Chapter 723: Wait… they were eaten?

“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing,” Ethan said with a nod.

Before the humans showed up, he figured he’d head out for a little hunting trip. Plus, with all the Zombie Kings gathering in Eastreach, over on the eastern edge of Necroterra, it was the perfect chance to make some allies—or maybe recruit a few underlings. Either way, it was a good excuse to expand his influence.

Lately, a bunch of aircraft had been flying over Southvale, heading east.

Clearly, the other Zombie Kings had picked up the signal and were making their way to Eastreach to hunt Xenobeasts.

Ethan was ready to move out too.

Word got around fast. His zombie underlings came shambling over to see him off, and even Umbradrake showed up.

When Bulldozer heard Ethan was going out to kill Xenobeasts, he practically started twitching with excitement.

“Boss, take me with you, will ya? You haven’t brought me along in forever!”

“You’re staying here to hold down the fort,” Ethan said flatly.

“Oh…” Bulldozer’s shoulders slumped. He got the message loud and clear.

Laura, standing nearby, couldn’t help but gloat. “Big Lug, has the boss ever taken you on a mission? Like, ever?”

“Bullshit! Of course he has!” Bulldozer shot back.

…Though for the life of him, he couldn’t remember when.

Ethan stepped forward toward a sleek aircraft parked nearby—top-tier tech salvaged from human civilization. Rumor had it this thing was insanely fast.

The ship had a streamlined, elongated design, its silver surface gleaming under the sunlight like liquid metal.

“Boss!” Umbradrake hurried up beside him, giving a quick report. “Some zombie factions from Heartland are looking for you. If you run into them in Eastreach, be careful. Don’t let them recognize you.”

“Oh, good point,” Ethan said, nodding. He agreed—after all, The Voidborn Undying, the one who first descended to Earth, had seen him before.

And his signature white shirt look? Way too recognizable.

Umbradrake bobbed his head like a nervous pigeon. He wasn’t just worried about Ethan—he was worried about himself. If those powerful Zombie Kings from Heartland decided to come knocking on Southvale’s door, he’d be caught in the crossfire.

“Relax. They won’t recognize me,” Ethan said, and with a flick of his mind, his psychic energy shimmered. An illusion wrapped around him, and in the blink of an eye, he transformed—now looking exactly like Umbradrake. Same face, same clothes, down to the last detail.

“See? Problem solved.”

“Wait—what? You—” Umbradrake stared, dumbfounded, trying to form a sentence.

But Ethan didn’t give him the chance. He turned and boarded the aircraft.

The engine roared to life like a beast waking from a deep slumber. Twin jets of flame burst from the rear, and in a flash, the ship shot into the sky like a silver comet, vanishing into the horizon.

“Great… I’m gonna be the scapegoat, aren’t I?” Umbradrake muttered, still standing there, anxiety gnawing at him. Knowing Ethan, this was bound to stir up some serious trouble—and when it did, guess who’d be left holding the bag?

Bulldozer, clad in his heavy chest armor, stared up at the sky until the last glimmer of the ship disappeared. Then he blinked, muttering to himself, “Wait… has the boss really never taken me on a mission? Why not?”

“Do you even have to ask?” Laura said, rolling her eyes. “You’d just slow him down.”

“…” Bulldozer’s face darkened with frustration. He didn’t like that answer one bit.

“He should take me anyway!”

…

Ethan cruised eastward in the sleek new aircraft, heading for Eastreach, the eastern frontier of Necroterra.

He hadn’t brought Bulldozer or the others along for a reason—it just wasn’t practical. Ethan could cloak himself, blend in, vanish at will. He could move fast and light. His underlings? Not so much.

Outside the window, the clouds streaked past in a blur, racing backward at breakneck speed.

This aircraft was no joke—Ethan estimated it was pushing Mach 30, thirty times the speed of sound.

Even so, it still took the better part of a day to reach Eastreach.

As he looked down, the landscape had changed dramatically. It wasn’t like the barren wastelands of Southvale. Here, the terrain was rugged—rolling hills and jagged ravines stretched as far as the eye could see.

The slopes rose and fell like waves frozen in time, and the ground was split by deep, yawning chasms—black, gaping maws that looked like they could swallow the world whole.

“Figures… not exactly a vacation spot,” Ethan muttered to himself.

Eastreach was vast—bigger than Southvale by a long shot—and constantly under siege by Xenobeasts. Bloodshed was a daily occurrence here.

Ethan eased the aircraft into a low-altitude cruise, slowing down to get a better look.

From up here, he could clearly see the ground littered with bones and mangled corpses—some were zombies, others were… something else. Unidentifiable beasts, torn apart and left to rot.

Suddenly, from a pitch-black fissure in the earth, a thick, slimy tentacle shot out, wrapped around a nearby zombie corpse, and yanked it back into the darkness.

The area around the crevice was slick with mucus and piled high with humanoid skeletons.

“Interesting…” Ethan murmured.

From the signal he’d intercepted earlier, he knew that among the invading Xenobeasts were parasitic monsters—specifically, ones under the control of an Overmind Queen.

What kind of power that entailed, he wasn’t entirely sure yet.

As the aircraft glided forward, he began to spot zombie nests on the ground—though most had already been overrun by the parasites. Yellow boulders were smeared with thick, sticky fluids, and the zombies inside were twisted, grotesque versions of themselves. Their faces were contorted with rage, and when they saw the aircraft overhead, they shrieked with bloodthirsty fury.

Watching them, Ethan couldn’t help but think of someone from his past.

But with his current comms gear still a few generations behind, he couldn’t reach them—not yet.

Further ahead, some of the nests looked… off. They hadn’t been taken over by parasites, but they were completely empty.

The stone walls and floors were stained with dark, dried blood—patterns that almost looked like runes or sigils.

“Where the hell are the zombies?” Ethan wondered aloud.

Even if there’d been a massacre, there should’ve been something left behind—shredded limbs, broken bones, anything.

Then he spotted it: black, tar-like piles scattered across the ground. They looked like… droppings.

“Wait… they were eaten?”

That was his best guess. Something had devoured every last zombie in those nests—bones and all.

The thought sent a chill down his spine.

Zombies were monsters in their own right—bloodthirsty, relentless. But here, they were prey. Something out there was strong enough to treat them like snacks.

He passed dozens of nests, all wiped out in different ways. Some were torn apart by parasites. Others… who knew?

Ethan did a rough mental count. Just the parasitic monsters alone had to number in the tens of millions.

“One Overmind Queen… and this much destruction?” he muttered.

And that was just one species. There were other Xenobeasts out there, too.

Most of them hated sunlight. During the day, they hid in crevices, shadows, or deep underground. That’s why Ethan hadn’t seen many of them directly.

But Eastreach’s terrain was perfect for them—endless canyons, bottomless pits, and dark ravines. Who knew how many monsters were lurking down there, waiting for nightfall?

When the sun went down, that’s when the real horror began.

No wonder the local Zombie Kings had sent out distress signals. There was no way they could handle this on their own.

As Ethan flew past the worst of the invasion zone, the landscape began to shift again. Ahead, on the desolate plains, he spotted movement—zombies, running full tilt.

But they weren’t charging into battle. They were fleeing.

Panic radiated from them like a wave.

“Run! We’ve gotta get out of here—now!”

…