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The moment Ethan turned his head, the world behind him exploded.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
It was as if a rain of fire fell straight from the sky. Flaming spears formed out of thin air, crashing down like a deadly storm. Above them, the griffin circled in the air, its wings spreading wide. Each flap of those wings created razor-sharp blue wind blades, slicing downward and mixing with the falling flames.
The winds fed the fire, and the flames fed the wind.
In an instant, the entire forest turned into a blazing battlefield.
The roaring didn't stop. The ground trembled.
The trees closest to Ethan vanished instantly—reduced to pure ash. The trees farther away were ripped from their roots and flung outward like broken toys. Even people hundreds of meters away felt the scorching wind hit their faces, dry their throats, and sting their eyes.
Behind Ethan, the Bearded Master was limping and cursing loudly.
"Damn it! That old fool is a complete destroyer! Half of my injuries are because of him!"
He grimaced, waving one burned hand at Ethan. "I told you—just because I got trapped by that lunatic doesn't mean you should take your anger out on me!"
The Bearded Master lifted the corner of his robe and looked at the burns on his skin. Blisters were forming everywhere.
But then he turned his head and looked at Ethan.
He froze.
Ethan was completely fine.
"...Huh?"
For a moment, the Bearded Master stared blankly. Even if he had blocked most of the flames earlier, there was no way Ethan should come out without a single injury.
"Strange… that's not normal at all…"
Before he could think further, another figure appeared.
Stepping out of the smoke and dust was the Lord of Ravenshade City.
One lens of his gold-rimmed glasses was shattered, but he didn't bother taking them off. He walked toward Ethan and the Bearded Master like he had just finished a calm meeting, not stepped out of a flaming battlefield.
He held a piece of paper and, without saying a word, shoved it into the Bearded Master's hands.
"This," the Lord said seriously, "is the full record of damages caused to my City Lord's Mansion by your saboteur friend. Please sign."
The Bearded Master blinked and looked at the list. It was horrifyingly long—walls, doors, windows, furniture, carpets, decorations, even two-and-a-half-year-old laboratory equipment.
"You want me to sign this? Ask him! Not me!"
The Lord pushed up his broken glasses. "You also have to pay for the experimental tools he used two and a half years ago. And the renovation from two and a half years ago. And the courtyard stones that cracked today."
"That's robbery!"
"Fine," the Lord said calmly. "I'll give you a discount. One percent off."
"A nineteen percent discount is NOT a discount!"
And so the two began arguing like two old neighbors fighting over missing laundry.
It went on for quite a while before the Lord suddenly paused.
"Wait… why is Ethan here?"
"You're asking me? Who should I ask?" the Bearded Master retorted.
Ethan didn't pay attention to their bickering. The relaxed way they spoke, even while surrounded by destruction, showed their absolute trust in the Gatekeeper's strength. They believed nothing could escape that attack.
Boom! Boom!
The fiery assault had already continued for more than ten minutes, and the surroundings were nearly unrecognizable.
The temperature rose so high that even from far away, people felt as if their skin were being boiled. Only trained professionals could survive in such an environment.
Ethan narrowed his eyes. Far ahead, where the Gatekeeper's skill was focused, the air appeared distorted, like a pillar of burning red standing upright in the flames.
A confinement skill.
The Gatekeeper had created an "Absolute Position", a barrier meant to trap the enemy inside. The heat trapped within was so intense that without the skill, the entire Ravenshade City could have been wiped out.
Inside the barrier, the flames burned with a blinding red light. Nothing could be seen clearly.
But one thing was obvious.
The Gatekeeper was still attacking.
That meant the enemy inside—was still alive.
Ethan didn't expect the enemy to be so resilient.
Even he felt uneasy.
Behind him, the Lord of Ravenshade finally stopped arguing and asked, "Ethan, what are you doing here? Did your entrance exam results come out?"
He didn't wait and continued, "By the way, my scouts say something strange happened in the secret realm. They said it mutated into a blood-colored secret realm. Ethan, is that true?"
Ethan turned slightly, about to respond—
—but then something caught his eye.
Inside the burning red barrier, a black shadow appeared.
He raised his hand and pointed.
"Um… why do I feel like something is about to rush out?"
The Bearded Master snorted. "Impossible. The Gatekeeper's 'Absolute Position' isn't so easy to break. If the creature inside isn't a Rank Four or higher, it can only wait to die."
His voice had just fallen when—
BOOM!!!
The entire barrier burst open.
A gigantic figure exploded out of the flames.
It was the housekeeper—the old man they thought was trapped.
Except now, he looked nothing like a human.
His skin was burnt a glowing red, like molten metal just pulled from the furnace. Black lines crawled across his face, pulsing like living veins. Smoke rose from his body every time the air touched him.
And he had grown—now towering over three meters tall.
His body looked like a twisted fusion between a titan and living venom, muscles bulging, posture unstable but full of terrifying strength.
Behind him, the barrier collapsed entirely.
Flames surged outward through the opening, roaring as if they had been waiting eagerly to escape.
The moment he broke free, the housekeeper launched himself straight toward Ethan, the Bearded Master, and the Lord of Ravenshade.
The flames behind him poured out like rocket fuel, turning into pure speed.
In one blink—
He was already standing right in front of them.
"!?"
The three of them froze.
This was bad. Very bad.
The chapter ended with the narrator teasing the readers: