Global Awakening: Apocalypse Ender's Chronicle-Chapter 628: Natalie’s Team

At this time, Darius cracked his neck as he approached the barrack's path. With his Brute Gauntlets protecting his knuckles, he felt confident about his mission.

Although he was alone, as long as he used all his arsenal, he shouldn't have an issue fighting an army.

Soon, as he followed the path that was chosen for him by Natalie, he found himself looking at the reinforced steel door. However, the cult had gotten sloppy as there weren't any guards posted.

'Amateurs…' He thought.

With his current strength points and the assistance of his Gauntlet, he was able to tear through a small opening.

'Slowly...' Darius muttered as he lifted a part of the door.

'That should be enough…' Darious muttered as he primed the Dreamshroud Grenade, counting in his head. Three... two...

With a metallic clang, the canister rolled into the middle of the sleeping quarters.

Whoosh~

Gas hissed out… It was odorless and invisible…

Inside, twenty cultists in various states of undress barely had time to react.

A skinny man reaching for a pistol froze mid-motion as his pupils started dilating.

A woman clutching a zombie-skull pendant slumped face-first into her bunk.

Like dominoes, bodies collapsed—onto beds, onto floors, into each other.

'Good… Good… That Dreamshroud Grenade is worth the price.' Darius thought as he couldn't help but dream of having more Reputation Points, so he could purchase whatever he wanted in the Reputation Store too.

Then, Darius waited exactly twelve seconds—the grenade's full dispersal time—before striding in.

Click… click…

His boots kicked aside a fallen rifle as he methodically checked each cultist's pulse. Alive. But not for long.

From his belt, he unclipped three Firebrand Tokens—their clan's latest invention. These thumb-sized devices would ignite in fifteen minutes, hot enough to melt steel. He placed one under a bunk, another in the weapons locker, and the last in the ventilation shaft.

Of course, the other weapons and items that could be stored in his inventory were already stored.

'Let them burn with their precious gods.' He mused. Though he didn't know if they were really worshipping some god, but the fact that they were killing innocent Survivors suggested that they were following some doctrine he would never understand.

As he turned to leave, a weak hand grabbed his ankle.

'Hmmm?'

Darius then looked down and saw a teenage boy, maybe sixteen, fighting the sedative with terrifying willpower.

His lips moved soundlessly, and spit was bubbling at the corners.

Darius hesitated, but only for a moment. He then drove his knee into the kid's temple.

No witnesses. No mercy.

Then, the barracks door locked behind him with a satisfying click.

***

In the meantime, Ash, who was tasked to enter the Armory path, moved as fast as she could using her Ghost Cloak. It was allowing her to dissipate her outline, making her movements almost unnoticeable and faster.

Of course, this was a very expensive item that she heavily relied on as a sniper. After all, even if she was a range fighter, she had to constantly move to avoid being targeted by other snipers once she took a shot.

Furthermore, for some reason, Lurker Zombies and Hunter Zombies liked to target long-range fighters like her.

'Ten more seconds…' Ash said to herself as she counted the time before the Cloak's effect ran out. Soon, she was able to find the vent she was looking for and immediately hid there…

Now, it was time to move around and find her target.

'It's here…' Ash muttered after she finally located the true Armory from the vents.

Below her, there were three cultists playing cards beside racks of plasma rifles. They were also the Guards for this Armory.

'Idiots. How come they're still unaware of invaders?' She was a bit confused about their communication method.

It was certainly inefficient!

She then unscrewed her Mist Vial—a concoction that their Clan's Archbishop had created. One drop on the vent grate, and the metal would dissolve soundlessly.

The card players never noticed the faint changes in the air as the neurotoxin spread.

'You guys have such nice weapons… But you're not using your brains.' She mused as she waited for the concoction's power to take effect.

Then, after a minute, their fingers finally stiffened. Then, it was followed by their necks. By the time they realized something was wrong, they couldn't even scream—just sit there, paralyzed, as Ash dropped gracefully behind them.

"Night night," she whispered, slitting their throats with a Monofilament Thread. It was so thin it only left wounds like papercuts.

Thud… Thud… Thud…

Though she had a gun with her, this method was cleaner.

