The mountain plateau continued to fracture under the sheer density of the Watcher’s aura, driving the jagged cracks deeper into the raw gold veins beneath their feet.

Hajin remained standing, though his body was rapidly approaching its breaking point as the weight forced the breath from his lungs. The Watcher tilted its head slightly, watching him struggle while not showing a single sign of strain on its own aristocratic features.

"I must admit, I am rather disappointed," it murmured, its voice cutting effortlessly through the rushing wind as it stepped forward.

"I am barely using a fraction of my actual power, little lord," the monster taunted, an amused, mocking smile curving across its face, "perhaps your arrogance is just without legs, entirely unsupported by anything resembling real strength."

Hajin did not appreciate those words in the slightest, the sharp insult cutting through the physical pain racking his spine and ribs.

He spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground, lifting his chin to glare directly into the creature’s eyes.

"Aria," he muttered, his voice strained but entirely devoid of fear as he reached into his core, "drop the passive stabilization and route everything to the Rings."

Aria materialized on his shoulder as a flicker of blue data, her voice echoing directly into his mind.

[ Rerouting divine and demonic essence. ]

[ Warning: Core strain will exceed safe thresholds in twelve seconds. ]

"I only need ten," he replied, rolling his shoulders forward as he finally stopped trying to passively endure the crushing weight.

Three concentric Rings erupted into existence around his forearms, flaring with an unstable, blinding mixture of divine gold and corrupted demonic blue. The sheer output of the reconstructed fusion power slammed outward in a localized shockwave, explosively colliding against the Watcher’s invisible domain.

The resulting clash of powers was deafening, the conceptual weight of a Guardian Beast meeting the anomaly of a Goddess fragment head-on.

The sky above the peak visibly distorted from the impact, turning the air itself into a swirling vortex of conflicting pressures that tore entire chunks of rock out of the cliffside.

Juna, Vella, and Loccy were instantly shielded by the explosive radius of his Rings, the aura vanishing from their shoulders as he forced the suppression backward.

The Watcher’s mocking smile vanished instantly, its eyes widening in genuine shock as the hybrid mana physically pushed it back half a step. The creature raised its hand to shield its face from the blinding light, finally recognizing that the young human was not simply enduring the aura, but actively breaking it.

"What exactly are you?" The Guardian Beast demanded, its voice losing its arrogant edge as it stared at the impossible fusion of holy and demonic energy tearing through its domain.

"I am the guy taking your gold," he answered bluntly, stepping forward into the teeth of the aura and forcing the Watcher to brace itself against his pressure.

[ 00:00:01 ]

[ Wager Complete. ]

The moment the system timer hit zero, the Watcher threw its head back and laughed, a loud, booming sound that immediately shattered the tension hanging over the plateau.

It retracted its crushing aura in a single breath, plunging the mountain peak back into eerie, zero-mana silence as it smoothed the lapels of its tailored coat.

"Fascinating," it purred, its predatory smile returning as it looked at the panting human and the three terrifying Rings spinning around his arms, "you actually have the teeth to match your mouth, little lord."

Hajin allowed the Rings to fade, swaying slightly on his feet as Aria quickly routed his remaining mana back into internal healing to prevent his ribs from fracturing further.

It tilted its head, its eyes glowing brightly against the morning sky.

"The thirty seconds are up," he pointed out, ignoring the compliment entirely as he wiped another line of blood from his chin, "the gold vein belongs to my territory now."

"A deal is a deal," it agreed smoothly, offering a mocking, elegant bow before stepping back toward the edge of the sheer drop, "the gold is yours, young lord but do not think this game is over."

"The Great Houses will not sit quietly while you take this," it warned, its form beginning to dissolve into a swirl of pale light and mountain mist, "but I finally understand why my domain failed to flag you as a threat. That strange mana spinning around your arms... it is from the old world."

"You know about the old world?" He demanded, taking a quick step forward into the fading mist.

He received no answer, the beast already gone and leaving him standing alone on the fractured peak.

The crushing suppression entirely lifted from the plateau, allowing his girls to finally push themselves up from the ground behind him.

"Did you actually just successfully extort a beast for tax money?" Juna asked, staring blankly at the space where the monster had been standing.

"I literally cannot believe that actually worked," Vella muttered, brushing the gold dust off her armor while shaking her head in sheer disbelief, "no fucking way. I thought we were all going to die on this rock."

Hajin ignored their incredulous stares, turning his attention to the raw gold veins bleeding out of the mountain beneath their feet.

"Call Marrick and tell him to send the miners up here immediately," he ordered bluntly, pulling his coat tighter around his shoulders while wiping the remaining blood from his chin, "we have a region to fix."

"And what exactly are you going to do?" Juna asked, watching him step away from the gold veins and walk toward the higher cliffs.

He offered a sharp, dangerous smirk, reaching his right hand out to summon a length of pitch-black chain that immediately wrapped around his forearm.

"It seems the Guardian Beast left me a small present before leaving," he noted casually, not even looking up as a looming shadow suddenly blocked out the sun.

An enraged, four-armed gorilla monster dropped from the cliffs above, slamming into the plateau as a deafening roar tore directly out of its throat.

Hajin did not give the creature a chance to fully recover from its landing, instantly lashing his chain directly toward its exposed chest. The links bit brutally into the monster’s thick fur, tearing a chunk of flesh loose as the gorilla shrieked in sudden pain.

However, instead of reeling backward, the beast simply grabbed the embedded chain with two of its oversized hands, using its ridiculous physical strength to immediately yank the human forward.

He was ripped cleanly off his feet, flying helplessly through the air directly toward the creature’s remaining two fists as they pulled back for a lethal strike.