Apocalypse Baby-Chapter 203: Leave or Die
His mind raced.
Had he really spent two whole weeks inside the Nightmare?
No… Impossible.
It hadn't felt that long. It couldn't have been that long.
Unless...
Unless time worked differently.
Just like how time in the tutorial moved faster than in the real world…
Time inside the Nightmare must have moved even slower than the tutorial itself.
Alex exhaled sharply, his fingers tightening into a fist.
Two weeks…
He muttered the words again, as if saying them aloud would change the reality.
Shit.
The lost time frustrated him, but he quickly pushed the feeling aside.
No use crying over it.
Alex nodded to himself, his mind lost in deep thought.
The rewards he had gained in the tutorial—they were worth it.
Every second of struggle. Every battle. Every hardship.
Nothing had been in vain.
At this point, he had completely tuned out his surroundings. His focus was locked inward, processing everything he had just realized.
The world around him? Gone.
The hostile stares? Ignored.
The tension thick in the air? Unnoticed.
To Alex, they simply didn't matter.
Maybe it was because none of them felt like a real threat to him anymore.
Ethan's jaw clenched.
This bastard—he wasn't even paying attention to them.
The players surrounding Alex bristled with anger, their fingers twitching toward their weapons.
A dozen enemies, and he didn't even acknowledge them?
To them, it was disrespect. To Ethan, it was humiliation.
Sythrel, the assassin, had enough.
His patience snapped like a brittle twig.
With a low growl, he drew his blade, its edge gleaming with a deadly sheen.
"That's it… I've heard enough of your nons..."
He never got to finish.
Because in that instant—Alex's gaze finally shifted.
Cold.
And it landed directly on Sythrel.
Sythrel's breath hitched.
An intense pressure crashed down on him, slamming into his chest like an invisible force.
His muscles locked up.
His fingers, gripping the blade, stiffened.
Cold sweat trickled down his neck.
"W-what the hell is this…?" he stammered, his voice barely above a whisper.
His instincts screamed at him.
This feeling—it was death.
Not the mere idea of it. Not a vague possibility.
Actual. Imminent. Death.
It was as if a blade was already at his throat.
As if the moment he moved—his life would be over.
Ethan felt it too.
His heartbeat skipped. His breath shallowed.
He had fought many strong opponents.
Faced off against monsters far above his level.
But this?
The thing standing before him…
"There's no way he's human," Ethan thought, his fists clenching.
Just what had Alex become?
Before he could act—
His senses flared.
A presence. Above.
Moving fast.
Straight toward Alex.
Ethan's eyes snapped upward.
Darrel?!
"No wait!" Ethan yelled, his voice ripping through the tense air.
But it was too late.
Darrel smirked.
His body was already descending like a meteor.
"You snooze, you lose."
Flames erupted from his hand, swirling like a living beast around his sword.
The blade glowed a blinding orange, heat waves distorting the air.
With a fierce battle cry, he swung down at Alex...
A direct strike. A killing blow.
Everyone held their breath.
But...a barrier flickered to life in front of Alex, before Darrel hit.
Then...
CLANG!
A metallic shockwave rippled through the air.
Then...
BOOM!
An explosion erupted, flames blasting outward, kicking up a thick cloud of dust.
The ground trembled. Players stumbled back from the sheer force.
And yet—as the smoke began to clear—Alex still stood.
Untouched.
Instead of Alex falling—It was Darrel who was sent flying through the air like a ragdoll.
His body crashed into the ground with a heavy THUD.
Smoke oozed from the scorched wound on his chest.
Unconscious.
There was a brief silence.
Everyone trying to comprehend what had just happened.
Then...
Darrel's men tensed.
Fury flashed in their eyes as they prepared to charge.
But before they could even take a step—
Alex muttered.
"Petrify."
Instantly—
Their bodies stiffened.
Eyes wide in terror, their limbs locked in place.
They couldn't move. Not even a finger.
And then...
CRACK.
All eyes snapped back to Alex.
The chains binding him—the enchanted chains, the ones meant to hold an S-rank monster—
Shattered.
They crumbled like dust, falling to the ground in useless fragments.
Ethan's breath hitched.
"No way..."
He knew exactly how strong those chains were.
They came from a rare scroll, a reward for slaying a beast lord.
