Ethan traveled alone alongside Jackson and Luna, separated from the rest of the hunters in order to spare them from the pursuit of the monsters affected by the curse.

During the first fifteen minutes of wandering through the distant parts of old Ashvarn, no danger crossed their path.

They passed through the empty streets peacefully, without encountering a single monster.

Jackson deliberately headed toward the outer outskirts of the city, staying as far away from the old cathedral as possible, hoping the creatures dwelling inside it would not be drawn toward them.

For a brief moment, it truly seemed as though everything would proceed smoothly.

Luna had already stated that she would be capable of suppressing the curse after only one hour had passed.

But before even thirty minutes could go by—

Everything changed completely.

A full one hundred and eighty degrees.

They felt it clearly.

A strange wave of mana erupted from Ethan’s body while he rested on Jackson’s back.

A dark, filthy wave of mana unlike anything they had ever experienced before.

Ethan’s expression twisted violently.

Moments ago, he had been quietly resting, trying to recover his strength—

Now unbearable pain and a splitting headache tore through his skull as though his mind were about to explode.

The Blood Eclipse mark began to bleed.

Real blood flowed down Ethan’s neck.

At that exact moment, the city itself began to change.

And from far away...

They heard the howls of monsters echoing through Ashvarn.

"Impossible... has night already fallen?"

Luna was the first to understand the situation.

That surge in the curse’s power could only mean one thing—

Night had fallen in the outside world beyond the buried city.

And once night arrived, the mana bestowed by the Lords of Night upon curse bearers intensified tremendously, causing the power of the marks to awaken at their absolute peak.

"Move."

Jackson spoke with cold seriousness as he grabbed Luna with one arm before leaping with all his might toward the roof of a nearby building.

The instant he landed atop it, shock filled his eyes.

Chaos had already spread everywhere.

Dozens of monsters burst out from inside the buildings, charging from the depths of the city straight toward them.

The transformed humans’ eyes glowed with dark crimson madness.

The giants displayed the exact same symptoms.

And many other creatures—ones that rarely ever emerged into the open—had begun appearing as well.

The Curse of the Beloved of Darkness had reached all of them.

And it had driven them completely insane.

"I’ve never seen a curse whose influence spreads this far..."

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the entirety of Ashvarn had fallen under the influence of Ethan’s mark.

Ethan himself could barely speak anymore.

The voices of the dead inside his mind had grown stronger than before, so overwhelming that remaining conscious had become nearly impossible.

Jackson turned his back to the monsters and exploded forward at maximum speed, heading toward the furthest reaches of the city outskirts where the weaker creatures resided.

He was unbelievably fast.

Every leap carried him across three or four entire buildings at once, allowing him to maintain a considerable distance between himself and the pursuing horde.

But the gap narrowed with every passing second.

They ran across the streets.

Crawled along the walls like worms and starving ants.

"I’ll help!"

"I can strike them from range with my magic!"

Luna attempted to climb onto Jackson’s shoulder to cast spells, hoping she could reduce the number of monsters pursuing them.

But the giant stopped her immediately.

"Do not use your magic."

"We need your mana to suppress his curse as quickly as possible."

"But..."

Luna hesitated after seeing the ever-growing number of monsters appearing from every direction, all desperately trying to reach them.

Jackson glanced toward them from the corner of his eye before looking ahead once more with unwavering resolve.

"Leave this to me."

"I won’t hold back this time."

That was all he said.

Afterward, Jackson focused entirely on escaping.

Leap after leap, the giant’s muscles shone with explosive strength as he crossed vast sections of the city within mere minutes.

Old Ashvarn resembled an endless labyrinth.

No matter how far he fled, all that awaited him were more ancient roads, bridges, and ruined buildings.

But this was part of Jackson’s plan from the beginning.

He used the city itself to place as much distance as possible between them and the cathedral.

He continued fleeing for a full fifteen minutes before finally stopping after deciding they had gone far enough.

Once he had crossed that immense distance, he finally descended into one of the streets and allowed Luna to climb down.

She steadied herself against the dizziness assaulting her senses, looking around the outskirts of the city in confusion, unable to understand why Jackson had stopped in a place like this.

But the giant offered no explanation.

Instead, he removed the cloth binding Ethan to his back and calmly handed him over to her.

Luna caught Ethan’s unconscious body before raising her gaze toward the giant.

