Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Deep within the Suncrest Range...

Ethan and the others were still fighting.

Outland Beasts packed the area in every direction. The group looked like a tiny boat on a raging sea, on the verge of being swallowed at any moment.

Yet their seemingly fragile figures refused to fall beneath the endless onslaught.

Garrick maintained his protective dome while Emily stayed linked to him, constantly restoring his mental energy. Everyone else remained inside the barrier, unleashing ability after ability and wiping out the Outland Beasts in waves.

A group of soulless thralls guarded the outside of the dome, killing any beasts that managed to break through.

Chris and Sean were out there as well, fighting the Outland Beasts at close range.

Aside from Ethan, the two of them were now the strongest members of the Fallen Star Squad. Unfortunately, neither had any wide-range abilities, so they had to leave the barrier to kill efficiently.

Ethan, meanwhile, searched from the air for high-Tier Outland Beasts. Whenever he spotted one, he Teleported over, killed it as quickly as possible, and took its crystal core.

Perhaps because the Eastern Region had more abundant mysterious energy, it had far more high-Tier Stage S Outland Beasts than the Southern Region.

In barely half an hour, Ethan had already killed nine Tier 35 Outland Beasts and more than twenty at Tier 34. It was an excellent haul.

But he seemed to have scared the rest into hiding. There wasn’t a single high-Tier Stage S beast left among the massive horde. Even the lower-Tier Stage S beasts he had seen earlier had disappeared.

After searching several times without finding another Stage S target, Ethan could only shake his head. He Teleported back inside Garrick’s protective dome.

”Huh? Boss, why’d you stop?” the others asked.

”Everything at Stage S or above ran away. What am I supposed to kill? I can’t be bothered with these Stage A beasts,” Ethan said dismissively.

”...”

”Outland Beasts aren’t stupid,” Mia said with a laugh. ”Of course they’d run after you slaughtered so many of them.”

”If there aren’t any Stage S beasts left, shouldn’t we leave?” Garrick asked.

Maintaining the protective dome for so long was exhausting.

”Let’s wait a little longer. These lower-Tier beasts are still attacking like crazy, and more keep coming from farther away. Either they’re trying to wear us down with weaker beasts, or the Stage S ones left to find stronger reinforcements.”

”If they bring back something stronger, it could be a Stage SS Outland Beast. That would be perfect. Let’s stick around and see what happens. You guys can still hold out, anyway.”

”You got it!”

Everyone’s eyes lit up at the mention of a Stage SS Outland Beast.

”But Boss, what if they bring back something at Tier 39 or Tier 40?” Skinny Pete asked honestly.

”Then we run. What else would we do?” Ethan rolled his eyes.

”Could you not jinx us? I just reached Stage SS. Why would a Tier 39 or Tier 40 beast bother coming after a nobody like me? If they send a Tier 36 or Tier 37, that’ll already be giving me too much credit.”

”Uh... I was just asking,” Skinny Pete said awkwardly.

The group continued holding off the Outland Beasts while waiting for their reinforcements to arrive.

Meanwhile, outside the Suncrest Range, Vaelor led hundreds of thousands of Galeborn fighters into the mountains in a massive formation.

They immediately began sweeping through the range, killing every Outland Beast they encountered and digging out its crystal core.

The Galeborn had coveted these crystal cores for years. The agreement had kept them from hunting freely, but now they finally had their chance, and they intended to make the most of it.

If they could sweep the entire Suncrest Range clean, the Galeborn’s strength would multiply several times over.

To keep the other races from arriving in time to claim a share, Vaelor and several Stage SS elders joined the slaughter personally. Massive wind-type abilities tore through the landscape, ripping entire swaths of Outland Beasts to pieces and leaving their crystal cores scattered across the ground.

Under the Galeborn’s relentless assault, the Outland Beasts were forced back again and again.

”Roar...!”

Countless roars echoed through the Suncrest Range, filled with rage and unwillingness.

Every Outland Beast in the range began to move. Endless hordes rushed madly toward the Galeborn, while countless flying beasts took off for the Central Region and other hidden locations.

The same thing was happening across the Eastern Region.

It wasn’t just the Suncrest Range. More than a hundred races had mobilized, sending countless fighters to sweep through the surrounding mountain ranges and seize crystal cores as quickly as possible.

The entire Eastern Region descended into chaos.

The furious roars of Outland Beasts echoed from mountain range after mountain range as flocks of vicious flying beasts scattered in every direction.

Before long, the hidden Stage SS Outland Beasts in those ranges were disturbed.

The Southern Region had only one Stage SS Outland Beast, but the Eastern Region had plenty. Most of them simply lived in seclusion, accumulating power and increasing their strength in remote caves. They rarely emerged to hunt.

The races’ actions had thoroughly enraged the Outland Beasts. Their subordinates sought out these powerful recluses one after another, drawing them from their lairs and into the fighting.

Ethan’s group was still locked in a standoff with the horde.

Chris and Sean had returned to Garrick’s protective dome to rest. Big Mike and the others had enough wide-range abilities to handle these beasts without them.

Aside from several Tier 35 thralls, all the other thralls had been sent to collect crystal cores.

The cores were too low-level to be useful to Ethan’s group, but the people of Fallen Star City still had a great need for Stage A crystal cores. They might as well gather as many as possible. There was no such thing as having too many.

Just as the thralls were digging away, the sky suddenly darkened.

Everyone looked up in confusion.

A gigantic flying Outland Beast was approaching.

It wasn’t a bird, but a pure-white unicorn with an enormous pair of wings.

”Haha! Finally!” Big Mike exclaimed. ”Boss, that thing’s Stage SS, right?”

Ethan wasn’t excited at all.

He stared at the creature in shock.

”Goddammit, Skinny Pete! You really had to jinx us!”

Ethan immediately opened a dimensional rift.

”Run!”

The others froze for a moment, but after everything they had been through together, none of them ever doubted Ethan’s orders. They rushed toward the dimensional rift.

Before they could enter, a beam of light shot from the winged unicorn’s horn and struck the rift.

Boom!

The dimensional rift exploded and vanished.

”Holy shit!”

Everyone’s expression changed. This was the first time they had ever seen a dimensional rift destroyed.

”Boss, how strong is that thing?” they asked grimly.

Ethan stared at the approaching beast.

”Peak Tier 41.”

”...”