[ You have eliminated a Survivor. ]

After brushing off the message, she swiftly looted them.

Soon, Ash used her lockpicking skills to open the main Armory.

Since he was able to get Plasma Rifles from these people, she was expecting something similar or at the same level of loot at the very least…

Thankfully, she wasn't disappointed. Aside from the various weapons, she found Bio-Plasma Forge and numerous Zombie Cores inside!

'This is awesome…' She muttered.

The Bio-Plasma Forge was a glass-tank filled with zombie-hybrid fluids.

Ash didn't hesitate as she quickly stored whatever she could.

Plasma rifles? Taken. Ammo? Taken. That prototype railgun on the wall? Definitely taken.

Her Inventory was immediately filled as she exited the way she came. Of course, she also left behind Firedband Tokens, similar to what Darious had used…

Behind her, the paralyzed cultists' eyes tracked her movement. They were still alive and still aware but they could do nothing.

Ash blew them a kiss before sealing the vent.

"Bye!"

***

In the meantime, Natalie and the rest of the team entered the Sanctum or the main base of the cultists.

As soon as they entered, she felt something was off.

There was some sort of wrongness in the air.

It seemed that her Danger Sense, Perception, and Pathfinder were working together to warn her about something…

Indeed, after a few moments, her Pathfinder Talent screamed warnings to her.

WARNING: BIOLOGICAL HAZARD DETECTED

WARNING: PSIONIC RESIDUE

WARNING: STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY COMPROMISED

'We're in trouble… Is this a trap?' Natalie frowned.

"Light…" she ordered.

The priest then raised his hand, and a Sanctified Glow activated…

This priest's Skill illuminated the chamber.

Just like that, the chamber revealed six monstrous figures standing motionless in a semicircle—waiting.

They were not cultists. They weren't ordinary zombies either...

They seemed more like Chimeras.

'Just what kind of experiments are they doing?' Natalie couldn't help but curse them in her mind.

She saw a Humanoid Shark Zombie at the very front, blankly looking at them as if they were awaiting orders.

Then, there was a Lion-Hybrid. However, instead of having a mane, it had writhing snakes…

Beside it was a Scorpion-Hybrid… Then, the other three were worse. They were bloated, pulsating amalgamations of flesh and shells with limbs fused at unnatural angles.

Natalie couldn't even think of what kind of creature it was, aside from being an alien-like creature.

For a moment, nothing moved…

Thanks to that, Natalie realized that this wasn't a trap…

"This is their last line of defense… I can sense the Cultists indeed in the chambers beyond this point. They're panicking." Natalie said.

Indeed, these six creatures were their final defense if there were intruders. The cultists didn't expect for them to reach this place at all.

"Good… We just have to kill these six and we can hunt the cultists, yeah?"

"Alright, let's do this, Clan Leader!"

"Hahaha… I thought we were caught in a trap. If this is their final defense, then let's end this quickly.

Then, as if the cultists heard their conversations, they finally ordered the six Modified Zombies to attack.

The Shark Chimera moved.

It pounced faster than anything that size could do!

Aaaargh!

Its jaws snapped where Natalie's head had been a millisecond earlier.

She barely dodged, rolling as rancid saliva splattered across her armor…

What was scarier was the fact that it hissed where it touched.

"FORM UP!" she ordered as she swiftly backed off.

On the other hand, the team reacted instantly as the fighters moved in front, and the supports and range fighters got into their position.

One of the Fighters with Immovable Soldier Talent slammed into the Lion Chimera like a train!

Bang!

The beast roared as the man's fist cratered its ribcage, but the modified Zombie didn't fall. Instead, its snake-mane started moving and wanted to take a piece of him!

"Ghkh—!"

One of the priests reacted swiftly and used a Lightbind Barrier!

It flashed between them, stopping the Lion-Hybrid's assault…

The man gasped as he swiftly recovered and continued to attack.

"Thanks, Reverend. Now—" He grabbed the Lion's head and pulled it down. "—stay down."

In the meantime, two of their snipers or gunners, Sato and Ran, had already started shooting with their Rifles using their Phantom Rounds into the Scorpion Chimera! The bullets phased through its armored plating, detonating inside its torso!

'We're doing well… We can do this…' Natalie thought.