The burning was instant and absolute.The Necrotic Lord's heavy bone ribs jammed into my back as if they were the gate of a prison cell. I was caught up in the huge chest cavity of the monster. Suddenly, the toxic green sludge started to rise around me, like a wave on the water, rising quickly and filling the space like water in a sinking ship.The acid spat in an angry manner when it came in contact with my bone-plated skin. This was the first time I felt real pain, the terrifying kind, since I was reborn. The sludge was so highly concentrated that it was slowly melting my armor.The huge monster laughed, a sound that vibrated through me. It had outwitted me. It had been dead long enough that it swallowed me up.The Chimera King System was rampaging before my eyes, displaying a warning in red.[WARNING: Host is suffering from serious toxicity.[Bone-plated skin integrity dropping: 80%... 60%... 40%.]If the core is not destroyed, the host will melt in 12 seconds.Outside the beast, I

Metal and meat should never mix.That Mechanical Necrotic Abomination that emerged from the subway tunnel was a nightmare of twisted engineering and rotting flesh. A full-sized steel subway car had been hollowed and fused to the giant, pulsing muscles of a massive ghoul. Eternal screams were permanently inscribed into the steel doors, in the face of the human beings. It was rolling along the tracks, its wheels screeching as it rolled right for the boarding platform, intent on mashing the survivors into paste.The fifty humans in the platform screamed in complete fear.Maya moved first. She shouted at the survivors, "Get back! She shouted at the survivors, "Get back!She jumped off the train, her Phantom Ice-Blades flashing in the dark station. She was spinning in the air, her blades striking the thick fleshy tendons between the train cars. Her ice broke through the decaying flesh, but when she struck the heavy, rusted steel of the train's chassis, her blades rang out with a loud CLANG

Fire is supposed to cleanse the world. But in my empire, fire simply freezes.The huge steel doors of the Shelter 04 armory rumbled open. My newly formed Chimera Infantry—fifty-two men and women who had survived the absolute worst of the underground subway—stepped inside. They were astonished, their eyes opened wide.They had been competing with each other over the old chips and empty water bottles for the past week. Now they were looking at millions of dollars' worth of military-grade equipment.We're helpless rats in a hole, the Vance family thought. We're helpless rats in a hole," I said, my voice reflecting off the concrete walls. With a heavy crate in my hands, I ripped the wooden lid off with a single tug of my Titan Strength. Rows of sleek, black rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launchers were inside. Take everything! I want all the roofs to be armed.Jax, the tall man from the subway ring, picked up a large. 50 caliber heavy machine gun. It is impossible to carry without a mount

The glowing crimson eye blinked in the dark abyss, and then the entire street exploded upward.It was a thunderous sound of rocks and metal crushing as it came across the industrial area. Hundreds of feet in the air was the disposal of asphalt, frozen dirt, and the broken fragments of cars. The giant crack in the ground gave birth to a giant thing out of a nightmare.It was a worm and it was an Earth-Shatterer, a hundred feet long. It was constructed from thick, rugged metal in a modular arrangement of rugged rings. Where a face should be, it had a large, rapidly rotating circular jaw that looked like a living drill bit filled with hundreds of razor-sharp teeth. The enormous red eye loomed above the grinding maw, its ancient, fearsome power pulsing.[Warning. The entity that was identified is Tier-5 Earth-Shatterer Worm.Armor density is higher than the current host strength. Retreat is advised.]I don't run away; I growl.My Apex Speed caught fire. I blundered forward and flew so hig

True power isn't about sitting on a throne; it is about watching the people who built it beg for mercy.I looked down at Julian. The Golden Boy of the Vance family was crying like a baby in the dirty snow, holding his broken jaw. It was only a few moments ago that he admitted the capital was being overrun by a monster that was devouring people.“Well done Julian,” I said, my voice completely emotionless. “At last you have been of service.”I stomped my heavy combat boot on the ground. Julian's ribcage crumbled in a horrid crack. His frightened eyes glazed over, and his head slammed into the ice. The Golden Boy was no more.I looked to Jax, who was lowering his heavy machine gun.I said, "Jax, take the men and secure these five trucks. Send them back to Shelter 04; this food will last our empire for months!"What about you, King?" Jax inquired, gazing at the dark sky.I pulled Julian's GPS tablet out of his broken white coat, which was issued by the capitol. I wiped his blood off the s