Apocalypse: King of Zombies

The fighting didn’t last long.

One by one, the Stage S Luminari elites collapsed into spreading pools of blood.

The current lineup of soulless thralls was absurd—stacked in both numbers and raw power.

There were three at Tier 35 alone, one at Tier 34, four at Tier 33, and more than a dozen others at Stage S—Tier 30 and Tier 32.

On the Luminari side?

A half-crippled Tier 35 elder and a Tier 34 captain were barely holding on against Dopey. Beyond them, they had one Tier 33, two Tier 32s, and the rest—eight of them—were Tier 30.

Against this kind of thrall lineup, they never stood a chance.

Once the Stage S upper ranks were wiped out, the soulless thralls swarmed the Luminari elder and that Tier 34 captain together. They beat them down until both of them were flattened on the ground, unable to even crawl.

Only then did the thralls peel away, turning as one and charging toward the distant battlefield to reinforce the others.

At that moment, Edmund arrived with the senior officials of the Heartland City compound.

He stopped in front of Ethan and stared at him for a long time.

Then he stepped forward and clasped Ethan’s hand in both of his.

”Ethan…” Edmund’s voice shook. ”Thank you.”

That was all he could get out before his eyes went red.

The officials behind him were all past middle age, but none of them could hold back their tears either.

Heartland City compound had once held more than five million people.

Now there were only a little over two million left.

They’d watched more than three million die—family, friends, neighbors, brothers and sisters—right in front of them.

If you hadn’t lived through something like that, you couldn’t understand what it did to a person.

”Man… why are you guys doing this again?” Ethan muttered, rubbing his forehead as he hurriedly helped them up.

”Come on. I’ll take you to blow off some steam.”

With that, Ethan led them toward the Luminari elder.

The elder’s entire body had been shattered—bones broken everywhere. He was hanging on by a thread, practically dying, but his eyes still locked on Ethan with stubborn hate.

Smack!

Ethan slapped him across the face.

”What—still not convinced?”

”You can’t beat me one-on-one. You can’t beat me with a mob, either.” Ethan looked down at him like he was dirt. ”What exactly are you so pissed about?”

The moment they saw Ethan slap the Luminari elder, the Heartland City officials felt a rush of pure, guilty pleasure.

This was the elder—someone who’d always stood above them, looking down from the clouds.

And now?

Now he was on the ground like a dying dog, taking whatever humiliation they threw at him.

Back when the Luminari first descended on Heartland City compound, they’d been arrogant beyond belief, never even sparing the humans a real glance.

Seeing him like this… it felt good. Too good.

The elder seemed stunned by the slap, eyes wide like his brain couldn’t process it.

”Y-you…” His voice shook with rage. ”You dare insult me like this!? Do you even know who I am!?”

”I don’t care who you are,” Ethan said casually. ”Right now you’re just a dying dog.”

”Y-you…!”

”If you’ve got the guts—kill me!” The elder’s expression twisted, spittle at the corner of his mouth. ”But you’ll all die too! When Luminari reinforcements arrive on this continent, we’ll slaughter every last one of you humans!”

Smack!

Ethan slapped him again.

”I’ve heard that line too many times.” Ethan’s voice stayed flat, almost bored. ”And I’m still standing.”

He leaned in a little, eyes cold.

”Everyone who’s ever said that to me? They either ended up as a soulless thrall… or they ended up dead.”

”Hmph!” The elder cackled like he’d lost his mind, shaking with hate. ”Just wait! The dimensional rift will open again sooner or later. When it does, you’ll be the ones waiting to be butchered by the Luminari!”

Slap!

”Keep yelling,” Ethan said. ”If your reinforcements really show up, I’ll send them down to meet you.”

Then he glanced at Edmund and the others.

”I’m done with him. Your turn.”

”O-our… turn?” Edmund froze, his voice unsteady. ”You mean… we can…?”

”He can’t fight back,” Ethan said. ”Hit him however you want. Just don’t kill him. I still need him alive.”

Edmund’s breathing turned heavy.

The other Heartland City officials stared at the Luminari elder, and something that had been held down for years—restraint, grief, rage—finally cracked open.

”You bastard…” Edmund’s eyes went red. ”Three million people died because of you!”

And then they surged forward.

These men who’d forced themselves to stay composed for so long finally let it all go. They punched, kicked, and clawed at the Luminari elder like they were trying to rip the hatred out of their own ribs.

”Get away from me!” the Luminari elder roared.

No one stopped.

No one listened.

Off to the side, Ethan watched and shook his head. Yeah—these old guys had been holding it in way too long.

Thankfully, the gap in strength was so big the elder couldn’t really be killed by them that easily… otherwise Ethan would’ve been genuinely worried they’d stomped him to death in the heat of it.

Their side was over.

The other battlefield, though, was still raging.

The Luminari fighters had already seen the state their elder was in. They wanted to rush over and save him—badly—but right now they couldn’t.

They didn’t have the spare hands.

With a group of thralls far stronger than they were, plus more than three hundred Awakened from Fallen Star City, the Luminari were already in a brutal spot.

And on top of that, the humans surrounding them were firing off abilities like they’d gone insane.

The damage wasn’t always huge.

But the humiliation?

That part landed every single time.

And the humans weren’t only attacking.

They were screaming curses too—none of them bothering to be polite.

”Come on! Keep talking!” someone shouted with a wild laugh. ”Didn’t we tell you your turn to cry would come? Well? Here it is!”

”You arrogant bastards—where’d all that attitude go?”

”You killed three million of our people!” another voice screamed, raw and cracking. ”Now it’s your turn, you monsters!”

The people of Heartland City compound fought harder and harder, grief and hatred pushing them to the edge.

As for the Luminari… after watching so many of their powerhouses go down, whatever fighting spirit they’d had left was already falling apart.

When it became clear the ending was set, radiant wings suddenly burst open behind several Luminari.

They shot into the air and fled into the distance.

”Damn it—fliers are such a pain,” Chris cursed.

”Big Mike, go after them!”

”Me? Alone?” Big Mike’s eyes went wide. ”You trying to get me killed!?”

”Who else? Out of us, you’re the only one who can fly.”

”…”

”Wait—” Henry cut in. ”Don’t we have two Winged Clan soulless thralls and a Windkin soulless thrall? Let’s ride them and chase. Kill as many as we can.”

Chris nodded. ”Fine. But I’m saying it right now—riding a humanoid is weird as hell.”

”No choice,” Henry said. ”We didn’t bring the Flamebirds.”

A moment later, Chris and the others each mounted a thrall and took off in pursuit.

After a brief, stunned silence, the crowd erupted into thunderous cheers.

”We won!”

”We actually won!”

”We don’t have to live under them anymore!”

”They can’t force us to be cannon fodder again!”

”Mom… Dad… did you see that?” someone sobbed, voice breaking. ”We drove those monsters out. We’re free now!”

Some people laughed. Some cried. Some hugged whoever was closest. Others just stood there with both hands pressed to their chests, tears running down their faces like they couldn’t even feel them.

Just like Clearford City, the entire Heartland City compound descended into chaos.

But this time, it wasn’t fear.

It was release.

”Thank you, Ethan!”

”Thank you, Fallen Star City!”

”Thank you, Fallen Star Squad!”

No one blamed them for coming late.

After the apocalypse, everyone understood one simple truth: surviving was already hard enough. No one owed you a rescue.

If someone came for you, it wasn’t obligation.

It was grace.

Even the people from Fallen Star City were overwhelmed by the scene. Some tried to calm the crowd, but there were simply too many of them.

In the end, Ethan had to have Edmund and the others step up and speak before the crowd finally started to settle down.