Apocalypse: King of Zombies
Chapter 544 - 544: Man… couldn’t it have been something edible?

"ROOOAAARRR—!"

The Radiated Giant Sandworm let out another earth-shaking roar, and in response, the countless skeletal heads embedded in its body howled in unison. The sound was deafening, a nightmarish chorus that sent chills down everyone's spine.

The sheer force of the soundwave hit the group like a hammer. Their heads buzzed, their thoughts scrambled, as if their minds were under psychic assault.

"Is… is that even a living creature anymore?"

"This is insane!"

"What the hell are we even looking at…"

The scene before them had already shattered the limits of their understanding. Just laying eyes on the Radiated Giant Sandworm was enough to make their stomachs churn. A wave of nausea swept over them, the urge to vomit rising uncontrollably.

Ethan, however, studied the creature with a curious glint in his eye.

Clearly, the thing had undergone a secondary mutation—thanks to the radiation from the meteorite—and had absorbed and fused with countless vampires it had devoured. This wasn't just a mutated beast anymore. It was a grotesque amalgamation, a monster that had evolved who-knows-how-many times.

Its mind was a chaotic mess, a hive of countless fractured consciousnesses barely holding together. All that remained was a single, overwhelming instinct: devour.

Dozens of thick, writhing tentacles lashed out from its body, blotting out the sky. Its massive form slithered forward, bearing down on the group like a living apocalypse.

Ethan didn't flinch. His eyes flared with a crimson glow as he unleashed the full force of his Domain of the Dead. A suffocating pressure blanketed the battlefield like a tidal wave.

With the Star Map tablet in hand, he charged straight at the beast.

The moment he collided with the Radiated Giant Sandworm, it was like it had slammed into an invisible wall of steel. Its massive body froze mid-motion.

Then—pop! pop! pop!—the skeletal heads crowning its body began exploding one after another, blue bioluminescent blood spraying into the air like fireworks.

It was as if the sky itself was weeping blood.

Ethan watched the skulls burst like bubble wrap, and oddly enough, found it… satisfying. There was something weirdly therapeutic about it.

Then, gripping the Star Map tablet tightly, he leapt high into the air—like a meteor shooting upward—and came crashing down toward the creature's head.

The size difference between them was absurd. Ethan was a speck compared to the towering monstrosity. But the moment the tablet struck—

Silence.

Then—

BOOOOM!

A shockwave ripped through the air like a mountain collapsing into the sea.

The Radiated Giant Sandworm's furious roars turned into a pitiful wail. Cracks spiderwebbed across its skull, and blue blood gushed out in torrents.

Its monstrous aura began to fade, weakening by the second… until it vanished completely.

The beast—over 300 feet tall—collapsed with a thunderous crash, shaking the ground like an earthquake.

And Ethan?

He landed gracefully, right as the dust settled. His white coat was still pristine, not a speck of dirt on him.

The worm's corpse lay before him, grotesque and massive, its mutated form a horror show of evolution gone wrong. It had clearly undergone countless transformations. For most people, this thing would've been a death sentence.

But for Ethan?

Just another day at the office.

"Holy shit…"

Chris and the others stood frozen, jaws slack, eyes wide. The shock hadn't worn off.

Aiden stared blankly, looking like a duck that had just been strangled mid-quack.

"Boss… that was insane. He's a damn monster."

The worm's head had been obliterated, its body sprawled across the blood-soaked earth. The dark red soil was now streaked with vibrant blue, like someone had spilled neon paint across a battlefield.

Then, something rolled out from the shattered remains of its skull—a glowing blue stone, about the size of a soccer ball.

It shimmered with an ethereal light, almost dreamlike in its beauty.

"What the hell is that?"

"No way… is that a crystal core? That big?!"

"Come on, let's check it out!"

"Yeah, let's go!"

Chris and the others exchanged excited glances, curiosity burning in their eyes as they hurried forward.

"Wait—hold up!"

Elara quickly stepped in front of them, throwing out an arm to block their path. "Don't go near that crystal core. It's mutated—highly radioactive. With your physical resistance, you wouldn't last. You get too close, and you might end up turning into monsters yourselves."

