Chapter 1143: This forest is insanely huge

With Ethan’s arrival, everyone let out a collective breath of relief.

The captain was here.

Which meant one thing—they could finally back the hell off.

Ethan surveyed the battlefield. Blood was everywhere, groans of pain filled the air, and a few of his teammates looked like they’d been bulldozed by a truck twice their size—but no one was dead.

He exhaled slowly.

That was a win.

He knew better than anyone how monstrous that Tier 10 Titan Ape was. The fact that his team—mostly Tier 8s—had managed to hold it off that long?

It was nothing short of incredible.

Sure, almost all of them were seriously wounded.

But as long as they were still breathing?

Henry could patch them up.

Just as that thought crossed his mind—

"Henry!! Over here!! Hurry!!" Chris’s panicked voice rang out.

Henry, who’d just gotten back to the team, spun instantly and tore off toward the voice.

"Over here, quick! Help Emily!" Chris shouted, his voice shaking.

When Henry saw Emily’s condition, his heart skipped a beat. She looked awful—blood everywhere, her body slumped against Chris like a rag doll.

But after a quick inspection, Henry’s tension eased.

The spear hadn’t hit her heart.

For an Awakened, it was painful, yeah—but nowhere near fatal. Hell, Chris was actually in worse shape.

Still, Henry glanced at Chris’s face—filled with raw panic—and a familiar glint sparked in his own eyes.

He turned serious.

"...She got hurt like this because she took a hit for you?" he asked slowly.

Chris nodded, guilt flashing deep in his eyes. "Yeah... She saved me." He looked at Henry with desperate hope. "You can heal her, right?"

Henry crossed his arms. "I can, but the injury’s bad. Could be... complicated."

Chris didn’t hesitate. "Say what you need—I can get it done! No matter what it is!"

Henry’s expression didn’t budge. "...You sure?"

"Yeah!"

"...Then wash my socks for a month."

"Deal—wait, what?"

Henry shrugged innocently. "Hey, my sister nearly died saving you. One month of laundry’s cheap, bro."

Chris stared at him, stunned. "...It’s

your sister

. Shouldn’t

you

be washing socks?"

"She took a spear for

you

. So?"

"...Fine!" Chris snapped. "Dammit—fine! I’ll do it! Now shut the hell up and HEAL HER!"

Henry smirked.

That was enough.

If he had the energy to bicker, this whole thing wasn’t as hopeless as it looked.

And besides, Henry’s healing ability had always been the kind that bordered on broken. As long as someone wasn’t already dead? He could usually bring them back.

Chris had just been panicking, which was fair. When someone takes a lethal shot to save your life, your brain doesn’t tend to work too well.

...

Across the field...

Ethan and Skinny Pete, flanked by Goldie and Speckles, had completely boxed the Titan Ape in.

One human. Two mutant beasts. All freshly advanced to Tier 9, and very, very ready to kill.

The Titan Ape’s chest heaved with rattling breaths. Blood dripped freely from its wounds. Its eyes were wide—no longer feral with rage, just wild with desperation.

It was injured. Bad.

Even fighting one Tier 9 at this point would be a problem. Facing three?

That was death.

But it wasn’t going down without a fight.

Roaring, it launched forward—fist flying straight toward Skinny Pete.

It sized him up in an instant. Compared to the others, Skinny Pete looked weak. Scrawny. Maybe the easiest one to break through.

And... technically, yeah. He

was

.

Unfortunately, looks were deceiving—and the Titan Ape didn’t have the energy to learn that the hard way.

As the massive, bloodied fist flew toward him—

Skinny Pete didn’t move.

Didn’t flinch.

Didn’t even reach for a weapon.

He just stared straight into the Titan Ape’s eyes.

Hard. Unwavering.

Ten inches from his face, the fist froze—suspended mid-swing.

The Titan Ape’s expression twisted in sudden confusion.

Just as that hesitation hit—

CRUNCH.

Ethan’s poleaxe came down like an executioner’s blade.

It slammed into the Titan Ape’s skull with terrifying force, driving right into the cracked wound Ethan had opened earlier and cleaving straight down.

The blade split through bone with a sickening noise and nearly split the massive skull in half.

No second chance. No final roar.

The beast hit the ground like a crumbling mountain.

