Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Suncrest Range...

This vast mountain range stretched across the Southern and Eastern Regions. It was home to countless Beasts and considered one of the best places for younger members of many races to gain real combat experience.

Under the agreement governing the Eldoria Continent, anyone at Stage S or above was forbidden from entering the other side’s territory. Those below Stage S, however, were allowed through.

Both the Outland Beasts and the various races tacitly accepted competition among their younger generations. Only through blood and battle could the young grow stronger quickly.

If you killed an Outland Beast and claimed its crystal core, you had earned it. If an Outland Beast killed and ate you instead, that was your own bad luck.

Intelligent beings could increase their strength by consuming the crystal cores of Outland Beasts, while Outland Beasts could grow stronger by devouring the corpses of intelligent beings.

To the leaders of the various races, conflict below Stage S was healthy competition. Once Stage S fighters became involved, it turned into something else entirely.

Fighters at that level formed the core military strength of every race. No one could afford to lose them, which was why the agreement existed in the first place.

Deep within the Suncrest Range, several suspicious-looking figures sped through the forest.

”Boss, still no sign of a Tier 35 Outland Beast?” the others complained.

”No. The Outland Beasts here are generally weaker than the ones in the Greyspine Range. The strongest I’ve seen so far was only Tier 33,” Ethan said helplessly.

”You think that Azure Nereid Matriarch lied to us? The Outland Beasts here are so weak. How long will it take to find one at Tier 35?”

”She probably wasn’t lying. I think she said they get stronger the closer you get to the Eastern Region. We’re just not far enough east yet.”

”Let’s keep moving. I’ll open another Riftwalk and take us a thousand miles east.”

”Wouldn’t that put us straight into the Eastern Region?”

”Yep. That’s where we’re going.”

”But didn’t the Matriarch advise us not to go there?” Emily asked quietly. ”She said there are a lot of higher races in the Eastern Region. It’s too dangerous.”

”That’s fine. We don’t have to take her advice,” Ethan said with a smile.

”...”

”Let’s go!”

He waved a hand, opening a dimensional rift. The group quickly jumped inside.

Eastern Region, outskirts of the Suncrest Range...

A group of young people from the Eastern Region was training in the Suncrest Range.

Several came from higher races, while the rest belonged to mid-level races. There were more than a hundred of them in total, ranging from Stage B to Stage A.

The Outland Beasts on the outskirts of the range weren’t particularly strong. Most were Stage B or below, with only a handful at Stage A.

As long as they didn’t venture too deep, they were unlikely to encounter anything at Stage S.

Stage S fighters were already considered immensely powerful. Neither the various races nor the Outland Beasts had many of them.

At the moment, the group of young outsiders was surrounding and attacking an Outland Beast that resembled a Caucasian Shepherd.

The beast was Tier 29, and its crystal core was exactly what they needed.

”Keep it up, everyone! The Caucasian Shepherd is almost finished!” the young man leading the group shouted excitedly.

The others looked just as thrilled.

They had spent a great deal of time luring the Caucasian Shepherd here. At last, victory was within reach.

Under their relentless attacks, the beast finally collapsed, unwilling to accept its death.

Before they could celebrate, however, a crack suddenly opened in the air above them. Figures began emerging from the rift one after another.

The young outsiders stared up at them, dumbfounded.

”Huh. There are people here?” Ethan said in surprise.

”They’re probably here to train,” Henry guessed.

”Yeah.”

Ethan nodded, then looked down at the bewildered group.

”Has anyone ever told you that training out here can be dangerous?”

”If we were afraid of danger, we wouldn’t have come,” the young man in charge replied coldly. ”What race are you?”

”You don’t recognize us?” Ethan asked, surprised.

”Are you supposed to be famous? Why would I recognize you?”

”...”

”Veyr,” a man behind the young leader whispered, ”judging by their appearance, I think they might be human.”

”Human?”

The young man frowned. Then something clicked, and his eyes widened as he stared at Ethan and the others.

”You’re humans?!”

”That’s right.”

”...”

”Run!”

Veyr wasn’t stupid. He turned and fled immediately.

”Heh. Little late for that,” Big Mike said.

He waved a hand, and a Rain of Flames crashed down on the group below. Screams erupted at once.

”Ah! You can’t kill me! I’m the son of the Galeborn Patriarch! I’m the future Patriarch! If you kill me, none of you will escape!” Veyr shouted.

No one so much as blinked.

It didn’t take long for the entire group of young outsiders to perish in the flames.

”Who dares kill our Patriarch’s son?!”

A furious roar rang out. Immediately afterward, a massive force of fighters appeared, all of them at the peak of Tier 29.

They were the guards assigned to protect the young trainees.

It might have been called training, but whenever core members of a race went out to gain experience, their people usually sent powerful guards to watch over them.

Stage S fighters weren’t permitted to enter, so they had sent nothing but peak Tier 29 guards.

Until now, the guards had been stationed around the area, intercepting any other Outland Beasts that approached. Otherwise, the young trainees could never have focused so comfortably on fighting the Caucasian Shepherd.

What the guards hadn’t expected was for anyone to appear inside their perimeter when the entire area had already been sealed off.

When they saw that Veyr, the Patriarch’s son, had been reduced to ashes, it felt as if the sky had fallen.

”You dared kill the Galeborn Patriarch’s son—the heir to the Galeborn Patriarch! I’ll kill you!”

Blinded by rage, the guards charged straight at Ethan’s group.

Ethan and the others had never shown mercy to anyone rushing to their death. Large-area skills immediately rained down on the attackers.

Big Mike’s Blazing Ground, Skinny Pete’s Lightning Storm, Henry’s Rain of Light, Garrick’s Meteor Storm, and Mia’s Radiant Sword Rain were all wide-range abilities. Against enemies weaker than them, such skills were brutally effective.

After only a few attacks, thousands of peak Tier 29 fighters had been wiped out. Barely a dozen survived through sheer luck.

Those survivors were terrified out of their minds. They pointed trembling fingers at Ethan and the others.

”You’re all Stage S! You actually dared enter the Suncrest Range! You’ve openly torn up the agreement! Just wait—the races will unite against you!”

”Looks like news travels pretty slowly around here.”

”An agreement like that only holds everyone back. We’re better off without it, don’t you think?” Ethan said with a smile.

He waved his hand. More than a dozen daggers shot forward, instantly piercing the survivors’ throats.

”Skinny Pete, check their memories. Find out how strong these races are.”

”Got it.”

Skinny Pete nodded, then walked over to the corpse of a guard whose head was still mostly intact. He placed a hand on the dead man’s forehead.

A short while later, Skinny Pete stood up with a helpless expression.

”Boss, I think we’ve caused trouble again. The Galeborn are apparently one of the Eastern Region’s ten great races. They even have someone at the peak of Tier 41.”

”Uh...”

Ethan shrugged it off.

”It’s fine. At this point, what difference does one more enemy make?”

”Come on. Let’s hurry up and find somewhere else to be.”

”...”