Apocalypse: King of Zombies-Chapter 1090: Blood and Venom

Henry walked over to where Garrick lay sprawled on the ground. With a wave of his hand, a soft white glow enveloped Garrick's body. Within moments, he was back on his feet, looking like he hadn't just been launched into a tree.

"You seriously addicted to meat or something?" Henry said, exasperated. "You really tried to tank that thing?"

"Uh… I just wanted to test how hard a mutant boar hits," Garrick replied, scratching the back of his head, clearly embarrassed.

"..."

Ethan stepped in, his tone calm but firm. "Garrick, don't do that again. If I tell you to dodge, it means don't take the hit. That was a Tier 7 mutant boar. If it had been Tier 8, Henry wouldn't have had time to heal you—you'd be sipping tea with God by now."

"Yes, Captain. Got it. Won't happen again."

Ethan nodded, then turned his gaze to the three massive boar corpses lying on the ground. His expression grew serious.

The mountain really lived up to its reputation as a human no-go zone. They'd only been up here for ten minutes and already ran into three Tier 7 mutant beasts.

And that was with them. If it had been anyone else—even with double the numbers—they'd be dead.

So much for turning the mountain into a supply run hotspot. It wasn't going to be that easy.

They quickly got to work extracting the crystal cores from the boars' skulls. Henry consumed two, pushing himself to the peak of Tier 7. The last one went to Sean.

Ethan, meanwhile, walked over to one of the boars and eyed its tusks. He raised his rebar staff and brought it down hard.

Clang!

The sharp ring of metal on bone echoed through the trees. The tusk didn't even crack.

Ethan's eyes lit up. This stuff was tough.

He swung again, this time with more force. The tusk finally snapped free.

He picked it up, turning it over in his hands, testing its weight and hardness. A grin tugged at the corner of his mouth.

Perfect.

He'd have Chris carve it into a dagger. With [Telekinesis], it'd be way more effective than his old machete. That thing was starting to feel outdated anyway.

Looking down at the three boar corpses, Ethan couldn't help but feel a little excited.

These things were walking treasure troves.

The hide could be turned into armor—probably tough enough to block most Tier 6 attacks. The bones? Solid weapon material. And the meat? Stewed right, it might even boost physical strength.

Only problem was, they couldn't exactly drag these things around while exploring. And leaving them here wasn't ideal either.

He was just debating whether to haul the bodies back to the compound when Pumpkin suddenly let out a sharp, anxious meow—and bolted up a nearby tree.

Everyone froze.

Then they heard it too.

A soft, creeping rustle—coming from all directions.

"Holy shit… don't tell me it's what I think it is," Ethan muttered, heart tightening. He activated [True Sight] and scanned the area.

What he saw made his scalp prickle.

Dozens—no, hundreds—of brown rattlesnakes were slithering toward them from every direction, drawn by the scent of blood.

They weren't huge, maybe not much bigger than normal, but Ethan could tell right away—they were mutated. Some were Tier 4, some Tier 5, and a few even Tier 6.

They hadn't grown in size, which meant their mutation likely wasn't physical.

It was probably their venom.

Which meant these snakes were way more dangerous than they looked.

Ethan's gut clenched. Sometimes, the small ones were worse than the big ones.

"S-Snakes?" Mia's voice trembled.

It was the first time anyone had seen her like this—scared. They'd always thought of her as the cool, composed one. Smart, powerful, unshakable.

But apparently, even Mia had her limits.

To be fair, the rest of the squad wasn't feeling great either. The sound alone was enough to make your skin crawl—and there were a lot of them.

"Ethan," Henry said, voice tight, "I'm not sure I can treat venom. Not this kind."

"Run!" Ethan barked. "Forget the bodies—head uphill!"

There were too many. Even he couldn't guarantee he'd avoid getting bitten.

The group bolted uphill without looking back.

Moments after they cleared the area, a swarm of brown snakes slithered out from the tall grass, flooding toward the three fallen mutant boar corpses.

When the squad glanced back, their skin crawled. Mia's face went pale, and she quickly turned away, chest rising and falling with panic.

But what happened next chilled them to the bone.

The snakes reached the boars—and the massive bodies began to shrink.

Right before their eyes, the boars' flesh seemed to melt. Their hides, meat, even the blood turned pitch black, dissolving like wax under a flame.

"Damn… their venom really is insane," Ethan muttered, heart pounding.

Good thing they'd noticed in time. If any of them had been bitten, not even Henry's healing might've saved them.

This mountain… was no joke.

Ethan watched as the rattlesnakes swarmed the corpses, completely ignoring the squad. That was a relief.

If the snakes weren't chasing them, they didn't need to keep running.

Still, he narrowed his eyes.

"These things are going to be a problem. Now that we've found them, we should wipe them out while we can."

He activated [True Sight] again and scanned the nearby brush.

More and more of the brown rattlesnakes were slithering toward the boar corpses, drawn by the scent of blood.

After a few minutes, the grass had emptied out. The snakes had all gathered in one place, coiled and writhing over what was left of the boars—though at this point, the bodies were completely buried under the mass of serpents.

"Big Mike," Ethan said, eyes locked on the swarm, "drop a few [Rain of Flames] on them. Should be enough to wipe them out."

"On it."

Big Mike nodded and crept forward carefully.

The snakes were too busy feasting to notice him.

A moment later, fire rained down from the sky.

Flames exploded across the clearing, and the snakes shrieked and thrashed as they were incinerated by the dozens.

Big Mike didn't stop there. Just to be sure, he cast [Rain of Flames] over and over, turning the entire area into a blazing inferno.

By the time it was done, nothing remained but ash—and three massive boar skeletons.

"Wiped out tens of thousands of mutant beasts in under a minute," Big Mike said, turning to Chris with a smug grin. "How's that for a kill count?"

Chris gave him a thumbs-up. "Yeah, yeah. You're a badass."

"Mia, put out the fire," Ethan said, glancing at the flames still licking the nearby trees. "Let's not burn the whole mountain down."

They weren't here to start wildfires. More importantly, if the mountain caught fire, every mutant beast in the region would go berserk—and the compound down below would be in serious trouble.

"Got it."

Mia stepped forward, summoning wave after wave of water to douse the flames. In no time, the fire was out.

Ethan swept the area with [True Sight] one last time, making sure nothing was left alive.

"Alright. Let's move. Stay sharp—this mountain's way more dangerous than we thought."

"Yeah."

The squad pressed on, climbing higher.

After that snake swarm, everyone was on full alert.

Ethan kept [True Sight] active the entire way. Whenever they spotted mutant beasts, they avoided them unless absolutely necessary.

The higher they climbed, the stronger the beasts became—but their numbers thinned out.

Eventually, they reached the halfway point up the mountain. Ethan came to a stop, eyes narrowing with hesitation.

"What is it?" Chris asked.

"There's a Tier 8 mutant beast up ahead," Ethan said slowly. "Not sure if we can take it."

Chris blinked. "Seriously? Ethan, come on. Back when we were Tier 6, half the squad helped take down a Tier 7 mutant tiger. Now we're all Tier 7, and you're Tier 8. You're telling me we can't handle one Tier 8 beast?"

He paused, then added, "What is it? Tiger? Lion?"

Ethan exhaled. "Mutant jaguar."

"...Oh."