Mystic Calling：Stone of Glory-Chapter 848: Defense Test: Passed

Ethan’s figure flickered—

In the blink of an eye, he was standing right in front of an enemy with the head of a goat.

The creature looked calm on the surface, but its eyes gleamed with cruelty. Just moments ago, it had torn over a dozen goblins to shreds—their blood still fresh on the ground.

"Just a bunch of worthless bugs," the Goatman sneered, power crackling around him as he laughed like the battlefield was already his. "And they dare oppose the Narlost Empire? Pathetic."

His voice echoed with smug contempt, like he was looking down from a throne.

Ethan stared at him coldly, a mocking smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Hey, kid," he said, voice low and sharp. "Far as I can tell, you’re just an animal that hasn’t even finished evolving."

He paused, eyes sweeping over the Goatman with deliberate disdain.

"Back where I’m from, things like you get skinned and roasted whole."

The words had barely left his mouth—

Ethan activated the weapon systems on his Powered Combat Armor.

The Goatman’s face twisted instantly.

That was pure, unfiltered insult.

Fury surged through him. In a flash, a massive energy battle axe formed in his hands, howling through the air as he brought it down on Ethan with brutal force.

BOOM—!

Their bodies collided midair.

The axe slammed into Ethan with a deafening clang, metal ringing out in a rapid-fire chorus.

But—

Ethan didn’t budge.

Not a step back.

Not even a block.

He just stood there, letting the blow land.

He could feel the impact ripple through the armor, but inside, the force was absorbed, dispersed, and neutralized almost instantly.

"..."

Ethan’s breath caught for half a second—then a flicker of excitement lit up in his eyes.

He hadn’t even used his own strength.

He’d just stood there and let the Goatman swing.

And the Powered Combat Armor? Not a scratch.

"Defense test: passed."

The thought flashed through his mind.

Then he moved.

The armor’s internal energy channels lit up, power surging to his wrists.

BZZZT—

The energy cannon activated.

THUMP!

BOOOOM—!

A blinding energy beam erupted from his arm, tearing through the air with a roar. The space around it warped violently, like it was being ripped open.

The blast hit the Goatman dead-on, slamming into him with crushing force. He was sent flying, tumbling through the air before barely managing to stabilize himself.

He froze.

Stunned.

He’d never imagined his opponent could unleash that kind of power.

Staggering back, he gritted his teeth and gathered energy between his hands, forming a massive glowing sphere.

But the moment he raised his arms—

BOOM!

A second energy blast was already on its way.

Ethan wasn’t giving him a second to breathe.

In terms of raw power, Ethan was already one of Emerald Castle’s top-tier fighters. With the armor’s boost, the Goatman didn’t stand a chance.

The moment Ethan sensed the upper hand, he went all in.

Energy surged and fired again and again.

Blast after blast.

It didn’t take long before the Goatman was blasted out of the sky, crashing into the ground with a thunderous impact, dust and debris exploding around him.

But Ethan didn’t stop.

He dove after him, the glow on his armor shifting as an energy blade formed in his hand.

In the next instant—

He brought it down.

CRACK!

The strike ended the fight.

Even in his final moments, the Goatman couldn’t understand—

Where had it all gone wrong?

Just the raw force Ethan unleashed had been enough to completely overwhelm him.

With the Goatman down, Ethan didn’t let his guard drop.

His eyes snapped toward the far side of the battlefield.

There, a strange figure stood.

Snake-like head. Lizard-like body. Its anatomy was twisted and dangerous.

During the battle, its head had been darting in and out with unnatural speed, striking from impossible angles. Several Emerald Castle soldiers had already fallen to its ambushes.

Ethan’s pupils shrank sharply.

Only now did he truly realize what kind of monster he was facing.

The power erupting from the Gnoll wasn’t just overwhelming—it was on a completely different level from anything he’d encountered before.

It wasn’t wild or chaotic. It was refined. Condensed. Stable to the point of suffocating. The air itself seemed to instinctively recoil from its presence.

Tier 29. Peak.

The number exploded in Ethan’s mind.

With his current strength—even with the Powered Combat Armor—he had almost no chance in a straight-up fight.

He clenched his jaw, forcing down the surge of dread, and gathered every ounce of power he could muster. The air trembled in his palm as a massive Energy Disc formed, then launched with a sharp flick of his arm.

But the result—

It shattered on contact.

CRACK!

CRACK!

CRACK!

The shockwaves rebounded through the air like invisible sledgehammers, slamming into Ethan’s chest again and again. He staggered back several steps, the ground beneath his feet fracturing with each one.

He immediately activated a system scan.

The data panel unfolded in front of him.

The Gnoll wasn’t just a brute. It had a fully developed magical talent system and a body that had been pushed to terrifying extremes. The muscle density in its neck alone was hundreds of times harder than solid rock.

But what truly made Ethan’s blood run cold—

Was the blood-red gem embedded in the Gnoll’s chest.

The energy readings were spiking off the charts.

This wasn’t just a personal enhancement device. It was a highly unstable energy core. If it went critical, it could wipe out half of Emerald Castle in a single blast.

Ethan’s breathing quickened.

For the first time, he understood with painful clarity—

This wasn’t a fight he could win with brute force.

If he’d targeted this thing first, maybe—just maybe—with the armor still online, he’d have had a shot.

But now—

The armor was offline.

And the Gnoll was still standing.

In that split-second of hesitation—

A massive figure suddenly stepped in front of him.

BZZZT—

A thick, stable energy barrier unfolded, wrapping around Ethan in a protective dome.

Feylora.

She stood inside a towering War Machine, hands locked into the control core, her body practically fused with the machine itself.

The Gnoll’s charge slammed into the barrier—and stopped cold.

No matter how much power it unleashed, the shield only trembled slightly. Not a single crack appeared.

"Master," Feylora’s voice came through the War Machine’s comms, calm and laced with excitement, "this is the lab’s newest model. I want to see if it can kill that thing."

Ethan didn’t argue.

He knew exactly what this meant to her.

Ever since her first encounter with a War Machine, Feylora had been obsessed. She’d practically moved into the lab, pestering the scientists until they built her a custom unit from the ground up.

And now—

She was fully locked in.

The War Machine’s core lit up, unleashing a surge of pure, violent energy that instantly locked onto the Gnoll.

Before Ethan could even react—

Feylora moved.

The War Machine surged forward, walking on air, carrying the full weight of destruction as it slammed straight into the Gnoll.

BOOM—!!

The impact was cataclysmic.

The sky twisted violently, like some invisible hand had grabbed it and wrung it out. Space itself groaned under the pressure, warping and buckling, on the verge of collapse.

If Ethan hadn’t reinforced this area of the battlefield multiple times—

This entire section of sky would’ve already been torn into nothing.