Building a Safe Zone with My Harem In The Post-Apocalyptic World

Chapter 204: The End of The Beginning

The Queen wasn’t looking at them. It didn’t even seem to know they existed.

One of its enormous legs pulled free from the fungal network, tearing apart countless membranes that snapped one after another with loud cracking sounds.

Another leg followed, smashing directly into the chamber wall and sending chunks of dirt and concrete flying everywhere.

"It wants to get out!" Otis shouted while climbing into the tunnel.

Arthur looked back only once before his face turned even paler.

"No... it’s trying to escape the mushroom."

The swollen abdomen kept dragging behind it, still connected by hundreds of white membranes that stretched until they finally broke. The dying mushroom couldn’t hold the Queen anymore, and every movement destroyed another part of the Groove that had grown together with it.

The entire underground shook continuously as they crawled upward.

Jace climbed in front while Arthur followed him, leaving Otis at the very back. Dirt constantly poured from the ceiling and several times they needed to stop because the passage became blocked by broken rocks.

"Hurry up!"

"I am!"

Another violent tremor came from below, and this time the tunnel itself tilted.

Otis suddenly slipped. His body slid backward together with loose dirt while a massive chunk of rock crashed right beside him, missing his foot by barely a hand’s width before sealing half of the passage.

"ARGH! Damn it!"

Jace immediately grabbed his arm while Arthur held Jace from behind, both of them pulling with all their strength until Otis finally crawled over the broken rocks.

"Move! It’s collapsing!"

They no longer cared about being quiet. The deeper rumbling from below became louder while the tunnel grew narrower, forcing them to crawl through gaps barely wide enough for their bodies.

Worse, they needed to climb since they were underground, making their movement slower and the wall of dirt that was already unstable started to crumble every time their hands or feet landed on it.

Every few meters another section collapsed behind them, burying the route they had just passed.

"Look! It’s light! We are almost there!"

When cold air finally brushed against their faces, Jace immediately climbed out and pulled Arthur after him before both reached for Otis again.

The three of them rolled onto the frozen ground, breathing heavily while the earth beneath them continued shaking.

Arthur was the first to turn around.

The entire Groove was changing. The serpent lianas hanging from the trees had stopped moving, their bodies slowly drying until they cracked apart.

The trees shrank before collapsing into powder while the green forest rapidly lost its life, spreading outward like an invisible wave.

Otis followed Arthur’s gaze and unconsciously took a step back.

"We... didn’t just destroy the nest."

Arthur slowly shook his head. "The Mycorrhiza was the one holding everything together. Once it died, the entire ecological network collapsed with it."

Another rumble echoed from underground, much farther away this time, followed by the sound of countless rocks collapsing into the empty chamber.

Jace immediately looked toward their parked vehicle. "We can discuss biology after we get out of this place... press the button after we are far enough."

Neither Arthur nor Otis disagreed.

The three of them started running, leaving behind a forest that was no longer green but a lifeless patch of dried trees and dead mushrooms, as if everything that had lived there had simply reached the end of its life at the exact same moment.

The three of them almost threw themselves into the vehicle. Jace immediately started the engine while Otis looked behind through the broken rear window and Arthur’s trembling hand tightly gripped the C4 controller.

"Drive!"

The tires slipped on the frozen ground before finally finding traction and the vehicle rushed forward/

Only after they were hundreds of meters away did Arthur finally press the button.

A deafening explosion echoed across the highlands.

The ground violently shook as fire and dirt burst into the sky, followed by a massive shockwave that caught up to the vehicle and pushed it sideways. Jace immediately grabbed the steering wheel while Otis hit his head against the window.

"Damn it!"

Arthur turned around and saw the entire Groove collapse into itself, disappearing beneath clouds of dust and fire until nothing green could be seen anymore.

A relieved smile finally appeared on his face.

"We did it..."

Otis also laughed and leaned against the seat.

"At least that damn forest is gone. Maybe the Queen too."

Before Arthur could answer, something moved inside the ash cloud.

The three of them instinctively became silent. A gigantic silhouette slowly emerged before two enormous wings unfolded with a loud buzz that could be heard even from this distance.

The giant ant climbed into the sky, ash continuously falling from its body as it circled once above the destroyed Groove before flying toward the distant horizon.

"Shit..." Otis murmured while watching the giant silhouette disappear into the distance. "I guess it didn’t catch us."

He let out a shaky laugh, finally able to breathe normally after running for his life.

Arthur, however, didn’t look relieved at all. "It won’t, If my theory is right, the Queen will simply repeat the same cycle."

"It will build another nest underground, create a new colony, and let the Groove grow around it. The workers will gather nutrients but then end up being eaten by the groove, the mushroom will absorb everything, and in the end the Queen will steal all of those nutrients for itself."

Otis slowly turned his head. "So... everything we destroyed..."

"Are useless."

After a long silence, Arthur opened his eyes again and looked straight ahead. "We just witnessed the birth of something that not everyone will experience in their life. The birth of an S-rank aberrant... or maybe a future King candidate."

Nobody replied. Even Jace unconsciously loosened his grip on the steering wheel as the vehicle continued driving toward Edelweiss Town.

Outside, the deserted landscape looked peaceful as if nothing had happened, so different from the nightmare hidden beneath the forest only a few kilometers away. For the first time, all three of them clearly realized that humanity wasn’t standing at the top of this world anymore.

They were merely surviving beneath the life cycle of the aberrants.