MONARCH OF SPACE AND TIME

MOUNTAIN BEAST LION

On the snowy mountain peak, the once white snow had already turned blood-red. A pungent smell filled the atmosphere, and for some reason the corpses on the ground were decaying faster than the eye could follow.

"It's a sneak attack! Everyone scatter!" Ethan shouted as he activated his skill, Phantom Ghost.

Although this skill was powerful, its cooldown time was twenty-four hours and its duration only thirty minutes. Right now Ethan had already blended into the fog, this time pushing it to the extreme. But the cost was steep—it consumed too much mana. He had 145 mana points, and the skill was draining 5 points every ten seconds.

"Fuck," Ethan cursed. Who would have thought they'd be ambushed by a Hellish Beast—at least on the level of a Transcendent?

He tried to save some warriors, but it proved futile. The Hellish Beast slaughtered them before he could even reach them. It was a mountain lion, an ice beast, its frosted body radiating deathly cold. But what unsettled Ethan most was not its strength—why were the corpses rotting? The realization sent shivers down his spine.

Although Ethan could blend with the fog, he couldn't hide from this beast forever.

With a quick step, he ran toward the end of the mountain, doing everything possible to avoid the lion's gaze. The portal was too risky—the beast had already set its eyes on it. And now, the battlefield was silent. The beast had already finished slaughtering the squad.

For the first time since awakening, Ethan felt true fear creeping into his heart.

Suddenly, the ice beneath his feet shifted.

BOOM!

A massive paw print, huge as a boulder, smashed up from below. Ethan's eyes widened. Just moments ago, he thought the beast was fifteen meters away. Before he could react, the frozen paw slammed into him.

"Bluergh!"

His sacred armor caved in, his internal organs shattering under the blow.

Gods knew what adrenaline still coursed through his veins, but Ethan grit his teeth and struck back—slamming his Transcendence Talisman against the beast.

The talisman came alive, like a sentient force. Chains of radiant energy erupted, binding the mountain lion and tearing at its glass-like body.

Ethan didn't look back. He didn't dare. He just ran.

The yellow portal was too far—the talisman wouldn't hold for long. Instead, he bolted toward the edge of the mountain.

At the end, he found it.

A bottomless, dark hole.

He didn't think. He jumped.

Behind him, the beast shattered the talisman and lunged forward, roaring, its claws swiping desperately. It wasn't trying to kill him—it was trying to stop him from falling.

That puzzled Ethan more than anything. Why would a Hellish Beast… stop him from entering the abyss? Did it know something worse awaited below?

"Strange…" Ethan whispered as the darkness swallowed him.

The beast's furious roars echoed above, but there was nothing it could do. The human had already fallen.

Time passed.

He fell for thirty minutes, yet still hadn't hit the bottom. The mountain's faint light grew dimmer, until it was gone completely. Only darkness remained.

Ethan's thoughts turned grim. If I hit the ground too hard, I'll be nothing but bloody paste. His armor was already shattered, its active skill unusable.

Time lost meaning. Minutes bled into hours. The silence pressed against him like a second abyss.

Fear gnawed at him, but then—an idea sparked.