Chapter 4 The Apocalypse Targets Felix

"Gah!" A middle-aged lady screamed in pain, collapsing to the ground as she clutched the hems of her sofa, trying to stabilise her posture, but failing to do so as she lost consciousness soon after.

Her body trembled like she was being electrocuted and her skin turned bloody soon after. But unlike the blood of a human, hers was slightly green.

As she writhed around in pain, the green blood evaporated little by little. The process continued for a couple of hours, at the end of which her body seemed like it had deflated severely.

If she wasn't nursed immediately, she would die soon after. But at this time, a pale-yellow light, in the form of tiny firefly-like bubbles, appeared in the living room, gently seeping into her body.

Immediately after that, her body stabilised, gaining a bit of girth immediately.

The same situation was happening to everyone in the vicinity of the Tower of Purification as Rhizen stared at the scene with a frown, "The effective radius is only a kilometre."

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Boom!

He flinched at the sound, turning around to see part of the Pearl Buck burning up in a sea of fire. This was due to the world's corruption seeping into it faster than what it could purify.

After all, he was going against a System's power, a Greater System that was equivalent to hundreds of thousands of Systems seen in stereotypical stories.

Of course, it was easier said than done.

"Heuk!" Rhizen grunted, slamming his hand into the trunk of the Tower of Purification, seeping his Nacre into it as it shone with a pale-yellow light, causing the flames to subside; the Tower of Purification regained its stability, continuing to purify the place.

Though, the radius of its effect had shrunk to 800 metres and continued to shrink before stabilising at the 600 metre mark.

"How's the status for the other towers?" Rhizen asked, watching Yulna communicating with the rest of the team before giving a report, "Most of them are in the 100-300 metre range, Saint."

"Guess we can only make do with what we have." Rhizen said, "Tell them to be prepared. I'll bring in the army in an hour."

"Yes," Yulna replied and transmitted the information.

Upon seeing his Tower of Purification working stably, Rhizen observed a yellow dome forming around it, smiling contently, "Safe zone established."

The formation of the yellow dome signalled the completion of the purification of the place. This ensured that anyone within this dome wouldn't turn into an Aberrant, rid of their corruption.

He then looked at the pocket watch, noticing that the corruption stopped increasing. It meant that they were going in the right direction with the setting up of safety zones throughout the world.

This was pretty much his third dive into an Apocalyptic World. And in comparison, the current world he had arrived at was the most dangerous. It was because its corruption was the closest to a hundred. The prior two worlds had a significantly lower corruption rate.

Consequently, a lot of things had to be probed on a trial-and-error basis as Rhizen flew out of the barrier. He landed before an apartment complex, inhaling a deep breath before shouting at the top of his voice, "Residents! There's an epidemic going on due to this mysterious Blood Rain. Everyone is advised to remain indoors until further notice."

Rhizen went around the neighbourhood, shouting the same while also using his Homing Feathers to kill those that were mutating.

If he simply told them to rush towards the safe zone, none would follow. After all, there was no credibility to his words, especially since people were unaware of what was going on, nervous and scared.

So, he had to wait until things progressed a little. At that time, Yulna would take care of diverting everyone toward the safe zone. By then, the size of the safe zone would have increased a little.

…

"Maintain silence." Felix motioned for his family to remain in hiding as he peered through the window, gazing at the truck parked at their gate. The two supermarket staff within were unconscious as some of the Blood Rain had drizzled upon them when their windows were left open.

The truck remained at the same spot while its engine continued to rev constantly.

From time to time, the driver's body twitched as his skin was turning into a greenish shade.

Felix watched the scene with bated breath. His hands held a long axe that he had purchased from the supermarket, bolting a spare axe on his back. He covered himself from head to toe, strapping a layer of leather atop to serve as protection.

Protecting his head was his bike helmet, one perfectly suited for this endeavour. His family was similarly equipped.

Out of all the weapons, a long axe was the easiest to use, at least for the first attack. Even if they were to mess up the attack, there would be no consequence as the force of impact would destroy the Aberrants.

Even if it failed, it was sufficient to stun the Aberrant, enough to unleash a more precise second strike.

And, he had enough spares for them to go around with such a tactic. 'But, this is only useful during the initial wave. Once the Aberrants start to mutate and grow in size, such tactics would prove futile.'

Grrr!

Suddenly, the staff seated in the driver's seat convulsed as he uttered a guttural sound. His neck shot up unnaturally, as if he had no spine, turning his head one-eighty-degrees. He stared out the window, making eye contact with Felix.

'Fuck!' There was a growing sense of nervousness in him as he felt something was amiss, for the Aberrant felt a tad too sharp than what he had been accustomed to at the start of the apocalypse in his previous life.

"Stay inside." Felix said, "These Aberrants can sense living beings. If we don't eliminate them fast, they'll draw more of them here."

"But, brother." Raisha said in concern, "It's risky."

"It'll be fine." Felix smiled and patted her, reassuring her, "I know what I'm doing."

Grrr!

The driver slithered out of the window, plopping to the ground as the sounds of his joints being dislocated resounded nonstop. Scales began to form on his skin as a layer of greenish mucous covered it.

There was a mild increase in the length of his body as he began to slither on the ground, experiencing difficulty in the process.

Though, it was only for a short duration as he began to adapt.

