CHAPTER 766: FROM NOW ON... YOU STAY WITH ME

Ethan’s heart dropped like a stone.

He leapt back, gathering energy into a glowing sphere and hurling it forward.

Boom—!

The two forces collided.

His first energy blast was instantly corroded, shattered like glass in acid.

The second—gone.

The third—swallowed whole, as if into a black hole.

The fox-creature’s attack didn’t just survive—it surged forward, stronger, like a tidal wave of rot and rage.

Ethan dodged hard, barely avoiding the oncoming blast.

Ssssss—

The twisted energy struck a stone pillar nearby. The rock didn’t crack or crumble—it melted, oozing down like liquefied flesh.

A chill ran down Ethan’s spine.

—This power couldn’t be converted. Couldn’t be resisted.

If he stayed here much longer, he’d be reduced to sludge like everything else.

"Shit... I need to get out of here!"

He flared his power, trying to force open a path—but the moment his energy dipped, even slightly, the corruption surged in to devour him.

He was being pushed back, step by step, with nowhere left to go—

Then—

Snap.

A soft, radiant pink light descended from above, wrapping around him like a shield.

The corrosive darkness recoiled instantly, retreating like a tide pulled back by the moon.

Ethan blinked.

He turned—

Kaelira stood behind him.

Her expression was complicated, her eyes... annoyed, yes—but also unmistakably worried.

"You," she said, arms crossed, voice exasperated but low with concern. "You never listen, do you?"

She sighed, the sound more tired than angry.

"I told you—Sol’Rakka’s underworld is deadly. And what do you do? Dive in headfirst, alone. Did you forget? You’re my First Champion now. Even if you’re ready to throw your life away, you still answer to me. Got it?"

Ethan stared at her, momentarily speechless.

She wasn’t scolding him.

She wasn’t angry, not really.

She was... worried.

And that tone—was that a hint of teasing? A touch of something softer?

It didn’t sound like a queen reprimanding her subordinate.

It sounded like—

Well, something else entirely.

Before he could respond, Kaelira raised her hand.

Threads of pink energy shot from her fingertips, lashing out toward the fox-creature.

Ssssh—

The light shimmered with a pure, cleansing force.

The dark runes etched into the creature’s skin began to fade, like ink bleeding out of poisoned parchment.

Its body shrank, softened, until it curled into a trembling, harmless little thing.

Kaelira exhaled, long and slow.

"...Lucky," she murmured. "This one was still savable."

She knelt slightly, brushing her fingers gently over the small fox’s head. "Any later, and it would’ve been too far gone."

Then she looked up at Ethan.

"Now do you see? This is what Vaedoroth’s corruption does."

Her voice dropped, quiet but firm.

"If you’d gone even one step deeper alone... not even I could’ve pulled you back."

And as she said it, her voice trembled—just a little.

...

Ethan hadn’t expected this.

Not from the Desert Queen.

Not from Kaelira.

The fox-creature, once a snarling mass of blood-purple eyes and writhing runes, now lay curled on the ground—just a regular desert fox, trembling like a leaf in the wind.

But the cost of that purification was immediate.

Kaelira’s face went pale, her breath shallow. It was like half the power in her body had been drained in an instant.

"We can’t stay here," she said, voice tired but firm. "I can hold a barrier for a little longer, but that’s it. If we let this place drag us down any further, we’re both dead."

Ethan nodded, ready to move—then stopped cold.

Something was wrong.

He felt it: a strange, cold, viscous energy had slipped into his body. He didn’t know when it had happened.

But unlike the corrosive force he’d seen melt stone and twist beasts into monsters...

This one wasn’t spreading.

It was... clinging to him. Like it had been caught. Held in place.

"Wait," he muttered.

The Dragon God’s power inside him surged, reacting instinctively.

Kaelira’s eyes widened in alarm. She thought he was succumbing to the corruption.

"What are you doing? I told you—!"

HUMMM—!

HUMMM—!

HUMMM—!

Before she could finish, the dark energy around them exploded into motion, rushing toward Ethan like a tidal wave, slamming into him, flooding into his body.

Kaelira’s heart seized.

That speed—

It was ten times faster than any corruption she’d ever seen.

"Stop!" she shouted, summoning her purifying light, pink energy flaring from her hands as she tried to drive the darkness out.

But the moment her power touched him—

Everything went wrong.

Her energy was pulled in too.

Kaelira gasped, staggered back a step.

She couldn’t stop it.

Her purification was being drawn into Ethan’s body, completely out of her control.

For the first time, real fear flickered across her face.

"What... what’s happening?!"

And then—

Her breath caught.

The dark energy, her own purifying light, and Ethan’s Dragon God power—

Instead of clashing, instead of tearing him apart—

They fused.

Three forces that should’ve annihilated each other locked into place, like puzzle pieces snapping together. Not in chaos, but in harmony.

And they began to reshape him.

BOOM—!

Ethan’s feet lifted off the ground. His body rose, suspended in midair, as vortexes of energy spiraled around him—dozens of them, dense and fast, like miniature galaxies forming and collapsing in his wake.

It looked like a world was being rebuilt inside him.

Kaelira forgot to breathe.

She had tried to absorb this power before. Every attempt had nearly killed her.

But this man—

He was absorbing it all. Effortlessly. Without a scratch.

"This... this isn’t possible..." she whispered.

She didn’t know how long it lasted.

Eventually, the vortexes faded, the air stilled, and Ethan slowly opened his eyes.

In that moment, Kaelira felt it—a power deeper and stronger than her own, radiating from him like heat from the sun.

"You... you’re okay?" she asked, barely believing it.

Ethan landed beside her, steady on his feet. He reached out and gently supported her by the waist.

The touch was casual, instinctive.

But Kaelira’s ears turned scarlet.

"Your Majesty," Ethan said, voice calm but unshakably firm, "from now on, you stay with me. The energy here is too unstable. If you go off alone, it’ll consume you."

Kaelira’s heart skipped a beat.

She looked up at him, face flushed, completely forgetting to argue.

Ethan didn’t wait for her answer.

He pulled her into his arms.

With a pulse of power, they shot forward together, a streak of light diving deeper into the Dungeon.

...

Not long after, they arrived at a vast underground plaza.

The space felt unnatural, like it had been forced open by something immense. The air was thick with corruption—so dense it felt like you could wade through it.

At the center of the plaza, a massive six-pointed star rotated slowly, etched into the stone floor. From its core, power erupted in violent bursts, like a storm trying to rip the world apart.

The entire chamber trembled with its fury.

...