Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Sure enough, as the birds swooped in, their heads twisted unnaturally—and from beneath their feathers, slimy tentacles shot out, lunging straight at the group.

Chris didn’t hesitate. With a flick of his wrist, he hurled a massive fireball.

The searing flames engulfed the creatures instantly. The air sizzled with the sound of burning flesh, and within moments, the monsters were reduced to ash.

Brandon gave a thumbs-up. ”Damn, Uncle Chris! Still the MVP when it comes to parasitic freaks.”

”Shut it, smartass,” Chris shot back with a smirk.

But after those few monsters were taken out, the forest suddenly fell silent. No more mutated beasts, no more parasitic monsters in sight.

”Finally... it’s over,” someone muttered.

The group finally had a moment to breathe.

Aiden wiped the cold sweat from his brow, exhaling deeply. No doubt about it—this radiation zone was intense. If it hadn’t been for Ethan and the others being so damn strong, any other team would’ve been wiped out by now.

Brandon spoke up, ”At this point, any mutated beasts left in the area have probably been taken over by parasitic monsters. The rest must’ve fled. From here on out, this forest’s crawling with those things.”

”Hell of a place to be stuck in...” someone else muttered under their breath.

Everyone silently agreed—once this mission was over, they were never coming back.

Thankfully, the next stretch of the journey went surprisingly smoothly.

They headed straight toward the direction where that earth-shaking roar had come from earlier.

But when they arrived at the source, what they saw would be burned into their memories forever.

In the distance, looming like a mountain, was a massive creature—an enormous octopus, easily 600 feet tall. Its thick, writhing tentacles looked like giant pythons, each one lined with rows of suction cups.

As it moved, entire trees were snapped like twigs, the forest crushed beneath its bulk with loud, splintering cracks. It was flattening everything in its path.

No doubt about it—this was the beast behind that thunderous roar.

”Holy shit, that thing’s huge!”

”That’s one of those deep-sea monsters?”

”Jesus Christ, that’s terrifying!”

”...”

Even from a distance, Chris and the others could feel the crushing pressure radiating off the creature. It was like the air itself had gotten heavier.

But surrounding the giant octopus, the air was filled with shrill screeches and guttural roars.

An endless swarm of parasitic monsters was attacking it from all sides. Since every living thing in the area had already been infected, the horde was unbelievably dense—like a living, writhing sea of nightmares.

There were human-shaped ones, zombie-like ones, twisted animal forms—every kind of creature Ethan had encountered so far was in that swarm.

The tide of monsters was relentless, ferocious, crashing toward the giant octopus like a tsunami, as if trying to bury it under sheer numbers.

But the octopus was massive, and its flesh was clearly dense and tough—its outer skin looked like reinforced steel, way stronger than any alloy. The monsters couldn’t even scratch it. If anything, the octopus had the upper hand.

”The parasitic monsters are going toe-to-toe with a sea monster?” Chris said in disbelief.

”What about the Radiant Crystal?” Mia asked, eyes locked on the chaotic battlefield. She was trying to spot the leader of the parasitic monsters—because based on their past encounters, the Radiant Crystal was always on the leader.

But there were just too many monsters. Easily hundreds of thousands, maybe even a million. All different shapes and sizes, a dizzying mess of limbs and fangs. There was no way to tell which one was the leader.

”They might be fighting the sea monster, but getting that Radiant Crystal’s gonna be a nightmare. There’s just too many of them!”

”No... I don’t think they’re fighting it,” Ethan said suddenly.

Everyone turned to him.

He pointed toward the battlefield. The giant octopus was swinging its tentacles like wrecking balls, smashing through wave after wave of monsters. Then, it started scooping up the corpses and shoving them into its gaping maw.

”It’s not fighting them... it’s here for an all-you-can-eat buffet.”

”What? Are you serious?” Chris and the others stared, dumbfounded.

There was no question—the sea monster was insanely powerful. Easily SS-class. A true apex predator.

But even so, the parasitic monsters kept charging at it, wave after wave, completely fearless.

