Something clicked in Ethanâs head.
He didnât hesitate. Riding Peregrine Falcon Flint, he shot straight toward the battlefield.
By now, the fighting had hit full boil.
The zombies had already broken through the blockade and surged onto the bank, colliding with the Enhanced in a vicious, grinding melee.
There were just too many of themâand Tier 6 and Tier 7 zombies outnumbered the humans by a ridiculous margin. For a while, the defenders were getting pushed back step by step.
But humans still had one edge:
They had more top-tier power.
Forget the Fallen Star Squad and the mutant beasts theyâd broughtâClearford City alone had more than thirty Tier 9 Enhanced. That was something the zombies couldnât match.
The horde was huge, but there were only a little over ten Tier 9 zombies mixed in. No Tier 10 had shown itself yet... aside from the likely exception: the Zombie King.
Those top-tier fighters were the only reason the line hadnât completely collapsed. They slowed the rout to something the rest could barely keep up with.
And the eight white-furred apes were just monsters.
They drove deep into the horde, fists smashing down. Wherever they hit, zombies exploded into blood mist. Teeth and claws couldnât even scratch them. If the Zombie King hadnât been using mental control to keep the horde from breaking, the zombies probably wouldâve turned and run.
Chris and the others fought like unstoppable forces, carving open lanes through the sea of bodies.
Their presence kept morale from snapping.
Even against overwhelming numbers, the Enhanced refused to fold.
Still... there just werenât enough top-tier fighters to change the bigger picture.
The gap in Tier 6 and Tier 7 numbers was a canyon you couldnât jump. The humans were still getting butchered.
Enhanced were tackled, dragged down, torn apartâone after anotherâuntil the battlefield looked like itâd been painted red.
Ethan watched it for a second and felt a strange heaviness settle in his chest.
This
was what real war looked like.
Honestly, from the day the apocalypse started to now, theyâd been lucky to make it this far.
And the biggest reason was simple: their strength had always stayed ahead of the zombies. If it hadnât, they wouldâve died a long time ago.
Ethan didnât rush in to help.
One person couldnât flip a war of this scale.
Instead, he focused on what matteredâhe swept the horde with
[True Sight]
, forcing himself to check every zombie carefully, not just the crystal cores in their heads.
Ten minutes later, one zombie finally snagged his attention.
It was a completely ordinary Tier 5 female zombie. Nothing special about her... except she was extremely fat.
But while the other Tier 5 zombies were throwing themselves into the meat grinder, this one was wandering aimlessly in the rear.
And the zombies around herâlike they were doing it on purposeâkept her surrounded, half-hidden in the middle.
That movement made Ethanâs suspicion spike.
He narrowed
[True Sight]
and scanned her again.
When his vision passed over her belly, Ethan finally smiled.
"Found you."
Yeah.
The Zombie King was a babyâstill inside her stomach.
When Ethan looked for zombies, heâd always checked the crystal core in the head. He never bothered scanning their bodies.
Who the hell would?
A Zombie King that hadnât even been born yetâno wonder heâd missed it, again and again.
Ethan still didnât understand how a fetus had evolved into a Zombie King.
But he could guess it had something to do with the mother. Maybe sheâd been unusually gifted, and after turning, sheâd diverted most of the energy she absorbed into the baby. That would explain why she was still only Tier 5.
It made a sick kind of senseâmaternal instinct.
Even as a zombie, that instinct could still exist.
So the baby evolved inside the womb, became a Zombie King, awakened a talent ability, and ended up with intelligence that wasnât any lower than an adultâs.
And the fact it was still hiding in there?
Yeah. That just screamed "scheming little bastard."
"Youâve got to be kidding me," Ethan growled. "I got played by a baby that isnât even born yet."
He flashed forward with
Teleportation
, appearing right beside the female zombie. His poleaxe came down in a brutal arc.
Ethanâs sudden appearance startled the nearby zombies. They surged toward him, trying to protect herâ
âbut with Ethanâs strength, it was a joke. None of them could stop it.
The female zombie roared and tried to dodge. As a Tier 5, she didnât even have the speed to pretend.
The poleaxe split her cleanly in half.
And right then, a tiny figure shot out of her torn belly and hit the ground running.
It was small, naked, slick with gore and mucusâbig head, tiny limbs, proportions all wrong.
But its speed was terrifying.
As it sprinted forward, the zombies ahead of it immediately parted, opening a passage.
At the same time, the surrounding zombies went berserk, lunging at Ethan like maniacs.
And from all over the battlefield, the Tier 9 zombies reacted like theyâd received the same commandâ
âturning and rushing toward Ethan at full speed.
"Yeah. Sneaky as hell." Ethan let out a cold laugh. "But you think these zombies can hold me? Not happening."
He
Teleported
again, popping right beside the Zombie King. In one smooth motion, he reached down, grabbed the thing by the ankle, and yanked it up into the air.
The Zombie King was vicious for something that small. It snapped its mouth open and lunged for Ethanâs hand, trying to bite clean through him.
Smack.
Ethan backhanded it across the head and knocked it away from his fingers.
"Raaah...!"
The Zombie King roaredâtiny body, insanely loud voice.
At that roar, the zombies around them went even crazier, throwing themselves at Ethan like they didnât care if they died.
Ethan swept his poleaxe in a flat arc, mowing down the ones that reached him. Then, still holding the infant Zombie King, he sprang upward.
Peregrine Falcon Flint dove in at the perfect moment. Ethan landed on its back, and Flint shot straight up into the sky.
"ROOOAR! ROAR! ROAR!"
Below, the horde raged, howling up at the airâfurious and helpless.
On Flintâs back, the Zombie King thrashed violently, its oversized mouth constantly snapping, trying to tear into Ethan.
Every time it got closeâ
Smack.
Ethan slapped it back like he was swatting a rabid animal.
Then the Zombie Kingâs blood-red eyes locked onto him.
For an instant, Ethanâs head went fuzzy. His vision wobbledâlike dizziness crawling up from the base of his skull.
Smack.
Ethan slapped it again, harder.
"Donât even try that shit," he snapped. "Doesnât work on me."
He said it like it was nothing, but inside, his nerves were tight.
Heâd known the thing had a mental-type ability. Heâd been on guard the whole time. And heâd still almost gotten caught.
Mental abilities really were the worstâquiet, invisible, and disgusting.
If his strength and resistance were any lower, heâd have blacked out and fallen. No question.
"Alright," Ethan growled. "If you wonât behave, Iâll give you something you
will
understand."
He reached into his spatial storage ring and pulled out a war hammer.
Then he swung it down into the Zombie Kingâs head.
CRACKâ!
Half its skull caved in, wet and shattered.
"Now." Ethan leaned in, voice sharp. "Tell your zombies to retreat."
The battle had already started. Even if Ethan killed the Zombie King, it wouldnât instantly end the fighting.
Zombies only ran when they knew they were losing. If the Zombie King died while they still had the advantage, they wouldnât retreatâtheyâd go berserk.
That would make the situation even worse for Clearford.
So Ethan needed the order
first
.
Pain-based torture was useless. Zombies didnât feel it.
This came down to one thing: did the little bastard fear death?
The answer, apparently, was no.
Even with half its head smashed open, the infant Zombie King glared at Ethan with pure hatred, stubborn as a nail.
Ethanâs expression went flat.
"If you wonât cooperate, then Iâll just kill you."
He raised the war hammer again and brought it toward the remaining half of its headâno hesitation, no mercy in his eyes.