Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Everyone nodded in firm agreement.

Thinking back to what had happened to Skinny Pete left them shaken. If Emily hadn’t been there, embarrassing himself would’ve been the least of his problems. He could easily have lost his life.

His mind had been completely clouded. He hadn’t even known what he was doing. That made the poison incredibly dangerous.

”The Glamourkin’s poison is disgusting,” someone said warily.

”Yeah. Every pinnacle race has something dangerous up its sleeve. We can’t let our guard down around them,” Ethan warned.

Everyone nodded seriously.

”Emily, give me an Energy Link.”

The attacks from outside were still battering the Deadlock Dimension, and Ethan’s mental energy was draining quickly.

It was much better than when the unicorn lord had attacked the dimension, though.

Back then, Ethan had only just reached Stage SS. Against the peak Tier 41 unicorn lord’s attacks, his mental energy had plummeted.

Now that he was Tier 39, the Deadlock Dimension was far more stable. The people outside weren’t that much stronger than him. If they hadn’t been attacking together, the drain would’ve been negligible.

With Emily’s Energy Link restoring him, plus a few crystal cores to replenish his reserves, he could easily offset the consumption.

”Skinny Pete, did you find anything useful in that woman’s memories?” Ethan asked.

”Plenty.” Skinny Pete nodded. ”The dozen or so peak Tier 41 fighters who came here are from eight different pinnacle races.

”That woman was a Glamourkin. Her race has two Stage SSS fighters and ranks somewhere in the upper-middle among the pinnacle races. But because their abilities are so unusual, most of the other pinnacle races are wary of them.”

”Do you know how many pinnacle races are left in the Central Region, how many Stage SSS fighters they have, and what their relationships are like?”

”There are twenty-four pinnacle races in the Central Region. She didn’t know the exact number of Stage SSS fighters. She was only a high-ranking member of the Glamourkin, and the Stage SSS fighters of the various races rarely show themselves, let alone share information about themselves with outsiders.

”But based on her estimate, there should be at least fifty.”

”Fifty?”

Everyone’s expression changed. The number made their hearts sink.

Fifty Stage SSS fighters.

If that kind of force entered Earth, the devastation would be unimaginable.

And those were only the Stage SSS fighters on the Eldoria Continent. The other worlds were bound to have plenty of their own.

The thought of Stage SSS fighters swarming across Earth made Ethan’s scalp prickle.

”What are the relationships between the pinnacle races like?” Ethan asked. Eight races might have come together this time, but he refused to believe more than twenty pinnacle races were truly united.

”They don’t actually get along very well. There haven’t been any major wars between them in recent years, but minor conflicts are constant.

”After their war with humanity, though, they reached a common agreement. They can compete among themselves, but whenever they face an outside threat, they have to stand together.

”So when it comes to us or the Outland Beasts, they’re all on the same side,” Skinny Pete explained.

Ethan frowned.

It figured. Once bitten, twice shy.

”More than twenty pinnacle races…” Ethan rubbed his forehead. ”How is Earth supposed to stop them when the dimensional rift opens again?”

Coming to the Eldoria Continent had shown him just how far Earth lagged behind an ancient world like this.

Ultimately, Earth simply hadn’t had enough time to develop.

Give humanity another ten years, and they might not need to fear these races. Right now, though, trying to stop them would be like throwing themselves beneath a charging beast.

”The pinnacle races must have suffered some losses in this war, right?” Ethan asked, unwilling to give up hope.

”Uh… according to that woman’s memories, they haven’t really lost anything,” Skinny Pete said helplessly.

”The Outland Beasts attacked the Central Region after the war broke out, but they didn’t accomplish much. The Central Region has over a hundred higher races, and all of them are extremely powerful. They drove the Outland Beasts back without the pinnacle races needing to do much themselves.

”Those races are pretty timid, though. They only pushed the Outland Beasts back into the mountain ranges. They didn’t pursue them.”

”Of course they didn’t. If they fought their way into the mountains, the conflict would escalate even further.” Ethan shook his head.

”The pinnacle races obviously don’t want that. If I had to guess, neither side has deployed any Stage SSS fighters yet.”

”That’s right. Neither side has sent Stage SSS fighters into battle.” Skinny Pete nodded. ”There is some good news, though.”

”What is it?”

”Three Stage SSS fighters went to negotiate with the Beast Sovereign, but the Beast Sovereign killed one of them. The one who died was the Emberborn Patriarch, a Tier 46 fighter.”

”That happened?” Ethan looked surprised. ”No wonder the war broke out so quickly.”

He had found it strange at the time.

The two sides had coexisted for so long that a full-scale war shouldn’t have started so easily, even with the Fallen Star Squad provoking both sides. Ethan had prepared several additional plans, only for the war to suddenly erupt without them.

Now he understood why.

A Tier 46 fighter had to rank among the strongest Stage SSS fighters. The Emberborn were probably one of the more powerful pinnacle races as well.

There was no way they would simply let their Patriarch’s death go.

Ethan stroked his chin as he considered the situation.

The Eldoria Continent’s pinnacle races were far too powerful. He still needed to find some way to weaken them.

That wouldn’t be easy.

He certainly wasn’t going to the Central Region.

There were more than fifty Stage SSS fighters there. If he entered the Central Region, he might die before he even realized what had happened.

But without going there, most of his plans would be impossible to carry out.

No matter how many enemies they killed out here, the Central Region barely felt the impact. Getting the pinnacle races and the Outland Beasts to commit fully to the war would be extremely difficult.

Unless…

He could kill a Stage SSS Outland Beast.

Unfortunately, he had no confidence whatsoever in defeating something at that level.

The gap between Stage S and Stage SS was already enormous. The difference between Stage SS and Stage SSS had to be even greater. They were in entirely different leagues.

The fact that Stage SSS fighters could fly without assistance was proof enough. Reaching Stage SSS meant ascending to a completely different level of existence.

Tens of billions of living beings inhabited the Eldoria Continent, yet only a few dozen had reached Stage SSS. That alone showed how difficult the breakthrough was.

The only Stage SSS being Ethan had ever encountered was that terrifying creature.

Even now, just thinking about it left him with a crushing sense of helplessness.

He had no confidence in killing a Stage SSS fighter.

Maybe once he reached the peak of Tier 41, he could try with the help of the Deadlock Dimension.

But right now, it was impossible.