Mystic Calling：Stone of Glory-Chapter 810: Worthy Inheritors
"See that?"
Ethan's voice was calm.
"They're not using the gems."
"They're being—parasitized by them."
In that moment, everyone understood.
This wasn't a massacre.
It was a purge.
A cleanup of contamination.
The order was carried out immediately.
Soldiers scattered across the city.
Before long, every blood-red gem they could find had been gathered in one place.
And those twisted, power-warped individuals were hunted down and wiped out.
But soon, a troubling pattern emerged—
Not every creature had a gem inside.
Only about half did.
The implication was obvious.
Calrakk was no longer a unified race.
It had become a nation forcibly altered, fragmented, and corrupted.
And the slaughter finally triggered backlash.
Civilians who had already surrendered began to riot.
Chaos spread fast from the outskirts inward.
When the reports came in, Ethan was silent for a moment.
Then he gave his final order.
"Wipe them all out."
No anger.
No hesitation.
"Calrakk chose war from the beginning."
"Now, they face the consequences."
And so—
Blood and fire swallowed the land.
Screams, the sound of fleeing footsteps, the crash of collapsing buildings—all echoed across the sky.
Ethan barely acknowledged the noise behind him.
His focus stayed locked on the map in front of him.
It was old, the edges yellowed, the lines rough. But one location had been marked and re-marked, over and over again—like countless hands had touched it, hesitated, feared it.
The mine wasn't far.
In fact—it was unreasonably close.
"Too close…" Ethan muttered.
Without wasting another second, he ordered a Sky Fortress squadron to break off from the main fleet and head straight for the marked location.
It was a region nearly swallowed by mountains.
The range formed a natural ring wall, tightly enclosing whatever lay at the center. From a distance, the peaks didn't look especially steep—but they radiated a pressure that made them feel impossible to approach.
Stranger still—
A thick, sticky presence clung to the valleys.
It didn't feel like energy.
It felt like something alive.
Something still breathing.
Bzzzz—
As the Sky Fortress approached, its engines instinctively quieted, as if even the machines were trying to avoid this place.
Ethan stood at the front of the bridge, pupils narrowing.
"This…"
"This isn't just a mining site."
And then—
Boom!
A surge of crimson energy erupted from deep within the valley, tearing a jagged wound into the sky.
The heavens split open.
And from that rift, a twisted figure slowly emerged.
It was a creature stitched together from mismatched parts—limbs, bones, and hides from different beasts, forcibly fused by some unnatural force.
It hovered in the air, looking down at the Sky Fortress squadron.
"—Who dares trespass upon Allhallow Mount?"
The voice wasn't raspy, but it carried a disturbing resonance—like it wasn't traveling through air, but vibrating directly inside their minds.
Ethan narrowed his eyes.
His assessment came instantly.
Tier 28, early stage.
On raw power alone, this thing wasn't even worth deploying Emerald Castle's main force.
But—
His instincts were screaming.
Something was wrong here.
"This isn't where his power comes from…"
Ethan muttered under his breath.
"It's the mountain itself."
He didn't respond to the creature.
Instead, he gave a direct order.
The Sky Fortress's main cannon charged in an instant. A tightly compressed energy beam blasted out, aimed straight at the heart of the valley.
But—
RUMMMMMBLE—!
The mountains shook.
Like something ancient had just been stirred awake.
Thick, blood-red energy seeped from every crack in the range, weaving together and forming a massive barrier around the entire region.
It wasn't just a shield.
It was old. Heavy. Laced with the weight of laws.
Allhallow Mount was sealed.
The beam struck the barrier—and barely caused a ripple.
Then it vanished.
Ethan's pupils contracted sharply for the first time.
That shouldn't be possible.
This level of defense was far beyond anything he'd encountered.
The creature in the sky suddenly let out a shrill, manic laugh.
Its gorilla-like head tilted back, eyes full of mockery.
"HAHAHAHA—!"
"Outsiders! You think this is just some mountain?"
"Allhallow Mount isn't a place you conquer with brute force."
As the words fell—
The mountains trembled again.
But this time, the blood-red energy didn't defend.
