Apocalypse King: Recruiting S-Tier Beauties With My Ruler System
Chapter 193: A Mutated Beast!?

Chapter 193: A Mutated Beast!?

The rounds hammered into the first Blade-type’s chest, spraying black flesh and shards of bone, but it didn’t slow. It skittered sideways, impossibly fast, metal arms flashing. Roulan rolled away, tonfa scraping sparks off the tiles as she slid under a wild swing.

Yifei lunged, spear whipping up to parry the other mutant’s slash. Metal screeched on metal. Sparks burst as the edge glanced off her weapon, missing her cheek by a hair. She spun, drove her spear into the mutant’s thigh, and ripped free. Rotten flesh tore, but the Blade-type only grinned wider, jaws unhinging.

The first one was already on me, blades crossing in a scissor slash aimed at my neck. I dropped low, firing point-blank. The tungsten rounds chewed a hole through its ribs, but its blade caught my shoulder, biting deep and burning cold.

I grunted, kicked out, and sent the mutant staggering.

Roulan came up behind, tonfa smashing into the back of its knee. It dropped briefly enough for me to plant a round in its skull. Bone and gore sprayed, but the thing kept twitching.

The second mutant lunged for Yifei again. She twisted away, using the curve of her spear to catch its blade, wrenching it aside. She moved in close, elbow cracking into its face. For a heartbeat, they were locked—her strength against its inhuman fury.

Roulan called out, "John! These bastards are strange!"

No time to answer. The air thickened, Qi pressing in from below. More shapes moved in the dark behind the chamber, claws scraping stone. Mutants, maybe worse.

My HUD flashed a new warning.

[Life Signs Detected: Stage 2, Stage 3. Quantity: Unknown.]

Yifei’s spear flickered, Roulan braced for another charge, and I raised both guns, sweat slicking my grip.

The Blade-types came again.

From the pit beyond, something massive stirred, breath rattling through the tunnel.

We were just getting started.

My points and experience exploded with each kill: ten for a stage one, a hundred for a stage two, a thousand for stage three... the counter and ping like a melody of grace.

’How many cores have I collected...’

Dozens of each type filled my inventory, red, blue, yellow and green enough to boost everyone into Stage Three or Four.

I would take the Stage three cores for myself.

Maybe I can sell a few.

Clang!

My first two shots blew straight through the Blade-type’s chest, punching fist-sized holes through bone and black lung.

It barely slowed the fucker!

The second one came in low, metal arms scissoring for my legs. I fired again, tungsten rounds howling with sweet pops, emptying both mags in a heartbeat—sixty shots, sixty direct hits although the mutants looked like shit but didn’t drop.

I moved before they could recover and spun, lining up a full-auto burst, and emptied the mag into the first Blade-type’s spine. It jerked, smoking, but didn’t drop. Both guns clicked dry, and I tossed them high with a flick of my wrists.

Metal vanished into digital haze as the inventory absorbed them, leaving my hands free.

Blades hissed through the air, carving shallow lines in the concrete by my feet.

I dropped my stance, boots covered in muck, fists rising.

The gauntlets hummed, dark steel bristling with elemental Qi.

These things didn’t need a weapon.

The first mutant lunged, elbows flashing. I weaved inside its reach, caught the blade with my gauntlet, and shattered it at the joint. Bone splintered. My other fist slammed into its face—once, twice, three times—until the skull caved with a wet crunch.

The second went for my flank, scuttling sideways like a spider. I pivoted, slammed a knee into its gut, then buried my fist in its chest with a bang. Its ribs broke under my knuckles.

The mutant twisted, shrieking, but I couldn’t stop.

My elbow crushed its throat, then I wrenched it by the arm and tossed it into the wall.

Yifei parried a blade with her spear, turning the mutant’s momentum against it. She danced in and out, jabbing under its guard, moving with crisp, precise aggression. Roulan broke the wrist of another, spinning her tonfa in a blur, then smashed it down on the mutant’s temple.

Blood hit the floor in sheets, pooling with the filth.

I caught my breath, knuckles tingling from the impact.

My Qi thrummed, hungry and hot.

