Apocalypse: King of Zombies

The group moved carefully through the forest, every step deliberate. The entire time, Ethan kept his True Sight active, not daring to let it drop—not that he had to worry, not with Emily around to fuel his energy reserves.

They walked for over ten minutes without encountering a single mutant beast.

Ethan figured it made sense. The beasts in this forest probably had clearly defined territories. If that was the case, then this area likely belonged to the Titan Ape. That would explain the eerie silence.

A few more minutes passed before Ethan suddenly came to a halt.

”Hold up. Something’s coming. Hide!”

At his warning, everyone froze, then quickly ducked into the surrounding underbrush.

Ethan vanished in a blink, reappearing atop a thick-branched tree with a wide view of the forest floor.

It didn’t take long for the sound of heavy footsteps to reach them.

Moments later, twenty Titan Apes came charging through the undergrowth.

They slowed, glancing around with confused looks, a few scratching their heads like they were trying to make sense of something. After a brief pause, they broke into a run again—heading straight in the direction Ethan’s squad had come from. Probably on the hunt for the few apes they’d fought earlier.

Ethan crouched on his branch, eyes gleaming as he assessed the troop below.

Twenty Titan Apes. Five were Tier 9. Fifteen were Tier 8.

Yeah. No doubt about it—this area bred some seriously tough mutant beasts. Just any random group was already rocking Tier 8 across the board.

That said, they didn’t have a Tier 10 among them. Which meant…

This was doable.

Ethan quickly scanned the area. No other beasts in the vicinity. Good.

He leaned down slightly, voice just loud enough for the others to hear.

”Let’s go. Kill them all.”

With that, he teleported straight into the Titan Ape troop—his poleaxe already mid-swing, aimed directly at the leading Tier 9’s skull.

The sudden ambush threw the apes into chaos. The leader instinctively raised a thick arm to defend.

Squelch—

Ethan’s power-packed strike cleaved the limb straight off. Tier 9 strength couldn’t hold up against the raw force behind his weapon—not even close.

The Titan Ape let out a guttural roar and stumbled back, clutching the bloody stump.

Ethan moved to press the attack, but by now, the rest of the apes had regrouped. One after another, massive fists—each the size of a dinner plate—came hurtling his way.

Even Ethan didn’t dare tank a barrage like that. With a quick blink, he teleported out of their range.

Chris and the others charged in right then, weapons drawn and souls fired up.

They were outnumbered. Outpowered, too, by all appearances. But the Fallen Star Squad had never been the retreating type.

Sure, Titan Apes were stronger than most beasts at the same tier. But so what? Two-for-one odds weren’t a big deal—not with Healer Henry keeping everyone on their feet. That was their edge.

Ethan held down two Tier 9 apes by himself. Goldie the Bengal Tiger, Speckles the black panther, and Skinny Pete each locked in with one more. The rest of the Tier 8s got handed off to the rest of the squad.

Without any Tier 10s in the mix, it was just a numbers game. All of them facing enemies at their own level. Risky, yeah, but not as bad as before.

Ethan’s poleaxe tore through the air again and again. The two Tier 9s he faced couldn’t even get close—every time they tried, they were forced to dodge back. He drove them step by step into retreat.

Soon, the wounded one-armed ape found itself backed against a massive tree trunk, with nowhere left to run. By the time it realized the trap, Ethan’s poleaxe was already descending.

It had no choice. With a desperate roar, it swung its remaining fist upward to counter.

THUD—

A deep, crunching impact rang out. The ape’s fist shattered. That arm? Useless.

The Titan Ape screamed in pain.

Ethan didn’t even blink. Finish what you start. He drove the poleaxe forward, aiming straight for its skull.

Just then, the second ape lunged, landing a sneak punch aimed right for his head from the side.

But Ethan had seen it coming.

In the split-second before contact, he vanished, reappearing on the opposite side of the one-armed ape. His poleaxe shifted from a thrust to a clean horizontal slash—slicing the creature’s head clean off.

