Ezra leaned back in the wooden chair by the window, his body finally settling after days of travel. The inn's quiet murmur—the occasional clink of mugs, soft conversations—lulled him into a state of wary rest. He allowed himself a moment to close his eyes, to let the weight of constant vigilance ease.Those past few hours had been really tough for him. His mind and body had been subjected to a very heavy strain. Even as an intermediate cultivator, it was breaking him. So he had to rest.Finally, there's no disturbance, he thought within himself. And I hope it'll remain like this...It's been a long time since I had rest like this."Except at the Poison Ivy, of course," he muttered to himself.But deep down, he knew that his rest was only temporary. After all, he was not just an intermediate cultivator. He was the Echelon player. There was bound to be missions suddenly appearing for him to take. He was never safe from them."Well, even though this rest is temporary," he told himself, "l

Steel glinted under the pale lantern light as the soldiers formed a ring around Ezra. Their halberds lowered, tips aimed squarely at his chest. The air was heavy with killing intent, yet Ezra's expression did not waver. Not a flicker of fear touched his face."Ezra Echelon," the captain barked. "You are under arrest."Ezra's gaze swept over the formation, calm, unbending. "Arrest? For what crime?""You've caused so much destruction," the captain replied coldly. "Half of this inn lies in ruins. Civilians are shaken. Order must be upheld."He paused, then added, "This is not the first time you've caused destruction. And all this happened within your first two days here."Ezra tilted his head slightly, a faint smile tugging at his lips. "So I'm guilty for defending my own life? The ones who came for the head, you're ignoring them? Have you forgotten them?"No one replied. Their silence was an answer in itself. The captain's eyes hardened, and his grip on the halberd tightened. They were

The air stilled. The day itself seemed to hold its breath. Time and space seemed to bend as well as the overwhelming presence filled the surroundings.W-what's this? Ezra asked inwardly in shock. This presence seems very familiar...He could remember it vividly. There were only a few presences that had made him cower like this and could also make him do so.Masters and grandmasters possessed auras powerful enough to crush him without even willing it. But there were these otherworldly beings who could just crush him by staring at him. They didn't even need to be in this world.He remembered them vividly. Any time someone used the otherworldly energy in a battle, they would gaze on him from somewhere very distant, yet close. He was led to believe they were gods or beings equal to gods.And right now he was feeling the same presence like theirs. It made him to become extremely terrified even when he had not seen who it was.This is the same presence I felt back in the world of Camelot, h

"Ah!" Ezra screamed in pain, his arms thrashing about. His muscles stiffened, his heart palpitating.Right now, he wasn't just feeling pain. He wasn't just feeling terror. He was struggling for survival. To live.Ezra's scream was no longer his own. It tore out of him raw, unending, echoing across the broken town like a chorus of dying souls. His throat bled with the sound, his voice shredded into nothing but hoarse cries. Every inch of his body rebelled against existence, every nerve ending aflame, every vein stretched to the edge of bursting.His body convulsed violently on the ground. Muscles spasmed, tearing themselves apart with every futile attempt to resist. Blood streamed down his arms, his back, his legs—seeping from pores as if his very flesh was being unstitched from within. His chest flowed with the unbearable light of the Echelon system, its core fighting not with power, but with desperation.Above him, Dagon loomed like a collapsed star, endless in weight and presence. T

For a moment, it seemed the end had come.Ezra's chest burned as the silvery threads of light tore free, pulled inch by inch into the monstrous claw of Dagon. Each thread carried not only his strength but his essence—his memories, his victories, his pain, his very will to live. His scream split the air, raw and animal, the sound of a man being hollowed out until only an empty husk sagged like broken branches. He felt small—so pitifully small before the towering demigod who reached for godhood through his ruin.And then—A sound.Soft at first, almost imperceptible, cutting through the chaos like a lone chime echoing in an endless void.SYSTEM COMING ONLINE...The words did not enter through his ear—they vibrated inside his bones, thrummed in the back of his skull, surged into the very core of his fading soul.What? Ezra's eyes shot open. The glow at his chest, once unravelling like a spilled thread, suddenly reversed. It flared, no longer fragile but blazing, stabilizing into a hard,