Apocalypse: King of Zombies

While the Eldoria Continent descended into chaos, Earth was hardly peaceful either.

Ethan and Fallen Star City had cleared all the Void Realm creatures from the Atlas Federation’s territory, but the lands beyond its borders were far more vast.

There were just as many Void Realm creatures out there. They simply hadn’t come because of the distance.

However, after many survivors fled the Atlas Federation, word of the humans’ terrifying strength spread far and wide.

Most Void Realm creatures were frightened enough to avoid the Atlas Federation altogether. But the news also drew the interest of several powerful races.

Only a few days after Ethan’s group left, another large influx of Void Realm creatures entered the Atlas Federation.

Fortunately, its major compounds were no longer helpless. Every compound now had Stage S fighters stationed there, along with quite a few Stage S thralls.

That gave them the strength to fight back against the powerful newcomers.

But as more and more Void Realm creatures poured into their territory, the compounds gradually began to buckle under the pressure.

Fallen Star City was the exception.

Plenty of Void Realm creatures had attacked the city recently, but every attempt ended the same way. Some died, some fled, and some were turned into thralls.

Fallen Star City stood like an unshakable fortress.

Even with Ethan and the others gone, the city still possessed enough power to terrify anyone who challenged it.

Unfortunately, Fallen Star City’s strength alone wasn’t enough. The other compounds couldn’t reach its level overnight.

At that moment, Miles was on the phone with Maxwell.

"What? A complete merger?!" Maxwell’s shocked voice came through the phone.

"Exactly. There are only a little over ten million people left in the entire Atlas Federation. There’s no reason to maintain so many separate compounds. We should consolidate everyone into one."

"But setting aside how difficult that would be, housing more than ten million people in a single compound would create a massive resource problem," Maxwell said worriedly. "And if an overwhelmingly powerful enemy attacks, we could all be wiped out at once."

"General Kane, do you really think you could escape from an enemy even Fallen Star City couldn’t stop?"

"Of course not. What I mean is that if an enemy that powerful appears, the other compounds could buy Fallen Star City some time to prepare."

"If we merge, every Void Realm creature will eventually converge on a single compound. The pressure on you will be enormous," Maxwell said gravely.

"That’s fine. We’ll have to face them sooner or later. Besides, I’m working on a ritual circle that becomes more effective the more people we have."

"Well..."

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yes."

"All right. If you’ve made up your mind, we’ll do it."

"Where will the new compound be?" Maxwell asked.

"Atlas City. The satellite control systems and other equipment would be too difficult to relocate, and they’re essential to us. Your facilities are already fairly complete as well. We’ll only need to expand them."

Fallen Star City was out of the question.

It was too close to the spatial passage leading to the Eldoria Continent. If the dimensional rift opened again, Fallen Star City would be the first target of an Eldorian attack.

By now, it was clear that the Eldoria Continent and humanity were mortal enemies. They needed to keep some distance from the passage.

"All right. I’ll notify the others."

"Good. Do we need to discuss who’ll be in charge after the merger?"

"Discuss my ass. What’s there to discuss? Fallen Star City will lead, obviously. No one will object."

"Good. I’ll leave the arrangements to you, General Kane."

After ending the call, Miles sank into thought.

There were two reasons he had chosen to merge the compounds.

First, he didn’t want to see the people of the Atlas Federation enslaved or slaughtered again.

The major compounds had grown much stronger, but every new group of Void Realm creatures that arrived in the past few days had been powerful.

They could handle one or two groups. If too many came at once, they would eventually be overwhelmed.

Miles didn’t have Riftwalk, so he couldn’t reach every compound in time to reinforce them. That was why he had decided to consolidate them.

Once all their forces were gathered in one place and backed by Fallen Star City’s fighters, none of the Void Realm creatures currently appearing would pose a serious threat.

Fallen Star City might conduct itself aggressively, but both Ethan and Miles genuinely cared about the Atlas Federation.

The second reason was even more important.

For days, Miles had been racking his brain for a way to improve the warding circle.

Today, he had finally come up with a promising solution: replace crystal cores with human power.

If he covered the entire city in ritual circles and established energy transfer points throughout it, every resident could channel energy into the warding circle.

Its defensive strength would no longer have a fixed limit. The more people who contributed, the stronger it would become.

That idea was what had first inspired Miles to merge the compounds.

Once everyone in the Atlas Federation had been consolidated, the new city would hold over ten million people.

Miles could hardly imagine how powerful the warding circle would become if all ten million channeled their energy into it at once.

Whatever the result, it would be far stronger than before.

A confident smile appeared on his face.

"Blake!" he called toward the door.

"I’m here, Deputy Commander!"

Tyler hurried into the room.

"Notify everyone else. Pack up everything. We’re moving."

"Moving?" Tyler stared at him blankly. "Deputy Commander, did some powerful Void Realm creatures appear that we can’t handle?"

"No. I’m merging the major compounds and moving everyone to Atlas City. We need to go there first, then send people back to help the other compounds relocate."

"Stop asking questions and get it done. Dismantle the best facilities in the compound so we can take them with us."

"Understood."

Tyler nodded and hurried off to make the arrangements.

Miles left the room and headed for the training complex. Once there, he shut down the Celestial Stairway’s ritual circle, removed its runic disk, and stored it in the pocket dimension.

The Celestial Stairway no longer provided as dramatic an improvement as it once had, but its ability to increase someone’s cultivation talent was extraordinary on its own.

The reason its effects had become less noticeable was simple: the amount of energy it returned was fixed.

When Ethan had climbed all ninety-nine steps, he had advanced from Tier 12 to Tier 16, gaining four full Tiers. That was the Celestial Stairway’s maximum energy return.

Now that the others were between Tier 20 and Tier 30, the same amount of energy wasn’t enough to raise them by even one Tier. Naturally, the results seemed far less impressive.

That meant there was no benefit to waiting before attempting the climb. If anything, the sooner someone climbed it, the better. They would get to enjoy the benefits of their improved talent earlier.

Every member of the Fallen Star Corps had already climbed the Celestial Stairway, as had many other fighters from Fallen Star City.

Only Miles could dismantle it, so he had to handle the job personally.

After removing the Celestial Stairway’s runic disk, he began dismantling several other runic disks hidden throughout the facility.

Each one represented the results of his hard work. He wasn’t leaving any of them behind.

Meanwhile, at the Atlas City compound, Maxwell called a meeting of the compound’s senior leadership as soon as he ended the call.

A decision this significant still required careful planning, especially when it came to the migration routes. They needed to map out a safe route for every compound.

Fallen Star City might have cleared the Atlas Federation’s territory once, but many new Void Realm creatures had arrived since then. Those creatures could cause serious trouble for the migrating compounds.

They needed to plan routes that avoided as many of those threats as possible.

Then there was the expansion of Atlas City itself.

Construction would have to continue around the clock. At the very least, they needed somewhere for the people from the other compounds to live once they arrived.