CHAPTER 771: THERE IT IS... THE CRACK

The girl stood small and slight, barely more than a child in stature—at first glance, she could’ve passed for a human girl no older than ten.

But her eyes—

Deep. Too deep. Like ancient wells that had seen the rise and fall of empires, the erosion of time itself. There was no innocence in them, only the weight of centuries and something colder still.

She lifted her head slowly, gaze locking onto Kaelira.

"Kaelira."

Her voice didn’t match her body. It was old—rasping, bitter, soaked in venom and the tremble of long-held hate.

"Didn’t expect you to come here."

A crooked smile tugged at her lips, more scar than expression.

"In that case—don’t blame me for what comes next."

Then she screamed.

"DIE!"

BOOM!!!

The power that erupted from her was volcanic—raw, violent, and utterly unrestrained. It tore through the cavern like a tidal wave of black-violet flame, coiling and snapping like a thousand shadow-serpents.

The air itself buckled under the force.

And in that instant, Ethan knew—

She was stronger than Gorrath.

Kaelira’s face went pale. She didn’t have anything left. Not for this.

Ethan’s pupils shrank to pinpricks.

"No!"

He didn’t hesitate.

He threw himself forward, arms wide, golden energy surging from his core in a roaring wave. It slammed into the oncoming force, forming a radiant barrier between Kaelira and the girl’s attack.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The two powers collided midair, detonating in a series of thunderous blasts.

The cavern walls peeled away like paper. Blue-violet magma splashed and scattered. The ground cracked and split beneath their feet.

Ethan’s barrier held—

But just barely.

His shoulders buckled under the pressure, knees grinding into the fractured stone. The force pressing down on him was monstrous. His legs cracked under the strain, and the ground beneath him sank like wet clay.

He clenched his jaw, golden light flickering violently across his skin. Cracks spiderwebbed across his shield.

He wasn’t her match.

Not even close.

Ethan sucked in a breath, forcing the pain in his chest down. No time to hesitate. He reached deep, pulling every drop of power he had left.

Golden energy spiraled around him, rising like a storm.

HUMMMMM—

Dozens—no, hundreds—of Energy Discs formed in the air, glowing like a meteor shower frozen mid-fall.

He slashed his arm forward.

Fsh-fsh-fsh!

The Discs launched in a golden torrent, crashing into the black-violet energy erupting from the girl—Caelthenas.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Each impact sent shockwaves through the air, like someone was hammering the bones of the world. The edges of the magma pool shattered, chunks of stone tumbling into the abyss below.

At his current level—early 25Tier—Ethan could crush most lords without breaking a sweat.

But this time...

His attacks weren’t pushing her back.

They were barely holding the line.

Across the battlefield, Kaelira clutched her chest, her face ghost-white.

The fight with Gorrath had drained her dry. Her energy was leaking from her like water from a cracked jar.

Worse—

The black-violet energy Caelthenas wielded directly countered her own. She could purify it—but it corroded her in return.

She couldn’t even lift a hand now.

All she could do was watch as Ethan threw himself into the storm alone.

"Ethan—be careful!"

She forced the words out, voice hoarse.

"That girl—her name is Caelthenas! Her power is... unnatural! Don’t try to take her head-on—!"

But before she could finish—

Ethan had already slammed into the heart of Caelthenas’s power.

The air screamed, compressed into a high-pitched wail.

Sweat beaded across Ethan’s forehead in an instant.

"This one’s... a real monster."

Even brushing against the outer edge of her power was enough to crush the breath from his lungs. His bones creaked under the pressure, every joint screaming in protest.

Caelthenas’s lips curled into a cruel smile.

She looked at Ethan the way a child might look at a wind-up toy that dared to bite—amused, but already bored.

The real hatred, though, burned in her gaze as it slid past him to the weakened figure behind.

"To think," she said, voice laced with ancient frost, "the two of you..."

She tilted her chin, eyes gleaming with malice.

"Neither of you is leaving here alive."

BOOM!

Her power surged again.

Behind her, black-violet mist twisted and thickened, coalescing into eight massive spider legs—each one glinting with a sickly, venomous sheen, like ceremonial limbs forged in some abyssal rite.

Kaelira went ghost-pale.

Ethan felt it too—a chill that sank straight into his bones.

This wasn’t just raw power. It was something older. A fusion of ancient curses and toxic laws, the kind of force that didn’t just kill—it unmade.

One touch from those things, and both he and Kaelira were done.

He snapped open his system interface.

A virtual screen flickered to life in front of him, data streaming in as the scan peeled layers off the monster’s form.

And there—tucked in the shifting shadows beneath the spider limbs—

A tiny red marker blinked into view. Barely visible.

Weak Point: Central abdominal carapace node.

Structure: Fragile.

If destroyed, will expose Caelthenas’s true body. Minimal defense.

Ethan’s heart kicked hard in his chest.

"There it is... the crack."

He locked his gaze on her abdomen.

A patch of blood-red armor clung there—irregular, tightly fused, and at first glance, impossibly tough. Without the scan, he never would’ve spotted it.

He drew in a sharp breath, forcing his energy to compress, coil, and tighten inside him like a spring wound to its limit.

Then—

BOOM!

He launched.

His entire body became a streak of gold, a comet of light hurtling straight at Caelthenas.

She flinched—visibly startled. For the first time, she stumbled back, as if some primal instinct had finally screamed that something was wrong.

Ethan didn’t give her the chance to retreat.

Fsh! Fsh! Fsh!

A hundred Energy Discs exploded from his hands, each one honed and aimed with surgical precision—every last one targeting that blood-red node on her abdomen.

CRACK!

The first Disc struck, and a hairline fracture split across the surface.

CRACK!

The second hit deepened it, the fracture webbing out like frost on glass.

BOOM!

The third—punched a jagged hole straight through.

Caelthenas’s face twisted in shock.

Her pupils shrank to pinpricks, her breath caught like someone had yanked her soul through her spine.

"Wh—what?!"

She looked down, trembling.

"How did you know?! I reinforced that with forbidden spells—no one should’ve—!"

For the first time, fear took root in her expression.

But Ethan didn’t stop.

He could feel it—that armor was unraveling. The structure was failing. One more push—

And it would collapse.

And when it did...

She would die.

...