Chapter 235: Monsters?
The ground had shattered beneath the three creatures as they lunged, their movement perfectly synchronized, their intent clear. Adam met them head-on, death affinity rising, but far beyond the battlefield, something else had already begun to shift.
Far north of the sectors, deep within the monitored wild zones, the Alliance maintained constant surveillance over unstable rifts. The further north one went, the stricter the control became, even in places where personnel never physically entered.
Sensors replaced human presence.
Every fluctuation, anomaly and surge of energy was recorded and analyzed in real time. Most rifts followed predictable patterns, even the dangerous ones, but a few stood out, they were either irregular, unstable, or simply... wrong.
Dead Man’s Valley was one of them.
Despite being a breached rift, its monsters never crossed the perimeter. They stayed within its boundaries, as if bound by something unseen. Because of that, surveillance remained active, though not at maximum alert.
Until now.
Inside one of the monitoring stations, a man sat lazily in front of several screens, half-focused on a low-level simulation game running in the corner. His posture was relaxed, his attention drifting between duty and boredom.
Then the alarms screamed.
A sharp, piercing sound filled the room instantly, cutting through everything. The man froze for half a second before snapping his head toward the main display, his eyes locking onto the incoming data.
"What...?"
His voice caught.
The readings spiked violently across multiple channels, energy levels rising far beyond anything previously recorded from Dead Man’s Valley. Warning indicators flashed red across the screen, each one more serious than the last.
"That can’t be right..."
His fingers moved quickly, pulling up secondary confirmations, cross-checking sensor outputs, recalibrating feeds. The system responded immediately.
It was the same result.
His expression changed instantly.
The laziness vanished, replaced by urgency as he shoved his chair back and stood up so fast it nearly toppled over. His heartbeat quickened as the implications hit him all at once.
If this data was real, then the surrounding sectors were in danger.
Immediately.
He rushed out of the room without hesitation, boots striking hard against the metal floor as he moved through the station at full speed. Personnel turned their heads as he passed, but no one stopped him.
They could hear the alarms too.
By the time he reached the command section, his breathing had tightened slightly, but he didn’t slow down. He stepped in front of the reinforced door and knocked sharply, the urgency clear in every movement.
"Enter."
The voice from inside was calm and authoritative, as the door slid open.
The man stepped in immediately, straightening his posture as he raised his hand in a sharp salute, though the tension in his expression remained obvious. Across the room, the commander looked up from his desk.
"What is it?" he asked, his tone steady but firm.
If Adam had been there, he would have recognized him instantly.
This was the same commander who had secured Sector 418 after the barrier collapse. The same man who had handed him the technique, Wind Carnage Requiem, without hesitation, as if he had already seen something others hadn’t.
The agent didn’t waste time.
"Commander..." he said, his voice tight, controlled, but carrying unmistakable urgency.
"It’s really bad."
The words barely left the agent’s mouth before the scene shifted back to chaos. Inside the rift, Adam was already in motion, surrounded on all sides as the three creatures pressed in without pause, their coordination relentless.
A bolt of lightning slammed down where he had stood a split second earlier, forcing him to twist mid-step. He dropped low instantly, barely avoiding a claw that tore through the air above his head with brutal precision.
He didn’t stop moving.
JUDGEMENT spun in his grip as tendrils shot toward him from the side, fast and sharp. The blade flashed once, slicing through them before they could wrap around his limbs.
Adam kicked off the ground, creating distance as his eyes locked onto the three again, his breathing steady despite the mounting pressure.
If they’re not zombies... what the hell are they?
Earlier, he had used Analyze and the result had been almost useless as it only gave him their names.
The one-eyed, dried corpse-like figure was Famine. The massive wolf with dark grey fur, Conquest. And the hulking stitched monstrosity radiating raw force War.
That was all he got.
Adam’s expression hardened slightly as he adjusted his stance, eyes flicking between them in quick calculation. Even the Reliance Corpses had been easier to read than this. At least those followed predictable power patterns.
These didn’t.
Even worse, Disable hadn’t worked.
That alone was enough to raise the danger level instantly. Whatever these things were, they didn’t follow the normal rules, and yet they could still keep up with him without any visible enhancements.
Adam stepped back once more, then made his decision.
Then I stop reacting.
His grip tightened and he moved first.
Adam burst forward in a straight line, abandoning defensive play entirely as he closed the distance with explosive speed. His target was clear, Conquest. The wolf-like creature met him head-on without hesitation.
Claw met blade.
The impact rang out sharply as JUDGEMENT collided with the strike, sparks scattering between them. Adam shifted his stance immediately, redirecting the force and pushing the creature back half a step.
That was all the opening he needed.
War and Famine attacked at the same time.
One from the side.
One from behind.
Adam didn’t dodge.
He pushed through.
The hits landed, one heavy, one sharp, but frost surged across his body almost instantly as Cryogen activated, sealing damage and restoring function. The pain dulled, replaced by cold clarity as he kept moving forward.
Not all of it healed.
The wounds from Famine lingered.
A strange resistance clung to them, slowing the regeneration, interfering just enough to matter. Adam felt it immediately, but he didn’t hesitate. He forced through it, ignoring the drag on his recovery.
It was not enough to stop him.
Wind surged outward.
A sudden burst of pressure expanded around him as Absolute Wind Control activated, forcing War and Famine back just enough to break their rhythm. The air itself bent under his will, creating space where there had been none.
Adam didn’t waste it.
He focused everything on Conquest.
The oxygen in the surrounding air dropped sharply as he manipulated the environment, trying to suffocate them. But the wolf-like creature didn’t react.
Not even slightly.
Adam’s eyes narrowed.
So you don’t breathe either.
Undead.
Or something close enough.