Mystic Calling：Stone of Glory-Chapter 993: The Storm Inside Stone

Ethan's gaze swept over the entire formation, fast—then locked onto something that clearly didn't belong.

One Stone Golem was noticeably taller than the rest, and set into its chest was a purplish-brown energy core.

The pulse coming off that core resonated faintly with every other Stone Golem around it, like it was the center point holding the whole swarm together.

Ethan recognized it almost instantly—

A king core.

If that core really was what he thought, then through it, this Stone Golem might be able to command the entire golem legion.

The thought had barely formed when Ethan moved.

His figure flashed. He shot into the sky like a released bolt of white lightning, electricity surging around him again. Dense arcs dragged a blazing trail through the air as he accelerated.

The Stone Golems clearly hadn't expected anyone to charge straight into their ranks.

As Ethan closed the distance at high speed, the massive rock creatures fell into brief confusion. A few even instinctively pulled back, enormous stone arms lifting as if to brace for the impact.

Then a low, urgent command rang out from somewhere in the array.

"Defend!"

In the next instant, every Stone Golem moved at once.

Tens of thousands of rock giants released their energy simultaneously. Heavy, deep power surged out from inside their bodies and gathered rapidly in the sky. Their energies fused and stacked, dark currents weaving together like countless rivers colliding midair.

Within seconds, a gigantic energy projection began to take shape above them.

It looked like a stone titan spirit on an impossible scale, its outline sharpening as the power condensed. Horrific pressure rolled off it in expanding waves.

Ethan's pupils tightened slightly.

That mass of energy was enormous.

The air up high began to quake like it was being crushed. Energy waves spread outward from the projection in layer after layer, and the world filled with a low, continuous rumble.

The projection kept condensing—

And at the same time, Ethan's own power climbed.

He hovered in midair, eyes fixed on that colossal energy body created by the combined strength of the Stone Golems.

His breathing grew heavier, and something savage stirred awake from deep inside him.

The next instant, pale white lightning erupted around his body. Fine electric light raced along his arms, shoulders, and spine. Under that pressure, the air shrieked with sharp detonations.

Ethan didn't hesitate. He brought his arm down hard.

With a boom that sounded like the sky tearing open, a massive bolt of bone-white thunder dropped from above.

It didn't vanish like normal lightning.

It was like a giant spear forged from pure energy, dragging blinding light as it slammed straight into that immense projection.

The moment thunder met the energy shadow, the entire sky seemed to ignite.

A huge shockwave expanded outward from the collision point. The air compressed to the limit—then exploded.

Space shuddered violently. In the distance, rocky mountains split and collapsed under the aftershock, and debris rained down like hail.

But right then, Ethan felt something off.

When his thunder made contact with the projection, a strange presence seeped out from deep within that energy mass.

It was old. Heavy. Dark.

Like it came from some far, buried layer of reality—mixed with a heat that felt like it could scorch the soul, twisted and wrong.

Ethan's eyes narrowed.

That sensation… was eerily similar to abyss power he'd encountered before.

In the air, the faint stench of The Infernal Abyss spread.

Instead of making him retreat, the discovery sparked something bright in his gaze. As that abyss aura became clearer, his heartbeat actually sped up.

"Interesting…" he muttered.

Then he moved.

Ethan flickered in midair, turning into a blurred afterimage as he shot straight toward the front of the massive energy body. At the moment he reached the edge of the barrier, the power inside him changed violently.

His body started to break apart.

Not from being hit—by choice.

Countless tiny black particles poured from the surface of his skin, spreading in a rush. They looked like pure energy grains, dense and unnatural, and in a blink they replaced his human shape entirely.

In only a few seconds, Ethan had become a storm of black particles.

They spun rapidly in the air, then surged like a tide toward the enormous energy projection.

And when they touched the barrier, they weren't stopped.

Instead, those particles seeped through—like drops of ink dissolving into water—slowly, smoothly, vanishing into the projection's surface.

In that state, Ethan could almost feel the movement of every energy structure around him.

The black particles darted through the massive energy body, racing along its power "veins" like a pack of ghosts hunting prey.

It didn't take long before the black storm reached the projection's true core.

There, the strength of countless Stone Golems was tangled together in an insanely complex weave.

A colossal vortex of power spun without end. Abyss aura roiled inside it, like a dark sun slowly burning from within.

And in that instant, Ethan's power detonated completely.

The black particles began spinning at terrifying speed, forming a huge vortex of their own. It carried a devouring pull—wild and absolute—dragging everything nearby into it.

The Stone Golem legion's combined power started getting ripped away.

The stable structure of the projection collapsed into chaos. Huge amounts of energy were forcibly stripped out and flooded into Ethan. That violent surge churned inside his consciousness, like storm waves hammering his mind again and again.

The energy projection in the sky started to shake violently.

A few seconds later, it finally couldn't hold its shape.

The remaining power slammed into itself, collided, and—

A deafening blast.

The entire structure shattered.

Energy fragments exploded across the sky.

When the broken light finally thinned, a huge figure appeared again in everyone's sight.

Ethan.

But he didn't look the same anymore.

His body had expanded to several times its original size, wrapped in a layer of raging power. Black and white forces tangled around him, surging like two thunder dragons coiled together, roaring low enough to make the air vibrate.

That aura was suffocating.

It was so heavy it felt like the world was answering it—air shaking violently, distant mountains cracking apart, the whole space filled with deep, rolling booms.

When the Stone Golem army saw him clearly, their movements locked up.

The formation that had been orderly a moment ago fell into brief chaos. Those massive rock bodies hovered in the air, and you could see them pulling back from him—actually retreating.

They'd never seen anything like this.

What terrified them even more was the fact that Ethan's power was producing a bizarre resonance with the energy inside their own bodies.

That Dark Abyss aura flowed through him—and in some way, it was even starting to interfere with the Stone Golems' internal energy structures.

A few Stone Golems suddenly realized they'd lost control for a split second.

Their stone arms actually trembled.

Panic spread through the legion.

"What the hell is this guy?" one Stone Golem growled, its voice tight with unease. "Why can he control our bodies?"

Another stared at Ethan as if it couldn't process what it was seeing.

"This is impossible… our power comes from the Dark Abyss. It even contains infernal energy. Ordinary life can't control a force like that. What did he do?"

As fear rippled outward, more guesses started flying.

"Could he be… the legendary World God?"

"No," another Stone Golem shot it down immediately. "The World God in the legends is pure energy. There's no way it's some young man who just showed up out of nowhere."

The arguments spread quickly through the ranks.

But no matter what they told themselves, the terror on every Stone Golem's face was obvious.

Ethan's presence kept rising—stronger, heavier—until it started to suppress the energy inside them.

The air grew denser by the second.