Chapter 485: Sand Cataclysm

“What’s the plan?” Gatorax asked, clearly intrigued.

“The main force is almost here. Since we’re the vanguard, we’ve gotta unify the local powers first—recruit a few more underlings!” Big Ears said with a grin.

Lately, Genesis Biotech hadn’t shown up, and Gatorax, along with his crew of zombies, had become a pretty solid force in Texas. Big Ears figured it’d be a waste not to make use of this new ally. Naturally, he wanted to take Gatorax out for a spin—show him off a bit, flex some muscle, and make a statement in front of the other Zombie Kings.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Gatorax nodded, impressed. Big Ears really lives up to his name—sharp mind, always thinking ahead. He’s doing everything he can for the hive.

He grabbed four or five of his most trusted lieutenants and set off with Big Ears, leaving San Antonio behind.

Gatorax knew Texas like the back of his hand, so the journey was smooth. They didn’t run into any human factions along the way.

Some low-level zombies spotted Gatorax and either bolted in terror or dropped to their knees in submission.

“Not bad at all,” Big Ears said, clearly pleased. He never imagined that a fringe Zombie King from the Los Angeles hive would end up in a position like this.

After a while, they reached the outskirts of a city. From a distance, they could see several massive mutated birds circling in the sky above the urban ruins.

The birds had wingspans over twenty feet, and each feather looked sharp enough to slice through steel.

“Looks like there’s a hive here,” Big Ears muttered, eyes narrowing.

Gatorax nodded quickly. “Yeah, Big Ears. This city’s controlled by a Zombie King—probably around Class A. He’s got about five thousand zombies under him.”

Big Ears gave a casual nod. “Small-time.”

“Let’s go have a chat with him. See if he wants to join the crew.”

“Big Ears, this one’s a fusion-type Zombie King. Not super strong, but he can fly. That makes him a real pain to deal with,” Gatorax warned.

These days, any zombie still surviving in Texas had to be tough as hell. The weak ones had already been wiped out by Genesis Biotech or the Black Hand Legion. The ones left? All hard cases.

A flying Zombie King?

What’d he fuse with—a pigeon?

Big Ears didn’t seem too worried. Worst case, he could just drop the boss’s name. Once the zombie horde from L.A. rolled in, this guy wouldn’t even have time to beg for mercy.

And even if they couldn’t recruit him, showing off a little wouldn’t hurt.

“Under the throne lies a mountain of bones. Even if he’s a pain in the ass, we still gotta try. What, we just gonna sit around waiting for a miracle to fall from the sky?”

“Right, right!” Gatorax nodded eagerly. Made sense to him.

But just then, something dark started falling from the sky.

As the shapes got closer, they realized—they were carrion birds. Big ones.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The birds slammed into the streets and crumbling rooftops, tumbling and crashing to the ground in clouds of dust and debris.

“What the hell?!”

Big Ears and Gatorax both jumped.

“Did they really just fall out of the sky?”

“Come on, let’s check it out!”

They moved in from the city’s edge, heading toward the crash site. Climbing to the top of a tall building, they lay low in the moss and weeds, peering down.

Sure enough, several carrion birds were sprawled across the ground, their bodies twisted in unnatural ways. It didn’t look like they’d just fallen—they’d been dead before they hit.

“Damn… they got wrecked. What the hell happened here?” Big Ears muttered, eyes narrowing.

“Raaagh—!”

Suddenly, the zombies in the city stirred, letting out guttural howls and sending out signals—there were intruders.

Gatorax tensed. “Shit, did they spot us?”

“Relax. They’re not reacting to us,” Big Ears said.

But he wasn’t smiling anymore. His expression had turned grim. His oversized ears twitched—he could hear something.

Engines. engines.

He looked up—and there it was. A sleek, high-tech aircraft descending slowly from the sky, its streamlined body gleaming in the light. It was heading straight for the city.

