Lola had been the earliest to finish off her opponent.

Nico was the second, and with the two combined efforts, they helped the others, one by one.

Gradually, each member of their group was supported and finished off their fight, signifying the death of the group of masked men.

Gavin was the last to finish his fight, although he had no one to help him.

They could tell that he was distraught but they had no time to cater to his feelings; in fact, all of them were distraught.

Some of them didn't win their battles with pure power, rather, it was given to them by their opponent just like Gavin.

After they had grouped together, they realized that not all of them had survived.

Knight-Captain Garrett and Gavin were the only remaining soldiers among the group, the rest had died and their deaths were easily avenged by the rest.

Nico walked to Roan and told him what Dean said before he died, "The Palace. He said there was an escape path there."

Roan lingered his eyes on Nico for a while before you asked, "....and you believe him?"

"Well, there's no reason to lie if he was going to die anyway," chuckled Nico.

"Hmmmm…..that's true. There was an escape path before, but I heard it was buried along with the underground system. Knight Garrett, what do you think," offered Roan.

With the number of secrets hidden in the kingdom, it wouldn't be strange that something like that was still operating.

Roan was still a crown prince, so he had no access to such kingdom secrets.

Garrett responded to him, "I don't know. I have heard rumors of it from my other comrades. Every day, there is an exceedingly large number of soldiers tasked at the palace, most likely for a secret assignment. It has been this way for years, and those that weren't picked could only speculate what was actually going on there."

Roan confided, "Since we were going there, either way, it's still okay. Let's move zombie would flood this place in min---"

Before he could finish talking, an immeasurable pressure descended on them.

Even the eloquent crown prince couldn't take it anymore and cursed, 'F*ck, not again!'

He could only inwardly curse, though.

Due to their pressure being generated from somewhere, the group found it hard to move their body!

It was as if they were paralyzed and had to simply watch as time went by.

They were familiar with what they were currently experiencing.

The pressure was generated from an aura, just like what the king did to the participants of the Aztec Competition's preliminary stage. Except, it was far more powerful than the king's own.

It was an ability acquired when one reached [Realm-3] or a power rank corresponding to that.

*Dum!* *Dum!* Dum!*

At first, they thought the sound they were hearing was an earthquake, but as it got closer to them, they realized it was the sound of footsteps!

It then made them wonder what kind of human would be able to make such a footstep, capable of piercing their heart.

They weren't dumb and quickly associated the pressure to the footsteps.

As the sound got closer, the pressure increased and they slammed, their faces planted in the ground.

Every successive second, bones in their bodies cracked further and almost left them shapeless.

It wasn't until the pressure lessened could the group manage to lift their heads up, but, when they look back in the future, they would probably wish they hadn't!

Raising their heads up, they saw a creature the height of an average two-story building(18ft).

Its eyes, fully black with a hot red dot serving as the pupil. Its skin color was healthy, different from regular zombies, and showed no signs of decaying.

However, its sharp-pointed fangs and claws proved that it was anything but normal.

Plus, the blood on its teeth made them understand that it wasn't harmless.

Looking at it, Roan instantly knew exactly what type of zombie they were dealing with.

It was a [One-Star Zombie Lord]!

The highest rank of zombies to ever walk on Aztec's land.

In his ancestors' writing, there had only ever been one zombie lord that they had encountered during the warring ages.

His ancestors failed to defeat it but managed to push it back into the Nether rift after countless sacrifices were made.

Roan gritted his teeth, 'There is no doubt. It is the same one.'

A [Zombie Lord] was not easily bred. It would take many decades to make one, and it would need to kill on a daily basis.

The organization responsible for this invasion surely did not have the right resources to breed one. If they had, the whole planet would have known.

Even a [Gray Eye Zombie] took many years for it to evolve, not to talk of a [Zombie Lord].

Using this fact, Roan knew it was safe to discern that [Nether Rift] had been opened again!

That was the only explanation for the appearance of the creature before them.

And it meant that all hope was lost.

There was no one on Aztec capable of stopping this zombie.

Roan watched as the zombie inched its face closer to them.

It had reduced the pressure it exuded, so, they were able to freely move their neck.

Roan and co had pride.

Despite being deeply scared, they couldn't hide their faces.

They engaged with a staredown with the zombie and didn't blink at all.

As if sensing their defiance, the zombie opened his mouth, which released an airburst, and madly roared.

*Roar!*

It was a zombie, a zombie lord, and it wouldn't allow mere humans to behave like that in its presence.

Its roar conveyed its pride and slowly, the group couldn't keep up their stares. They hid their faces to signify their defeat.

It was akin to bowing in front of a king.

They obeyed the rule of the land.

Despite the strong one in this scenario being a zombie, they still cowered in front of it.

It wasn't their wish to do so. It was their instincts, instinct tainted by years of civilization, but could never be permanently removed.

*Roar!*

The zombie madly roared again, but this time, it was not to them.

While their heads were facing the ground again, they heard footsteps.

Thinking it was all over, they waited for death, but it never came. Instead, the pressure gradually lessened until it was no more!

Shocked, the group peaked their head out.

No one was there.

The Zombie Lord had disappeared, his low resounding footsteps being proof of that.

The group looked at one another. There were no words needed, and they dashed straight to the palace.

Now that they had seen it personally, they knew the fate of Aztec.

However, it was still strange that a zombie let them live.

*Roar!*

As they were running, they heard another loud roar.

This time, they didn't look back. They continued running like their lives depended on it.

The roar got closer and closer, but they still continued.

Suddenly, Garrett, who was at the front of the group stopped.

The other failed to understand why.

All they saw was a grey blur, that went past him. After the blur was done, Garrett's head was, well,.... not on his head!