After stuffing every corpse into his spatial storage ring, Ethan finally took his time pulling out the satellite phone and calling Maxwell.

Maxwell picked up fast.

"He’s running toward Riverton City," Maxwell said. "Probably trying to get back."

"Get back?" Ethan’s mouth tilted. "At a time like this? Yeah... good luck with that."

He hung up, stepped onto two floating daggers, and shot toward the old Void Realm entrance near Riverton City.

Meanwhile...

The Stoneborn leader was fleeing like his life depended on it—because it did.

At this point, he didn’t care whether he was leading that disaster of a human straight back to the Stoneborn.

He was about to die. Worrying about anything else was a joke.

As long as he could return to the Eldoria continent, he could figure something out. Worst case, he’d beg other high-tier races for help.

He pushed his speed to the limit.

Along the way, he passed zombies wandering like walking corpses. He didn’t even slow down, treating them like moving scenery.

Not long after, he arrived.

He skidded to a stop—and froze.

The spot where the Void Realm entrance should’ve been was just... empty.

Only blank air.

The Stoneborn leader stared at it like his eyes had malfunctioned.

"Where is it?"

"Why... why is it gone?"

His brain short-circuited. Everything had been fine when he came through. How could it just disappear?

Don’t tell me that human was telling the truth... the passage really closed?

But then another question slammed into him, colder than fear.

Who the hell has the power to close a passage between worlds?

His heart sank straight into the abyss.

He’d thought he’d found a weak new world they could squeeze like clay.

Instead, it had turned into a burial ground.

More than twenty companions had come with him.

Now he was the last one breathing.

And with the passage gone...

He knew he wasn’t getting away.

Right on cue, a sharp tearing sound sliced through the air.

A shadow dropped from above.

Ethan.

For travel, Ethan’s telekinetic flight was still absurdly fast.

"I told you the entrance was closed," Ethan said, looking down at him. "You didn’t believe me. You believe me now?"

The Stoneborn leader lifted his head, eyes bloodshot. "How did you do it?"

"Don’t ask me." Ethan shrugged. "I don’t know."

That part, at least, wasn’t a lie.

The Stoneborn leader’s jaw clenched. He sucked in a breath, forcing the words out. "We don’t have any hatred between us. We only... ended up here by mistake. We never even killed a single human in your world. Why do you have to wipe us out?"

Ethan’s expression went flat. "Oh, please. You didn’t kill anyone because you were unlucky enough to run into me the second you crawled out. If you’d met anyone else, you really gonna tell me you’d have played nice?"

He snorted. "Don’t play innocent with me."

"..."

The Stoneborn leader’s throat worked. "Then what do you want? What will it take for you to let me go?"

Ethan considered him for a moment. "Honestly? I could let you live."

The leader’s eyes snapped wide.

"Answer a few questions. If I like your answers... I’ll consider it."

"Really?" The Stoneborn leader’s voice shook.

"Really."

"Okay. Ask."

Ethan lifted a finger. "First question. Your so-called Eldoria continent—how big is it? How many strong fighters does it have?"

The Stoneborn leader’s chest rose with pride despite himself. "Eldoria is vast. At least far larger than your world. As for powerhouses... there are so many you can’t even imagine—"

"I asked for an answer," Ethan cut in coldly, "not a superiority speech."

The Stoneborn leader’s face twitched. "You—"

"What?" Ethan’s voice sharpened.

He casually released Dopey.

The moment Dopey appeared, the Stoneborn leader’s spine practically snapped straight. All the attitude drained out of him like someone pulled a plug.

"...Please continue," he said quickly.

"That’s better."

Ethan raised a second finger. "Second question. How strong is the strongest person on Eldoria?"

"I don’t know," the Stoneborn leader said.

Ethan’s eyes narrowed. "You don’t know?"

"I really don’t." He swallowed. "The Stoneborn are only mid-tier on Eldoria."

"There are many races. Some are unbelievably powerful, but they rarely act. No one knows what Tier their true peak reaches."

Ethan’s brow furrowed. "You’re only mid-tier?"

"...Yes." The Stoneborn leader nodded, clearly hating the admission—but he didn’t try to dodge it.

It was the truth.

A weight settled in Ethan’s chest.

Looks like Eldoria was even more terrifying than he’d assumed.

He forced that thought down and kept going.

"Third question," Ethan said. "You said our language is the common language of the human race. So that means... your world also has humans?"

"We used to," the Stoneborn leader said. "Not anymore."

Ethan’s gaze sharpened. "Why?"

"They were wiped out."

"...By what?" Ethan’s eyes narrowed further.

The Stoneborn hesitated, then answered anyway. "Humans had talent that was too terrifying. The other races felt threatened. So they banded together and exterminated them."

"Too terrifying?" Ethan frowned. "I don’t feel like humans are that talented."

The Stoneborn leader stared at him like he’d just swallowed something poisonous.

He looked like he wanted to curse Ethan out on the spot.

You’re Tier 22 and you killed a Tier 25 peak—then you tell me humans aren’t talented?

But he swallowed it down and spoke in a low, controlled voice instead.

"Humans can cultivate using the power of the stars... and gain abilities from it."

"Most other races can only awaken or learn skills tied to a single attribute," he continued. "Like us Stoneborn—we can only awaken earth-type abilities."

"But humans are different. Through star power, they can gain many different types of abilities. Multiple elements. Multiple attributes."

His eyes flicked to Ethan, just for a moment.

"Even rare abilities—like space and time—are possible."

Ethan didn’t miss that glance.

The Stoneborn leader kept going. "So yes. The other races feared humans... and destroyed them."

"Humans on Eldoria weren’t native to Eldoria," he added. "They came from somewhere else. Their numbers weren’t huge, but their strength was. Still... when hundreds of races moved together, extinction was inevitable."

Ethan fell silent.

Not because he felt anything for Eldoria’s humans. They weren’t his people.

He was thinking about Earth.

If the Void Realm passages reopened... if Eldoria invaded at full scale... then what happened there could happen here too.

So it really comes back to the same thing, Ethan thought. Strength.

If you weren’t strong enough, you didn’t get a future. You just got erased.

He didn’t know when the Void Realm passages would open again. He didn’t know how much time they had.

Which meant there was only one answer.

Get stronger—any way he could.

The Stoneborn leader cleared his throat carefully. "I’ve answered everything. So... you’ll let me go now?"

Ethan blinked at him. "Let you go? When did I say that?"

The Stoneborn leader’s face twisted. "You—!"

"You just said if I answered your questions, you’d let me go!"

"You heard what you wanted to hear." Ethan shook his head, sounding genuinely puzzled. "I said if you answered honestly, I’d consider not killing you. I never said I’d let you walk away."

The Stoneborn leader’s voice rose. "Isn’t that the same thing?!"

"Nope." Ethan’s smile returned, thin and sharp. "Letting you go means you leave."

"Not killing you means... I can cripple you."

He tilted his head slightly.

"Or let you exist in a different form."

The Stoneborn leader’s eyes narrowed. "What does that mean?"

"You’ll see," Ethan said softly.

Then he turned his head.

"Dopey." Ethan’s voice went cold. "Do it. Break him—don’t kill him."