Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Early the next morning, inside the most luxurious mansion in the Nova City compound…

Everyone in Fallen Star Squad was already up. They packed their things, did a quick check, and stepped out of their rooms.

Ethan had always been the decisive type. Once he’d decided they were going to the Yamato Empire, there was no dragging it out.

The moment they came out the front, they ran straight into Rowan and his people walking toward them.

”Ethan, you guys heading out this early?” Rowan asked, baffled.

”Yeah.” Ethan’s tone was casual. ”We’re making a trip to the Yamato Empire.”

”Oh.”

”Wha—? Yamato?!”

It took Rowan and the others a beat to process it. Then all of them snapped wide-eyed, staring at him.

”You’re going to the Yamato Empire?!”

”What, is there a problem?” Ethan asked, genuinely confused.

”N-no. No problem.”

Rowan hesitated, then tried again, careful with his words. ”Um… Ethan, can I ask what you’re going there for?”

”To see if there are any Infernals left to kill,” Ethan said like he was talking about running an errand. ”And deal with Yamato while we’re at it.”

”!!!”

Rowan and the others stared even harder.

How was this guy saying something like wiping out a country so calmly?

”Ethan,” Rowan blurted, getting a little worked up, ”do you have a plan?”

Ethan looked at him like the question didn’t make sense. ”You think I need one?”

”Uh…” Rowan coughed, instantly embarrassed. ”Right. With Fallen Star Squad’s strength, there’s obviously nothing to worry about.”

And then, like he couldn’t help himself, his excitement bubbled up. He rubbed his hands together.

”Hey—can I come along? I could document it.”

”No,” Ethan said flatly. ”At your level, you’d be ash the moment you run into an Infernal.”

”…Fair.”

”Then at least record something?” Rowan pressed, shameless now. ”I wanna see how you take them apart over there.”

Right now he didn’t look like the master of the compound at all—more like a hardcore fanboy. He clearly, genuinely wanted to watch those Yamato guys get wrecked.

”We’re going there to fight, not sightsee,” Ethan said, rolling his eyes. ”Who’s got time to shoot videos?”

”It won’t affect your fighting, I promise.” Rowan hurried to reassure him, then spun and barked at someone behind him. ”Go—grab a miniature HD camera. Now!”

”Yes, sir.” The man took off at a run.

A moment later, he sprinted back with a tiny, sleek device in his hand.

Rowan snatched it up and shoved it toward Ethan like he was offering treasure.

”Ethan, this is the newest mini cam. Just clip it to your clothes. When you want to record, you press it once—won’t interfere at all.” He looked at Ethan with naked anticipation.

Ethan sighed, shook his head, and took it anyway. Then he tossed it to Henry.

”You hold onto it. If you’ve got time, record a little.”

”Got it!”

”Alright, let’s move.”

”Good luck out there,” Rowan called after them, grinning. ”Can’t wait to see you tear through them.”

Several flying mounts dropped out of the sky and landed. The squad hopped on without hesitation. A second later, the mounts kicked off and shot upward, disappearing into the air in no time.

Rowan watched their shrinking silhouettes with pure envy, muttering under his breath, ”Man… I really wanna go see it.”

”General,” a middle-aged man beside him said, ”not to be rude, but you’re not exactly young anymore. If you went, you might just get wrecked.”

Rowan shot him a vicious look. ”If you don’t know how to talk, then don’t.”

”Yes, sir.”

Rowan pulled out a satellite phone and dialed Maxwell.

”Maxwell. Fallen Star Squad just went to the Yamato Empire.”

”What?!” Maxwell’s voice on the other end jumped an octave. Pure shock. ”When did they leave?”

”They just took off,” Rowan said. ”Said they’re going to deal with Yamato. Payback for unleashing the Infernals.”

”…”

”I had them bring the newest mini cam. Get the satellite control center to link up with it—we want a live feed.”

