Apocalypse: King of Zombies

”Then let’s go check it out!” Bloodveil agreed without hesitation.

It had been ages since he’d last seen Meteorfall, and he was genuinely curious about what the guy was like now…

Was he even still alive?

Without wasting time, Ethan made up his mind—they’d head to Westmarch first.

As for his Zombie Horde, he ordered them to return to Southvale and start cleaning up the ”trash.”

After all, Heartland’s Zombie Horde had swept through all four regions of Necroterra, and there were probably still some stragglers left behind.

”What about me, boss? Where should I go?” Ricky asked.

”Head to Southvale,” Ethan replied. ”Start by taking out some of Heartland’s leftover zombies—good practice for you.”

His human sidekick had been dealing with people ever since his awakening, but he’d never actually fought zombies before.

”Got it!” Ricky nodded, eyes gleaming with anticipation.

But the one who looked even more hyped was Aria, standing behind them. Finally, she was about to step onto the battlefield she’d dreamed of. And with the remaining Heartland zombies likely being weak, it was the perfect warm-up for her.

”Yes! I’m finally going to Necroterra!”

”Uh, hello?” Ricky turned to her with a raised eyebrow. ”You’re still technically a hostage, you know. Maybe tone it down a bit?”

”...”

And with that, Ethan and Bloodveil made their way to the deck of the Dreadnought-class Starcruiser, heading toward a sleek, brand-new aircraft parked at the front.

Behind them, a group of Bloodveil’s zombie underlings gathered to see them off.

”Boss Bloodveil, you’re finally getting to ride in top-tier human tech!”

”Shut up, idiot!” Bloodveil snapped over his shoulder.

The zombie didn’t seem to mind. ”Stay safe out there, boss!”

”...”

With thousands of undead eyes watching, the aircraft’s engines roared to life, blasting a trail of blue fire as it shot into the sky and vanished beyond the clouds.

The remaining Zombie Kings stood in silence, gazing upward.

They knew—Ethan’s departure meant war was coming.

After about a day of travel, Ethan’s ship exited the Xenorift, passed through a stretch of the Exile Zone, and finally reached the Westmarch region of Necroterra.

The land below was still as desolate as ever—no grass, no trees, just endless black rock. In some places, massive craters scarred the earth, remnants of the Starbreaker Cannon’s devastation from years ago.

Beneath crumbling ruins, piles of sun-bleached bones lay scattered.

The whole place looked like a battlefield frozen in time.

The sky over Westmarch was always a dull gray, thick with volcanic ash that blocked out the sun.

Even from a distance, Ethan could feel the ground trembling. One of the volcanoes was erupting violently, spewing molten lava into the air.

”Raaaargh—!”

Dark figures were trapped on isolated chunks of rock, surrounded by lava like tiny islands. Their howls echoed with despair.

Some zombies didn’t even get the chance to scream—they were swallowed by fire and reduced to ash in seconds.

Even from this far up, Ethan could see them clearly.

Black-Skin Zombies.

”This place is a damn wasteland,” Ethan muttered.

”Yeah, seriously. There’s barely any livable space in Westmarch. It’s all volcanoes and ash. Honestly, I’d rather live in the Exile Zone,” Bloodveil grumbled.

After a long flight, their aircraft finally burst through the thick volcanic haze and entered a zone where regular zombies still roamed.

Even so, the number of undead below was surprisingly low.

”Where’s Meteorfall’s zombie nest?” Ethan asked, scanning the bleak terrain below.

”No idea,” Bloodveil replied with a shrug. ”This is my first time in Westmarch too.”

Ethan slowed the aircraft, dropping altitude into low-hover mode. He activated the radar, sweeping the area for any signs of Meteorfall’s base.

It didn’t take long before something popped up—an unusually dense cluster of zombies. A horde was gathering, and from the looks of it, something was going down.

Ethan immediately steered the ship in that direction.

As they approached, the barren wasteland below came alive with movement. Dozens of zombies were sprinting across the cracked earth, snarling and shrieking, their cries echoing with bloodlust.

