Rise of the Harem King
Chapter 55: Life or death gamble

Chapter 55: Life or death gamble

Davi ran as fast as he could back to the camp. The students, who were finally enjoying a brief moment of peace, felt their bodies tense as they noticed his hurried footsteps and worried expression.

"What happened?" Marc immediately approached, concerned.

The boy wanted to simply smile reassuringly and tell everyone not to worry. But unfortunately, that wasn’t an option.

"Listen!" Davi said in a firm voice, prompting everyone to gather around him. "I saw a horde of monsters heading this way. They’ll be here soon, so we need to prepare to defend ourselves."

But he was too late. Before he could even give his first instruction, the lookout rushed over, desperately warning that a large number of enemies was approaching.

The students’ hearts sank, and fear began to spread through the camp. Seeing this, Davi had to act quickly, offering a few words of motivation before charging at the first monster that appeared.

Those zombified beasts were much weaker than their living counterparts, after all, they were just corpses being manipulated. The ease with which Davi defeated the first enemy gave everyone a glimmer of hope.

Marc was the first to react, joining Davi in the fight. The initial enemies were defeated with ease.

But the problem was that the strength of the zombie fungus never lay in individual combat power, but in overwhelming numbers, and that soon became evident.

The more the students fought, the more exhausted they became. Yet, with every passing moment, more and more enemies appeared.

The cave they were in seemed to grow smaller and smaller, as beasts emerged from all sides. They didn’t even have anywhere to run, completely surrounded by enemies.

Exhaustion weighed heavily on their bodies, and fatigue began to undermine their resistance. With every strike, their hope of survival seemed to slip through their fingers.

Exhaustion also led to mistakes, and soon some were seriously injured, unable to fight. Death seemed to hang in the air, ready to claim lives at any moment.

The resolve in the students’ eyes began to fade, replaced by silent despair. If things continued this way, the battlefield would soon descend into chaos.

Yet, a small flame of hope persisted. Inevitably, everyone’s gaze turned to Davi, the leader who had kept them alive until now.

As absurd as it seemed, in their hearts, they silently pleaded for a miracle. And as if answering an inner call, Davi acted.

"Listen!" he shouted, his voice cutting through the air like thunder. "These monsters can’t see or smell like we can. They hunt and attack based on the mana we emit!"

As he spoke, Davi made his mana dance violently around him, creating a bright blue aura that immediately drew the attention of the creatures. Most of the beasts turned toward him, abandoning the others.

"Suppress your mana!" Davi ordered firmly, an insane smile spreading across his face. "I’ll draw them to me. Marc, you’re in charge of dealing with any that don’t follow me."

No one knew exactly what kind of madness Davi was planning, but they all trusted him with their lives. Besides, the idea of no longer being the primary target of those monsters was more than welcome.

Quickly, the students suppressed their mana, becoming nearly invisible to the creatures. Only Marc and Hao hesitated, worried about what would happen to Davi. Hao, in particular, seemed on the verge of tears.

"Davi, what are you going to do?" Hao asked, his voice trembling.

"Trust me," Davi replied without looking back. "I’m going to kill every last one of them." His mana danced even more aggressively as he cut through the sea of enemies, drawing them away from the majority of the students.

With the others’ mana suppressed, the horde of zombie beasts focused on Davi. He fought bravely, taking down the first enemies that approached, but he was soon overwhelmed by the sheer number of creatures.

With no other choice, he started running, leading most of the horde away, guiding them through the confusing network of caves. His destination was, naturally, the forest, where he believed the one responsible for all this was hiding.

Meanwhile, Marc took command, dealing with the few zombies that had been left behind. The battle was more balanced now, but it was still far from easy, especially with everyone exhausted.

Marc, in particular, felt his vision blur, and for a moment, the golem he had summoned faltered, falling to its knees. Even so, he clenched his fists, knowing that Davi was handling the hardest part, he couldn’t just let himself collapse here.

He took a deep breath, and with a shout, managed to push past the weakness in his body, forcing himself to his limits.

His courage seemed to inspire the others, who also used every last bit of strength they had left. No one there was willing to die so easily, and thanks to that, the impossible started to seem possible.

That said, the sheer number of creatures was relentless, and once again, they began to find themselves surrounded by enemies.

