"High-level spiritual beasts?" Nerith was taken aback, not expecting her daughter would mention this.

Zerra blinked and nodded. She didn’t regard her mom’s reaction as strange at all. Soon, Nerith and Alaric adjusted their expressions and exchanged glances again.

Alaric cleared his throat. "Where did you find the traces?"

"Before we arrived at this base." She nudged Cassias, letting him add details she couldn’t recall. "There was a zombie beast with strong defensive power. With my current level, even if there is a strong zombie beast, it wouldn’t have taken so much effort to kill it."

"We had so many people injured that they were half-dead once the battle was over." Her face grew solemn.

It was an important matter. If there were zombie beasts around, then...

"Zombie beasts spread the viruses," Cassias added.

In their celestial realm, every zombie beast corpses needed to be burned or dissolved, then cleaned to stop the zombie virus from spreading.

Even so, the effect was still devastating. If there was such a zombie beast in this mortal world, it would make sense that the world would gradually wither and turn into waste land with zombies everywhere.

Zerra couldn’t help but have an existential crisis. If it was someone from the celestial realm making a ruckus, what about the origin of this world? It didn’t seem to be as simple as the world of a book.

"The previous zombie beast should have a relatively lower power among the high-level spiritual beasts." She added, snapping them out of their thoughts.

It meant that there might be stronger zombie beasts roaming around, an existence even she and Cassias had to struggle to defeat. One zombie beast was enough to single-handedly wipe an entire city.

However, the Sylvaris parents were more concerned about their daughter’s well being.

"Be careful if you meet those kinds of zombie beasts. If you can’t defeat them, it’s okay to run away. As long as you are safe." Alaric told her in a concerned tone. Nerith nodded in agreement, her gaze filled with worry.

Zerra could only nod to reassure them. She couldn’t help but ask. "If the zombie beasts are the source of the apocalypse, why do they only appear now?"

"They can lay dormant, sleeping somewhere," Cassias answered.

She snapped her head toward him, and he flashed her a smile. Zerra pursed her lips. "Someone can make them lay dormant, who can do–"

Her words caught in her throat. She remembered her current ability in controlling the zombies and couldn’t help but fall into a deep thought. What if there was someone else with similar ability out there?

"Since the zombie beasts used to lay dormant and there is one appearing already, there might be more in the future. We should stay alert and careful." Nerith reminded.

They all nodded.

The days ahead were extremely peaceful.

Norman and others finally recovered fully, and they started to make a living at the base, joining missions. They always followed Mateo’s words.

Around two weeks had passed, and they thought it was best to hurry to the capital now. Even Alaric’s earth power had improved a lot. Nerith didn’t awaken any elemental ability, but her illusions were powerful and might as well be considered as an ability.

Their appearance also underwent significant change. More young and good-looking. Nerith didn’t even need to put on makeup again like the rich madam she was before the apocalypse.

Others also noticed this change.

Azir scratched the back of his head. "Auntie, Uncle, why the more I look the younger you two become?"

They were currently having dinner. Once they finished the dinner, Zerra would announce to Mateo and others that they were leaving. They also didn’t need them to follow their group again.

"Your mouth is so sweet," Nerith smiled.

This youthful teenager somehow reminded them of Laziel, a little reckless and full of endless topics. The two of them were quite fond of him.

However, this fondness also stemmed from guilt. Because they had neglected Laziel and Nyra before. They were used to being complete mortals, and now that they had regained their memories as celestial beasts, they noticed there was something weird.

The way they act and their behavior... it was as if there was some kind of force driving them to behave in a certain way. The decision they made and the way they saw things. It was too odd.

Once they were back, they needed to find an opportunity to make it up to Laziel and Nyra.

Even if...

Nerith snapped back to reality because of Azir’s next words. "I am serious. You two really look more and more young! They might mistake Zerra as the older sister if you two went out together in the future, Auntie."

Everyone laughed at that, making the atmosphere incredibly relaxed.

Zerra glared at him. This brat has become more and more disrespectful lately! Now, he was trying to curry favor with her mom while putting her down, hmph!

"Just wait, even if you look like a white-haired old man in the future, I will still be young!"

"How can that be? I am younger than you," Azir protested.

Throughout the dinner, the two bickered, making the room incredibly lively.

Unfortunately, even good things had to come to an end.

"Mateo, Norman, Ashley, Dion..." she called out their names one by one after they finished dinner. They all snapped their heads toward her, subconsciously straightening their bodies.

"Does something matter, Miss Zerra?" Mateo asked somewhat with deep unease. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Zerra took a deep breath. This group was incredibly well-behaved and didn’t cause trouble for them the entire time. They were decent companions.

"We are planning to leave this base soon." She announced.

The four exchanged glances, feeling that there was a deeper meaning behind her words. Does the word ’we’ include them too?

"I think you all should stay here." Zerra finally said the words. "You already see that there are such powerful creatures like the turtle we encountered before. If we are faced with such creatures in the future, we might not be able to protect you. Our destination is far and the journey is still long."

Mateo’s lips parted, yet no words came out. He wanted them to take their group of four along, however, they knew that they would only become a burden.

He decisively shut his mouth and nodded, stopping the others from speaking. "I will wish all of you a safe journey, Miss Zerra, Mr. Cassias, Mr. Sylvaris, and Mrs. Sylvaris."

The day after, they went to the base’s higher-ups to make a report. However, they were unexpectedly stopped.

One of the base leaders came to greet them. The middle-aged man flashed them a smile. Even in the apocalypse, this man remained round and meaty, with a beer belly.

However, since getting supplies in the apocalypse depended on one’s ability, they didn’t judge him. Even the four of them, celestial beasts, had devoured a large number of crystal cores.

He greeted them one by one.

"Do you need something from us?" Alaric asked, taking the role of the head of the family.

The middle-aged man had dark circles around his eyes. Obviously, something had been bothering him. He closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose, and then opened his eyes again.

"It’s like this. I know that Mr. Sylvaris and family are powerful ability users. For the past few weeks, our people kept disappearing when we sent them to a certain area, but lately, even more groups didn’t come back."

"I heard that it’s your group which retrieved that important item for our base. I would like to, on behalf of the base, to ask all of you to help us once again." His face became solemn. "We will offer generous rewards."

"People kept on disappearing?" Zerra asked in puzzlement.

"They heard the sounds of some roars, very loud. The team who managed to escape suspected that it was some kind of monster." He shook his head.

"We are truly at our wit’s end. Therefore, I hope that you can help us. Because if this continues, more ability users will perish. Possibly, even the base too with the rate at which people kept losing their lives."

The four of them exchanged glances. As if they possessed the same single cell at this moment, similar thoughts emerged in their mind.

A high-level spiritual beast which had turned into a zombie.

They discussed with each other through brainwave communication. This method was a little awkward for them, but they had no other choice.

In the end, they finally decided.

"We will help to participate in this." Alaric spoke. "How many people will join?"

The middle-aged man was excited, and as such, they ended up discussing their plan on how to deal with the monster. He also no longer hid about the appearance of the monster anymore.

In a few days, they finally set off. Mateo and other high-level ability users joined. Even some lower-level ability users also participated, as long as they were willing.

They saw Anita in the team, holding a woman who covered her entire figure in a cloth.