Atop the mountain, beneath a massive skull that seemed to have been carved directly into the rock, Davos and roughly fifty surviving members of the expedition stood around a bonfire that stretched toward the sky.
The flames were not ordinary. They burned with a strange pale light, twisting upward as though trying to pierce the heavens themselves.
Getting here had been far more difficult than anyone expected. The journey from the swamp had cost them several more lives, despite the fact that most of the remaining warriors were already exhausted from their previous battles.
Of the more than three hundred people who had entered the dungeon, barely fifty had made it this far. Even among those fifty, most were injured badly enough that they could barely move—some had to be carried, while others leaned against weapons just to remain standing.
If not for Gilgamesh’s enormous frame, they would have been forced to leave even more people behind. The giant had carried several injured warriors during the journey without complaint, his massive body becoming almost like a moving fortress.
Ethan sat cross-legged near the edge of the gathering. Several human slaves sat nearby, their bodies covered in dirt and wounds, while Gilgamesh stood behind him like a silent guardian with his massive warhammer resting against his shoulder.
Ethan looked toward the enormous skull ahead. "That’s the tomb, huh?"
His voice was quiet. The skull was colossal, making it impossible to determine whether it belonged to an actual creature or had been formed through ancient techniques, but the sheer size of it made Ethan understand why the Maqaue clan treated this place with such reverence.
This was the resting place of their ancestor: the Twelve-Eared Maqaue Devil. The being they had risked hundreds of lives to awaken.
"It is," Servos’s voice came from nearby. He had been forced to sit after losing his leg, but his eyes remained focused on the ritual site. "Don’t say another word."
Ethan glanced toward him. Servos’s expression was unusually serious.
At least two of the training-ground chiefs had died during the battle against the Demi-god beast and the subsequent ambush by the Blood Serpent God Clan. With so many senior figures gone, Servos had effectively become one of the leading figures among the surviving expedition members.
But he wasn’t smiling—not today. Everyone understood what was about to happen.
Ethan slowly turned back toward the front.
Davos stood alone before the bonfire. For several seconds, he remained completely still, and then—he moved.
His body suddenly began to shift in a strange, almost graceful dance. One step, then two, his feet tracing patterns around the two bodies lying before the fire—one being the captured Demi-god of the Blood Serpent God Clan, the other an integral catalyst for the ritual.
Davos’s whip suddenly snapped through the air.
*Whoosh!*
The weapon cut through the space around him as he moved in circles, each strike following a predetermined pattern. There was an undeniable elegance to his movements that Ethan couldn’t help but appreciate; even though Davos was a Beast Tamer, the techniques he displayed now showed just how deep his understanding of martial arts truly went.
Ethan watched carefully. The Demi-god stage was truly alluring—it wasn’t simply a matter of possessing more strength, but a fundamental transformation of existence itself. Their movements, their presence, and even the way the world reacted around them proved they had stepped beyond the limits imposed on ordinary mortals.
Then—the flames suddenly changed, and the entire mountain began to tremble.
[An Angel’s descent has been triggered.]
The system notification rang in Ethan’s mind as his eyes narrowed.
[Insufficient energy.]
[The descent lacks a spark of divinity.]
A suffocating pressure suddenly swept across the mountain peak.
*Thud!*
Several warriors collapsed instantly.
"Ahhh!"
"What’s happening?!"
Their screams echoed across the rocks as the air itself turned hostile. It wasn’t merely physical gravity—the energy surrounding the tomb was fundamentally opposed to mortal existence, forcing those below the Demi-god level to their knees while the stronger warriors gritted their teeth against the crushing weight.
Ethan remained completely still. He didn’t feel the same level of oppression, perhaps due to his connection to Bark, the unique blessings he had received, or another hidden resonance entirely.
[Source found.]
Ethan’s expression shifted as something seemed to crack—not physically, but as though a conceptual barrier separating two planes of reality had shattered.
The captured Demi-god from the Blood Serpent God Clan suddenly went limp, his body dropping lifelessly onto the stone.
Davos’s eyes widened, and then his expression transformed. "Success!"
