Chapter 1405: Offered to the Monster
Inside the central mansion of Atlas City compound, a group of Void Realm creatures with bright green hair and long, lean builds lounged around a lavish dining table.
They were Verdants—the current rulers of Atlas City compound.
With their unique control techniques and powerful healing, they’d crushed wave after wave of challengers and finally claimed this human city for themselves.
And now that they’d settled in, they were starting to understand something.
This world looked huge, sure... but actual human cities were rare.
Outside the compounds, it was mostly ruins.
So being able to occupy a city wasn’t just "nice."
It was a trophy. Proof their race ranked near the top among the countless factions thrown into this mess.
"Honestly," said a round-faced Verdant man between bites, "these humans really know how to make food."
"You only care about eating." Another Verdant leaned back, turning a phone over in his hand with fascinated eyes. "This ’cellphone’ thing is way better. It’s like a whole world in your palm. There are even little people performing inside."
At the head of the table, the Verdant leader watched them, frowning.
Something about this felt... off.
Like the humans were using these comforts to dull their edge. To numb them.
But then he looked at the dishes spread across the table, smelled the rich, spicy aroma... and glanced at the bright moving images on the phone screen.
...Yeah. Hard to stay suspicious when everything was this good.
Fine. Let the humans "numb" them.
At worst, it meant the humans wanted them to kill fewer people. Big deal.
"Enough." The Verdant leader set down his utensils. "That matter I asked you to investigate—humans awakening multiple ability systems. Did you figure it out?"
"We looked into it," one of his subordinates said. "We questioned more than a thousand humans. None of them knew any special method. According to them, whenever a human breaks through to a new stage, they randomly awaken a new ability. That ability can belong to any system, and what they get depends entirely on luck."
He hesitated, then added, "More than a thousand gave the same answer. They probably aren’t lying. It should be a racial talent unique to humans."
The Verdant leader nodded slowly. It was more or less what he’d expected.
His own people also awakened a new ability every time they broke through to a new stage—but theirs were always nature-type. In that sense, humanity’s talent was clearly tied to their race.
"Humans really are favored by fate," the Verdant leader said, voice faintly contemptuous. "A heaven-defying talent like that... and instead of using it to chase real strength, they bury themselves in external toys."
He shook his head, disgusted.
"Humanity used to be counted among the top races. To see them reduced to this..." His mouth curled. "Pathetic."
Who could’ve imagined it?
The race that once intimidated countless worlds... now bending the knee to the Verdants. Smiling, scraping, offering comfort and gifts—anything, just to get the Verdants to kill less.
Every time the leader thought about it, a warm satisfaction spread through him.
A subordinate frowned. "Leader... isn’t this a little dangerous? Humans feel like a ticking bomb."
The Verdant leader chuckled, cold and confident. "If they ever rise again, sure, it’d be troublesome. But do you really think I’m going to give them the chance?"
The subordinate relaxed. "As long as you understand. I was worried you’d get tempted by all these... distractions."
"I’m not that shallow," the leader said, waving it off.
He paused. "By the way—any other races come by this afternoon?"
"Yes. A group came, but they didn’t attack. They just took a look and left."
"Good." Pride flickered across the Verdant leader’s face. "Looks like the Verdants’ name is spreading. The average race won’t dare provoke us casually anymore."
This wasn’t their original world.
This was a world where countless races collided.
Having your name carry weight here meant something. It was face. It was status.
"It’s true—Verdants are the strongest!" the others chimed in, laughing, basking in it.
Right then, a Verdant man came sprinting in, panic all over his face.
"Bad news, Leader! A terrifying feral beast is heading this way!"
"Feral beast?" The Verdant leader’s eyes actually brightened.
"A feral beast is good. That means a crystal core delivered to our doorstep."
They were riding high on confidence. The first thing they pictured wasn’t danger—it was loot.
The messenger swallowed hard. "Uh... this crystal core might not be easy to take."
The Verdant leader’s brow furrowed. "What do you mean, ’not easy’?"
The messenger’s voice shook. "Because it’s... Stage SS."
"What?!"
"Stage SS?!" The Verdant leader shot up from his chair, eyes bulging.
He stared at the messenger like he’d gone insane.
"You’re sure?"
"I’m sure," the man said quickly. "We already confirmed it with detection."
The Verdant leader’s expression went through a whole parade of emotions.
A minute ago he’d been lounging back like nothing in the world could touch him. Now his face just... collapsed.
A Stage SS feral beast wasn’t something they could handle.
Sure, he was Tier 34—but in front of a Stage SS monster, that meant nothing. He wouldn’t even have the ability to meaningfully resist.
Stage S to Stage SS was a brutal dividing line.
Back in their original world, Stage S experts weren’t rare.
Stage SS?
You could count them on two hands.
He’d never imagined this world had Stage SS feral beasts roaming around.
If something like that went berserk, it could wipe this entire city off the map.
"Where is it right now?" the Verdant leader asked, voice heavy.
"Less than three miles from the city," the messenger said.
"..."
The Verdant leader’s jaw tightened.
"Drive the humans out to meet it," he said flatly. "Maybe it’s just hungry. If we feed it enough, it might leave on its own. Feral beasts prefer forests. It shouldn’t linger here."
"Yes!" The messenger nodded hard and sprinted out to carry out the order.
"A Stage SS crystal core..." one Verdant man murmured, greed flashing in his eyes. "If we got our hands on that, we’d be so much stronger."
The Verdant leader shot him a look so cold it could’ve frozen blood. "And how, exactly, do you plan to get it? With our numbers? Without the main force, hunting a Stage SS beast is just volunteering to be buried."
"R-Right... I was just saying," the man muttered, shrinking back.
Soon, under Verdant whips and threats, tens of thousands of humans were herded out of the compound and forced to line up outside the city walls.
At first, the crowd looked confused—staring around, not understanding what was happening.
Then they saw it.
A massive silhouette in the distance, sprinting straight toward them.
The color drained from their faces.
Panic detonated.
They screamed and surged backward, trying to stampede back into the compound—
But vines erupted behind them like living traps.
Anyone who tried to run was snared instantly, wrapped tight... and drained dry. In seconds, they were sucked into shriveled husks that dropped to the ground like discarded skins.
The crowd froze.
Feet locked in place.
Eyes wide, mouths open, nobody daring to breathe as they stared at the bodies.
From the top of the wall, a Verdant man leaned over, his voice cold and clear.
"Stand still and behave. Anyone who tries to run back—that’s what happens to you."
And in that moment, the humans finally understood why they’d been forced out.
They weren’t "evacuating."
They were being offered.
Cannon fodder.
Meat.
Food to distract the monster.
Despair spread through the crowd like poison.
Their hearts turned to ash.
They could already see the end waiting for them, and there was nothing they could do about it.
They’d thought cooperating would buy them a chance to live.
In the end, it hadn’t mattered.
Death was still coming.
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