Apocalypse: King of Zombies Chapter 1444: Bodyguards for Humanity

Off in the distance, Eira watched the battlefield with a stunned, tight expression.

She’d expected the human to have a trump card.

She just hadn’t expected it to be insane.

Four peak Tier 35 soulless thralls—each one more terrifying than the last.

It was obvious that even if she joined in, she’d get crushed right along with the rest.

Eira thought, a chill crawling up her spine.

She turned, about to take her people and slip away—

And then a figure appeared in front of her, cutting off her path like he’d been there the whole time.

Eira’s entire body went rigid. Her face hardened, every muscle tensing.

Ethan smiled at her.

"Since you’re already here, no need to rush off like that, right?"

That smile made Eira feel cold all over. She swallowed and spoke fast, careful with every word.

"Our Rimekin have no intention of offending the human race. We only came because we were invited to deal with the Stormkin. We never laid a hand on humans. Please—let us live."

Ethan blinked at her, honestly surprised.

A high-race powerhouse, peak Tier 35... and she was lowering her head this far to a human.

That was rare.

"You’re a peak Tier 35," Ethan said, amused. "And you’re scared of a Tier 32 like me?"

"I am," Eira said, nodding seriously—no pride, no posturing.

Then she took a breath, eyes locked on him like she was piecing together a puzzle she didn’t want the answer to.

"I replayed your exchange with Tharok in my head. Your strike wasn’t fast. Tharok should’ve been able to block it."

"But he didn’t."

"And none of us even saw how you hit him. It was like... there was a gap. Like a chunk of time got cut out."

Her expression turned almost reverent with shock.

"So if I’m not wrong... you have a time-type ability. The kind that only exists in legends."

If spatial-type abilities were rare, then time-type abilities were basically unheard of—mythical.

But this human?

He had spatial time.

How could she be afraid?

And on top of that, he’d smashed a peak Tier 35 like Tharok into serious injury in one hit, which meant he also had an absurdly powerful offensive skill.

What the hell was this?

This human had basically collected every broken ability in existence.

Humans could awaken any element, sure—but wasn’t it supposed to be random?

This was beyond "lucky." This was ridiculous.

Compared to those peak Tier 35 soulless thralls, this human was the truly terrifying one.

Ethan saw the fear in her eyes and couldn’t help but chuckle.

He didn’t know if she was cowardly or just cautious—but a peak Tier 35 being this scared of a Tier 32 was still hard to wrap his head around.

Still... she was definitely smarter than the other two.

"How about we make a deal?" Ethan said suddenly.

Eira’s gaze sharpened. "What kind of deal?"

"I won’t kill you." Ethan’s tone stayed light. "I’ll even let your people live in this city."

He lifted a finger.

"But there’s a condition. You live peacefully with the humans here. And if any other races come looking for trouble, you handle them."

Eira’s head snapped side to side so fast it was almost comical.

"No. That’s being bodyguards for humans. And it means we’d be making enemies of other races." She frowned hard. "No, no, no. That’s a losing deal. I’m not doing it."

Ethan sighed and shook his head, then calmly pulled out his poleaxe.

"In that case, I’ll have to deal with you too."

"Wait!" Eira threw out a hand instantly, stopping him, her face twisting like she was about to cry. "Do you have to jump straight to violence? We can talk, okay?"

Ethan’s smile thinned.

"You should understand something—I’m giving you a chance. If your people had ever harmed humans, I wouldn’t be wasting words. I’d just wipe you out with the others."

His eyes cooled.

"And you know I can."

"Yes." Eira nodded, swallowing. "I believe that."

"But you’re really okay with letting us stay here?" she pressed. "You’re not worried we’ll treat the humans the same way they did?"

"Not worried." Ethan shrugged. "If you pull anything, I can get here in a few seconds."

"..."

Eira’s mouth tightened.

"But after this fight, our Rimekin took heavy losses. We might not be able to hold off other races."

"That’s fine," Ethan said. "Just you being here will scare off plenty. If someone shows up you can’t handle, I’ll step in."

"..."

Eira still looked like she’d swallowed something bitter.

Ethan tilted his head. "Why the long face? Don’t you Void Realm types love occupying human cities? Living here is basically the same thing. You’re ’occupying’ a human city."

"That’s not the same at all!" Eira snapped, then immediately realized she’d raised her voice and forced herself to calm down. "They occupy human cities to dig out human secrets... and to enjoy being served."

She gestured at herself, incredulous.

"What are doing? This is basically you enslaving Where’s the fun in that?"

Ethan’s grin came back.

"Relax. I’ll tell them to treat you better."

He leaned in slightly, voice almost teasing.

"Spend enough time in a human city... and you’ll start to like it."

"Yeah, sure." Eira rolled her eyes. "Only an idiot would believe you."

Ethan chuckled. "Alright. Stand off to the side for now. Let me finish cleaning up this mess first."

Then he teleported.

In the blink of an eye, he appeared behind Tharok—who was already being beaten back step by step by Dopey. Before Tharok could even react, Ethan swung the poleaxe without hesitation.

A dull, heavy impact echoed across the battlefield.

Tharok, already at the end of his rope, was sent flying. He smashed into the ground and lay there, barely moving, struggling for a long time without managing to get back up.

Done with him, Ethan teleported again—this time to the side of the other peak Tier 35, Isolde.

Isolde had been watching Ethan like a hawk ever since he moved on Tharok. The instant Ethan appeared near her, she reacted immediately.

"Absolute Freeze!"

But no matter how fast her ice spread...

It still wasn’t faster than Absolute Stasis.

The freezing power had only just surged out when it locked in midair, frozen in place—like a painting.

Ethan didn’t do "gentle" just because she was a woman.

His poleaxe flared with dense black light and came down straight for her head.

Blood sprayed.

Isolde’s body was blown away, tumbling across the ground.

A heartbeat later, everything resumed.

The battlefield went eerily quiet.

Two peak Tier 35 powerhouses were down—one after the other—like they’d been swatted aside.

Everyone swallowed hard, staring at Ethan with pure shock.

He didn’t move unless he had to.

But when he did?

It was a clean, ruthless killshot.

This Tier 32 human was even more terrifying than the army of soulless thralls.

Off to the side, among the Rimekin, an older woman leaned close to Eira and whispered, voice trembling.

"Elder... should we just... slip away? That man is horrifying."

"Run?" Eira let out a bitter laugh. "We don’t know this world well enough. Where would we even run to?"

She glanced at Ethan, then lowered her voice.

"Right now, we have a deal. He won’t touch us. But if we try to flee and he catches us..."

Her lips tightened.

"Then we’re finished. He doesn’t leave survivors when he decides to strike."

The older woman’s face pinched. "So we really have to stay here and be bodyguards for humans?"

Eira shot her a look. "Do you have a better option?"

The woman fell silent.

Eira exhaled slowly, forcing herself to settle.

"Treat it like finding somewhere to live for now," she said. "We’ll deal with everything else when the dimensional rift opens again."

"...Alright," the older woman said at last, resigned.