Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Inside the dimensional space, the group was fully immersed in their treasure hunt, digging through the ruins with relentless enthusiasm.

It didn’t take long before Mia struck gold—she uncovered a longsword made of the same mysterious material as Ethan’s dagger. Just as sharp, just as solid.

That discovery lit a fire under everyone. Their search kicked into overdrive.

Soon, more weapons began to surface—swords, sabers, axes, staves, spears… a full arsenal of styles.

All of them forged from the same unknown material, crafted with some kind of special technique. Not only were they razor-sharp, but they were also incredibly durable.

Ethan even tried smashing one with a rebar rod—no effect. The weapon didn’t even scratch.

Seeing that, the group was practically buzzing with excitement.

Weapons had always been in short supply. They’d taken plenty of hits on this journey just because they didn’t have the right gear. Especially Ethan—his [Telekinesis] was powerful, but without a proper weapon to wield, he couldn’t unleash its full potential.

Sure, now that they’d all reached Stage D, everyone had awakened abilities. But when it came to fighting zombies, most of them still preferred close combat. Constantly using abilities drained too much mental energy.

The oversized rebar rods they were using worked for now, but once their strength advanced a few more tiers, even those would be obsolete.

And honestly, Ethan couldn’t think of anything in the real world tougher than those rods—until now.

By pure luck, they’d stumbled into this place… and solved their weapon problem in one go.

Ethan looked at the weapons scattered around them, each one gleaming with a dark, metallic sheen. His heart swelled with satisfaction.

If these weapons had survived for who knew how many years without rusting or breaking down, that meant the material was no joke. At least with his current strength, he couldn’t even dent them.

Which meant these weapons could probably last them a long, long time.

”Alright, everyone—dig deeper. Flip this place inside out. Don’t leave a single stone unturned,” Ethan called out.

”Got it!”

The group moved like a pack of raiders, tearing through the ruins with the precision of a military sweep and the enthusiasm of kids in a candy store.

After a full day of combing every inch of the space, they finally wrapped up their search.

In total, they’d recovered over fifty weapons of various types. Aside from that, though, there wasn’t much else.

It seemed only these specially forged weapons had withstood the test of time. If there had been other treasures, they’d long since crumbled to dust.

Just to be sure, Ethan activated [True Sight] and gave the entire area one last, thorough scan.

He was about to turn it off when something caught his eye.

A faint glimmer beneath the dirt.

He walked over, knelt down, and brushed the soil away.

There, nestled in the earth, was a pitch-black ring lying quietly.

Ethan picked it up, curiosity piqued.

The material was unfamiliar—like the weapons—but it felt different.

Where the weapons were cold to the touch, the ring was warm and smooth, almost like it had a pulse.

Its design was simple: just a plain band, etched with strange, intricate markings that didn’t resemble any language he knew.

Ethan turned it over in his hand, frowning slightly.

”What are you?” he muttered.

”Ethan, what’s that?” The others had gathered around by now, eyes locked on the ring in his hand.

”Looks like a ring,” Ethan said, turning it over. ”But the fact that it hasn’t weathered at all means it’s probably not ordinary. No idea what it actually does, though.”

”Wait—Ethan, could that be a storage ring?” Big Mike’s eyes went wide as he stared at it.

Henry snorted. ”You’ve definitely read too many webnovels.”

”I mean, come on,” Big Mike shot back. ”Miles has a [Pocket Dimension] ability. Why couldn’t there be a storage ring too?”

That actually made everyone pause.

Now that he mentioned it… it didn’t sound so far-fetched.

Ethan’s eyes lit up. He closed his eyes and focused, channeling his mental energy into the ring.

And just like that—he saw it.

A strange, enclosed space opened up in his mind’s eye.

His face lit up with pure joy.

Holy shit. It really was a storage ring.

He didn’t need anyone to explain how insanely valuable that was—especially in the apocalypse. A portable storage space? That was game-changing.

Every time he saw Miles casually pull gear out of thin air, he’d been jealous as hell. He’d even considered picking a spatial ability for his next power-up.

But that would’ve meant giving up one of his nine precious ability slots. Every choice mattered.

Now? No need to choose. The ring solved that problem for him.

The internal space was about 3,000 cubic feet—way bigger than Miles’ pocket dimension. And there were already items stored inside.

Probably because it was a sealed space, nothing inside had decayed. Everything was perfectly preserved.

There were clothes, dozens of weapons, and a bunch of materials Ethan didn’t recognize.

The weapons were made of the same material as the ones they’d just found, but the craftsmanship was clearly superior—more refined, sturdier.

One weapon in particular caught his eye: a six-foot-long poleaxe.

Just the amount of material used for that thing probably equaled thirty daggers.

Ethan was instantly sold.

He’d always preferred heavy weapons. Swords and knives just didn’t feel right in his hands anymore. But this? This was perfect. It could slash, smash, stab—and with that kind of reach, zombies wouldn’t even get close.

Judging by the size, though, it probably wasn’t light. Might take some effort to wield.

Aside from the weapons, Ethan also spotted a black box and two books tucked away in the corner.

With a thought, he summoned the box into his hand.

The moment it appeared, everyone’s jaws dropped.

”Ethan! That really is a storage ring?!” Big Mike shouted.

”Yep,” Ethan grinned. ”Congrats, Mike. You actually got something right for once.”

”I can’t believe it… Storage rings are real!” Even with the proof in front of them, the others were still stunned.

”Well, if spatial abilities exist, then a storage ring isn’t that crazy,” Ethan said with a shrug.

”Yeah… fair point.”

”What’s in the box?” someone asked, eyes glued to the black container in Ethan’s hand.

”No idea. Let’s find out.”

The box wasn’t locked—just sealed with a clever latch. Ethan popped it open easily.

Inside was a single black orb, smooth and perfectly round.

Everyone leaned in.

”Is it just me, or does that look like a crystal core?” Chris asked, frowning.

”No, I think you’re right,” Ethan nodded. ”It definitely feels like one. Just not sure what tier.”

So far, they’d only seen two types of crystal cores—red ones from Stage D and below, and purple ones from Tier 7 and up. Anything beyond that? They hadn’t encountered it yet.