I Am a Hero With A Hundred Abilities-Chapter 68: Ch 67. Hybrid

The sensation of fear still clung to Raghul like a shadow he couldn't shake. It was alien—suffocating. But as quickly as it had arrived, the Prime forced it down with a guttural snarl. He was a ruler of death, not some fledgling creature cowering in the dark.

"I need a plan," he muttered, clawed fingers digging into the arms of his throne. "I don't know what this boy is truly capable of… and I don't intend to find out alone."

With a flick of his mind, Raghul activated the Prime Link, a mental tether that connected him to the other four Primes in the zone.

Each Prime controlled a major region, and though they were bitter rivals, the threat now warranted something dangerous:

Cooperation.

Within seconds, Raghul's consciousness emerged into a shared mental space—an endless black void shaped like a warped throne room, where four other towering figures shimmered into focus.

One of them leaned forward, voice dripping with arrogance.

"So, Raghul," the Prime sneered, his molten eyes flickering. "Have you finally decided to surrender your region to me?"

Before Raghul could respond, another voice joined.

"Marrot, you fool. You think it would be you? Of all of us?" said a second Prime.

This one was sculpted of obsidian and crystal, covered in pulsing lines of cursed runes.

Marrot scoffed. "Bedussa, you're the last person I want to hear that from."

Bedussa retorted Her voice like snakes slithering in the dark. "Careful, Marrot. My region may be small, but I am more than capable of—"

"More than capable of getting conquered," another prime—Karuk interrupted with a bark of laughter. "You should count yourself lucky none of us have bothered to seize it yet."

Bedussa's glare sharpened like daggers, but she didn't retort. Not yet.

The fourth Prime, who had been silent until now, finally spoke.

"Enough." The voice was like granite grinding against steel—calm but final.

Balkar. The most composed among them. Towering and silent, his body resembled an armored colossus made of carved stone and thick bark, branches twisting from his back like a crown.

"Raghul," Balkar rumbled. "What is the reason you summoned us through the Link?"

At that, the bickering stopped.

All eyes turned to Raghul.

He clenched his fist. "Words won't do this justice. So I'll just show you."

The space around them shimmered. Then, like a projection into the void, Raghul replayed the entire encounter with Ethan:

The moment he sensed Ethan's death aura and orchestrated his execution.

How he had turned Ethan into a zombie, only for zombified Ethan and Gray to return again… and again… without end.

How the undead versions of the boy and his wolf seemed to gain tactics, awareness and even personality.

And finally, how living Ethan and Gray had stepped onto the battlefield and obliterated Raghul's forces in a single instant of thunderous devastation.

The room was silent.

Each Prime watched the memory as though it were a horror film, their forms shifting with unease. Their expressions—if they could be called that—moved from intrigue… to confusion… to awe…

…then finally, to fear.

"This…" Balkar spoke, breaking the silence, "is no simple anomaly. This boy is a threat we cannot afford to ignore. We must join forces and eliminate him by any means necessary."

There was a long pause.

Then, one by one, the others nodded.

If Ethan could make these tyrants set aside their ambitions—he was a problem.

Balkar turned his stony face toward Raghul. "He is coming to your region first so you must stall him. Hold him long enough for us to arrive and provide assistance."

Raghul nodded slowly, saying nothing.

But inside, his thoughts burned.

"Hold him!? You just want me to suffer losses. Then when I have weakened him, you'll swoop in and take care of the rest!"

But He said none of it aloud.

Anything now could make him a sacrificial lamb.

He forced a grateful nod. "Understood. I'll prepare my region."

The link dissolved.

But then, Raghul felt it.

A shift in the energy around his throne. A pulse in the death-scented air. A faint spark of living defiance.

His eyes widened.

"…He's finally here."

Outside, the sky darkened.

Because the hunter had arrived.

****

All around Ethan, the battlefield was littered with the charred husks of zombies—smoking, twitching corpses that had been obliterated by bursts of searing lightning.

Gray, his loyal companion, was no longer just a fearsome wolf; he now held the strength of a Prime, and the difference was glaring. The zombies meant to slow them down had fallen like brittle twigs, barely worth a breath of effort.

Ethan stood amid the scorched ruin, one hand resting on Gray's back. He glanced around, unimpressed.

"Tch. I thought the big guy would be here by now," Ethan muttered, voice echoing through the smog-filled air. "Hope he didn't run off. That'd be pathetic."

The "big guy" was none other than Raghul, the Prime whose forces had failed, again and again, to hold Ethan back.

Just then, without warning, Gray vanished in a flash of electric energy—Lightning Step triggering in a blink.

BOOM!

A colossal cleaver smashed into the spot they'd just vacated, splitting the ground with such force it sent shockwaves through the earth.

From where Gray appeared, Ethan looked forward—seated on Gray's back—eyes locked onto the twisted figure of Raghul.

"Oh," Ethan said with a grin. "You didn't run. That makes things a lot easier."

Raghul's eyes narrowed. He had noticed something: Gray was faster now. Even before the fight began, he could tell—they had grown.

"As expected… they aren't the same as before," the Prime thought grimly.

He stretched his will outward, attempting to seize Ethan and Gray's minds, to freeze them where they stood using one of his signature psychic techniques.

But something strange happened.

Gray didn't flinch.

He simply shrugged off the mental weight, the glow in his eyes intensifying.

Raghul's confidence cracked.

Ethan smirked, Sitting on Gray's back like a god descending from the storm.

"Things won't be the same as last time," Ethan said, his tone calm but resolute. "This time… I'll be sending you straight to your maker."

He never hesitated.

With a thought, he triggered Gray's new trait.

Electric sparks erupted, lightning arcing around both man and beast, turning the world into a blinding flash of white. The storm consumed them whole.

Then the lightning receded.

And Ethan stood alone.

But he was changed.

He was still Ethan, but now fused with the primal power of Gray. His body had become leaner, muscle condensed like tightly coiled steel, built for maximum force with minimal waste.

His skin had taken on a pale hue, not sickly, but predatory—like a snow wolf stalking through the night.

His eyes glowed gold, fiercer than ever, burning with instinct and precision. His hair had turned white, cascading past his shoulders like silver fire. It whipped in the wind with a wild grace.

His nails elongated, curved slightly like claws, while faint bolts of static crackled across his body with every movement.

He stood as a perfect hybrid of man and beast, of discipline and savagery. Calm, intelligent fury shaped in human form. Every movement radiated lethal intent.

And in that moment, Raghul knew.

He wasn't facing the same Ethan anymore.

He was facing something new.

Something born from death, shaped by lightning, and forged by vengeance.

And he would be the first to witness their true power.