Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Ethan and the others headed for the Void Realm entrance with the white-furred apes and five other mutant beasts.

Even the zombies along the road didn’t dare get close. This squad’s presence was just too brutal. Nothing with a brain—or even half a brain—wanted any part of them.

In less than two hours, they were back at the Void Realm entrance.

Then everyone filed straight in.

With the white-furred apes in front and the squad’s strength having jumped up again, they didn’t have to creep around like last time. This time, they were here to steamroll.

For their first stop, Ethan picked the Ironback Rats. No mystery there—he was clearly here to settle the score from last time.

But when the white-furred apes saw the rats, every single one of them looked unwilling.

Apparently, even they didn’t want to put their hands on Ironback Rats.

In the end, Ethan dangled the promise of barbecue in front of them, and they grudgingly gave in.

Last time, Ethan had been Tier 10, while everyone else was Tier 9.

This time, Ethan was Tier 11, and most of the others were Tier 10. Against the same Ironback Rats as before, the difference was night and day.

Back at Tier 10, when Ethan’s poleaxe hit a Tier 10 Ironback Rat, it could only carve a thin crack into that iron armor of a back.

Now that he was Tier 11, the same swing split the rat’s armor open like it was cheap plating.

And once an Ironback Rat lost its armor, it was basically trash—easy to kill.

It wasn’t just Ethan, either. The rest of them were the same. Tier 10 fighters working together with their weapons made short work of the Tier 8 and Tier 9 Ironback Rats.

Add a handful of terrifying white-furred apes to the mix, and soon the rats’ territory was flooded with nonstop squealing screams—shrill ”chee-chee” cries that didn’t let up for a second.

Ironback Rats were hard to kill, sure, but they were basically treasure from head to tail.

Their back armor was top-tier material for crafting protective gear, and their tails were natural weapons—razor-sharp, and venomous on top of that.

You could honestly say every single Ironback Rat they killed was a massive haul.

With temptation like that, Ethan and the others latched onto the rats and just kept hunting.

The poor Ironback Rats were slow and short-sighted. Once you spotted one, it was almost never getting away.

After that, their routine settled in.

During the day, Ethan’s group slaughtered their way through the Void Realm.

At night, they came back out and rested in the small town below.

The main reason was simple: they needed the night sky to absorb mysterious energy, and inside the Void Realm that energy was too thin.

For a full week, Ethan and the others practically swept clean everything within about six miles of the entrance, wiping out mutant beasts left and right. By the end, they’d collected close to three hundred thousand high-tier crystal cores—mostly Tier 8 and Tier 9.

Everyone’s strength shot up.

Every member of the Fallen Star Squad reached the peak of Tier 10, and Ethan—after consuming three Tier 11 crystal cores on top of absorbing mysterious energy—pushed into mid-Tier 11.

The only problem was that Tier 11 mutant beasts were rare. In an entire week, they’d only run into three.

But even as fast as they were growing, it was still nothing compared to the white-furred apes.

After a week of coming out to Earth at night and absorbing mysterious energy under the stars, all of the white-furred apes had reached Stage C—Tier 12.

That level of strength killed any thought of making a move on them. Nobody even dared entertain the idea.

Fortunately, after spending that much time together, their relationship with the white-furred apes had gotten a lot closer.

As long as you fed them barbecue, they were pretty obedient. Most of the time, if the squad pointed at something they wanted dead, the apes would go help without a fuss.

But today, when Ethan and the others tried to push deeper into the forest, the white-furred apes shook their heads like crazy.

There was even fear on their faces.

Seeing that expression, Ethan’s heart tightened.

Don’t tell me there’s something even stronger than them in this forest…

Ethan sprang up into a tree and activated [True Sight], sweeping his gaze toward the depths of the forest.

But the deep woods were dead quiet. Not a shadow in sight.

If anything, that made Ethan even more uneasy.

He kept searching, inch by inch.

