Apocalypse: King of Zombies

The enormous arcane skyship descended slowly, forcing the fighters gathered below to hurry out of its way. Every one of them stared up at the vessel with open envy.

There wasn’t a race on the Eldoria Continent that didn’t dream of owning an arcane skyship.

With one of those, they could cross the vast continent at will. As long as they had enough crystal cores, they could go anywhere—and fast.

Unfortunately, humanity had left behind very few arcane skyships.

After the humans were wiped out, the top races divided the remaining vessels among themselves. Lesser races never stood a chance of getting one.

Many races had tried building their own, but none of their copies could fly.

The ritual circles inside an arcane skyship were unbelievably complex. They had copied every line and symbol exactly, yet nothing happened.

The ritual circles were simply too advanced. For races that understood almost nothing about the field, replicating them was hopeless. In the end, they had no choice but to give up.

Even now, every functioning arcane skyship was a relic left behind by humanity, and every last one belonged to a top race. They had become symbols of status and power.

Once the arcane skyship landed, more than a dozen figures emerged. Their wildly different appearances made it obvious they came from different races, but every one of them radiated overwhelming power. Even the weakest was Stage SS.

The surrounding fighters stared in shock.

The newcomers surveyed the area with slight frowns.

"Where are those Stage SS flying beasts?" Elder Voss asked from the head of the group.

"They... they fled," someone answered cautiously.

"Fled? Why would they suddenly flee?"

"Three of them died. That scared the other seven off," another person called from the crowd.

"What?"

Elder Voss stared at them. "Three died? How?"

The Southern Region didn’t have a single Stage SS. Who here could possibly kill three Stage SS flying Outland Beasts?

"We don’t know. They just dropped dead out of nowhere."

"That’s right. We didn’t see anyone attack them. They suddenly died."

The crowd talked over one another as they recounted what had happened.

The Stage SS newcomers found the story almost impossible to believe. If so many people hadn’t given the exact same account, they would have assumed the entire crowd was trying to fool them.

"Did another race arrive ahead of us?" Elder Voss wondered aloud.

Based on what they had described, a Stage SSS must have intervened.

I’ll have to investigate this thoroughly when I get back.

He turned toward the dense crowd ahead and asked coldly, "If the beasts already fled, what are all of you still doing here?"

"The Outland Beasts violated the agreement!" someone declared. "They openly descended from the mountains and destroyed more than a dozen races in the Southern Region, slaughtering over a million innocent people. Of course they must pay for what they’ve done!"

"You idiots!" Elder Voss roared. "Who gave you the nerve to charge into the Greyspine Range and kill Outland Beasts?"

"They were allowed to come down. Why aren’t we allowed to go up?" someone protested.

"Damn it! You’ve already torn the agreement to shreds! How am I supposed to negotiate now?"

Elder Voss’s face darkened.

He had assumed that with ten Stage SS flying beasts on their side, the Southern Region’s races wouldn’t stand a chance. His plan had been to let the Outland Beasts vent their anger, then step in and negotiate with their Stage SS leaders to settle the matter.

But how was he supposed to do that now? Who was left to negotiate with?

Three of the Stage SS Outland Beasts were dead, the other seven had fled, and these fools had fought their way into the beasts’ own territory.

Elder Voss wanted to slap every last one of them to death.

They had caused a disaster.

The deaths of three Stage SS Outland Beasts would infuriate the Beast Sovereign. When that happened, the Southern Region might be the least of their worries. This could trigger a massive war between the races and the Outland Beasts.

Elder Voss’s head throbbed. He had never expected to encounter such a nightmare the moment he arrived.

"Which Outland Beast holds the most authority in the Greyspine Range?" he asked the crowd, making one final attempt to salvage the situation.

"There’s a Stage SS Stoneplate Behemoth that rules them," someone below answered. "But no one saw it during the battle."

Elder Voss frowned, then called toward the distant mountains.

"Friends of the beast clans, we mean you no harm! This isn’t what you think. Can you tell me where your king is? I’d like to speak with it!"

Hidden throughout the Greyspine Range, the Outland Beasts watched his performance with bloodshot eyes.

Speak with our king? What, its corpse hasn’t gone cold yet, so you want to steal it back and eat it while it’s still warm?

Just wait. The Beast Sovereign will stand up for us. Sooner or later, we’ll tear every last one of you apart!

The Outland Beasts of the Greyspine Range were consumed with rage.

If their enemies hadn’t been so terrifyingly powerful, they would have charged out and fought to the death already.

Elder Voss called out for a long time, but not a single Outland Beast answered. There was nothing he could do.

Given the circumstances, the Stoneplate Behemoth had obviously gone into hiding. It would never agree to meet with them.

In the end, Elder Voss could only shake his head.

"All of you, go home! If anyone sets foot in Outland Beast territory again, I’ll wipe out their entire race myself!"

"Yes, of course!"

No one dared object. The fighters immediately began withdrawing from the Greyspine Range.

"Wait. What about those humans?" Elder Voss asked.

"No idea. We never saw them."

The crowd shook their heads.

Only then did it occur to them that this entire disaster had begun with the search for those humans.

Yet they still hadn’t seen so much as a trace of them, while the various races had already suffered catastrophic losses.

"Elder Voss," a Razorborn elder said, "could those humans be behind this?"

"They may be the reason it started, but they’re only Stage S. They aren’t capable of anything like this. Someone else killed those three Stage SS Outland Beasts."

"You suspect someone?"

"I suspect another top race intervened," Elder Voss replied, his expression grim.

"But why would they do that?"

"I don’t know. Perhaps someone wants to protect those humans."

Elder Voss began recalling which of the top races had once been closest to humanity.

There actually were a few possibilities.

When the decision had been made to exterminate humanity, two top races had opposed it. Even during the campaign against the humans, those two races had contributed very little.

I need to report this to the Patriarch as soon as possible.

"What do we do now, Elder Voss?" one of the other Stage SS fighters asked.

"You’ll remain here and continue searching for the humans. I’m going back to investigate what happened."

He swept his gaze across the group.

"And remember—until we reach an agreement with the Outland Beasts, no one is to enter their territory without permission."

"Yes!"