Apocalypse: King of Zombies

In an abandoned city somewhere in Miststone State, a Stage SSS Beast was leading an army of Outland Beasts in a sweep against the Void Realm races in the area.

Countless creatures fled for their lives amid screams and curses.

None of them had expected this new world to be so dangerous. If they had known, they never would have entered out of curiosity.

Now Outland Beasts surrounded them on every side. Even retreating to their own worlds was no longer an option.

”There sure are a lot of outsiders around here.” A massive black-and-white Piebald Tiger licked the blood from its lips, savoring the taste.

In its original world, the other races had gone extinct long ago. Beasts were all that remained. It had never imagined this new world would have so many different races.

The sight of so much prey had thrilled it, and after getting its first taste, it had become obsessed.

Ever since entering this world, it had done nothing but hunt outsiders.

”They’re all so weak, though.” The Piebald Tiger shook its head.

The moment it finished speaking, a rift opened in the air nearby, and two figures emerged.

Ethan surveyed the area, checked the location on his phone, and nodded.

”Yep. This is the place.”

The Piebald Tiger immediately became wary.

Its keen instincts warned it that these two were dangerous.

Internally, it was already cursing itself.

I should’ve kept my mouth shut. I call the outsiders weak, and two monsters immediately show up? Seriously?

Ethan’s gaze settled on the Piebald Tiger.

”Oh, it’s Tier 43. Not bad. Once I absorb this crystal core, I should reach Tier 43 myself.”

”You—”

Before the Piebald Tiger could finish, Ethan dragged it into the Deadlock Dimension.

It hadn’t even gotten a clear look at its new surroundings when Ethan’s Poleaxe came down.

The tiger tried to fight back, but Ethan gave it no chance. Light flashed in his eyes as he activated Soulbane Gaze. The instant the Piebald Tiger froze, he swung the Poleaxe and crushed its skull in a single blow.

He removed its crystal core with practiced ease, then stored the corpse in his spatial storage ring.

Abyron watched him dispatch a Tier 43 Outland Beast so cleanly and shook his head with a wry smile.

He had seen Ethan fight plenty of times by now, but the sight never stopped astonishing him.

That Outland Beast had been one Tier above Ethan, yet he had killed it as easily as crushing an ant.

If Ethan reached Tier 47, wouldn’t he be invincible within Stage SSS?

No. At this rate, Tier 46 would probably be enough.

The thought made Abyron’s heart tremble.

If that was true, then all they had to do was help Ethan grow stronger, and this disaster might solve itself.

He was the key to freeing humanity from its fate.

Abyron stared at Ethan, his eyes burning with excitement.

”What are you doing?” Ethan pulled his clothes tighter and gave him a wary look.

Why was this guy staring at him like that? He didn’t have some kind of weird fetish, did he?

Abyron looked him straight in the eye.

”From now on, you’re my boss.”

”Haven’t I always been your boss?” Ethan rolled his eyes.

”Yeah.” Abyron nodded firmly.

Only he knew that calling Ethan his boss now meant something entirely different than it had before.

”All right, let’s get out of here. Those Pyrathi might catch up soon.”

”Tracking marks don’t work inside special dimensions,” Abyron said, puzzled. ”Why not absorb the crystal core here and increase your Tier?”

”You think I don’t want to? I have to actively maintain the Deadlock Dimension. I can’t split my attention while absorbing a crystal core, so the dimension would collapse.” Ethan sighed.

That limitation had been bothering him for a long time. If he could absorb crystal cores inside the Deadlock Dimension, he would have started doing it ages ago.

”All right, but even if you can’t absorb it, we could hide here for a few days. They’d never find us.”

”Wouldn’t that be a complete waste of time? Every minute matters right now. I’m not letting them mess up my plans. Do you have any idea how many crystal cores I could collect in three days?”

Ethan rolled his eyes.

”If they want to chase us, let them.” A grin tugged at his lips as a plan began to take shape. ”They’ll regret it soon enough.”

Ethan dismissed the Deadlock Dimension, and the two of them reappeared in the sky.

Below, the Outland Beast army was still locked in battle with the Void Realm races.

When the outsiders saw Ethan and Abyron return without the terrifying Piebald Tiger, hope lit up their faces.

”My lords, save us!”

Large numbers of them called out to the pair overhead.

Ethan didn’t even look at them. As far as he was concerned, they were all invaders. If he weren’t pressed for time, he would have slaughtered them even more ruthlessly than the Outland Beasts were.

His gaze swept across the horde and quickly picked out more than a dozen Stage SS Outland Beasts.

He appeared among them in an instant.

Daggers materialized around him and shot toward the Stage SS Beasts.

Shk! Shk! Shk!

The blades punched through one skull after another. Each dagger churned once inside its target, tearing out the crystal core before carrying it straight into Ethan’s hand.

”Now this is how you collect crystal cores quickly.” Ethan smiled and turned to Abyron. ”Let’s go.”

He brought Abyron high into the sky, opened another Riftwalk, and entered it.

Elsewhere, a group of Pyrathi fighters was flying toward Miststone State at top speed.

The people at the front suddenly stopped.

”They’ve changed locations,” a young man reported.

”I noticed. They seem to be closer this time. Keep going,” the High Elder ordered.

”High Elder, what’s the point of chasing them like this?” one Pyrathi fighter asked with a frown. ”There should be other Tier 44 crystal cores out there. We don’t need to waste our time on these two.”

”You don’t understand. The crystal core is only part of it. What I really want is those two. If we can capture them and take them back for study, we might uncover the secrets of spatial-type abilities.”

”Of course. High Elder, your wisdom is unmatched.”

”Enough flattery. Keep moving!”

”Yes!”

Meanwhile, Ethan and Abyron arrived near the former Goldcrest City.

Abyron looked at the ruined city ahead in confusion.

”Aren’t we supposed to be hunting Outland Beasts? What are we doing here?”

”They can wait. First, let’s stir up some trouble.” Ethan smiled.

”You have to nip a threat in the bud.”