*Boom! Boom! Boom!*
Lightning tore through the forest in rapid succession as Ethan kept up a relentless barrage. He fired round after round from his storm crossbow, each bolt crackling with enough energy to illuminate the dark canopy before slamming into the massive Demi-god beast.
The attacks weren’t meant to kill it—they couldn’t. At his current level, Ethan knew better than to believe he could defeat a genuine Demi-god head-on. Every bolt was meant to accomplish only one thing: create an opening for Davos.
He fired again and immediately retreated, using the thick trees and tangled vines as cover.
*Boom!*
Another bolt struck the beast across its shoulder. The crocodile-headed creature roared, its massive body twisting as vines exploded from the ground around it.
Ethan didn’t wait. His feet barely touched the ground as he darted between the trees, his eyes constantly scanning the battlefield.
Screams echoed throughout the forest. Maqaue clansmen were thrown through trees, and Tudor warriors fled in every direction as vines lashed through the air like serpents, tearing through anyone unfortunate enough to be caught in their path.
The Demi-god beast had completely taken control of its territory, yet Ethan continued firing.
*Boom! Boom! Boom!*
"Shit!" He gritted his teeth. "What the hell is that old fool doing?"
Davos was supposed to be the main force. The plan had been simple: Ethan and the other Tier 6 fighters would harass the beast from different directions while Davos held its attention and searched for an opportunity to capture it.
Yet something had gone terribly wrong. Ethan had been attacking for several minutes now, and there was still no sign of Davos making a move.
"Crap!"
Ethan landed on the ground and immediately felt the earth shift beneath his boots.
His eyes widened, but it was already too late.
The ground erupted as a massive network of vines burst from below, forming a rigid canopy that slammed into him and launched him violently into the air.
"Ah—!"
Before he could recover, a gigantic claw swept through the space where he had been suspended. Ethan barely managed to twist his body, but the claw still connected.
*BOOM!*
The impact produced a violent shockwave, and Ethan’s body shot backward like a stone fired from a cannon. He crashed through one tree, then another, and then a third.
"Ahhh!"
Blood erupted from his mouth as his body finally broke through the upper branches and slammed face-first into the dirt.
For several seconds, Ethan didn’t move.
Pain flooded every nerve, his vision blurred, and his ears rang with a deafening hum. His right arm was bent at a grotesque angle that immediately told him the bone had snapped.
This was the absolute divide between a mortal and a Demi-god.
Ethan had watched Demi-gods fight before—he had seen Davos and other powerful beings tear apart landscapes as though nature itself meant nothing to them. But watching was entirely different from being on the receiving end. That single, glancing blow had nearly crippled him, and a direct strike at full strength would have killed him instantly.
Ethan coughed, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the soil beneath him.
*’Can’t die. Not here.’*
His fingers dug into the earth as he forced himself up. His broken arm hung uselessly at his side, but he ignored the throbbing agony.
A faint, luminous glow enveloped his frame.
*White Transit.*
His figure dissolved, reappearing several dozen meters away.
He staggered on his feet, but his body was already beginning to repair itself. The regenerative skill he had acquired recently immediately went to work: broken bones ground back into alignment, torn muscle fibers knit together, and the internal bleeding ground to a halt.
Yet Ethan understood the reality immediately—it wasn’t enough. Regeneration could patch wounds, but it couldn’t bridge the massive gap in their raw power. He had to get out of the combat zone.
Ethan surveyed his surroundings. The forest had descended into complete pandemonium. The Demi-god beast was no longer targeting specific threats; it was simply obliterating everything within reach. Vines tore through the soil, ancient trees collapsed in splinters, the swamp churned into a sea of mud, and screams rang out from all sides.
And somewhere within that chaos, Davos was still nowhere to be seen.
Ethan’s expression darkened. *’Where the hell is he?’*
He broke into a run. Several seconds later, the dense tree line abruptly ended, and Ethan skidded to a halt at the edge of a sheer cliff.
His eyes widened at the massive drop stretching out below him. There was no gentle slope—only a straight plunge into the lower ravine.
Behind him, the sound of chaotic movement grew louder by the second.
Footsteps. Dozens of them. Then hundreds.
Ethan slowly turned his head to see a terrified mass of humans, Maqaue warriors, and Tudor clansmen sprinting desperately toward the cliff edge.
And right behind them charged the towering, crocodile-headed Demi-god beast.
"Damn it."
Ethan looked down the cliff, then back toward the stampeding crowd. He had run out of terrain. The beast was bearing down on them, the panicked survivors were closing in, and there was nowhere left to maneuver.
