"Where are you?" Ryan asked.

"Why should I spoil the surprise? You can look for all the dungeons in the world to find me," Thanatos said. "Still, to think that you would have a fraction of Chronos' power. Where did you get that ring?"

"I found it in your ass! You damn coward!" Ryan shouted. "Mark my words, you dirty sewer rat: your death will be a very painful one."

"Do you think the god of death can die? You are a very funny human," Thanatos said.

"Maybe you can't die… come to think of it, maybe death isn't a mercy that I should grant you," Ryan showed a vicious glint in his eyes. "I won't torment you for all eternity because I have better things to do, but I will make you suffer until I get tired of it."

"Good luck with that," Thanatos said. "Why don't we play a game? If you defeat me before I turn you back into a pile of dust, I will bring back your daddy and mommy? That sounds fair, right?"

"Why don't you do that now? Asshole!" Ryan shouted once again. "You, the god of death? Don't make me laugh. Why don't you kill me now with a snap of your fingers? Show me your power, show me that you aren't all talk!"

"You do not command me, worm," Thanatos said. "Struggle for as much as you can before I throw your useless pile of bones and meat aside to feed my dogs."

Thanatos' presence grew weaker, but despite that, Isaac and Martha pointed their weapons at Ryan. Then a lot of mana was gathered. Something was off… if Thanatos controlled them, they had no reason to prepare a big attack when Ryan was so close to them. He wouldn't give them the chance to finish any large attack, after all.

"Femradiel!" Ryan shouted.

"Leave it to me," Femradiel said.

Ryan had no idea if Femradiel understood the message. Still, she understood that he couldn't do anything while he was closing the time domain with ice magic. Fortunately, she used all the mana she had gathered to create a thick Ice Wall in front of them. When Isaac and Martha fired their largest attacks, a single dark arrow and a beam of light, both of them fell on the floor like masterless puppets.

Their attacks easily pierced Femradiel's Ice Wall, but they never destroyed it completely. The ice wall decreased in size as it repaired the damaged parts, and Femradiel kept feeding her mana into it. In the end, she won the exchange because she had more time to concentrate on her magic.

Ryan approached the bodies of his parents, and he barely could feel any mana in there for some reason. Thanatos couldn't control them properly inside the time domain. Still, Ryan was fully aware that Thanatos retreated too easily, abandoning two trump cards behind. Ryan hesitated in doing that, but in the end, he sealed the little mana in their bodies into two crossbows.

Incomplete Hunter's Heart (03%)

Effect: It grants additional damage of one percent per minute when fighting against the same opponent, up to three percent.

Dexterity + 30, intelligence + 30.

Durability: 15/15

Incomplete Sorcerer's Soul (03%)

Effect: It grants additional magic damage of one percent per minute when fighting against the same opponent, up to three percent.

Dexterity + 30, intelligence + 30.

Durability: 15/15

Once Ryan used Seal, the corpses, the weapons, and armor turned into dust. It was faint, but Ryan could feel it… his parents' spirits were there. He didn't want to put their spirits into weapons because he didn't want to threaten them as tools, but it was the only way to prevent them from being controlled by Thanatos. Still, to make sure that will never happen, Ryan will have to work harder. He noticed that once he saw the names of the weapons.

"It looks like Thanatos split the spirits of your parents into many parts," Femradiel said. "Despite his words, he didn't underestimate you and imagined that something like this would happen."

"… What happened?" Ryan asked. "Why his power suddenly grew weaker, and then he lost control over their bodies?"

"My guess is that your level of corruption is so high that it is already affecting your skills," Femradiel rubbed her chin and then replied. "The ice barrier prevented the specters from escaping before probably because of that. Since it worked against spectral beings, it created a barrier that prevented outside forces from interfering with the events inside. Since Thanatos wasn't materialized nearby, his control over them was limited."

It made sense, but in the end, that was just a minor detail. Ryan already knew that the elder gods weren't invincible, and that was all that he needed to know to hunt Thanatos.

"Can you track Thanatos' presence, Femradiel?" Ryan asked.

"If I get close enough to a dungeon under his control, I should be able to do it," Femradiel replied. "However, he won't underestimate you. This fight will be different than the fight against Poseidon. Maybe you should ask Isis for help. I am sure that even Athena would want to put down someone who is willing to fight this dirty."

"I will do it alone," Ryan said. "There won't be any meaning unless I do it by myself."

"Are you willing to put everything at risk just for this?" Femradiel asked.

"I am," Ryan said while he trembled. "This is the only thing I can't forgive no matter what. This is the only thing that I won't be able to forget."

"All right then, let's look for him," Femradiel said. "Still, you should calm down a little. Otherwise, the corruption in your body will take over your mind, and you will lose your sense of judgment and ultimately turn into a cursed dragon."

That was something nearly impossible for Ryan right now, but in the end, he had to calm down. Rushing ahead while his head was that hot wouldn't do him any good against Thanatos. Hopefully, Ryan's anger will settle down after that.