Ethan narrowed his eyes. ”From what we’ve seen, parasitic monsters only go this berserk when there’s a Radiant Crystal involved.”

”You think... the leader and the Radiant Crystal already got eaten by the octopus?”

”Yeah. That actually makes a lot of sense.”

The others looked at each other, realization dawning on their faces.

You know what...

That might actually be it...

The parasitic monsters knew they couldn’t win, but they kept throwing themselves at the octopus anyway. If it wasn’t for the Radiant Crystal, there was no reason for them to be this suicidal.

They weren’t mindless like Black-Skin Zombies. On the contrary, parasitic monsters were highly intelligent—easily on par with humans.

”Then how are we supposed to get the Radiant Crystal out?” Mia asked, frowning. ”Are we seriously gonna have to cut open that thing’s stomach?”

Chris shuddered at the thought. Just looking at the size of that monster made his skin crawl. ”Cut it open? How the hell are we supposed to gut something that big?”

”Well... maybe we just wait for it to take a dump,” he said half-jokingly. ”Who knows? Maybe it’ll crap the Radiant Crystal out.”

Brandon burst out laughing and gave him a thumbs-up. ”Uncle Chris, you’re a damn genius.”

But Ethan wasn’t laughing. His eyes were locked on the battlefield, sharp and focused. If the Radiant Crystal really had been swallowed, then no matter what kind of monster this thing was—it was going to cough it back up.

The giant octopus was still at it, casually swatting away parasitic monsters with its massive tentacles, then scooping them up and stuffing them into its gaping maw like it was snacking on popcorn.

It was almost like it was mocking them—like it was saying, So these are the alien invaders? Watch me eat them into extinction.

And judging by the carnage, this battle had been going on for a while. The octopus had devoured an uncountable number of parasitic monsters, and now it was starting to slow down—clearly getting full.

Its mountain-sized body began shifting, turning toward the coastline.

”It’s trying to leave,” Ethan said, his voice low but urgent. ”We can’t let it get back to the ocean. If it disappears into the sea, we’ll never find the Radiant Crystal again.”

”How the hell are we supposed to stop that thing?” someone muttered, staring at the beast in disbelief. ”Can we even stop it?”

But when they turned to look at Ethan, he was already gone.

He’d activated his stealth ability and was already moving, weaving through the chaos of the battlefield. All around him, parasitic monsters of every shape and size were charging, shrieking, roaring—throwing themselves at the octopus in a frenzy.

But the sea monster didn’t care anymore. It was full. It ignored the bites, the slashes, the tentacles lashing at it. It just kept lumbering toward the ocean, single-minded and unstoppable.

Up ahead, the coastline loomed. Under the dim, overcast sky, the black sea churned with slow, ominous waves. Every so often, a massive swell would crash against the shore.

The ocean was calling it home.

The giant octopus moved with a kind of smug satisfaction, its massive eyes gleaming. It was almost there.

Then suddenly—boom—a wave of pressure slammed into it like a freight train. Its enormous body jerked to a halt, as if it had just slammed into an invisible wall.

”Huh?”

Its two massive eyes rolled downward, scanning the ground.

There, standing directly in its path, was a lone figure in white.

Tiny. Insignificant. Like a speck of dust before a mountain.

You dare stand in my way? the creature seemed to think, a flicker of irritation flashing through its alien mind.

With a low, guttural rumble, it raised one of its colossal tentacles and brought it crashing down toward the figure.

Ethan looked up, his gaze calm and steady. The sky above him vanished, blotted out by the descending limb—it was like the heavens themselves were collapsing.

Without flinching, he flipped his hand, and the Star Map tablet appeared in his palm. It flared to life, glowing with a blinding white light—like a comet tearing through the sky.

He launched it upward.

BOOOOM!

The moment it struck the tentacle, a shockwave exploded outward. The force was cataclysmic—parasitic monsters in the vicinity were instantly vaporized, reduced to dust in the blast.

Even the massive octopus staggered, its enormous body reeling backward, forced to retreat several steps under the impact.

...