Apocalypse: King of Zombies Chapter 1517: Give Them Hope. Keep Them Alive.

The thought made Ethan’s heart tighten.

More than a dozen peak Tier 41 fighters had come to capture them this time.

If they failed, would the pinnacle races send a Stage SSS fighter next?

Of course they would.

The races of the Eldoria Continent took humanity far too seriously to simply give up. If peak Tier 41 fighters couldn’t get the job done, sending someone at Stage SSS was the obvious next step.

And when that happened, the Fallen Star Squad would be in serious danger.

Ethan couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of abilities a Stage SSS fighter might possess. Their chances of escaping from one would be extremely low.

His expression grew grave.

He hadn’t expected to face an enemy at that level so soon.

Until now, he had assumed Stage SSS fighters were still far beyond his reach. As long as he stayed away from the Central Region, he shouldn’t run into one.

But given the current situation, killing the peak Stage SS fighters outside would almost certainly bring a Stage SSS fighter down on them.

Ethan rubbed his forehead.

He had only two options.

The first was to leave the Eldoria Continent and return to Earth before the enemy’s Stage SSS fighter arrived. They wouldn’t be able to reach the Fallen Star Squad there.

But that would only delay the problem. The dimensional rift would reopen in a little over ten days. Once these races entered Earth, there would be no escaping them.

Besides, Ethan had no intention of leaving the Eldoria Continent yet. He needed to plunge this place into complete chaos—enough chaos that the pinnacle races would be too preoccupied to intervene elsewhere.

So retreating wasn’t an option.

His second choice was to leave the peak Stage SS fighters alive and use them to buy time.

His original plan had been to pull them into the Deadlock Dimension one at a time and kill them. He was perfectly capable of doing that.

Now, however, he needed to keep them alive. More than that, he needed to give them hope. They had to believe they still had a chance of capturing him.

As long as they thought victory was within reach, they wouldn’t call in a Stage SSS fighter.

It still wouldn’t buy him much time, but it was better than nothing.

Once Ethan had a plan, he stopped worrying about it. He took out the dozens of Tier 35 crystal cores he had just collected and turned to the others.

"You guys should use these to advance while we’re in here. There’s no mysterious energy at night, but crystal cores will still work.

"This should be enough to bring three of you to Stage SS. We can hunt down more for the rest later.

"Garrick, Skinny Pete, Mia—you three go first."

"Got it!"

The three nodded. No one in the Fallen Star Squad ever objected to Ethan’s arrangements.

Each of them took the crystal cores they needed, sat down, and began consuming them.

Ethan then retrieved the two Tier 37 crystal cores from his spatial storage ring and handed them to Chris.

"Eat these."

"Sure."

Chris took them without hesitation and tossed them into his mouth.

Ethan also took out two Tier 39 crystal cores and swallowed them.

Every increase in strength mattered right now.

The two Tier 41 crystal cores could only be absorbed, however, and he didn’t have time for that.

He had to keep the Deadlock Dimension active, which made it impossible to focus on absorbing a crystal core.

Absorption also took far too long. If he delayed too much and the people outside kept failing to break through the spatial node, they might call in a Stage SSS fighter.

He would have to save the Tier 41 cores for later.

He also still had several Tier 37 crystal cores that Chris and the others could absorb, but that would take time as well.

For now, his priority was getting a few more squad members to Stage SS and seeing whether they unlocked any special abilities.

After a while, Garrick, Skinny Pete, and Mia all reached the peak of Tier 35.

Ethan took out three Stage SS crystal cores and handed one to each of them.

They consumed the cores and began their breakthroughs.

A few minutes later, Garrick was the first to open his eyes.

"Well?" Everyone looked at him expectantly. "What did you get?"

"A little disappointing." Garrick shook his head helplessly. "My Stage SS skill is a void-type ability called Void Hand. It creates a massive black hand that I can control to attack or do other things.

"It’s decent enough. Not weak, but nothing particularly impressive either."

Ethan nodded.

Compared to the skills Chris, Sean, and the others had gained, Void Hand really didn’t seem that powerful—especially for a Stage SS skill.

Still, it wasn’t necessarily bad. They would have to see how it performed in actual combat.

"What about your Innate Abilities?"

"I gained Earth Glide. It’s an escape skill." Garrick shook his head again, clearly dissatisfied with both of his new abilities.

"Staying alive matters more than anything else. Escape skills are the best kind of skills." Ethan patted him on the shoulder.

Garrick was like Sean. Both of them preferred taking their enemies head-on. But sometimes, getting away alive was an achievement in itself.

"Yeah." Garrick nodded.

Mia opened her eyes next, her expression as calm as ever.

She had always been reserved and rarely showed much emotion, so everyone was used to it. Her lack of reaction didn’t necessarily mean she had received a bad skill.

Before anyone could ask, she spoke.

"My Stage SS skill is pretty good. It’s a special-type ability called Power Transfer."

"Power Transfer? What does it do?" someone asked.

Mia looked at Ethan. "It should be useful to you. I can transfer my power into your body, including my mental energy and physical strength. It will temporarily push you beyond your normal limit."

"Oh?" Ethan’s eyes lit up. "That’s a great skill."

This was different from draining someone’s mental energy to replenish his own. Power Transfer would add Mia’s strength and mental energy directly on top of his existing power.

For example, if Ethan’s maximum strength and mental energy were both ten thousand, Mia could use Power Transfer to push them to twelve thousand. The stronger Mia became, the greater the boost would be.

If she ever reached the same level as Ethan, she might even be able to double his strength.

That was terrifying.

Annihilation Strike’s power scaled with the amount of mental energy Ethan invested in it. If his mental energy doubled, the attack’s damage would double as well.

And with an ability like Annihilation Strike, doubling the damage would produce far more than a simple increase in combat power.

Just thinking about it made Ethan excited.

"What happens to you when you use it?" he asked. An ability that powerful couldn’t possibly come without a cost.

"I lose the ability to fight while it’s active. After it ends, I’ll be weakened for an hour," Mia answered honestly.

Ethan nodded, then looked at her seriously.

"Then don’t use it unless we have no other choice."

"I understand." Mia nodded obediently.

"Good."