Entering Apocalypse in Easy-Mode-Chapter 565: A Sword

However, victory brought no relief to them. Clyde stood over the corpse of the Lunar Beast, his spear hanging loosely at his side.

Mina wiped blood from her face and steadied her breathing. Neither of them smiled or spoke.

The silence suddenly felt heavier than the battle itself right now.

They had won, but the people they had fought to protect were gone. Companions who had trusted them. People who had followed Clyde’s lead since the beginning. The weight of that failure pressed down on his chest until it hurt to breathe.

Clyde felt hollow. He had moved fast and fought hard. And still, it hadn’t been enough.

Then the air changed.

A sharp, artificial chime echoed through the ruined city, loud enough to carry across the broken streets. Translucent text flared into existence above the skyline, visible no matter where one stood.

[Congratulations to player Jack Anderson and player Mina Johnson for killing the Lunar Beast.]

[The scenario has ended.] 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Another cascade of notifications appeared directly in front of their eyes.

Exp numbers surged through Clyde’s eyes. Numbers climbed rapidly, faster than most people would ever see in their lives. His level rose again and again before finally stopping.

He was now at Level 110.

Mina gasped softly as her own status updated, her level jumping from 40 to 50 in an instant.

New notifications followed, hovering patiently in front of their eyes.

[A-rank Weapon Box acquired.]

[A-rank Armor Box acquired.]

Mina stared at the rewards, her exhaustion momentarily forgotten. A small genuine smile broke through because she knows what those rewards mean. Becoming stronger meant surviving longer. It meant not being helpless next time.

Clyde felt nothing.

A-rank weapons and armor meant nothing to him. In his previous life, he had wielded relics forged by gods and shattered worlds with his own hands. Compared to that, these rewards were insignificant.

What weighed on him wasn’t the loot. It was disappointment.

He had failed before. He had watched Asqa die in front of him, powerless to stop it. He had killed some gods afterward but that was not enough. Too many gods had remained. In the end, even he had been overwhelmed and killed.

This was his second chance. And still, people had died under his watch.

"Jack." Mina’s voice broke through his thoughts.

Clyde sighed and turned to her. His expression was sad, but empty. "Let’s go inside the nest."

Mina blinked. "You think there’s something there?"

"I’m sure of it," Clyde said, already moving.

She followed him without hesitation. She could see it now, the sadness he carried and the burden behind his every step. It was strange seeing the one who had always stood firm, who had led them through impossible odds, look so tired.

She wanted to say something, anything. But she didn’t know what words could reach him.

They entered the Lunar Beast’s nest together.

Inside, the air was thick with the stench of blood. The ground was slick, filled with fresh bones and half-crushed skeletons. Claw marks scarred the walls and remnants of past victims lay scattered in the shadows.

Clyde walked forward without slowing. Mina followed close behind in silence.

Clyde walked ahead, Mina following a few steps behind. They moved deeper into the nest, boots sinking into layers of dried flesh and crushed bone.

The walls narrowed as they went, the ceiling dipping lower, until the passage ended abruptly in a mound of hardened gore and collapsed remains. There was no path forward.

Something glinted faintly at the far end.

Clyde’s eyes narrowed. He stepped closer, pushing aside fragments of bone with the butt of his spear.

Half-buried in the remains was a sword. Its blade was shaped from long and narrow pale bone, etched with thin black veins that pulsed like living things.

The hilt was wrapped in something dark and leathery, and the guard curved like hooked ribs. A dull crimson glow seeped from the carvings along its length, bleeding into the air around it.

Clyde stopped.

The sensation hit him immediately. A familiar pressure crawled along his skin. It was a Demonic power. He had felt it countless times before, in a life filled with blood and burning skies.

"Why is there a fragment of a Demon here?" he thought.

"What is that?" Mina asked quietly from behind him.

Clyde didn’t look away from the sword.

"A Demon sword," he said. "There’s Demon power inside it."

Mina froze. Her eyes widened. "D-demon?"

"Yes," Clyde replied calmly. "Don’t look so surprised. You’ll see Demons too in this apocalypse. Eventually."

He stepped closer, every instinct on guard. The sword seemed to react to his presence, the crimson lines along the blade glowing a fraction brighter as if recognizing him.

Clyde frowned. This thing shouldn’t exist here yet this early.

He could already imagine the outcome if the wrong person found it. A desperate human. A weak survivor. Someone who would cling to its power without understanding the cost.

Demon weapons never gave strength freely. They consumed and corrupted. Turned wielders into monsters long before killing them.

This sword is too dangerous to be left behind and he can’t let Mina touch it, Clyde thought.

He reached out slowly, his other hand tightening around his spear.

The moment Clyde’s fingers brushed the hilt, a jolt ran through him.

It wasn’t pain but a recognition.

Power stirred deep within his body, answering the sword as if an old scar had been pressed too hard. Something ancient and familiar rose from the depths of his being, coiling through his veins.

Demonic power. It was not a power that foreign to him. Never had been.

In his previous life, it had burned brightly as his strength he had learned to control through blood and ruin. Now, in this body, it was still there, but faint and dormant. Like embers buried under ash.

The sword pulsed in response, the crimson veins flaring brighter.

Clyde’s eyes hardened.

"If I wield this, the one who owns it will feel me," he realized.

A Demon’s presence didn’t simply vanish. Weapons like this were like beacons showing his existence.

And he was not ready to draw that kind of attention yet.

He released the hilt.

The pressure eased immediately, the power retreating back into silence. The glow dimmed.

Clyde exhaled slowly, then shrugged off his jacket.

Without ceremony, he wrapped the blade tightly, covering the bone, the veins and glow, until it looked like nothing more than a bundled length of scrap.

"Let’s go back," he said.

Mina nodded, though her eyes lingered on the wrapped sword with worry flickered across her face and she had unspoken questions.

They turned and retraced their steps through the nest. The stench of blood felt heavier, the silence thicker.

Mina kept glancing at the bundle in Clyde’s grasp, worry etched into her expression.

She didn’t ask and Clyde didn’t explain for now.

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