Apocalypse: King of Zombies

The Goldenmane Lion looked from Ethan to the flattened Tier 44 corpse in its paws. It took a long moment before finally asking, ”How did you do that?”

”Don’t worry about it. He’s dead, and that’s all that matters. Do you want the body or not? If you don’t, I’ll give it to someone else.”

Ethan reached out as if to take it back.

”I want it! I want it!”

Startled, the Goldenmane Lion hurriedly swallowed the corpse whole before Ethan could reclaim it.

The other Outland Beasts looked on with envy.

That was the corpse of a Tier 44 outsider. Whoever ate it would benefit enormously.

The pinnacle-race fighters’ faces darkened.

Tier 44 fighters ranked among the strongest Stage SSS members of the pinnacle races. Losing even one was a tremendous blow.

Worse, they had no idea how Ethan had killed him.

Brakkor was a Stoneborn, the pinnacle race with the strongest defenses, yet his body had been flattened. What kind of power could do that?

None of them believed someone who had only just reached Stage SSS was capable of it.

Ethan had to possess some other trump card beyond their understanding.

The realization filled them with foreboding. If that was true, this human might genuinely change the course of the war.

Their hearts sank, and they immediately sent messages to the Patriarchs.

The four Patriarchs battling the Beast Sovereign frowned at almost the same moment.

They glanced at one another and saw the same shift in each other’s expressions. All four had received the news.

They had sensed the consecutive deaths of several Stage SSS fighters earlier, but hadn’t paid much attention. Their subordinates should’ve been able to handle whatever was happening.

Their only target was the Beast Sovereign.

But according to the message they had just received, the situation was far more serious than expected.

How many remnant souls have you gathered? the Patriarchs asked the Soulkin Patriarch through a mental link.

Not quite enough. Give me two more days, and I’ll be absolutely certain I can kill it in one strike. If I attack now, I’ll fall short.

Still, it shouldn’t make much difference. Even if I can’t kill it outright, I can inflict catastrophic damage on its soul. Finishing it afterward will be far easier.

The other Patriarchs frowned.

The Soulkin Patriarch possessed an extraordinarily unusual ability that allowed him to harvest the remnant souls of the fallen and forge them into a devastating soul attack.

The more remnant souls he collected, the stronger the attack became. With enough of them, he could unleash power far beyond his own level.

And because it directly targeted the soul, it was almost impossible to defend against.

Their original plan had been to use this war to gather enough remnant souls for the Soulkin Patriarch to kill the Beast Sovereign in a single blow.

With their greatest threat dead, the war would effectively be over.

Now, however, the situation had changed. The intelligence they’d just received suggested that the humans had an extraordinarily powerful fighter hidden among them.

If they kept waiting, something else might go wrong.

Do it now, the Thundari Patriarch said. Once its soul is crippled, it won’t retain even ten percent of its strength. Killing it won’t be difficult. If we wait any longer and that hidden human comes here, we’ll have an even bigger problem.

Agreed. We need to end this quickly.

Fine. Hold it off for a moment.

The Soulkin Patriarch closed his eyes.

The other three Patriarchs immediately charged the Beast Sovereign.

The Beast Sovereign frowned, unable to understand what they were planning. But it didn’t dwell on the question. With one of its opponents no longer fighting, it launched a ferocious assault.

The three Patriarchs were immediately forced onto the defensive, but they gritted their teeth and held their ground.

More than ten seconds later, the Soulkin Patriarch’s eyes snapped open.

A terrifying light burst from them.

An invisible attack struck without warning.

”ROAR!”

An agonized roar erupted from the Beast Sovereign.

Its entire body began to convulse, its face twisting in unbearable pain. It was clearly enduring unimaginable torment.

The Patriarchs’ eyes lit up.

”Now!”

One terrifying ability after another hammered the Beast Sovereign.

In its current state, the Beast Sovereign didn’t even seem to notice them. Its massive body kept trembling, and it failed to activate a single defensive skill.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The attacks tore enormous wounds across its body.

The Beast Sovereign was monstrously powerful, and its physical body was equally terrifying.

But none of the Patriarchs attacking it were weak. They were the strongest fighters among the intelligent races, each of them at Tier 47. With the Beast Sovereign completely defenseless, their attacks inflicted devastating damage.

Even so, they still couldn’t kill it quickly. That alone showed how formidable its body was.

Unfortunately, the damage to its soul had plunged its consciousness into chaos. It couldn’t even fight back, leaving it as nothing more than a living target.

No matter how powerful its body was, it couldn’t withstand that forever.

Before long, the Beast Sovereign had been reduced to a bloody wreck, and its presence was fading rapidly.

”ROAR!”

At last, it managed to force down the agony ravaging its soul and barely regain control of its mind. It roared, turned, and fled into the distance.

”Hmph. You’re not getting away!”

The Patriarchs immediately gave chase.

Elsewhere, Ethan’s defeat of the Tier 44 Stoneborn elder had instantly shifted the advantage to the Outland Beasts.

After swallowing Brakkor’s corpse and absorbing some of its energy, the Goldenmane Lion charged back into the battle, thoroughly satisfied.

The two sides had been evenly matched. Now the Outland Beasts suddenly had an extra Tier 44 fighter.

The result was obvious.

The pinnacle-race fighters immediately fell behind.

A Tier 44 Celestials elder gritted his teeth and intercepted the Goldenmane Lion, taking on two opponents at once.

He had no choice. If he let the lion through, it would slaughter the Tier 42 and Tier 43 fighters.

But fighting two Tier 44 Outland Beasts at once was no easy task. The Celestials elder was undoubtedly powerful, yet their combined assault still left him struggling desperately.

A short distance away, Ethan watched the rare Stage SSS battle while chewing on crystal cores.

His mental energy hadn’t fully recovered, so he wasn’t in a hurry to intervene.

The Outland Beasts now held an overwhelming advantage. Their victory was only a matter of time.

Ethan could widen that advantage and help them win more easily, but he had no intention of doing so.

He wanted both sides to bleed.

The Outland Beasts could win, but they couldn’t win too easily. Otherwise, they would have far too much strength remaining.

His alliance with them was only temporary. Who knew whether they would turn on him the moment the pinnacle races were defeated?

The ideal outcome was for both sides to tear each other apart, with Ethan doing only enough to ensure the Outland Beasts emerged victorious.

More importantly, he was waiting for a Stage SSS Outland Beast to die.

Then he could swoop in and take its crystal core.

It wouldn’t be as if he had killed the beast himself. He would only be taking the crystal core. That shouldn’t offend the Outland Beasts, right?

After all, if he didn’t take it, their enemies would. That would only make the pinnacle races stronger.

So by stealing those crystal cores, he would actually be helping the Outland Beasts.