Level 1 to Infinity: My Bloodline Is the Ultimate Cheat!-Chapter 868: Dragged Down from the Sky

The white-haired elder turned his gaze toward Ethan and immediately caught the flicker of pure, unfiltered awkwardness on the young man’s face. Then his eyes shifted to the kilometer-tall Qilin looming beside him, and the words that beast had just spat out echoed unpleasantly in his ears.

The Patriarch’s expression darkened.

What made it worse was the pressure.

The oppressive aura radiating from the black beast wasn’t subtle. It pressed down on the world like a tangible weight, heavy enough to make even seasoned warriors instinctively tense.

This elder was none other than the current Patriarch of the Moonfrost Direwolf clan.

The first avalanche had already thrown the clan’s hidden territory into high alert. Uncle Jed, Leo, the others, and a large number of the clan’s warriors had gathered at the concealed entrance almost immediately. Yet no one could leave. Not even Uncle Jed’s group.

Only the Patriarch possessed the authority to open the passage freely.

The last time he had tried to venture into the human world to search for his daughter, the clan elders had blocked him outright, citing the dangers beyond the barrier. In the end, it had taken the combined effort of several elders just to open a temporary channel, narrow enough for Xenon alone to slip through.

And now, the Patriarch had emerged just in time to witness disaster. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

He had seen the black beast hurl four volcanic orbs, melting entire ice mountains into molten ruin. Then, the moment he stepped outside the barrier, that same beast began swelling to a titanic height, roaring about something called an "Ocean of Thunder."

The shock nearly stole his breath.

A Black Qilin.

How could he, as Patriarch, have failed to recognize a legendary divine beast? From within the barrier, he hadn’t sensed the creature’s presence at all. But the instant he emerged, the pressure struck him like a crashing tide, almost forcing him to revert to his wolf form on the spot. Only his own formidable Energy kept him standing.

What galled him most wasn’t the beast itself.

It was the fact that this monstrous Qilin was obeying a human.

And worse, that human had clearly been about to stop it, only to hesitate because of the Qilin’s insolent retort.

So now the Patriarch stood there, helpless, watching his front yard hover on the brink of annihilation.

’Just who in the world are these people?’

The group that had entered the clan’s territory six months ago had included powerful individuals, perhaps even peers. But none of them carried this kind of innate, bloodline-deep pressure. And now this. A Black Qilin. A mythical divine beast whose noble bloodline exerted crushing dominance.

The Moonfrost Direwolves were a top-tier beast clan, but between them and a divine beast, there existed an unbridgeable chasm.

The Qilin’s lightning began to crackle and spread.

The Patriarch’s heart sank.

’It’s over. We’re about to become the laughingstock of every beast clan from here to the equator.’

Then the lightning erupted.

Countless arcs of sapphire lightning, flecked with starlight-blue motes, burst outward from Blackie. They didn’t strike downward. They flooded the region, engulfing everything within a hundred kilometers in an instant.

The lightning passed straight through the Patriarch’s body.

He stiffened, bracing for pain that never came.

Instead, the blue sparks clung to his fur and robes like shimmering dust, coating him in a layer of faintly glowing specks.

"...Huh?"

The Patriarch blinked in disbelief.

Ethan was just as confused. There was no destructive force in those arcs. No killing intent. No impact at all.

"Found you!" Blackie bellowed. "Ocean’s Fury!"

As both men struggled to process what was happening, Blackie tilted his massive head upward. The sea of lightning churned violently, then surged like a tidal wave toward a single point in the empty sky.

Ethan’s Soul Sense finally caught it.

Several kilometers above and off to the side, a distorted silhouette shimmered into view, outlined by clinging blue starlight. It was humanoid, yet the figure seemed to exist half a step out of reality, suspended in a void between layers of space.

The lightning tide slammed upward.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

Each arc detonated on contact, unleashing concussive thunder that rippled through the heavens. The barrage triggered avalanches across nearby peaks. Ancient glaciers split open with groans that echoed like the cries of the earth itself. For a brief, terrifying span, the polar region became pure cataclysm.

Across the world, observatories erupted into chaos.

Urgent alarms blared as massive electromagnetic storms were detected in the polar region, something never before recorded. Every organization with access to satellite feeds turned their eyes south.

Then, in the next instant, every alarm died.

Screens fizzed into static.

Ethan had issued the command reflexively. Shatterstar scrambled everything. He hadn’t expected Blackie to go quite this far, but damage control was no longer optional.

Still, one question burned in his mind.

Who was that in the sky?

The answer revealed itself as the artificial storm dissipated.

When the last traces of lightning faded, the sky cleared completely. Hovering in the air was an old man bathed in deep aquamarine light. He wore a mask. A plaque engraved with 01 hung from his belt. His robes were violet and gold.

The Divine Sea Temple Steward.

The same one from the footage. The one who had been hunting Leo’s group.

Ethan hadn’t sensed him at all.

He shot a sharp glance at Blackie. The Qilin’s gaze remained locked on the sky, his posture tense, muscles coiled.

’Don’t look at me, Boss!’ Blackie’s voice echoed in his mind. ’I didn’t sense him either. But Ocean of Thunder is my domain. The moment I activated it, I knew we weren’t alone.’

’Ah,’ Ethan thought. A domain skill.

Another piece of the puzzle clicked into place.

"So the Black Qilin finally shows itself," the floating elder’s voice boomed, completely unaffected by the storm that had just engulfed him. "That would make you Ethan Caelum, I presume?"

Ethan squinted up at him. "What’s it to you, old man? You’re the one chasing my friends."

"Boss," Blackie muttered, his voice low and dangerous, "the old fart’s talking down to us. Want me to go up there and rearrange his face?"

Ethan snorted. "Go up? That’d be giving the pompous bastard too much credit."

As the words left his mouth, a flash of light burst from between his eyebrows. A seal no larger than a fingernail shot skyward, climbing ten thousand meters in the blink of an eye.

"Sigil of the Wild Legion... Sky-Lock!"

HUMMMMM...

The seal was none other than the Sigil of the Wild Legion, obtained in the Sea of Death. It possessed two supreme effects. One was bloodline suppression against beast clans. The other was an absolute anti-flight domain.

Ethan had used Sky-Lock before to ground airborne monsters.

He’d just never expected to use it because he couldn’t fly, and some arrogant ancient geezer was posturing above him.

"Insolent whelp! You dare?!" the Steward roared, fury erupting the instant he heard the command. Ethan’s refusal to answer his question, combined with the sudden activation of an artifact, sent him into a rage.

Ethan ignored him entirely.

Orange-yellow light descended from above, spreading outward as the domain took hold. It didn’t only affect the Steward. Even wisps of cloud began sinking under its influence. The old man struggled violently for a moment, then froze as realization set in.

Resistance was pointless.

His face turned a mottled purple.

Just before the domain fully settled, he transformed into a streak of blue lightning and slammed down onto the snow below. He would rather land on his feet than be dragged down and planted face-first in the ice.

A snort of laughter broke the tension.

Ethan turned his head.

The white-haired Patriarch was staring at the Divine Sea Temple Steward, now standing angrily in the distance. There was no surprise in the old wolf’s eyes.

Only naked, undisguised derision.