Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Riverton City — Void Realm Exit…

A group of tall, human-like beings stood at the mouth of the Void Realm, staring around with open curiosity.

Almost every one of them was over six feet tall. Other than brown hair and slightly flatter noses, they looked nearly identical to humans.

These were the creatures that had just stepped out of the Void Realm.

Taking in the lush mountains and clear waters, their faces lit up with delight.

”Never thought the place those lowly Bloodfang Orcs live would have a passage to a world this big.”

”Yeah. If we hadn’t chased those Bloodfang Orc slave-trash all the way here, we never would’ve found it.”

”This world isn’t bad. It could make a homeland for us Stoneborn. That way we won’t have to fight those bastards over territory anymore.”

”Mm. From what I can see, this world has living things. Let’s first figure out how strong the natives are.”

”Agreed.”

The Stoneborn moved out at a quick pace. Before long, they ran into a massive horde of zombies.

”So these are the natives? They look… like humans?”

”Seems like it. Didn’t expect a human race to still exist in a world like this.”

”There are a lot of them, but their aura is pathetic. Doesn’t look like they’re strong.”

”We’ll know once we test it.”

A Stoneborn man casually flicked his hand. In the sky above, meteor after meteor formed and slammed down toward the zombie crowd.

The zombies sensed the danger and tried to scatter.

Too bad the impact zone was enormous. There was nowhere to run.

When the meteors hit, zombies were crushed into pulp one after another.

”Called it,” the man said with a chuckle. ”Weak as hell.”

”Hm? Crystal cores?” another Stoneborn said, interested. ”So they mutated.”

”I wonder if this world still has unmutated humans. It’s a world this big—we’ll need servants. Otherwise it’ll get lonely with only our race living here.”

”There should be. Let’s find them.”

”Mm. Let’s get a read on this world first. Then we’ll come back and bring the clan over.”

”Alright.”

Meanwhile…

Ethan and his people raced back toward Fallen Star City.

Riverton City’s Void Realm was the one he’d worried about most. He’d always been afraid something would come out of it—because the passage was already open.

And now it finally had.

He couldn’t afford not to return.

Riverton City was only a few hundred miles from Fallen Star City, and within the Golden Delta, Fallen Star City was basically the only major compound. Those creatures were absolutely going to come this way sooner or later.

And judging by the strength of the monsters that had escaped before… whatever lived inside that Void Realm was no joke.

If Ethan didn’t come back, Fallen Star City could very well be wiped out.

He went straight to Miles’s office.

”Tell me exactly what happened.”

Miles nodded.

”This morning, right after you left, the people watching the Void Realm called me. They said a group of tall humanoids walked out of the exit—around twenty-something of them. Each one was at least nine feet tall. Definitely not Earth life.”

”Good thing I told our people to keep their distance and observe with binoculars,” Miles added. ”If they’d gotten any closer, they’d probably all be dead.”

”Any idea what Tier they are?” Ethan asked.

”No,” Miles said. ”I didn’t let our people tail them. But anything coming out of that Void Realm… it won’t be simple.”

Ethan nodded, expression grim. After a moment, he pulled out the satellite phone and dialed Maxwell.

The call connected almost immediately.

”Ethan? Why are you calling out of nowhere?” Maxwell’s voice came through the line.

”General Kane—can the satellite control center track people on the ground?”

”Not easily,” Maxwell said. ”The satellite network is mostly back online, but finding a single person is tough unless there’s something extremely distinctive. And even then, it takes a lot of satellite resources.”

”Perfect. The people I need are distinctive,” Ethan said. ”There are more than twenty of them moving together. Every one is at least nine feet tall. All brown hair. I need you to find them and send me a live feed.”

Maxwell’s tone tightened instantly. ”Ethan. Tell me the truth—did something happen?”

”Yeah,” Ethan said, not bothering to sugarcoat it. ”Something came out of Riverton City’s Void Realm. Unknown strength. I want eyes on them.”

”Alright.” Maxwell didn’t hesitate. ”No problem. I’ll arrange it right now.”

They hung up.

Maxwell immediately summoned the head of the satellite control center and ordered them to pull every resource they could to locate the group.

To their credit, the satellite center moved fast. Half an hour later, Ethan’s satellite phone received an invite to join a shared live feed.

He tapped in without a second thought.

A moment later, an image filled the screen.

It wasn’t crystal clear, but it was clear enough to make out the shapes.

It showed the old Riverton City compound—long since overrun by zombies. And right now, right at the ruined gate, more than twenty towering figures stood there, looking over the collapsed buildings like they were inspecting property.

Then—movement.

A huge wave of zombies poured out of the compound, sprinting straight at them in a frenzy.

One of the tall figures lifted a hand in a lazy, almost bored motion.

The ground erupted.

Countless earthen spikes shot up in an instant, skewering the front ranks of zombies like meat on a grill. The long, razor-sharp spikes also formed a barricade that stopped the ones behind them cold.

The zombie horde slammed into the wall of spikes, clawing and biting and throwing themselves forward—but they couldn’t break it.

Watching that, everyone in the room went quiet with shock.

”Garrick,” Ethan said, turning to him, ”I remember your earth spikes only last a few seconds before they crumble, right?”

”Yeah.” Garrick’s face was tense. ”Usually two or three seconds. I can’t keep them standing that long.”

”And his range is insane,” he added, staring at the screen. ”That covered tens of thousands of square feet. And it’s not fading. The strength behind that… I’m nowhere close.”

Ethan nodded slowly.

Sure, the guy was only killing low-tier zombies—but that one move alone told Ethan everything he needed to know.

These weren’t opponents they could treat lightly.

How far above them? That part still wasn’t clear.

”Captain,” someone asked, voice tight, ”what do we do?”

”We watch,” Ethan said. ”For now. We observe until we understand what we’re dealing with.”

Everyone nodded.

At Atlas City’s satellite command center, Maxwell and the others were glued to the giant screen as well.

”So these are the creatures that came out of the Void Realm…” Gabriel said, face grim. ”That’s terrifying.”

”Yeah,” someone murmured. ”One casual skill and he wiped out thousands of zombies. And that was just one of them. If the rest start moving, they could probably clear the entire zombie population around that compound.”

Another person asked quietly, ”Do you think they’re as strong as Fallen Star Squad?”

”Probably,” came the immediate answer. ”Otherwise Ethan would’ve already gone to erase them. He wouldn’t be this cautious.”

”…Then what are we supposed to do?”

Maxwell’s gaze didn’t leave the screen. ”We do what we can. Riverton City is closest to Fallen Star City. Fallen Star City will be the first place hit.”

”At this level, we can’t help them directly,” someone said. ”All we can do is support within our limits.”

Maxwell exhaled. ”Still… I believe in them. Fallen Star Squad is the kind of team that makes miracles.”

”Yeah,” another voice said, firm. ”We believe too.”