Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Boom!

The two Tier 47 fighters collided, and the resulting shockwave forced both groups backward.

They exchanged a glance, then shot high into the sky and continued their battle.

The enemy’s other two Stage SSS fighters turned toward Ethan and slowly moved to surround him.

”What, you two want a fight too?” Ethan asked with a cold smile.

”We’ll capture you first, then deal with him.”

Neither hesitated. They lunged straight at Ethan.

”You think I’m the easy target?” Ethan smiled. ”Sorry, but you picked the wrong guy.”

He immediately dragged both of them into the Deadlock Dimension.

”???”

The Light-type fighters stared at the spot where the three of them had vanished.

They soon noticed the distortion in space and realized the three had entered some kind of special dimension. That put them at ease. Their elders outnumbered Ethan two to one and were both stronger than him. What was there to worry about?

They had no idea their strongest fighters were getting slaughtered inside the Deadlock Dimension.

Ethan had already killed plenty of Tier 46 fighters. Against a Tier 43 and a Tier 44, this barely qualified as a fight.

The instant they entered, Ethan activated Absolute Stasis without a word. One Annihilation Strike later, the Tier 44 fighter was dead.

The Tier 43 fighter stood frozen in terror.

Ethan took the opportunity to consume several crystal cores, restoring a small amount of mental energy. Then he activated Nullspace Domain, raised his poleaxe, and killed the man with a single blow.

After storing both corpses, Ethan dismissed the Deadlock Dimension.

When he emerged alone, the Light-type fighters stared at him in disbelief.

”Where are the two elders?”

”Dead,” Ethan replied.

Daggers appeared and shot toward the enemy’s Stage SS fighters.

Their faces changed, and they fled in every direction. It didn’t help. The daggers pursued them as if they had minds of their own, catching up in an instant and driving into their bodies.

High above, the Tier 47 fighter battling Abyron saw what happened. His expression changed drastically.

”You’re dead!”

He tried to break away and charge at Ethan, but Abyron was faster. He flashed in front of the man and blocked his path.

”I’m your opponent,” Abyron said coldly.

”You...” The man’s face darkened.

”Then I’ll kill you first!”

He went berserk, bombarding Abyron with attack after attack.

Unfortunately for him, Abyron was every bit as strong. Even after losing control completely, he couldn’t force Abyron back.

”Can you kill him or not?” Ethan suddenly called out.

”It won’t be easy. He’s strong,” Abyron answered helplessly. ”At this rate, we could fight for days without settling it.”

”That’s pathetic. You’re the same Tier, and you still need that long? Look at me. I fought two people stronger than me at once and finished them off in a few minutes.”

”...”

”You’re the boss. I can’t compare myself to you,” Abyron said seriously.

The battle at the city gates had left him completely convinced that Ethan deserved to be his leader.

Ethan had been only Tier 42, yet he had killed five Tier 46 fighters in a row.

Abyron had never witnessed anything like it. He had never even heard of such a feat.

Primora had once been home to countless great warriors, with geniuses everywhere. Fighting above one’s Tier was hardly unheard of, but Abyron had never known anyone capable of overcoming a gap of three full Tiers—especially at Stage SSS, where the difference between each Tier was enormous.

Even someone like Abyron, who rarely cursed, couldn’t help thinking the same thing.

What a damn monster.

And he wasn’t alone. Everyone who had participated in that battle, including Dahlia and Theron, had been shaken by what they saw.

”Keep him busy. I’m going to get reinforcements.”

Ethan descended into the crowd of Aurelians and Azure Nereids. After asking their fighters to guard him, he opened a Riftwalk and stepped through.

He didn’t want to cause any unnecessary trouble right now, but since they had already run into this group, he wasn’t about to let them go.

Once you offended a Tier 47 fighter, you had to kill them. Otherwise, you’d never sleep easy again.

If Abyron couldn’t finish the job anytime soon, Ethan would bring in more people and end it quickly.

Back in New Atlas, Ethan headed straight for Theron’s room.

Theron sat cross-legged on his bed, deep in meditation.

He had been the same way back in the Cathay Republic, meditating in his room every day and almost never going outside.

No wonder he was so strong. The man worked hard and never wasted a moment.

”Theron, let’s go. There’s a fight!” Ethan got straight to the point as soon as he entered.

”I sense no powerful intruders in this city.” Theron remained completely calm.

”It’s not here. It’s somewhere else.”

”No.”

Theron rejected him without hesitation.

He had stayed behind solely to protect this human city. He had no interest in getting involved in anything else.

Ethan had expected that answer.

He sighed.

”All right, then. It’s a shame. We finally found one of the people responsible for exterminating an entire human population, but we can’t beat him. I guess we’ll have to let him get away.”

Shaking his head, Ethan walked out of the room.

He had barely stepped through the door when Theron landed in front of him.

”What do you mean, someone responsible for exterminating humans?” Theron demanded, staring intently at him.

”A lot of humans ended up stranded in their world, and those people wiped them all out. Who knows? Some of them might have been your relatives. You’re half human, after all.” Ethan shook his head again. ”Unfortunately, their leader is Tier 47. Even Abyron can’t handle him, so it looks like we’ll have to give up.”

”Take me there!” Theron’s expression turned deadly serious. ”But if you’re lying to me, I will punish you.”

”Now that’s more like it. Don’t worry. Under normal circumstances, I generally don’t lie.” Ethan patted his chest.

”Hold on. I’ll get one more person. We need to finish this fast.”

He ran toward Dahlia’s residence.

Dahlia had far less going on. She was tending flowers in her courtyard.

She seemed to possess some ability that could make flowers bloom. The plants in the courtyard hadn’t been flowering before, but now the entire place was covered in blossoms.

Dahlia appeared to love flowers. She was dancing gracefully among them when Ethan burst in.

”Abyron’s getting beaten up. Want to help him?”

”!!!”

The blissful look on Dahlia’s face vanished. In a flash, she appeared directly in front of Ethan.

”Where is he? Take me there, now!”

”You got it.”

A smile tugged at the corner of Ethan’s mouth.

A competent leader knew exactly what motivated each of his people.

It didn’t matter if they refused to follow orders. There was always a way to make them cooperate.

Ethan opened another Riftwalk and led them both inside.