Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Led by the Frostplate Zombie King, the horde pushed forward toward Mirevale, cutting a path through barren wastelands and treacherous swamps.

Wherever the Zombie Horde passed, other creatures scattered in terror. The unlucky ones who didn’t get out of the way fast enough? They became snacks for Bulldozer, Laura, and the others.

It wasn’t long before their destination came into view.

Mirevale was a wreck—nothing but ruins blanketed in thick snow. The whole place looked like a ghost town, except for the wandering undead. Zombies shuffled through the collapsed buildings, some standing eerily still, others dragging their feet with low, guttural growls. Their twisted faces were frozen in grotesque snarls.

At the heart of the corpse nest, elite zombies prowled the ruins, led by two Zombie Kings.

One of them was massive, his cracked skin resembling dried snakeskin. But what really made him stand out were the nine thick, writhing snake tails sprouting from his back—he looked like something straight out of a nightmare.

The other Zombie King wasn’t any less intimidating. His aura was sharp, aggressive, like he was constantly on the edge of violence.

”Slick, when do you think we’ll finally take over the Northern Wastelands?” the second one asked, arms crossed.

”Soon,” replied the one with the snake tails. Then he shot a look at his companion. ”And quit calling me Slick. It’s Ninetail Viperlord now. Show some respect.”

”Then don’t call me Jerky anymore,” the other one shot back. ”From now on, I’m the Star of Hope.”

Slick—er, Ninetail Viperlord—nodded without missing a beat. ”Alright, Jerky.”

”...”

Before Jerky could respond, a group of elite zombies came sprinting in from the ruins. They moved fast, their bodies lean and agile, expressions tense.

”Bosses! We’ve got trouble—there’s a massive Zombie Horde heading straight for our territory!”

”Oh?” Both Zombie Kings raised their brows in surprise.

The power structure in the North was pretty straightforward. Redgaze Zombie King was the undisputed top dog, currently locked in a brutal war with a Canadian Zombie King. Everyone else had either been crushed or absorbed. A new horde showing up out of nowhere? That didn’t make sense.

”Where’d they come from?” Jerky asked, frowning.

”No idea,” one of the elite zombies replied, shaking his head. ”But one of the Zombie Kings leading them looked real familiar. Kinda dumb-looking, wearing full ice armor.”

”Oh... that guy,” Slick muttered, realization dawning. Frostplate Zombie King’s look was hard to forget.

He was the one they’d kicked out of Mirevale. Back when Jerky and Slick first arrived, they’d tried to recruit him. But the guy kept going on and on about how ”The North will never kneel!” and then just disappeared.

”And now he’s back? That idiot’s got some nerve,” Jerky growled, his aura flaring with menace.

Slick raised a hand and gave the order: ”Rally every last zombie. We’re going to war!”

”ROOOAAARRR!”

With that, the entire city of Mirevale erupted into chaos.

Zombies that had been aimlessly wandering suddenly snapped to attention, as if someone had flipped a switch. In seconds, they were all charging in the same direction, forming a massive, unstoppable tide.

Jerky and Slick had a serious army—forty to fifty thousand strong. Their elite units were mostly fusion monsters—hybrids of stone scorpions, venomous snakes, and other horrors. They were known as the Dune Twins, after all, having carved their way north from the heart of the southern deserts.

Now, with the two Zombie Kings at the front, the horde surged out of the city like a flood.

Meanwhile, Ethan and his crew had just reached the outskirts of Mirevale when they felt the ground tremble beneath their feet. The air was filled with the deafening roar of the undead. It sounded like an army was coming straight for them.

”Damn... they’re quick,” Ethan muttered, impressed despite himself.

The Frostplate Zombie King, on the other hand, looked like he was about to lose it. He’d been beaten by these guys before, and the trauma was real.

”They’re here! They’re really here... That monster—Ninetail Viperlord!”

One by one, zombie silhouettes began pouring out from the alleys and ruins, a seething mass of snarling, howling undead. The sound was deafening, like a tidal wave of rage.

