Mystic Calling：Stone of Glory-Chapter 244: You... it’s YOU?!

"An... Angel? Lord Karnak, who... who are they? Why are there Castle faction Angels here?!" Gold Golem Arbachel stared at Ethan, his face full of shock, and quickly turned to Karnak for answers.

"This is Lord Valkarion, and this is Lord Paxton. They’ve come to help us deal with the Infernal Legions," Karnak explained, his tone serious as he pressed on, "Arbachel, do you know where Lord Thalrun is right now?"

"I... I don’t know..." Arbachel shook his head immediately, looking anxious.

But just then, a 6th-Tier Iron Golem standing behind Arbachel suddenly spoke up. "Lord Karnak, I know where Lord Thalrun is! Earlier, I was teleported with him, but we were quickly found by the Infernal Legions... Lord Thalrun stayed behind to protect us. He... he told us to escape first!"

"What? Lord Thalrun’s already been found by the Infernal Legions?!" Karnak’s whole body tensed up, his voice rising with urgency.

"Where? Where is he now?!" he demanded.

"I... I think it’s that way..." The 6th-Tier Iron Golem quickly pointed in a direction after a brief moment of orientation.

"Lord Valkarion, Lord Paxton..." Karnak immediately turned to Ethan and The Tidebreaker Paxton, his eyes full of urgency.

"Let’s move. No time to waste," Ethan said, his voice low and steady.

"Yeah... let’s hope we’re not too late," Paxton nodded grimly.

"Lead the way, now!" Gold Golem Arbachel barked, grabbing the 6th-Tier Iron Golem and pushing him to the front. Without wasting another second, the group charged deeper into the rift dimension...

...

Meanwhile,

Deep within the rift dimension, in a scorched valley surrounded by mountains of flame,

Diamond Golem Thalrun was down on one knee, his entire body charred black, his face twisted in pain. Cracks and fractures covered him from head to toe.

Standing not far in front of him was a towering giant wreathed entirely in fire, radiating a terrifying, oppressive aura.

A closer look revealed it was none other than the Infernal Lord, Malphas.

But right now, Malphas didn’t look pleased. In fact, his expression was downright grim.

Just moments ago, he’d received word from his subordinates: Gemspire Kingdom’s ace hero, The Tidebreaker Paxton, had somehow chased them all the way into this rift dimension.

And worse, Paxton wasn’t alone—he had a mysterious Angel warrior with him.

"An Angel, huh? Cough cough Malphas, looks like you’re in trouble," Thalrun rasped, a twisted grin spreading across his battered face. "Angels... they’re your kind’s mortal enemies, aren’t they? If it’s an Angel hero coming for you... heh, you’re seriously screwed."

Malphas’s face darkened, his eyes flashing with murderous rage. He glared at Thalrun and said coldly, "Don’t worry. Before they even get close, you’ll already be dead. And the Primordial Force of the Crimson Ultimate Hero inside you—I’ll claim it as my prize. A gift for the great Inferno Demon King, Lord Baelthar!"

"Is that so?" Thalrun said flatly, his voice calm despite his condition. "If you think you can pull it off, then by all means—try."

Thalrun’s only wish was for his people to survive and escape safely.

Now, with the arrival of the Angel reinforcements, he could finally let go of his last worries. He was at peace.

The Castle, Tower, and Forest factions had long been allies, standing together against the Inferno faction. Especially the Castle faction—they were the Inferno’s deadliest enemies.

Since they were here, Malphas’s days were numbered.

Thalrun was old, and he knew he didn’t have much time left anyway. If he could take down an Infernal Lord before he went, that would be one hell of a way to go out.

All he had to do now was hold on until the reinforcements arrived.

Right now, Thalrun’s strength had hit an all-time low—worse than ever before.

On top of that, Malphas’s Inferno Flames were a direct counter to him.

But that didn’t mean Thalrun was some helpless lamb waiting for slaughter. Not even close. Honestly, if Malphas thought he could take him down all by himself?

Heh. Sorry, buddy—not gonna be that easy.

Malphas clearly understood that too, which only made his expression darker and more twisted. His eyes burned with savage cruelty and cold, murderous intent.

"Heh... hahahaha...!" Malphas let out a low, menacing laugh. "Alright then, Thalrun. Let’s see who wins this little race against time!"

As he laughed, he barked orders to his subordinates.

"Go stall those intruders! I don’t care if you die—just buy me as much time as you can!"

"The rest of you, with me! We’re taking him down!"

"Yes, my lord!"

"Understood, Lord Malphas!"

...

Malphas split off about a third of his forces to intercept Ethan and the others.

The rest he kept with him, throwing everything he had into overwhelming Thalrun, desperate to kill him and seize the Crimson Ultimate Hero’s Primordial Force before reinforcements could arrive.

But honestly? That was a massive mistake.

Because Malphas had completely underestimated Ethan—and even more so, The Tidebreaker Paxton—and the forces they brought with them.

The third of Malphas’s army he sent to stall them? At best, it was just over a hundred 11th-Tier Efreet and 12th-Tier Efreet Sultans.

And that number of Infernal Legions?

Against Ethan and Paxton?

They didn’t even make a ripple.

Stalling them?

Not a chance.

In other words, Malphas had basically handed them a free pass.

And sure enough, after Ethan and Paxton effortlessly wiped out that second wave of Infernal Legions—

and with Kyros catching up to join them—

Ethan, The Tidebreaker Paxton, Bronze Golem Karnak, Gold Golem Arbachel, and the others finally stormed into the valley where the brutal battle was raging!

...

At that exact moment, as if sensing their arrival, Malphas whipped his head around, his face twisting in disbelief and fury.

His bloodshot eyes locked onto them—

and then, the second his gaze landed on Ethan, his pupils shrank to pinpricks.

His face contorted into a mask of pure rage as he roared, "You... it’s YOU?!"

No exaggeration—Malphas could recognize Ethan even if he were reduced to ashes.

Why?

Simple.

Back in the Molten Gold Gorge of the Unicorn Duchy, it was Ethan, alongside Seraphina, who had forced Malphas into suicide.

Sure, it wasn’t because Malphas was weaker than Seraphina in raw power—far from it. The real reason was that, having crossed over into the main world, he was crushed by the world’s laws, his strength suppressed to barely a tenth of what it should’ve been.

But none of that mattered.

What mattered was the fallout from that battle.

Because of that forced suicide, Malphas had dropped two whole levels.

From level 70 down to level 68.

And in the world of Glory Lords X, aside from Tiers, level was the defining measure of strength and combat power.

For low-Tier, low-level heroes, a level or two might not mean much.

But once you hit Epic rank and above—especially past level 40 or 50—every single level was a massive leap in power.

Two levels?

That was a huge gap.

And the higher your Tier and level, the harder it got to climb.

After a suicide drop like that, regaining those lost levels was a nightmare. Even for an Infernal Lord like Malphas, who had endless battlefields and resource points to grind, it would still take hundreds—maybe even thousands—of years to claw his way back to where he was.

All that time, wasted.

And even now, he still wasn’t as strong as he used to be.

So yeah, you better believe he hated Ethan.

Hated him with a burning, soul-deep fury that no amount of torture, no number of deaths, could ever erase.

If he could, he’d tear Ethan apart a thousand times over, and it still wouldn’t be enough.

And now, seeing his mortal enemy standing right there—

Malphas’s rage exploded.

His blood boiled, his vision went red.

Enemies meeting on the battlefield?

Yeah, it was about to get real ugly.

...