"Shen Wulong actually lost?! Impossible!"
The Devourer shrieked, his voice cracking in sheer, unadulterated terror as his face contorted into a grotesque mask of panic.
Hearing Raian rapidly closing in on him from behind, he violently hurled a specialized binding item over his shoulder to stall the Kure prodigy. Without a microsecond of hesitation, he threw himself off the edge of the skyscraper. Mid-fall, he extracted a high-tech tactical glider from his Spatial Inventory and desperately grabbed onto the handles with his remaining arm.
Even though Lu Li currently looked like he was hovering on death's door, that monster had just successfully executed Shen Wulong! The Devourer didn't have a single shred of courage left to go down there and fight him.
Furthermore, Raian was absolutely no pushover. In a direct confrontation, the Devourer wasn't even confident he could defeat the blood-soaked Kure assassin right now.
Hanging from his glider in mid-air, he looked down at Lu Li on the ruined street below.
"You are terrifyingly strong, but the era has changed!"
He had no idea what Shen Wulong had been thinking at the very end, but Shen Luohan had absolutely set up a failsafe. The colossal military might of the 'Death Dealers' parked off the coast was going to act. At any second now, a massive, coordinated missile strike would carpet-bomb the Kure Village into dust.
He used to mock the completely absurd, logic-defying scaling of the Worm in this world, but right now, he was profoundly grateful for it. Once the tactical strikes landed, no matter how monstrously strong Lu Li was, he would be completely vaporized.
The Devourer just needed to flee the blast radius as quickly as possible. As long as Lu Li died, he would remain the ultimate victor of this Mission World.
"Bakudo #30: Shitotsu Sansen."
Just as the Devourer was gleefully fantasizing about Lu Li being vaporized by a missile barrage, a low, exhausted voice echoed from the street below.
In the next microsecond, three massive, piercing beams of yellow light shot into the sky, violently slamming into the Devourer. The beams pinned his arms and his waist securely against the concrete wall of an adjacent skyscraper. Despite his highly enhanced attributes, he couldn't budge a single millimeter.
Down on the street, Lu Li slowly lowered his hand, a chilling smile spreading across his face—a smile that made the Devourer's blood run completely cold.
"Did you seriously think I didn't possess a single ranged attack?"
During his apocalyptic deathmatch against Shen Wulong, Lu Li had actively chosen not to use any Hado (Destructive Spells) or Bakudo (Binding Spells). It wasn't because he was bound by some honorable martial arts code that demanded he win using only a blade; it was purely pragmatic. Shen Wulong possessed over ten millennia of combat experience and logic-defying evasion capabilities.
Low-level Bakudo wouldn't have bound Shen Wulong for even a fraction of a second. High-level Bakudo required chanting, and the casting animation was simply too slow. Attempting to cast Kido mid-combat would have created a fatal opening, and exposing a single flaw against Shen Wulong meant instant death.
But Shen Wulong was dead now.
And because Lu Li had primarily relied on raw physical kinetic energy and martial techniques during the duel, his internal reservoir of Reiryoku (Soul Source) still had a decent surplus. Even though his physical vessel was critically damaged and heavily restricted his movement, executing a pinned target like the Devourer was effortless.
Under the utterly shocked gazes of the Devourer and Raian on the roof, Lu Li slowly raised his hand once more and began to chant.
"Sprinkled on the bones of the beast! Spire, crimson crystal, steel wheels. The wind if it stirs, the sky if it stills..."
Pinned to the wall, listening to Lu Li's solemn incantation and sensing the catastrophic surge of energy gathering in the man's palm, the Devourer struggled frantically, roaring in sheer disbelief.
"Fuck your mother! You're using Soul Reaper magic in a grounded martial arts tournament?!"
Ignoring the screaming Violator, Lu Li unhurriedly completed the full incantation for the high-tier Hado.
"...The sound of spears striking rings through the empty castle! Hado #63: Raikoho!"
