Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Ethan watched the Winged Clan elites closing in, his mood turning heavier by the second.

They were fast—really fast. Fast enough to actually outpace his telekinetic flight.

In the end, he had no choice but to alternate Teleportation with telekinetic flight. It was the only way to keep them from catching him outright… though shaking them was still a long shot.

Not that he was in a hurry to lose them.

What he needed was distance—pull these guys far away from where Chris and the others were hiding, and also far from the Winged Clan’s nest. That way, if a fight broke out, their reinforcements wouldn’t arrive in the blink of an eye.

They tore across the sky at terrifying speed, mountains and rivers flashing by beneath them like a fast-forwarded map.

Behind him, the Winged Clan pursuers wore expressions of open shock.

They hadn’t expected a human to move like this.

”He’s got a spatial-type ability,” the leader said coldly. ”All the more reason he doesn’t get away.”

”Full pursuit!”

”Yes!”

In an instant, they accelerated again—somehow—and the distance started shrinking all over.

Up ahead, Ethan felt it and his mouth twitched.

”Damn it. No wonder these bird people are so damn fast.”

He checked the distance. They were already far enough from Chris’s hiding spot.

Ethan angled down toward the ground.

If they were going to chase this hard, then fine. They could fight.

Dopey and Rocky—his two soulless thralls—couldn’t fly, so this was going to be a ground battle either way.

The moment Ethan’s boots hit dirt, shadows dropped from above.

One after another, Winged Clan elites swooped in and ringed him tight.

”You were pretty good at running,” the one in front said icily. ”Why’d you stop?”

To Ethan’s surprise, their leader looked like a woman. Then again, with wings like that, ”female” was probably the more accurate word.

She was beautiful. Annoyingly so. Out of everyone Ethan knew, only Mia could really beat her on looks.

The wings, though… those were the problem.

A gorgeous woman with wings—exactly the kind of thing that made certain men completely lose their minds.

”Talk,” she snapped again. ”Where did the others go?!”

”The others?” Ethan blinked, playing dumb. ”What others? It’s just me.”

He was sure they hadn’t seen anyone else. He’d spotted them early and gotten the team hidden.

With True Sight’s range, there was no way they’d seen Chris and the rest.

”Liar.” Her voice turned razor-sharp. ”One human doesn’t kill Aerion and the others.”

”Aerion who?” Ethan widened his eyes like he’d never heard the name in his life.

She stared at him like she wanted to peel his skin off. ”My Winged Clan. Don’t tell me you haven’t met them. You’re carrying their scent.”

Ethan couldn’t help it. ”What are you, a bloodhound? You can smell that?”

”Hmph.” Frost crept across her expression. ”Hand over the others and I’ll leave you a complete corpse. Otherwise, I’ll make you beg for death and still won’t give it to you.”

The way she said it—calm, arrogant, like she was talking about the weather—made Ethan itch to strip her naked and beat her until she learned some manners.

But she was peak Tier 29.

Yeah… maybe not.

Ethan lifted his hands a little, bargaining. ”If I hand them over, do I get to live?”

”No.” She didn’t even hesitate. ”You killed my people. You die. The only question is how.”

”Then why would I tell you anything if I’m dead either way?”

She smiled, slow and nasty. ”Because sometimes death is a mercy. Since you won’t talk—fine. I’ll show you what ’worse than death’ really means.”

She shifted, about to move—

”Wait!” Ethan blurted, throwing out a hand.

Her gaze sharpened.

”I’ll talk,” Ethan said quickly.

”And once you talk,” she said, almost amused, ”you want something.”

”Yeah.” Ethan nodded. ”After I tell you, can you kill them first… and kill me last?”

For a second, she looked like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Then she let out a cold laugh. ”That request? Sure. I can grant you that.”

”You said it,” Ethan pressed. ”Don’t go back on your word.”

”Hmph. The Winged Clan keeps its promises,” she said, chin lifting.

”Good,” Ethan said softly. ”Remember that.”

His mouth curled into a smile.

Then he snapped his hand out—and released Dopey and Rocky.

Two figures appeared beside him like they’d been dropped into the world.

A ripple of surprise ran through the Winged Clan ring.

