Level 1 to Infinity: My Bloodline Is the Ultimate Cheat!-Chapter 889: Four Seals Stand Against the Stream
The ice sheet held another Qilin, its frozen silhouette stark against the pale expanse. That alone was enough to make everyone’s hearts sink. It meant someone else was undergoing a trial there, and it was definitely not one of their own. That left only one possibility: their target had to be nearby. Ethan.
But where the hell was he?
Their attention shifted almost at once, drawn by something that did not fit. That lake was different from theirs. From its edge, a narrow stream stretched out nearly a hundred meters, a thin silver ribbon cutting through the ice. Stranger still, the stream had not frozen.
"Could it be..."
No one finished the thought out loud. Every gaze followed the stream, and the same suspicion formed in all of their minds at the same time. They exchanged quick glances, then rose together and surged forward, charging straight toward the unfrozen water.
---
On the other side of the battlefield, the Dragon of Consumption was locked in brutal combat with one of the two-winged angels. Steel and claws clashed again and again, waves of power rippling outward, yet the other seven angels remained motionless, watching as if this were some chivalric duel.
If Ethan had been conscious to see it, he would have scoffed. In his eyes, that sort of knightly honor was nothing more than hypocrisy dressed up as righteousness. Seven angels standing by while one fought, pretending restraint while waiting for the moment it suited them.
Even so, the Dragon of Consumption was at a disadvantage. Against that single angel, he was slightly outmatched, but he could endure. His Devouring power swallowed impact after impact, preventing any truly fatal damage. A feathered bastard and a monstrous fish, locked in a stalemate neither could easily break.
Despite that, the Dragon kept one eye on Blackie’s situation. When he noticed those hunters abandoning Blackie and redirecting their attention, closing in on Ethan’s location, a spike of panic pierced his focus. Worse, it looked like they had discovered the stream.
That flicker of distraction was all the angel needed. The sword flashed, carving across the Dragon’s body. He roared in pain as blood sprayed, his scales splitting under the strike. There was no choice but to turn back and fight, even as anxiety gnawed at him.
The Dragon’s unease did not go unnoticed. The angel’s lips curled into a smug smile. The truth was, they had spotted someone beneath the stream long ago. They simply had not warned the hunters. There was no need to rush when everything was already unfolding exactly as planned.
---
As the hunters closed in, excitement surged through the group. There really was a figure beneath the flowing water. It had to be their target. There was no one else it could be.
Still, none of them dared to step into the stream itself. The water bordered the white ice sheet, and no one knew whether it behaved like the black ice. Would it mean instant death the moment they touched it?
Hesitation hung in the air until someone finally acted.
A blade of compressed wind tore forward, slicing through the air and plunging toward Ethan beneath the surface. The attack came from the sole wind-element Mutant among them. Tension spiked immediately. If he scored the kill, the reward would be his alone.
But that tension eased just as quickly. There was no live video feed here, no proof of who landed the final blow. Plenty of them were already thinking the same thing. Even if this guy killed Ethan, they could kill him afterward. Whoever carried the head back would claim the prize.
That thought had barely finished forming when light suddenly flared beneath the water.
Four children, no older than eight or nine, materialized out of nowhere. The wind blade shattered instantly, torn apart by a burst of spiritual force. The four figures surged forward without hesitation, charging straight at the hunters.
They were three boys and one girl, their small bodies wreathed in shimmering spiritual light. They landed on the riverbank and stood facing the assembled elites of Dark Net without a hint of fear.
"Come closer and die!"
The one who shouted was a chubby, pale boy who looked slightly older than the rest. These four children were none other than the spirit artifacts born from Ethan’s Four City Lord Seals. The speaker was Beastie.
Because Ethan had obtained the Sigil of the Wild Legion first, Beastie had always appeared a little bigger than the others. It was a visible sign of Strength. The longer they were nurtured within Ethan’s care, the stronger they grew, and when they manifested in human form, that growth translated directly into age and presence.
---
"Big words for a bunch of brats," someone sneered, laughing at the sight of them.
"Those four are spirit artifacts. All of them," the woman from the German team warned, her voice tight and serious.
"Spirit artifacts? All four?"
Expressions shifted at once. Shock flickered, then vanished, replaced by naked greed as they sensed more carefully.
"This bastard’s carrying serious heat," someone said eagerly. "How about we keep working together and split everything he’s got once we put him down?"
The proposal met no resistance.
"No objections? Fine. Four of us take the four brats. The older one’s mine."
The speaker, a man in his early twenties, lunged straight for Beastie without waiting. Others moved at the same time. The Germans woman exchanged a glance with someone behind her and gave a slight nod. That man rushed Oblivion. Two more peeled off, heading for Aqua and Gale.
As if rehearsed, it became four-on-four, each spirit child immediately engaged.
"Force them to reveal their true forms," the woman shouted. "Their spirit bodies can’t be killed properly. Seize their true forms. That’s how you tame them."
She could tell the fighters weren’t going all out yet, deliberately testing and pressing instead.
"That woman’s evil!" Aqua cried, her voice trembling as tears welled in her eyes. She had never wanted to fight in the first place.
"Hang in there, Aqua," Gale shouted from across the battlefield. "We can’t let anything happen to Master!"
Aqua clenched her teeth, biting her lip as water-element spells poured from her hands.
"Heh heh," the man facing her laughed, his grin thick with malice. "Hand over your true form, little girl. Your spirit body isn’t enough to beat me."
He suddenly surged with power. Every spell Aqua cast shattered on contact. He was a Mutant, and his mutation was his tongue. It shot out like a frog’s, snapping through the air to seize prey, sticky and foul-smelling, striking again and again. The sudden pressure overwhelmed her.
The other three battles followed the same pattern. The hunters pressed hard, trying to force the spirit artifacts into revealing their true forms. Whoever struck first would claim the prize, first come, first served. Excitement ran hot through every one of them.
Spirit-bearing treasures were worth killing for.
---
"Let’s go kill the bastard," a large black man growled, muscles tensing as he prepared to rush Ethan’s position.
"Are you fucking stupid?" two voices snapped at once, dripping with contempt. "Kill him now and everything in his space pocket vanishes."
The man froze, frustration twisting his expression as the warning sank in.
---
Ethan, still unconscious, felt as though his soul was trapped inside his own body, unable to wake no matter how hard he struggled. His consciousness drifted in a vast, empty nothingness. He tried to see, to understand where he was, and slowly became aware of two strands of light moving in an intricate, cosmic pattern far beyond his reach.
"Is that... Sacred Body Essence?"
His eyes widened in shock. Those two strands of light were unmistakable. They were the celestial orrery within his Energy Core. Somehow, he felt as if he had shrunk to nothing, drowning inside his own core.
He fought desperately to escape, but it was useless. No matter which direction he moved, he never seemed to get any closer to the edge. He had no idea what was happening to his physical body, and fear began to creep in as the realization settled. He truly could not leave this place.
Meanwhile, in the real world, his body lay submerged in the milky-white lake. Those fiery red muscles did not calm or revert to normal. Instead, as the strange water soaked into him, they burned even brighter, as if something deep within him was being awakened rather than extinguished.
