Investing in My Crippled Wife: Every Return Makes Me Stronger

”AAAAAAAH—!”

The agonizing scream reverberated violently through the chamber, twisting into a wet choke before dissolving into silence. On the stone floor, the victim’s body twitched non-stop, limbs spasming irregularly as life rapidly ebbed away. Wide, unblinking eyes stared into the empty air, filled with an absolute horror that remained frozen even as the pupils permanently dilated.

The cloaked figure stood completely still, watching the final tremors quit the corpse.

Almost immediately, translucent text began to populate the air, the glow reflecting blankly off the dark fabric of the hood.

[Plunder conditions met.]

[...]

[Plundering initiated.]

[...]

[...]

[74,300 units of refined mana successfully devoured.]

[Active Skill: ’Spatial Distortion’ has been successfully devoured.]

[...]

The figure read through the lines without any expression, while feeling the subtle changes in their own body.

Ding!

Just then, the panel blinked violently, clearing the messages and revealing a sudden crimson alert.

[Alert: Eclipse’s Erosion – ’Corona Shackle’ has been activated.]

[Curse Target: Ethea Everly]

’

”Oh~”

The figure’s eyes narrowed beneath the hood before a low, amused chuckle escaped their lips. It seemed like the long-awaited time had finally come.

’Though I didn’t expect it to happen this early. Guess she was really something else.’

However, just to be sure of what prompted the trigger, the figure swiped the alert away and opened the target interface to scan her current details. The glowing lines unfurled, displaying her basic info in detail. Their eyes swept through them and instantly locked onto one line.

[Authority: Latent (Unawakened)]

”Tsk.”

The figure frowned at the screen. If her true power remained entirely dormant, the curse should not have reacted. Puzzled by the contradiction, the individual leaned slightly closer, scanning the rest of the information line by line until their gaze locked onto the very top of the status panel.

A new entry was flashing at her profile, detailing a sudden, newly formed mental cultivation.

The figure’s eyes lit up beneath the hood’s shadow, a sudden realization hitting them. A slow nod followed.

’So that was why.’

She hadn’t awakened her authority, but her mind had achieved a breakthrough, creating an internal energy shift that the curse immediately detected and suppressed.

While a successful mental cultivation was an impressive feat for a cripple, it was still entirely incomparable to a true authority.

Just then, the corner of the figure’s mouth curled up as a cruel inspiration took root. Her current physical frame was already at its absolute limit, balancing precariously on the brink of collapse. If the curse clamped down on her at this exact vulnerability, weaponizing her own newly cultivated energy to crush her soul from the inside, the pressure might be the perfect catalyst. Cornering her spirit like this was a gamble, but it might finally force that dormant power to surface.

Having reached a decision, the figure swiped all the floating interfaces away with a casual wave of a hand, plunging the chamber back into darkness.

”I’ve been itching to use this for a while now anyway,” a cold voice muttered into the empty space. ”Now, let’s see just how long you can endure.”

Channeling a staggering amount of mana, the figure activated their ability.

[Gate Manifestation!]

───────

The engine of his new car roared as Soren pressed the accelerator, the vehicle tearing through the streets.

Ding!

A notification panel materialized in front of him, messages scrolling across the screen in rapid succession.

[Investment completion detected.]

[Target: Ethea Valmere]

[Analyzing investment...]

Soren glanced at them, wanting to get a clue about what exactly was going on, but the process was abruptly cut short.

’Tring!’

A sharp mental alarm from the Tether Bond suddenly triggered in his mind, which meant Ethea was really in danger now.

Gritting his teeth, Soren hit the brakes to clear a sharp turn, then stomped the pedal right back down, speeding up to reach her as fast as possible. Swerving hard onto the highway, the tires screeched against the concrete as he forced his way into the fast lane, the car becoming a blur of steel that cut aggressively between vehicles and left a wake of furious honks and shouted curses behind him.

Speed limits and traffic regulations didn’t matter anymore because the tether in his mind was screaming, pulsing with a volatile urgency that demanded his absolute speed.

As the vehicle pushed past its limits, a sudden, oppressive weight settled over the cabin, the air turning thick as the ambient mana shifted violently, sending static electricity crackling along the dashboard.

”!”

