Apocalypse: King of Zombies

”No way.” Skinny Pete rejected him without even hesitating. ”I worked my ass off for this. Why would I just hand it over?”

”Come on, Pete.” Big Mike tried his best to look sincere. ”We’ve been through hell together. Besides, I practically handed you that Tier 35 soulless thrall. Letting me have one crystal core isn’t asking too much, right?”

Skinny Pete gave him a dead-eyed stare.

”’Practically handed it to me’?” he said flatly. ”Boss gave it to me because your fire-type ability clashes with its nature-type ability. Don’t rewrite history.”

Big Mike’s expression turned ugly.

”Damn it, Pete. Are you giving it to me or not?” He leaned in, voice dropping. ”Because if you’re not… I might have to remind you what grilled Skinny Pete smells like.”

Skinny Pete puffed up instantly, confidence swelling like a balloon.

”Go ahead,” he shot back. ”I’ve got a Tier 35 soulless thrall now. You can’t beat me.”

”…”

Big Mike ground his teeth so hard it sounded like something might crack.

Right then, Emily walked over, smiling like she’d just found the perfect lever to pull.

”Pete,” she said, ”how about you give that crystal core to me instead? You like Skye, right? If you do me this favor, I’ll put in a good word for you later. How about that?”

Emily didn’t have any Tier 35 thralls either. She still hadn’t gotten a crystal core yet, which meant she definitely didn’t want Skinny Pete to be the first one to break into Stage S.

”R-really?” Skinny Pete’s eyes lit up like someone had flipped a switch.

”Of course.” Emily’s smile didn’t waver. ”Skye and I are pretty close.”

”Deal!” Skinny Pete practically beamed. He shoved the crystal core into Emily’s hand, way too excited. ”Emily, it’s yours. Just—don’t forget to talk me up, alright?”

Big Mike watched the exchange, and his already-dark face somehow got even darker.

”Pathetic,” he muttered under his breath. ”Selling out his friends for a girl.”

Still, he didn’t argue. As long as Skinny Pete wasn’t the one upgrading first, he didn’t care who got the core.

Before long, Chris, Garrick, Sean, Henry, Mia, and Emily all sat down and started swallowing their crystal cores, absorbing them immediately.

There was no time to refine them slowly, no time to squeeze out every last drop of energy.

Some of it would be wasted, sure—but right now, speed mattered more than efficiency.

Everyone else instantly closed in around them to keep them protected. Even Ethan blinked back via teleportation.

Breaking into a higher Stage took time—and they also had to pick new skills. The process couldn’t be interrupted. Not for a second.

Ethan and the remaining Fallen Star Squad members formed the innermost guard.

Outside that circle stood Calvin and the rest of the second echelon.

Farther out, several Tier 35 thralls locked down the outer perimeter.

Three layers deep—tight as a sealed barrel. Nobody was getting through.

Outland Beasts were still crashing in from every direction, slamming into their formation like waves against a cliff. But against that iron-wall defense, their frenzy couldn’t touch the people in the center.

Finally, after a long stretch, Chris was the first to open his eyes. There was a sharp, satisfied gleam in them.

”Judging by that look,” Ethan said with a grin, ”you got something good again?”

”Wouldn’t call it amazing,” Chris said, smiling back. ”But it fits me.”

”What’d you get?”

”Parry.”

”Parry?” Big Mike’s eyes bulged. ”That name sounds lame as hell. You’re Stage S now—how’d you still end up picking a skill like that?”

Normally, the higher the Stage, the stronger the skills you could choose. Sure, trash skills existed… but they were rare.

Ethan wasn’t as shallow as Big Mike. He didn’t laugh—he just asked again, ”What does it do?”

”It lets me parry direct attacks,” Chris said seriously. ”But I have to nail the timing. The instant their hit is about to land on me, I use my weapon to parry.”

Big Mike stared at him like he’d just heard the dumbest thing in his life. ”Isn’t that just… blocking with a weapon? What kind of trash skill is this?”

