Apocalypse: King of Zombies Chapter 1438: You Got Us Killed

"Elder!"

It took a long moment for the Luminari captains to react. Then they rushed to the middle-aged man’s side, shielding him while staring at Ethan like he might strike again at any second.

All around them, the rest of the Luminari were still frozen in place, faces blank with disbelief.

"How is that even possible!? The elder lost to a Tier 32 human!?"

"No way. Something has to be wrong. Elder, you’re messing with them, right? Get up already—stop playing around. Everyone’s watching!"

"Pfft—"

The Luminari elder heard that and nearly choked.

The blood he’d been holding back burst right out of his mouth.

he thought, blood roaring in his head all over again.

If his willpower had been even a little weaker, he might’ve blacked out from sheer rage on the spot.

"Ethan!"

"He actually beat the elder!"

"That was insane!"

Only then did the humans snap out of it. The shock shattered, and the crowd exploded into frantic cheers.

"What’s wrong, Luminari? Not laughing anymore?"

"Come on! Keep laughing!"

"Weren’t you having a great time a second ago?"

People started jeering at the Luminari around them, voices shaking with the kind of thrill that only came from years of swallowing humiliation.

After all this time—finally—there was a moment like this. Even if it got them killed, it was worth it.

The Luminari’s expressions twisted. Humiliation turned to something uglier.

"Our elder didn’t lose!" one of them barked. "He just got hit by a sneak attack when he wasn’t ready!"

"Then tell him to get up and fight again!"

"..."

The Luminari’s face sank.

"Hmph. Whether our elder stands up or not is none of your business. You humans are servants. Who gave you the nerve to talk to us like that?"

"Don’t think the people from Fallen Star City can save you, either. If we decide to kill you, they won’t be able to stop us."

"Is that so?" Chris’s voice cut in.

He strode over with more than three hundred Awakened behind him.

"Then try killing one."

"So what if we do?" a Luminari said coldly. "You’re just a bunch of Stage A humans. You really think you can stop us?"

They were furious—furious enough to ignore almost everything. They feared Ethan, yes, but they didn’t fear Chris and the others.

In the next instant, several Luminari lunged straight at the humans.

"Looking to die?"

Chris and his people snorted. Abilities erupted in a wave, blasting toward the charging Luminari.

"You think we’re scared just because you’ve got a few hundred people?" another Luminari shouted, throwing himself into the fight too.

"You want numbers?" A burly human suddenly roared. "Then look around! This is our city!"

"Everyone—fight them!"

He charged as he spoke, reckless and blazing with hate.

"We’ve put up with you monsters long enough!" he howled. "Even if I die today, I’m taking a piece of you with me!"

And then the humans around them moved too.

The battle ignited instantly.

Seeing that, Ethan froze for a beat. He hadn’t expected things to erupt over there so suddenly.

But right then, a sharp, vicious light flared in the Luminari elder’s eyes. He leaned toward the captain beside him and spoke in a low, urgent voice.

"Together. Kill that human first."

That single poleaxe strike had smashed his pride to pieces. Even now, he still didn’t understand how he’d taken that hit so inexplicably.

The only explanation he could come up with was that the human had some kind of time-type ability.

The thought made his scalp go cold—and filled him with fear.

So for once, the elder who’d always looked down on everyone didn’t dare face Ethan alone. He was going to have a group of powerhouses gang up on one man.

"Got it." The Luminari experts nodded.

Then, all at once, they sprang forward—pouncing straight for Ethan.

"Picking on me with numbers, huh?" Ethan let out a cold laugh. "Fine. Then I won’t hold back."

He flicked his wrist.

In the next breath, a swarm of soulless thralls spilled out of his spatial storage ring, one after another, landing around him like a wall of dead-eyed soldiers.

The Luminari experts’ faces changed instantly. They skidded to a stop, shock plain as day.

They couldn’t read the thralls’ exact strength—but instinct screamed danger anyway.

"Soulless thralls?" several of them muttered, brows knotting.

"Aren’t you the ones who love ganging up?" Ethan taunted, arrogance dripping off every word. "Come on, then."

His mental energy was running low, but his posture didn’t budge.

He could be exhausted later. Right now, he couldn’t afford to look weak.

"Hmph." A young Luminari man snorted. "I don’t believe a Tier 32 human can control that many soulless thralls. How strong could they be?"

He narrowed his eyes at Ethan, voice turning sharp.

"Don’t be scared. He’s not in good shape. Everyone—together. Kill him!"

The moment he finished, he charged first.

"Kill!"

Ethan chopped his hand forward.

Dopey shot out like a cannonball, no tricks, no flourish—just a brutal fist swinging straight at the young man’s chest.

"It’s just a soulless thrall!" The Luminari youth’s eyes flickered at Dopey’s speed, but he didn’t panic. A light blade formed in his hand, and he slashed down hard at Dopey’s head.

Two impacts rang out almost at the same time.

The light blade landed cleanly on Dopey’s skull.

Dopey’s fist landed cleanly in the Luminari’s chest.

But the outcomes couldn’t have been more different.

The blade did nothing. Not even a scratch.

Dopey’s punch, on the other hand, blew straight through—leaving a gaping hole in the young man’s chest.

"—!"

His eyes bulged wide, disbelief locked on his face.

Then his body pitched backward.

The instant he hit the ground, the other Luminari experts stopped dead, staring at Dopey like they’d just seen a nightmare crawl into daylight.

That kid had been Tier 33—one of the stronger ones in their group.

And he couldn’t survive a single punch.

"How can a soulless thrall be that strong!?"

Dopey didn’t care about their terror. The second he finished one, he lunged for the next without even slowing.

At the same time, Aeralon and Aerisara moved too. Two Cyclone Blades tore through the air, hacking down at two other Luminari experts.

The rest of the thralls, though, stayed where they were, unmoving.

Ethan couldn’t make them act.

They weren’t his thralls—just stored with him for now—so they weren’t under his direct control.

Even so, Dopey alone had already scared the Luminari half to death. Several of them instinctively backed away.

"What do we do, Elder? These soulless thralls are too strong!" They all turned toward the middle-aged man.

The elder’s face was tight with shock as well.

"Impossible. A Tier 32 can’t control that many powerful soulless thralls." His gaze flicked across the group, forcing himself to steady his breathing. "There’s probably only one that’s actually strong."

He snapped a quick order.

"Auren and I will deal with that soulless thrall. The rest of you—keep going for the human. Kill him no matter what."

"Understood!"

The Luminari experts seemed to latch onto his words like a lifeline. Their fear hardened into forced courage, and they surged at Ethan again.

But by then, Chris and the others had already seen Ethan release the thralls.

They immediately started shouting orders—directing the thralls to move.

So when the Luminari experts rushed in—

The thralls that had been standing still suddenly sprang to life.

A storm of attacks slammed into the charging Luminari so hard it left them reeling, completely stunned.

"Elder—!" someone screamed, voice cracking with panic and rage. "You got us killed!"