NOVEL NEXT Chapter 90: The Golden Arc
Steel shrieked against scales. Venom hissed as it ate into the soil. Ethan's breath came ragged, sweat stinging his eyes as he forced the serpent back with another desperate swing. The dark blade clashed with snapping fangs, barely holding ground. Each impact rattled his bones, his arm already bruised and cut.
The beast pressed harder, its massive coils tearing through the undergrowth. It was hungry, relentless—driven by the gnawing void in its belly. Its eyes blazed, unblinking, fixed only on him.
Ethan stumbled aside as its tail smashed into the ground, roots shattering beneath the blow. His ribs ached, his blood dripped steadily, but still he refused to falter.
Then—like a spark in the fog—something flickered in his mind.
He saw Brad. Saw him again on the battlefield, fists glowing, mana surging through hardened knuckles as they sent the Goblin King reeling. He remembered the rhythm of it—the flow of power from the core, rushing to the edge of the strike.
Almost without thinking, Ethan mirrored it. His hand tightened on the hilt of Duskfang. He pulled—willed—the mana outward, down his arm, into the blade.
At first, only faint strands responded, shivering across the steel. Then they wove together, catching, igniting.
The blade burned with a golden sheen. Not flame, not light—something purer.
The serpent hissed, coiling to strike. Ethan's eyes narrowed. A new strength coursed through him, setting his veins ablaze. With a roar, he swung in a wide arc.
The air split. The golden edge ripped into the serpent's flank, cleaving through hardened scale as if it were bark.
A gash five, six feet long tore open along its body, blood spraying in a hot crimson arc. The beast shrieked, thrashing wildly, uprooting saplings and bending whole trees under its convulsions.
Ethan stood there for a heartbeat, chest heaving, staring at his blade in disbelief. His hands trembled—not from exhaustion, but from the echo of that force.
Then, a sudden chime.
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System Notification
Basic Longsword Technique – 99% Mastery → Achieved (Intermediate)
Unlocked: Longblade/Longsword mixed Technique (unnamed) – 4% Mastery (Advanced)
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Ethan blinked. "I… advanced?"
Excitement surged, but he didn't have time to marvel. The serpent's screeches shook the clearing, its body lashing in fury.
He raised Duskfang again, willing the golden aura to return. He swung—
Nothing. Just steel cutting air. Powerful, sharper than before, but no radiance, no dazzling edge.
"Tch." He grit his teeth. "So it wasn't just me swinging harder…"
From the treeline, a sharp intake of breath reached his ears. He turned just enough to glimpse Lirael's wide eyes, her bow half-drawn.
Through their link, her voice trembled.
"Ethan…! That was aura! You did it!"
His lips curled into a half-grin, blood still dripping from his side.
"Yeah? Then I'll figure out how to do it again—later." He raised his blade toward the writhing beast. "Right now, we finish this snake."
The serpent fixed Ethan with its glowing green eyes, pupils narrowed to venomous slits. Its hiss reverberated through the clearing, a guttural sound that made the roots at Ethan's feet vibrate.
Then—its body blurred.
In the space of a heartbeat, thirty feet of scaled muscle vanished from his vision, only to reappear behind him. Coils lunged forward, snapping shut like a trap meant to crush the life from him.
Ethan spun, too slow—
Swshhh!
An arrow screamed past his ear. The serpent jerked its head aside, narrowly avoiding the shaft, and the coil hesitated for a fraction of a second. Just long enough.
Ethan's fingers flared with mana. He drew back the invisible bowstring, loosing a crackling arrow of light. It tore into the serpent's already wounded flank, reopening the massive gash with a wet, tearing sound.
The beast shrieked, rearing in pain.
Ethan was already moving, closing the distance in a blur. His blade carved across its exposed underside—not glowing, not radiant, just cold steel biting deep. Flesh split, dark ichor spilling hot across the ferns.
The serpent lashed, tail and fangs cutting the air in furious arcs. Ethan ducked one strike, parried another, his body moving on instinct. But his counters glanced uselessly off its scales, and each exchange sapped more of his stamina.
His teeth clenched. This won't end it like this.
He forced himself to breathe, to remember the rhythm he'd felt before—the flow of energy that had surged into his blade like a tide. He shut out the serpent's hissing, the crashing coils, the stench of venom mist.
And then—he felt it again.
A surge, wild and fierce, rushing from his core into the blade. Golden strands crawled along the dark steel, then burst into brilliance, sheathing the weapon in shimmering light. The air around it vibrated with raw power.
Across the clearing, the serpent froze.
Its eyes widened, a tremor running the length of its massive body. For the first time, it looked uncertain. A primal chill crawled through its instincts—it tried to retreat, coils recoiling in panic.
"Not running now," Ethan growled, voice low.
Thwip-thwip-thwip!
Arrows rained down in quick succession. Lirael's shots struck true, thudding into roots and soil, her aim herding the serpent back into Ethan's path.
Trapped.
With a roar, Ethan swung in a broad arc. The golden blade cleaved through the air and met scaled flesh.
Shhhhk-kraaaash!
The serpent twisted in desperation, but too late. The glowing edge carved into its neck, shearing through half its thickness before the beast could recoil. Blood geysered, hot and crimson, splattering across the clearing in a violent spray.
The monster thrashed, coils smashing against trees, snapping trunks like twigs. Its hiss broke into a strangled gargle.
Then, slowly, its movements faltered. Its glowing eyes dulled, venom dripping uselessly from limp fangs. With one final shudder, the colossal body collapsed into the ferns, sending a tremor rippling through the ground.
The clearing fell silent.
Ethan stood there, chest heaving, blade dripping with a mix of black ichor and golden light. His arms trembled, the aftershock of that new power still humming through him.
Above, Lirael lowered her bow, her breath catching as she stared at him with astonishment.
He wiped blood from his cheek and gave a faint, grim smile.
"Guess that's… one less nightmare crawling through the woods."
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Don't BUY, don't buy the next chapter! somehow chapter 92 got published before 90 and 91....and I am not able to fix it.
Privilege readers please don't feel scammed...it was my mistake.
And I pardoned myself by posting 5 new chapters RN so as to it get outs of privilege tiers.