Chapter 20: Inferno in Blackfang Valley**
The moment Ethan stepped into the clearing, the air itself seemed to recoil.
Before him lay fifteen Nightrend Wolves, their massive forms rising and falling in the rhythm of sleep. The smallest were the size of warhorses, their obsidian fur threaded with veins of pulsating blue. But one stood apart—a monstrous alpha, nearly twice the size of the others, its scarred muzzle twitching as dreams of carnage played behind its eyelids.
Ethan's analytical gaze swept over them.
*Fourteen at third-rank. One at fourth.*
His boot snapped a twig.
Every wolf's eyes snapped open.
---
### **The Alpha's Challenge**
The alpha rose first, its glowing yellow eyes locking onto Ethan. A guttural growl ripped from its throat, shaking the very leaves from the trees. The other wolves scrambled to their feet, forming a perfect semicircle around him, their claws leaving faint tears in the air itself.
For a heartbeat, there was silence.
Then the alpha roared.
Fourteen wolves charged as one.
---
### **Annihilation Protocol**
Ethan didn't hesitate.
**"SKY DOMINE."**
A level-nine gravitational spell erupted from his outstretched palm. The very fabric of space distorted as crushing force hammered the wolves into the dirt. Trees splintered. Stones shattered. The alpha alone resisted, its fourth-rank strength allowing it to stumble forward—
Ethan's other hand rose.
**"Draconis Inferno."**
A crimson magic circle blazed to life in the air before him, intricate runes spinning like a deadly kaleidoscope. From its center erupted a colossal dragon's head, its maw wide enough to swallow a house whole. The wolves' eyes widened in primal terror as the apparition's molten gaze locked onto them.
**"Burn."**
The dragon's jaws unhinged.
A torrent of white-hot fire erupted forth, not mere flames but liquid annihilation. The blast wave vaporized the first three wolves instantly. The next five became living torches, their howls cut short as their organs boiled within their bodies. The remaining six tried to flee—
Too late.
The inferno consumed them all.
---
### **Aftermath**
Ethan raised his arm as the shockwave hit.
**"Holy Knight Shield"**
A golden knight holding shield materialized before him just as the explosion's force would have peeled the flesh from his bones. The barrier held, though the ground around him turned to glass from the heat.
When the flames cleared, only the alpha remained—its fur scorched away, its mutated flesh bubbling, but still alive.
Ethan stood amidst the smoldering remains of the pack, his boots pressing into the glassed earth where his flames had scorched the battlefield into oblivion. The alpha—once a monstrous beast of fourth-rank power—now cowered before him, its fur burned away, its mutated flesh oozing blue-tinged blood. Its glowing yellow eyes, which had once struck fear into entire villages, now reflected only primal terror.
....
The third Steelclaw Bear collapsed with a thunderous crash, Sophie's runed sword buried deep in its skull. Her knights panted behind her, armor dented and cloaks torn. The forest clearing looked like a hurricane had passed through—shattered trees, blood-soaked earth, and the massive corpses of three bears.
Then the world exploded.
A fireball the size of a house erupted in the distance, lighting up the horizon with hellish orange light. The shockwave hit seconds later, shaking the ground hard enough to knock Rylan to his knees.
"What in the seven hells—?!"
Sophie didn't hesitate. She yanked her sword free. "Move!"
They ran toward the inferno.
---
### **The Glassed Valley**
The smell hit them first—charred meat and molten stone. Then the heat, rolling over them in waves as they crested the ridge.
Blackfang Valley was gone.
In its place stretched a quarter-mile circle of blackened glass, still glowing red in places. The remains of fourteen Nightrend Wolves stood like grotesque statues—carbonized skeletons frozen mid-snarl, some still burning with eerie blue flames. At the center stood Ethan, his boot resting on the smoldering skull of an alpha wolf large enough to bite a warhorse in half.
Rylan vomited.
Liane crossed herself. "Mother of mercy..."
Sophie's sword slipped from numb fingers.
.....
Ethan looked up as if sensing their presence. His coat was pristine, not a single hair out of place. When their eyes met, he tilted his head slightly—the way a man might regard an interesting insect.
Then he crushed the alpha's skull under his heel.
Ethan didn't even look up at first. Instead, he reached into his coat and withdrew his **Adventurer's Card**—a palm-sized rectangle of enchanted silver, etched with intricate runes that glowed faintly in response to his touch. The card's surface displayed his name, rank , and a shifting emblem of a scale balanced against a sword—the mark of the Adventurer's Guild.
He flicked it once.
A **pulse of white light** burst from the card, sweeping over the battlefield before snapping back into the metal.
The guild's way of verifying a mission's success. White meant total annihilation—no survivors, no need for cleanup.
Only then did Ethan finally turn his gaze toward Sophie and her knights. His eyes were cold, indifferent.
**"What are you doing here?"**
The question was so casual, so utterly devoid of concern, that for a moment, Sophie couldn't speak.
Rylan, still shaking, managed to croak, **"Y-you… you killed them all?"**
Ethan glanced at the smoldering remains. **"Yes."**
Sophie forced her voice to steady. **"We were finishing our mission when we heard the explosion. We came to… investigate."**
Ethan studied her for a long moment, then nodded. **"I'll see you in the city."**
Before anyone could react, the air around him **distorted**.
A gravitational spell surged to life, invisible forces rippling outward as Ethan's body lifted effortlessly from the ground. The knights stumbled back, shielding their faces as the sheer pressure of his magic sent cracks spiderwebbing through the glass at his feet.
Then—
**BOOM.**
Ethan shot into the sky like a bolt of black lightning, the shockwave of his takeoff flattening the grass for twenty yards in every direction. In seconds, he was a speck against the clouds—then gone.
Silence.
Rylan collapsed to his knees, his armor rattling. **"What… what *is* he?"*
*
Sophie could only stare at the sky, her mind racing.
The guild's **white sigil** didn't just mean mission complete.
It meant **overkill.**