The golden bolt of lightning crashed down, its blinding brilliance illuminating what felt like the entire abandoned city.
Even Natasha and Brutus instinctively shut their eyes.
Ethan squeezed his own shut as well, afraid the intense flash might permanently damage his vision.
After waiting a few moments, he slowly opened them again.
Raising the Silent Hunter, he peered through the scope, eager to see who had survived that terrifying strike.
The moment he saw the impact site...
His eyes widened.
Several hundred square meters had been reduced to scorched earth.
Some utility poles had melted like popsicles left in the sun, leaving only half-charred stumps behind.
Silver-white arcs of electricity continued to dance across the ground like high-voltage current leaking from a broken power grid.
Ethan was certain those arcs were powerful enough to kill any Tier 1 monster instantly.
Yet...
Despite such a hellish scene...
The giant man and the Dread Lizard were still standing.
One man.
One lizard.
Both were charred black from head to toe, making it impossible to read the expressions frozen on their faces.
Shifting the scope, Ethan soon spotted the healer hidden beneath the rubble.
Thermal vision showed that the small figure was still alive...
Though whether they could still move was another matter entirely.
"Darling, should we go take a look?" Natasha asked.
"Not yet."
"That place is still too dangerous."
"We’ll wait until those electrical arcs disappear."
"We’ll spend the night here instead."
"Understood."
While Natasha prepared dinner, Ethan looked toward the sky.
The golden lightning bolt seemed to have consumed an enormous amount of energy.
The storm clouds remained pitch-black...
But they no longer carried the overwhelming pressure from before.
The thunder grew less frequent.
The lightning also became noticeably weaker.
By nightfall, darkness had only deepened slightly, interrupted every so often by flashes of lightning that illuminated the wasteland.
Perhaps the previous strike had frightened the surrounding monsters.
The usual nighttime roars were far quieter than before.
Since they were outside the shelter, none of them slept.
Even with the bank vault door providing some protection, Ethan, Natasha, and Brutus all stayed awake.
Fortunately, all three possessed exceptional constitutions.
Pulling an all-nighter wouldn’t leave them overly exhausted.
At five o’clock the next morning...
The black clouds finally began to disperse, revealing the pale white glow of dawn.
After making a few preparations, the trio cautiously made their way toward yesterday’s battlefield.
To Ethan’s surprise—and delight—they found plenty of opportunities along the way.
Many monsters hadn’t escaped the lightning in time.
Some had been roasted alive.
Others were barely clinging to life.
Out of mercy...
Ethan put the wounded creatures out of their misery.
At least they no longer had to suffer.
Eventually, they reached the battlefield without incident.
The giant warrior and the Dread Lizard were still standing face to face.
It almost looked as if neither had been willing to admit defeat.
But after taking a closer look...
Ethan was certain both had been cooked inside and out.
They were unquestionably dead.
Placing a hand on the Dread Lizard’s corpse, the familiar prompt appeared.
[Dread Lizard Corpse detected. Collect?]
"Collect."
The corpse was instantly enveloped in white light before dissolving into materials that entered Ethan’s inventory.
[Charred Dread Lizard Meat ×100 — Meat roasted by lightning. Completely natural with no additives. Long-term consumption slightly increases Strength with no side effects.]
[Charred Dread Lizard Head ×1 — Though burned black, it still carries the intimidation of a Tier 3 apex predator. Displaying it will deter all monsters below Tier 3.]
[Dread Lizard Claws and Fangs ×10 — Exceptionally sharp. Can be used directly as weapons or forged into advanced equipment and accessories.]
[Charred Dread Lizard Scales — Though burned, they still retain considerable defensive properties and are essential crafting materials for certain armor.]
[Lightning Dread Lizard Blood ×10 — Blood infused with the power of lightning. An essential ingredient for certain potions.]
[Lightning Dread Lizard Core ×1 — A monster core containing the power of lightning. Greatly enhances the strength of low-tier beast companions.]
Ethan retrieved the crystal core from his inventory.
Immediately, the Beast Master System displayed another notification.
[A monster core containing both lightning energy and the power of the Dread Lizard. Feeding it to Brutus will significantly increase his strength and has a chance of triggering a beneficial evolution.]
"Brutus."
"This one’s yours."
"Thank you, Master!"
The moment Brutus saw the crystal core, he had nearly started drooling.
But without Ethan’s permission...
He hadn’t dared touch it.
This time, Brutus didn’t crunch the crystal like candy.
Not because he didn’t want to...
But because the moment it entered his mouth, it dissolved instantly into pure energy.
Both Ethan and Natasha could clearly feel Brutus’s aura rapidly rising.
His body visibly grew larger before their eyes.
Crackling sounds echoed from within him.
It was as though lightning itself coursed through his veins.
ROOOAAAR!
Brutus let out a thunderous roar.
His body expanded to nearly five meters long.
Even on all fours, he now stood over two meters tall.
His saber teeth had grown to over a meter in length.
Faint arcs of lightning flickered across them.
Ethan immediately checked his updated status.
[Brutus — Thunder Saber-Toothed Tiger (Tier 3)]
[Loyalty: 100%]
[Potential: S]
[Talent: Beast King — Brutus intimidates creatures weaker than himself, drastically reducing their combat effectiveness or even rendering them incapable of movement.]
[Talent: Thunder — Lightning flows through Brutus’s body. His bites inflict additional lightning damage.]
[Recommendation: Focus on increasing Brutus’s Strength while supplementing him with lightning-attributed materials to maximize his overall combat power.]
The mighty tiger immediately lay down before Ethan like an oversized house cat.
"Master!"
"I evolved!"
"If I fought the Dread Lizard again..."
"I’d be able to take it on!"
Ethan smiled and rubbed the enormous tiger’s head.
"Excellent."
"With you as our heavy hitter, looting the abandoned city is going to become much easier."
After praising Brutus, Ethan turned toward the fallen giant.
Brutus’s roar had already covered the corpse with countless tiny cracks.
Just then...
A gust of wind swept through.
Like a weathered stone statue, the giant’s body crumbled into countless fragments before collapsing into a small mound of black ash.
Ethan sighed softly.
"He was one hell of a warrior."
"And he went out in a blaze of glory."
He took out a piece of firewood and carefully carved several words into it with his dagger.
Grave of an Unknown Warrior
After planting the makeshift gravestone beside the black mound...
Ethan led Natasha and Brutus into the nearby building.
The woman had been smashed into it by the Dread Lizard’s tail.
Since she hadn’t appeared since...
She was probably dead.
Still...
Ethan preferred to verify it himself.
It didn’t take long to find her.
She was embedded deep within a cracked wall.
To Ethan’s surprise...
She was still breathing.
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