Elite zombies climbed over broken buildings, their eyes locked on the intruders. From every direction, the enemy came—feral, furious, and ready to tear them apart.

”Well damn,” Bulldozer said, eyes narrowing as he took in the scene. ”They’re not messing around.”

Bulldozer led his elite zombie crew like a wrecking ball through the wastelands—battle-hardened, ruthless, and efficient. They’d crushed and absorbed plenty of smaller zombie factions along the way, but even he had to admit, the force standing before them now was on a whole different level.

Frostplate Zombie King gave a solemn nod. ”Of course. If they weren’t this strong, I wouldn’t have been kicked out of Mirevale by those two outsiders in the first place.”

Moments later, the enemy horde arrived in full force—tens of thousands of zombies thundering forward like a tidal wave. And at the front, two figures emerged: Jerky and Slick.

The two Zombie Kings stood tall and proud, exuding a kind of arrogant dominance, like they owned the damn world.

Their eyes swept across the opposing group.

They immediately spotted Frostplate Zombie King, but what caught their attention next were the unfamiliar faces—other Zombie Kings?

”Did this guy bring in outside help?” Slick muttered, narrowing his eyes. ”Not that it matters. In the North, it doesn’t matter who you bring—no one can stand against us.”

Then his gaze landed on Big Ears and the other three zombies.

Seriously? These guys? They barely looked like they qualified as Zombie Kings.

But then he saw Bulldozer and Laura. Now those two... they were different. Strong. Dangerous. Definitely worthy opponents.

And then—his eyes locked onto a figure in a crisp white shirt.

”Wait... what the hell...?”

Slick’s pupils dilated. He froze, stunned, as a long-buried memory surged to the surface. That figure—unshakable, unstoppable—began to overlap with the man standing before him now.

In an instant, the deafening roars of the Zombie Horde fell silent.

The battlefield went dead quiet. You could hear the snowflakes hitting the ground.

”Huh?” Bulldozer, Big Ears, and the others looked around, confused. What the hell just happened?

The enemy horde, which had been seconds away from tearing them apart, suddenly stopped. Not just stopped—they looked... submissive.

Then, Jerky and Slick stepped forward, their faces filled with emotion. If zombies could cry, they’d be bawling like babies.

”Boss!”

The word exploded from both their mouths.

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

Frostplate Zombie King’s jaw practically hit the ground.

Boss?! Did they just call him boss?!

Wait a minute... The infamous Dune Twins—these two terrifying warlords—were his underlings?

Ethan raised an eyebrow, scanning the two of them. ”So it’s you guys.”

”Yeah! It’s us!” Jerky and Slick nodded like excited puppies.

Back then, Ethan had just casually recruited them to help him find some stone tablets. He never expected that, years later, these two would rise to become kings of their own domain.

”Not bad,” Ethan said with a small smile.

The praise hit them like a lightning bolt. The two Zombie Kings practically vibrated with excitement. They hadn’t expected to ever see him again, and now here he was—alive, powerful, and standing right in front of them.

”Boss, what brings you to the North?” Jerky asked, barely able to contain himself.

”I’m here to unify the North,” Ethan said plainly.

”Unify... the North?” Jerky and Slick exchanged a look, stunned. That was no small goal.

After all, Redgaze Zombie King still ruled with an iron fist, and foreign forces were constantly stirring up trouble. Taking over the North wasn’t just ambitious—it was insane.

Jerky glanced around. ”Boss... you came with just this group?”

”No,” Ethan replied. ”The main force is still behind us.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, the earth began to tremble again.

From the hills behind them, an endless wave of zombies began to pour in—thousands upon thousands, a sea of the undead stretching as far as the eye could see.

At the front were more Zombie Kings, each radiating a terrifying aura. Behind them came nearly ten thousand elite troops, and towering above them all were monstrous bio-beasts the size of small mountains. Zombie beasts of every kind surged forward, their numbers blotting out the landscape.

Jerky and Slick stood there, mouths agape.

”Holy shit... that’s a lot of zombies...”

...