Chapter 519: Kill... me...

Chapter 519: Kill… me…

Mia was still holding her ground like a pro. With her Stellar Fang katana slicing through the air, she made quick work of the mutant spiders—especially the big ones, the kind that ranked above Class A.

The Stellar Fang was insanely sharp, cutting through just about anything like it was paper.

Mia wielded it with ease, and as she hacked her way through the swarm, she actually felt… relaxed. Like it was therapeutic.

“Not bad at all…” she muttered, a small smile tugging at her lips.

It was hard to imagine—if a weapon like this got embedded with an S-class or higher crystal core, what kind of monster would it become?

Meanwhile, Ethan scanned the battlefield. The spiders just kept coming, wave after wave, like they were endless. With only Mia and the others holding the line, this could take a while.

Back in the day, Sable from the “Perfect Team” could wipe out five thousand zombies in just a few moves.

Ethan now? He could do the same—and more. He was stronger. Way stronger.

With a single thought, he unleashed the power of the Domain of the Dead.

It spread like wildfire. Grass withered and crumbled to dust beneath its reach, ancient trees exploded into splinters, and the air itself seemed to shudder.

The once-raging spiders froze mid-lunge, like someone had hit pause. Then, one by one, they burst apart like overcharged lightbulbs.

Blood sprayed everywhere. The battlefield turned into a scene straight out of hell.

“Holy crap…” Elara whispered, eyes wide. It was the first time she’d seen anything like this, and it left her stunned.

Ethan, dressed in a crisp white shirt, walked calmly through the chaos like he was taking a stroll in the park. Everything the Domain touched disintegrated into ash.

Mia glanced over, a flicker of surprise in her eyes.

“What’s gotten into him today? He’s actually putting in effort.”

Chris, on the other hand, was still being chased by two spiders the size of compact cars. Panic written all over his face, he felt the surge of Ethan’s Domain and immediately bolted in that direction.

“Wait for me!”

The two spiders didn’t care. They were relentless, jaws snapping, dead set on tearing him apart.

But the moment they crossed into the Domain of the Dead, their bodies seized up. They started trembling uncontrollably, like their systems were short-circuiting.

“Still chasing me? Yeah, that’s over now.” Chris raised his hand, flames roaring to life in his palm. With a sweeping motion, the fire surged forward like a dragon, engulfing the spiders and reducing them to ash.

Ethan’s Domain had flipped the entire battle on its head. It was a slaughter now. The mutant creatures, driven by primal fear, wouldn’t even come close. Some were already turning tail and fleeing in every direction.

With Ethan at the center, Chris and the others were practically untouchable.

“Help! Help!”

A voice rang out from deeper inside the spider nest—urgent, desperate, and definitely human.

Chris turned toward the sound. Through the shredded webs, he could just make out a few figures stuck to the far wall, tangled in sticky silk.

The one calling out was a girl—blonde hair, blue eyes, tall and curvy, and honestly, pretty damn attractive.

She was spread-eagled on the web, arms and legs completely immobilized.

Her clothes were already in tatters, and in that position, her body was on full display—every curve, every detail.

Chris squinted. It was a little too far to see clearly.

“I’m coming to get you!”

He charged forward, titanium machete in hand, ready to cut her free. But after a few steps, he froze.

The girl’s body started convulsing. Her eyes rolled back, and the entire web shook violently with her spasms.

Chris got a better look now—and what he saw made his stomach turn.

Her belly was swollen, unnaturally round and lumpy. Beneath her skin, tiny shapes—about the size of grains of rice—were wriggling, crawling just under the surface. It looked like her skin was covered in goosebumps, but worse. Way worse.

Anyone with even a hint of trypophobia would’ve lost it on the spot.

“This is…”

Chris’s eyes went wide, his pupils shrinking as he stared in disbelief. He’d seen some serious shit before—he wasn’t new to the horrors of the mutated world—but this? This was next-level.

Especially with mutant spiders. He knew their habits all too well. Back in the San Bernardino National Forest near L.A., there were still plenty of these freaks crawling around.

And when they reproduced? They’d lay their eggs inside living hosts, using fresh, warm flesh as an incubator.

Pop!

As he was piecing it together, the girl’s swollen belly suddenly burst open with a sickening wet sound.

Thousands—no, tens of thousands—of tiny spiders, each no bigger than a grain of rice, came pouring out in a writhing, frantic swarm. They piled on top of each other, a living, crawling mountain of nightmares.

They were hyperactive, almost frenzied, scrambling over each other to escape her ruptured body.

Ethan gave the scene a quick glance and immediately noticed something off. These spiders weren’t the same breed as the ones outside. They bred faster—way faster. One host could spawn tens of thousands.

Chris felt his scalp go numb. Without hesitation, he raised his hand and unleashed a wave of fire, incinerating the newborn swarm along with the girl’s corpse in a single, merciful blaze.

But she wasn’t the only one.

Nearby, two more people were still trapped. One was hanging from a tree, suspended by webbing as thick as steel cables. The other was cocooned tightly, wrapped up like a human-sized silkworm.

“Kill… me…”

The cocooned man’s voice was hoarse, his eyes bloodshot and filled with terror. He’d seen what happened to the girl, and now he was begging—pleading—for the same fate.

His stomach was already starting to twitch. Something was moving under the skin, just like before.

He looked at Chris, desperation in his eyes, silently begging for release.

“What’s he saying?” Chris asked, confused.

“He wants you to kill him,” Elara said quietly.

“Oh…” Chris blinked, finally getting it.

But before he could act—pop!

The man’s abdomen exploded, just like the girl’s. A flood of tiny spiders burst out, wriggling and screeching as they hit the ground.

“Uh… damn. Sorry, I was a second too late,” Chris muttered, stunned.

He sighed, then raised his hand again. Flames roared to life and swept over the man’s body and the newborn swarm, reducing them all to ash.

Two people—one begging to be saved, the other begging to die. Both ended the same way.

Now only one remained.

The last survivor had been hanging from the tree, but Chris’s earlier fire had burned through the surrounding webs.

Thud!

The man dropped hard, slamming into the ground with a painful grunt.

He clenched his jaw, face twisted in agony, but didn’t waste a second. He tore at the remaining strands of webbing, freeing himself, then slumped against a nearby tree.

Grabbing a jagged piece of wood, he shoved it between his teeth and bit down hard.

“Quick… we have to hurry… the Spider Empress is coming…” he muttered in a thick accent, speaking in a native dialect.

He was frantic, muttering to himself as he pulled a dagger from his belt. Gripping it in both hands, he flipped it around so the blade pointed toward his own stomach.

Chris’s eyes widened. “Oh damn… he’s about to cut himself open.”

Ethan stood silently, watching the man with a calm, unreadable expression.

The young man’s breathing was ragged, sweat pouring down his face in thick drops. He hesitated, the pain and fear warring inside him.

But then he remembered what had just happened to the others.

That was all the motivation he needed.

With a sharp cry, he drove the blade into his abdomen.

Schlick!

Blood sprayed out in a crimson arc.

He bit down on the wood so hard it cracked, a muffled groan escaping his throat. His face contorted in agony, veins bulging on his forehead as his body trembled.

But he wasn’t done.

With one hand, he reached into the open wound, fingers digging deep into his own flesh.

He fumbled around inside, searching, until—

Yank!

He pulled something out.

His entire body went rigid, muscles locked in place from the sheer pain.

In his blood-soaked hand, he held a clump of unhatched spider eggs—translucent, jelly-like, and pulsing faintly.

…

Here’s a redemption code for everyone: