Harem Legion: Queens of the Apocalypse-Chapter 230 He Fought for 6 Hours - Alone

"Tonight’s just a test run," Magnus said. "We’ll send 500 out. If it works, we go all out tomorrow. Goal’s to strip Hanford City clean in three nights."

"Agreed," Charlotte nodded. "Let’s learn their habits first. Sophia already tested things this afternoon. Just pouring animal blood on yourself ain’t enough. Like Emily said, no breathing - fine. But once you open your mouth to gasp, especially if they’re nearby, they’ll come for you."

"Then let’s make sure the ones going out tonight get a proper meal," Liana chimed in. "Preferably something hot."

"I’ll handle it," Magnus replied. "But instant noodles are off limits for now. Too strong a smell - it might attract those damn beasts."

They were still talking when a loud clatter hit the roof. Magnus stiffened, then shot up. "Stay in the truck!" he ordered the women, fired up the Super Fire Crystal, and leapt out the door.

The second his boots hit the dirt and the door shut behind him, dizziness hit. Just a few meters around him was clear; beyond that - a flood of massive, dark brown bats filled the sky, swarming so thick the sky disappeared.

What the hell now?

Without wasting a breath, Magnus summoned his Nature Crystal, lit it up, and swung himself onto the RV roof. He started swinging wildly with his flame-tipped log. A few of the huge bats dropped, but then one, burning blue, fell toward the RV.

Shit!

He kicked it mid-air, sending it flying a good dozen meters before it hit the ground. That thing would’ve torched the RV - Emily, Sophia, and the others were still inside!

"Damn it!" he spat, then jumped off the roof and rushed forward, swinging the flaming wood like a madman. Shrill screeches filled the air, bats dropped, but more kept coming, swarming the cars.

Had the animal blood worn off?

Magnus cursed himself. He’d let that slip. But just then, a crazy idea popped in his head - and it worked. A massive bat, wings spanning over ten meters, gripped a sleeper bus with its claws and dove, aiming its huge beak at the reinforced windows. It stabbed straight into a cluster of rebar - they pierced straight into its skull. The bat flapped weakly a few more times, then went still.

Seeing that, Magnus felt a bit steadier. He ran forward another stretch, still swinging. Suddenly, ahead, the swarm thinned. He glanced back and realized - it was a single dense flock. They looked like more than they were because of their size.

Was it really the blood expiring? If so, he needed proof.

With that, Magnus sprinted to a sleeper bus and lugged out a full tub of animal blood. He darted to the edge where a car stood, climbed its roof, and started pouring blood along the steel rods, letting it trail down the sides.

In that moment, the bats backed off from that car entirely, swarming toward the others instead. Now that he knew the reason, he could target the problem. Magnus grabbed a big barrel of animal blood and jumped onto a car, pouring the blood around the steel bars on its roof.

Over the next six hours, he covered more than a thousand modified Ice Regiment vehicles. By the time he finally walked back into his RV around 1 a.m., he was drained - physically running on fumes.

Outside was a mess. Some of the cars were still dangling with massive bat corpses. Without signals from Emily and Sophia, no one dared use a Fire Crystal, but the two of them had seen everything from behind the windshields.

Their commander had handled it all alone.

"The blood’s got a time limit. From the looks of it, we’ve got forty-eight hours. That means every two days, we’ve gotta re-coat all thousand cars," Magnus muttered.

His clothes were soaked with sweat and bat blood. Damn it, that had been his last clean set. The underground storehouse was lost, and it wasn’t like they had water to spare for laundry these days.

He peeled off his outer layer. Even his thermals were dripping. No other choice, he went into his room and pulled on a clean set of warm underclothes. When he came back out, Emily approached and handed him two tubes of glucose.

After downing them, he felt slightly better. Back on the sofa, he lit a cigarette and said, "We’re out of blood. All we stored the other night is gone. Let me rest an hour, then someone take a car and come with me. I’ll go hunt some animals and drain their blood."

Emily frowned. Seeing Sophia and Ashton busy cleaning his filthy gear, she stepped behind him and gently massaged his shoulders. "But the other night we used the grain depot. Where are we gonna collect the blood now?"

"Yeah," Liana chimed in, clearly troubled. "We can’t blow a Fire Crystal every time we want someone to collect blood, right?"

The whole living area fell quiet. Everyone was thinking.

So was Magnus. He was also chewing on another thought - his own stamina. Six straight hours pushing himself non-stop... a normal man wouldn’t last even half an hour. And his fuel for all that? One shot of vodka and a snack-sized sausage.

Willpower aside, he figured he must have awakened with four times the usual stamina or something close. He’d need to test that later, but right now, team safety came first.

The mission to dig up meteorite in Hanford City tonight? That had to wait.

But figuring out how to collect this blood - without putting the women at risk - was a damn nightmare.

He could use Fire Crystals to kill some big chickens or geese, and another off-road vehicle could help tow them back. That part was doable. But having the girls out collecting blood?

No way. Too dangerous.

It pissed him off just thinking about it.

"Then let us handle it!" Lana stood in front of the couch, voice steady. "Eighty-three of us messed up. Give us this one shot to make it right. One Metal Crystal each - we’ll gather the blood."

"No," Emily shook her head. "Way too risky. Even if no chickens or geese swallow you whole like last time, those bats could still snatch you away. One Metal Crystal won’t save you."

"Then what now? We can’t rely on the Captain to handle everything alone, can we?"