Chapter 441: No Hesitation

Ethan didn’t hesitate.

The moment Talon’s exhausted body began to drop toward the ocean, he reached through their connection and unsummoned the Griffin.

A flash of blue light vanished as it returned to him.

Then he felt it.

Power.

An immense, unfamiliar presence settled within him, its strength impossible to ignore even through the agony consuming his body.

Ethan’s eyes widened.

‘Holy shit.’

Talon had evolved into an A Rank beast, and now that power was connected to him.

He could feel the difference.

It was like standing beside a storm that had chosen to acknowledge him. The sheer strength of his newly evolved beast sent a thrill through his exhausted mind, and for a moment, he almost forgot that he was seconds away from drowning.

‘An A-Rank Griffin…’

He couldn’t wait to summon Talon again.

He wanted to experiment with its abilities, examine its stats, and discover exactly what the evolution had unlocked. That strange technique that allowed it to redirect incoming force and that final cutting attack were just two of the abilities he had observed.

The thought of learning to use those skills through Partial Assimilation made his fingers twitch.

Or, more accurately, made the ruined stumps of his arms twitch.

“Ah, fuck!”

The pain came roaring back.

‘I almost forgot that I was dying…’

Ethan tilted his head back, struggling to keep his face above the water. His body felt like a collection of broken pieces barely held together by stubbornness. He’d pushed himself far too hard, and he had no idea how much longer his Tower body could endure the damage.

At any moment, he could literally die in here.

And through sheer luck, or perhaps the grace of whatever god had decided to take pity on him, Talon had suddenly evolved and saved his ass.

Ethan wasn’t interested in pushing his luck any further.

‘Time to get the fuck out of here.’

There was just one thing he needed to do.

His gaze shifted toward the Leviathan’s enormous corpse.

The water dragon’s severed head floated some distance away, while its gigantic body drifted beneath the bloodstained surface.

‘What a waste.’

A giant A Rank beast like that would have been a nice buffet for his beasts to tuck into.

But he wasn’t going to risk dying for the sake of a corpse.

There was, however, one opportunity he absolutely refused to miss.

His gaze hardened.

There was no hesitation.

‘Acquire that thing right fucking now!’

Talon’s evolution had changed everything.

The Griffin had reached A Rank, and its evolution had pushed Ethan’s own standing into a new bracket. He was officially a B Rank Titled now, granting him access to another beast slot.

Five beasts.

He’d been waiting for this opportunity, and the Leviathan was right there.

Well, most of it.

The head was detached, and the body was badly damaged, but Ethan could still acquire it through the system. In doing so, he would have an insane beast he could summon, be able to use its abilities, and fill a void in his current skill set.

‘With that kind of durability…’

He was smiling just thinking about it.

Ethan focused on the enormous corpse, his vision blurring and breathing growing shallow as he waited for the system’s response.

‘Come on…’

He forced his attention onto the Leviathan, pushing through the agony and exhaustion long enough to make the attempt.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then a familiar voice sounded in his head.

{Beast Acquired!}

{Beast Capacity: 5/5}

Ethan froze.

Then a smile spread across his face, one that was genuine and utterly exhausted.

‘We did it!’

Despite everything, he had defeated the Boss Beast.

In the process, one of his beasts evolved to A Rank, he was officially B Rank, and he acquired a powerful beast with at least A Rank Potential.

Ethan wanted to laugh, or maybe even scream.

‘I honestly thought it was over.’

He was also itching to see his new stats and discover how much stronger he’d become.

But he could barely keep his eyes open.

‘I’ll check everything later.’

There was no reason to stay another second.

‘Get me the fuck outta here!’

The system obliged, and instantly, the world began to fade.

As the endless ocean disappeared around him, he managed one final thought.

‘That was way too close.’

Despite that, and the pain and strain that had nearly killed him, he exited the Tower with a smile.

–

Ethan woke with a sharp gasp.

His heart hammered against his ribs, and cold sweat clung to his skin.

For a moment, he could almost feel the agony of his own ultimate attack tearing through his arms all over again, the bones and flesh mangled by the sheer force he’d unleashed against the Leviathan. He’d won through sheer luck and, in the process, gotten much stronger, but it hadn’t been without a mental cost.

One that remained.

Then he noticed the warmth beside him.

Elara lay curled beneath the covers, her blonde hair spilling across the pillow. Ethan stared at her for a moment before glancing around the room.

It was his mother’s old bedroom, in the house where he’d grown up.

For years, the room had been tangled up in memories he’d rather forget. His childhood home had once been a place of comfort, but it had also become inseparable from the trauma he’d carried for so long. He’d never imagined he could look at this room and feel anything resembling peace again.

Yet Elara had somehow managed it.

She’d kept the furnishings simple, choosing warm lighting, clean bedding, and just enough decoration to make the space feel lived in. She hadn’t tried to erase the room’s history or turn it into something unrecognisable.

Instead, she’d given it a new purpose.

A place where he could rest and call home again.

And this was the first time he’d actually slept here since she’d finished making it for him.

Ethan’s breathing gradually steadied.

Elara’s familiar scent filled his nose, and the lingering pain in his arms seemed to fade into the background. Just seeing her there, sleeping peacefully beside him, was enough to ease the tension he’d carried out of the Tower.

He smiled and leaned down to kiss her forehead.

Elara stirred, her lips curling into a faint smile. There was a hint of relief in her expression, even half-asleep, but she merely shifted beneath the covers and drifted off again.

Ethan gently tucked the blanket around her before slipping out of bed.

He headed into the bathroom and turned on the shower, setting the water to its usual freezing temperature. Cold showers had become a routine whenever he returned from the Tower.

The familiar shock helped ground him, reminding him that he’d left the monsters and bloodshed behind.

This time, however, something was different…