As Ethan struggled through the deep forest, his steps becoming heavier with every movement, the sound of something enormous moving behind him shook the ground.
He didn’t need to look back. The Demi-god beast was moving again.
Branches snapped, trees were uprooted, and the ground trembled beneath every thunderous stride. Ethan gritted his teeth and pushed forward without stopping to investigate.
Whatever had brought the beast down earlier had clearly failed to kill it permanently. The creature was already recovering, and Ethan had no intention of lingering when it fully regained its strength. He needed distance—as much distance as possible.
*’What happened to Davos?’*
The thought briefly crossed his mind. He had seen the Demi-god vanish mid-battle, and then the beast had somehow come crashing through the forest canopy. Something had clearly unfolded between them, but Ethan couldn’t afford to waste time solving that puzzle.
His body was thoroughly exhausted. His internal injuries were still slowly knitting together, his mana pool was dangerously low, and he had only just finished securing the kill count for his advancement requirement.
If he were forced into another direct confrontation now, he might actually die.
*’Survive first.’* That was the only imperative driving him forward.
Behind him, the massive crocodile-headed monstrosity hauled its colossal bulk from the wreckage. Thick blood poured from jagged wounds crisscrossing its hide, its skull remained heavily fractured, and several scorched patches of flesh still smoked from the lightning barrage.
Yet its predatory eyes remained wide open.
The creature twisted its massive head, sweeping its blurred gaze through the dense forest until its vision locked directly onto Ethan.
A low, guttural rumble vibrated in its chest. "So it was you."
The voice echoed ominously between the towering trunks. Ethan heard the words clearly, but never once turned around.
The beast’s expression twisted into pure malice. These intruders had invaded its domain, butchered its descendants, peppered its hide with relentless attacks, and cracked its skull. By all logic, it should have been consumed by blind fury, slaughtering everything in sight.
Yet something about the fleeing human pulled at its attention—a strange, instinctive resonance buried deep within its bloodline.
The beast could feel a primal urge gnawing at its gut. It didn’t just want to kill Ethan; it wanted to swallow him whole. Its raw instincts recognized something unimaginably precious within the human’s flesh, a source of power it couldn’t fully comprehend but desperately craved.
"Come out, you puny human!" the Demi-god beast roared, its massive talons gouging deep trenches into the earth as it accelerated. "Come back here!"
Ethan kept his expression cold and focused despite the crushing fatigue dragging at his limbs, pushing his pace to the absolute limit.
Behind him, the beast closed the distance with terrifying speed.
Ethan’s eyes darted across the terrain, hunting for any tactical escape route—a deep cave system, a ravine, or another cluster of territorial beasts that could buy him precious seconds.
Then, his gaze flickered past an ancient rock formation.
He nearly overlooked it, but a subtle anomaly caught his attention: a dark silhouette standing motionless against the stone.
Ethan’s footsteps gradually slowed. He took several more measured strides, then came to a complete halt.
A heavy silence settled over the clearing.
Ethan slowly turned to face his pursuer.
The Demi-god beast broke through the tree line, its enormous bulk completely walling off the path behind. Its burning eyes locked squarely onto the human standing unmoving before it.
Ethan raised the Storm Crossbow, locking the mechanism into firing position with a crisp click.
The beast stared him down, a cruel sneer spreading across its jagged maw. "So you’ve finally accepted your fate."
Ethan offered no reply, his finger resting lightly against the trigger.
The beast took a heavy step forward, the bedrock cracking beneath its weight. "You cannot escape me."
Another step. "I will tear you apart."
Another. "I will swallow you whole."
Its jaws unhinged, exposing cavernous rows of jagged teeth dripping with venomous saliva.
Then—
*CLANG!*
A deafening metallic ring detonated through the clearing.
The beast instantly froze, its expression morphing into shock. Something had just slammed into the back of its cranium with catastrophic force.
The existing fissure in its skull shattered outward as a massive bronze warhammer drove deep into the wound.
"ROOOAAAR!"
The creature shrieked in agony, its massive frame violently pitching forward.
Ethan’s eyes widened slightly as the towering silhouette stepped out from behind the rock formation.
It was a giant of a man, standing several meters tall. Heavy bronze plate armored his chest and thighs, long dark hair fell past broad shoulders, and a thick beard framed a face carved with ancient authority. Both of his massive hands gripped the haft of the colossal warhammer.
Ethan recognized the overwhelming presence instantly. There was no mistaking it.
