With the Inhibitor destroyed, Lyla and the rest of the team quickly regrouped beside Ethan. As they faced the mass of Blackridge forces, not a single one of them showed a trace of fear, instead there was a restless, almost reckless excitement running through all of them.

On the other side, the six remaining Guild Presidents at the front of the Blackridge coalition looked utterly defeated. The phrase, "All rights of interpretation belong to the Steele Consortium," still echoed in their minds, a line that tasted like ash the longer they held it. When their eyes met, there was nothing but helpless recognition, an unspoken admission that they had lost control of everything happening around them.

"Let us fight."

The words came out in a weary sigh. None of them were fools. They understood the terrain better than anyone. Even with seventy to eighty thousand players behind them, only a fraction could actually squeeze into this narrow corridor to face the Druid God. They could clearly see ten people standing beside Ethan, yet they also knew there was an eleventh, a Rogue hidden somewhere in the shadows, a Rogue strong enough to silently eliminate their front-line Paladins and instantly assassinate two heavily guarded Guild Presidents. One of those Presidents had even been a top-tier Rogue himself, yet he too had been taken down by someone from his own class.

What they did not know was that the terrifying Rogue they feared so deeply was nothing more than Ethan's Second Avatar, and the two fallen Presidents were equally confused, since the system notifications they received at the last second had listed their killer as NotADruid, similar to Ethan's own game ID.

The six Presidents were reluctantly steeling themselves to finally give the order to attack when a thin flash of cold light streaked past them. The liaison who had just finished delivering the Steele Consortium ultimatum crumpled to the ground, his eyes wide and stiff with disbelief.

None of the six were weak, and the instant the cold light appeared they reacted on instinct, unleashing their skills toward the black-robed Rogue they knew was hiding among them. Their attacks struck nothing. The Rogue's silhouette flickered, blurred, then simply disappeared.

"What the hell, a Rogue with Flash?"

One of the Mages stared in confusion. His gaze locked onto Ethan, because the black-robed Rogue had reappeared right at Ethan's side, as if this had been the Rogue's true position all along. The sight tightened something in the hearts of the Presidents, because now they understood just how extraordinary the Divine One's subordinates truly were.

At almost the same time, the furious private messages from the liaison began pouring into their inboxes. Orders, threats, and curses from their unseen master demanded that they kill the Druid God and every member of his team, no matter the cost. All they could do was force a bitter smile.

"Druid God, we apologize," one of them said quietly.

A strange calm settled over them. The Druid God had done more for the entire player base than anyone else, opening Secret Realms and dungeons that benefited every corner of the world. Even though the Steele Consortium controlled them now, they had never had any true conflict with Ethan. In truth, he was the one person they had hoped never to fight.

"Each serves his own master. You have no choice. Do what you must," Ethan said, his voice steady.

"Very well." The Blackridge Presidents exchanged a final look, and their eyes filled with resignation. Seeing Ethan in person left them with an unexpected sense of respect. They looked at him, then at themselves, and finally at the invisible hand that always tugged at their strings.

"Ryan."

Ethan stepped aside when he spoke the name.

Ryan, who had been completely hidden behind Ethan's towering Bear Form, was suddenly visible to the mass of Blackridge players.

"No, Shield Tanks, Shield Wall!"

The Mage among the six Presidents reacted first, his expression twisting with horror.

"What is it?" the others demanded.

"Do not ask, just run!" he shouted, and he instantly activated Flash. A sharp rush of air followed him as he vanished and reappeared far down the corridor. He did not hesitate, did not speak again, and simply ran for his life without daring to look back.

"Fire Release, Inferno Cannon!"

Most of the Blackridge players froze in confusion, but Ethan's team broke into excited grins. At Level 55, every hidden class player had unlocked a new ultimate ability, and they all knew exactly what Ryan's looked like.

The fleeing Mage knew it too. Hidden classes in Ethereal were rare, but most were already documented on the official site, and as a fellow Mage he had paid special attention to Ryan's class long before this confrontation. The instant Ethan stepped aside and Ryan came into view, a sharp, primal fear hit him, something he had not felt even when staring directly at the Druid God. His body reacted before his mind did, and he Flashed away on pure instinct.

He had barely reappeared in the distance when he heard Ryan's voice rolling through the cavern. His skin prickled and the hair on the back of his neck rose straight up.

A sudden blast of red light swallowed the underground world. For a moment, every corner of the dark corridor glowed like it had been set ablaze from within.

Ryan thrust both hands forward, and a tall, vertical magic array took shape between his palms. The array vibrated with a deep roar, then a thick column of fire surged out, like molten rock forced through a narrow vent.

At the very front, the Blackridge Shield Tanks were the only ones fast enough to react. They raised their shields and braced together in a Shield Wall, but the instant the blazing column touched the front line, a harsh system prompt rang in their ears.

[DING... SYSTEM NOTIFICATION : YOUR SHIELD'S DURABILITY HAS BEEN DEPLETED. YOU HAVE LOST PROTECTIVE CAPACITY!]

[DING... SYSTEM NOTIFICATION : YOUR PROTECTIVE GEAR'S DURABILITY HAS BEEN DEPLETED...]

The prompts kept coming, stacking over one another as the temperature spiked and raw pain crashed into their bodies. Ryan's mana pool drained at a frightening pace, and the longer the magic array held, the farther the inferno stretched down the corridor.

The Mage who had managed to run glanced back, his face twisting with disbelief. The flames were advancing so quickly he could feel the heat clawing at the tip of his nose. He had just begun to panic at the thought that there was nowhere left to run when the pillar of fire abruptly stopped.

Ryan's mana had run dry. The magic array cracked, then faded, and the roaring inferno vanished as if someone had snuffed out the sun.

The world, bathed in red only a second ago, dropped back into pitch blackness.

Silence followed, a heavy, suffocating quiet that pressed into every corner of the cavern.

Even Lyla, whose equipment enhanced her Dark Vision, could not see anything through the sudden darkness. Only Ethan could. The moment the flames disappeared, he had instinctively shifted back into his Bear Form, and his sharpened beast senses cut through the dark without effort.

He stared at the corridor ahead, stunned.

The entire passage had been cleared.

Farther down, near the entrance to the seventh level where the space widened, the enemy formation had been split cleanly in two. The stretch of ground between the divided groups was covered in bodies, scorched, scattered, and motionless.

The Flame Soulbinder hidden class was terrifying in a way few classes could ever hope to match. Allowing an enemy with that kind of power to unleash their ultimate was nothing short of a catastrophic mistake.

The advanced class for a Fire Mage was actually Inferno Archmage, well literally different from Flame Soulbinder.

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