Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Early the next morning, Ethan and the others went to find Nerissa’s group.

The moment Nerissa heard Ethan planned to take them back to Eldoria, her eyes widened.

”Ethan… the dimensional rifts are already closed. How are we supposed to go back?” she asked, genuinely confused.

”I’ve got a way,” Ethan said. ”But I can’t take too many people. Pick a few dozen. We’re leaving soon.”

”Alright.” Nerissa nodded.

It sounded insane, but Ethan had done so many insane things by now that she’d stopped wasting energy being shocked.

She moved quickly. Before long, she returned with a group of a little over thirty Azure Nereids women—those who had come with her and were most suited to travel.

”Ready,” Nerissa said, bringing them to Ethan.

”Then let’s go.”

Ethan lifted his hand.

A dimensional rift opened in front of them.

Chris and the others went in first without hesitation.

Nerissa’s people had seen Ethan use this ability before, but actually standing in front of a live rift was different. You could feel it—the wrongness in the air, the pull, the sense that one step would drop you into somewhere that wasn’t supposed to exist.

Their faces were tense, eyes bright with nerves and awe.

Nerissa took the lead and stepped through.

One by one, the other Azure Nereids followed.

Ethan entered last.

The dimensional rift snapped shut behind him, leaving nothing but empty air.

Miles stood there, staring at the spot where they’d vanished.

He let out a heavy breath, worry dark in his eyes.

A handful of people heading into another world—one filled with countless powerful races.

It didn’t take much imagination to picture how dangerous that was.

But Miles couldn’t stop them.

In a little over a month, the dimensional rifts would open again, and that would be the real endgame. If they didn’t go looking for opportunities now, then all they could do was wait to be crushed.

”Captain… and everyone…” Miles murmured. ”Be careful.”

Once they were gone, contact would be impossible. No updates, no confirmation they were alive—nothing.

All Miles could do was pray.

Then his gaze hardened.

”One month,” he muttered. ”I can’t just sit here and rely on them.”

His eyes slid toward the city, toward everything he’d built.

”…I need to do something too.”

He tapped the Ritual Circle Compendium against his palm.

”This warding circle has to be improved again.”

Riverton City — a stretch of mountain woodland

A dimensional rift tore open in the air.

A large group poured out.

Nerissa blinked, looking around, still adjusting to the shift. Then her expression changed.

”This is…” She stared harder, surprised. ”This is where we came out before.”

”It is,” Ethan said. ”This is the junction point—Earth’s side of the connection to Eldoria.”

Nerissa couldn’t help the quiet awe in her voice. ”Spatial-type abilities really are terrifying… crossing that distance instantly.”

Ethan shrugged with a grin. ”It’s not that far from Fallen Star City. I just didn’t feel like running.”

Then his tone tightened.

”Alright. I’m opening the Void Realm passage next. Everyone get ready.”

”Understood,” the group answered.

Ethan walked to the exact spot where the Void Realm entrance had been before. He raised his hand—

And slashed.

A dimensional rift opened again.

Without wasting time, everyone started filing in.

Eldoria Continent — Southern Region…

Two months ago, a massive dimensional rift had torn open in the sky above the Southern Region, drawing the attention of hundreds of races across the entire region.

Race after race sent out vanguard teams to investigate.

And then—no one saw it coming—the rift closed the very next night.

All contact with those vanguards was cut off on the spot.

To this day, none of the races knew what had happened to the teams they’d sent through. They didn’t know what the other side looked like. They didn’t know whether their people were alive or dead.

Those vanguards weren’t the strongest forces of their clans, but they weren’t weak either. Losing them in bulk still hurt.

Worse than the loss was the silence.

They’d paid the price and gotten nothing in return.

So people kept watch.

Every day, representatives from different races camped near the void passage site, waiting—because if the rift opened again, they wanted to be the first to know.

The problem was, the passage was located in Bloodfang Orc territory.

That ugly, brutish race was already unpopular in the Southern Region. After the rift incident, they nearly got wiped out for ”bringing disaster.” In the end, more than half of the Bloodfang Orcs were forced to abandon the area and relocate.

For them, it was a cosmic joke—pure bad luck dropping from the sky.

The Southern Region tried to keep the rift a secret, but too many people had seen it. The news eventually spread to the other regions.

Other regions were interested, of course. Strong experts came rushing over.

But by the time they arrived, the rift was closed. All they could do was leave in frustration.

Even so, those outside regions still left spies behind—eyes on the site, day and night.

A dimensional rift could mean a whole new world.

A new world meant new resources, new opportunities, new inheritances.

To the powerful races, that temptation was lethal.

Still… after nearly two months of absolutely nothing, plenty of races gave up and pulled their people back.

The ones still watching now were mostly major races of the Southern Region, plus a few stubborn holdouts from other regions who refused to let it go.

Not far from the void passage site, several dozen scouts from different races were killing time with bored conversation.

The work was easy, but mind-numbingly dull. And since this was Bloodfang Orc land, the environment was miserable. Different races who’d normally never share a campfire were forced to chat just to stay sane.

”Ugh… when’s the chief calling us back? I don’t want to spend another minute in this gods-forsaken place.”

”Same. There’s nothing here. What are we even watching?”

”Seriously. I don’t know what the higher-ups are thinking.”

”Quit whining,” someone said, trying to sound patient. ”At least it’s safe here. Just hold on a little longer—maybe…”

He stopped mid-sentence, eyes locking onto the distance.

The others noticed instantly. They followed his gaze—

And their expressions froze.

”Holy shit…” someone breathed. ”There really is something…”

Right ahead of them, a dimensional rift suddenly tore open.

And then, one figure after another stepped out of it.

Ethan and his group looked around with open curiosity, eyes full of fresh interest.

Meanwhile, Nerissa and the Azure Nereids elites stared at the landscape like it was a lifeline. Relief and excitement flashed across their faces.

”We’re back… it really worked!”

”Two months… I wonder how the clan is doing.”

”So this is Eldoria?” Skinny Pete said, looking around. ”Honestly, it doesn’t feel that different from Earth.”

”Yeah,” Big Mike agreed. ”Air’s cleaner, sky’s bluer—but other than that, not a huge difference.”

”Mm.” Ethan nodded, scanning the area more carefully.

That was when he noticed a group of creatures not far away—strange bodies, mismatched silhouettes, all staring at them with stunned expressions.

Ethan pointed. ”Those guys. You know them?”

Nerissa followed his finger and nodded. ”Most of them, yes. They’re races from the Southern Region. Some I don’t recognize—there are hundreds of races here, I can’t possibly know them all.”

Ethan nodded slowly.

”They’re probably scouts watching the passage,” he said, voice calm. ”I’ll go kill them.”

”Don’t—!” Nerissa startled so hard she almost grabbed his arm.

”You can’t start slaughtering people the moment we arrive,” she said urgently. ”There are dozens of races involved here, and some of them are very strong. If you attack, it’ll be a huge mess.”

Ethan rubbed his chin, eyes narrowing slightly. ”If we don’t attack, I’m not sure the trouble gets smaller.”

Nerissa took a breath, forcing herself to stay steady. ”It’s fine. As long as you don’t kill anyone, Azure Nereids still have influence in the Southern Region. I can talk.”

Ethan clicked his tongue, but nodded. ”Alright.”

It was too late to pretend they hadn’t been seen anyway. The instant they came through, the scouts had already spotted them. Messages were probably already flying back to their clans.

Now it came down to one question:

Could the Azure Nereids really keep this from turning ugly?

Because if they couldn’t…

Then Ethan had a feeling their ”first day” in Eldoria was going to be paid for in blood.