It attacked.
Dozens—no, hundreds—of energy constructs formed in midair. Each one shaped like a spear forged from the mountain itself, radiating a crushing pressure.
Ethan reacted on instinct.
"All Sky Fortress units—merge formation!"
The fleet snapped into position, drawing every last drop of remaining energy into a unified defensive barrier.
A second later—
SHHHHHHHHHH!!!
The spears rained down.
BOOOOOOM—!!
The shield shuddered violently. Cracks spiderwebbed across its surface in an instant.
Sky Fortress engines screamed under the strain, backup power kicking in just to keep them airborne.
Even so—
Ethan knew one thing with absolute clarity.
If that happened again, the fleet was done.
He exhaled slowly.
His gaze turned ice-cold.
"This isn't a battlefield…"
"It's a forbidden zone."
The next moment—
His figure blurred and vanished from the Sky Fortress.
Power surged through his body, erupting outward in a tidal wave.
But Ethan didn't strike the blood-red barrier formed by the mountains.
He hovered in midair, listening.
Then slowly raised his hand—and extended his power toward it.
Not to break.
Not to tear.
But to connect.
And then—
Buzz.
The blood-red barrier trembled faintly.
Like something inside had just been stirred.
A moment later, the energy hidden deep within the mountains began to flow outward—voluntarily—rushing into Ethan's body in massive waves.
It wasn't being stolen.
It was being offered.
Allowed.
Ethan's breath hitched.
"…So that's it."
A flicker of excitement lit his eyes.
He'd only wanted to test a theory—
That this forbidden zone didn't reject power.
Only destruction.
And now, he had his answer.
Meanwhile—
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Several figures shot out from the Sky Fortress in rapid succession.
The core leaders of Emerald Castle descended almost simultaneously, landing before the blood-red barrier.
None of them hesitated.
Each raised a hand and pressed their power directly against the shield.
In the next instant—
The blood-colored energy surged like a rising tide.
Streams of raw force poured into them, flooding through their energy pathways, absorbed at a staggering rate.
Up in the sky, the stitched-together creature's expression twisted in shock.
"No… impossible!"
For the first time, its voice cracked with panic.
"Allhallow Mount's power—outsiders can't withstand it!"
"These mines are forbidden! They'll tear you apart, twist you, reshape you into monsters!"
It wasn't lying.
The energy buried in these mountains was powerful enough to crush most living beings.
Even brief contact could trigger violent backlash—bodies breaking down, minds unraveling.
Even those born here, raised on this energy from the womb—
Still suffered.
Bloodlines collapsed. Forms twisted. Consciousness fractured.
Those grotesque hybrids with mismatched animal traits?
They were the failures.
The final form of those who couldn't endure.
Ethan had already figured that out.
Back in Calrakk, he'd analyzed the data on those creatures.
Their power wasn't weak.
But their bloodline tier—their racial foundation—was pitifully low.
They simply couldn't handle such high-level amplification.
So instead of being guided—
The power devoured them.
But his people were different.
Every core member of Emerald Castle possessed a powerful, stable, and complete bloodline system.
They weren't being forcibly elevated.
They were—
Having their potential fully awakened.
The blood-red energy didn't tear them apart.
It flowed into them like it had found the perfect channels.
Ataneya was the first to change.
The moment the crimson force touched her, the earth spirit within her and the ancient fox bloodline resonated in unison.
A brilliant light exploded behind her.
And then—
A sixteenth fox tail slowly took shape.
Her aura rose, steady and sharp.
No chaos.
No mutation.
Only evolution.
Not far away, Namyanna's transformation was just as stunning.
Frost energy surged around her, icy blue markings spreading along her mermaid tail.
Then came a soft but distinct sound—bones shifting.
That tail, once a symbol of her race's limitation, began to split and extend.
Until it became a pair of long, graceful human legs.
She stood in midair, and for the first time—
Truly embodied both sea and land.
The others followed.
Power rising. Structures reinforced. Dormant potential awakened.
Not a single one veered toward monstrosity.
On the contrary—
This forbidden land was recognizing them.
Accepting them.
As worthy inheritors.
...
