Apocalypse with my SSS Harem Beauties-Chapter 186: The Memory

A low wave of murmurs spread through the gathered crowd the moment Red finished speaking. It was quiet at first but growing louder as unease settled into their expressions.

Their eyes shifted between one another instead of staying fixed on the man standing above them. Some of them frowned, some of them narrowed their eyes, and a few simply lowered their heads as if already regretting what was coming.

The word "revelation" lingered in their minds, but instead of inspiring confidence, it only deepened the discomfort that had long existed beneath the surface of their presence in this camp.

"What kind of revelation is he talking about?" someone muttered from the middle rows, just loud enough for those nearby to hear.

Another scoffed under his breath. "He’s finally lost it."

The whispers spread faster after that, no longer careful or restrained. People leaned closer to each other and spoke in low voices, their tones filled with doubt rather than curiosity.

To them, Red’s words did not sound like divine insight or some grand discovery from a dependable leader. It sounded like the excuse of a man who had already gone too far into madness and no longer needed a reason to keep going.

They had seen what he was capable of. They had stood there while he killed without hesitation, without mercy, without even the smallest flicker of guilt.

At first, they told themselves it was necessary. That this new world demanded cruelty if they wanted to survive. But the more they followed him, the clearer it became that Red did not kill because he had to.

He killed because he wanted to.

A few exchanged uneasy glances, their thoughts aligning without needing to be spoken aloud.

This raid... it wasn’t about territory. It wasn’t about power. It wasn’t even about survival.

It was just another excuse for him to spill more blood.

The talk about revelation sounded hollow and forced. Almost laughable. No one there truly believed it. Not when they had watched him change over time, watched that faint madness grow behind his eyes, watched the way his expression remained calm even as people died in front of him.

If anything, his words only confirmed what many of them had already started to suspect.

He had snapped a long time ago. The only difference now was that he no longer bothered to hold it.

And yet, despite the doubt, despite the fear creeping into their chests, none of them stepped forward. None of them challenged him or even considered refusing.

Because they all knew the same truth. They were not there because they believed in him. They were there because they had no better choice.

This world had stripped away everything familiar. Order had collapsed. Strength had become the only law that mattered. And Red... Red stood at the top of that law within this camp.

Following him had been the safest decision when everything first began, the most logical path when survival depended on aligning with power rather than morality.

So they stayed here even as they realized the kind of man he truly was, and as they understood that they were standing under the command of someone who could kill them at any moment without hesitation.

Fear held them in place more effectively than loyalty.

The murmurs slowly died down, not because their doubts had been resolved, but because they knew it didn’t matter. Whether they believed him or not, agreed or not, the outcome would be the same.

If Red decided to move, they would follow. Because refusing meant death. And surviving one more day, no matter how bitter it felt, still mattered more than anything else.

At the front, Red watched them in silence. His expression did not change, but something faint moved behind his eyes, as if he could already see through their thoughts.

Then his lips curled slightly. Not in anger or frustration. But in something far more unsettling.

He had this many people to be sacrificed to the altar.

—

Inside the vast circular arena, the pressure in the air continued to thicken, settling over Myles and the others like an invisible weight that refused to lift.

It did not crush their bodies or force them to their knees, but it pressed heavily against their senses, creeping into their thoughts and slowing their breathing.

Time stretched strangely in that silence, each second dragging longer than it should while nothing appeared before them.

The guardian had not emerged.

It was not hiding in the sense of fear or hesitation. Instead, the absence itself felt deliberate, almost mocking, as if the creature had already arrived long ago and simply chose not to reveal itself yet.

The oppressive aura drifting from above only made that feeling clearer that it was there watching them and enjoying it.

By this point, it was no longer just Myles or Lilian who noticed it. One by one, every member of the group slowly lifted their gaze toward the dark ceiling high above, their eyes narrowing as their instincts aligned with the same conclusion.

The shadows stretching across the upper half of the arena were too deep.

Something was there. They could feel it.

Ethan shifted his stance slightly, his grip tightening around his pistols as he kept staring upward, his unease no longer hidden.

"Why isn’t it coming out?" he asked, his voice lower than usual, carrying a trace of tension that he did not bother to suppress. "If it’s going to attack, then just—"

"It won’t," Lilian interrupted calmly.

Her voice cut through the tension without raising in volume, yet it immediately drew everyone’s attention toward her.

She remained standing with her wings still folded, her crimson eyes fixed on the darkness above as if she could see far more than the others.

"This kind of creature doesn’t act like the others you’ve faced," she continued. "It has a... different nature."

That single statement was enough to shift the mood further. They turned toward her, their expressions tightening, a quiet alarm rising in their eyes as they processed her words.

They had already felt the difference the moment they entered this place but hearing it confirmed so plainly only made their anxiety settle deeper. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Lilian did not explain further. She did not look at them or acknowledge their reactions. Instead, she simply turned and walked toward Myles. Her expression sharpened slightly as she came to a stop beside him.

"Myles," she said, her voice lowering just enough to carry a more serious weight than before. "This is not something ordinary. This creature stands above anything you’ve faced so far." Her gaze flickered upward again briefly before returning to him. "It may be as strong as the one that possessed Seed power."

The words settled heavily in the air.

As strong as the monster with Seed power...

The memory surfaced instantly. They remembered the overwhelming pressure, the impossible regeneration, and the way that fight had pushed them to their absolute limits and beyond. And of course, the cost it had taken.

Nadine.

The thought alone was enough to make their expressions darken. That was not just a difficult enemy. It was something that had nearly broken them entirely. To think that they would face the same thing again in this dungeon trial...

Now something on that level... or possibly beyond... stood above them in the darkness.

Fear began to form, subtle but undeniable.

However, it did not take root in Myles. Instead, something else rose in his heart.

His eyes narrowed slightly as he continued looking upward with a growing intensity.

He tightening the grip around his weapons as a familiar heat stirred within his chest.

"Good," he said.

The single word cut through the silence, firm and without hesitation.

"It’s about time we test our strength against something like that again."

They looked toward him with surprise clearly written across their faces.

Before anyone could question him, Myles continued.

"We’re not the same as we were back then," he said, finally lowering his gaze from the darkness above to look at them. "Every fight and things we did to learn the Ether already made us stronger. There’s no reason to feel afraid anymore."

They wanted to believe him. They really did. But trauma did not work like that. The fear they felt back then had not disappeared just because they had grown stronger. It lingered, buried deep inside their minds, clinging stubbornly to every thought and instinct, reminding them of how close they had come to death.

That kind of trauma did not fade easily, and certainly not just because someone told them there was no reason to be afraid anymore.

Myles saw it immediately.

He did not need them to speak. The hesitation in their eyes was all obvious to him. Their fear had not changed. It had only been pushed down, waiting for a moment like this to rise again.

"Stop being a pussy," Myles said, his voice cutting through the silence with sudden sharpness.

His face remained calm, but there was no mistaking the anger behind it. His eyes burned as he looked at them with a look that was intense enough to make several of them flinch slightly under his gaze.

"Don’t you want to kill this thing?" he continued, his hands tightening around the hilts of his twin blades, the faint sound of metal shifting echoing in the quiet arena. "Then we must fight it. We have no choice."

The moment those words left his mouth, the air suddenly changed.

The oppressive presence above them stirred, no longer still or content to simply watch. The shadows at the ceiling began to move and they saw something massive started to descend from the darkness.

A grotesque, towering abomination revealed itself inch by inch, its massive body twisting unnaturally as it came into view. Its head—if it could even be called that—was covered in countless eyes, dozens upon dozens of them opening all at once, each one staring directly at the group below.

—