Apocalypse: King of Zombies Chapter 1479: Welcome to the Deadlock

Inside the cave, Chris finished upgrading smoothly, stepping into Tier 35.

Ethan, meanwhile, pushed all the way to Tier 35 peak.

Then he pulled out that Stage SS crystal core, swallowed hard, and—without any more ceremony—tossed it straight into his mouth.

A surge of power flooded his body.

The core melted into pure energy, rushing through his veins like molten lightning. In his mind, the sixth star ignited completely—

And Ethan’s consciousness was yanked back into that familiar void.

The endless emptiness.

The sea of densely packed light-points.

But compared to when he’d been Stage S, there were fewer now.

Not —just... less overwhelming.

Ethan didn’t waste time. He swept forward through the lights at high speed.

No question: every Stage SS light-point was strong.

But "strong" didn’t mean "equal."

Even within elemental abilities, the gap was obvious. A lightning-type offensive skill wasn’t even in the same league as a water-type one. And time-space abilities? Those were in a category of their own.

So whether you landed a truly broken skill... was still luck.

The Fallen Star Squad had learned that lesson the hard way. Everyone had a few skills that were basically dead weight—Chris’s Corrupting Spear, Mia’s Water Surge, Big Mike’s Shadow Grasp...

Stuff that sounded cool, then got benched the moment real fights started.

The only reason those "wasted slots" hadn’t crippled them was because their Innate Abilities kept evolving. Every advancement patched the holes. Their baseline combat power never collapsed.

Ethan didn’t have that problem.

He could pick.

And because he could pick, every skill he’d taken so far was practical—tailored to his own weaknesses.

Lacked mobility? Teleportation.

Lacked damage? Annihilation Strike.

Worried about missing? Absolute Stasis.

Defense too thin? Nullspace Domain.

Needed long-range movement? Riftwalk.

His innate power might not have screamed "battle monster," but with that toolkit...

Jumping tiers in a fight felt as normal as breathing.

Four minutes.

That was all he needed to sweep the whole field of light-points. He couldn’t say he understood every single skill perfectly, but he had a solid grasp of what was on offer.

And once he finished scanning, Ethan... hesitated.

Because he’d seen them.

More than one.

Skills that could break seals—different styles, different mechanisms, but all clearly capable. Any one of them could probably rip the seal off Dopey’s body.

But Chris had been right.

If Ethan spent his Stage SS selection on something like that, it was basically burning a priceless opportunity.

It wouldn’t help him in a fight.

He’d almost never use it.

Outside of "free Dopey," it was dead weight.

And then there was the other problem.

In the same ocean of light, Ethan had seen a skill that made his pulse jump.

A skill that would push his combat power up another full level.

He stood there in the void, weighing it for a long time.

Break the seal and gain a Stage SSS battle strength...

Or sharpen himself into something even harder to kill.

In the end, Ethan made his choice.

He went with the skill that he couldn’t stop wanting.

Because at the end of the day, he trusted himself more than anyone else.

If was strong enough, he could deal with any crisis head-on.

Dopey’s seal... they’d find another way.

And honestly?

Ethan still couldn’t shake the feeling that the beast was hiding something from him. Even if he free Dopey right now, he wasn’t sure that was actually a good thing.

His gaze locked onto the light-point he’d chosen.

The moment he did, it drifted toward him—slow, inevitable—then sank into the center of his brow.

The void fell away.

Ethan’s consciousness snapped back.

In the cave, Ethan opened his eyes.

Everyone was already crowded close, watching his face like kids waiting for a reveal.

"Well?" Big Mike asked first, barely containing himself. "Boss—what’d you pick?"

"It’s a special spatial-type ability," Ethan said, grinning. "Deadlock Dimension."

The name alone made everyone’s eyes light up.

"Deadlock Dimension?" Big Mike repeated. "That sounds busted. What does it do?"

Ethan didn’t drag it out. He liked this one too much.

"I can forcibly pull a chosen target into a special space. Inside that space, everyone except me gets suppressed—at most they can only use 80% of their full strength."

He held up a finger.

"And unless I cancel Deadlock Dimension myself... or I die... nobody can leave it."

"Holy shit!" Big Mike blurted. "That strong!? Even Stage SSS gets nerfed?"

"Yeah," Ethan admitted, then coughed awkwardly. "Stage SSS too. But, uh... even at eighty percent, a Stage SSS can still turn me into paste."

"...Okay, fair," Sean said, laughing. "Still insane, though. Dropping someone by twenty percent changes matchups completely. People you couldn’t beat before, you might just bully inside that space."

Ethan nodded. "That’s not even the best part."

Everyone leaned in.

"The real reason I picked it is this: inside the dimension, I can draw mental energy from others to restore myself."

He paused. "Only if they don’t resist, though."

Big Mike’s excitement deflated instantly. "Then what’s the point? If you’re draining someone’s mental energy, what idiot wouldn’t resist?"

Ethan just looked at him.

"If we run into something we can’t beat," Ethan said evenly, "and I pull it into Deadlock Dimension... then I draw a bit from to keep myself going."

He glanced around the squad. "You refusing?"

"...Oh." Big Mike blinked. "From us."

Ethan raised an eyebrow. "Who else?"

Big Mike cleared his throat like nothing had happened. "Yeah no, take whatever you want. Totally different. You can drain me dry—uh, I mean, mental energy. Obviously."

Chris let out a short laugh. "Smooth recovery."

Sean cut in before Big Mike could embarrass himself further. "How big is the dimension?"

"No idea," Ethan said. "Let’s test it."

He flicked his hand.

The world flashed.

And everyone was suddenly standing in a strange, empty space.

It was circular—about 2,500 feet across—with nothing inside it. Past the edge was a gray, hazy nothingness, like fog that swallowed light.

The moment they arrived, a heavy pressure settled over them.

Not pain.

Not fear.

Just... a blunt, absolute suppression that made their bodies feel slightly "wrong," like they were fighting underwater.

Sean clenched his fist, tested his strength, then exhaled.

"Yeah. It’s real. In here, I’m capped at about eighty percent."

Big Mike looked around, then looked at Ethan. "Boss... this is skill. Can’t you give us some kind of VIP pass?"

Ethan scratched his cheek. "I want to, but... I don’t think I can."

"...Damn," Big Mike muttered. "Oppression for everybody."

They walked the perimeter, then tried a few attacks at the edge—testing, probing.

Nothing.

The boundary didn’t even ripple. It was like punching the concept of "sealed."

Chris’s eyes narrowed as he studied the gray void beyond. "This space... it’s not in the real world, is it?"

Ethan nodded. "Independent space."

Chris’s voice sharpened. "Then could we use it as an emergency shelter? Like—if we’re losing, we just hide inside the dimension?"

"It’s a good thought," Ethan said, "but it’s not that simple."

He pointed upward, then vaguely outward, as if indicating "outside."

"When Deadlock Dimension is active, it causes spatial distortion in the real world. If someone’s paying attention, they’ll notice something’s off."

"And maintaining it constantly burns my mental energy," he added. "There’s no mysterious energy inside this space—so I can’t naturally recover while it’s up."

"If I want to sustain it, I have to rely on crystal cores... or Emily. And even then, it’s not something we can keep running forever."

Chris nodded slowly. "Got it."