Building a Safe Zone with My Harem In The Post-Apocalyptic World-Chapter 51: End Of The Conflict?

The Devourer was furious now. Its massive jaws opened wide as it roared, the sound so violent it made the air tremble and the sand vibrate beneath their feet.

Anyone else would have frozen from that pressure alone, but Gideon stood firm. He had already proven something important. The Unbreakable Sword had severed the tail of an S-rank aberrant. That meant it could kill it.

Still, something colder than the monster’s roar brushed against the back of his mind.

Henry.

Those eyes had never left him.

Henry clicked his tongue softly. "You really made me do it, huh?"

The words were half-lost in the chaos, but Gideon caught the tone. It wasn’t panic. It was irritation.

Then Henry shouted, voice cracking with rage, "Annoying bastard! You should have just let them die! They were nothing but offerings!"

He dragged a hand through his hair violently before raising his arm toward the sky. "Come to me! Serve me! Tear them apart and bring me their eyes!"

A second sound answered, harsh, overlapping screech.

Gideon turned just in time to see them descending.

Crows.

They were massive, each as large as a bicycle. Their wings were jagged, made of hardened stalk-like structures instead of feathers.

Their bodies looked half-rotten, bark splitting around exposed black flesh. A stench of decay followed them, thick and nauseating.

There were at least ten of them circling above, darkening the sky as they swooped lower.

The wind from their wings hit him like a storm. Sand whipped into his face. The force alone made it harder to stand steady. They dove in erratic patterns, beaks snapping viciously toward his head and throat.

Gideon raised his arm to shield himself, blade flashing as he slashed upward. Each strike that connected tore through the wing and bone, dark blood spraying across the air.

But they were relentless. They didn’t retreat from pain. They pecked and clawed without hesitation.

Adrenaline drowned everything else.

He moved purely on instinct, sword carving arcs through the air while his eyes kept flicking forward.

The Devourer wasn’t slowing.

If anything, it was accelerating.

It roared louder as the crows filled its territory, almost enraged by their intrusion. Its massive body cut through the sand like a tidal wave.

Strangely, the crows hesitated.

Just for a split second.

Gideon felt it more than saw it. Their aggression faltered when the Devourer drew too close.

Their movements became uncertain, as if even they recognized something greater.

CRASH!

One of the crows was blown out of the sky, body torn apart midair.

"Hell yeah!"

The heavy thunder of a mounted machine gun echoed behind him. The sound tore through the battlefield as bullets shredded through wings and bark-flesh alike.

One by one, the crows either dropped to the sand or veered sharply upward to escape the barrage.

Gideon didn’t need to look back to know who was firing.

Delilah.

Another crow shrieked as it was pierced and fell like a broken branch.

At that exact moment, the Devourer surfaced right in front of Gideon again. Its enormous maw opened wide, roaring as it swung its head violently.

In its fury, it smashed into the retreating crows, snapping several from the air in a single savage motion.

For a brief, chaotic moment, the aberrations attacked each other.

Using the chaos between the Devourer and the crows, Gideon stepped back carefully, boots grinding against the sand. His instincts had been right.

The Devourer didn’t tolerate trespassers. It didn’t matter who summoned them or why, they were intruders. And intruders were threats.

He turned toward Henry with a wide, almost mocking smile. "You idiot. You should’ve known it would react like this."

Even mutated, even twisted by whatever meteor-borne madness had reshaped the world, beasts were still beasts. Territory meant everything.

Henry looked irritated rather than surprised. "Of course I knew," he muttered, biting his thumb hard enough to draw blood. "It just isn’t mine yet."

That word lingered.

Yet, Gideon didn’t waste another second. He sprinted forward, sand spraying behind him. Henry didn’t dodge, didn’t brace, didn’t even blink.

The Unbreakable Sword pierced straight through his torso.

The resistance was almost nonexistent. Flesh parted cleanly. Blood spilled dark and thick onto the sand as Henry coughed violently, crimson dripping from his lips.

But then, he laughed. His fingers shot up, gripping Gideon’s collar and yanking him closer despite the blade still lodged in his body. His breath smelled like iron and rot.

"You think this is the end?" Henry whispered, voice trembling with twisted amusement.

"This is just the beginning. There will be more of me. The land is dying. Aberrants are the truth of this world. We will bring our God back... and you—" his eyes gleamed with feverish certainty "—you will be crushed. The Order would not survive in the world of Chaos."

Gideon stared at him, searching for something beneath the madness.

He pulled the sword free.

Henry collapsed immediately, like any ordinary man would. No regeneration, transformation, no monstrous reveal. Just a body hitting sand, blood pooling and soaking into the desert.

That unsettled Gideon more than any supernatural resistance would have.

"Who are you really...?" he murmured.

"GIDEON!!!"

The scream tore through the battlefield. He turned but it was too late.

The Devourer’s maw filled his entire vision. Rows of fangs, darkness beyond, hot breath reeking of decay. He barely had time to widen his eyes before the jaws snapped shut.

Everything went black.

The outside world became muffled. Pressure crushed around him as he slid down the creature’s throat. But Gideon didn’t panic. Not fully. His mind was sharp, even as he was swallowed whole.

He drove the Unbreakable Sword sideways.

The blade punched through the inner flesh of the Devourer’s throat. Blue blood erupted violently, spraying across him as the sword lodged deep enough to halt his descent.

The aberrant shrieked. The entire body convulsed, thrashing through the sand as wind howled outside from its violent movements.

Gideon grinned through blood and slime. "Soft on the inside... Figures."

Or maybe the sword was simply that absurd.

He acted fast. Three grenades materialized in his hand from the Infinite Shop. He pulled the pins, one after another, and shoved them deep into the gash carved by his blade.

Without hesitation, he yanked the sword free and let himself drop further down.

The explosion detonated inside the creature.

The blast was deafening even within flesh and fluid. The Devourer’s body convulsed violently as internal organs ruptured. The shockwave ripped through its massive frame.

Gideon was thrown downward and hit something viscous. Acid.

Pain flared across his skin instantly. His boots began to melt. Blisters rose along his legs and arms as the corrosive liquid ate through fabric and flesh.

"Shit—"

He forced himself up, ignoring the burn. He slashed forward blindly until the sword cut through the Devourer’s stomach wall.

Light poured through the tear. Acid spilled outward along with him as he forced himself through the opening and collapsed onto the sand outside.

The Devourer’s colossal body twitched then fell still, dead.

Gideon staggered away from the leaking fluids, breathing heavily. His clothes were half-destroyed. Parts of his skin were blistered and raw, it was painful.

"Finally..." he muttered.

Then he heard Freya’s shout, calling and begging God for his life and even more absurd things she shouted.

"What am I supposed to do without him?! What about my baby?!"

Gideon froze mid-step. His head turned slowly.

Freya was clinging to Delilah, sobbing uncontrollably. Her voice cracked with raw grief.

Delilah’s expression was just as stunned, eyes wide in a way that suggested the baby announcement had struck harder than Gideon’s supposed death.

For a moment, Gideon forgot the acid burns. Forgot Henry. Forgot the battlefield.

Delilah’s gaze lifted as their eyes finally met.

Gideon stood there, half-burned, drenched in aberrant fluids, very much alive.

The silence that followed felt far more dangerous than the Devourer ever had been.

He had a feeling surviving the monster was going to be the easy part.