"Wait a sec…"
The zombies suddenly froze, sensing sothing was off. Their cloudy, lifeless eyes turned toward the darkness—where Ethan was stepping out of the shadows.
He wore a crisp white shirt that stood out starkly against the swirling black mist, his whole presence radiating a cold, commanding aura.
The other zombies followed their gaze—and imdiately freaked out.
"He's here. He ca out…"
"Yeah, that was him who saw earlier."
"Run! Now!"
"…"
In a flash, the group scattered in all directions, trying to use the thick fog as cover to make their escape. They moved fast, agile and practiced—clearly not their first ti pulling this kind of stunt. Running away had beco second nature.
Ethan raised an eyebrow. This was the first ti he'd seen zombies like this.
With a thought, he unleashed the terrifying power of the Domain of the Dead.
A crushing pressure exploded outward, sweeping across the area.
Several of the fleeing zombies were caught in its radius. Their bodies froze mid-step, trembling violently as if paralyzed.
Because on top of the Domain's oppressive force, Ethan's own aura as a powerful Zombie King was fully unleashed. It was the presence of an absolute ruler—undeniable, suffocating. The kind of pressure that made even the undead shiver.
"He's… he's a Zombie King!" one of them finally realized, and the fear in their eyes deepened.
Ethan walked toward them slowly, his voice calm but laced with sarcasm. "Why'd you all run when you saw ? Is my face really that scary?"
"Yeah. It is," one of the zombies answered without hesitation.
"…" Ethan was speechless for a second. Then again, they were zombies. Their intelligence had evolved, sure, but they still weren't exactly smooth talkers. Blunt honesty was kind of their thing.
"You guys see soone and just bolt? That's not very zombie-like behavior," Ethan said, clearly unimpressed.
"Our boss told us to," the zombie replied matter-of-factly.
Ethan fell silent for a mont. Figures. Crappy soldiers usually ant a crappy general. Whatever kind of Zombie King they had, it clearly rubbed off on the rest.
"Take to your boss."
"Uh…" The zombie hesitated. Their leader had given strict orders—don't get caught, no matter what. Bringing Ethan straight to him? That felt like betrayal.
"No way. I can't take you to him."
"Loyal, huh…" Ethan muttered, but the pressure he was releasing intensified. The zombie's soul felt like it was being crushed. Its mind went blank, and the stench of death crept closer.
The zombie imdiately changed its tune. Taking him there wasn't really betrayal, right? Just… guiding a guest.
"Okay, okay! I'll take you!"
"Good." Ethan nodded. That's more like it.
He retracted the Domain of the Dead, pulling back the oppressive aura. The air returned to its eerie silence, but the fear he'd instilled lingered. The other zombies still looked at him like he was death incarnate.
Without another word, they obediently led the way.
It didn't take long.
They arrived at the hideout of the Mist Zombie King.
In a pitch-black basent, Mist sensed his underlings approaching. As their silhouettes erged from the shadows, he tilted his head, curious.
"Huh? You guys are back already?"
"Uh-huh." The minions nodded quickly, clearly nervous.
Mist narrowed his eyes. "Did the intruders leave?"
"Nope. They ca," one of them blurted out.
"???"
Mist's eyes went wide. He looked past them—and sure enough, there was soone else. A stranger. A tall figure standing silently in the dark.
"Shit!" Mist panicked. The black mist around him surged violently, reacting like a squid squirting ink. A thick cloud of fog exploded outward as he bolted backward, his first instinct: run.
In seconds, the entire basent was swallowed in darkness. The fog was so dense, you couldn't see your own hand in front of your face.
Even Ethan, with his enhanced vision, couldn't see through it.
"This guy…" Ethan couldn't help but be impressed. The dude had so serious escape skills.
But he wasn't about to let him get away.
He activated the Domain of the Dead again, unleashing that overwhelming pressure in all directions.
Wherever it spread, the thick fog lted away like snow under a blowtorch—vanishing into nothing.
Ethan's Domain of the Dead now stretched for thousands of feet—easily enough to blanket the entire area in its oppressive grip.
Mist imdiately sensed sothing was wrong. He glanced back instinctively.
His eyes widened in disbelief as he saw the thick black fog he'd released rapidly dissolving into nothing.
"Uh… what the hell…"
He stood there, dumbfounded, as a terrifying force surged toward him like a tidal wave of blood and death, threatening to swallow him whole.
Mist's abilities were limited—mostly just fog manipulation, with zero combat prowess. He wasn't fast either, so there was no way he could outrun the Domain's reach.
A second later, it engulfed him.
His body froze in place, locked down by the overwhelming pressure.
The black mist around them had completely dissipated now, revealing Ethan's tall, lean figure. He walked forward slowly, his white shirt practically glowing in the dim light, every step calm and deliberate.
"P-please… don't kill !"
Mist was shaking uncontrollably. He could feel the crushing aura of a true king pressing down on him. His fear wasn't any less than that of his underlings—maybe even worse.
Ethan studied the zombie in front of him. Mist still had traces of black mist curling around his body, but his face was pale as a corpse, which made for a weird contrast.
Honestly, Ethan had expected him to look more like Little Shadow—skin dark as coal, maybe even creepy-cool. But this guy? He looked like a ghost who'd just seen a ghost.
"What's your na?"
"I… I'm Mist," he stamred, answering truthfully.
Ethan nodded. "Fitting."
"From now on, you're with ."
"Yes, boss!" Mist agreed instantly, without even a second of hesitation.
"Huh?" Ethan blinked, caught off guard by how fast he agreed. Out of all the zombies he'd recruited so far, this guy was hands-down the quickest to say yes—and Ethan hadn't even offered him any flesh or blood as a bribe.
Mist, anwhile, was already thinking ahead. Just agree for now. If things go south later, I'll find a way to slip out.
That was one of his personal "Ultimate Survival Rules."
Over the past few months, he'd pledged loyalty to more than a few Zombie Kings. But every single one of them had ended up dead—either hunted down by humans or wiped out by rival Zombie Kings in turf wars. One way or another, they all got themselves killed.
Mist had simply taken the opportunity to vanish each ti—and that's how he'd survived this long.
"Uh… just so you know, all my previous bosses? Yeah, they're all dead. Every last one of them," he added, not even trying to hide it.
"Oh." Ethan just nodded, completely unfazed.
"How many zombie underlings do you have?" he asked.
"A thousand!" Mist said proudly, holding up one finger.
Ethan paused. That's it?
No wonder they ran at the first sign of trouble…
Mist was clearly a minor player, barely clinging to the edge of the power structure around here. Stronger than Big Ears, maybe, but still pretty damn weak.
Still, Ethan wasn't interested in his combat strength. What caught his eye was the black mist—an ability that could be incredibly useful for large-scale stealth operations.
"Alright. Tomorrow, so humans are gonna break into this city. There's probably gonna be a fight. Get ready."
"Humans?" Mist's face twisted in annoyance. Again? He was getting real tired of this.
"Unbelievable. What do they think this place is, a damn amusent park? Just waltzing in like they own it. Boss, how many are we talking?"
"Probably… at least a thousand," Ethan said, thinking it over.
"A thousand?!" Mist's expression froze.
…
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