He smiled from ear to ear, genuine excitement flooding his face for the first time since entering the dungeon. The old bastards back in the clan had tried to use him, sending him here expecting him to die, but now their ancestor was awakening.
Everything was going to change: his standing, his power, and the Maqaue clan’s ability to resist the Dragon God Clan.
[Fire Devil Son of Nezha is descending.]
Davos froze. His smile vanished, his pupils contracted to pinpricks, and an icy chill ran straight down his spine.
"Fire Devil..."
He knew that name—everyone with sufficient knowledge of the ancient history of the Demi-human territories knew it.
Fire Devil Son of Nezha: a terrifying entity from thousands of years ago, infamous for causing catastrophic chaos across the territories. In temperament, he was frighteningly similar to the Twelve-Eared Maqaue Devil, but with one critical distinction: he leaned far more toward his human ancestry than his beast bloodline, making him infinitely more volatile to Demi-humans.
Davos stared at the ritual site in sheer horror. Something had gone terribly wrong—their ancestor was supposed to awaken, so why was another ancient entity descending instead?
He didn’t understand it, and he had absolutely no intention of lingering to find out.
"RUN!" Davos roared.
The surviving Maqaue warriors stared at him in confusion.
"Half-Grace?"
"What’s happening?"
"Don’t ask questions!" Davos turned on his heel to flee, but suddenly skidded to a halt.
His eyes locked onto Ethan.
The young human was still sitting near the edge, completely calm. There was no fear on his face, no confusion, and no hesitation—he was staring directly back at Davos, almost as if he had anticipated this exact outcome from the very beginning.
Davos’s heart plummeted. "This shit..."
Before he could finish his thought—
*BOOM!*
Davos’s body was slammed face-first into the bedrock with monstrous force. The mountain shuddered beneath the impact, kicking a storm of dust into the air before the Demi-god could even register the strike.
"What the—"
A wild burst of laughter detonated across the heavens.
"Hahahaha! You fucking beasts thought you could keep me down?! I’m back, baby!"
The flames surrounding the ritual site exploded outward into a swirling pillar of fire. From within the inferno, a young man stepped forth with his entire body cloaked in raw blaze, his wild hair dancing in the thermal updraft as his eyes burned with manic intensity.
The sheer pressure radiating from his frame forced the surviving warriors to cower in terror as even the veteran Demi-humans scrambled backward.
The ancient Fire Devil had returned.
Thousands of years ago, the powers of the Dark Demon Alliance had joined forces to hunt him down and slay his physical vessel. But death hadn’t been enough; at the final moment, the Fire Devil had latched a fragment of his soul onto one of his executioners, slowly burning his own essence over millennia just to keep the spark alive.
He had waited, endured, and hidden. Now, with the covert assistance of several old allies, his soul had finally gathered enough divine fuel to reclaim a body.
He stretched his arms wide as flames flared wildly around him. "I’m finally free!"
His mad laughter echoed for a moment longer before his gaze swept across the summit, eventually locking onto Ethan.
In a fraction of a heartbeat, the Fire Devil vanished.
The next instant, he stood directly beside Ethan, causing the surrounding slaves to scramble away in panic.
Ethan remained seated as the ancient entity looked down at him.
"You are Bark’s boy?" The wild madness had completely vanished from the Fire Devil’s voice, replaced by a grounded, measuring calm.
Ethan looked up, holding the entity’s gaze. The ancient gods from his mother’s lineage had promised that an agent tied to Bark would meet him here, and now the pieces had fallen into place.
Ethan slowly rose to his feet, offering a respectful bow. "Naturally. That’s me."
The Fire Devil studied him for several long seconds before a sharp, knowing grin spread across his face. "So you’re the one."
Ethan raised his head, the true purpose of his journey through the Maqaue lands finally realized. It was never about the dungeon, the beasts, or the Twelve-Eared Devil—it was about this man.
And whatever came next would cause a serious stir in the territory.
He could see it in this man’s eyes, that he was more than your run of the mill Troublemaker, if not why would bark believe him to be the best man for this job?
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