Building a Safe Zone with My Harem In The Post-Apocalyptic World-Chapter 49: Against The Verdant Devourer

Gideon stepped back, already knowing the Devourer wasn’t dead. An S-rank aberrant wouldn’t fall that easily. He positioned himself beside Jade and Killian’s vehicles.

They weren’t using the usual three-wheeled transport this time. These were modified heavy-duty trucks built for desert warfare—thick armor plating, massive reinforced tires, suspension designed to handle unstable terrain.

Mounted machine guns rotated on the roofs, manned and ready. They looked like something salvaged from a military convoy.

"You focus on the wounded," Gideon said calmly. "There are still people trapped in the other building."

Jade glanced over her shoulder while steering. "We already pulled some out to help the wounded and the rest that are trapped in the other building. Don’t worry."

He gave her a thumb.

Behind them, Freebound’s men were moving with precision, dragging injured survivors into the trucks. They wore specialized suits, sleek and sealed like hazmat gear, but reinforced and adapted for combat.

"That gear lowers body temperature," Killian explained quickly. "Thermal dampeners. The Devourer senses heat. Those suits mask it."

Gideon nodded, about to respond when laughter cut through the battlefield.

Henry stood at a distance, dust swirling around him, head tilted back as he laughed.

"Look at you all grouping up," he called out mockingly. "Planning to defeat me with the power of friendship?"

"Don’t flatter yourself," Gideon replied coolly. "We’re not here for you."

That was a lie. He absolutely wanted Henry gone. Something about that man felt wrong on a deeper level.

Henry chuckled as if he didn’t hear Gideon’s words that mocked him. "You’re trying to save those people?" He gestured lazily toward the wounded.

"Why bother? They’ll die anyway. No proper doctors, with no medicine. Isn’t it more efficient to offer them to us?"

Before Gideon could respond, the sand trembled as the Devourer rose again.

Its massive body twisted, one side of its head blackened and bleeding from the rocket strike. It hissed, its enormous maw lowering toward Gideon. There was recognition in its movement now and it clearly has a grudge against him.

"Not my fault," Henry said lightly. "You interrupted her meal. Now you’re dessert."

The Devourer lunged.

Delilah reacted first. She grabbed Gideon by the collar and yanked him to the car as Jade accelerated instantly, and Killian’s vehicle swerved in sync.

The creature’s jaws slammed into the space he had occupied a second earlier. Sand exploded everywhere.

Luckily, Daphne and Aaron were still at a distance with Gideon and the cars so they could sprint for the trucks, they slowed just enough to pick them up.

Gideon reached out, catching Daphne’s hand mid-run and pulling her up into the vehicle. Aaron was hauled into Killian’s truck by two Freebound men.

The Devourer dove beneath the sand again, circling fast.

"Is this thing overloaded?" Gideon asked sharply.

"It will be," Jade answered through clenched teeth as she jerked the steering wheel to avoid another strike. "Freya, you’re jumping!"

Freya didn’t argue, yet because the Devourer’s body slammed against the side of the vehicle, nearly tipping it.

The trucks roared forward, tires tearing through unstable sand while the Devourer swam beneath them like a living earthquake.

The sand rippled violently behind them.

"But I wanted to help!" Freya snapped, frustration sharp in her voice. "You could’ve let one of the survivors out instead!"

"No," Gideon replied without raising his voice. "She’s more useful with us. Show them, Daphne."

Daphne nodded, drawing in a breath—

ROAAARRR!

The Devourer burst from the sand directly in front of them. Its massive head dropped low, jaws spreading impossibly wide, blocking their path like a living canyon. For a split second, it looked as if the car would drive straight into its throat.

Jade’s eyes widened. There wasn’t enough time to steer.

Daphne moved first.

Her pupils flashed pale as vines erupted from the ground and from her sleeves, shooting forward like whips.

They wrapped around the Devourer’s upper and lower jaws in thick coils. When she clenched her fists, the vines tightened violently, forcing the creature’s mouth shut with a thunderous snap.

"Turn!" Gideon barked.

Jade twisted the wheel hard. The truck swerved just as the Devourer’s head crashed sideways.

The bumper scraped along its bark-like scales with a metallic shriek. Sparks flew. The reinforced steel groaned under the impact, one door nearly ripping loose despite the hardened plating and ballistic glass.

Inside the vehicle, bodies slammed against one another.

Delilah didn’t waste a second. She rose from her seat with impossible balance, gripping the mounted machine gun.

She fired directly into the Devourer’s exposed eye, the only visibly soft target. Killian’s truck mirrored the move from the other side, gunfire stitching across the creature’s face while Aaron leaned out and fired the shotgun into its sensory ridges.

The Devourer howled. The sound vibrated through bone and sand alike. It reared upward, muscles bulging beneath its wooden scales, and snapped Daphne’s vines apart in a shower of shredded green before diving back into the desert.

Daphne swayed but stayed conscious, breathing hard.

"This is the time," Delilah said sharply. "Freya, you’re getting out of this mess."

Freya bit her lip, jaw tight with frustration. She wanted to fight. She wanted to prove herself.

Gideon reached for her hand. "You need to stay safe."

She understood immediately what he meant. If she was pregnant—even a chance—this wasn’t a battlefield she should stay on. Her anger softened into reluctant acceptance.

The truck skidded to a controlled stop.

"Move!" Jade shouted as they landed close to the boundary between the normal desert and the aberrant’s nest, "It’s heading for the wounded!"

Everyone turned.

The sand ahead bulged violently as the Devourer’s body surged toward the cluster of injured survivors.

Freebound’s members were still evacuating them, dragging bodies, forming defensive lines. Their thermal suits flickered faintly under the desert sun.

Daphne’s face was drained of color. "We can’t let it reach them!"

The Devourer’s massive back broke the surface like a tidal wave, racing toward the wounded. Machine guns rattled from Killian’s car which kept following the aberrant closely. The creature barely slowed.

Gideon didn’t look at it.

His gaze shifted behind them instead.

Henry.

The zealot stood several dozen meters away, arms slightly raised, eyes focused on the Devourer with unsettling calm. Around him, his remaining followers knelt in the sand, chanting in unison, their voices blending into a feverish rhythm.

The Devourer’s movement wasn’t random.

It seemed like it was responding to them or maybe just Henry.

Gideon’s expression hardened.

"Forget the monster for a second," he said quietly. "We cut off the head."

Daphne blinked. "You mean—"

Gideon’s eyes sharpened. "We hit the zealots. Break the link. If he’s controlling it—or influencing it—we end that first."

The Devourer roared again in the distance, closing in on the wounded.

Gideon didn’t hesitate.

"Let’s move."