Apocalypse: King of Zombies - Chapter 293

Chapter 293: Strategizing?
All human forces had been mobilized. Sophia knew that the Zombie Horde gathering in Rancho Cucamonga was coming straight for her.

So, she had no choice but to go all in and fight.

Handing over command to Jacob? That, at least, she had no worries about.

On the Battlefield

With the arrival of human forces, the battlefield instantly became even more chaotic. Several armored vehicles plowed through the Zombie Horde like bulldozers, crushing everything in their path.

Where they passed, nothing remained but mangled flesh and shattered bones.

Behind the armored vehicles, second- and third-generation Cyborgs followed closely. They felt no pain, nor did they fear the bites of low-level zombies. They simply slaughtered everything in their way.

Jacob, ever the cautious one, stuck to a defensive strategy, prioritizing survival while also lending a hand to Elias’s team whenever possible.

But the real center of attention on the battlefield?

Ethan.

He could feel it—besides Elias, there was another powerful psychic force locking onto him, suppressing his Domain of the Dead and rendering his stealth abilities useless.

That force was guiding the Zombie Horde straight to him.

And the one behind it?

Nightmare.

Nightmare’s obsession with Ethan ran deep, and right now, he was practically trembling with excitement.

“He’s got nowhere left to run!”

“Uh… Boss, I don’t think he’s even trying to run,” Scissorhands muttered, watching Ethan closely.

“What do you know?” Nightmare snapped. “He might look like he’s still full of energy, but his power is draining fast. Once he burns out, that’s when he dies.”

“Oh… but what about the humans from San Bernardino?” Scissorhands asked.

Nightmare scanned the battlefield, quickly assessing the situation.

The humans had only deployed drones, armored vehicles, and Cyborgs. Most of their Awakeners were holding back, conserving their strength.

They were waiting for Nightmare and the Zombie King to wear each other down—then they’d swoop in and take the prize.

“Doesn’t matter. They have no idea we’ve got reinforcements coming from San Diego. Once Butcher arrives, he’ll wipe them out.”

“Damn right! Boss, you’re a genius!” Scissorhands’ eyes gleamed with bloodlust. This was big-brain strategy at its finest. No wonder Nightmare was the Psychic-type Zombie King—he had everything figured out.

Victory was within reach.

Meanwhile, in the Heart of the Horde…

Ethan was still cutting down zombies left and right, but with Nightmare’s psychic lock on him, escaping was proving difficult.

After all these battles, his energy reserves were dropping fast—he’d already burned through about 30%.

He glanced into the distance.Humans were still interfering, messing with his perception. Elias’s teammates? No clue where they’d run off to.

Before, they were just a few drops of oil in a pot of water. But now, with more humans in the mix, they’d turned into a whole damn oil slick—harder to pick out.

“So, they think they can gang up on me just because I didn’t bring enough zombies?” Ethan muttered to himself.

Both sides had made their move. Their intentions were clear.

And he? He was stuck right in the eye of the storm.

Yeah… this was getting dangerous.

Maybe it was time to show them what he was really packing.

Ethan immediately sent out a signal.

Mount San Antonio

From the distant peaks, a few pitch-black crows suddenly took flight, flapping their wings furiously as they raced toward the Los Angeles corpse nest.

Buddy Crow was on his way to deliver the message.

He soared over the city, letting out sharp, piercing cries.

“Boss is under attack! Rancho Cucamonga’s zombies are surrounding him! Boss is under attack! Rancho Cucamonga’s zombies are surrounding him!”

The little black bird circled the city, screeching non-stop.

Every zombie in the city heard it.

“What?!”

“Boss is surrounded?!”

“Oh, hell no!”

“This ain’t happening!”

“…”

The streets, the alleys—every zombie in sight suddenly froze. Some even rolled their shoulders, as if warming up.

From the narrow alleyways, hulking bio-mutants began to rise.

Among them were the elite—the strongest of the strongest—zombies who had evolved to possess razor-sharp intelligence. Some had a menacing glint in their eyes, others curled their lips into eerie smirks.

They had been dormant for too long. Zombies were, by nature, savage and bloodthirsty. Killing was in their very bones.

And now, the battle instinct within them was roaring back to life.

“ROOOOAR—”

Bulldozer let out a deafening battle cry. “Brothers, CHARGE!”

In an instant, the horde erupted into a frenzy, sprinting down the streets, their frenzied footsteps pounding the pavement as they followed close behind Bulldozer.

“Heheheheh…”

From another direction, a chilling, almost manic laughter echoed through the city ruins.

Laura was a blur, her figure slicing through the apocalyptic skyline like a gust of wind.

And wherever she passed, more zombies burst from the shadows, joining the charge.

At the far end of the city, the bridge spanning the river was now completely overgrown, vines twisting over every inch of its surface. From within the tangled greenery, Sprout emerged.

Deep in the dense forest, clusters of fungal tumors began to pulse and shift, morphing into grotesque mimics that crawled out from all directions. Leading them was none other than Lil’ Shroom.

In the blink of an eye, every zombie in Los Angeles had converged.

Sixty thousand strong.

But what was even more terrifying?

Among them, twenty-five thousand were elite.

This was the result of their prolonged exposure to the Radiant Crystal.

A force of over twenty thousand evolved zombies moving as one—just the sight of it was enough to send chills down anyone’s spine. They were fast, agile, leaping from rooftops, scaling walls with ease.

It was an overwhelming tide of death.

Of course, those were the fast ones.

Trailing behind them were the slower zombies, shambling forward in their own way. Among them were three notable figures—Big Ears, Shrimpy, and Locomotive.

“You know, guys like us—the real core powerhouses—we always make a grand entrance,” Big Ears remarked.

“Mhm, mhm, Big Ears is right,” Shrimpy nodded enthusiastically. “If we go in too early, we’d be showing all our cards. You don’t just throw down your trump card at the start of the game.”

“I’m the strongest Zombie King in San Bernardino, the undisputed ruler,” Locomotive grumbled. “Nightmare thinks he can just march in and take my territory? Did he even bother asking me first?”

To be fair, most of the stronger Zombie Kings in San Bernardino had already been wiped out by Sophia. Locomotive was one of the few they had nurtured to fill the power vacuum, so calling himself the strongest wasn’t exactly a stretch.

Big Ears had always been a little jealous of that. He wondered when he’d get his own fancy title.

“Honestly, I’m more of a strategist. Maybe we should just stay back and oversee things from home…”

“…”

Locomotive and Shrimpy both stared at him, speechless.

“Wait, wait, wait—are you chickening out?”

“What? No way! We’re obviously gonna win this fight, so what’s there to be scared of?” Big Ears scoffed, refusing to admit anything.

“Yeah, that’s true,” Shrimpy agreed without hesitation.

“But I heard the zombies in Rancho Cucamonga are pretty strong too. They’ve got quite a few powerful Zombie Kings over there.”

“Wait… what did you just say?” Big Ears’ eyes suddenly lit up, as if something had clicked in his mind.

“Uh… Rancho Cucamonga? Why?” Shrimpy asked, confused.

Big Ears picked up his pace, suddenly moving with a lot more urgency. He waved at the other two.

“Come on, hurry up! We can’t be late!”

“Huh? Weren’t you just saying we should stay back and strategize?” Locomotive asked, baffled by the sudden shift.

“Hmph.”

Big Ears let out a smug snort, putting on an air of mystery.

Strategizing?

Screw that.

“From this day forward, I am the ruler of Rancho Cucamonga—Big Ears!”

…