Apocalypse: King of Zombies

The arcane skyship was incredibly fast. It had still been far in the distance when they first spotted it, yet in the blink of an eye, it was already hovering above the battlefield.

The ship descended, and more than a dozen figures jumped down.

”Greetings, my lords!”

The members of the various races bowed, their faces lighting up with excitement.

Powerful reinforcements had arrived. They were finally saved.

The Outland Beasts, on the other hand, grew visibly uneasy, their eyes filled with concern.

After landing, the newcomers ignored everyone else and focused directly on Ethan’s group.

”They really are human. One of them has even reached Tier 39.” The young man at the front frowned. ”It seems we underestimated them.”

”We thought humanity had already been exterminated, yet a few more pests crawled out and threw the entire Eldoria Continent into chaos,” another man said with open disgust.

”Cripple them and take them back. We’ll let our superiors decide what to do with them,” said a woman dressed in pink, a matching flower-shaped mark between her eyebrows. ”They’ve been allowed to run wild for far too long despite being so weak. These higher races are becoming more useless by the day.”

”They certainly need to be put back in line.”

The pinnacle-race fighters continued talking among themselves without giving Ethan’s group a second thought.

Ethan’s mouth twitched.

These people really were arrogant. Then again, that was only to be expected from members of the pinnacle races.

”May I ask which races you’re from?” Ethan asked, clasping his hands before him.

”You aren’t qualified to know. Surrender and come with us quietly.”

One of the young men stepped forward and waved a hand.

”Abyssal Prison!”

Streams of black energy instantly surrounded Ethan, forming a cage around him.

”You dare cause trouble on the Eldoria Continent with so little strength?” the young man scoffed. ”Who gave you the nerve?”

Ethan examined the cage. When he sensed it steadily devouring his mental energy, surprise crossed his face.

As expected of a pinnacle race. Even their opening move was different.

”Stop looking for a way out,” the young man said confidently. ”Once my Abyssal Prison traps someone, no one within Stage SS can escape. That includes you.”

”Is that so?”

Ethan smiled and teleported out of the cage.

”…”

”Hahaha! Malrec, I never thought I’d see the day someone embarrassed you like that,” several of the other Stage SS fighters mocked.

Malrec’s face darkened.

”I didn’t expect you to possess a spatial movement ability. It seems I underestimated you.”

”There are plenty of things you haven’t expected.”

Ethan vanished and reappeared directly in front of him. Without the slightest hesitation, he brought his poleaxe down at Malrec’s head.

Malrec snorted, and a mass of black light formed in his hand.

”You think one spatial movement ability is enough to let you jump around in front of me?”

”My lord, be careful! That human is extremely powerful!” several Galeborn fighters shouted when they saw that Malrec intended to block Ethan’s poleaxe head-on.

They would never forget how Ethan had killed their Patriarch with a single swing of that weapon.

Their warning only earned them a contemptuous snort.

Pinnacle races were called pinnacle races because their combat strength far exceeded that of ordinary races.

Even among fighters of the same tier and ability type, members of a pinnacle race were vastly stronger than those of other races. The abilities mastered by the pinnacle races were simply far more powerful.

Malrec was at the peak of Tier 41. Why would he take a mere Tier 39 human seriously?

The other pinnacle-race fighters looked equally unconcerned.

A faint smile tugged at Ethan’s lips.

Light flashed in his eyes.

The black energy in Malrec’s hand suddenly vanished.

Malrec’s expression changed. He tried to activate his ability again, only to realize that he couldn’t mobilize his mental energy.

His face filled with horror.

”You think being from a pinnacle race makes you untouchable?” Ethan’s smile turned vicious. ”I’ll kill you all the same!”

Dense black light erupted from his poleaxe as it came crashing down on Malrec’s head.

”Save me!”

Malrec’s face went deathly pale. He retreated and cried out for help.

The other pinnacle-race fighters frowned. They couldn’t understand why he wasn’t defending himself.

Malrec was a peak Tier 41 fighter from a pinnacle race. Why would he need their help against a Tier 39 human?

Despite their confusion, they still intervened.

But they were a fraction too late.

Before their defensive abilities could reach Malrec, Ethan’s Annihilation Strike—empowered with seventy percent of his mental energy—slammed into his head.

Thud!

Malrec’s skull burst like a watermelon, and his body slowly collapsed.

”!”

Every fighter present stared at the scene in shock.

”How is that possible? With Malrec’s strength, how could he fail to withstand a single attack from a Tier 39 human?”

The pinnacle-race fighters exchanged glances, seeing the same shock in each other’s eyes.

”Now, are you willing to tell me which races you’re from?” Ethan rested the poleaxe on his shoulder and smiled at the remaining peak Tier 41 fighters.

Their expressions turned grim.

Peak Tier 41 fighters held important positions even within the pinnacle races. One of their own had just been killed right in front of them.

They could already imagine the punishment awaiting them when they returned.

”You’re dead!”

”Attack together! Capture them first!”

”Good!”

They struck without hesitation, unleashing ability after ability at Ethan.

”Seriously? All of you against one?” Ethan complained. ”I’m not playing that game.”

He waved a hand.

The woman in pink vanished along with Ethan, Chris, and the rest of the Fallen Star Squad.

”?”

”Where did they go?”

The pinnacle-race fighters stared at the empty space in confusion.

”Over here. They must have entered some kind of separate dimension.” The young man leading the group pointed at a patch of distorted space.

”A separate dimension? He even has an ability like that?”

”The elders warned us that human abilities can take all kinds of strange forms. Nothing is impossible.”

”Then what do we do? That human was strong enough to kill Malrec instantly. Velessa is in serious danger in there.”

”Velessa’s abilities are unique. That human won’t be able to kill her the same way he killed Malrec,” said a man dressed in purple. ”She may even turn the tables and kill him instead. We’ll wait for now.”

”My lords, I don’t mean to discourage you,” a Galeborn said quietly, ”but I think Lady Velessa may already be doomed. That human dragged more than twenty Stage SS fighters into that separate dimension earlier.”

He swallowed.

”When they came back out, every last one of them was a corpse.”

”!”