SSS Frost Sovereign: Rewinding The Apocalypse!-Chapter 42: Betrayal...

---

Far off in that direction lay a field of corpses.

Some were simply dead, bodies twisted and broken. Others still leaked a black, oily essence that seeped from their wounds and pooled beneath them, staining the cracked ground.

And at the center of it all stood Wester.

He was the only one still standing after the brief slaughter, without a single scratch marked his body.

His red eyes gleamed with malice and lips curled into a slow, satisfied smirk. A faint dark aura bled from his form, wavering like smoke in the air around him.

"You have grown stronger," Seban said, his voice carrying pride as he stepped over a corpse. "Teleth has given you more."

Wester flexed his right hand, watching shadows coil faintly around his fingers as if responding to his will. His grin widened.

"I have sent a horde of spawns his way," he said calmly. "Enough to keep him there till I come"

He lowered his hand and turned away from the carnage.

His smile twisted into something feral.

"Today, I wipe them out and take that bitch for myself. Once they are gone, I will finally be free to grow faster. I will slay the Maire and rise to the ranks of the Heralds, just as my master desires."

He cackled, the sound echoing unnaturally across the ruins.

"We should move" he said. "I have already begun drawing it there."

Seban huffed in affirmation and followed as Wester began walking in Albert’s direction.

And when Wester said "it", he meant something else entirely.

Far off to the southwest lay another scene of horror.

Another raid group had been completely annihilated.

Corpses were strewn everywhere, incarnations torn apart and crushed. At the center of the devastation stood the thing responsible.

An eight foot spawn loomed over the bodies.

Its form resembled a gorilla twisted into something far worse. Its skin was dark red and hardened like plated armor, jagged spines running down its back.

Four glowing eyes stared out from its skull, unblinking and predatory. Its forelimbs were unnaturally long, ending in massive clawed hands capable of tearing stone.

Rows of sharp, uneven teeth jutted from its maw, slick with blood.

A wounded woman crawled weakly across the ground, leaving a dark smear behind her.

"Somebody... he..."

Before she could finish, the spawn brought its clawed hand down.

The blow crushed her head into the earth with a wet and final sound, snuffing out her life instantly.

Dark, purplish vein-like energy pulsed around the creature’s head, seeping from beneath its skin.

It released a low growl, breath rattling as it shook its head violently, as if settling something inside itself.

Then, without warning, it launched forward, vanishing into the ruins and racing in Albert’s direction.

---

Meanwhile, Albert and his group were already locked in battle.

E and F rank spawns poured in from a single direction, crawling over rubble and bursting from broken buildings.

Albert tore through them, his attacks shredding bodies apart and blasting others into pieces.

Luna sliced through the horde with precise beams of searing light, her lasers carving clean paths through clustered enemies.

Marcus stood firm, arcs of electricity snapping from his body as he electrocuted anything that came too close.

Around them, others fought desperately as the ambush lasted several minutes.

At first, the numbers were overwhelming, but gradually the flow slowed. The spawns coming from the shattered buildings grew fewer until they stopped entirely.

When the last one fell, bodies littered the ground around them.

Some of the group leaned on weapons or dropped to one knee, breathing hard. A few bore fresh wounds, but they were still standing.

"Finally," a broad-shouldered man with a scorched jacket muttered, wiping sweat from his brow. "They came."

"Thankfully, they were all low grades," another said, hunched over as he caught his breath.

Luna walked over to Albert and Marcus.

"Where are we?" Albert asked.

Luna pulled out a map and spread it across the hood of one of the trucks, pressing it flat with her hand.

"We are just over half a kilometer past our vicinity," she said, pointing to their position.

"Low grade spawns are expected here," Gremit added, his expression serious. "But stay alert. Stronger ones may be lurking. If you encounter something you cannot handle, do not hesitate to retreat."

They all nodded.

Still, Luna frowned. She took a slow breath, unease settling in her chest.

Albert noticed immediately.

"What is it, Luna?"

"It is strange," she said quietly. "All of them came from one direction." She pointed northeast.

Gremit hummed. "That may not be unusual. A spawn territory could be close in that direction."

Marcus’s eyes narrowed.

"But that is where one of our raid groups is headed."