Ethan let out a sharp breath. "Fine."
He stepped up to the edge, preparing to leap, when the ground suddenly groaned beneath their combined weight.
*BOOM!*
The entire cliff face fractured and gave way.
"What—?"
Ethan dropped like a stone as the ledge collapsed into an avalanche of rock and soil. His body plunged into the open air along with dozens of screaming warriors.
"Shit!"
Wind roared in his ears as bodies tumbled around him in free fall. Without a moment’s hesitation, Ethan tapped into his mental link.
A massive, spectral creature materialized beneath him, its broad wings snapping open to catch the rushing updraft. The Mind Dragon let out a low roar, instantly stabilizing their descent.
Ethan landed firmly on its scaled back, his chest heaving for air.
Below him, bodies continued crashing into the rocky ravine floor. Some managed to roll and survive the fall, while others hit the stone and never moved again.
Ethan stared down from the dragon’s back, his jaw tightening in sheer frustration. The entire plan had completely fallen apart. Davos was supposed to have locked down the beast, but the Demi-god had vanished without a trace.
*’Who would have thought a Demi-god like Davos could be this incompetent?’*
Ethan ground his teeth. He had trusted the old lizard to handle the heaviest threat on the board, and now he was left dealing with a berserk beast, dozens of scattered witnesses, and a compromised position.
Then his eyes narrowed.
The survivors on the ground were slowly pushing themselves up from the debris, their gazes turning upward.
They were all staring directly at him. More importantly, they were staring at the Mind Dragon.
Ethan’s expression turned dead cold.
*’They all saw me.’*
The mind dragon hovered quietly in the ravine air. The surviving humans, Maqaue fighters, and Tudor clansmen below had all witnessed him manifest a high-tier summon to save his own skin.
That was a fatal mistake for his mission.
His identity in this territory relied entirely on maintaining his cover. If word leaked that a powerful human summoner was operating in the Bamboo Mirage Dungeon, the Demi-human factions would launch an immediate investigation—and scrutiny was the last thing he could afford.
Ethan looked down at the silent crowd. No one moved, and no one spoke; they were simply paralyzed by shock.
His fingers tightened around the grip of his sword. He knew what had to be done.
"Fuck."
Ethan willed the Mind Dragon away, dropping from midair and landing heavily among the dazed survivors.
Several people instinctively stepped backward, uncertain of what he was about to do.
Ethan walked up to the nearest wounded Tudor lying in the dirt, the man barely clinging to consciousness.
Ethan raised his blade. "Sorry."
The steel flashed downward.
[You have slain 1 human.]
Ethan’s gaze didn’t waver. He stepped to the next body and struck again.
[You have slain 1 human.]
Then another.
[You have slain 1 human.]
The system notifications chimed steadily in his mind. Ethan felt no satisfaction in the act, but he couldn’t afford hesitation—these witnesses had seen far too much.
One by one, the counter climbed rapidly: ninety-three, ninety-four, ninety-five.
Ethan moved like an executioner, his expression carved from stone.
Ninety-six. Ninety-seven. Ninety-eight. Ninety-nine.
His blade drove home one final time.
[You have successfully slain 100 members of the human clan.]
Ethan stopped, letting out a long, ragged exhale as silence fell over the ravine. He lowered his blood-slicked sword, watching the notification fade.
At least one condition of his advancement mission was finally complete.
He turned to leave, having no intention of lingering around the corpses, when a deafening, agonized shriek ripped through the sky above.
"AAAAAAARGH!"
Ethan froze in his tracks, his head snapping upward.
Something colossal was plummeting through the air. The massive body sheared through the canopy, snapping ancient trees like dry twigs before hurtling straight toward the ravine floor.
It was the crocodile-headed Demi-god beast.
*BOOOOOOM!*
The impact shook the entire valley, sending a violent shockwave of dust and crushed stone roaring in all directions.
Ethan stared in stunned disbelief.
The very same Demi-god beast that had shattered his bones moments ago was lying completely motionless in the crater, thick rivers of blood pouring from massive, fatal wounds across its torso. It was already dead.
Ethan’s eyes widened, his expression twisting into pure disbelief.
"One thing after the fucking other!"
He spun on his heel and bolted into the shadows of the forest.
There was no time to inspect the carcass, and no time to wonder how a sovereign beast had been slaughtered midair. Something vastly more terrifying had just torn it apart—and Ethan had no desire to meet whatever was capable of killing a Demi-god in seconds.
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