Chapter 110: The Summoner Who Courted Death The battlefield was drenched in an unnatural stillness, the kind that pressed against the lungs and made even breathing feel like a rebellion. When Ryan saw the enemy summoner sealed inside that grotesque blood barrier, his chest sank with an ache that nearly drowned him. He clenched his jaw. His Sphinx was growing stronger—far stronger than anyone on the field had predicted. For the enemy, that growth was outside of every calculation they had made. For Ryan, it was terrifying and awe-inspiring all at once. “Hold your ground! Don’t falter!” the opposing summoner barked, his voice cracking as he whipped his arm downward. His familiars surged forward at the order like rabid beasts. “Victory is still ours if we can just endure!” But the lie in his words was obvious. He was trying to convince himself more than anyone. Ryan co

Chapter 112: The Mask of Smiles, The Theater of Lies The wind of the battlefield still stank of blood and burned flesh, a reminder that even when silence returned, the Dioki in the air remained restless. Energy shimmered faintly across the clearing where colossal footprints of beasts were embedded in stone and soil. The battlefield hadn’t yet cooled, but already footsteps approached—measured, hurried, anxious. Alavenya’s squad finally stumbled into view, their armor scratched, faces sweaty, breathing sharp as though they’d been running circles around a nightmare they couldn’t catch. Their eyes scanned frantically until they spotted him. Ryan. And not just Ryan—looming beside him were his divine beasts, the Sphinx and Anubis, radiating an aura so heavy it made the Dioki thrum in the lungs of every person present. Even without moving, those two familiars bent the atm

Chapter 114: The Whisper of the East, the Vampire Who Leaps in Shadows Ryan let out a weak, almost embarrassed laugh, the kind of hollow chuckle that echoed more from his throat than his heart.“Ehm… Can I… can I maybe take back what I just said?” His tone was caught somewhere between desperation and sheepish apology, like a student realizing they’d just mouthed off to a professor who also happened to be a dragon-shaped warlord. The towering figure across from him—His Majesty, the Dragon King—curled his lips into a grin so sharp it might as well have been carved with talons.“Oh? So you’d reject a gift of my kindness? Bold. If I chose to make this the excuse for punishment, even that woman who protects you so fiercely—your teacher—couldn’t shield you. She has quite the attachment to you, doesn’t she? Even went so far as to forti

 Chapter 116: The Gamble of Chains and Freedom The night air carried the faint perfume of damp soil and fading battle-smoke. Ryan and Chaollete Ashley walked side by side, their steps carrying them farther and farther away from the clearing where their familiars lingered. The others remained behind, murmuring quietly, tending to their wounds, but these two—master and noble—moved into the hush of the forest’s embrace where the shadows grew thicker and the cicadas sang without pause. The silence was heavy. It wasn’t hostile, but it was taut, like a bowstring drawn and waiting for the release. Ryan shoved his hands into his pockets, his mind scattering in a dozen directions. He should say something—maybe explain why he had made certain choices, or maybe apologize for the cruel efficiency he’d demanded in the last battle. Yet another part of him whispered that he had no obliga

Chapter 118: Fortune’s Joke, the Dragon’s AwakeningThe cavernous chamber smelled of smoke and lightning. Heat radiated from the runes etched into the floor, their faint Dioki glow crawling like veins of living fire. Ryan exhaled slowly, brushing his hair back with trembling fingers as he gazed down at the crude summoning circle he had scrawled across the obsidian floor.He had never trained in formal arcane drawing, not on Earth, not even under Vivian’s tutelage. And yet here it was—his first summoning circle, jagged strokes like scars gouged into stone, awkward, almost childlike in its roughness. But somehow, impossibly, the lines formed a closed network.“It looks… something like this?” Ryan asked, stepping back to take in the whole picture. His own words wavered between disbelief and pride. He had half-expected the thing to collapse under its own flaws.Chaollete Ashley leaned forward, her brows furrowed in suspicion. She pressed her lips together before nodding reluctantly. “I th