”Yeah, it’s basically the same,” Chris admitted, smiling. ”Except—if I use my defensive skill at the moment I block, I can parry damage up to ten times higher than my own.”

”Holy shit!!!”

Everyone’s eyes blew wide open.

”That’s insane!”

Chris nodded, still grinning. ”If my timing’s good, I should be able to take attacks around Tier 33.”

”…”

”Strong.” Ethan gave him a thumbs-up, expression genuinely impressed.

Big Mike wasn’t ready to surrender. ”Still seems useless. You can only parry stuff from the front. If someone throws a big AoE at you, you’re just dead.”

”True.” Chris lifted a shoulder. ”But my Innate Abilities also got something pretty interesting.”

Ethan’s gaze sharpened. ”What changed?”

”My stealth state upgraded. While I’m hidden, ordinary elemental area attacks can’t affect me anymore.”

”!”

Big Mike froze. ”Wait—so even if I flood the whole area with fire, I still couldn’t force you out?”

Chris smiled like a man enjoying a private joke. ”Yeah. I could probably dance in your flames.”

”…”

”That is so unfair,” Big Mike said, looking like the world had personally wronged him.

”Not bad.” Ethan chuckled. ”That boosts your survivability a lot.”

”Mm.” Chris nodded.

By now, the others were waking up too. One after another, they stood, faces bright with excitement.

Ethan glanced around the circle. ”Alright. Everyone talk. What’d you get?”

The Outland Beasts were still hammering them from every direction, but between the thralls and the second-echelon Awakened holding the line, it wasn’t affecting them for now. They actually had breathing room.

”I’ll go first.” Henry stepped up. ”I got a special skill—Phantom Double.”

”A clone?” People blinked, surprised. ”Like you split into two and fight together?”

”You’re dreaming.” Henry snorted. ”It’s Phantom Double, not a real clone. It creates an illusion—no combat power, no extra functions. The only use is… when it matters, I can swap positions with it.”

”Oh.” Chris let out a low whistle. ”That’s a god-tier survival ability.”

”Yeah.” Henry nodded, clearly pleased. ”That’s what it feels like.”

Ethan’s eyes narrowed slightly. ”How far can your Phantom Double be from you?”

”Not sure,” Henry admitted. ”Probably not that far.”

”Test it later,” Ethan said immediately. ”Find the maximum distance. If it can be placed far enough away, there’s a lot you can develop off that.”

”Got it.”

Henry continued, voice turning a bit more serious. ”And my Innate Abilities gained another function—something soul-related. I can heal soul wounds.”

”Soul wounds?” The group looked surprised, but the reaction was muted. Up to now, they hadn’t run into anyone who could directly attack the soul. None of them had experienced that kind of injury, so the words didn’t land with the same weight.

Ethan, though, didn’t treat it lightly.

Mia had soul-targeting attacks. Skinny Pete’s Enthrallment damaged the soul too. Even Ethan’s Dominion Gaze operated on that level.

Which meant it was very possible other Void Realm powerhouses had soul-based techniques as well—or even entire races built around that kind of power. Races like that were exactly what people meant when they said top-tier races.

Nerissa had mentioned them before: on the Eldoria Continent, there were top-tier races whose combat strength far surpassed everyone else—races that were basically unbeatable at the same Tier, and whose clans had Stage SSS experts.

Fortunately, those races usually didn’t bother with outside affairs. So when the dimensional rift opened this time, no top-tier race had shown up.

But Ethan didn’t fool himself.

Back then, humanity had crushed those top-tier races so badly it left scars. If any of them learned there were humans here… there was a real chance they’d strike immediately.

Meaning sooner or later, they were going to face them.

And if they ever ran into a race that truly mastered soul power…

Even Ethan could get caught.

Soul-targeting attacks were notoriously hard to defend against and even harder to resist. That made Henry’s ability to heal soul damage something they might end up relying on when things got ugly.