Steve felt like laughing.
"Back when I played Minecraft, the Ender Dragon was a nightmare if you didn't destroy those crystals first. She'd just fly around, soak up some beams, and come back with a full health bar. Now, I'm the one with a thousand power banks tethered to my spine."
Rumble!
A terrifying explosion bloomed in mid-air as a brilliant storm of dark energy engulfed the Ender Dragon's massive form. The sky was choked with soot and debris; on the ground, both sides held their breath as the shockwave settled.
In the next second, the smoke dissipated.
The pitch-black dragon still loomed in the void, regal and untouched. Under the constant pulse of the purple light chains, not even a single scratch marred her obsidian scales. This was the terror of a super-saturated healing network.
"This... how is this possible?!"
Below, Bellamy watched with eyes nearly splitting from rage. He finally realized the nightmare he was facing. Not only were the human ground troops effectively immortal, but the beast in the sky was a regenerating god.
"I have ruled this wasteland for decades! Why have I never heard of such a power?!"
Bellamy's heart was filled with a mixture of shock and primal fury. He didn't realize that any scout who had survived an encounter with Steve's forces was currently a permanent resident of the Biological Research Institute, undergoing a "comprehensive physical exam." Dead men—and dissected ones—tell no tales.
"I can wait no longer."
Bellamy knew his forces were being ground down in a war of attrition they couldn't win. The human logistics line was still active, transporting mountains of materials. They weren't just fighting; they were stalling for something.
"I must end this now!"
Boom!
Bellamy abandoned his pursuit of elegance. His slender, human-like form began to crack and expand, the sound of snapping bone echoing across the battlefield. In the blink of an eye, the true form of the Zombie Emperor emerged: ten meters tall, encased in dark red bone-armor, with massive, bat-like wings that blotted out the light.
His aura flared with the intensity of a Peak Fifth-Order, faintly brushing against the threshold of the legendary Sixth-Order.
"Oh? Showing your true colors at last?" Steve mocked, staring down the monstrous creature. "I almost forgot you were a zombie. You almost had me convinced you were a person."
"Hmph!" Bellamy's voice was now a guttural rasp. "The human vessel is too fragile. When I retained my consciousness during the mutation, I knew I was the chosen one—the architect of a New Humanity. I will lead us to the peak of evolution..."
"Enough, enough. Don't you know the rule? Villains die because they talk too much." Steve yawned through the dragon's throat and spat a casual blast of Frigid Dragon Breath. "I can't even understand what you're babbling about."
"You motherfucker!"
Bellamy swiped a massive, armored claw, physically slapping the dragon breath aside.
Boom!
The two titans collided in the clouds. Bang! Bang! Bang! Massive shockwaves rippled through the air as they traded blows. But as the fight wore on, Bellamy felt a growing sense of despair. This wasn't a duel; it was a massage.
He would tear through the Ender Dragon's scales with a desperate strike, only for the purple chains to flash and mend the wound instantly. He would shatter a wing with a heavy punch, and by the time he pulled his fist back, the wing was as good as new.
"It's those crystals!" Bellamy finally roared, his gaze locking onto the Endermen scurrying across the ramparts below. "If I don't sever those ties, this beast is invincible!"
"ROAR!"
Bellamy feinted left and then dove toward the Obsidian Great Wall, intent on slaughtering the support units.
Buzz!
The space in front of him distorted. Steve, utilizing the dragon's innate spatial teleportation, appeared directly in his path. The massive dragon body, like an unmovable wall, slammed into Bellamy mid-flight.
"Thinking of hitting my backline? You didn't ask permission." Steve's claws reached out, firmly pinning Bellamy's shoulders. "Let's stay up here where it's quiet. The people below are busy."
Steve wasn't in a hurry. His strategy was simple: the stall. As long as he kept the King occupied, Old Yun could finish the Tier 5 Rage Gene serum in the rear. Once that was mass-produced, the human side could turn the front into an assembly line of Tier 5 masters.
Bellamy was caught in a lethal dilemma. If he tried to force his way down, the dragon would simply turn around and incinerate the zombie army below. Without him, no one could stop her. But if he stayed...
He looked at the thousand purple healing beams, and a deep sense of powerlessness welled up. He was fighting a creature with an infinite health bar and a dozen extra lives she hadn't even used yet.
"Damn it!" Bellamy gritted his teeth and lunged again, forced into a cat-and-mouse game he was destined to lose.
On the ground, the battle was reaching its conclusion. The Tier 4 conflict was no longer a contest. Under the relentless pressure of the Undead Legion, the "Frenzied" horde was being systematically dismantled. The arrogant mutants were being crippled, bound, and packed into crates like dead weight, bound for the Outpost.
"Squads of five thousand, converge!" Randy's voice commanded. "Don't kill the Fifth-Orders. Just break them and bring them in!"
Overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the human-wave tactics, more and more Fifth-Order zombies were being hacked into critical condition and dragged away. Steve had given strict orders: no regeneration potions for the captives yet. Not until their own Tier 5 numbers were high enough to ensure total control.
Minutes ticked by. Finally, a signal chimed in Steve's mind.
Biological Research Institute.
Cooper carefully removed a vial from the centrifuge. It glowed with a dark, violent red luminescence that seemed to warp the air around it.
"Steve, it's ready," Cooper said, handing the reagent to a waiting Enderman. "The first successful batch: The Tier 5 Rage Gene Serum. The other samples are in the final stages. We're ready to begin the conversion."