Chapter 424: The Path

The monster roared.

This time, however, Ethan heard something different.

It wasn’t simply anger.

It was frustration.

Cracks had begun spreading across the creature’s natural armour, dark-green mana leaking from the damaged sections as it twisted its enormous body.

Ethan narrowed his eyes.

Something about its movements had been bothering him.

Despite the damage, the monster wasn’t pursuing them, nor did it try to corner Wolfy or chase Storm from the sky. Even when it dealt them damage, it didn’t make use of its advantage.

Instead, it kept returning to the same position.

’Wait.’

Ethan’s gaze sharpened.

’It’s not trying to kill us. Well, it is, but it has another priority.

He smiled.

’It’s trying to keep us away.’

The monster wasn’t hunting them.

It was guarding something.

Before Ethan could act on the realisation, the creature’s horns ignited with corrupted energy.

A barrage of dark-green beams erupted in every direction.

"Stay close!"

The battlefield exploded.

Beams carved through the ground, pulverising stone and sending debris flying. Ethan burst between them with flames trailing from his body while Wolfy darted across the battlefield. Above them, Storm twisted through the air, lightning crackling across its wings.

The monster had abandoned its earlier precision, its attacks becoming increasingly violent.

Yet even now, Ethan saw the same pattern.

Whenever one of them moved toward the path behind it, the monster repositioned itself to block them.

’There.’

Another beam tore past Ethan.

’It doesn’t care where we go.’

He ducked beneath it.

’As long as we don’t get past it.’

A massive tail suddenly swept across the battlefield.

Ethan’s eyes widened.

"Wolfy!"

Too late.

The tail slammed into the Fenrir.

BOOM!

Wolfy was sent tumbling across the ground.

"WOLFY!"

Ethan’s expression twisted.

The Fenrir rolled several times before digging its claws into the earth.

It struggled upright, its legs trembling.

Ethan clenched his fists.

He hated seeing his beasts get hurt, especially Wolfy, who was his first beast and usually took the most damage since it fought as their tank.

They weren’t tools or disposable weapons.

His beasts were his companions, and with each passing day, became a bigger part of him. Through their connection, he could feel Wolfy’s pain and exhaustion as clearly as if they were his own.

The monster charged again.

"Get up, Wolfy."

The Fenrir growled and forced itself onto all four legs.

Ethan smiled faintly.

"Good."

Lightning suddenly crashed down.

KRAKOOOM!

Storm struck the monster’s back, staggering it.

Wolfy immediately lunged into the opening, its claws tearing deeper into the damaged armour.

Ethan joined the assault.

The monster twisted, opening its enormous mouth.

Dark-green energy gathered in its throat.

"Wolfy, move!"

The Fenrir leapt as the beam erupted beneath it, obliterating the ground.

Ethan drove forward through the smoke.

Flames surged across his body as Spark’s power flooded his arms.

’Blazing Arc!’

A sweeping crescent of condensed flames slammed into the monster’s side.

The crack widened.

Wolfy attacked from the side.

Storm struck from above.

For a moment, their attacks merged into one relentless assault.

Claws ripped through fractured plating.

Lightning flooded the exposed section.

Ethan hammered the same weak point with flaming attacks.

"Again!"

Wolfy slashed.

Storm struck.

Ethan drove his fist forward one more time.

The armour shattered, and the monster screamed.

But even while wounded, it shifted its massive body until it was once again positioned between them and the path.

Ethan understood.

’That’s all it cares about.’

Dark-green mana suddenly erupted from every crack in its body.

Ethan’s eyes widened.

"SHIT!"

The creature’s entire body swelled with corrupted energy.

It wasn’t preparing another attack, but was releasing another explosive blast.

Ethan immediately reached through the connection.

Wolfy and Storm vanished.

He then launched himself away with Flare Drive.

’I wish I could unsummon myself too.’

The explosion swallowed the battlefield, catching Ethan before he could escape. He was hurled through the air, his flames ripped apart as he crashed into the ground and rolled across the broken terrain.

Pain surged through his body.

His mana was also starting to run low.

However, his beasts were safe, and that attack had cost the monster.

It was still standing, a titan of a creature.

But its armour was fractured across huge portions of its body, corrupted mana leaking from countless wounds. Those enormous explosions had also drained a massive portion of its reserves, leaving its movements increasingly sluggish and unstable.

