Chapter 72: Growth And Defeat.
Ethan didn’t wait for the Chief to attack again.
The space behind him immediately began stretching apart, layer after layer peeling away into the distance as he prepared to launch himself back towards the camp.
The Chief saw exactly what he was trying to do. "Where do you think you’re going?" He roared and exploded forward.
Ethan gritted his teeth, Ryan’s movement was instantaneous. His own wasn’t.
His Dormant Ability wasn’t true teleportation. It behaved more like an enormous rubber band. First, he had to stretch space until it reached its limit. Only then could he release the space behind him and allow it to fling his body forward. The farther he wanted to travel, the longer that tiny delay became.
Against most opponents, that tiny delay never mattered, but against the creature charging straight at him, it suddenly mattered far too much.
The Chief’s shoulder crashed into Ethan before the stretched space could launch him away.
The impact hurled Ethan across the frozen wasteland. He bounced violently across the snow, carving a deep trench before finally rolling to a stop dozens of metres away.
Snow filled his mouth while his vision blurred.
High above, the dark clouds began gathering together, slowly swallowing what little sunlight remained. They churned unnaturally as if summoned by an unseen force.
Ethan spat out the snow and forced himself up. The moment his vision cleared, the battle axe was already before his line of sight.
Space between Ethan and the descending axe immediately stretched apart.
The giant axe, which had been seconds away from splitting his skull open, suddenly appeared to crawl through the air. Every inch it travelled became another impossible distance it had to overcome.
The Chief’s expression twisted with irritation.
"Parlour tricks." He tightened his grip and the ancient runes carved across the battle axe suddenly blazed with pale light.
A sharp cracking sound echoed through the frozen plain, tiny fractures began spreading through the distorted space itself.
Ethan’s expression froze.
"Impossible..."
The stretched space continued splintering apart like fragile glass until, with a deafening shatter, the axe tore straight through his distortion.
Ethan threw himself sideways.
The axe buried itself into the snow where he’d been lying a heartbeat earlier, splitting the frozen earth apart and sending ice exploding into the air.
He hadn’t even landed properly before the Chief ripped the weapon free with one arm and swung again.
Ethan refused to meet it head-on.
His hands moved first.
Space distorted around the incoming blade, slowing it just enough for him to twist beneath the swing. The icy wind trailing behind the axe scraped across his back as he slipped past it by the narrowest of margins.
He didn’t stop moving.
If the Chief’s axe could interfere with spatial distortions, then trying to keep his distance was suicide.
Ethan rushed in instead.
He planted one foot into the snow and abruptly compressed the space beneath himself. His body lurched forward several metres in an instant, appearing directly inside the Chief’s reach before the massive Eidolon had fully recovered from the swing.
His right hand shot towards the Chief’s chest, the space surrounding his palm suddenly compressed with terrifying force.
The Chief never expected the human before him to actually counterattack. To him, Ethan was nothing more than prey desperately trying to escape, so he made no attempt to defend himself.
Ethan’s palm landed squarely against his chest.
The compressed space violently snapped back to its original state.
The Chief’s enormous body was blasted backwards, his feet leaving the ground as he tore across the frozen landscape before crashing through several towering pillars of ancient ice.
Ethan landed heavily on the snow, breathing harder than before.
"Shit... It actually worked."
Until now, Ethan had always used his Dormant Ability on a much larger scale. During battles, he’d stretch the surrounding space to its limit, separating allies from enemies, creating openings or helping people escape. He’d never once thought about using it like this.
But standing before the Eidolon Chief, with death breathing down his neck, instinct had forced him to adapt.
If he could stretch the distance between two places, then why couldn’t he compress the tiny space between his palm and his target, only to release it all at once?
The result spoke for itself, the Chief had been sent flying.
Ethan didn’t celebrate, that attack had only bought him time, a furious roar echoed across the frozen plain.
The shattered pillars exploded apart as the Chief forced himself back to his feet. Blood Rage still coursed through his body, crimson fur standing on end as his enormous chest rose and fell with heavy breaths.
His blood-red eyes locked onto Ethan.
This time, there was not only contempt in its eyes, but annoyance.
"You dare... very good, then die".
The ground beneath his feet exploded.
The Chief crossed the distance in a single breath, his gigantic battle axe already crashing down before Ethan could even compress the space around his palms again.
Ethan reacted on pure instinct.
The space between them stretched apart, layers upon layers of distorted distance unfolding in an instant. Against almost anyone else, the attack would’ve fallen hopelessly short.
The Chief didn’t slow down.
His battle axe cleaved through the distorted space with terrifying force, the stretched distance collapsing beneath the sheer weight of the strike.
The shockwave alone caught Ethan squarely in the chest.
His body shot backwards before tumbling violently through the air. He slammed into the snow headfirst, carving a long trench across the frozen ground before finally coming to a stop.
For a brief second, everything rang.
Ethan coughed, warm blood dripping from his nose onto the white snow beneath him. His head throbbed violently as he struggled to roll onto his back, his vision swimming while he stared up at the dark clouds gathering overhead.
"I actually got hit".
Since entering the Tower, Ethan had always relied on his Dormant Ability to stay out of danger. Whether it was monsters or Awakened, almost nobody could force their way through his manipulation of space.
A massive shadow swallowed him.
The Chief had already leapt high into the air, both hands gripping the handle of his enormous battle axe as he descended like a falling mountain. There wasn’t the slightest hesitation in his movements.
Ethan wasn’t ready to die, he hadn’t even managed to steal a single kiss from Seris.
Gritting his teeth, Ethan threw both hands towards the sky.