”That’s one.”

He didn’t stop. Without pause, he turned and launched his next strike at the second Tier 9.

Meanwhile…

”Chris…!”

Mia’s voice rang out in the middle of the chaos, sharp and urgent.

Chris got it instantly. Without saying a word, he vanished—blinking out of combat and slipping into stealth.

The two Titan Apes he’d been fighting blinked, visibly confused, then redirected toward the nearest target.

Poor Garrick.

Already swamped trying to hold back three Titan Apes on his own, he suddenly had two more join the party. The sheer force of the assault had him howling, desperately throwing up wave after wave of Earthen Armor just to keep himself standing.

Chris reappeared near Mia a heartbeat later.

She’d clearly anticipated it, and the moment he arrived, she unleashed a freezing blast. The two Titan Apes she’d already drenched in water froze solid in an instant—ice locking them in place from head to toe.

Right as the frost sealed around them, a barbed spear coated in pitch-black energy whistled through the air. It pierced the skull of the first beast cleanly, then crashed straight into the second’s head without slowing down.

One shot. Two kills.

Chris at his peak—Tier 8 upper limit—with that edge-enhancing energy coating his weapon? The penetration force was absolutely brutal.

”Beautiful shot,” Mia said, genuinely impressed.

”You know it,” Chris grinned.

”I swear to God, if you two keep flirting while I’m dying over here—!” Garrick’s voice broke through with a panicked yell.

They whipped their heads around—and sure enough, Garrick was buried under a pile of Titan Apes, fists pounding down like a jackhammer.

His Earthen Armor was cracking and reforming again and again, but even so, the guy was already cut and bruised all over.

Mia and Chris didn’t hesitate. They shot forward to peel the apes off his back.

...

From the moment Ethan cut down the second Tier 9 Titan Ape, the battle tipped completely in their favor.

With the pressure relieved, Ethan turned full executioner mode. Against him, Tier 8-ranked Titan Apes didn’t stand a chance. His poleaxe tore through them like paper, each blow dropping another beast.

Once all the Tier 8 apes were cleared, the final three Tier 9s were swarmed by the squad and beaten down in a combined onslaught.

From first strike to final breath, the whole clash took just over ten minutes.

Twenty Titan Apes. Total wipe.

The haul? Massive.

Tier 9 crystal cores. Tier 8 crystal cores. Stuff that would take months—hell, years—to find on Earth in ones or twos, and here they were pulling them out of corpses by the handful.

The team’s eyes practically glittered with loot greed.

Yep—this forest was something special. Dangerous, yeah. But worth it.

No treasure without risk.

They didn’t waste time. Everyone got to work extracting the loot, bringing all the cores to Ethan once they were out.

Seeing them piled up in front of him, even Ethan couldn’t help but look excited.

Five Tier 9 crystal cores.

That was enough to push him to the peak of Tier 9. And with one Tier 10 core in hand?

Breakthrough.

In all the time since the apocalypse began, he’d never experienced a leap forward this fast.

”I’ll use the Tier 9 cores first,” Ethan said. ”Not sure exactly how many I’ll need—should be five or less. Tier 8 cores go to Henry, Sean, and Garrick. Should be enough to push you guys to Tier 8 peak.”

No one argued. The plan made sense.

Henry, Sean, and Garrick each grabbed five Tier 8 crystal cores and started devouring them right then and there, channeling the energy into their bodies.

Ethan did the same with the Tier 9 ones.

Normally, hitting Tier 9 peak would take nine cores’ worth of absorption. But he’d been stargazing every night lately, soaking up that strange, cosmic energy—it had to count for something.

Sure enough, after consuming just four of them—stacked on top of the three he’d already absorbed—he felt his power crest.

Tier 9 peak. Reached.

He handed the last Tier 9 core over to Chris, then produced the Tier 10 crystal core from his inventory.

Now came the real moment.

Time to ascend.