Then, they heard a deafening explosion, shaking the entire floor violently. Moments later, the corpses that had been attacking suddenly stopped moving and collapsed to the ground.

What had just happened?

Most of them let out sighs of relief, some remained in a defensive stance, while others, like Marc, were so drained that the moment they realized the battle was over, they simply dropped to the ground, exhausted.

"Davi..." Hao was the only one who murmured in concern. Maybe he could sense that their leader was in great danger at that moment.

But fate wouldn’t allow him the luxury of worrying about others for long. After all, peace within the rift was nothing more than an illusion.

The hearts of the few still conscious trembled when they heard the sound of approaching footsteps. The creatures had likely been drawn in by all the commotion.

Not just one, there were five of them.

Towering nearly three meters tall, the beasts resembled bipedal dinosaurs. Their bodies were covered in thick, grayish scales, their heads vaguely resembling raptors, but with wider jaws filled with razor-sharp teeth. Long, curved claws adorned their hands and feet, capable of tearing through flesh and bone with ease.

Hao, trembling and barely able to stand, planted his feet firmly on the ground and raised his bow with difficulty. His body screamed for rest, and his fingers trembled with fear, but for some reason, he chose to fight.

He pulled back the string, aiming at the closest monster. His heart pounded in his chest, but he took a deep breath and fired, aiming for the creature’s abdomen, where the scales met and formed a weaker point.

To his own surprise, not only was his shot perfect, but the arrow managed to pierce through the creature’s hide. The venom quickly took effect, causing the beast to thrash in agony before finally collapsing, lifeless.

Once more, he took a deep breath and fired again. The arrow sliced through the air, hitting its target once more. The creature staggered, letting out a high-pitched shriek before falling to the ground.

But he was at his limit.

His arms trembled so much that, as he tried to shoot a third arrow, his aim faltered.

Hao’s eyes widened in horror. Desperately, he tried to fire again, but all he managed to do was slow the monster down.

He had no more strength left to draw another arrow.

Worse yet, he was out of ammunition.

Cold dread washed over him as the remaining monsters charged at him with terrifying speed. He clenched his fists, feeling utterly powerless as death closed in.

〇〇〇

A little before all of this, Davi was running desperately, leading the horde of enemies away. He knew he couldn’t defeat all those monsters alone, but he at least had a plan. Or rather, he had an idea of what to do, though he’d have to improvise along the way. His only chance was to find the heart of the colony: the queen of the zombie fungi.

Those zombies weren’t independent creatures but part of a mega-organism controlled by a queen. She was the only female in the fungal colony, responsible for fertilizing spores and implanting them into corpses, transforming them into new members of the colony.

The queen was the center of it all, the ’heart’, or rather, the brain that kept the colony united and functional. That’s why killing her was the only way to stop the endless swarm of enemies.

But how could he lure that cursed creature out of its hiding place? That was the answer he was searching for as he ran for his life. And he could think of only one way to do it: offer himself as bait. The harder it was to kill prey, the more valuable its corpse would be to the queen. And Davi, after killing so many zombies, was a very valuable target.

"I guess all I can do is bet on this," Davi murmured, touching the pendant hanging from his neck. He continued wandering through the dense forest until he found the right spot.

The boy took a deep breath. He knew he might not survive this, but he also knew there was no other choice.

With a quick and decisive movement, Davi pierced his own chest, grabbing his heart and crushing it. After all, the queen would only reveal herself if she believed he was already dead.

His lifeless body fell to the ground. At the same time, an overwhelming amount of mana began to accumulate in that place. The mana around his body danced fiercely, building up in such vast quantities that more and more zombie beasts watched from a distance.

But none of them approached. They were waiting for someone specific.

Then, Davi, who was drifting between the world of the living and the dead, felt the ground tremble as the queen approached. Just as he had imagined, she had taken possession of the most powerful body available: the floor guardian’s.

It was only when the monster got close enough that Davi released all the accumulated mana in a massive explosion. The blast destroyed everything around it and, naturally, caused the ground to collapse.

The queen growled desperately but couldn’t escape the enormous fall.

"I’m sorry, but you’re going to die with me," Davi murmured as his body also fell into the abyss.