Apocalypse: King of Zombies

The four Blazeborn fighters’ faces darkened as they took in their unfamiliar surroundings.

Then Abyron charged at them, and panic set in. They scattered in every direction, trying to escape.

But the Deadlock Dimension was only so large. With nowhere to run, they desperately attacked the spatial barrier, to no effect.

As Abyron closed in, their leader shouted, ”I suggest you calm down! The Pyrathi warriors are already on their way. If you kill us, they’ll never let you go!”

”You may be Tier 47, but the Pyrathi have a peak Tier 47!”

Unfortunately, that threat meant nothing to Ethan or Abyron.

It wasn’t like they had never killed a peak Tier 47 before.

Abyron’s spear shot forward.

The Blazeborn fighters tried to block it together, but Ethan appeared beside them and brought his Poleaxe down.

Boom!

The Poleaxe cleaved through a Tier 43 Blazeborn fighter, killing him in a single blow.

At the same time, Abyron’s spear punched through layer after layer of defense and pierced the Blazeborn leader’s body.

”Ah!” The man screamed, glaring at them with cold hatred. ”I’ve already marked you. It won’t be long before you join us in death!”

Ethan drove the tip of his Poleaxe through the man’s neck.

”You talk too much.”

The man’s eyes bulged. His head slowly sagged as the life drained from his body.

The two remaining Blazeborn fighters went deathly pale. They dropped to their knees with two heavy thuds.

”Please! Don’t kill us—”

Before they could finish, Ethan swept his Poleaxe across them, the weapon wrapped in dense black energy.

Two necks were severed almost simultaneously, sending both heads flying.

Ethan waved a hand and stored all four corpses in his spatial storage ring.

Abyron opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing.

Maybe Ethan was right. Perhaps it took someone like him to lead humanity through this disaster alive.

Once the four were dealt with, Ethan activated True Sight and scanned Abyron. Sure enough, a transparent flame-shaped mark sat on his shoulder.

Ethan used Telekinesis to peel it away, and the mark dissolved into the air.

Checking himself proved more difficult. He examined every part of his body he could see but found nothing. The mark had to be somewhere outside his field of view, which made things complicated.

”Abyron, do you have any way to remove a tracking mark?”

”Tracking marks are troublesome. They’re colorless and invisible, so you can’t see them with the naked eye. Even if you find one, removing it is difficult unless you have the right ability. I don’t.”

”All right. How long do they usually last?”

”Three days at most.”

”...”

”Forget it. We’ll stay away from New Atlas for the next three days and wander around,” Ethan said helplessly.

He didn’t know exactly how powerful the Pyrathi were, but judging by what the Blazeborn leader had said, they had at least one peak Tier 47. They couldn’t be weak.

Until Ethan knew whether he could handle them, he had no intention of leading them back to New Atlas.

Besides, he had Riftwalk. Even if they could sense his location, they would never be able to catch him.

Worst case, he could lead them all over the world. He might even manage to get them into trouble with someone else along the way.

With his decision made, Ethan dismissed the Deadlock Dimension.

Outside, the Beasts had already retreated. With their leader gone, there was no point in continuing the fight.

The Blazeborn hadn’t pursued them. Instead, they were all staring into the sky, waiting for their Patriarch and elders to return.

The distorted space soon rippled, and two figures appeared in midair.

Every Blazeborn face instantly went pale.

Only two people had emerged. There was no need to ask what had happened to their Patriarch and the elders.

It’s over!

Despair swept through the Blazeborn.

Yet just as they thought the pair would attack them, a dimensional rift opened in the sky. The two stepped inside and disappeared.

The Blazeborn stared after them in confusion.

Just then, a large group of figures came flying toward them at astonishing speed.

The Blazeborn immediately grew excited.

”The Pyrathi are here!”

The newcomers soon arrived overhead. At their head was an old man who was red from head to toe. He surveyed the area with a frown.

”Where are they?”

”High Elder, they... just left,” a Blazeborn answered respectfully.

”They left?” The Pyrathi High Elder’s face darkened. ”Useless fools! You couldn’t even stall them for this long?”

The Blazeborn lowered their heads, not daring to respond.

”Where’s your Patriarch?”

”The Patriarch... He and the others are all dead.” The Blazeborn looked ready to cry. ”High Elder, you have to avenge us! They didn’t just steal our crystal core. They killed our Patriarch and several elders too!”

The Pyrathi High Elder’s brow furrowed.

He knew the strength of the Blazeborn Patriarch and elders. They were all Stage SSS, yet they had been wiped out in such a short time. He hadn’t expected that.

”How many were there, and how strong were they?”

”There were only two. One was Tier 47. The other was Stage SSS too, but we don’t know his exact Tier.”

”Two...”

”Two people killed your Patriarch and several elders that quickly?”

”Even if one of them was Tier 47, why did you fight him head-on? Couldn’t you have stalled until we arrived?” the High Elder demanded.

”They had a spatial-type ability. They dragged the Patriarch and the others into some kind of special dimension. When those two came back out, the Patriarch and elders were gone,” a Blazeborn member said quietly.

”A spatial-type ability!” The High Elder’s expression turned grim.

A race with command over spatial-type abilities? That complicated things.

”High Elder, they also took the Tier 44 crystal core,” a Stage SS Blazeborn added.

The High Elder’s face darkened further.

”Hmph. I don’t care what race they belong to. Killing people from Pyrelia means they have no respect for the Pyrathi. The possessions of our world aren’t theirs to take!”

”High Elder, I think the Blazeborn Patriarch left a mark on one of them. I can sense their location,” a young Pyrathi said quietly.

”Oh?” The High Elder’s eyes lit up. ”It seems the Blazeborn Patriarch wasn’t entirely useless after all.”

”Where are they now?”

”Well...” The young Pyrathi had a strange look on his face. ”They’re rather far away. More than six hundred miles from here.”

”They just left! How did they get that far already?” the High Elder exclaimed.

”High Elder... they have a spatial-type ability. They left by traveling through the void,” a Blazeborn member reminded him in a low voice.

”...”

”High Elder, are we still going after them?”

”Of course,” the High Elder replied coldly. ”Anyone who attacks people from Pyrelia must pay the price!”

”But what if we catch up and they use Riftwalk again?”

”Then we make sure they don’t notice us approaching. Riftwalk abilities only create temporary passages through the void, and those passages are extremely fragile. Once we’re close enough, they won’t dare use it. If we destroy the passage while they’re inside, there won’t be enough of them left to bury!”

”Understood!”

The Pyrathi fighters nodded, then sped off toward the location of the mark.