Apocalypse: King of Zombies

”You really had to go that hard?” Chris and Henry walked over to Sean.

”Easy for you to say. That guy was Tier 38. How could I beat him without going all out?” Sean rolled his eyes.

”Only Tier 38? I just killed a Tier 39,” Chris said with a grin.

”You ambushed him. I fought mine head-on. That’s completely different. Besides, I already injured the guy you killed. You just swooped in and stole the kill.”

”What do you mean, stole the kill? Could you have finished him without me?”

”No,” Sean admitted helplessly.

After reaching Stage SS, the gap between each tier became enormous. Tier 39 was far above their current level. Sean had only managed to injure Zephran by returning the elder’s own attack, and even that had worked so well only because Zephran hadn’t taken the counterattack seriously.

At their current strength, no one besides Ethan could fight that far above their tier.

Chris had managed to kill Zephran only because the elder was wounded and had been weakened by both the Deadlock Dimension and Henry’s Enfeebling Radiance. Without all three factors, Chris wouldn’t have been able to kill a Tier 39 fighter either.

Still, Chris had killed one. Sean couldn’t argue with that.

Chris ranked second in combat strength within the Fallen Star Squad, with Sean in third. It wasn’t because Chris was closer to Ethan. His strength genuinely earned him that ranking.

Of course, now that Henry had Pain Link, he might not lose to either of them in a real fight. That ability was absurdly powerful. Henry simply lacked offensive skills and wasn’t as good at direct combat.

While the three of them talked, Ethan finished his battle as well.

All the remaining Stage SS Outland Beasts had been killed. Ethan approached with a handful of crystal cores and a smile on his face.

”Boss!” Everyone looked at him excitedly.

”Not bad.” Ethan patted Chris and the others on the shoulders.

Three newly advanced Stage SS fighters had killed six other Stage SS opponents, including one at Tier 39 and another at Tier 38.

That was an incredible achievement.

Ethan had been confident in them, but he had kept part of his attention on their fight the entire time, ready to return and help if necessary.

Fortunately, they hadn’t disappointed him. They had dealt with their opponents quickly.

”Now the entire Fallen Star Squad can reach Stage SS.” Ethan looked at the crystal cores in his hand and smiled.

He had just killed fifteen Stage SS Outland Beasts, and they still had one unused Stage SS crystal core. That left him with sixteen in total.

There were two Tier 40 cores, five Tier 39 cores, two Tier 38 cores, two Tier 37 cores, and five Tier 36 cores.

That was more than enough to bring the rest of the squad to Stage SS.

The others were still only Tier 35, though, and none of them had reached the peak yet.

They could use Stage SS crystal cores to force their way to the peak, but that would be a terrible waste. It would be better to find some Tier 35 cores first.

There were still plenty of Outland Beasts outside. Ethan just didn’t know whether there would be enough at Tier 35.

Even if there weren’t, they could always look somewhere else.

With their current strength, they could go practically anywhere as long as they stayed out of the Central Region.

”Let’s head out.”

Ethan waved a hand and released the Deadlock Dimension.

Outside, the fighters from the various races and the Outland Beasts were still watching the distorted space with tense expressions.

The elders had been inside for so long. Why hadn’t they come out yet?

There were more than twenty Stage SS fighters in there. Could killing one Tier 39 human really take this long?

They assumed Ethan was simply difficult to kill. Not one of them had considered the possibility that their side might lose.

Then several figures suddenly appeared out of thin air.

A moment later, corpse after corpse materialized around them.

”!”

Every member of the various races and every Outland Beast recoiled in shock.

When they recognized the bodies, their faces changed dramatically.

”Elder!”

”Roar!”

Cries of horror rose from both sides.

”How did this happen?”

They had entered alive and well. How had they all come back as corpses?

These were Stage SS fighters, beings who stood at the very top of the Eastern Region.

More than twenty of them had gone in.

Every last one was dead.

Neither the Outland Beasts nor the other races could accept what they were seeing.

More than twenty Stage SS fighters had gone to kill a few humans, only to be wiped out instead.

It was absurd.

Ethan didn’t care how shocked they were. He stepped onto a dagger and flew into the air, then activated True Sight and began scanning the Outland Beast army below.

There were millions of Outland Beasts on the battlefield, including many at Stage S.

It didn’t take long for Ethan to pick out one Tier 35 beast after another.

Daggers tore through the air and plunged into their skulls.

At Ethan’s current level, Tier 35 Outland Beasts were no different from insects.

They died without even making a sound.

The blades twisted, extracting one crystal core after another and carrying them back into Ethan’s hand.

The brutal display jolted the other races and Outland Beasts out of their grief. They hurriedly backed away, putting as much distance as possible between themselves and Ethan’s group.

There might have been millions of them present, but none dared fight the Fallen Star Squad.

Stage SS existed on an entirely different level. Numbers alone couldn’t bridge that gap.

Neither side had any Stage SS fighters left, so there was no chance they would challenge Ethan’s group.

”All right, you can keep fighting now. Don’t mind us.” Ethan stored the crystal cores in his spatial storage ring and smiled down at them.

The Outland Beasts and the other races looked uncertainly at one another.

No one made a move.

How were they supposed to continue fighting after what had just happened?

”What’s wrong? You’re not going to fight?” Ethan’s voice turned cold.

”If you won’t, then I’ll step in. And when I do, both sides are going to suffer.”

”!”

”What arrogance! A mere human dares behave like this on the Eldoria Continent? Do you truly believe Eldoria has no one capable of dealing with you?”

A thunderous voice came from the distance.

A massive vessel flew toward the battlefield at tremendous speed.

”An arcane skyship! It’s an arcane skyship!”

”The pinnacle races are here to save us!”

The members of the various races erupted in excitement at the sight of the approaching vessel.

”Holy shit, that ship can fly?” Ethan and the others stared at it in astonishment.

Ethan immediately activated True Sight and peered inside.

When he saw more than a dozen peak Tier 41 fighters aboard, his heart jumped.

”They really went all out.”

Even so, Ethan didn’t flee. More than a dozen peak Tier 41 fighters would be troublesome, but not enough to scare him away.

He needed to get some information from them.

Besides, he was very interested in that flying ship.