Apocalypse: King of Zombies Chapter 1316: That Was Too Close

On the main battlefield, all those endless control skills affected 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 using swamps, gravity, sandstorms, or stone prisons, Dopey smashed through it all with sheer 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 a 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 that 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.

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 so 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 an eternity, Ethan finally managed to open his eyes.

"Ethan—you're awake!" A wave of relief washed over the group simultaneously.

"Looks like I made it," Ethan croaked out.

This was, by far, the closest he had ever been to death.

Stage A powerhouses were simply… beyond comprehension.

"Ethan," Mia said, her eyes red as she stared at him, as if wanting to shake him. "Don't ever do anything that reckless again, alright?"

Ethan let out an awkward cough. "Yeah. No next time. I seriously underestimated what a Stage A fighter is capable of."

He had genuinely believed that his ability to teleport would render him untouchable.

As it turned out, his opponents could move far faster than he had ever anticipated.

And that whole tactic of burrowing into the ground? It had completely caught him off guard.

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

Big Mike appeared to have been holding back a question for so long that it was physically painful. "Speaking of Dopey—when it saw us, it suddenly threw you towards 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 commanded it to hand me over to you—and to not attack you."

He paused, then added with a hint of dryness, "Because with how reckless you idiots are, you wouldn’t have enough lives for it to punch through."

"...Okay, yeah. That's fair," someone mumbled with embarrassment.

A moment ago, they had genuinely considered the possibility that Dopey had gained sentience. The mere thought had sent shivers down their spines.

Ethan chuckled softly before storing Dopey back into his spatial storage ring.

With Mia supporting him, he managed to push himself into an upright position.

He had lost a significant amount of blood. Even though his stamina had returned, he knew he would remain weak for several days.

Upon their return to the battlefield, Ethan began collecting the Stoneborn corpses that Dopey had left behind, storing them one by one.

For mutant beasts, these remains were essentially a potent super-supplement. A single bite could likely lead to an immediate breakthrough.

"Seventeen bodies," Ethan stated quietly, his eyes narrowing. "Eight got away."

He retrieved his satellite phone and initiated a call to Maxwell.

The connection was established instantly.

"Ethan!" Maxwell's voice came through, laced with tension and urgency. "Are you okay?"

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

He cut straight to the chase. "A few of the Void Realm creatures managed to escape. Are you tracking them from your end?"

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

"Good." Ethan's tone turned icy. "Keep a constant watch on them. The moment I'm back to full strength, I'm going to hunt them down and finish this."

"Don't worry," Maxwell assured him. "Unless they manage to re-enter a Void Realm, the satellites won't lose them. You just focus on recovering."

"Alright."

Ethan ended the call, then rejoined the others and headed back towards Fallen Star City.

This fight…

Yeah. He had been utterly demolished.