"What are you going to do now?"

Jackson stared at both her and Ethan, a deadly seriousness reflecting within his serpent-like eyes.

Behind him—

Buildings exploded apart as endless hordes of monsters surged toward them, drool dripping from their jaws in hunger for the curse bearer they so rarely encountered.

Their numbers were overwhelming.

Several times greater than before.

For a brief moment, Luna completely despaired, realizing that not even a High-Tier spell would save them from a situation like this.

But Jackson was different.

He turned toward the monstrous horde and faced it head-on.

"Because..."

"It’s time to fight."

He spoke firmly before pulling his fist backward as far as physically possible.

The giant inhaled enormous amounts of air into his lungs while the monsters shook the earth beneath them as they closed in.

Jackson’s arm swelled violently.

Every muscle screamed beneath the sheer power gathering within them.

Then suddenly—

Golden light burst forth and ignited across his entire body.

An immense pressure descended upon the surroundings, making the air itself feel unbearably heavy.

"Aura Armor..."

Luna muttered unconsciously, her eyes utterly dazzled by the overwhelming amount of aura radiating from Jackson’s body.

The giant had finally decided to reveal his true strength.

To show them what he was truly capable of.

In less than a second, his aura expanded explosively before pouring in massive quantities directly into the fist he had drawn back moments earlier.

As a result, a gigantic sphere of energy formed around Jackson’s fist, so immense that a violent storm of wind spiraled outward from it.

"I didn’t realize..."

"He was this powerful."

Luna immediately recognized what Jackson had done.

It was something only those who had reached at least Saint Rank could accomplish.

Jackson waited.

And waited.

Until the monstrous hordes were directly before him.

The instant they reached him— 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The giant unleashed the punch he had spent all that time preparing.

The massive sphere of aura exploded into the monsters’ faces, swallowing them inside an overwhelming wave of golden light.

Jackson’s punch fired forth a colossal beam of energy.

A deafening shockwave transformed the monsters one after another into bloody dust that scattered in every direction.

It erased huge numbers of them before finally dissipating at the end of the long street—

Leaving behind nothing but a trench of destruction and a crimson haze made from the remains of the monsters.

The first strike alone slaughtered countless creatures.

And Jackson still had far more left to give.

"Now that I’ve decided to fight seriously..."

"There isn’t a creature in this city capable of harming him."

"Other than the ones inside the cathedral."

Jackson spoke while turning toward Luna and the sleeping Ethan resting in her arms.

His body still blazed with the power of Aura Armor.

The moment he finished speaking, he charged forward again, colliding with the remaining monsters and destroying them one after another while staying close to Luna and Ethan to prevent any creature from ambushing them.

Knights who reached at least Saint Rank—and Kings like Jackson—stood on a completely different level of power.

At that stage, one gained near-perfect control over Aura Armor itself.

Jackson was a living tank.

He fought with his bare fists, which caused his entire combat style to revolve around explosive destructive force.

He could gather overwhelming power into a single point—

Then detonate it all at once.

His monstrous physique amplified that flow of power even further.

And the result...

Was terrifying destructive might.

Every punch he threw annihilated large numbers of monsters instantly.

Fortunately, because he had stayed far from the deeper parts of the city, he avoided drawing the strongest creatures.

Only the weaker monsters reached them.

And none of them could survive even a single hit from him.

Jackson fought an entire war alone.

Meanwhile, Luna focused solely on restoring her strength, allowing her body to shine once more with that beautiful azure radiance.

Then, in what felt like the blink of an eye—

The hour finally passed.

Luna had at last regained enough strength to seal the curse once again.

Without hesitation, she bit into her finger and began drawing over the barrier she had previously created, using her own blood to reconstruct it as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, Jackson continued battling the monsters.

No matter how many he killed, they simply refused to stop attacking.

Fortunately for him, no additional creatures arrived afterward.

Luna successfully restored the barrier once more, causing all the creatures throughout old Ashvarn to gradually regain their senses after their berserk frenzy.

With no more reinforcements coming, Jackson was finally able to exterminate the remaining monsters completely.

In the end—

He protected Ethan exactly as he had promised.

Yet even Jackson could not help but feel a trace of dread toward that bizarre curse—

Silently thankful that it had not attracted any creatures from within the cathedral capable of matching him.