Mystic Calling：Stone of Glory

Ethan himself went rigid for a beat.

He truly hadn't expected Feylora to hand him command of a whole army—without holding anything back—at a moment like this.

But the daze lasted only a heartbeat.

The next instant, Ethan lifted a hand and motioned for everyone to rise.

"Get up."

His voice wasn't loud, but it fell clearly into every ear. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Since you've joined my army, you're my family. I won't treat you like servants. In ordinary times, you can do what you want—but when war comes, you fight like your lives depend on it."

As those words landed, the atmosphere in the hall—still carrying a trace of vigilance—loosened visibly.

The Stone Golem and the Ravenkin answered in unison. Then they each took out a strand of rune power from themselves, cradling it in both hands and offering it to Ethan.

Ethan lowered his gaze and understood immediately.

A rune contract.

Meaning from this moment on, their lives and loyalty were in his hands. The sensation was similar to some of the primal ties he'd felt from the Fairy race—only more direct, and far more solemn.

Before Ethan could fully sort through that thought, the Stone Golem moved again.

It pulled a sapphire-blue stone from its body and slammed it into the ground.

The instant it struck, a ring of deep-blue energy burst out. Then the earth began to quake violently.

Cracks split open all around them.

And then more Stone Golems began climbing up from underground, one after another.

Some raised their heads from within the fissures. Some shattered through layers of rock and stood up. Their numbers were far greater than what they'd seen earlier.

In no time, tall stone silhouettes filled the hall and the surrounding passages.

"After those bastards took over this world," the first Stone Golem said in a low voice, "our people had no choice but to hide underground. But now that a true master has appeared, we don't need to cower here anymore."

Hearing that, Ethan's gaze changed completely.

Looking at what was unfolding—and linking it to everything that had happened up to now—the answer was brutally clear.

These Stone Golems and Ravenkin were the true natives of this world.

As for the ones outside, sitting in high positions and calling themselves the "legitimate" rulers—

They were nothing but shameless invaders.

The realization weighed down on Ethan's chest… then a stronger emotion surged up and shoved it aside.

He slowly evened out his breathing. Then he let his energy ripple outward, tapping it lightly onto each Stone Golem and Ravenkin.

It wasn't an attack.

It was an answer. A promise.

"I will take back the world that was always yours."

When he said it, his voice wasn't loud—and it carried not even a trace of hesitation.

Then he asked the one thing he cared about most.

"In this world… are there other natives like you?"

The moment the question left his mouth, the emotions of the Stone Golems and Ravenkin were lit like tinder.

Light flared in their eyes. Then, one after another, they pulled out strange rune gemstones and crushed them without hesitation.

The instant the gems shattered, countless tiny motes of light scattered into the ground.

The next moment—

That eerie, rolling boom came again from the earth around them.

Ethan's breathing sped up at once.

Everything in front of him was developing in the exact direction he wanted—at a speed that exceeded even his expectations.

First the Ravenkin, then the Stone Golems. If this kept going, he could gather a truly powerful army in an extremely short time.

And this army wouldn't just fill the manpower gap in Emerald Castle's expeditionary force—more importantly, they belonged to this world.

They understood its structure, its energy, where to go, and how to reclaim more of what had always been theirs.

But the excitement only lasted a moment. Ethan forced it down quickly.

Because this underground region was about to give way.

The chain of ground-splitting blasts, the shock of Stone Golems crawling up in bulk, and the rune energy being activated and tugged again and again had already torn this place apart.

Walls, floor, and deeper load-bearing structures shrieked with sharp cracking sounds. Rock and dust kept shedding in layers. The whole space looked like it could collapse as one at any second.

They couldn't stay.

"Withdraw." Ethan made the call instantly, his voice crushing through the noise. "All of you—get out of here first."

The moment the order dropped, everyone moved.

The Ravenkin and Stone Golems were already familiar with the underground routes, reacting fast. The Fairies quickly gathered around Feylora.

The retreat didn't become chaotic despite the sudden increase in numbers. If anything, with these newly submitted races added in, it gained a steadier, more orderly rhythm.

…

At the same time.

Above the central relic ruins of Elysion, an entirely different atmosphere was boiling.

That region was older than anything on the outer perimeter—and far more immense. Broken platforms, snapped divine pillars, and tier upon tier of collapsed altars overlapped into a grandeur that felt like the remains of a dead temple.

And at the center of those half-ruined structures, visible streams of Primordial Force rose continuously.

It wasn't violent.

It was heavy—so heavy it felt like the world's core origin was being drawn up from the deepest underground, then fed, bit by bit, into a fixed point.

And Zyraeth stood there.

Powerhouses clustered around him, everyone using the Primordial Force leaking from this area to raise their own strength.

As that ancient, weighty energy flowed into their bodies, the aura on each of them climbed little by little.

The air kept trembling under the strain of so many people absorbing at once. Even the dust floating at the edges of the ruins seemed pinned down by some higher rule, not daring to drift freely.

"Never thought the Primordial Force here would be this strong." Someone let out a slow breath, joy hard to suppress in his voice. "It won't be long before our strength rises again."

"It's all thanks to our master," another immediately followed, tone full of reverence. "Without the master, we never could've found the core Primordial Force."

"Once we finish absorbing what's here, our power will jump again," someone else murmured. "By then, Emerald Castle won't be worth worrying about at all."

"I still think it's safer to kill them first." Another voice dropped low, killing intent obvious. "No loose ends."

The chatter spread back and forth, adding a restless, dangerous edge to ruins that were already heavy with pressure.

But while they were still congratulating each other—

Several frantic figures burst in from outside.

Those soldiers ran in stumbling, barely able to stand before they dropped flat to the ground with a thud.

"Supreme Deity—bad news! Lord Varex… has been killed by them!"

That single sentence was like it sucked the air out from above the ruins.

Everyone who'd been speaking froze.

No one had imagined news like this would come in now.

Varex wasn't some ordinary powerhouse. His status, strength, and reputation—everyone here knew exactly what they meant.

Yet now, someone like that had been killed.

And it was Emerald Castle who did it.