Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Fallen Star City…

It took Ethan and the others a full week, but they finally finished absorbing all the crystal cores.

As expected, Ethan’s strength climbed to Tier 35.

Chris and Sean both reached Tier 34, and the rest of Fallen Star Squad hit peak Tier 33.

The second echelon—over three hundred Awakened—also stabilized at Tier 32.

On the city’s side, the upgrades finished exactly the way Miles predicted:

Fallen Star Guard: everyone at peak Tier 29

Fallen Star Corps: everyone at Stage A

Miles still had a decent pile of Stage B and Stage A crystal cores left. It wasn’t enough to push the Fallen Star Corps up another Tier across the board, so he kept it for later—either to set up more bizarre defensive ritual circles when he had time, or to feed the laser cannons.

Though honestly, the laser cannon was a bottom-of-the-barrel last resort. One shot burned ninety-nine crystal cores. For other compounds it was a rare way to punch above their level, but for Fallen Star City, it was more like an emergency trump card—something you didn’t touch unless you had to.

Once Ethan came out of the training complex, the first thing he did was go find the Glacial Bear.

In the time they’d been gone, the bear had turned its whole territory into a sheet of white. The Flamebirds that used to live there had no choice but to pack up and relocate—cold wasn’t their thing.

The white-furred apes, though, didn’t seem bothered. They were still hanging around the area, and they actually looked like they’d gotten along with the Glacial Bear just fine.

Pumpkin the orange cat and Goldie the Bengal tiger had moved elsewhere too. At this point, that snowy region only had the Glacial Bear, the white-furred apes, and the roc that had become the bear’s little follower.

The second the Glacial Bear saw them, it rumbled forward—almost eager.

It even walked right past Ethan, ignoring his raised hand completely, and went straight to Henry.

”Rrroar…”

The sound wasn’t hostile. If anything, it was… concerned. Like the bear was checking whether Henry was okay.

Ethan awkwardly lowered his hand, pretending that didn’t sting at all, and headed toward the white-furred apes instead.

Thankfully, the apes were enthusiastic. They crowded in, roaring and thumping their chests, like they were greeting family.

And their strength made Ethan genuinely happy.

Every single one of them had reached peak Stage A.

Ethan reached up, intending to pat one on the head—then realized, again, that he couldn’t reach. He settled for grabbing a thick forearm and giving it a squeeze.

”Next time, I’ll bring you some Stage S corpses,” he promised. ”You should break into Stage S pretty soon.”

”ROAR!” The apes roared back, hyped out of their minds.

After chatting with them for a bit, Ethan finally turned back to the Glacial Bear.

”How about a spar, big guy?”

He hadn’t come here just to socialize.

He wanted to test something.

What did Tier 35 really look like against Stage SS?

Stage SS wasn’t like the earlier Stages. That step seemed brutally hard. Ethan had seen plenty of Tier 35, Stage S intelligent Void Realm races and Outland Beasts—but Stage SS?

So far, he’d only seen the Glacial Bear.

That alone said how steep the wall was.

A single Stage SS could intimidate a whole crowd of Stage S. The gap was obvious. Ethan wanted to feel that gap for himself—so the next time he ran into a Stage SS enemy, he wouldn’t be walking in blind.

He’d tried testing himself against Dopey before, but that hadn’t taught him much. He couldn’t break Dopey’s body, and Dopey couldn’t crack Nullspace Domain either. They’d traded blows for ages and ended up with a pointless draw.

The Glacial Bear, though?

This was perfect.

At Ethan’s words, the Glacial Bear finally shifted its gaze to him, eyes full of surprise—like it couldn’t believe he was actually asking for a fight.

Even the roc looked baffled, staring at Ethan like he’d hit his head.

It could tell Ethan had reached Tier 35, and yeah, that growth rate was terrifying.

But so what?

That wasn’t a ticket to challenge Stage SS.

Did Ethan have any idea how massive the gap between Stage S and Stage SS was?

The roc had been reduced to running for its life every time the Glacial Bear got serious. It couldn’t even think about fighting back.

And Ethan wasn’t even peak Tier 35 yet.

Did he think everyone was like that soulless thrall?

Dopey was a special case—when it was created, it had basically sacrificed everything else to maximize its physical body. That was why its flesh was so absurd.

Ethan was still a living person.

How was he supposed to compete with that?

Facing the doubt in all their eyes, Ethan didn’t even blink. He kept staring at the Glacial Bear and challenged it anyway.

”Well? You got the guts or not?”

”Roar…?” The Glacial Bear narrowed its eyes at him, clearly sizing him up.

Skinny Pete swallowed and translated. ”Boss… it’s asking if you’re sure you want to fight it.”

”I’m sure.” Ethan nodded without hesitation.

”ROAR!” The Glacial Bear bellowed once, then dropped straight into a battle stance.

Ethan drew his poleaxe, expression turning grave.

Everyone else immediately backed off, giving them space.

”ROAR—”

A thunderous roar rolled out. Thick white mist blasted from the Glacial Bear’s mouth, sweeping toward Ethan at frightening speed.

Ethan didn’t flinch.

Attacks like that were exactly what Nullspace Domain was made for.

Sure enough, the moment the white fog entered the three-foot radius around Ethan, it vanished—snuffed out like it had never existed.

The Glacial Bear’s eyes flashed with surprise. It roared again, swinging an arm.

A storm of massive ice spikes erupted, stabbing toward Ethan in a sky-filling wave.

Ethan didn’t bother tanking this one. He disappeared.

Teleportation.

When he reappeared, he was already behind the Glacial Bear, poleaxe whipping down in a brutal arc.

But the Glacial Bear moved like it had predicted the exact spot Ethan would choose.

As Ethan swung, a huge ice pillar formed in the bear’s grip and smashed down at the same time—fast, heavy, merciless.

BOOM—!

The impact exploded across the field.

Ethan’s body got launched hundreds of feet, skidding through the snow before he managed to stabilize.

The Glacial Bear stood tall and relaxed, looking at him with open mockery.

Ethan wiped the blood off the corner of his mouth.

Yeah. Without Annihilation Strike, the raw strength gap was still there.

Even with Body Refinement—where his power at fresh Tier 35 already outstripped plenty of peak Tier 35 fighters—he was still clearly behind the Glacial Bear.

But that was exactly what Annihilation Strike was for.

Ethan didn’t pause.

He blinked back in.

This time, black light flared violently around the poleaxe, dense and aggressive as he swung down with full intent.

The Glacial Bear sensed the difference instantly. It raised its ice pillar to meet the strike—and at the same time, a layer of Frost Armor crawled over its body.

BOOOOM—!

The collision thundered.

The Glacial Bear’s ice pillar shattered under Ethan’s blow. The poleaxe’s remaining force slammed into the bear’s body.

THUD—!

It didn’t break the Frost Armor.

But the force behind it still drove the Glacial Bear backward—one step, then another—until it had been forced back dozens of paces.

Off to the side, the roc’s eyes were huge, like it couldn’t believe what it was seeing.

It knew exactly how strong the Glacial Bear was. It had been humiliated by it—completely helpless—back when it was peak Tier 35.

And now this human—Tier 35, not even at the peak yet—had actually forced the Glacial Bear back.

That shouldn’t have been possible.

Fallen Star Squad, though, didn’t look shocked at all.

For Ethan, fighting above his Tier was routine. Even if the target was Stage SS, they still believed he could win.

Besides, they knew the truth.

Ethan still hadn’t used Absolute Stasis yet.

He was probably trying to beat the Glacial Bear fair and square. If he used that move, there was no way the Glacial Bear would stand a chance against him.