*Gilgamesh.*
The legendary summon uttered not a single word. He simply raised the bronze warhammer high overhead.
The Demi-god beast scrambled to turn, its slit pupils contracting in horror. "Who—"
*BOOM!*
The warhammer descended like a falling meteorite, smashing the beast’s snout directly into the stone.
"ROAR!"
The creature thrashed desperately, but Gilgamesh gave it no quarter.
*BOOM!*
The bronze head struck the shattered skull again.
*BOOM!*
And again.
Every devastating blow targeted the exact same structural fracture, never allowing the sovereign creature a fraction of a second to mount a defense.
The beast lashed out with a frantic sweep of its claws, but Gilgamesh shifted his stance with astonishing agility, letting the talons tear through empty air before answering with another earth-shattering overhead strike.
*BOOM!*
Bone splintered, and dark blood sprayed across the forest floor.
The beast attempted to slink backward into the swamp, but Gilgamesh advanced ruthlessly.
*BOOM!*
Its rapid cellular regeneration couldn’t keep pace with the blunt-force trauma caving in its brain. It tried to manipulate the surrounding swamp vines to entangle the giant, but before the roots could even breach the surface, the hammer came down once more.
*BOOM!*
Ethan watched the execution in complete silence. He had never witnessed Gilgamesh fight with this level of unrestrained brutality.
This wasn’t a standard duel between powerful combatants—it was a methodical, relentless dismantling of a sovereign entity.
*BOOM!*
The bronze warhammer drove home one final time, crushing the beast’s cranium entirely.
The Demi-god beast twitched once, then went completely still.
A profound, suffocating silence descended over the forest.
Then, the crisp chime of a system prompt echoed through Ethan’s consciousness.
[You have slain a Demi-god beast.]
Ethan stared at the notification, letting the reality settle. Then, his knees buckled.
He dropped heavily onto the damp earth, the crossbow slipping loosely into his fingers. His body felt completely hollowed out, drained far beyond anything he had endured in recent memory.
With a faint grimace, he let himself fall flat on his back, staring up through the canopy at the pale dungeon sky.
"Annoying," he muttered weakly.
Yet beneath the crushing exhaustion, a sharp spark of excitement flared in his chest.
A Demi-god beast.
He had actually secured the kill. Technically, Gilgamesh had delivered every lethal blow, but the system attributed the slaying to him as the summoner.
And in the grand scheme of his progression, that was all that truly mattered.
Ethan slowly closed his eyes, pushing all other thoughts aside to let his weary body enter a state of deep recovery.
Elsewhere, deep within the shadows of the flooded forest...
"You will do nicely."
Davos’s calm voice cut through the damp darkness.
Suspended before him were two Demi-humans locked in heavy, enchanted metal restraints, their bodies battered and bleeding from fresh wounds. Neither looked particularly pleased with their current predicament.
During the initial skirmish against the Demi-god beast, a strike team of unfamiliar Demi-human assassins had launched a covert ambush from the rear flank, clearly aiming to butcher the core disciples of the Maqaue expedition while everyone was occupied.
Unfortunately for them, Davos’s sharp senses had caught the anomaly immediately. He had effortlessly subdued two of the operatives before the rest of their squad became entangled and crushed by the raging beast.
Now, they were completely at his mercy.
One of the captives spat a mouthful of blood and strained violently against the metal bonds. "Let go of me, you fucking ape!"
Davos merely raised a brow in mild amusement.
The captive glared with venomous pride. "Do you have no respect for the Blood Serpent God clan?!"
Davos held the assassin’s gaze for several quiet seconds before a slow, chilling smile spread across his lips.
"In here?" His tone dropped to absolute zero. "Your clan means nothing."
The prisoner ground his teeth, the arrogance in his eyes faltering.
Davos stepped closer, having pieced together the broader picture. These operatives hadn’t stumbled into the dungeon by coincidence—they had been deployed with clear intent.
The Blood Serpent God clan was actively sabotaging the expedition to ensure the revival ritual collapsed.
That much was obvious, but Davos felt no anger. Instead, a calculating glint shone in his eyes.
Opportunity.
He looked at the two captive operatives, his smile turning sharp and dangerous.
*’This is my way out.’*
For the first time since being coerced into leading this suicidal mission, Davos saw a viable path to escape the sacrificial trap laid out by the clan elders—and he intended to exploit it to the absolute fullest.
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