Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Outside, not long after Ethan entered the Deadlock Dimension, a large group of Stage SSS Outland Beasts arrived.

They were overjoyed to see the Beast Sovereign alive and well.

The moment the Beast Sovereign saw them, it shouted, ”Go help Ethan! Stop them from attacking that distorted space!”

The order came just in time. The Outland Beasts immediately charged the intelligent fighters. Otherwise, Ethan would have been in real danger.

With the Beast Lords bearing down on them, the intelligent fighters had no choice but to stop attacking the spatial distortion and meet the new threat.

Just as Ethan had expected, the Outland Beasts still had fewer fighters, but their overall combat strength now surpassed the intelligent races’.

It didn’t take long for the intelligent fighters to be suppressed.

Following the Beast Sovereign’s orders, the Outland Beasts steadily forced them away from the distorted space.

After resting for more than ten minutes and recovering his condition, Ethan released the Deadlock Dimension.

The instant he emerged, he teleported away, only to discover there was no fighting anywhere near him.

Ethan breathed a sigh of relief. These Outland Beasts weren’t that stupid after all. They had known to move the battlefield elsewhere.

He began circling the edges of the various battles.

This time, he didn’t attack recklessly. He needed to eliminate the greatest threat to himself first.

After searching for a while, Ethan finally spotted the one responsible for ambushing him in the previous timeline.

The man was only Tier 44, but he possessed soul-targeting abilities and was most likely a member of the Soulkin.

He was currently fighting a Tier 46 Outland Beast. Despite the beast’s higher tier, his powerful soul attacks had left it in terrible shape.

Ethan also spotted the Tier 47 fighter who had attacked him afterward. Just like before, the man was fighting the Dire Bear.

The two were nowhere near each other at the moment. They had probably only moved closer after secretly planning their attack on Ethan.

Cold light entered Ethan’s eyes.

He immediately ordered Dopey to abandon his current opponents and kill the Soulkin first.

Dopey had no soul. Soul attacks were the last thing he needed to fear.

Upon receiving the order, Dopey immediately left the two critically wounded Tier 46 fighters he had been battling. With a single step, he appeared beside the Soulkin and brought down an enormous energy hand.

The Soulkin was startled. He hadn’t expected a Tier 47 fighter to attack him without warning, and he immediately launched a soul attack at Dopey.

His attack might not be powerful enough to injure someone at Tier 47, but it should still leave them dazed for an instant. That would give him enough time to dodge.

Unfortunately, he had overlooked one thing.

Dopey was a soulless thrall.

Soul attacks were completely useless against him.

Worse, the time the Soulkin spent attacking cost him his best chance to evade.

Thud!

Dopey’s energy hand smashed him apart, killing him instantly.

The Outland Beast that had been fighting the Soulkin froze before turning to Dopey with gratitude.

”Thanks, brother.”

Dopey ignored it. Under Ethan’s command, he immediately charged the Tier 47 fighter.

The Outland Beast collected the Soulkin’s remains and swallowed them, then went to intercept the two Tier 46 fighters Dopey had abandoned.

Both were already critically wounded. Holding them off for a while wouldn’t be a problem.

With his greatest threat eliminated, Ethan finally relaxed and returned to picking off distracted enemies.

His eye abilities only needed to lock an enemy down for an instant. Once Annihilation Strike followed, the fight was usually over.

Every corpse he left behind went straight to the Outland Beasts.

This time, Ethan treated them much better.

The memory of them desperately protecting him in the previous timeline was still fresh in his mind. Looking at them now, Ethan felt a strange sense of closeness.

Then he finally spotted a Tier 43 Blackback Gorilla among the Outland Beasts.

A relieved smile appeared on Ethan’s face.

This was the Gorilla that had died protecting him in the previous timeline.

Without it, Ethan would have died before he even had the chance to use Temporal Rewind.

He teleported behind the Gorilla’s opponent, used Silencing Gaze and Soulbane Gaze to lock the fighter down for a split second, then killed him with Annihilation Strike.

Just like last time, the Gorilla caught the corpse and swallowed it whole. It then approached Ethan with a cheerful expression.

”Thanks, brother!”

Ethan smiled and replied seriously, ”You don’t need to thank me. I’m the one who should be thanking you.”

”?”

The Gorilla scratched its head.

”For what?”

”No particular reason. I just like you.” Ethan smiled. ”I’ll give you special treatment later and kill a few more enemies for you to eat.”

”Really?” The Gorilla’s face lit up.

”Of course. Fight hard and keep yourself alive. I’ll come find you again later.”

”You got it! Thanks, brother!”

Ethan smiled and flew toward another battlefield.

The Gorilla watched him leave and scratched its head again.

”What a nice guy. No wonder the Beast Sovereign told us to protect him.”

With Ethan involved, the battle quickly became one-sided.

Every time he attacked, a Stage SSS fighter died. Before long, all the Outland Beasts were looking at him with open admiration.

And because Ethan gave every corpse to them, their attitude toward him couldn’t have been friendlier.

The intelligent races’ defeat became inevitable once Dopey and the Dire Bear joined forces and killed their only free Tier 47 fighter.

With two Tier 47 combatants now available to intervene elsewhere, the intelligent fighters had no chance.

Stage SSS battles were difficult to decide only when both sides were evenly matched.

Once that balance disappeared, victory and death could arrive within moments.

Against anyone below Tier 44, for example, Dopey could usually kill them with a single punch.

His strength was on the same level as the four great Patriarchs—slightly above an ordinary Tier 47, though still below the Beast Sovereign.

Their tiers were roughly the same. The true difference in combat strength came from the abilities each of them possessed.

Dopey’s abilities were no weaker than those of the four great Patriarchs. Ethan still hadn’t properly studied them. Once he had time, he would have to examine exactly what Dopey could do.

As more Stage SSS fighters fell, the survivors finally panicked.

Before long, the remaining intelligent fighters scattered and fled.

Their defeat was already certain. Continuing to fight would only get them killed.

Naturally, the Outland Beasts had no intention of letting them escape.

Two days ago, they had been the ones getting hunted.

Now the tables had turned.

On the Beast Sovereign’s battlefield, the two Patriarchs and the two Tier 47 fighters they had brought in were also being suppressed.

The two additional Tier 47s were the main problem.

They didn’t possess the Stoneborn Patriarch’s defenses or the Thundari Patriarch’s offensive power, leaving all four of them in an increasingly difficult fight.

When they saw the other Stage SSS battlefields collapse, their expressions darkened completely.

”Retreat!” the Celestials Patriarch ordered.

The four of them immediately fled.

”Hmph. You think you can escape?”

The Beast Sovereign gave chase without hesitation.

”Split up!” the Celestials Patriarch shouted.

There was no chance all four could escape together. At this point, they could only scatter and trust their luck.

They fled in four separate directions.

The Beast Sovereign frowned, then immediately chose to pursue the Soulkin Patriarch.

This was the bastard who had nearly killed it last time.

The Beast Sovereign had to kill him.

As for the others, they could flee for now, but they couldn’t take their entire races with them.

The Beast Sovereign would find them sooner or later.