On the other side, Ethan teleported out of the grabbing hand’s reach. Then he dropped a longsword under his feet with telekinesis and used it like a flying board, shooting off into the distance.

The shockwaves from Dopey’s fight were way too nasty. Better to pull the duel somewhere cleaner.

Slate missed the grab and came bursting out of the ground, furious. He locked onto Ethan and lunged after him.

Ethan’s telekinetic flight was fast—but Slate’s ability to fold the ground, compressing distance like he was cutting corners through space, was even faster.

In no time, Slate’s shadow was right behind him.

A crushing gravity field slammed onto Ethan’s body.

His stomach dropped.

He fell like a stone.

At the same time, dozens of meteors screamed down from above, and spear-like stone spikes thrust up from below, turning the air and ground into a kill box.

"So you’re going straight for the throat," Ethan muttered, eyelid twitching.

He didn’t hesitate.

Teleportation.

He blinked away.

"Damn it," he cursed under his breath as he reappeared farther out. "I was trying to save mental energy."

Long-range Teleportation burned way more mental energy than just riding telekinetic flight. Ethan had been hoping to kite Slate a little, let him waste stamina.

Yeah. Not happening.

Thank god Teleportation was instant—otherwise he’d have been in real trouble.

One chased, one fled.

They pulled farther and farther from the main battlefield.

Then, without warning, Ethan stopped midair.

Slate surged up behind him, eyes cold. "What, you finally realize you can’t get away? Done running?"

"Idiot," Ethan said flatly.

He triggered Absolute Stasis.

The world froze.

In the same breath, Ethan teleported—appearing right beside Slate—and swung his poleaxe down with everything he had.

"Annihilation Strike!"

Black light erupted along the weapon like a crack in reality.

The poleaxe smashed into Slate’s skull.

"BOOM—!"

The earth detonated.

A crater several meters deep blew open, and Slate’s body was driven straight into the bottom like a nail.

"Aaaargh—!"

A shriek tore through the air—raw, hysterical.

In the crater, Slate’s head was a mess of blood and pulp. He thrashed on the ground, roaring like a wounded beast.

Ethan’s eyes widened.

"He’s still not dead?"

That strike had eaten almost ninety percent of his remaining mental energy—an Annihilation Strike pushing close to eight times his normal power.

And it still hadn’t one-shot him.

Ethan clicked his tongue, forcing himself to stay calm.

"Yeah... the gap’s still too big."

At higher Tiers, the difference between each Tier wasn’t like early-game progression. Each step was a wall.

Ethan had killed Infernals while jumping two Tiers before.

Now he’d powered up, his mental energy pool had jumped massively, and he still couldn’t instantly delete Slate. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

But it made sense.

Ethan was only Tier 22.

Slate was Tier 25 peak.

A three-Tier gap.

And more importantly—Ethan was in Stage B, while Slate had stepped into Stage A. That wasn’t something you casually brute-forced.

Slate exploded out of the crater in a burst of dirt and rock. A stone spear formed in his hand and stabbed straight at Ethan, his eyes drowning in murderous frenzy.

Ethan teleported away again.

After that hit, he didn’t have the mental energy to trade up close. He had to reset.

"I’m going to kill you!" Slate screamed behind him, voice cracking.

Getting nearly killed by a human so many Tiers below him was humiliation. The kind that burned hotter than pain.

He had to wash it off in blood.

But even at full strength, Slate couldn’t catch Ethan.

Now he was injured—badly injured.

And he’d underestimated just how bad it was.

Ethan’s blow hadn’t killed him, but it had landed on his head. His skull was fractured, and blood poured down his face in sheets.

As he chased, his vision started to swim. His balance wobbled.

His limbs stopped listening the way they should.

After a few more minutes of stumbling pursuit, Slate’s momentum finally cut out.

His knees buckled.

And he collapsed face-first into the dirt, going still.

"Whew..."

Off in the distance, Ethan finally let out the breath he’d been holding and dropped onto the ground, legs giving out under him.

Annihilation Strike had eaten an absurd amount of his mental energy. Then he’d burned what was left with nonstop Teleportation for way too long.

If he hadn’t been eating Mindfruit and jacking his mental energy reserves up, he would’ve bottomed out ages ago.

And honestly—if his mental energy hadn’t increased, he never would’ve dared take a swing at a Tier 25 peak powerhouse in the first place.

Ethan looked at Slate’s body sprawled on the ground and smiled.

He’d actually done it.

He’d killed a Stage A-level enemy.

Next time he ran into a Stage A opponent, he wouldn’t be walking in blind anymore.

Back at the main fight, the remaining Stoneborn were turning a sickly pale.

Their control skills were barely keeping Dopey slowed, but the drain on them was horrific. They couldn’t let anything drop for even a second—if they paused, Dopey would tear free instantly.

They were miserable.

Desperate.

Praying Slate would hurry up and kill the human already.

Instead, it was like the universe decided to spit in their faces.

A figure came flying in—both feet planted on telekinetically-guided daggers like makeshift boards—and he was carrying someone in one hand.

As he got closer, the Stoneborn recognized him immediately.

The owner of the soulless thrall.

And the thing dangling from his grip—

Was Slate.

Even with Slate’s head smashed and his face unrecognizable under blood, they knew. They knew from his build, his aura, his gear—everything.

"How is that possible?!"

Eyes bulged. Voices cracked.

"No—no way! Slate can’t be killed by a Tier 22 human!"

Their brains refused to accept what their eyes were seeing.

In their minds, Ethan was an insect. Sure, a slippery one. A runner.

But a killer?

Someone who could drop Slate?

Impossible.

Slate might’ve been the weakest among them, but he was still Tier 25 peak—and Stoneborn bodies were famously hard to break. They’d even assumed Ethan might not be able to crack Slate’s defenses at all.

Yet the corpse in Ethan’s hand was dead.

Dead-dead.

No life left.

They could deny it, but they couldn’t change it.

And in the instant they lost focus—

Dopey tore free.

He flashed in front of one Stoneborn, fist already chambered.

That Stoneborn was still frozen in shock over Slate’s death. He didn’t even raise his hands before Dopey’s punch caved his chest open, leaving a hole straight through him.

He dropped on the spot.

"Damn it!"

"Run!"

The leader’s face twisted. He spun and bolted.

But trying to run now was already too late.

Stoneborn could fold the ground to shorten distance, sure—but they still couldn’t outrun Dopey.

One powerhouse took a single step, trying to trigger his movement—

The scenery hadn’t even finished shifting when Dopey’s fist smashed into him.

He collapsed mid-stride and never got back up.

The rest were the same.

Some died while they were still turning to flee.

Some managed to get farther.

It didn’t matter.

Dopey hunted them down and punched them apart one by one.

Even Ethan felt his scalp tighten watching it.

He’d always known Dopey was fast. Ethan had been confident Teleportation made him untouchable no matter what.

Now he wasn’t so sure.

Unless it was a long-range jump, if Ethan tried to rely on short-distance Teleportation, Dopey could absolutely keep up and stick to him.

And those Void Realm creatures—fast as they were—still weren’t fast enough.

Which only highlighted how terrifying Dopey’s speed really was.

In no time, only the Stoneborn leader was left... and he was already gone, vanished into the distance.

Ethan didn’t look worried.

With satellite surveillance, the guy wasn’t getting away.

And Ethan had deliberately had Dopey leave him for last.

It was time to find Dopey a companion.

He’d had that secret method for creating soulless thralls for a long time, but he’d never used it—because nothing he’d killed felt like worthy material.

This one?

This one would do nicely.