Apocalypse: King of Zombies

High Elder Aeron cursed inwardly at the others for looking out only for themselves. He retreated quickly while shouting, ”Be careful! He has an ability that seals mental energy!”

The Stage SS fighters’ mouths twitched.

Did this bastard have a single normal skill? Why was every last one so absurd?

”Keep attacking! Let’s see how long that defense can hold!”

The Stage SS fighters were getting desperate. They unleashed another barrage of powerful abilities at Ethan.

Ethan ignored the attacks. He flashed in front of High Elder Aeron again and brought down another Annihilation Strike.

Aeron’s mental energy was still sealed, leaving him unable to activate any abilities. All he could do was retreat and try to evade Ethan’s attack.

Unfortunately, Ethan’s attacks weren’t so easy to dodge. A single look from him made Aeron freeze for a split second.

By then, the poleaxe was already coming down on his head.

At the last moment, however, a Tier 40 Outland Beast threw up an Energy Barrier in front of Aeron.

Thud!

The Energy Barrier shattered on impact, but it absorbed most of the blow. The remaining force still struck Aeron’s head, but several shields cast by the other fighters were protecting him as well.

The strike shattered those shields but failed to injure him. It merely sent him flying into the spatial barrier surrounding the Deadlock Dimension.

Aeron hit the ground but quickly got back to his feet. He nodded in thanks to the Outland Beast that had saved him, then watched Ethan warily.

By now, the Stage SS fighters had surrounded Ethan.

Only now had the two sides truly formed a united front.

Against someone as monstrous as Ethan, they had no choice but to work closely together.

They had also noticed that while all of Ethan’s abilities were absurdly powerful, they only targeted one person at a time. As long as they covered one another, killing any of them would be difficult.

The spatial defense surrounding him was incredibly strong, but an ability like that had to consume a tremendous amount of mental energy. If they kept attacking until Ethan could no longer maintain it, his defense would eventually collapse.

Then he would be at their mercy.

Every Stage SS fighter had seen their share of powerful abilities. They understood that the stronger an ability was, the more energy it consumed.

As long as they stayed united, they still had a chance to kill this human.

Ethan knew exactly what they were thinking, but he wasn’t worried in the slightest.

His abilities did consume vast amounts of mental energy. If they were fighting outside, he really wouldn’t be able to take on this many Stage SS fighters at once.

But this was the Deadlock Dimension.

Chris and the others were inside with him, which meant he could draw on their mental energy whenever he needed to replenish his own.

Draining him inside the Deadlock Dimension wasn’t going to be easy.

”You really think this is enough to stop me?” Ethan smiled and activated Absolute Stasis.

Every living creature in the dimension froze.

Ethan appeared in front of the Tier 40 Outland Beast that had just protected Aeron. His poleaxe blazed with dense black light before smashing into the beast’s head.

Thud!

Its head exploded. It left the world without ever feeling a thing.

Ethan flicked his poleaxe upward, pulling a yellow crystal core from the corpse and into his hand.

At that moment, time resumed.

Everyone stared blankly at the Tier 40 Outland Beast that had suddenly died.

”What happened? How did it just die?”

None of them could understand how a Tier 40 Outland Beast had been killed without warning.

”Could that have been… a time-type ability?” one of the fighters blurted out in shock.

”!”

Everyone sucked in a breath.

It seemed impossible, but they knew a time-type ability was the only explanation.

The fighters and Outland Beasts stared at Ethan in horror. Their earlier confidence was gone, replaced by deep apprehension.

Time-type abilities existed only in legend. Even among the humans of the past, no one had ever heard of someone possessing one.

This human already had so many monstrous abilities, and now he had a time-type ability too.

How the hell were they supposed to fight him?

The confidence they had only just regained collapsed completely.

”Gulp… Human friend, I-I’m not a Galeborn,” a fighter from another race said. ”They only hired me to help them. There’s no grudge between us, so perhaps you could—”

High Elder Aeron cut him off.

”You think you can back out now? He’s human. Our races are destined to fight to the death. No matter how much you beg, he won’t let you go.

”Time-type abilities are even more advanced than spatial-type abilities. Using one must consume enormous amounts of mental energy. Let’s see how many times he can do it! Once his mental energy runs dry, he’ll be ours to slaughter!”

Aeron’s words restored a little of their confidence.

Their expressions remained grim, though.

Ethan might not be able to use that ability many times, but as long as he could still activate it, any one of them might be the next to die.

Time-type abilities were simply too overwhelming. The victim wouldn’t even know how they had died.

Even though they knew Ethan couldn’t use it indefinitely, none of them dared lower their guard. Every fighter silently added another defensive ability to themselves.

Ethan glanced at Aeron.

”You sure talk a lot, old man. I guess I’ll deal with you first.”

He teleported beside Aeron again and swung his poleaxe at him.

After seeing how terrifying Ethan’s eyes were, Aeron refused to meet his gaze. He guarded his mind and unleashed Tempest Cleave to meet the poleaxe head-on.

Ethan snorted. Dense black light surged across his weapon as he brought it down.

Boom!

Tempest Cleave shattered on impact. Ethan’s poleaxe tore through it and slammed into the shield protecting Aeron.

The shield broke instantly, but a Flame Shield appeared around Aeron and blocked the remaining force.

Someone else had stepped in to protect him.

The more dangerous the situation became, the more they understood that they had to stick together.

Ethan had made up his mind to kill High Elder Aeron, however. He wasn’t about to give up just because the others interfered. He raised his poleaxe and swung again.

When the others saw that Ethan was still targeting Aeron, they attacked once more. Some bombarded Ethan with abilities while the rest continued layering defenses over the High Elder.

It wasn’t that Aeron was particularly important. They simply couldn’t afford to lose another fighter and increase the pressure on everyone else.

Their goal was to drain as much of Ethan’s mental energy as possible. That was their only chance to kill him.

Ethan had no interest in dragging this out any longer.

He activated Absolute Stasis again, then unleashed a full-power Annihilation Strike at High Elder Aeron’s head.

One defensive ability after another shattered.

Ethan’s poleaxe finally connected with Aeron’s skull.

Thud!

High Elder Aeron’s head burst apart.

To make sure he was dead, Ethan immediately drove a dagger through the shattered remains of his skull.

Aeron didn’t even have time to make a sound before joining his Patriarch in death.