More shadows moved—Stage 2s crawling from the drainpipes, a third Blade-type slinking along the wall. I counted at least six in the next wave, and felt even more eyes in the dark.

It wasn’t enough.

This power surging through me needed more to endanger me—something fit for a Stage 4

I could crush these things.

The ground rumbled again, shaking the foundations, and it became clear something massive stirred below—a weight that pressed against my Qi.

I stepped over the twitching corpse, cracking my knuckles.

"Bring it on."

The next wave was coming.

***

How long did we fight?

A shriek echoed from deeper in the tunnel—high, guttural, and full of hunger. Stage 2 zombies began pouring from every side passage, skinny but fast, some with twitching limbs, others crawling over the mounds of corpses.

One leapt at Roulan, fangs bared. She smashed its head sideways with her tonfa, the wet crunch barely audible over the waning gunfire.

I lunged into the thick of them. A Blade-type came straight for me, blades flashing in a double arc. I caught the first strike with my gauntlet, locked the bone blade between my fingers, and twisted until it snapped with a sickening pop.

The mutant spat black blood, mouth hanging open, then tried to bite. I slammed my forehead into its face and shattered its frontal lobe before grabbing it by the throat, lifting, and ramming it headfirst into the stone.

[1,000 EXP]

[500 ZKP]

[Acquired Stage 3 Core: Red]

[John Wang: Brawler Lv.1 --> Lv.3]

Roulan ducked under a lunging mutant, rolled behind its back, and brought both tonfa down in a cross-strike that crushed its spine. Yifei spun in a tight circle, her spear flickering, slicing through the neck of a crawling Stage 2. Blood geysered across the tiles.

The air was hot now, thick with the stench of Qi, gunpowder, rot, and something else. The ground kept trembling, every footfall sending vibrations through my boots. Sweat stung my eyes.

A cluster of Stage 2s came at me in a pack, howling.

I ploughed into them, swinging wide with both fists, shattering skulls, breaking arms, ripping through rotted muscle like paper. One tried to bite my throat. I twisted and wrenched its jaw sideways, tearing it off in a single motion.

The rest barely registered—flesh collapsing beneath my blows.

Behind me, Yifei let out a sharp cry...

"On your right!"

Another Blade-type, even faster, nearly invisible against the wall. It scythed at my side. I ducked, letting it slice air. My gauntlet found its gut, a single jab that sent it flipping end over end into a pile of bones.

Shen Yifei’s spear sliced through its body like a huntress in the dark.

[1,000 EXP]

[500 ZKP]

[Acquired Stage 3 Core: Red]

Roulan’s tonfa whistled, catching a leaping mutant across the face. Teeth scattered. She looked wild, almost grinning. "Don’t let them surround us!"

A Stage 2 grabbed my arm, nails digging into the flesh between my gauntlet plates. I ripped it free, then stomped the creature into mush.

More and more poured in. I could see at least a dozen Stage 2s in every direction, and four more Stage 3s circling just outside the torchlight—blades gleaming, teeth bared, eyes reflecting the dim, blood-stained light.

"Yifei! Roulan! Stack up!" I called, stepping back to bring us together. Yifei dropped to my left, spear spinning defensively. Roulan to my right, her tonfa raised, breathing hard but steady.

We formed a rough triangle, backs nearly touching. Zombies closed in from every direction, hungry and fearless.

The pressure from below was almost physical now. My Qi pulsed in warning. Every sense screamed at me: something was coming, something worse than these freaks.

Roulan spat blood from a split lip. "How long until that thing shows itself?"

I grinned, even as I cracked another mutant’s neck. "I don’t know!"

Suddenly, the ground gave a sharp tremor, and dust poured from the ceiling, and in the next moment, a hole tore open in the far wall. Something gigantic and pale slid through, dragging its bulk, covered in bone spines and scales slick with sewer filth.

My HUD flashed a new alert, red and insistent.

[Unknown Mutant Detected: ??? (Stage 5)]

[Warning: Proximity Critical. All combatants are at risk.]

[John, that thing is something only you can fight!]

Yifei swallowed, voice raw. "That thing isn’t even close to a zombie."

That thing was a damn monster.

And it was coming straight for us.