Their enemies? The infamous Black-Skin Zombies.

Maybe the recent volcanic eruption had driven them out of hiding, forcing them into contact with the regular undead.

The Black-Skins were gaunt, skeletal things—skin stretched tight over bones, eyes sunken into hollow sockets. Whatever sanity they once had was long gone.

They were completely feral, tackling the regular zombies to the ground and tearing into them with jagged teeth. Black, inky blood sprayed everywhere.

The scene was pure chaos.

”Damn, there’s a lot of Black-Skins in Westmarch,” Ethan muttered, watching the carnage unfold.

”Yeah, this place is a hellhole,” Bloodveil said. ”Too barren to support much of anything.”

The Black-Skin Zombies’ blood reeked like rotting tar, thick and foul. The stench alone could draw more of their kind.

But the local zombies weren’t pushovers. They fought back with brutal efficiency—clearly used to this kind of threat. They tore into the Black-Skins with practiced savagery, ripping them apart piece by piece.

”Let’s go down and ask around,” Ethan said, nosediving the aircraft toward the ground. When they were about a hundred feet up, he recalled the ship into his spatial storage ring. He and Bloodveil landed smoothly on the scorched earth.

Not far off, a few Black-Skin Zombies caught sight of them and let out guttural screeches, charging like rabid animals.

They didn’t care who they were up against. Even facing The Voidborn Undying, they showed no fear.

”You guys are bold, I’ll give you that…” Bloodveil tilted his head, unimpressed. With a flick of his wrist, a stream of mutated blood shot out like a serpent, weaving through the battlefield.

Wherever it passed, it punched clean through the Black-Skins’ skulls.

One by one, the twisted figures dropped like puppets with their strings cut, each with a gaping hole in their forehead.

In seconds, the shrieking stopped. Silence fell.

Bloodveil had wiped them out with a single move.

That’s the kind of power The Voidborn Undying brought to the table—absolute dominance.

”Huh?”

The local zombies snapped out of their bloodlust, their glowing eyes dimming slightly as they turned to look.

When they saw Ethan and Bloodveil standing there, a ripple of unease passed through the crowd.

The pressure these two gave off was unmistakable—pure Zombie King energy.

”The Voidborn Undying?”

”Where’d they come from?”

”Two of them at once… don’t tell me they’re from Heartland.”

”Wait, are the Heartland Zombie Kings really here?”

”...”

The whispers spread fast. Tension thickened.

Bloodveil scanned the crowd with his crimson eyes. ”Where’s your boss, Meteorfall? I need to talk to him.”

”Inside the nest, of course,” one of the elite zombies replied.

Bloodveil frowned. ”Yeah, no shit. Where is the nest?”

”Right over there.” The elite zombie pointed toward a nearby pile of jagged boulders.

Ethan and Bloodveil followed his gesture—and blinked.

The so-called ”nest” looked like nothing more than a random heap of rocks. If no one had said anything, they’d have thought it was just another dead hill.

”This is it?” Bloodveil said, incredulous. ”Looks like a damn landslide.”

”Our boss says there’s no need to build anything fancy,” the elite zombie explained. ”No one’s trying to take over Westmarch, and we’re not expecting any Horde attacks. The crappier it looks, the safer it is.”

”Huh… fair point,” Bloodveil nodded. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. That pile of rocks was so unremarkable, it was practically invisible. Perfect camouflage.

”Talk about keeping it low-key…”

”No kidding. Guess getting hit in the head by a meteor really does change your way of thinking,” Bloodveil muttered, half admiring, half baffled.

Ethan was intrigued too. The nest was practically right next to the battlefield, just a stone’s throw away…

And yet, during all that chaos with the Black-Skins, the nest hadn’t made a peep.

Not a single zombie came out. Not even Meteorfall himself.

The Overlord of Westmarch hadn’t so much as poked his head out to see what was going on.

”This guy… gotta admit, that’s kind of genius.”

...