Chapter 627: Bone Demon’s Thorn (1)

Third Person’s POV

The cousins silently exchanged a glance before looking back toward Master Drogo.

Both of them waited for the old artifact refiner to explode once more and publicly humiliate Ethan.

After all, in their eyes, the so-called mysterious aura Ethan had carried around himself was nothing more than an illusion that was about to shatter.

Even Shixea couldn’t help feeling the first genuine seed of doubt appear within her heart.

For the first time since awakening Ethan from the ancient ice coffin, she wondered whether she had misunderstood him from the very beginning.

Had she truly overestimated him?

Had she mistaken simple arrogance for confidence?

Had she elevated an ordinary young man to impossible heights within her own mind?

Master Drogo slowly turned around.

His aged face flushed red with anger, while his wrinkled hands trembled violently.

The fury he had suppressed moments ago erupted once again.

"You insolent brat!"

His furious voice echoed throughout the study.

"How can a young man be this foolish?"

"And just how low are you willing to fall merely to satisfy your own vanity?"

His eyes burned with unconcealed contempt.

For the first time since entering the room, he finally had the opportunity to vent all of his anger toward the true culprit responsible for the humiliation he had faced today and his wasted time.

He naturally wasn’t about to let that opportunity pass.

"Heh..."

A mocking sneer appeared across his aged face.

"I truly wonder how someone like you even managed to enter the elite forty of the Crystal Formation Batch."

His tone grew increasingly sarcastic.

The moment those words left his mouth, the expression on Shixea’s beautiful face changed almost imperceptibly.

She suddenly realized that Master Drogo’s anger was beginning to carry him into dangerous territory.

His pride had blinded his judgment, and he was no longer simply insulting Ethan.

He was unknowingly about to question the academy’s selection process itself, and point fingers at none other than her.

"Were you perhaps placed there because someo—"

Before he could even finish the sentence...Shixea’s pale-blue eyes suddenly emitted a chilling glow, and a terrifying pressure silently gathered within the room.

Had Master Drogo truly uttered those final words, he wouldn’t merely have insulted Ethan.

He would have indirectly accused the Queen herself of manipulating the academy’s sacred selection process through corruption.

Within the Northern Glacial Region, such an accusation indirectly bordered on blasphemy.

However, before anyone, including Shixea, could react, a sharp whistling sound suddenly tore through the air.

Whoosh!

Something grey shot across the room with astonishing speed, leaving behind a faint trail of deathly energy.

Master Drogo’s eyes widened with horror at the sudden attack, and his instincts screamed.

His expression changed drastically.

Without even thinking, he abruptly jumped backward before instinctively raising both hands.

Clack!

He barely managed to catch the incoming projectile inches away from his forehead.

The old man immediately let out an undignified scream that sounded almost comical coming from someone of his age and prestige.

"Aaaaaah!!!"

Only after confirming that the object hadn’t pierced his skull did he release a long breath of relief.

His pounding heart gradually calmed.

However, the moment he lowered his gaze toward the object in his hands, his face froze, and his pupils violently contracted.

A cold shiver ran down his spine as he found that he was holding a dull grey bone thorn.

Dark, corrosive energy continuously seeped from its surface while carrying a horrifying aura of decay and death that made even the surrounding elemental energy seem unwilling to approach it.

Master Drogo, an experienced artifact refiner who had refined magical weapons of multiple elements, could clearly feel the terrifying deathly energy sleeping within that seemingly ordinary bone thorn.

He knew that if the corrosive energy within that thorn was unleashed, it would absolutely age and then decay his hand into a pile of black, smelly goo.

Cold sweat instantly soaked his back as he realized that the one who had thrown it was Ethan.

After casually retrieving the strange bone thorn from his spatial ring, Ethan had flicked it toward the old artifact refiner with astonishing precision, interrupting him before he could finish the final words of his sentence.

To everyone else, it appeared as though Ethan had attempted to attack Master Drogo out of anger.

But in reality, that single throw had unknowingly saved the old artifact refiner.

Had Master Drogo completed his accusation, Shixea would never have allowed such words to leave this room unanswered.

At the very least, his reputation within the Artifact Refiners Association would have been ruined beyond repair.

At worst, he would have been beaten half to death by the Queen’s subordinates for daring to publicly imply that the sacred Crystal Formation selection process had been corrupted, and was done by none other than the Queen.

Even Shixea herself remained momentarily stunned.

For a split second, she had genuinely believed Ethan had lost control and was attempting to kill the stubborn old man.

However, after carefully sensing the power contained within the thrown bone thorn, she quickly realized something that Ethan had held back.

The force behind that throw was nowhere near the terrifying level he had displayed while battling Elis.

Had he truly intended to kill Master Drogo, the old artifact refiner wouldn’t have had the slightest chance of catching it.

Instead, the bone thorn would have pierced straight through his skull before anyone in the room could even react, killing him instantly.

However, Ethan had never intended to kill the old artifact refiner.

His only intention had been to frighten the old man into shutting his mouth before he crossed a line from which there would be no return.

Realizing that, a faint smile naturally appeared upon Shixea’s face.

Had Master Drogo truly crossed that line, she would have had no choice but to destroy decades of his reputation and severely punish him before everyone present.

No matter how talented or respected he was within the Artifact Refiners Association, there were certain things that simply couldn’t be spoken aloud, and certain lines that one couldn’t cross no matter how respected they were or how high their status was.