He wriggled in pain as crunching sounds resounded throughout his body, rapidly causing his body structure to turn more serpentine, slightly shrivelled up. His body rapidly morphed into a serpent, coughing out the unnecessary human organs from time to time.

Swish!

While it was continuing to change in appearance, Felix leapt onto it, swinging the axe with all his might, targeting its neck; he almost severed it into two in one hit.

Grr!

The mutating Aberrant retaliated, but as it was still changing forms, it didn't have the necessary faculty to target him. He had battled such creatures for almost twenty years; Felix was aware of their patterns.

He didn't give it any time to complete its mutation, dodging sideways before hacking at the neck once again, targeting the same spot as before, severing it into two.

Then, like a golf player, he sent the head flying away, retreating immediately as he observed the headless body twitch nonstop. But, it wasn't able to do anything without a head.

Felix slowly targeted its arm joints, satisfied after he immobilised it. 'As long as I leave it here, it would die after a few minutes.'

Roar!

He flinched upon hearing the sound, noticing the second staff leaping out of the tempo, sporting a humanoid appearance.

An enlarged head, with teeth double in number as compared to a human, thrice the length and girth. A skin that resembled an elephant's and a pair of hands that resembled a whip, with their ends sporting mouths, similar to a leech.

The mouth opened, revealing squirming teeth within, tiny, but innumerous. Seeing the scene, Raisha fainted out of disgust.

As he had seen it numerous times, Felix maintained his cool, slowly stepping towards the Aberrant that had fully mutated, inching forth as he tightened his grip on his axe. He didn't exert unnecessary strength in his grip though, for that would only serve to exhaust him faster.

GGraaa!

The Aberrant leapt towards him as its tentacle-like arms lashed out like whips in his direction. Felix slightly served back, watching the whips barely miss him. There was less than a centimetre between the two.

When he evaded them, the mouths attached at the end of the tentacle arms clattered their teeth, failing to clamp onto him.

The moment the two whips missed their target, they coiled around the Aberrant due to the resulting momentum. It created an opening of a second before it could unleash another attack. Felix used the opportunity and hacked its right shoulder, severing the right tentacle arm before expertly dodging its attack.

The severed tentacle arm behaved like a snake, slithering on the ground in order to bite him. Felix slashed it into three, making its slithering speed too slow to create any difference.

He then rolled on the ground, picked up the pace and began to run counter-clockwise to the Aberrant, preventing it from lashing out with its left tentacle arm.

He maintained the pace, constantly remaining in its blind spot, using a feint to expertly close in, targeting the left tentacle arm.

Felix dashed into it, using the momentum of the crash to force the axe deeper into its arm socket, severing it when they slammed into the ground.

He then followed up the attack by beheading the Aberrant.

The moment he finished off the two Aberrants, Felix looked around carefully, hearing growling sounds, sensing Aberrants in nearby locations, 'I should hurry.'

He unsheathed a knife and plunged it into the Aberrant's heart, searching for something before letting out a smile, "It's here."

He fished out a gelatinous substance from the Aberrant's heart, repeating the same to the serpentine Aberrant's heart too. Though, he wasn't as lucky the second time.

Pocketing the gelatinous substance, he quickly returned home, securing the entrance before using a bucket of water to wash the stains off his clothes.

Roar!

His mother was just about to help him when a resounding roar turned her legs weak and rattled everyone around her.

"Impossible! How is it here? This early?" Felix paled in fear, hurriedly sprinting to the terrace as he looked in the direction of the sound, collapsing in despair, "My god…!"

There, a bipedal creature strutted about, reaching a height of ten metres, and possessing an explosive set of limbs that allowed it to casually tear through cars like they were nothing.

Everywhere it tore through, it ate everything, whether human or Aberrant, causing its size to steadily increase in response.

Suddenly, its hands shot forth, slamming into a house before picking up a screaming human that it casually tossed into its mouth before walking away.

Titan Aberrant!

"W-Why is it here? The first of its kind only emerged ten years into the apocalypse. Is this because of my regression?" Felix felt his head spin, the number of questions in his mind spiralling out of control. Worry, doubt, confusion, and fear at the uncertainty plagued his mind, the emotional shock turning him still for a couple of seconds.

When he regained his bearings, he was horrified upon seeing the Titan Aberrant slowly making its way towards his house.

"We have to leave!" He descended the flight of stairs, announcing in a hurry.

"But how?" Raisha asked, "How will we survive out there?"

"We'll manage somehow." Felix said, prompting everyone to move, "But if we stay here, that Titan Aberrant will kill us all…"

Boom!

He hadn't even finished his sentence when their ceiling collapsed; a hand shot within, intending to grab Felix.

"Brother!" Raisha shouted in alarm, reflexively pushing him away as she was caught instead, screaming in fear, "Ahhhh!"

"Raisha!" Felix raged, noticing the Titan Aberrant gazing at him while sporting a grin, the same wide, drool-leaking grin flashed by the one that was about to eat him in his previous life.

Moreover, it wasn't the Titan Aberrant he observed from the terrace.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Slowly, thundering footsteps reverberated throughout the area. Having survived through the apocalypse, facing Aberrants day in and day out, Felix was capable of judging the type of Aberrant based on the rhythm of their footsteps.

Now, he determined that the footsteps belonged to Titan Aberrants. And, all of them were headed his way.