The group, who'd been practically bouncing with excitement, froze mid-step. Their expressions shifted instantly from eager to horrified. Not only did they stop moving forward—they actually backed up a good 300 feet.

"Mutated crystal core?" Ethan raised an eyebrow, genuinely intrigued.

Of course, with his heightened senses, he'd already picked up on something being off. That glowing blue stone definitely wasn't something he could absorb. At first glance, he'd thought he'd hit the jackpot—something that size had to be valuable.

His first instinct? Take it back and use it to cultivate a fusion-type Zombie King or something equally wild.

Hell, if it ended up looking like that worm, it'd be pretty damn badass.

But hearing it was radioactive? Yeah… maybe not. The last thing he needed was to infect his own horde and trigger some kind of catastrophic chain reaction.

Still, Ethan had one golden rule: Never leave empty-handed. And if something looked like trash to others, he'd find a way to turn it into treasure.

If the core was too dangerous for his own zombies, no problem—he could always toss it into someone else's horde and see what happened.

A little field experiment never hurt anyone… well, except maybe the test subjects.

After all, Ethan was a firm believer in the scientific method—with a healthy dose of chaos.

"Not bad," he muttered with a smirk.

Without hesitation, he strode forward. Under the protection of his Domain of the Dead, the blue radiation from the core passed right through him like mist—completely harmless.

With a flick of his wrist, he summoned his spatial storage ring and absorbed the mutated crystal core into it.

The moment it vanished, the dazzling blue glow disappeared from the landscape. The desolate earth seemed to lose its last bit of color.

Even the blue blood oozing from the Radiated Giant Sandworm's corpse began to dull and fade.

Crisis: officially over.

"That thing… was it like the gatekeeper of the radiation zone?" Chris asked, still shaken.

Aiden nodded. "Pretty much. We're at the edge of the buffer zone. Go any deeper, and we're in the real radiation field."

Chris muttered under his breath, "We just stepped in and already ran into something like that… I don't even wanna imagine what's waiting deeper in."

They took a moment to regroup, checking their gear and catching their breath before pressing on.

Ethan glanced back at the fallen beast. The Radiated Giant Sandworm's corpse loomed like a mountain—easily 300 feet tall, about the height of a thirty-story building, and nearly a thousand feet long. It was even bigger than the infamous "Zombiezilla" from back in the day.

Easily the largest creature he'd seen since the apocalypse began.

Too bad…

Because of the radiation saturating its body, it wasn't considered "fresh" flesh. Which meant it couldn't be consumed to absorb power.

"Man… couldn't it have been something edible?" Ethan grumbled to himself.

If he could've dragged this thing back and fed it to his zombie underlings, it would've saved him a ton of trouble.

The surrounding area had clearly been the worm's territory. Every other living thing had already been devoured.

So for the next stretch of the journey, the path was eerily quiet. No threats, no ambushes—just silence.

Eventually, they started spotting meteor craters scattered across the ground. Some still held chunks of meteorite, resting quietly in the dust.

"Think any of these have meteoric iron for weapon forging?" Mia asked, eyes lighting up.

"Hold on, let me check." Elara stepped forward immediately, crouching beside one of the craters. She began scanning it carefully, her movements precise and practiced. This was exactly why she'd joined the team—to analyze and collect rare materials.

Finally, her skills were coming into play.

Meanwhile, Ethan's gaze drifted further ahead. Past the worm's former territory, he noticed faint traces—scattered footprints, blood smears, and torn terrain.

Signs of a Vampire Horde on the move.

Though the trail was thinner now, it still stretched off into the distance.

Which meant one thing: Gunner had led his Vampire Horde straight through the Radiated Giant Sandworm's domain.

Given their strength, there was no way they could've taken the beast down head-on. They must've sacrificed numbers—just kept throwing bodies at it until they forced a path through.

The cost must've been enormous.

And yet, Gunner hadn't turned back.

"That guy… really doesn't know when to quit," Ethan muttered, half impressed, half amused.

...

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