Entering Apocalypse in Easy-Mode-Chapter 562: Overwhelmed

The Lunar Beast nest stood at the center of a ruined intersection, where the road had collapsed inward.

Cracked asphalt dipped into a shallow crater filled with broken concrete, twisted metal, and piles of bones half-buried in ash and dirt. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Pale growths clung to the surroundings like fungal veins, spreading across walls and streetlights and glowing under the moon.

White shapes moved constantly.

Dozens of spawns prowled the perimeter. Some crawled along walls and overturned cars, some stood upright, twitching and sniffing the air. Their white fur rippled as they moved, red eyes sweeping the darkness in restless arcs.

Low growls and distorted murmurs filled the air.

Clyde raised a fist. The group stopped instantly.

He motioned them toward the shadows of a collapsed store. One by one, they pressed themselves into cover. The howls were closer and louder. The ground seemed to hum beneath their feet with the magical power of the nest.

Clyde crouched low and spoke without looking back. "That’s it. That’s the Lunar Beast’s nest."

No one said anything right away.

"This is what we need to hunt to end this scenario," he continued.

James swallowed. "What happens after we kill it?" he asked quietly. "Are we... safe?"

Clyde didn’t answer immediately. His jaw tightened while he looked at them, and he hated having to say what came next. But he had no choice.

"No," he said at last. "After this, the second scenario begins. Then the third. Then the fourth. It continues like that. Until the sixth."

His tone didn’t change. That somehow made it worse.

The words hit all of them at the same time. Fear spread through the group in a single wave.

Even Mina who thought she was used to this nightmare went still, her grip tightening around her daggers.

"Like I said from the beginning," Clyde added. "This is our reality now."

A shared heavy and exhausted sigh escaped them.

Emi clutched her parents’ arms, pressing herself between them.

James wrapped one arm around her shoulders. His other hand trembled slightly, but he forced his voice steady.

James wanted to reassure his daughter, even though he wasn’t sure himself. In the end, he said it with as much conviction as he could muster.

"It’ll be alright, Emi," he said. "Daddy will protect you. And mom too."

He wasn’t sure. They all knew it. But the words mattered anyway.

Nearby, the three teenagers exchanged glances. Their fear was still there, but it no longer ruled them.

They had fought and killed those monsters. They had grown stronger. That knowledge sat in their chests like a fragile flame.

Clyde noticed.

He gave a single nod. "We move now."

They rose from hiding and stepped into the moonlight.

The spawns turned toward them as one. Growls rose. Claws scraped concrete and they charged all at once.

They came screaming from the crater and surrounding ruins. Their bodies moved low and fast like animals, claws tearing sparks from the broken asphalt.

Their numbers were overwhelming like a white tide surging forward with feral coordination. The air filled with snarls, snapping jaws, and the stench of blood and ash.

Clyde moved first without hesitation like he always did. His eyes looked sharp with killing intent, and he was calm despite his fast motion.

His spear flashed in the moonlight, thrusting forward in clean and brutal lines. One spawn dropped with its chest pierced clean through. Another had its skull shattered as he twisted the shaft and drove it down. He didn’t slow and instead kept moving faster.

Mina was already beside him.

She flowed through the charging monsters like a quick shadow. Her daggers slashed and stabbed again and again, slipping between ribs, severing tendons, opening throats before the spawns could even scream.

She didn’t speak. Neither did Clyde. They fought in perfect silence, instinct and experience guiding every step.

Behind them, the others were forced into the same battle.

John swung his reinforced chair leg with a shout, smashing a spawn’s jaw and sending it tumbling back. Ren followed through with his crowbar, cracking bone and driving the monster down. Yuri stabbed with trembling arms, panic flaring, then steadied herself and struck again when the spawn tried to rise.

James stayed close to Regina and Emi, striking over his shoulder while keeping his body between them and the monsters.

Regina fought beside him with a bent pipe, movements stiff but determined.

Emi screamed once when a spawn lunged too close, then bit down on the sound and brought her weapon down again and again with desperate strength.

At first, they held their formation. But Clyde felt it almost immediately.

These spawns were different.

Their movements were faster, more coordinated. Their bodies were denser, muscle packed tight beneath the white fur.

When they got hit, they didn’t fall as easily. Some kept coming even with broken limbs, dragging themselves forward with snarling persistence.

Clyde’s grip tightened around his spear. These groups of spawns were too strong.

He glanced back briefly, just long enough to see the cracks forming.

John was breathing hard now and his swings slower. Ren stumbled as a claw raked across his side, blood darkening his shirt. Yuri cried out as a spawn slammed into her, sending her skidding across the ground.

James took a hit to the shoulder that nearly dropped him to one knee. Regina was bleeding from her arm. Emi had been knocked down and barely rolled away before teeth snapped shut where her head had been.

Mina killed another spawn and turned sharply, eyes narrowing.

They were being pushed back.

The monsters pressed in from all sides, howls rising, red eyes burning brighter as they sensed weakness.

The survivors fought desperately, but fear crept heavier this time and wrapped them in pain and exhaustion.

Clyde’s chest tightened. This was what he had feared.

Another spawn broke through the line and slammed into Ren, knocking him flat.

Yuri tried to help and was dragged down with him. James roared and charged forward, but a second spawn crashed into his side, sending him sprawling into the debris.

The formation shattered. They were being overwhelmed.

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