”Soulless thralls?” The winged woman’s brow furrowed.

”You played us!” someone shouted, wings flaring as several of them glared at Ethan like they wanted to tear him apart.

”Played you?” Ethan spread his hands, innocent as hell. ”I’m telling the truth. They’re the ones who killed your people. You really think I could kill Winged Clan elites? Come on.”

The Winged Clan fighters hesitated, eyes flicking between Ethan and the two thralls, suspicion and uncertainty twisting together.

Finally, one of them snorted. ”Fine. Then I’ll erase your two puppets first, and we’ll talk after!”

He beat his wings once—

And vanished.

The next instant, he was right in front of Dopey, fist already cocked back.

He drove it straight at Dopey’s head like he meant to shatter it in one blow.

Dopey’s dead, empty eyes slid over the attacker.

He didn’t change expression—couldn’t, really—but somehow Ethan still caught the pure, dripping contempt in that stare.

The Winged Clan elite charging in saw it too, and for no reason he could explain, his heart stuttered.

Too late to stop now.

”I don’t care what you are,” he snarled. ”A soulless thrall is still a soulless thrall. Die!”

Power flared around his fist as he drove it straight at Dopey’s skull.

And then Dopey moved first.

He threw a punch of his own—no flashy energy, no aura, nothing—yet it landed second and arrived first, slamming into the Winged Clan warrior’s head before the other man’s blow could connect.

Boom.

There was no suspense to it.

The Winged Clan elite’s head burst like a dropped watermelon. His body flew backward and crashed into the dirt in a mangled heap.

”—?!”

The circle of Winged Clan fighters froze, eyes blown wide.

”How—how is that possible?! He couldn’t take a single punch?!”

”That thrall…” The winged woman’s face tightened. ”It’s strong.”

”Together!” she snapped.

She flicked her hand.

A massive Cyclone Blade howled forward, carving toward Dopey like a guillotine.

The others didn’t wait. Wind Cutters screamed through the air in a swarm, aimed at both Dopey and Rocky.

Ethan didn’t hesitate—he teleported out of the kill zone immediately.

Rocky reacted too, slapping an Earth Ward onto himself.

Dopey, though, didn’t bother with any of it.

He tanked the incoming attacks without even flinching, then surged forward like a battering ram, closing on another Winged Clan elite—

One punch.

Another clean kill.

”!!!”

”What the hell—why is he this strong?!” several Winged Clan fighters shouted, their confidence cracking.

Rocky wasn’t about to be left behind. He raised a hand and called down a barrage—huge, roaring meteors that smashed toward the clustered Winged Clan fighters.

But the Winged Clan were born for the sky.

A single flap, a twist of their bodies—each meteor missed. Even the stone spikes erupting from the ground were dodged with insulting ease.

Yeah. In some matchups, the Winged Clan hard-countered Stoneborn.

Rocky adjusted instantly.

He abandoned the big-area skills. A stone spear formed in his grip, and he stepped—

Vanished.

He reappeared beside a Winged Clan elite and drove the spear straight through them, front to back.

The Winged Clan ring recoiled again, faces turning ugly.

Both thralls.

Both monsters.

At this point, nobody doubted Ethan anymore. Aerion and the others had absolutely been killed by these two.

The winged woman’s eyes went cold.

”Storm Rend.”

A violent storm snapped into existence and swallowed Dopey whole, turning him into a silhouette inside a grinding cyclone.

The others piled on immediately, pouring Wind Cutters into her storm, layering the blades until it became a screaming, flesh-shredding blender focused on one target.

On the other side—

”Gale Bind!”

A binding wind snapped around Rocky like a living rope.

Then more restraints followed, one after another—winds wrapping, tightening, locking him down until he was trussed up so hard he couldn’t break free.

Ethan watched from a safer distance, jaw tightening.

There were over two hundred of them. The woman in front was peak Tier 29. Besides her, there were three more Tier 29s, and over thirty Tier 28s.

A nasty lineup—exactly why Ethan hadn’t wanted to start a fight with these freaks in the first place.

But now he didn’t have a choice.

And the worst part?

They’d actually managed to control Dopey and Rocky.

Ethan’s eyes narrowed.

I underestimated them.