Chapter 71: Ultimate Winner
As the notifications rang out in Ethan’s head, he felt a surge of power wash through him, his physical strength shifting through a fundamental change that settled deep into his bones.
He had officially entered tier 7.
The transition wasn’t gradual. It arrived all at once, a pressure that expanded outward from somewhere behind his sternum before settling, leaving him steadier on his feet than he’d felt in weeks.
He rolled his shoulders once, testing the new weight of it, the strength that now moved beneath his skin without him needing to reach for it.
Without wasting a moment on the feeling, Ethan signaled to Morgana and began walking toward the now-broken mind dragon, its massive form slumped against the stone where the fight had finally ended.
"I’ll call you Trickster."
He smiled faintly, sending a mental command through the freshly formed bond, forcing the beast to turn and lower itself enough for Ethan to mount.
It obeyed without resistance, its will thoroughly bent beneath Morgana’s invasion, whatever fire had driven it moments earlier now nowhere to be found.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Minutes later.
Screeeee
The beast broke away from the basilisk horde and shot into the sky, flying directly away from the cave without a single glance backward, its wings beating hard against the strange painted air overhead. Even its former opponent, the tier 6 basilisk, seemed to register nothing of its departure, too consumed by its own wounds to notice the shift.
Hela and the rest fell in alongside it, forming a loose formation as they angled back toward the dragon altar, the ridge falling away steadily beneath them as the distance closed.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Meanwhile, at the dragon altar.
"I can’t believe it!! We have another dragon mancer in our hands."
"Lady Marie is so talented. The spirit king has blessed her."
"Our Dracontis family will see even greater prosperity because of this."
The voices rose in a wave of excitement, several members already crowding closer to get a better look, craning past one another to catch sight of the creature settling above the altar.
After a string of members had completed their summonings across the altar, for the first time in longer than most of them could remember, a dragon had answered the call.
The Dracontis family carried an old affinity for dragon summoning, woven into their bloodline for generations. But in recent years, that legacy had grown thin. Finding a dragon willing to answer had become increasingly rare.
Especially one at A rank.
"Thank you, spirit king."
The young noble lady dropped to her knees at the center of the altar, kowtowing several times in quick succession, her voice trembling with something close to disbelief, tears already gathering at the corners of her eyes.
Her future within the clan had just been secured. She would join the dragon rider corps, her name elevated instantly among the family’s ranks.
After her, the last recognized genius of the clan stepped forward.
Unlike the celebration that had surrounded Marie, only a handful of lower-ranked attendants paid him any real attention. The rest of the crowd had already turned their focus elsewhere, their excitement still fixed on the dragon summoning that had just unfolded.
Lorn remained largely scorned by the family, the weight of that dismissal following him even here, even now, standing at the edge of a moment that should have belonged fully to him. He didn’t let it show on his face.
"Spirit King Karth,"
His voice came low, steady despite everything.
"Protect my spirit as..."
The altar reacted beneath him, responding to the ritual taking shape, runes flaring faintly along its surface as the stone beneath his knees warmed with gathering energy.
[You have summoned a beast of FIRE]
Seconds later, a burst of white light spread outward from the corners of the altar, and a reptilian creature emerged from within it, hovering just above the stone. It had no wings, but its limbs carried obvious strength, its fangs gleaming like tempered steel, its claws just as formidable.
And beneath all of that, something far more significant.
It was S-Ranked.
But no one noticed, their attention already fractured, still caught between the excitement of Marie’s summon and whatever had just torn through the sky behind them.
Because at that exact moment, a voice cut through the crowd.
"It’s back!! The Trickster is back!!"
Someone pointed sharply toward the sky, where a draconic shape had appeared on the horizon, flying steadily toward the gathered group.
The altar fell into immediate panic, bodies scrambling backward, weapons half-raised out of instinct, several younger members shouting warnings that no one had time to properly process. But as the beast entered the airspace above them, it did nothing threatening at all. Instead, it lowered its massive head, allowing Ethan to step down from its back with practiced ease.
In front of stunned, frozen expressions, Ethan descended, his gaze sweeping across the crowd with a quiet trace of pride as he looked down at them from atop the altar.
They had sent him out expecting failure. Schemed and calculated, certain he wouldn’t return alive from whatever they’d pushed him into.
Instead, here he stood.
Not only alive, but riding the very beast they had all but sworn would end him.
In every meaningful sense, he had come out the clear winner of this exchange.
Whatever plans had been whispered behind his back before he entered that dungeon, whatever quiet bets had been placed on his failure, none of it mattered now.
They simply hadn’t realized it yet.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Outside the dungeon, near where the portal still shimmered faintly, a woman with dark hair and a tight spandex combat suit sat atop her summoned beast, her nose thoroughly clogged with congestion.
"Catching a cold inside a dead volcano has to be the strangest thing I’ve ever seen, madam."
One of the Dracontis guardians spoke carefully, extending a steaming cup of cocoa toward her with visible concern.
"Ehn, it has nothing to do with this place."
Banshee waved the comment off with a faint smile, accepting the cup anyway.
"I break out like this whenever something unexpected happens inside. It’s a gift."
Whether that meant the expedition had turned into an overwhelming success, or that everyone still inside had already met their end, was something her particular ability had never bothered clarifying. It only ever told her that something had happened, never what.
With a gift like hers, it could honestly go either way.
Comments