Martial Defiance Across Nine Thousand Realms - Chapter 17 – Demon Ridge

Our straight (?) bottom woke up ten years into the future and found himself on the bed of his childhood friend… At the start, the bottom was shocked to his very bones, but he soon quickly accepted this premise and found the whole situation to be rather amusing. Precisely then, the bottom once again went back to his timeline — back to when he and the top were just platonic childhood friends.

Landmines include but are not limited to: Sweet & naive bottom, a president story, logic is dead, slow-progressing romance, the protagonist’s name has too many character strokes, the names are hard to pronounce, too many gay characters…

- Description from novelupdates

Alternate Title: Kumo Desu Ga, Nani Ka? - Game SystemElliot? Yeah, he got isekai'd. Bam! Straight into the world of “So I'm a Spider, So What?”. And guess what? He wasn't some puny human or, well, a spider. Nope, he lucked out and got reborn as a freakin' Earth Dragon!But wait, it gets better. Ding! He awakened the 'XX Worlds Game System'. You know what that means? Skills! Skills from all sorts of crazy games!And the kicker? His new neighbor in the sprawling Great Elroe Labyrinth was none other than the little spider gal herself, Kumoko!So, what happens when two totally broken characters end up living next door to each other? They team up, duh! Their genius plan? Hit all the poor monsters in the Labyrinth with a two-pronged attack! A good ol' fashioned sandwich maneuver!But Elliot had a little secret. “Heh, sorry folks,” he probably smirked to himself, “but your boy Elliot here? He's playing with cheats activated!”Skill Acquired! [True Man's Slash]!Skill Acquired! [Skull Splitter]!Skill Acquired! [Planetary Devastation]!

“Block him.”“He's technically still my boss.”“Then block him with dignity.”The call ended again.And then started again.I let out a sound somewhere between a growl and a sob, then finally answered with the enthusiasm of a snail crawling through salt.“Yes, Mr. Walton?”“Have you changed your mind yet?”I collapsed onto the towel and gazed at the sky as though it might consume me entirely if I pleaded sweetly enough.“Do you ever take a break?” I asked, shielding my eyes with one hand.“You're avoiding the question.”“Because it's a dumb question.”He exhaled, the sound sharp and irritated even over phone. “It's not a dumb question. It's a business offer.”“It's a weird offer-one that I already said no to.”There was a brief pause, and I could practically hear him clenching his jaw through the speaker.“You are acting unreasonably.”“ Unreasonable?” I sat up. “I'm not the one drafting fake girlfriend contracts like it's a normal Tuesday.”“Isabella-”“Certainly not, Mr. Walton.” I mimicked his tone perfectly. “I told you I'm not doing it. You need to find someone else to play pretend with.”SYNOPSISIsabella Miller thought saying no to her boss’s fake dating offer was the end of the story.But Adrien Walton doesn’t take no—especially not when he’s convinced she’s a gold digger.Suddenly, her student loans are piling up, her father’s vet clinic is on the brink of eviction and her brother is about to be kicked out of college. Coincidence? She thinks not.Adrien Walton is calm, calculating—and he's just pulled every string to corner Isabella into the perfect position.Now she’s stuck choosing between pride and survival.So she agrees to his offer: be his fake girlfriend.No feelings attached. No drama. Just business.Or so she thought.“Conference Room B. Fifteen minutes,” he said, passing by without a glance.The folder he pushed across the table landed with a thud.I opened it. The contract. All of it.---Enemies to lovers? Check.Slow burn? Hmmnyea.Banter so sharp it might file your nails? Yes.Delicious workplace tension? Of course.Tension that could melt steel?Absolutely.Smut?? Wanna find out?Welcome to corporate romance warfare. There’s no escaping this contract.

Over a million years ago, the first human contracted with the first Spirit. Ever since then, Spirit use has become commonplace. Humans used Spirits to carry items and start fires. Eventually, even start wars. Thousands upon thousands of years past and one day, one human did the impossible. He transcended his mortality and ascended to the realm above.