Chapter 1223: The Guardian Falls Once
Ethan’s eyes went wide.
He hadn’t expected the guardian’s strength to be this insane. The attack hadn’t even fully landed yet, and Ethan’s chest was already being crushed by the pressure. The air around him caved downward like it was buckling under a massive weight, and even the transparent lightning on his body got forced lower, like it was being pressed into his skin.
Ethan adjusted his breathing and took one step back.
Then he raised his hand and threw a punch.
The moment his fist drove forward, every strand of transparent lightning in his body snapped toward his knuckles. At the same time, the guardian’s descending power slammed into range. Their forces collided head-on in the center of the clearing.
A visible shockwave detonated between fist and fist.
The air boomed—deep, rolling thunder that rattled the whole arena. Light swallowed everything. If the impact had been even a notch stronger, it felt like the world itself would’ve been shaken loose.
Ethan’s heart surged.
He’d thought that after the bloodbath in Mournvale Abyss—and after gaining partial control of the special energy here—he could handle most enemies.
But this guardian?
Every strike felt like the weight of the entire mountain was coming down on him.
Worse, the system couldn’t analyze him.
No status panel. No clear readout. Not even a complete judgment of the complex energy circuits inside the guardian’s body. Ethan could see the heavy waves of power rolling off him, but he couldn’t use the system to pinpoint weaknesses the usual way.
At this point, there was nothing else to do.
He had to fight with everything he had.
As the seconds dragged on, the battle snapped into a white-hot rhythm. Ethan’s transparent lightning tore through the air again and again, while the guardian’s dense power kept slamming forward from the front. Fists, energy, shockwaves—collision after collision—until the entire clearing was drowned in explosive light.
After another brutal clash, Ethan skidded back several steps.
Every footfall spat out a ring of electricity. His blood churned. A dull pain clogged his chest. His arm tingled with numbness from that last hard block. The lightning still flowed, but his breathing had turned noticeably heavier.
Across from him, the guardian shouted, loud enough to shake the walls.
"Ha! That’s the stuff!"
And he charged again.
Power poured out of him without end, a thick, crushing tide that covered Ethan from above and in front. There was nothing fancy about it—no tricks, no flourishes. Just weight and force and inevitability. When it rolled in, the air around the arena was shoved aside so hard it felt like the world was being squeezed flat.
Even Catheryn, sitting off in the distance, lifted her eyes.
Ethan’s breath hitched.
Then he roared back, and his energy detonated.
Transparent lightning surged out from under his feet, climbed his body, and speared into the sky—until it became a massive white electric swell that met the guardian’s crushing power head-on.
The two forces smashed together again.
Aftershocks rippled outward with a world-ending feel, slamming into the arena and pounding out a continuous roar. Yet the clearing didn’t take any damage. It didn’t even visibly shake. Every bit of impact was absorbed, swallowed into the earth, and transformed into deeper currents of mineral energy below.
This place was even tougher than Ethan had imagined.
Then, after another exchange, Ethan caught a detail.
A crack on the guardian’s shoulder.
It was shallow, hidden under the dense energy and the bulk of that towering frame. If the guardian hadn’t been throwing out repeated heavy strikes—if there hadn’t been a tiny stall in the energy flow at the shoulder—Ethan might’ve missed it. It wasn’t a normal wound.
It felt like a rare weak point.
If he hit that spot—
He might actually bring the bastard down.
Ethan clenched his jaw and locked his eyes onto the guardian’s shoulder.
He didn’t rush in immediately. Instead, he formed a white lightning sphere in his hand. Transparent lightning was compressed inside it, while the surface burned with blinding white light. When it stabilized, Ethan pivoted and moved to the side, trying to avoid the guardian’s frontal suppression and slip around.
The guardian didn’t hesitate.
He erupted with power. That thick energy split outward—and then, right there on the arena floor, it pulled two new shapes into being.
In an instant, the guardian became three.
They stood in different positions, sealing Ethan’s path and both flanks.
The technique was terrifying.
Each clone carried an energy wave almost identical to the original. Their breathing, movements, and power fluctuations were nearly synchronized—and even the shoulder’s energy shift looked replicated. Against most opponents, it would’ve been a perfect trap.
But against Ethan?
Not enough.
The system couldn’t fully analyze the guardian’s panel, but it could still pick up fine differences between the three bodies. Energy circulation. Core reactions. How the ground responded under each step.
In the span of a single breath, Ethan identified the real one.
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
Next second, he shot out like a phantom. Transparent lightning carved a white afterimage under his feet. He ignored the other two and snapped behind the real body, raising his hand and slamming the lightning sphere down with everything he had.
The white sphere struck dead-on—right at that shoulder crack.
The instant it connected, the compressed transparent lightning inside detonated. It drilled into the crack, tore through the outer energy protection, and surged deeper in a savage burst. The guardian’s once-stable aura instantly lurched out of rhythm, and the other two clones wavered along with it.
A shrill, pained scream ripped across the clearing.
The guardian’s eyes went wide. His massive body pitched forward—
Then crashed to the ground.
The arena gave a low, heavy thud. The glowing patterns around the clearing pulsed once, brightening in response. The guardian’s energy began to collapse rapidly. The two clones dissolved, leaving only the true body sprawled in front of Ethan.
Ethan’s pulse jumped.
That hit had to have done serious damage.
But before he could enjoy it, the guardian forced himself upright again.
The scattered energy flowed back into him. Under the thick nourishment of mineral power, the shoulder crack healed fast—closing bit by bit until it was almost gone. The chaotic turbulence in his aura smoothed back out, settling into a steady, heavy calm.
He looked at Ethan.
There was no anger in his eyes—only a new, focused seriousness.
"Didn’t see that coming," the guardian said, rolling his shoulder. "You found my weakness. You even put me down. I’m looking at you different now."
He paused, then nodded once. "This round counts as your win. You can take part of the ore."
As he spoke, he pulled out a blue sphere and tossed it to Ethan.
Ethan caught it and checked it quickly.
Inside that blue sphere was a huge amount of snow-white ore. Pure Primordial Core energy drifted quietly within it, the quantity far beyond the single gemstone Catheryn had given him earlier. If he used all of this, his strength would jump an entire tier.
Excitement surged through Ethan’s chest.
But then the guardian walked closer.
His energy flared again, thick power spreading outward. One by one, the glowing patterns on the ground lit up. He looked down at Ethan, interest bright and undisguised in his voice.
"Kid, I like you. In all these years, nobody’s fought me this hard." He leaned forward a fraction, like he couldn’t help himself. "How about you take a breather... and we go again?"
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