And yet—
Alex had broken free as if they were nothing.
What... was this?
The players stood frozen, disbelief and fear creeping into their expressions.
Then—Alex's voice rumbled through the air, vibrating in their chests like an eerie pulse.
A chill running down their spines.
"Seriously, peeps..."
Something about the way he spoke—so calm, so amused—felt wrong.
He rolled his shoulders, stretching leisurely as if waking from a nap.
"If you were going to capture me..."
A metallic clink echoed as the last of the chains slipped off his wrists.
"You should've used sturdier bindings."
His tone was mocking.
Casual.
As if they were nothing but children playing a game they'd already lost.
Alex exhaled slowly.
The new and improved [Slipstream], now [Void Slip], had made breaking free effortless.
[Arcane Dominion] enabling him to deflect Darrel attack.
The players stiffened.
Weapons were drawn.
Their grips tightened.
They no longer saw a man.
They saw a monster.
A creature that shouldn't exist.
The air turned frigid.
Alex's expression hardened, his once casual demeanor replaced with something icy and unreadable.
Then, he spoke.
"I'll only warn you once."
His voice was calm. Too calm.
"Leave now, and you'll have a 100% chance of survival."
"Attack... and your chances of dying increase significantly."
His gaze swept over them, unmoved by the rising tension.
"Make a choice."
The players stiffened.
No one moved.
Their hearts pounded in their chests like war drums.
The weight of his words pressed down on them.
Then, Alex added:
"You have 10 seconds to decide. Lets not waste each other time."
His voice remained steady.
"I want to avoid killing as much as possible..."
"But if you force my hand—You'll regret it."
With that…
Alex began to count down.
Loud, and clear enough for everyone to hear.
"9..."
The number echoed in the tense air.
Ethan's eyes widened in disbelief.
Was he serious?
"8..."
His fists clenched. His teeth gritted.
Alex was too calm. Too confident. Too arrogant.
The other players weren't as composed.
Some swallowed hard. Sweat dripped down their faces.
A few took hesitant steps back.
"If you value your lives… leave." Alex's voice remained steady.
"7."
Nancy exhaled sharply. Her shoulders dropped.
She turned on her heel, ready to walk away.
She didn't want to witness a massacre.
And she was sure that was what was going to happened.
But— Ethan's voice boomed.
"Where do you think you're going?!"
"6..."
Ethan whipped around to face the others, eyes blazing.
"No one leaves! He can't defeat us all!"
"5..."
A shiver ran through Thompson's spine.
His gut screamed at him.
He swallowed, voice barely above a whisper.
"Mr. Ethan… I don't think he's bluffing."
He had seen Alex's wrath before.
But this version of Alex was far worse.
"4..."
Jonah hesitated before speaking up. "I agree… we should leave."
"3..."
Ethan's jaw clenched. His pride flared.
Leave?
Run away from Alex?
It didn't make sense.
Alex?
The same pathetic loser who just stood there, silent, as Ethan poured drinks over his head?
The same fool who worked overtime for an entire month—and got zero pay—yet still didn't complain?
How could someone like that make his heart race with fear?
How could someone like him—Be a threat?
Ethan refused to see reality.
Alex was powerful—stupidly powerful.
But so what? Filth like him shouldn't act so arrogant.
He shouldn't be the one in control.
And Ethan was sure of one thing—Alex couldn't possibly take on all of them.
So why should he cower?
"2..."
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"Ethan!" Thompson yelled, his voice desperate, almost pleading.
"Shut up!" Ethan snapped, his rage boiling over. "Anyone who leaves dies by my hands! We're not leaving until I get my points!"
"1..."
Alex exhaled. A slow, tired sigh.
"Just so you know... I didn't want to do this."
"Screw you!" Ethan roared, his anger erupting into raw power.
A brilliant aura exploded from his body, swirling like a raging storm.
In an instant, ethereal armor materialized around him, shimmering with light, and covering him from head to toe. His body radiated power, making the ground beneath him tremble slightly.
His eyes burned with contempt as he glared at Alex.
"You may have grown strong in this world," Ethan sneered, his voice dripping with venom. "But don't forget who you are. You're a loser. And compared to me, you'll always be one."
Alex's grinned.
Ethan hadn't changed.
Good.
Now he could beat the hell out of him—without a shred of regret.