Sensing the unnatural pressure, Soren instinctively looked up through the windshield, his eyes widening as he witnessed the fabric of the sky fracturing into jagged, translucent cracks that spiderwebbed across the clouds and bled a familiar crimson-black energy.

The sheer absurdity of the sight gripped his attention, costing him a vital second of focus. By the time his gaze snapped back to the way ahead, the brake lights of a massive semi-truck were already looming directly in front of his hood.

Soren yanked the steering wheel to the left, the tires howling in protest as the car tilted on two wheels, skimming past the truck’s rear bumper with barely millimeters to spare. He managed to stabilize the chassis at the last second, recovering from the near-fatal drift without losing an ounce of momentum.

However, instead of slowing down or stopping, he sped up even more because he had just realized the massive fracture was opening right above their apartment building.

Not long after, the distant, mechanical wail of emergency sirens began to pierce the air. Loud, automated defense broadcasts blared from the city’s public-address towers, their synthesized voices echoing across the highway.

”Attention all citizens! A Class-Seven dimensional anomaly has been detected in Sector Four. This is a Code Red emergency. Evacuate the area immediately. All hunters report to the nearest...”

Thankfully, Soren was already nearing his destination, allowing him to ignore the warnings as he tore down the off-ramp and navigated the final grid of streets until his apartment complex came into view.

Slamming on the brakes, he purposely slid the car into a messy, angled parking spot right near the main entrance, leaving the car behind to hurry inside as he fought his way against a sea of panicked residents who were flooding out of the lobby.

Before he could even reach the threshold, an invisible, crushing pressure fell from above, instantly flattening the wind out of everyone’s lungs as the sheer weight of the mana anchor forced several fleeing civilians straight to their knees.

”ROOOAAARRR—!”

Then, a deafening roar echoed throughout the sky, rattling the windows of the entire block with a force that vibrated deep within their chests.

”!”

The crowd instinctively stopped and looked up, their eyes widening in absolute terror as they saw a massive creature forcing its way out of the bleeding crack, its shadow expanding over the building like an oncoming eclipse.

”A-A DRAGON?!”

The panicked scream tore through the frozen crowd, instantly igniting a wave of pure, unfiltered chaos.

”Run! It’s a Calamity Class Monster!”

”The city’s defenses won’t hold!”

”We’re gonna die!”

Civilians tripped over one another, abandoning their belongings as they scrambled blindly toward the nearest underground shelters. Even the low-ranked hunters in the crowd stood paralyzed, their faces entirely drained of color under the massive shadow stretching across the ground.

Soren stood rigid, his gaze locked onto the sky. As a true dragon fan who had studied every piece of lore and creature index available, his mind instantly recognized the anatomical markers. The sweeping obsidian horns, the armored scales radiating a suffocating heat, and the majestic yet terrifying wing structure belonged to a pure-blooded dragon.

For a split second, a spark of profound awe flared within him. It was a creature straight out of his wildest fantasies, an absolute apex predator.

However, the agonizing terror pulsing through the Tether Bond instantly snapped him back to reality. There was no time to be in awe, especially when the beast was an enemy. Ethea was right in the middle of this disaster zone.

”L-LOOK!”

”There are more?!”

Before the crowd could even process the first creature, the bleeding fissure groaned, widening as countless smaller, twisted shadows began pouring out of the gap like a ruptured hive. Swarms of winged beasts and flying monsters materialized in rapid succession, diving aggressively toward the city.

Gritting his teeth, Soren forced his legs into motion, breaking into a sprint toward the entrance.

Right at that moment, high above the sky, the dragon threw back its head, the air around its jaws distorting as it gathered an immense, swirling concentration of crimson-black energy.

”ROOOAAARRR—!”

With another deafening roar, the creature unleashed its breath attack.

The colossal torrent of destructive plasma slammed directly into the city’s defense barrier. The translucent shield grid flickered violently, screeching under the immense pressure as the single attack almost destroyed the entire grid.

The residual shockwave slammed into the area, causing the earth to tremble violently as if a massive earthquake had struck the sector.

BOOOOM—!

CRACKLE—!

The sheer force of the tremor cracked the entryway tiles and threw Soren hard against a concrete pillar, leaving the apartment building completely exposed as the remaining blast waves shattered the upper-floor windows, raining glass onto the streets below.

”ARGHH!”