Apocalypse: SSS-Rank Monster Breeder

The Horizon of Crimson Hordes

​CHAPTER 16:

​The final seconds of the Newbie Protection Period did not slip away quietly. They bled out across the sky.

​Mark Shola stood on the sweeping, concrete observation deck of the Grand Plaza Mall’s rooftop parking structure. Up here, three stories above the ruined streets, the world felt entirely raw. The wind howling through twisted steel billboards reeked of ozone, wet dirt, and a metallic, ancient rot. Below him, the entire commercial layout of Sector 4 stretched out like a vast, abandoned graveyard. Burned-out luxury cars, shattered glass storefronts, and collapsed highway overpasses were bathed in a violent, uniform shade of deep crimson. The sun had completely vanished, replaced by a sky that resembled a massive, bruised eye pulsing with dark purple veins.

​PING!

​The final countdown timer floating at the absolute top of the global interface hit zero with a sound that resembled a striking church bell vibrating inside Mark’s skull.

​[SYSTEM NOTICE]

​Status: The 7-Day Newbie Protection Period Has Officially Expired!

​Global Event Launched: The First Awakening Wave — Monster Tide

​Critical Warning: Sector 4 Energy Matrix is heavily concentrated at coordinates: [Grand Plaza Mall]. All local dimensional rifts are now locked onto this location!

​Mark’s face remained a perfectly smooth mask of stone. He didn't blink. He slowly drew his hands out of his pockets, his fingers resting casually on the weathered edge of the concrete security wall. Behind him, the silence of his core squad was absolute, yet vibrating with ready, lethal energy.

​Shadow stood at his left hip, his size now matching that of a large black bear. Deep, freezing black smoke billowed continuously from his paws, leaving charred, icy footprints on the asphalt. At Mark’s right, Sly lay coiled like an industrial steel cable, his matte-black iron scales gleaming under the crimson sky. Hovering directly overhead, Zephyr kept his twelve-foot silver wings perfectly steady against the gale, blue arcs of high-voltage electricity dancing aggressively across his wingtips. And anchored to the foundation below, Terra’s golden-veined basalt frame resonated with the concrete bones of the building itself.

​"They're here," Mark murmured softly.

​Through [Shared Senses], his vision expanded exponentially. He didn't just see the horizon through his own eyes; he saw it through Zephyr’s sharp, zoomed-in aerial lens.

​Two miles away, down the broad lanes of the main central highway, the crimson mist began to boil. Then, the ground began to vibrate with a violent force that made the concrete parking structure groan beneath Mark's sneakers. A dark, endless tide emerged from the fog. It was a surging green and purple wave of pure filth.

​Thousands of green-skinned Goblins carrying jagged blades ran at the front line, screeching like rabid animals. Behind them, hundreds of towering, seven-foot Orc Warriors marched in heavy formation, their iron maces dragging across the asphalt, creating a collective, scraping roar that sounded like grinding tectonic plates. Crawling along the sides of the abandoned high-rises, thousands of multi-eyed Shadow Silk Spiders spun thick black webs across the street canopy, ready to trap anything that fled.

​[TACTICAL MONSTER TIDE ASSESSMENT]

​Sector 4 Enemy Density: 10,450 Units

​Frontline Vanguard: Goblins & Orc Berserkers

​Support Vanguard: Shadow Silk Spiders

​Estimated Time to Perimeter Impact: 3 Minutes

​Down in the loading dock bays below, the forty-five remaining survivors peeked out from the gaps in the iron barricades. When they saw the endless, rushing sea of monsters covering the highway from side to side, pure despair took over the camp. Several men dropped their wooden reinforcement beams, their knees buckling as they fell to the floor, weeping openly. Mr. Shola’s face went entirely white, his hands shaking so violently he could barely hold his metal pipe.

​"Lord Mark..." Mr. Shola’s frantic, weeping voice echoed up through the telepathic mental link. "They... there are too many of them! The walls won't hold! We're going to be eaten alive! What do we do?!"

​Mark looked down at the screaming green horde closing the distance. One mile. Half a mile. The air grew thick with the foul smell of sulfur, ozone, and monster sweat.

​To an ordinary human, this sight was the absolute end of the world. But to Mark, standing at the apex of SSS-Rank Monster Breeding, an army of ten thousand beasts wasn't a death sentence—it was the ultimate harvest.

​"What do we do?" Mark repeated softly, a cold, predatory smile slowly cutting across his face for the first time since the apocalypse began. His eyes flashed with a blinding, golden light. "We hunt."

​He raised his right hand, pointing his index finger straight at the center of the charging ten-thousand-monster army.

​"Terra, lock the gates. Sly, descend and become the anvil. Shadow, Zephyr... show them why humans no longer belong at the bottom of the food chain."

​With a collective, blood-chilling roar from his mythical protectors, the battle for the Grand Plaza Mall fortress officially exploded.