”Alright. I’ll set it up right now.” Maxwell’s tone sharpened as he slipped into command mode. ”When it’s online, I’ll share the footage to every compound. People have been miserable lately. This might be exactly the shot of adrenaline they need.”

”Yeah,” Rowan said, satisfied. ”Do it.”

High above the endless ocean, several massive flying mutant beasts tore through the sky.

Ethan and the others rode their mounts, looking down at the water below.

The sea looked calm on the surface, but it felt like staring into a bottomless mouth. The kind that could swallow you whole. Just looking at it pressed on their chests.

”Captain…” Skinny Pete said, voice tight as he watched the dark blue stretch beneath them. ”How strong do you think the stuff in the ocean is?”

”No idea,” Ethan said. ”Humans barely understand the sea. Seventy percent of Earth is water—no one really knows what’s living down there. After the apocalypse, ocean creatures would mutate way faster than anything on land.” His eyes stayed on the water. ”Even with what we can do now, we can’t get careless.”

”That bad…?” someone muttered.

They’d barely finished speaking when the ocean below suddenly exploded upward.

A towering wall of water surged into the sky, and an unbelievably huge shadow burst out of the surface. It opened a mouth so wide it didn’t look real.

A horrifying suction yanked at them from below. For a split second, it felt like their bodies were being dragged down, like gravity had doubled.

Peregrine Falcon Flint and the other flying mutant beasts beat their wings like crazy, climbing hard—another thousand feet—before the pull finally loosened and they broke free.

”Holy shit,” Big Mike breathed, eyes bulging. ”What the hell is that?!”

”Looks like… some kind of whale?” Chris swallowed, his throat bobbing. ”But that size is insane.”

”Ethan—what tier is it?” everyone asked at once, all of them turning toward him.

”Tier 16,” Ethan said, his face tight.

Tier 16 wasn’t the terrifying part.

The terrifying part was that the ocean already had Tier 16 lifeforms.

This wasn’t the Void Realm. This was still Earth. Same starting line as everyone else.

Yeah, he was Stage B—Tier 18—but they hadn’t gotten there by ”normal” growth. They’d climbed up on luck, opportunities, and a whole string of brutal fights.

Most compounds—besides Fallen Star City—didn’t even have a single Stage C (Tier 12). Their top fighters were only around Tier 11.

And meanwhile, in the ocean, something that started from the same apocalypse was already Tier 16.

That reality put a cold weight in everyone’s stomach.

”Guess there’s way more in the sea than we ever understood,” Sean said quietly.

”Yeah.” Ethan exhaled once. ”Let’s keep higher altitude.”

He wasn’t interested in tangling with it. If he really wanted to kill it, he probably could—but the situation below was unknown, and picking a fight over open ocean was just asking for trouble. A Tier 16 wasn’t worth it.

The ocean wasn’t his battlefield. Fighting in the water would be a mess.

Once they climbed higher, nothing else came up at them.

They pushed forward at full speed toward the Yamato Empire.

In a straight line, Nova City wasn’t actually that far from Yamato—only a few hundred miles.

The ocean was what turned that distance into a natural moat.

But with flying mounts, it was different. They crossed it in a little over half an hour.

When the ruins of the Yamato Empire came into view below, the sight was… satisfying. For some reason, it just was.

They flew on.

Everywhere beneath them, the ground crawled with zombies. Judging by the density, Yamato looked even worse than the Atlas Federation.

After another ten minutes or so, they finally spotted a large compound. From the way it sprawled, there had to be plenty of people inside.

Their mounts carved a clean arc through the air and dropped toward it.

Almost immediately, noise erupted below—shouts, alarms, chaos.

Then anti-air guns snapped to life, and a barrage of shells streaked up at them.

Only the shells didn’t keep coming.

Halfway there, each one jerked, turned around like it had a mind of its own, and screamed back toward the compound.

”BOOM! BOOM! BOOM—!”

A string of thunderous explosions rolled across the walls.

In the next breath, the compound’s main gate was simply… gone, blown into rubble.