A few minutes after the giant bird passed, a vast swarm of Winged Clan experts came screaming in from the distance.

Ethan took one look at that black cloud of silhouettes and his scalp went tight. He sank deeper into cover, making himself as small as possible, and turned True Sight on them.

Almost immediately, one figure at the front drew his attention—a middle-aged guy with a rough, unpleasant-looking face.

Tier 33.

Ethan’s heart jumped. So that’s him... Aeralon.

And he actually came in person.

The Winged Clan swept overhead in a roaring stream. Their eyes were locked on the bird. They didn’t spare the ground below even a glance.

Which made sense.

If they let that roc escape, what awaited them was retaliation—violent, relentless, and personal. They didn’t have the numbers to let something like that hunt them down again.

One ambush had already cost them half their manpower. If it happened a second time, they might get wiped out completely.

They’d finally managed to beat the bird to the point of severe injury. No matter what, they couldn’t let it slip away.

And with wounds that heavy, flying this hard would only make it worse. As long as they didn’t give it time to heal, it would eventually collapse on its own. Then they could finish it.

A Tier 35 mutant beast.

For Aeralon, that was heaven-sent wealth. Absorbing its energy could push him to Tier 34 with ease.

So in Aeralon’s eyes, nothing else mattered. Not Atlas City, not humans, not side missions—everything was dust compared to that bird.

Only after the Winged Clan had flown far enough away did Ethan finally ease out of the tree canopy.

He watched their retreating backs and muttered, half to himself, "Last time, that Winged Clan said there were over four thousand of them on Earth... but I’m only seeing about two thousand here."

"So where’s the other half? Still at their base... or did that bird tear them apart?"

He narrowed his eyes. "With a Tier 35, killing half of them is totally possible. That would also explain why it’s so badly injured."

He shook his head. "Whatever. Doesn’t matter how many they’ve got left—this is a rare chance."

With that, Ethan turned and shot back toward Fallen Star City. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

He arrived quickly, dropped straight into the central mansion, and grabbed Henry—who was still sitting there absorbing mysterious energy—by the arm and yanked him up.

"Come with me."

Henry blinked, completely confused. Next thing he knew, Ethan had him up in the air, riding on the poleaxe as they shot into the sky.

"Ethan—what’s so urgent?" Henry finally managed, wind tearing at his voice. "I’m in the middle of pushing through. Give me two more days and I’ll break into Stage A."

"You can break through anytime," Ethan said, eyes never leaving the live feed on his phone. "This can’t wait."

"Oh." Henry swallowed whatever else he wanted to say and nodded, going quiet.

Goldcrest City...

Compared to Atlas City’s crisis atmosphere, Goldcrest City had been peacefully grinding and expanding.

In the surrounding cities, Awakened and Enhanced were everywhere, clearing zombies nonstop.

Teams used bait, traps, and ambushes to peel off zombie packs chunk by chunk. Crystal cores piled up. Strength climbed steadily.

Sixty miles from Goldcrest City, in a small town boxed in by mountain ranges, a massive force—over ten thousand people—was surrounding a small zombie horde of only a few hundred.

With that kind of numbers advantage, the zombies were getting erased fast.

But it still wasn’t easy.

Because mixed into that pack was a Tier 18 zombie.

Luckily, this was one of the top three teams in all of Goldcrest City. They hadn’t stumbled into this—they’d come specifically for that Tier 18.

After the Tier 18 had wiped out a few smaller squads, news spread. This team happened to be nearby, and they rushed over immediately, launching a full encirclement and purge.

Before long, the last of the ordinary zombies were down.

The Tier 18 fought like a demon, killing hundreds of people... but in the end, it was dogpiled by a group of Tier 17 Enhanced and beaten to death.

The squad captain ran up, practically vibrating with excitement, and dug out the crystal core himself.

It glowed with a vivid green light.

He stared at it, face flushing with pure exhilaration.

"Stage B..." he breathed.

Finally.

He could break through.

"Congrats, Captain!" his people shouted, practically bouncing. "With that crystal core, you’ll be the third Enhanced in the compound to break into Stage B! Once you do, we won’t have to be scared of Ironhorn Squad anymore!"

"Seriously," someone else piled on, grinning ear to ear. "With your strength, the moment you hit Stage B, you’ll crush Ironhorn Squad. Grayfang Squad will be the second-strongest team in Goldcrest City, easy!"

"Second?" The captain—Grayson Hale—didn’t look all that thrilled by the title.

But he also knew first place was out of reach.

Goldcrest City’s top squad captain was a straight-up monster. Back when the government side barely had a handful of Stage B fighters, that guy had already broken through—and he was an Awakened on top of it.

The authorities had tried to recruit him over and over. He’d refused every single time.

With his strength, if he’d joined the official forces, he’d already be one of the strongest people in the entire compound.

Too bad the guy was powerful and arrogant as hell.

Grayson was still thinking about that when—

A large group of people suddenly appeared and surrounded them.

"!!!"

Every Grayfang Squad member tensed, instinctively raising weapons, fear rippling through the line.

And when they recognized who had them boxed in, the fear turned into outright panic.

"Apex Squad!"

Grayson’s face changed instantly. He hurriedly pocketed the crystal core.

A second later, a young man stepped out from the crowd—cold, proud, and looking like he’d never once been told "no" in his life.

His eyes locked straight onto Grayson.

"Hand it over."

Grayson forced his expression blank. "Hand what over?"

The young man didn’t blink. "Don’t play stupid. The Tier 18 crystal core. Give it to me."

Grayson’s jaw tightened. "Cyrus... we’re all from Goldcrest City. Don’t you think this is a little much?"

"A little much?" Cyrus shook his head, almost amused.

"It’s the apocalypse. The strong take what they want. The weak accept reality."

"Strong, strong—yeah, sure." Someone behind Grayson couldn’t hold it in anymore and snapped, voice shaking with rage. "If you’re so damn strong, go rob Fallen Star City! Picking on people in your own city—what kind of ’strength’ is that?"

"...."

Cyrus went quiet for a moment, eyes flat.

Then he said, calm as ice, "Fallen Star City? If I get the chance, I’ll go."

He looked back at Grayson. "Now—take out the Tier 18 crystal core. Don’t make me do it."

Grayson’s face darkened. "I’m not giving you anything. If you want it, start a fight. And if we fight, let’s see whether the government steps in."

Cyrus narrowed his eyes. "You really think they’ll get here in time?"

His voice stayed mild, but the threat underneath it was sharp enough to cut.

"I can kill you before they show up. And when they arrive, the worst I’ll get is a lecture. Nothing more."

Grayson felt his stomach drop.

He believed him.

Cyrus wasn’t bluffing. That lunatic would absolutely do it.

Grayson’s hand hovered near his pocket, torn between swallowing the humiliation and gambling his life.

And then—

A shadow swept across the ground.

From the distant sky, a gigantic bird appeared—closing fast, so fast the air itself seemed to howl around it.

The moment everyone saw it, the temperature in the crowd dropped.

That pressure... that wild, terrifying aura...

Faces went white.

Even Cyrus couldn’t keep his cool anymore. The cold arrogance vanished, replaced by raw shock as he stared up at the incoming monster.