Chapter 366: Ashen Wasteland

"You’re going to leave just like that?"

Nate clearly had a screw loose and seemed genuinely excited to get to know Ethan. Unfortunately, his newly discovered half-brother wasn’t exactly reciprocating that enthusiasm.

"What do you want to do instead, Nate? Play tag?"

That didn’t seem like such a bad idea.

"How about hide-and-seek instead?" Nate joked.

Ethan let out a tired laugh.

"So what’s your story?" Ethan asked, figuring that if the guy wasn’t going to leave him alone, he might as well learn something about him.

"Well, for as long as I can remember, I had pops in my life. Honestly, I can’t tell who’s luckier. Me or you. For as long as I could remember, the old man was ordering me around, and I got my Title not long after he did."

Ethan looked at him.

"You’re younger, right?"

Nate nodded.

"Mark always held it over me that he was a little older than me, so now I get to be the older brother."

The words were surprisingly wholesome, and Nate clearly hadn’t expected them from Ethan.

"Aw."

Nate suddenly jumped toward Ethan, apparently intending to give his newly found older brother a hug. Ethan instinctively and intentionally responded with an elbow to the face, except his elbow didn’t actually hit.

It went straight through Nate’s head.

’What the fuck?’

Ethan stared at his arm as it passed through the man’s face.

It was deeply unsettling having someone phase through his body like that, especially when Ethan had been expecting to feel solid resistance.

"I forgot you could do that," Ethan said aloud.

Nate simply gave him a proud smile, apparently taking the comment as a compliment.

"Anyway," Ethan continued, deciding not to dwell on it, "you guys got a roof on this building?"

"Yup."

"How do I get up there without smashing through the ceiling?"

"Oh, I can help with that."

Nate smiled before grabbing Ethan’s arm.

Ethan didn’t resist.

The next moment, Nate jumped straight toward the ceiling.

Ethan instinctively flinched and braced himself for impact, but there was none. Their bodies simply phased through the ceiling as though the solid material wasn’t even there.

A moment later, they emerged onto the roof.

The wind immediately hit them.

They were more than a thousand feet in the air, hundreds of metres above the city, so the cold wind was considerably stronger than it would have been on the ground.

Yet Ethan barely noticed.

What affected him more was how they’d gotten there.

"That was trippy as fuck."

"You’ll get used to it," Nate said casually.

Ethan looked at him.

"What else can you do? Shapeshifting, going through solid things...?"

Nate shrugged.

"That’s about it."

Ethan could tell there was very likely more to it than that, but he didn’t push him. Instead, he walked toward the edge of the roof and took a moment to appreciate the view.

The entire city stretched out beneath them.

Buildings that seemed enormous from street level looked almost insignificant from this height. Roads had become thin lines, while the countless people below were impossible to distinguish.

Despite standing more than a thousand feet above the ground, Ethan remained unnaturally calm. It was the kind of calm that only someone who could fly, or someone confident they could survive the fall, could possess.

Ethan could do the former and potentially even the latter.

He pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

The smoke barely had a chance to form before the wind tore it away, the cigarette being consumed much faster than normal as Ethan stood there.

’I’m on top of the Crowe Building.’

The thought amused him.

After everything that had happened today, somehow standing on top of his supposed father’s skyscraper was one of the less ridiculous parts. Ethan took one final drag before making a decision that would probably have looked completely insane to anyone else.

"Till next time, little bro."

He lay down on the rooftop.

After reaching out to press something, he appeared to fall deeply asleep.

Nate stared at him, then he laughed uncontrollably.

"This guy’s as fucked up as I am."

He shook his head before phasing into the ground, disappearing through the roof and returning to his father’s side.

Ethan just wanted to clear his mind.

He wanted somewhere he could forget about Victor, Nate, Jessica, his daughter, and the absurd mess his life had somehow become.

What better place was there to do that than the Tower of Beasts?

{Floor Thirty: Ashen Wasteland (C)}

The moment Ethan arrived, he was greeted by a vast landscape of blackened earth and volcanic stone.

A thick layer of grey ash covered the ground as far as the eye could see, drifting through the air like snow beneath an ominous red sky. Jagged obsidian formations rose from the barren landscape, some towering dozens of metres into the air like the remains of enormous teeth.

In the distance, cracks spread through the earth, glowing with molten orange light. Every so often, the ground trembled as something moved beneath the surface, sending clouds of ash into the sky.

There was almost no vegetation, water, or signs of civilisation.

Only an endless wasteland filled with dangerous beasts adapted to survive the brutal environment.

Just over a week ago, Ethan had cleared three C Rank floors like this in a single night. But just as Kaela had noticed, he had genuinely been spending less time in the Tower lately. Between his role as an Enforcer, helping to train Mark, and just enjoying his life, he had neglected the one place where he could freely grow stronger.

That was about to change.

It was finally time to let loose and ascend to the next tier of floors.

"So I have a dad, a half-brother, and even a kid!"

Ethan shouted toward the empty wasteland, the words echoing across the ash-covered plains.

He was overwhelmed by the sheer absurdity of his life.

’Partial Assimilation: Wolfy.’

The transformation immediately spread across his body.

Fur erupted across parts of his skin as his muscles expanded, his hands twisting into powerful claws while his teeth lengthened into vicious fangs. Ethan’s eyes sharpened as the instincts of the Fenrir surged through him.

It wasn’t long before he picked up on the scent of a beast.

The creature barely had time to react.

Ethan lunged forward.

His claws ripped across its face, tearing through flesh and sending the creature tumbling across the ash.

It wasn’t alone.

Another beast charged from the side.

Ethan turned and smashed his fist into it.

The impact launched the creature through a jagged obsidian formation.

A third beast leapt toward him, but Ethan caught it by the throat.

He slammed it into the ground once.

Twice.

Then he hurled it aside with ease.

The beasts kept coming, and Ethan welcomed them.

He tore through the C Rank lizard-like beasts with savage efficiency, using his claws, fangs, and overwhelming physical abilities to carve a path through the wasteland.

This wasn’t hunting, but more like venting.

Every time another beast attacked, Ethan met it head-on.

The anger he’d been carrying since waking from Victor’s vision came pouring out through his fists and claws. Everything about his fucked-up life and family came out all at once.

Eventually, the beasts stopped coming.

Ethan stood alone amid the bodies, breathing heavily as the ash continued to drift around him.

The rage slowly faded.

He looked down at one of the creatures he’d just killed.

Then he sat beside it.

After a moment, Ethan grabbed its leg and began chewing. He gnawed on it like a feral beast, ripping pieces away with his teeth as he stared blankly across the wasteland.

’That’s better.’

His head felt a little clearer already.

Ethan took another bite before opening up the Beast Tab of the System Interface.

’Let’s see how everyone’s doing.’

As he chewed on the beast’s leg, Ethan began reviewing his beasts’ statuses.