Apocalypse: King of Zombies-Chapter 272 : Hope...

Thousands of zombies charged forward, kicking up clouds of dust as they rushed toward the three-story building.

Inside, Takeshi and the others immediately sensed something was wrong. The ground trembled beneath their feet, accompanied by the relentless roars of zombies outside.

"Damn it!"

Realizing something terrible was happening, Takeshi hurried to the window. Sure enough, a massive horde of zombies was surging toward them.

"They've found us!"

"But...how did they know we were hiding here?" asked one of the shelter's senior members, panic clear on his face.

Takeshi frowned deeply, shaking his head.

Something felt off about the whole situation. First, their shelter had been breached, the Devourer Ants had escaped, and now, even after fleeing here, the zombies had somehow tracked them down again. None of this made sense.

"I can't shake the feeling that something's been following us ever since we left the shelter," Takeshi muttered grimly.

"What?"

Everyone's faces turned pale, a chill running down their spines at the thought.

But there was no time to dwell on it. The zombies were already closing in.

"No choice now—we've got to fight!" Takeshi declared firmly.

Several Awakeners with elemental abilities quickly stepped up to the windows.

As soon as the zombie horde entered their attack range, they unleashed their powers.

In an instant, colorful bursts of energy filled the air, raining down upon the densely packed zombies. Walls of earth erupted from the ground with a thunderous rumble, temporarily blocking the zombies' advance.

Then came a barrage of ice spikes and fireballs.

The ice spikes were razor-sharp, shooting forward as fast as bullets, piercing through multiple zombies in a single strike.

Explosive fireballs detonated among the undead, scattering them in all directions and igniting nearby zombies, turning the area into a blazing inferno.

Yet some elite zombies, even engulfed in flames, continued charging forward relentlessly, becoming living torches as they rushed toward the humans.

"These humans actually have decent teamwork," the female Zombie King observed coldly, her fierce eyes narrowing as she realized the humans wouldn't fall easily.

Given Japan's harsh survival conditions, any Awakeners who had survived this long were no pushovers. Though they seemed weak compared to Ethan, they were ruthless and efficient when dealing with ordinary zombies.

But human stamina had its limits. After continuously unleashing their abilities at high intensity, fatigue quickly set in, and their attacks began to weaken.

Seizing this opportunity, a group of elite zombies broke through into the first-floor lobby, heading straight for the staircase leading upstairs.

Four Awakeners stood guard at the stairs, gripping sharp weapons tightly, their faces grim and determined.

One of them tightened the headband around his forehead, raised his short blade, and charged at the zombies.

"Die, you bastards!"

With each swift slash, dark zombie blood splattered, and undead bodies collapsed to the ground.

These four were strength and speed-type Awakeners, their strikes swift and powerful as they clashed fiercely with the zombies.

The staircase quickly became a gruesome battlefield, littered with severed limbs and splattered blood as zombies fell one after another.

The humans' coordination was impressive, their strategy clear and effective.

Elemental Awakeners provided ranged support from above, while strength and speed-types held the line downstairs, cutting down any zombies that broke through.

Together, they turned the three-story building into a formidable fortress.

"Hang in there, everyone! There aren't that many zombies—less than ten thousand. We might actually finish them off soon!" shouted a strength-type Awakener, trying to boost morale.

Beside him, an agility-type Awakener nodded breathlessly, sweat pouring down his face as he continued dodging and weaving through the zombies.

Agility-types were fast but lacked endurance. They excelled at chasing down targets or escaping danger, but in a defensive battle like this, strength-types had the advantage.

Just then, a shadowy blur shot into the first-floor lobby with a sharp gust of wind, disappearing from sight almost instantly.

"Huh? What was that?"

Everyone tensed up, sensing something was terribly wrong.

"Careful, everyone! It might be a Zombie King!" someone warned nervously.

But before he even finished speaking, a swift figure burst from the zombie horde, moving so fast she left afterimages behind. Her pale, terrifying face appeared right in front of them in a heartbeat.

An A-class agility Zombie King had launched a surprise attack, catching them completely off guard.

The Awakener barely had time to raise his blade before he felt a cold sensation across his neck. His breath froze, eyes wide with disbelief, and then his head tilted and fell cleanly from his shoulders.

"This female zombie is the leader of the horde!" the remaining three Awakeners shouted in horror.

But the Zombie King's fierce eyes swept over them coldly, and she vanished again, launching another attack.

An agility-type Awakener reacted quickly, raising his blade to block. But the Zombie King's razor-sharp claws sliced through the weapon effortlessly, snapping it in half with a loud clang.

Without pausing, her claws continued forward, slashing toward his chest.

"What the—"

The Awakener's eyes widened in shock.

Due to limited resources and immature alloy-smelting technology at the shelter, their weapons were subpar. Against an A-class enemy, they were practically useless.

"Shhhk—"

The Zombie King's claws tore five deep, bloody gashes across his chest.

He instinctively stumbled backward to dodge, but standing on the staircase, he lost his footing and fell backward.

Behind him, another zombie appeared—Mad Dog, one of the zombie lieutenants.

Mad Dog grinned maliciously, his hands rapidly mutating as bones grew outward, forming grotesque bone gauntlets around his fists.

"Backdoor Strike!" Mad Dog shouted gleefully, thrusting his bone-covered fists upward toward the falling man.

"Aaaarghhh—!" The Awakener's eyes bulged, his body stiffening in agony as he let out a pig-like squeal of pain.

That single strike completely incapacitated him.

Several elite zombies immediately swarmed him, tearing into his flesh like rabid animals.

"Holy shit!" The remaining two Awakeners recoiled in horror, instinctively clenching their backsides.

"This is hopeless—we can't hold them off anymore! Let's retreat!"

"Agreed!"

Without hesitation, they turned and sprinted upstairs to regroup with the main force on the third floor.

The female Zombie King, accompanied by Mad Dog and a swarm of zombies, immediately gave chase.

On the third floor, Takeshi's eyes turned cold and fierce as he drew his titanium-alloy katana.

"Finally, the Zombie King shows herself."

His entire body radiated killing intent. He hadn't joined the fight earlier, deliberately conserving his strength for this very moment.

There were two ways to deal with a zombie horde:

The source of this c𝓸ntent is freewebnøvel.coɱ.

The first was straightforward—kill every last one of them.

The second was to eliminate the Zombie King leading them. Without their leader, the mindless lower-level zombies would scatter, losing their cohesion and threat.

Takeshi had been waiting patiently for the Zombie King to reveal herself, and now his chance had finally arrived.

"Everyone, back me up. Our priority is taking down the Zombie King."

"Got it!"

The others responded immediately. Even though they were exhausted from constant fighting, their eyes still burned with determination.

Because now, they could finally see a glimmer of hope.

And as long as there was hope...

They could keep fighting.

...