Apocalypse: King of Zombies

”Captain, are you… feeling better?” Mia asked softly as Ethan lay in her arms.

”Yeah. Much better.” Ethan nodded.

”Then… could you get up?” Mia’s face reddened.

Everyone was watching. She hadn’t thought anything of it in the panic earlier, but now their knowing looks were making her self-conscious.

Especially since the man lying in her arms couldn’t keep his head still and shifted every so often.

”Let me lie here a little longer. I’m still recovering,” Ethan said lazily.

”…”

Mia had no choice but to keep holding him under everyone’s teasing stares.

Fortunately, Ethan knew they still had business to handle. After resting for a while, he finally got up.

”Boss, what tier is Dopey really?” everyone asked curiously.

”I don’t know. Soulless thralls don’t have souls, so I can’t determine their tiers.” Ethan shook his head.

”But the Stage SSS creature I encountered before was Tier 43, and the pressure Dopey released just now felt even stronger. That means Dopey should be Tier 44 or higher.”

”Holy shit! Tier 44? Doesn’t that mean it can crush most Stage SSS fighters?”

”Boss, why don’t we go out and have Dopey kill those guys?” Big Mike said excitedly. ”Then they’ll send Stage SSS fighters after us, and we can kill them one at a time!”

”You’re dreaming.” Ethan rolled his eyes.

”Those people almost certainly have marks that transmit what they see right before they die. If Dopey attacks them, their superiors will know we have a Stage SSS fighter. Then they won’t send some low-tier Stage SSS after us. They might send a whole group of high-tier ones, and we’ll be dead before we know what happened.”

”Uh… right. I forgot about that.”

”So you still have to kill them yourself?”

”Not necessarily. My Deadlock Dimension is an independent space. Even if they have those marks, nothing will be transmitted from inside. Once I drag them in here, we can kill them however we want.” Ethan smiled.

”Holy shit! We can do that?” Everyone grew excited. ”Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

”Not yet. Those people can’t die that easily. Even if their superiors don’t receive their final memories, they’ll still figure out that we have a Stage SSS fighter. There’s no other way we could kill more than a dozen peak Stage SS fighters so easily.

”So yes, they need to die—but not like this.”

”Then what are you planning, Boss?”

”We lure them to a mountain range occupied by high-tier Outland Beasts. Ideally, one with a Stage SSS Outland Beast. Then we kill them there, manipulate the situation a little, and take out the Stage SSS beast while we’re at it. That way…” Ethan chuckled.

”Damn, Boss. That’s devious as hell.”

”Watch your mouth. It’s called strategy.”

”So how do we pull it off?”

Ethan turned to Skinny Pete. ”Did that woman know of any mountain ranges occupied by Stage SSS Outland Beasts?”

”She did, but they’re all in the Central Region.”

”The Central Region…” Ethan considered it.

Before today, there was no way he would have gone there. Now that they had Dopey, though, he had some confidence.

Besides, it appeared that the Stage SSS fighters were all in the Central Region. If he wanted to pull this off, he would have to take the risk.

”What’s the closest mountain range with a Stage SSS Outland Beast to the Eastern Region?”

Skinny Pete carefully searched through Velessa’s memories.

”There’s a place called the Netherveil Range on the eastern side of the Central Region. It’s the territory of a Stage SSS Netherfang Tiger. It’s the closest mountain range to the Eastern Region that’s confirmed to have a Stage SSS Outland Beast.”

”Do you know how strong the tiger is?”

”Velessa’s memories say it appeared once over ten years ago. It was Tier 42 at the time, and it probably hasn’t broken through since.”

”Good. That’s our target,” Ethan decided.

”Are there any pinnacle races near the range?”

”Yes, but they’re still pretty far away. The closest is apparently a race called the Umbrans—the race that guy you killed outside belonged to. But their territory is more than six hundred miles from the Netherveil Range, and it’s on the other side of the mountains. We won’t have to cross their territory on the way there.”

”Perfect.

”When we go out, I’ll immediately drag those fighters into the Deadlock Dimension. The rest of you take their skyship.

”Skinny Pete, you have Velessa’s memories, so you should know how to operate it. Fly it straight into the Netherveil Range. That’ll definitely attract the high-tier Outland Beasts there. You might even draw out the Stage SSS beast itself. Just make sure you jump off and hide before the ship gets there.”

”Got it!” Everyone nodded seriously.

”I’ll bring those guys along. If we arrive just as the Netherfang Tiger shows up…” A smile tugged at Ethan’s lips. ”That’ll make things interesting.”

Outside…

The peak Tier 41 fighters had spent a long time bombarding the spatial node, but their attacks had accomplished nothing. Eventually, they had no choice but to stop.

”How can this dimension be so stable?” one of the young men asked in frustration. ”Even all of us together couldn’t break it.”

”Some spatial-type abilities defy all reason,” their leader said helplessly. ”Judging by how stable this dimension is, only a Stage SSS fighter could break through.”

”Then… should we notify one of the Stage SSS elders?”

”No. They’d only call us useless again. We have this many peak Tier 41 fighters, yet we can’t capture a few Stage SS and Stage S humans? We’d never live down the humiliation.”

”We’ll guard this spot. They can’t hide inside forever.”

”All right. Do you think Velessa is already dead?”

”I don’t know, but she’s been in there for a long time. It’s definitely possible. That human’s abilities are bizarre, and we have no idea what’s inside that separate dimension. Velessa may already have fallen into his hands.”

”Damn those bastards! They’d better stay in there for the rest of their lives. If they come out, I’ll make them wish they were dead!” a young man snarled, clearly struggling to accept Velessa’s possible death.

”Is that so? I’d like to see how you plan to do that.”

A voice suddenly rang out.

The next moment, Ethan and the others reappeared.

The Stage SS fighters froze briefly before rushing forward and surrounding them.

”Finally decided to come out? It seems you can’t remain inside that separate dimension for long after all.”

”Uh… actually, we can stay in there for quite a while.” Ethan smiled. ”Would you like to see for yourselves?”

”?”

Before they could react, Ethan waved his hand.

He and the dozen or so Stage SS fighters vanished simultaneously.