The air seemed to grow heavier at his words.

"If they are coming from there, then do not tell me..."

Before anyone could finish the thought, someone stepped out quietly from between the rundown buildings in the same direction the spawns had come from.

Everyone noticed at once.

It was not a spawn.

It was a man.

He stood alone in the open street, hands relaxed at his sides, wearing a faint, suspicious smile as he looked at the group.

For several seconds, no one spoke. Confusion rippled through the crowd.

"Isn’t that... that guy?" Marcus said slowly. "What is he doing there? Wasn’t he with that raid group?"

Albert studied the man in silence, his gaze sharp and unmoving.

"Hmm," he hummed. Then quietly, "Gremit."

"I know," Gremit replied, his voice low. "Keep your guards up. It might be him."

From the way Albert and Gremit spoke, Luna and Marcus immediately sensed it. There was hostility there.

Not open, but restrained and deliberate.

Luna subtly shifted her stance, her guard rising as she looked back at the man.

And then it happened.

A heavy crash echoed from down the street they had passed earlier.

Stone broke loose from the top of a small, shattered building, tumbling down in a cascade of rubble.

The sound rang out sharply, snapping everyone’s attention toward it.

Then silence followed and fear flooded the street.

Perched atop the broken structure was the eight foot tall spawn.

It had just arrived.

Its massive body crouched low, looming there quietly and dominating the space with its presence pressing down on everyone like a weight.

Across the street, the man stood calmly beneath it.

People paled as they felt it.

This was nothing like the spawns they had just fought.

For many of them, this was the first time they had ever felt pressure like this from a single creature.

Several took instinctive steps backward and some tightened their grips on weapons.

Others shifted their feet, already preparing to run if it moved.

And even Albert could tell.

This thing was powerful. Possibly stronger than the chieftain from the gates.

Yet everyone reacted the same way.

Everyone except Wester.

His grin stretched wider, and then he laughed.

"Hahaha. You should see your faces," he said. "Well, you should be afraid. It takes quite a lot from me just to keep that thing under control."

Albert exhaled slowly and stepped forward a few paces.

"So it is you," he said calmly. "You are the one responsible for plaguing our vicinity all this time."

Luna and Marcus glanced between Albert and Wester, confusion flickering across their faces.

"Those missing," Albert continued. "We heard they were seen going out on their own. So we thought they were being controlled...just like this"

He looked directly at Wester.

"You are the Avarice."

A sharp wave of shock ran through those who heard it.

Murmurs broke out and eyes widened. Some froze outright, the word sinking in like a blade.

Wester chuckled softly.

"So you figured it out," he said. "But do you not think it is a little late? I have already grown quite powerful, you see."

He took a few steps forward, completely unconcerned.

Most people could not decide where to look. Some were locked onto the towering spawn, unable to tear their eyes away.

Others stared at Wester, struggling to connect the man they knew to what they were hearing.

"Is he behind all this?" someone whispered.

The spawn did not move. It simply watched, while Wester talked and laughed beneath it.

"Over 60 people went missing this past week," Albert said. "What did you do with them, Wester?"

Wester scoffed.

"Some of them were yours, Albert," he replied casually. "They were stubborn, so I killed them while testing my power. As for the others... I sent them on errands they were never meant to return from."

The reaction was immediate.

Gasps broke out. A few people stiffened in disbelief while others clenched their fists, anger and horror colliding.

Teams were still searching for those missing. There had been no bodies...no answers.

Until now.

Gremit’s body tensed, his eyes narrowing.

"You sent them?" he said. "You controlled them."

Wester waved it off.

"Hmph. You are an Erwald. Surely you have heard of such things."

Gremit’s jaw tightened.

’If he can control people, this changes everything,’ he thought.

"Albert," he called, turning toward him and just then his eyes widened.

Someone moved, too quietly and too fast.

A figure slipped through the group, closing the distance in an instant.

"Albert!"

The warning came too late.

So Marcus stepped in without thinking.

A sharp, metal pole pierced through his body as he placed himself between Albert and Draik, who had lunged from behind with murderous intent.

Marcus gasped as the impact stopped him cold. Blood spilled as the force drove him back, his body impaled in a single brutal motion.