Then his vision passed over a pitch-black cave, and his heart jolted for no reason at all.

Like he was possessed, he poured in more mental energy and forced his sight into the cave.

Suddenly—

A massive head filled his view.

Ethan tried to focus, tried to make out what the hell it was…

And that thing—like it sensed him—snapped its tightly shut eyes open.

The instant Ethan saw those eyes, it felt like lightning slammed straight through his skull. His whole body went numb, and he fell out of the tree.

”Ethan!”

Everyone jumped, sprinting over to catch him.

”Go!” Ethan rasped, weak but frantic. ”Get out of here!”

What terrified them even more was the blood at the corner of Ethan’s eye.

That was enough to scare the life out of everyone. They didn’t waste a second—someone hoisted Ethan up, and the whole group bolted, fleeing as fast as they could.

Deep in the forest, inside that cave…

The enormous creature stirred, puzzled, and glanced around.

Then it closed its eyes again and went back to sleep.

At the Void Realm entrance…

”Ethan, how are you?” Everyone crowded around him, faces tight with panic. ”What happened? Why were you suddenly hurt?”

Ethan shook his head, still shaken, and shot a wary look toward the Void Realm.

”There’s a ferocious beast in there,” he said hoarsely. ”Something way beyond anything we understand.”

”Beyond our understanding?” someone demanded. ”What Tier is it?”

”I don’t know,” Ethan said. ”But I’m sure of one thing—one slap from it, and every single one of us would be turned into meat paste.”

”…”

A chill ran through the group. More than one person visibly shuddered.

Ethan turned to the white-furred apes. ”You knew it was there?”

The apes nodded.

After spending so many days together, communication between them had gotten a lot smoother.

”Then… have you seen it before?”

The apes shook their heads.

”Roar…” The leader let out a low, tense bellow.

(We’ve felt its aura. We didn’t dare get close. That area is a forbidden zone of the forest!)

Ethan nodded slowly. He got it—they’d known it existed, but they’d never gone near it.

His mood sank like a stone.

This was the first time Ethan had ever felt real fear.

Not the kind you could grit your teeth through. Not the kind you could outplay or outgun.

This was the kind of fear that came from knowing, deep down, that you simply couldn’t fight back.

He’d thought this was just a Void Realm where mysterious energy was thin.

He hadn’t expected a monster like that to be sleeping in it.

Please… please tell me it didn’t notice me, Ethan thought.

Then his eyes hardened. ”We can’t go back in. Not anymore. If we alarm that thing… ten lives wouldn’t be enough.”

He forced himself upright. ”Let’s go. Back to Clearford City.”

”Okay!”

No one hesitated. They got Ethan moving and left the area at top speed.

On the way back to Clearford City, something felt off immediately.

The entire city was empty.

Not a single zombie in sight.

That made no sense. Even though the military and Clearford City’s Enhanced had been clearing them out nonstop, the number of zombies was still supposed to be in the millions. Seeing zero was flat-out abnormal.

Had the military really wiped out millions of zombies in just a few days?

They all shook their heads.

No way. That wasn’t realistic.

By the time they got back to the mansion, they barely had a chance to sit down before General Cross arrived—with Michael in tow.

”Sorry, Ethan,” General Cross said, looking a little awkward. ”I know it’s sudden. Hope we’re not disturbing you.”

”It’s fine.” Ethan looked at him, puzzled. ”General Cross, you came in person. Something urgent?”

”Not really,” Cross said with a smile. ”You’ve been here a while and never stopped by to say hello. I finally had some time today, so I thought I’d come take a look. You settling in okay?”

”We’ve been living just fine here.” Ethan gave him a look, mildly speechless at how… accommodating Cross was acting. It didn’t fit him at all.

Cross cleared his throat. ”Ahem. Right—about what you asked me to investigate last time. I’ve got results.”

Ethan’s eyes sharpened. ”Seriously? Tell me. Did you find them?”