Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Seeing Ethan hovering in midair, the Titan Bull let out a heavy snort.

In the next instant, Ethan felt a massive force clamp down on his body—like gravity had suddenly doubled, tripled, turned into a hand.

He dropped straight down.

Ethan’s heart jumped, but he teleported at the last moment, shifting out of the way so he didn’t fall onto the earth spikes.

He’d barely avoided that when the sky above him darkened.

Dense meteors—dozens, then hundreds—appeared overhead and screamed down at insane speed.

”Holy shit—are you kidding me!?” Ethan’s scalp went cold. He teleported again.

But the meteor coverage was huge. The moment Ethan reappeared, one meteor slammed into him.

His Nullspace Domain shattered on the spot.

The remaining impact crashed into his body.

”Pfft—!”

Blood sprayed from Ethan’s mouth. He didn’t even have time to register the pain. He forced himself to teleport again, finally blinking out of the meteor zone.

And right as he stabilized—

The Titan Bull was already there, closing the distance like a moving mountain.

”Stop!” Ethan threw up a hand. ”Big guy—let’s talk!”

The Titan Bull’s eyes filled with disdain, but it didn’t immediately attack. It stood not far away, staring at Ethan coldly, like it wanted to see what kind of nonsense a tiny creature could possibly say.

Ethan swallowed and put on his most reasonable face.

”Well… big guy. Let’s be fair here. We don’t have to make this personal. You go back to Blackpine Wilds, I go back to Fallen Star City, and we both pretend today never happened. Sounds fair, right?”

For a split second, the Titan Bull actually looked like it was listening.

Then it processed what Ethan had just said.

Its expression… snapped.

”ROOOAR—!”

The bull exploded into motion, charging like it wanted to grind Ethan into paste.

”Hey! I’m trying to negotiate like a civilized person—why are you so violent!?” Ethan yelled, genuinely offended.

But the pressure coming off that charge was terrifying.

No time.

Ethan activated Absolute Stasis.

The world froze.

Black light flared around his poleaxe as he brought it down on the Titan Bull’s head with everything he had.

THUD—!

A dull, heavy impact rang out.

Ethan’s arms went numb instantly. His body got thrown backward more than a hundred feet from the rebound alone.

The Titan Bull, though…

Only had a wound.

A cut—not huge, not small—just a real gash on its head.

Ethan’s face changed.

”God damn… what a hard skull.”

That strike had burned nearly half his mental energy.

And that was all the damage he’d done.

This thing’s defense was insane.

A breath later, time resumed.

The Titan Bull paused, confused, staring at Ethan who’d somehow retreated a hundred feet.

Then it felt pain. Warm blood sliding down its face.

Its eyes went unfocused for a second.

I didn’t hit him… so why am I bleeding?

But the confusion didn’t last long. Something clicked.

The Titan Bull looked back at Ethan—shock flashing through its huge eyes.

Ethan seized the opening and softened his tone immediately.

”Big guy… how about we stop? I admit it, we killed a little too much today.” He raised both hands, palms out. ”I’ll even make a promise—later, I’ll tell my people not to come here and slaughter your underlings anymore, alright?”

He meant every word.

This bull was beyond ridiculous.

Even with Absolute Stasis, Ethan couldn’t win.

But the Titan Bull didn’t care.

It roared again, fury boiling over, and prepared to attack—clearly ready to keep going until one of them stopped breathing.

Right then, a figure suddenly burst up from underground and drove a savage punch into the Titan Bull’s belly.

The Titan Bull jolted in pain and staggered back a few steps, staring at the one who’d popped out of the earth with a look like it had seen a ghost.

”Moo…?” (You’re still not dead!?)

Dopey didn’t waste time. The instant the first hit landed, he followed up—another plain, brutal punch, aimed at the Titan Bull’s stomach again.

This time the Titan Bull reacted.

It stomped its forehoof down, a shockwave rippling through the ground and blasting Dopey backward. Then it chained skills without even breathing—calling down another shower of meteors, burying Dopey under a collapse of rock and fire, then ripping the ground open with another carpet of earth spikes, trying to skewer him straight through.

Instead, the spikes punched Dopey right back out of the ground.

A full combo.

Spikes. Meteors. Spikes again.

And the result?

Nothing.

Dopey stood there, completely unharmed.

The Titan Bull finally lost it.

What kind of freak was this thing?

Why wouldn’t it die?

Ethan didn’t let Dopey keep pressing. He had Dopey step in front of him like a shield, then looked back at the Titan Bull again.

”Come on, big guy,” Ethan said, voice careful. ”How about you think about my suggestion one more time?”

He couldn’t win this fight cleanly. The only play left was to talk the thing down.

Sure, the others were already far away. Ethan could just dismiss Dopey and Riftwalk out.

But the Titan Bull was insanely fast. If it decided to chase the retreating force, it could still catch them.

A hundred thousand people didn’t run like a dozen elites. They were too slow.

But Ethan’s attempt at diplomacy only made things worse.

The moment he spoke, the Titan Bull’s gaze slid right past Dopey and locked onto Ethan.

With its level, it could tell immediately: Dopey was a soulless thrall.

The bull had only been obsessing over Dopey because its ”bull temper” had flared. It couldn’t accept that a Stage SS Titan Bull might fail to kill a mere thrall.

And it had failed. Completely.

It didn’t like it, but it had to admit it.

So it chose the simpler solution.

Kill the master.

Ethan saw that shift and cursed internally, but his face stayed composed—almost smug.

”You sure you want to keep coming at me?” Ethan lifted his brows. ”Forget the cut on your head already?”

Instead of backing off, the Titan Bull’s temper blew through the roof.

”MOOO—!”

A brown-yellow light flared along its horns.

Ethan’s body suddenly felt like it weighed a mountain—his bones sinking, his muscles screaming as gravity crushed down on him. At the same time, the ground beneath his feet pulsed with dangerous movement.

Ethan was about to teleport upward—

When the sky filled again.

Meteors. Everywhere. Coming down with terrifying force.

”Damn it!” Ethan snapped. ”You’re really doing all this for me?”

He had no choice.

Absolute Stasis.

The world froze.

Ethan teleported straight to the Titan Bull’s front, poleaxe blazing with black light—and swung down viciously at its face.

Not the horns.

Not the skull.

Right on its nose.

THUD—!

A deep, ugly impact.

No matter how tough the Titan Bull was, its nose was still a weak point.

Bone shattered.

Ethan didn’t get greedy. The moment the hit landed, he teleported away again, slipping out of the earth-spike and meteor kill zone.

A heartbeat later, time resumed.

The Titan Bull screamed and whipped its head violently, the pain clearly sharp enough to punch through even its rage.

Ethan had escaped, but Dopey was still inside the area of effect—and got swallowed by the chained skills again.

After a long moment, the Titan Bull finally stopped thrashing. Its eyes were bloodshot now, burning as it stared at Ethan.

Ethan spread his hands, as if this was all deeply unfair to him. ”I told you I didn’t want to fight. You’re the one who insisted.”

His mental energy was almost gone, but he kept his expression relaxed—like he had plenty left.

”You can’t hit me,” Ethan continued calmly. ”But I can hit you. You’re tough, sure—but if I keep chopping your nose, you really think you’ll be fine?”

”…”

The Titan Bull looked at him, utterly fed up.

But it couldn’t deny it.

That space-time ability was disgusting.

And the burning agony in its nose—still throbbing, still raw—forced its anger down into something tighter, more cautious.

If it took another hit like that…

Yeah. It didn’t even want to imagine it.