Apocalypse: King of Zombies

”Boss, how the hell did you manage to bring the Beast Sovereign back with you?” Everyone stared at Ethan in shock.

”It’s a long story. I’ll explain later.” Ethan shook his head and turned to Henry. ”Can you heal it?”

”I can, but it’ll take time.” Henry examined the Beast Sovereign carefully. ”Its physical injuries are severe, but its soul has also been badly damaged. That’s the real problem. Treating both will take at least three days.”

”Three days…” Ethan frowned.

They were already running short on time. The Void Realm passage would open again in less than ten days, and they needed to return to Earth several days ahead of that.

This time, the passage’s opening could bring an extinction-level disaster to the entire planet. Ethan needed time to prepare.

If they lost another three days here, their schedule would become dangerously tight.

”Then focus on treating the Beast Sovereign’s soul. Have the Aurelians handle its physical injuries. That should speed things up, right?”

”Honestly, considering how strong it is, the Aurelians’ healing won’t have much effect,” Henry said helplessly.

He wasn’t looking down on them. The Beast Sovereign was simply too powerful. The Aurelians didn’t even have a single Stage SS fighter, so their healing would barely register.

The Aurelian elders opened their mouths, wanting to defend themselves. Then they remembered their patient was the Beast Sovereign and remained silent.

Their healing abilities were powerful, but the difference in strength was simply too great.

”That’s fine. There are a lot of them. If they all use their healing abilities together, it should still help. The Beast Sovereign’s body is already incredibly resilient, so the physical wounds aren’t the main concern. Its soul needs to be treated as quickly as possible.”

”All right.” Henry nodded and crouched down beside the Beast Sovereign.

There was no point trying to move it indoors. With a body that large, it wouldn’t fit inside any building in the settlement. They had no choice but to treat it where it lay.

”Wait.”

Ethan took out a handful of Stage SS crystal cores and passed them to Henry.

”Raise your tier first. Your healing should become more effective.”

”Okay.”

Henry accepted them without hesitation and sat down to consume them.

Every core Ethan had given him was Stage SS, including one at Tier 37. Together, they were enough to raise Henry to Tier 37.

It was only a single-tier increase, but under the circumstances, it mattered. At the very least, it should cut several hours off the treatment.

The Aurelians watched enviously as Henry popped the crystal cores into his mouth like candy.

Those were Stage SS crystal cores. A single one could send any of them soaring in strength.

Still, the Aurelian leaders understood their position. They might be envious, but none of them asked for anything.

Ethan noticed their restraint and nodded inwardly.

The Aurelians really did seem like decent people.

Unfortunately, the Fallen Star Squad was still short on Stage SS crystal cores. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have minded giving the Aurelians a few.

Before long, Henry reached Tier 37.

He returned to the Beast Sovereign and placed one hand between its eyes. Gentle white light flowed from his palm and entered its forehead.

”We should help too,” Solren said to the Aurelian leaders behind him.

”Right.”

Streams of white healing light descended over the Beast Sovereign.

The two kinds of healing energy were both white, but there was a noticeable difference. The Aurelians’ light shone more brightly, while Henry’s was softer and gentler.

The Aurelians possessed light-type abilities. Henry’s healing clearly came from something else.

Ethan suspected it was a life-type ability.

Ordinary elemental abilities were usually easy to identify by their effects, but some rarer abilities weren’t. They had once grouped all such powers under the broad category of special-type abilities.

As their understanding of different abilities grew, though, they had gradually learned to distinguish between them.

For example, they had once assumed Skinny Pete’s Enthrallment was special-type. Later, they realized it was actually a psychic-type ability.

Henry’s healing was probably the same. For it to be this powerful, it was most likely life-type.

The Beast Sovereign’s enormous body was soon covered in layers of light.

But when they looked closely, its wounds were healing so slowly that the changes were almost impossible to see.

Ethan sighed. ”Looks like Henry was right. This really is going to take several days. We’ll just have to wait.”

”Boss, this is the Beast Sovereign,” Sean said worriedly. ”Are we really going to put this much effort into saving it? What if it wakes up and wipes us all out?”

Ethan glanced at the unconscious Beast Sovereign.

”It won’t. This one cares about loyalty.”

He had made his decision after seeing the Beast Sovereign shed tears for its subordinates.

A leader who could weep for the lives of those under its command wouldn’t repay kindness with betrayal.

The loyalty of the other Outland Beasts proved the same thing. If the Beast Sovereign were truly treacherous and ungrateful, so many Beast Lords never would have sacrificed themselves to protect it.

Even so, Ethan would establish a fixed point before the Beast Sovereign regained consciousness.

He wouldn’t gamble everyone’s lives on an assumption.

If the Beast Sovereign woke up and turned on them, Ethan could use Temporal Rewind, return to the moment before it awakened, then kill it and take its crystal core.

”But even if it doesn’t attack us, I still don’t understand why we’re going through all this trouble,” Garrick said. ”Wouldn’t it be better to kill it and take the crystal core?”

Ethan fell silent for a moment before sighing.

”Let’s just say I’m letting my emotions make the decision this once.

”My plan is simple. Once it recovers, we work with it to wipe out the pinnacle races of the Eldoria Continent. Then we ask it to come to Earth and guard the Atlas Federation.

”That way, when the dimensional rift opens again, the Atlas Federation will have a genuine top-tier fighter protecting it—someone powerful enough to deter most creatures from the Void Realm.

”But it’s still a gamble. I have no way of knowing whether the Beast Sovereign will agree to help us.” Ethan gave a wry smile.

”So that’s why…”

Everyone finally understood.

As expected, Ethan hadn’t saved it without a reason.

”Skinny Pete, can your Premonition tell us whether the Beast Sovereign will help?” Big Mike suddenly asked.

”How am I supposed to predict something like that?” Skinny Pete rolled his eyes.

”What good are you, then? Always useless when it matters.”

”…”

”All right, there’s nothing else for you to do here. Go raise your tiers.”

Ethan took out all the Stage SS crystal cores he had collected in the Central Region and divided them among the squad.

He had already given the lower-tier ones to Henry. The rest were mid- and high-tier Stage SS crystal cores that had to be absorbed rather than consumed.

They were short on time. One person couldn’t absorb all of them quickly enough, so everyone would have to work on them separately.

Improving the whole squad had its own advantages. The stronger everyone became, the fewer weak links they would have.

”Got it!”

They accepted the crystal cores and returned to their rooms.

Ethan looked toward the Central Region, his gaze distant.

The surviving Outland Beasts there were probably being hunted down right now.

But once the Beast Sovereign recovered…

Those pinnacle races had better be ready to face its wrath.