Glory

Grinya felt she was terrifyingly strong.

Her perception of the world had become sharper, and her body felt significantly lighter.

Though she had experienced similar sensations with every level up before, none had ever felt like such a massive leap forward as this.

To put it in the simplest terms, she felt as though she no longer belonged to the category of mere humans.

She had never imagined that becoming a top-ter mage would be so easy; it had taken her only three days to go from level 1 to level 10! Furthermore, she had felt no discomfort thus far; there were no whispers in her head, and her mental state was perfectly sound.

Lord Evil God had even bestowed a Life Crown upon her.

Without the heart-wrenching effort Lord Evil God put into her cultivation, she would not be where she was today.

All thanks to Xun Shen!

"A new mission has arrived..."

Grinya quickly gathered her thoughts and waited respectfully for the Evil God's next instruction.

Lu Xun pinched a potato chip and popped it into his mouth, his eyes fixed on the time-limited quest that had just popped up on the screen.

【The Doom of Wuxin Island】

【You have slain one of the boss-tier Shapeshifting Banshees. The other Shapeshifting Banshee has entered a berserk state because of this. Please slay the second Shapeshifting Banshee within ten minutes.】

"Oh, so that thing I killed was actually a boss?" Lu Xun glanced at the banshee's corpse, the image of himself killing it with a single strike flashing through his mind as he said with some disdain, "Nowadays, even any random riffraff can go around pretending to be a boss."

Lu Xun accepted the quest, and a clear, conspicuous route appeared in his field of vision.

He nodded in satisfaction.

Not bad, this quest finally had a guided route.

However... it seemed a bit far.

Lu Xun's mouth twitched. This dungeon was unusually large; never mind whether ten minutes was enough time to kill the second boss, it probably wasn't even enough time to finish traversing the map!

He didn't want to get a mission failure notification while he was halfway there without even seeing the boss's face.

Wait, speaking of which...

Didn't he have a vehicle?

Grinya snapped her fingers, and a cute pink motorcycle appeared out of thin air.

'Why didn't I just ride the bike from the beginning?' Lu Xun asked himself.

...

"Blazing Fire Tornado!"

Buze let out another thunderous roar, his hands tightly gripping the sword that represented the glory of the Kritov family as he unleashed a majestic tornado of fire that turned the very air red with its reflection.

The power of this strike far exceeded Buze's usual performance; it was a strike beyond his limits, delivered with every ounce of his strength!

However, the level 20 Shapeshifting Banshee far surpassed him in raw attributes; his all-out strike was equivalent to nothing more than a casual blow from the banshee.

The Shapeshifting Banshee strolled through the Blazing Fire Tornado completely unaffected. The flames, reaching temperatures of over a thousand degrees, failed to leave a single mark on its body. Its dark claws tore through the flames like pushing open a door, easily rending the fire tornado apart.

The banshee's black shadow appeared long and distorted within the flames.

Buze froze in place, a powerful sense of helplessness rising within his heart.

"Young Master Buze, we've come to help you!"

Someone suddenly leaped out from the crowd with a look of suicidal determination.

Even Buze of the Kritov family was fighting to protect them, so how could they continue to cower and hide?

Even though their strength was weak compared to both Buze and the banshee, they had the advantage of numbers.

There were over a hundred of them. If everyone contributed their part, then even an ant might be able to shake a tree!

Among those who stepped out from the crowd, some were from wealthy families with noble status; others had fought their way up from distant villages, still carrying the scent of the countryside soil on their faces.

Although they were worlds apart in temperament and background, destined to never belong to the same circle, they stood together now with the same look of righteous awe on their faces.

Unafraid of death, they drew their weapons without hesitation and charged toward that terrifying banshee.

Buze looked at their retreating backs, his face filled with horror.

Anger, fear, and various other emotions played across his face simultaneously.

"Don't go over there, get back here!" he screamed with all his might, but he could not stop the group of death-defying youths.

The banshee's claws swept across in a horizontal flash. A light as cold as the moon flickered, and the sound of the spirited charge was instantly silenced as several mangled corpses fell into pools of blood.

The air was deathly silent, as if a bucket of cold water had completely extinguished the passion of these young people.

Before a level 20 Shapeshifting Banshee, their lives were worthless!

Buze's knuckles turned white from gripping his sword so hard. He suddenly turned his head toward the freshmen and let out a hysterical roar:

"You useless trash, get the hell out of here right now!"

"Do you have to get me killed too before you're satisfied?"

Buze's expression was terrifyingly distorted, as if he wanted to swallow them whole, and his words were like sharp swords piercing through everyone's hearts.

The banshee suddenly moved, its shadow stretching long as it rushed toward the freshmen at a speed that could not be caught by the naked eye.

The cold light of its claws flashed again. In this moment of extreme urgency, that same familiar figure stood before the freshmen once more.

It was Buze. He used his sword to parry the banshee's claws, but he was not as strong as the monster. The claws pierced through his shoulder, and blood gushed out.

Within the Glory domain, Buze felt no pain. He fought desperately to withstand the banshee's attack, not forgetting to roar at the freshmen again: "I told you to get lost! Are you deaf?!"

With Buze's thunderous shout, the freshmen finally snapped out of it and began to flee in panic.

However, some among them could not bear to see Buze's miserable state and tried to stay behind to help him.

Buze caught sight of them from the corner of his eye. He gritted his teeth and said one word at a time, "I'll say it one more time: everyone get the hell out of here!"

"But Young Master Buze, what about you?" someone asked.

"I'm a noble! Do I really need you to worry about me?!"

Buze was like an enraged lion. Drawing from some unknown source of strength, he actually managed to temporarily force the banshee back, though a massive, bloody gash was torn into his shoulder.

Buze swayed unsteadily, but he did not fall.

"Wipe those pathetic looks off your faces! I'm a noble! How dare you look at me like that?!"

"You should worship me, respect me, and look up to me! You should constantly chase after me but never be my equal!"

His tone was calm yet incredibly powerful, spoken as if this was the absolute truth in his heart.

Despite it being such a proud and self-centered statement, the people listening didn't feel angry; instead, they felt a wave of grief and indignation.

Buze faced the terrifying banshee directly, his eyes burning with an even greater intent to fight.

If there were two things he could not accept in this life:

one was being easily defeated by a commoner he looked down upon;

the other was the fear that he would not be able to die standing up.

A high-born noble must remain standing even in death!

"Come on, banshee! As long as my domain hasn't flickered out, I can keep fighting you forever!"

He held his head high, as if in this moment, the one acting as the challenger was the enemy across from him.

His Life Crown talent was named Glory.

As long as glory remained, the domain would not fade.