Painted on the side was a bold red “GB”—Genesis Biotech.

“They’re landing… right in the middle of the hive?”

“No way. That’s suicide.”

“But they’re really doing it…”

Gatorax and the others stared in disbelief. Sure, Genesis Biotech had the firepower to take on this hive, but there was only one aircraft. That meant not many humans onboard.

And it was heading straight for the heart of the hive.

As soon as the aircraft touched down, there was a sharp click—the hatch split open and slid to both sides with a smooth mechanical hiss.

Five figures stepped into view. Leading the group was a young man, followed closely by a girl with long, dark brown hair and bright, intelligent eyes. She had a sweet, almost innocent face—but the way she carried herself said she was anything but naive.

Behind them were three bald men, all strikingly handsome and built like elite operatives.

“First day in Texas and we’re already getting dive-bombed by mutant birds,” the young man muttered, hopping casually out of the aircraft. “Real warm welcome.”

The others followed him down without hesitation.

“Richard did say the ones left here are the tough ones,” the girl said, scanning the ruined cityscape.

“Well then,” the young man replied, eyes narrowing as he took in the surroundings, “let’s see just how tough they are.”

Their arrival had already stirred the hive. The air was thick with guttural howls and snarls. One by one, grotesque faces emerged from the shadows—zombies pouring in from every alley and broken street, their bloodlust palpable.

Above, hundreds of massive carrion birds circled, blotting out the sun with their wings, shrieking as they prepared to strike.

Thousands of zombies surged forward like a tidal wave, bearing down on the five humans, ready to tear them apart.

“Quicksand Surge!”

The young man’s voice rang out, calm but commanding. A dull yellow light pulsed from beneath his feet, rippling outward like waves on a pond.

Wherever the energy spread, the ground transformed—solid earth turning into fine, shifting sand.

The moment the zombies stepped into it, they began to sink. Their limbs thrashed, claws flailed, and guttural roars filled the air—but it was useless. The more they struggled, the faster they were swallowed by the sand.

In seconds, the battlefield had become a desert of death. Thousands of zombies were buried alive, their screams muffled beneath the dunes.

“Holy shit… that’s insane,” Big Ears whispered from the rooftop, eyes wide with awe. He’d never seen a human with that kind of firepower before.

“RAAAHHH—!”

A deafening roar shook the air. The Zombie King had arrived.

It was a grotesque fusion—upper body of a zombie, lower half of a bird. Massive wings unfurled from its back, stretching over forty feet wide.

Its eyes burned with fury as it watched its minions vanish beneath the sand. With a screech, it dove from the sky, leading a hundred of its elite carrion birds in a deadly aerial assault.

They came screaming down like missiles, slicing through the air with terrifying speed.

“Sand Cataclysm.”

The young man raised his hand slowly, and the ground responded.

The flowing sand surged upward, spiraling into the sky, wrapping around the incoming birds like a living storm. In seconds, each one was encased in a massive sand sphere, suspended midair like a constellation of deadly planets.

The scene was surreal—over a hundred sand orbs floating above the city, humming with energy.

Then—

BOOM!

The young man clenched his fist.

A thunderous explosion rocked the sky as every sand sphere detonated at once. Blinding yellow dust filled the air, and a shockwave rippled outward, flattening everything in its path.

Even Big Ears and Gatorax, watching from a distance, were caught in the blast. They threw their arms over their faces as debris and sand whipped past them. The building beneath them groaned and cracked, threatening to collapse under the pressure.

Gatorax squinted through the dust. “Big Ears… what do we do now? Still thinking about recruiting them?”

“Recruit my ass!” Big Ears shouted, eyes bugging out. “Did you see that?! One move and half the damn city’s gone!”

He shook his head, ears twitching in panic. “Screw this. We’re outmatched. This mission’s a bust—we’re going back to what we do best!”

“What’s that?”

“Running!”

“…Oh.”

…