Dead.

For real this time.

"Whew..."

Skinny Pete let out a long breath and wiped the sweat off his forehead.

He’d looked calm as hell just now—stone-faced and fearless. But on the inside? He’d been freaking

terrified

.

A Tier 10 mutant beast—that kind of pressure wasn’t something you could just shrug off. It was crushing.

If the beast hadn’t already been half-dead, there was no way he would’ve gotten away with a psychological bluff like that.

Ethan finally relaxed too. Killing that monster had been

anything but easy

.

Honestly? This might’ve been one of their most brutal fights since the one with Bengal Tiger Goldie.

Everyone was hurt—like,

actually

hurt. Sean and a couple others were still lying on the ground, not even trying to move yet.

Henry was working full-speed, bouncing between bodies as he patched people up like a combat medic in a warzone.

Chris and Emily were already healed.

Chris was currently looking at Emily like she’d handed him the moon.

"Emily..." he said, voice full of emotion. "You saved my life back there. I’m seriously touched. I don’t even know how to thank you. All I can offer is...

me

. Like, my entire self—"

Emily spoke up quickly, ducking her head, clearly flustered. "I-It wasn’t really that dramatic. I think I was just the closest one at the time. If it had been someone else, I’m sure I’d still have stepped up. I... I wasn’t doing much in the fight anyway, so I figured at least I could help with something."

"..."

Chris’s expression froze.

But only for half a beat.

Then he slapped his chest like a hero in a drama. "All the same—you still saved me. Doesn’t change the fact. My life’s yours now. No take-backs."

Emily blinked innocently. "But aren’t we part of the same team? Isn’t saving each other just... normal? I mean, I saw everyone helping each other in that fight. Henry’s the one healing all of you; technically, he’s done the most life-saving today. So uh... is your life his too?"

"..."

Chris staggered like he’d taken another spear to the chest. "...Okay, yeah, but—that’s different. This is—uh—look, just know I owe you one, alright?"

Emily tilted her head. "Oh. Okay!" she nodded, not quite understanding, but satisfied enough.

...

A short distance away, Ethan approached the Titan Ape’s massive corpse.

With practiced ease, he reached down and pulled the creature’s crystal core free from its skull.

It was a deep, gleaming purple.

Just holding it made Ethan’s fingers tighten.

This was it.

This core alone could take him all the way to Tier 10.

This

was his next leap.

He knew Atlas City had Tier 9 Awakened—maybe even Elite-level ones.

But Tier 10?

Highly unlikely. No reports. No sign of anyone reaching that level yet.

Which meant...

Once he hit Tier 10?

He’d be untouchable.

Of course, there was a small catch: he wasn’t quite at the peak of Tier 9 yet.

If he absorbed it now, it’d mostly go to waste. No sense blowing the fuel before the engine was ready.

So he stored the crystal core in his spatial ring for later—when it would really count.

Then he turned to the massive body.

The Titan Ape’s corpse followed the core into the ring.

Even dead, it was valuable—especially as food for people like Goldie and Speckles. Tier 10 beast meat was top-tier nourishment, probably worth more than any healing potion on the market.

After that, Ethan walked over to where the other two Tier 9 Titan Ape corpses had fallen and stashed those as well.

They had killed four Tier 9 Titan Apes total—Goldie and Speckles had each devoured one. That left two.

Pumpkin, their orange tank of a mutant beast, hadn’t participated in the kill and was still digesting from recent meals. Kid had been munching on high-Tier corpses all week and was on cooldown mode.

Mutant beasts could evolve fast by eating corpses, especially higher Tier ones—but it wasn’t instant. Like everything powerful, progress needed digestion. Time.

With the cleanup done, Ethan finally lifted his head and took a proper look around for the first time since the fight started.

The place looked unreal.

Towering trees he couldn’t name reached into the clouds above. The air was so clean it almost sparkled in his lungs. Every breath made him feel like he was on another planet.

No—another world.

Teleporting, Ethan blinked to the top of one of the tallest trees for a better view.

He gazed out across the landscape below.

Endless forest.

Nothing but massive greenery as far as the eye could see—not even with

True Sight

could he make out the edge.

Ethan frowned and let out a low breath.

"...This forest is

insanely

huge."