If he truly wished to free himself from the Beloved of Darkness curse—

Then he would have to find another way.

As the three of them returned toward the other hunters, walking this time instead of leaping madly across the city as before, they exchanged conversation while hunting every monster they encountered along the way.

They would need to return and clear them out for the plan eventually anyway.

At the moment, Jackson alone represented more than half of their combat power.

Which made him an invaluable asset for increasing their chances of success.

His overwhelming strength and long experience had proven tremendously helpful.

Yet even he remained astonished by the Blood Eclipse curse, admitting he had never encountered a carrier of it during his generation.

That revelation surprised Luna slightly.

"Other than Ethan... there’s another hunter carrying a complete fourth-stage Eclipse mark."

"One stage below Blood Eclipse."

Luna explained that cursed mark bearers had begun appearing more frequently lately.

And the person she referred to—

Was her fellow Second Division knight.

Verso.

"Does he attract monsters too?"

Jackson asked with curiosity.

The question caught Ethan’s interest as well, wanting to know what kind of effect the only other cursed individual like him possessed.

Luna remained silent for a moment, thinking carefully before answering.

"I don’t know all the details."

"But I heard he needs to drink blood in order to survive."

"Monster blood?"

Ethan asked.

Luna shook her head.

"Human blood."

Both Ethan and Jackson stopped briefly, staring at her after hearing that.

But they soon resumed walking.

"That’s horrifying in its own way..."

"But compared to this unfortunate bastard here, it almost sounds like a Blessing."

Jackson mocked while pointing at Ethan.

Unlike Ethan, who had to endure both the monsters’ pursuit and the voices of the dead, the other cursed hunter merely drank blood until he was satisfied.

However, Luna clarified that blood-drinking was only one side effect.

She had no idea what the rest of the curse did to him.

"This isn’t the time to discuss other people’s curses."

"My own is already enough."

Ethan interrupted, steering the conversation back toward what mattered.

"Activating the curse is necessary if we want the plan to succeed."

"But we need to limit its usage to daytime only instead of night."

"Can you manage that?"

His question was directed toward Luna, who still retained awareness of the time outside the city.

She was essential to the operation.

The barrier’s activation and removal depended entirely on her.

After a brief hesitation, Luna nodded.

Even if she did not know the exact time outside, she could still estimate the approximate window.

"Then it’s settled."

Ethan stretched his body slightly, trying to ease the stiffness left behind by everything he had endured.

"We begin the plan the moment we return to the others."

To make it work, they would need to kill every monster across both the outskirts and the depths of the city in order to ignite the flames and send the signal outside.

As they continued walking, Jackson’s eyes never left Ethan.

Ethan tried ignoring it at first.

But eventually, the prolonged stare forced him to ask.

"What is it, Jackson?"

"I feel like you’re stabbing me with those eyes."

In response, the giant human’s grin widened.

"I’m interested in your body a little."

The words instantly earned him disgusted looks from both Ethan and Luna.

Fortunately, Jackson quickly clarified himself.

"Don’t misunderstand."

"What I mean is... your body isn’t normal."

"You may be Blessed..."

"In a way similar to me."

He referred to his own Blessing—

The Heart of the Rampaging Giant, which granted him monstrous physical strength.

Ethan’s demonic body seemed somewhat similar in concept.

But Ethan had never considered it a Blessing.

Only a curse.

"I’m different from you."

"My endurance is simply higher than that of ordinary people."

"That alone is a Blessing."

Jackson replied, warning Ethan not to underestimate what his body was capable of.

"With proper training, you could refine that ability to levels you can’t even imagine."

Ethan showed genuine interest after hearing that.

"So..."

"Would you be generous enough to teach me?"

"If we survive..."

"And if you can endure my training, then why not?"

Jackson answered with a grin, implying that his methods were not something an ordinary human could withstand.

But Ethan had no issue with that.

"I already told you..."

"My only talent is endurance."

"As long as it doesn’t kill me, I can handle any kind of training."

He spoke confidently after spending an entire month practicing Asterion Heart’s swordsmanship and digging endlessly without rest.

"Sword training."

"Mana training."

"And now this too..."

"Can someone like you even still be considered human after all that?"

Luna sighed softly.

At this point, Ethan no longer surprised her.

He was simply too abnormal.

He could fight with a sword.

Possessed monstrous physical endurance.

Could manipulate mana similarly to a mage.

And carried an extremely powerful curse on top of it all.

No matter how she thought about it, Luna felt as though she was dealing with an anomaly unlike anything the clan had ever seen before.

Jackson seemed to agree.

"To endure training like that..."

"You must have a powerful motivation."

"A grand goal you’re pursuing."

The giant spoke with genuine respect toward Ethan’s dedication and relentless effort.

Ethan merely let out a faint laugh.

"A grand goal... huh?"

Staring up at the artificial sky of Old Ashvarn, he quietly reflected on Jackson’s words.

’A grand goal...’

’What exactly is that supposed to be?’

’Why am I even trying this hard?’

Ethan constantly avoided thinking about it.

He always kept himself busy with training and battle instead.

Yet from time to time—

He still found himself questioning whether any of it was truly worth it.

’It’s not like I even want to live in this world.’

’And I’m not noble enough to want to save it out of pure goodwill.’

’I think... all I’m really doing is trying to satisfy my own inferiority complex.’

’I’m still trying to prove that I’m worthy.’

’That I can achieve what others cannot.’

Maybe that was all there was to it.

Maybe he simply wanted to prove to everyone what he was capable of.

But Ethan soon realized even that was not entirely true.

The person he desperately wanted to prove himself to—

Was not the people around him.

Nor Ishizaki, who had brought him into this world.

It was himself.

He wanted to prove to himself—

That he could do it.

He really was that simple.

A man willing to throw himself into a dark and merciless world just to prove something so trivial to himself.

To the point that he had never even once thought about what he would ask for if he actually succeeded in defeating the final Night Lord.

Or what wish he would make afterward.

When it came to that—

He possessed no ambition at all.

’It’s too early to think about something like that.’

’The road ahead is still long.’

Casting those thoughts aside, Ethan continued walking in silence beside Jackson and Luna as they returned to the rest of the hunters.