Apocalypse: King of Zombies

Chapter 1316 - 1316: That Was Too Close

On the main battlefield, all those endless control skills did affect Dopey.Just… barely.

They couldn't stop him. They could only slow down how quickly they died.

In the face of absolute strength, every trick looked cheap. No matter what they threw at him—swamps, gravity, sandstorms, stone prisons—Dopey smashed through it all with raw force. Their skills bought seconds at best.

By now, out of more than twenty Stoneborn, only six were left.

The rest had been hammered to death.

The Stoneborn leader's expression was downright ugly.

He'd come here thinking this was some low-tier world.

And—no, it was a low-tier world.

The mutated humans, the mutant beasts, even these humans themselves… everything screamed "weak ecosystem."

So how the hell had a freak like that soulless thrall popped out of nowhere?

It made no sense.

He watched another companion die under Dopey's fist. Then his eyes flicked toward the edge of the fight—Gravel and Boulder were still screwing around, somehow still not done killing that Tier 19 trash.

The leader's face twisted a few times… and finally, he forced out a single, unwilling word.

"Run!"

He turned and bolted immediately.

The remaining Stoneborn looked like they'd been granted a pardon. They scattered in every direction without hesitation.

Dopey started to pursue—

Then, as if he'd received a new order, he abruptly changed course and shot toward Ethan's position instead.

Meanwhile, Gravel and Boulder were still locked onto Ethan, chasing him like wolves.

They understood spatial teleportation burned mental energy fast. There was no way Ethan could keep it up forever—especially after losing a foot and bleeding nonstop.

So they stuck to him, confident that sooner or later he'd collapse.

And they were right.

Ethan was in awful shape.

His mental energy was nearly empty. Even though he kept swallowing Tier 18 crystal cores, the recovery couldn't keep up with the rate he was spending it.

Physically, he was worse. He hadn't had a second to treat the stump—blood just kept pouring out.

His face had gone paper-white. Dizziness rolled through his skull in waves, making every teleport feel like dragging his mind through mud.

Behind him came Gravel's arrogant laughter.

"Haha—let's see how long you can keep running."

Ethan didn't even have the energy to talk back. He just clenched his jaw and forced himself onward.

Then—

A fast-moving figure cut into his vision, streaking toward him like a red-hot comet.

Ethan finally let out the breath he'd been holding.

The next second, his eyes rolled back, and his body dropped straight down.

"Hah! Still running? I'll show you—"

Gravel and Boulder shot after him instantly. An earth spike snapped up, stabbing straight for Ethan's falling body.

Bang!

The spike shattered like it had hit an iron wall.

Dopey appeared in front of Ethan in a blur and caught him one-handed, lifting him off the fall like he weighed nothing.

Gravel and Boulder took one look at Dopey and went pale.

Then they turned and ran—fast.

Dopey didn't chase.

He just stood there, blank and still, holding Ethan in one hand.

His order was to protect his master. Nothing else.

A moment later, Fallen Star Squad finally caught up.

"Ethan!"

"Captain!"

"Captain!"

They rushed in—then froze.

Ethan hung from Dopey's grip, face drained of all color… and missing a foot.

It was the worst they'd ever seen him. Not even close.

They tried to move closer, but Dopey's cold gaze swept over them.

Everyone stopped instinctively, like they'd walked up to the edge of a cliff.

Dopey only listened to Ethan. In its eyes, there was no such thing as "familiar faces."

Right now it was clearly in protection mode. If they rushed in, there was a very real chance they'd catch a fist.

"What do we do?" Big Mike looked like he was about to explode. "If this keeps up, the captain's going to die!"

The others were just as frantic, but nobody dared gamble. Dopey's punches weren't something you "tested."

For the first time, they all had the same ugly thought:

Sometimes having Dopey be too terrifying wasn't a good thing.

And then—right when they were stuck—

Dopey suddenly tossed Ethan toward them.

"…"

They scrambled and caught him, staring at Dopey like their brains had short-circuited.

"Uh… what the hell was that?"

Dopey just stood there, blankly watching them.

"Don't overthink it!" Mia snapped, voice tight with panic. "Save him!"

"Oh—right!"

Henry moved first, immediately treating Ethan's missing foot. Emily latched on with Energy Link, pumping mental energy and stamina back into him.

With those two working together, it was basically a tug-of-war with the grim reaper.

A short while later, Ethan's foot regenerated.

His mental energy and stamina surged back to full almost as fast.

But he'd lost too much blood—his face stayed pale as paper.

After what felt like forever, Ethan finally opened his eyes.

"Ethan—you're awake!" Relief crashed through the group all at once.

"Guess I made it," Ethan said hoarsely.

This had been the closest he'd ever come to dying. By far.

Stage A powerhouses were just… insane.

"Ethan," Mia said, eyes red, staring at him like she wanted to shake him. "Don't do something that reckless again, okay?"

Ethan gave an awkward cough. "Yeah. No next time. I underestimated what a Stage A fighter can do."

He'd thought teleportation meant they couldn't touch him.

Turns out they could move way faster than he'd expected.

And the whole burrowing-into-the-ground thing? That had completely blindsided him.

"This time… we really owe Dopey," Ethan admitted, still rattled.

Big Mike looked like he'd been holding in a question so long it physically hurt. "Speaking of Dopey—when it saw us, it suddenly threw you to us. Isn't it supposed to be mindless and only follow your orders? Did it… develop intelligence? Like it recognizes its own people now?"

"No way." Ethan rolled his eyes. "I already had it memorize your auras. Before I passed out, I told it to hand me to you—and not to hit you."

He paused, then added dryly, "Because with how reckless you idiots are, you wouldn't have enough lives for it to punch through."

"…Okay, yeah. That's fair," someone muttered, embarrassed.

A second ago they'd seriously thought Dopey had gained intelligence. The idea alone had given them chills.

Ethan chuckled, then stored Dopey back into his spatial storage ring.

With Mia supporting him, he pushed himself upright.

He'd bled out hard. Even if his stamina was back, he knew he'd be weak for a few days.

When they returned to the battlefield, Ethan collected the Stoneborn corpses Dopey had left behind, storing them one by one.

To mutant beasts, this stuff was basically a super-supplement. One bite and they'd probably break through on the spot.

"Seventeen bodies," Ethan said quietly, eyes narrowing. "Eight escaped."

He pulled out his satellite phone and called Maxwell.

The call connected immediately.

"Ethan!" Maxwell's voice came through, tense and urgent. "Are you okay?"

"We're fine," Ethan said. "I'll need a couple days to recover, but I'm not dead."

He got straight to the point. "A few of the Void Realm creatures got away. Are you tracking them on your end?"

"We are. We've been tracking them the whole time."

"Good." Ethan's tone turned cold. "Keep eyes on them constantly. The moment I'm back to full, I'm hunting them down and finishing this."

"Don't worry," Maxwell said. "Unless they go back into a Void Realm, they won't shake the satellites. You focus on recovering."

"Alright."

Ethan hung up, then mounted back up with the others and headed toward Fallen Star City.

This fight…

Yeah. He'd gotten wrecked.