exposed segments ruthlessly and splitting pale flesh, forcing the monsters to recoil.

The ground did not stop moving.

Three Aberrant Burrowers burst upward behind Samantha. She reacted instantly, firing Ether-infused arrows into their rising forms.

Explosions scattered glowing dirt into the air. One creature lost half its head and twisted violently before collapsing.

But the third creature reached her.

Victor intercepted it.

His cleaver came down with brutal force, splitting the worm’s skull in half before its teeth could clamp down.

The soil pulsed again.

"They’re surrounding us!" Clara said.

She drove her spear into another emerging monster, twisting the shaft as black blood splattered across the shimmering terrain.

The Aberrant Burrowers did not retreat back underground anymore. They rose fully. Their upper halves swayed as they lunged repeatedly with unnatural speed.

Myles advanced instead of falling back.

"Move forward!" he ordered.

They pushed through the writhing mass.

Each step crushed glowing earth beneath their boots and they kept dismembered pale segmented bodies around them. The air filled with high-pitched distorted screams as one worm after another fell.

[You have killed a C-Rank Aberrant Burrower]

[+56 EXP]

Notifications flickered repeatedly before their eyes.

The ground trembled violently. More shapes shifted beneath the surface, converging toward them.

They did not stop.

Myles slashed horizontally, severing two worms in a single motion. Clara moved beside him, thrusting forward with relentless precision. Victor guarded the flank while George smashed anything that rose too close to them.

Ethan and Samantha moved closer inside the ring as Lilian had warned. They adjusted their positioning and continued firing into the writhing mass.

The glowing brown soil seemed alive.

Amber veins expanded and contracted beneath their feet like arteries pumping something. The glow intensifying with every tremor that rolled through the ground, yet they kept advancing without hesitation above the luminous soil slick with the fluids of severed Aberrant Burrowers.

The monster’s bodies falling as distorted shrieks tore through the heated air around them.

The earth kept splitting open in violent bursts as more worm-like creatures lunged upward with twisted human faces stretched into grotesque smiles, but Myles and his group did not slow down.

"Go into that cave!" Lilian-who was using her wings to float above them, not wanting to involve in the fight-pointing.

—