Echoterra: Rise of the Verdant King - Chapter 87: Treacherous journey [11]

{System Online} {System Activating} {System Activation Complete.} {User Detected: Jake Lucas.} * {Main Quest: Grow strong enough to defeat your foes.} *{Warning: Darkness Approaches. No One Is Safe.}* 200 years ago, humanity almost faced extinction at the hands of the werewolves. The world survived, but the cost was unimaginable. Victory was hard-earned—and the price paid is still unknown. After seeing the war wasn’t heading anywhere, the werewolves receded to grow their strength while letting the humans recover. Now, sixteen-year-old Jake Lucas is thrust into a battle he never wanted. Weak, outcast, and haunted by his parents’ brutal deaths, Jake is just trying to survive at Aurora Academy. But when a strange orb activates the Slayer System, everything changes. Quests, skills, and powers that could make him stronger than he ever dreamed. But power comes with a price. With each new level, Jake uncovers dark secrets—about the werewolves, the academy, and the shadows lurking beneath them all. The world is more dangerous than he imagined, and a hidden force is stirring, ready to rise once again. Jake’s only hope lies in mastering the Slayer System—but as the stakes grow higher, he’ll learn the real question isn’t how strong he can become, but *how far he’s willing to go* to stop an ancient evil from being unleashed. **But the system has a final warning: Jake isn’t the only one unlocking power. And the clock is ticking.**

[Female lead with no romantic interest + ancient female awakening + passionate righteousness + refusing to be a submissive woman] After failing to conquer the emperor, the system punished me by forcing me to livestream modern life to ancient people.

The man I personally supported to ascend the throne saw me wearing a strapless minidress and dancing seductively at a banquet amidst revelry and wine, and he flew into a rage, accusing me of violating womanly virtues.

I smiled calmly and pointed the camera towards a modern street, launching a shocking livestream for the ancient people!

“Good heavens? It’s nighttime now, but what are those pearls shining so brightly?”

Female lead: Those are light bulbs.

“There are indeed objects in this world that can transmit sound over thousands of miles away. What a marvelous treasure!”

Female lead: This is a cell phone.

“How could the women on the streets dress so scantily and shamelessly flirt with men? Don’t they know propriety? Why hasn’t the county office come to stop these debased women and thrown them into pigsties?”

Female lead: Because this is the glorious era of China!

A ritual gone wrong gave him the world's deadliest Class—now all he wants is blood.Zeth stole the most powerful ritual magic in the world from a mad cultist. A Class that's fueled by the blood of his enemies and human sacrifice. One that's illegal to use, punishable by gruesome death. And now that he has it, he's faced with a choice: hide away for the rest of his life from those who would hunt him down, or embrace the power, becoming the hunter to get revenge on the murderer that stole his friends' lives.For Zeth, that's no choice at all.His enemies have to die. And he plans to use every drop of blood, eldritch ritual, and demonic summoning he can to kill them.

*Who would have thought a precious legitimate princess was forced to secretly marry a predator in the middle of the night when the silver moon shone bright in the middle of the starry sky?__“Your wench mother seduced my father and made you!”Consumed by rage after her half-sister insulted her mother, Reneira Dorient unleashed her secret power. Magic was taboo in the seven kingdoms, and those born with it must be burned. But she was a precious princess to the Kingdom.The royal family kept this secret with them and locked away her power, however, the King had a far darker plan: he forced her into a marriage with the evil prince of Thegara, a ruthless barbarian who had bathed in the blood of countless victims, as rumors said. Their union was the King’s strategy, she was a tool to win yet another war.The night the prince arrived to claim her, Reneira braced herself for the inevitable circumstances. However, nothing could have prepared her for the truth that this wasn’t just a marriage.Her new husband was a sweet torment, an immortal, god-like bully disguised in an impossibly beautiful human form with no rival. His every gaze felt like a punishment, and his sinful aura tempted her in ways she never expected. This god of lust refused to touch her or accept her as his true wife.Believing that her dignity was lost forever, she resigned herself to her fate, hoping to make a home in the hell she’d been thrown into. But fate, as it often did play, had other plans. She came to encounter a gorgeous yet wicked ex-mistress who didn't want her as his wife too and constantly attempted to push her out of the way...__“Don’t even think about seducing me by licking your lips like that, doe-eyes!” He breathed in her ear as he joined her in bed, shirtless, his muscular abdomen rippling with each movement.“I… I’m not doing it on purpose!” she stammered, her breath catching in her chest when he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her body against him.His mouth hovered near her ear. “I’m going to make you forget what happened today. My body is yours as compensation.”Butterflies fluttered in her stomach. Rolling her eyes away, she tried not to meet his dangerously alluring gaze. “You said we’re not a real couple, and I’m not your true mate. What’s changed your mind?”He grinned widely, grabbing her chin and leaning in so close that she could feel his warm breath against her skin. He used his tempting aura to compel her to meet his gaze. Her treacherous heart didn’t defy him again, he could hear it racing.“That term of the treaty no longer applies. From now on, you’re truly my wife, Doe-eyes. Only mine.” He paused, studying her body’s response.“Shall I stop here?” he whispered, his breath sending a shiver down her spine.Once again, she surprised him. The answer was the opposite of what the arousal scent of her body suggested.“Yes. You should stop.”“So you’re going to play a naughty game, wife?”...