Mystic Calling：Stone of Glory

Ethan's gaze grew heavier by the second.

Judging from the power structures these creatures were giving off—

They were natives of this world, too.

But they were clearly nothing like the Ravenkin and the Stone Golems they'd run into before.

There was none of that almost instinctive obedience and suppression hanging off them. Instead, their aura carried an unmistakable arrogance—like a group that could lie in wait underground for ages and still never truly bow their heads to anyone.

Ethan didn't hesitate again.

The power inside him detonated. His whole body shot forward like a bolt of white lightning released after being forcibly compressed, slamming straight into the already-cracked wall Elira had blasted open.

The stone layer couldn't hold up in front of him at all. The instant he made contact, it exploded into chunks. Elira and Feylora followed almost at the same time. The three of them—front to back—charged deeper into the tunnels, tearing through every obstruction in their path.

The energy the three of them were releasing was savage to the extreme.

White lightning. The Divine Sovereign Moth's annihilating presence. The crushing pressure woven from runes and Fairy power. In the narrow underground passage, it all stacked and overlapped, shaking the entire space with continuous thunder.

Before long, they fought their way to the deepest part of the cavern.

And the moment they arrived, even Ethan's expression changed.

The power rippling through this place was abnormally strong—so dense it nearly crushed the breath out of you.

The air wasn't just heavy anymore. It felt like it had been flooded with something older, something more dangerous. Even breathing felt like swallowing layer after layer of sharp dust.

The surrounding rock walls were covered in bizarre patterns and dark stains left behind by long erosion, and the entire space carried an oppressive pressure unlike anything before.

All three of them slowed at the same time.

Here, their vigilance was pushed to the limit.

In the next instant, a head suddenly pushed out from a hollow up ahead.

The moment that thing appeared, all three of them instinctively paused.

Because it didn't look like a normal living being at all.

It was a face completely stripped of flesh—at a distance, it looked like a skeleton that was still alive. But what you couldn't ignore wasn't just its horrifying appearance.

It was the power surging from its chest.

The energy there was too violent.

Like an overcompressed core embedded in the center of its ribcage, ready to blow the entire surrounding space apart at any moment.

Ethan didn't waste time thinking. He lifted a hand and blasted a sheet of white lightning straight at it.

Not one or two bolts.

A whole spread-out thunderstorm.

White arcs tangled together in midair, growing denser and denser like a giant net—wrapping the skeleton-man's body in the blink of an eye. The rock walls around them were bleached white by the light, and the air screamed with the sharp, cracking roar of electricity lashing out.

But the next second, Ethan's eyes shifted.

That skeleton-man wasn't afraid of the lightning at all.

It wasn't just tanking it—something extremely strange suddenly spilled out from inside it.

That aura had no visible shape, but it expanded like rippling waves. The moment it touched the white lightning, it shattered it layer by layer. Huge patches of current burst apart in midair, breaking into tiny streams of light, never truly managing to press in.

Thud!

The instant that bizarre aura smashed the lightning net aside, Ethan's eyes widened.

"What?!"

He genuinely hadn't expected this thing to be this strong.

But the shock only lasted a fraction of a moment. The next instant, power compressed again in Ethan's palm. A sphere of energy formed rapidly, white lightning and condensed force churning violently inside it.

He didn't pause at all—he whipped his hand and slammed it over.

The energy sphere shot in a straight line and collided with the skeleton-man's body, erupting into a burst of blinding white light on contact.

But the result made Ethan's heart sink even further.

That hit only left a faint white mark on the surface of its bones.

That was all.

The skeleton-man glanced at the tiny, almost negligible trace on its chest, and then it suddenly threw its head back and laughed. The sound was dry and shrill, filled with undisguised contempt.

"Hahaha—you're all so damn weak." It slowly raised its head, hollow eye sockets locking onto the three of them. "To me, you're nothing but low-tier vermin. Today, I'll let you see what real power looks like."

As the words fell, it lifted a hand.

A massive sphere of energy began to gather at insane speed before its palm.

That sphere was nothing like anything the enemies before had condensed. The moment it took shape, the air around it started to collapse inward, and even the nearby rock walls groaned with deep cracking sounds, like they couldn't bear the strain.

Inside the sphere, an overwhelmingly violent destructive might churned—like it had compressed the death of the entire area into a single point.

Ethan only needed one glance for his gut to drop.

This thing couldn't be met head-on.

If they really took it straight, then forget just him—there was a very real chance that even if he, Elira, and Feylora fought together, they'd die right here on the spot.

But at that moment, Elira's eyes changed.

A vicious edge snapped into them, like she'd been completely provoked.

The next instant, a savage wave of power rolled off her in full. The presence behind her climbed layer after layer, and high overhead, a colossal Divine Sovereign Moth phantom rapidly took shape.

The moment that phantom appeared, its shadow and pressure smothered the entire cavern.

Different from before, this Divine Sovereign Moth phantom was clearly more solid—heavier, denser.

It wasn't just carrying Elira's own strength anymore. Mixed within it was the world's origin energy. When its wings spread, the whole space shuddered in response, and even the distant rock layers that hadn't collapsed yet were forced open with fresh cracks.

Thud!

In the next heartbeat, the Divine Sovereign Moth phantom pressed forward.

What followed was an even more terrifying chain of impacts and detonations.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The force it released was too violent.

The instant it charged across, the surrounding cave was practically blasted open along its path.

Rock walls, ceiling, ground—everything split apart under that single rush, exploding into chunks of stone and clouds of dust, as if some enormous hand had reached into the deep earth and violently churned it into pieces.

Ethan retreated to the side almost immediately, giving the frontal space over completely.

The next moment, that Divine Sovereign Moth phantom slammed dead-on into the skeleton-man.

The skeleton-man was clearly shaken by that power.

For the first time, its movements—so full of contempt a moment ago—showed real disorder. The energy inside it scattered for an instant, and it staggered back several steps.

But it was still too slow.

The Divine Sovereign Moth phantom didn't give it a chance to stabilize. In the blink of an eye, it had swallowed the skeleton-man whole.

Boom!

Bone fragments and shattered rock blasted outward at the same time.

Parts of the skeleton-man's bones were pulverized on the spot. Its chest, shoulders, and neck were blown open with heavy fractures.

But what was more terrifying wasn't even the collision itself.

It was the power pouring out of the Divine Sovereign Moth phantom—unceasing, relentless.

That force didn't stop after a single hit.

It kept drilling inward.

Along split bone seams, through the chest cavity and spine, it seeped in bit by bit—pressing its way into the marrow.

Before long, the skeleton-man's entire body was covered in dense, crawling cracks. They webbed across its skull, ribs, spine, and limbs, like a white-bone shell that had been forced apart from the inside—on the verge of shattering completely.