Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Down the mountainside…

Sophia and the others saw it too—the swarm of Titan Apes had all moved in. Which meant the Void Realm exit was probably clear now.

They wanted out.

Tragically, their hiding spot was awful. They were right on the edge of the battlefield. Forget escaping—if they didn’t get caught in the splash damage, they should be thanking God.

At that moment, it felt like the universe had just flipped them the middle finger.

”Who the hell roasted that meat?” someone cursed under their breath. ”Couldn’t you run farther before you started grilling? You trying to screw us over?”

But sometimes the things you fear most come looking for you on purpose.

As more and more mutant beasts piled into the fight, the battlefield kept expanding outward.

Just as everyone’s hearts climbed into their throats, a flying mutant beast took a direct hit from the Titan Ape leader’s fist. It flapped its wings a few times, couldn’t get airborne, and finally came wobbling down toward them.

”!!!”

Under the group’s horrified stares, the massive bird slammed straight into their hiding place.

Its huge body flattened the nearby brush, crushing the shrubs down—and just like that, more than a dozen stunned, wide-eyed figures were exposed.

”???”

Nearby Bloodfang Wolves and Titan Apes quickly noticed, their expressions practically full of question marks.

Up in the cave, Ethan spotted it immediately. His eyes went wide.

”Holy shit— isn’t that Sophia?!”

The moment he said her name, Henry and Emily shoved in, panicked.

”Where?”

”Where’s Sophia?”

”Over there,” Ethan said, pointing. ”Where that big bird crashed. It’s kind of far—you might not see clearly.”

They crowded into the peephole, straining their eyes in the direction Ethan indicated.

A second later, Emily clenched her teeth. ”Yeah. That’s her.”

Even from this far away, she recognized Sophia instantly.

For days, that woman’s silhouette had been stuck in Emily’s head like a splinter. An obsession. A curse she couldn’t shake. Now that she was seeing her again, Emily’s whole body trembled.

The woman who’d conspired to murder her parents—Emily needed to see her die with her own eyes.

Ethan lowered his voice. ”Relax. Those people are dead no matter what. Even if you don’t get to kill her yourselves… she’s still dying right in front of you.”

”Yeah.” The siblings nodded, eyes locked on the group below like they were afraid to blink.

Down below, Sophia and the others hadn’t expected to be exposed so suddenly. Faces drained white in an instant.

”Run!”

Nobody hesitated. They turned and bolted.

But with their level of strength, trying to escape in front of this many powerful mutant beasts was a bad joke.

Pick any one of the monsters here and it could wipe them out like stepping on ants.

In no time, dozens of Bloodfang Wolves and several Titan Apes broke off and chased after them.

The main brawl wasn’t over, sure—but that didn’t stop them from swatting a few annoying intruders.

You think you’re allowed to watch our fight?

In the blink of an eye, the mutant beasts caught them.

”Ah— I don’t want to die!”

”Please! Don’t eat me!”

Begging erupted from every direction. Terror stripped away what little dignity they had left.

The mutant beasts didn’t care.

They opened their jaws and bit down.

Blood sprayed. One Silverfox Squad core member after another fell into the mud, collapsing into red pools.

Then, just as a Titan Ape raised its hand to finish Sophia with a single slap, the Titan Ape leader roared from the distance.

The ape froze mid-swing. It scratched its head, confused.

And then—rather than hitting Sophia—it stepped in front of her.

It actually protected her, blocking the Bloodfang Wolves from tearing into her.

Seeing that, Ethan and the others practically had their jaws hit the floor.

”What the hell?” Henry blurted, anxious. ”Why isn’t she dead?!”

”Looks like the Titan Ape leader stopped it.” Ethan frowned, eyes narrowing.

”Holy shit,” Big Mike said, eyes bulging. ”Don’t tell me the Titan Ape leader’s got a thing for that woman.”

”Could she be like Skinny Pete?” Sean guessed. ”Some kind of mental ability—temporary control over mutant beasts?”

”No.” Emily shook her head hard. ”I tailed her for a long time. I’ve never seen anything like that.”

”Yeah.” Ethan nodded. ”I’ve seen her too. She only has an Acquired Ability—a Nature-type skill, Entangling Roots. No Innate Abilities.”

”Then it’s confirmed,” Big Mike declared, slapping his thigh. ”She’s definitely got something going on with that Titan Ape leader.”

”…”

”Your imagination is unreal,” someone muttered.

Down below, Sophia stared at the Titan Ape standing in front of her, protecting her, her face a mess of confusion.

She’d thought she was dead.

Instead, it stopped. And it was even shielding her.

Then something seemed to click in her head. Sophia’s face went white, and her whole body started shaking.

If they were keeping her alive for that… she’d rather they had killed her on the spot.

But when she actually tried to slip around the Titan Ape and make a break for it, she faltered.

Yeah. She was terrified of dying.

Dying would be easy—she just had to step past the ape’s protection and run at the Bloodfang Wolves. She’d be torn into pieces in seconds, just like the others.

But when she looked at Mark and the rest—those half-devoured corpses, mangled beyond recognition—she couldn’t do it.

Death was horrifying.

And she still had too much left undone. She still had to get revenge on that person. How could she die so easily?

Revenge…?

Sophia froze for a split second.

She didn’t know exactly how strong that person was. But she knew one thing: relying on herself, she might never be able to take revenge in her entire life.

But if she could use the Titan Apes…

A crazy idea crawled out of the dark in her mind.

The price for it, though, might be… steep.

If that was the price… she would learn to live with it. Once she got used to it, it would be fine.

If she could really make use of these Titan Apes, she wouldn’t just get her revenge—she could sweep through the apocalypse and crush everything in her path, becoming a queen of a new era.

At that thought, something hardened in Sophia’s eyes—cold, decisive.

The fight raged on. This battle sparked by a few roasted carcasses had turned into the biggest clash this region had seen in decades.

Or maybe these species had hated each other for a long time, and the barbecue was just the fuse that finally set it all off.

Either way, everyone was fighting for real now. The entire valley ran with blood.

The most bodies on the ground were Bloodfang Wolves. After that came piles of Titan Ape corpses.

Bloodfang Wolves had numbers but weak individual strength, so they died the most.

The Titan Apes had started as the strongest faction, but they’d been targeted from multiple sides. Their losses were brutal—four Tier 10 Titan Apes had already gone down.

In raw numbers, the wolves lost more. But proportionally, the Titan Apes were getting wiped out—they’d lost nearly half their force.

As for the other sides… dozens of foxes were dead, and more than half of the flying mutant beasts had been killed too.

It was a slaughter.

And still, there was no sign of it stopping. If anything, the fighting stayed savage, pounding on without a break.

Then a new group came trotting in—small-headed figures wrapped in armor, snorting and oinking as they hurried closer.

The moment they appeared, the fighting in the field… stopped. Like a miracle.

Up in the cave, Ethan and the others’ faces sank.

”Why are they here too?!”