Harem Legion: Queens of the Apocalypse-Chapter 40 The Crystals Are Real

"You said what? There are crystals hidden inside the meteorites?"

Inside a brand-new coach, a dozen female officers of the Ice Regiment stared at Magnus like he’d grown another head.

At first, they thought he was joking. But then... with the meteorite field right outside the windows, maybe he wasn’t? Still, how could he possibly know that? Why would he?

They couldn’t make sense of it. But if what he claimed was true, this could be a massive win for the entire regiment.

The crystal he described sounded unreal - straight out of a fantasy book, like something from Harry Potter.

"How do you know? Why do you... why do you always seem to know everything? It doesn’t make sense!" Sophia was the first to snap. She jumped from her seat, voice loud and tense. That question had been bothering her for a long time.

Charlotte didn’t hold her back this time. Everyone else was equally eager for answers.

Magnus stood in the aisle, head lowered, smoking, pacing back and forth. But he had nothing to say. He couldn’t explain. All he could do was stay silent or pretend to be mysterious - no matter how hard they pressed.

"Enough, that’s not the urgent issue right now..." Emily stood up, trying to ease the tension. She glanced briefly at Magnus before turning to the others. "Let’s first see if what he says holds water. If he’s lying? Well, we’ll tear him limb from limb."

The mention of being torn apart made Magnus shiver. That dream last night - it crept into his mind again. Was it a warning?

Right now, he had no clue what was running through Emily’s head. But for her, it started to make more sense - he must’ve developed some strange ability during that fever. Maybe he could see the future.

But every time she thought of his so-called foresight, she couldn’t help but recall the moment he woke up and grabbed her tight...

If he really had a glimpse of what was coming, what did that make them?

Magnus cleared his throat and began explaining. "These meteorites - each one’s covered in a strange material that can’t be cut through with current tech. But every single one has at least one weak spot, a crack. If we dig in through that, the inside’s filled with soft soil. Almost no resistance."

After the briefing, Sophia and Emily split up to gather tools with their squads. Charlotte picked out two sub-teams from each unit - forty women total - to patrol the area and stay alert.

Liana’s logistics crew also stepped in. They handed out water and high-calorie rations, and anyone with free hands joined the digging.

Magnus led by example. He marked a few meteorites on the edge of the village, identified the weak points, then patted the base of a rock that towered over ten meters high. "This size? We need two teams to switch off. One digs, the other clears out debris. But don’t go too hard - the soil inside’s loose. Push too deep, and you might bring the whole thing down."

He repeated the instructions again and again, team by team.

Sometimes, Magnus felt like he was born to worry. With over five hundred people digging at once, he couldn’t help hovering around them all, reminding them of the same things. Every single rock - he just couldn’t let them work without checking.

"Over here! There’s really one here!" a female team member jumped up excitedly, yelling, "Magnus, come here quick! Is this the crystal you mentioned? It’s beautiful, absolutely stunning!"

Hearing that, several others dropped what they were doing and hurried over.

It was a pale blue crystal, about the size of an egg. Magnus jogged over to check it out. Cool to the touch, faint blue glow, cracks running across its surface, showing a deeper blue inside. Gorgeous. Mesmerizing.

That familiar feeling hit him like a wave. Relief and excitement tangled in his chest. He’d always feared that somehow in this second life, those crystals might not exist. It wasn’t likely, but the worry in his gut had never gone away.

Now he could breathe easy.

The women passed the crystal around, marveling at it like it was a rare gem. Naturally, they loved this kind of thing - Emily, Liana, Grace, Sophia, Sarah - all took turns admiring it. Then, almost in sync, they turned to look at Magnus. Their eyes held different meanings - admiration, curiosity, something harder to read.

But no matter what they were thinking, that little crystal had completely sealed Magnus’s position as Ice Regiment’s true leader. Even someone as proud as Sophia now felt a deep, subtle trust toward him.

Fired up, the team got back to digging. Just minutes later, more cheers rang out as they unearthed several more crystals.

Still, no one was more thrilled than Magnus himself.

He knew the true worth of these things. Back in the peak days of the old Ice Regiment, they only had twenty-nine in total. Even so, Ice Regiment had been a name few dared to cross near Springvale City - only Emberleaf Legion could rival them.

But now? In barely fifteen minutes, they’d pulled out seventeen crystals.

The excitement in his chest almost overwhelmed him.

Liana, Emily, Sophia, Grace, and Sarah collected the finds - five Fire Crystals, seven Water Crystals, five Metal Crystals. The classic trio.

Magnus gave them a quick look over, told Emily to keep them safe, then continued landing instructions and even lending a hand himself now and then.

An hour later, the diggers rotated out to rest. Taking advantage of the break, Magnus headed to check on Charlotte’s lookout groups.

Her task zone included four perimeters - each side of the small meteor village, north, south, east, and west - with ten fully armed women holding the line in every direction. Their job: take down stray centipede-spiders.

Thankfully, the monsters weren’t swarming. A few scattered here and there - no real threat. Bigger danger came from the skies - the black swarm of giant mosquitoes. But the women were well-prepared, clad in armor and spraying deterrents. So far, the swarm hadn’t dared come down.

Three sides were mountains. Magnus reached the inner edge of the village, where Charlotte currently stood guard.

She spotted him as he approached, and he saw her too...

But right then, something hit him.

His body froze, just for a second.

And then, without understanding why, Magnus dropped to his knees - facing Charlotte’s direction, completely unable to stop himself.