It looked less like a controlled guardian now and more like a wounded animal fighting purely on instinct.

Yet it still hadn’t abandoned its position.

It remained between Ethan and the path leading deeper into his brother’s mind.

He wiped the blood from his mouth.

’Time to end this shit.’

His eyes hardened.

He looked at the monster, then at the path behind it.

There was no room left for hesitation.

’Just like in the Tower, I don’t have to care about what happens to this body.’

He could feel pain, but as long as he didn’t die, it didn’t matter.

’I just have to kill that thing.’

Ethan’s flames surged.

He didn’t resummon Wolfy and Storm.

The flaming man stood alone in this strange realm, his eyes locked onto the corrupted green eyes of the monster.

It roared.

Ethan raised both arms.

Instead of gathering Spark’s power into a single fist, he forced every remaining drop of mana through both arms simultaneously.

Flames erupted around his body.

Then Ethan activated his newest skill.

’Inferno Core!’

His flames changed instantly.

The orange fire surrounding his body became brighter, hotter, and more violent.

The air itself distorted around him as Ethan’s internal mana core began overloading. Unlike his final attack against the Golden Flutterer, Ethan wasn’t preparing another concentrated punch.

This time, his entire body was the weapon.

Every part of him became engulfed in flaring destructive fire.

’This time...’

Ethan lowered his stance.

’I’m not holding anything back.’

He burst forward like a rocket with both arms stretched in front of him.

BOOOOM!

The ground beneath his feet shattered.

The monster reacted instantly.

Its horns ignited.

Dozens of dark-green beams erupted toward Ethan.

He didn’t dodge.

He burned through them.

His flames collided with the corrupted energy, tearing through the beams as he continued forward.

Another beam struck his shoulder.

His flesh burned.

Ethan didn’t slow down.

A second tore across his side.

He kept moving.

The monster opened its enormous mouth.

Dark-green energy began gathering inside its throat.

Ethan saw it.

He knew exactly what was coming, but didn’t so much as flinch.

’It’s all in the mind... literally.’

The monster unleashed the attack.

A massive beam erupted toward him, but he burst straight towards it.

For an instant, orange fire and dark-green energy collided in the middle of the battlefield. Ethan broke through, his flames even more potent with Inferno Core active.

The monster’s eyes widened as he was already upon it.

’Let’s see how effective it is this time.’

He drove both arms forward.

’Variable Beast Impact!’

Spark’s power detonated through Ethan’s entire body, fuelled by every single drop of mana he had left. Instead of a single concentrated strike, his entire body became one enormous flaming projectile.

Ethan smashed into the monster.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The impact tore through its natural armour.

The creature’s body buckled.

Ethan didn’t stop.

He drove forward with everything he had left, Inferno Core feeding the attack with increasingly violent flames.

CRAAAAACK!

A massive section of its chest shattered beneath the impact.

Ethan’s flaming body drove straight through the exposed corruption.

The monster released a deafening roar as its enormous form began collapsing.

Cracks raced across its entire body.

Dark-green light poured through the fractures before the creature collapsed inward, its gigantic form disintegrating into a storm of corrupted mana.

Ethan flew out the other side.

’I-I did it!’

As soon as he did, the flames around his body vanished.

He crashed to the ground, and let’s just say he had seen better days.

His arms were mangled, the bones shattered and covered in blood. Meanwhile, his mana was completely exhausted, automatically cancelling his assimilation with his Ember Wraith.

Ethan lay there for several seconds, struggling to breathe.

His entire body felt impossibly heavy.

Every muscle screamed, and every breath hurt.

But he was alive, and the monster was gone, so things had gone exactly as he had hoped.

’The pain still sucks, though.’

It was excruciating and made him wish he had a healing factor like Kaela.

That last attack had taken everything he had, but it was all worth it if he could get to Mark and help him.

He looked toward the path ahead.

The corrupted landscape was beginning to disappear, and the green fog thinned, revealing a passage leading deeper into the darkness. And there was no longer a giant monster in his path.

Ethan smiled weakly.

"We did it."

He could feel Wolfy and Storm, both exhausted and wounded, but also alive.

’I’ll heal you both once I’m out of here.’

For now, somewhere within that darkness was his brother.

And Ethan wasn’t leaving without him.