Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Nearly half an hour later, Ethan and the Dread-Eyed Lion suddenly reappeared on the battlefield.

Every eye turned toward them.

The humans lit up with relief, while the Voltari’s faces darkened.

Only Ethan and the beast had returned. Their companion was nowhere to be seen. The outcome was obvious.

The Voltari fighters were both stunned and furious.

”You killed one of us! I’ll tear you apart!”

Several of them tried to rush Ethan at once, but their opponents immediately blocked their path.

”Hahaha! That’s how it’s done, Ethan!” the Beast Sovereign shouted.

”Our benefactor is incredible!” the other beasts called out.

They had some idea of what Ethan was capable of. Back on the Eldoria Continent, he’d constantly ambushed enemies above his own Tier, and his attacks almost always succeeded. He had personally killed quite a few Stage SSS members of the other races.

So they weren’t particularly surprised that he’d managed to kill a Tier 46 Voltari.

Abyron, Theron, and the marked woman were another story. All three stared at him in shock. None of them had expected Ethan to be capable of killing a Tier 46.

”You killed one of us! I’ll kill you!”

Two Tier 46 Voltari suddenly broke away from the fighting and charged Ethan.

The other Stage SSS fighters had been held back by their opponents, but the marked woman had clearly failed to contain all five of hers. Two had slipped past her.

Ethan seemed to have expected this. He calmly teleported out of their path, then called to the marked woman, ”I can only hold one. Stop the other, and I guarantee you’ll walk away safely when this battle is over!”

With that, Ethan pulled one of the Tier 46 Voltari and the Dread-Eyed Lion into the Deadlock Dimension.

The remaining Voltari’s face sank as Ethan disappeared again. He spotted the Deadlock Dimension’s spatial node and attacked without hesitation.

The marked woman rushed over and blocked the strike.

Ethan’s promise had lifted a weight from her shoulders.

Until now, she hadn’t known what to do. No matter which side won this battle, things were unlikely to end well for her.

But Ethan had given her a way out.

Now that she had a chance to survive, she naturally wanted the humans to win. She didn’t hesitate to stop the Voltari’s attack.

”Get out of my way!” he roared.

The marked woman said nothing. She waved a hand, sending a cluster of breathtaking flowers drifting toward him.

His expression darkened. He hurriedly unleashed bolt after bolt of lightning, destroying the flowers one by one.

They might have been beautiful, but every last one of them was deadly.

The other three Tier 46 Voltari soon arrived and joined the attack.

The marked woman remained unfazed. With another opponent gone, she no longer feared the remaining four.

She spread her hands, and countless petals swept toward them.

The battle erupted once more, but this time, the advantage belonged to her.

Inside the Deadlock Dimension, Ethan repeated the same strategy.

Two full-powered Annihilation Strikes were all it took to finish off the second Voltari.

Ethan’s fighting style was simple and brutal. He didn’t have a bunch of flashy abilities, but what he did have worked every time.

If he could kill one opponent, he could kill another.

Even knowing how his attacks worked wouldn’t help. There was simply no way to counter his abilities.

The Dread-Eyed Lion eagerly trotted over and swallowed the corpse whole, then let out a satisfied belch.

”You’ve already eaten two of them. Can you even digest that much?” Ethan asked.

”That’s where you’re wrong. Eating corpses doesn’t increase our strength as quickly as crystal cores do for you, but beasts have an advantage. No matter how much we eat, we can store the energy in our bodies and absorb it over time.”

”All right.” Ethan nodded.

For now, the Dread-Eyed Lion really was the best choice for these corpses.

The three Tier 47 Outland Beasts had no need for Tier 46 bodies. They could consume Tier 47 corpses instead. As for the other beasts under Ethan’s command, only the Glacial Bear had reached Stage SS. The rest hadn’t even broken through yet, so feeding them Stage SSS corpses clearly wasn’t appropriate.

Giving the bodies to the Dread-Eyed Lion made the most sense. Increasing its strength would give Ethan another powerful asset.

”You’ve eaten two Tier 46 corpses now. When are you finally going to break through?” Ethan asked.

”Soon. I’ve been at this Stage for a long time already. I should break through within the next couple of days,” the Dread-Eyed Lion replied confidently.

”Look at you, sounding all proud. You’re the weakest Stage SSS fighter here. If you were as strong as the other Outland Beasts, I wouldn’t have had such a hard time.”

The Dread-Eyed Lion stared at him.

How was this suddenly its fault?

It opened its mouth to argue, but after struggling for a long moment, it decided not to say anything.

He gave me two Tier 46 corpses. I’m not going to get mad at him.

Neither of them spoke again. They quietly focused on recovering their mental energy.

Another half hour passed before they had almost completely recovered.

Ethan dismissed the Deadlock Dimension again.

The moment he emerged, he saw the marked woman standing between him and four Voltari fighters, holding them all off by herself.

He nodded to himself. Maybe he really should spare her.

With the right mix of threats and incentives, he might even be able to turn her into a powerful asset for The Atlas Federation.

When Ethan and the Dread-Eyed Lion reappeared without yet another of their companions, the Voltari fighters’ faces changed.

”You—”

Before any of them could finish, Ethan dragged another Voltari into the Deadlock Dimension.

Now the Voltari finally began to panic.

At this rate, he was going to pick them off one by one.

The Voltari Patriarch’s face turned grim.

He had brought only his race’s strongest fighters into this world because he’d been confident their power would be enough to crush any opposition.

His original plan had been to carve out a territory first, then bring the rest of the Voltari over.

Instead, they had suffered a crushing setback in their very first battle.

The Voltari Patriarch had ruled uncontested in his own world for years. He found this outcome impossible to accept.

But whether he accepted it or not, the facts wouldn’t change. If they kept fighting, they would lose.

The Voltari Patriarch glared at Theron.

”I’ll remember this. One day, I’ll wipe every last one of you from existence!”

He shouted to the other Voltari, ”Retreat!”

Then he turned and fled into the distance.

”You think you can come and go as you please?” Theron snorted.

He flashed forward and blocked the Voltari Patriarch’s path.

”You truly intend to fight us to the death?” the Voltari Patriarch demanded.

”We’re already enemies. I can’t allow you to leave,” Theron said quietly.

He had thought about many things over the past few days. Perhaps that man’s methods really were too ruthless, but sometimes there was no other choice.

This was one of those times.

If Theron let the Voltari Patriarch escape, he might return with even more powerful allies. When that happened, humanity would be in danger all over again.

No matter what, Theron couldn’t let him get away.