As the final syllable left his lips, accompanied by the deafening roar of thunder, a massive, concentrated pillar of violently crackling yellow lightning erupted from his palm and blasted directly into the Devourer.
There was no suspense.
Lu Li had poured every last drop of his remaining Reiryoku into this absolute-kill strike. Even Shen Wulong wouldn't have been able to tank a full-incantation Level 63 Hado head-on. The exact microsecond the lightning connected, the Devourer's body violently disintegrated into ash.
Hearing the system notification confirming the Violator's execution ring in his ears, Lu Li finally let out a long sigh of relief.
The sudden drop in adrenaline caused his critically failing physical vessel and completely drained soul to protest violently, leaving him incredibly dizzy and his vision blurring. This was the very first time he had ever utilized a high-tier Hado in actual combat, and the toll it took on him was immense.
High-tier Kido required a massive baseline of Spiritual Pressure. Casting a spell of this magnitude with his current 'Spiritual Pressure' was incredibly reckless. But he couldn't afford to let the Violator escape; he had to guarantee an instant, absolute one-shot kill. If that freak managed to slip away, there was no telling what catastrophic anomalies he would trigger next.
"Cough... hack..."
Lu Li violently coughed up a few more mouthfuls of dark blood. Pushing the Kishin state far beyond its maximum threshold had inflicted catastrophic internal trauma.
Fortunately, every single one of his assigned objectives was now complete. He just needed to return to the Terminus Space to be fully restored.
He forced himself to stand up straight. Sweeping his gaze across the ruined street, he made eye contact with the Kure Clan members who were cautiously approaching the epicenter of the destruction. He offered them a tired, genuine smile and waved his hand.
"Farewell. Until we meet again."
With that, Lu Li silently commanded in his mind:
'Terminus. Initiate return.'
At that exact same moment, off the coast of Japan, several massive missile contrails erupted into the night sky, only to violently collide with anti-air interceptors mid-flight, blossoming into a series of spectacular, fiery explosions across the heavens.
Metsudo Katahara stood on the beach, leaning heavily on his cane as he admired the deadly fireworks display. A cold, knowing smile spread across his ancient face.
"You really shouldn't underestimate the military might of a sovereign nation, you pathetic little Worms."
He turned his gaze back toward the distant Kure Village.
"Well then, my absolute strongest Fang... did you successfully conquer the ultimate zenith of this world?"
A blinding flash of white light enveloped Lu Li.
When his vision cleared, he found himself standing in his private, familiar room within the Terminus Space.
[Warning! Detected that the Pioneer has sustained 18 ruptured tendons, 9 major skeletal fractures, and severe multiple-organ internal hemorrhaging... Vitality is below 30%. Initiating mandatory emergency medical procedures...]
Immediately following the prompt, Lu Li was forcefully levitated into the air. A profoundly soothing, cool sensation rapidly enveloped his entire body.
He actually wanted to speak up and vehemently refuse the treatment.
He had planned to wait for his Reiryoku to naturally recover just enough so he could cast Kaido and heal himself manually, completely bypassing the system's expensive medical fees to save a few Terminus Coins.
But the Terminus Space was incredibly overbearing. It afforded him absolutely zero room to negotiate and instantly began forcefully repairing his biological vessel.
A short while later, Lu Li was gently lowered back to the floor. His body felt impossibly light and completely pain-free; he had genuinely been restored to absolute peak condition.
[The emergency medical treatment consumed a total of 1,123 Terminus Coins. The amount has been automatically deducted from the Pioneer's account balance.]
Lu Li was initially prepared to curse the system for its extortionate, forced transactions. But after rolling his shoulders and stretching his limbs, he had to admit that the sheer, flawless perfection of the system's restoration vastly exceeded the patchy repairs of his own Kaido.
He decided to let it slide.
"Terminus. Initiate Mission Settlement."
The most pressing matter was reviewing his final tally. Lu Li was incredibly excited to see exactly what kind of payout he had earned. After all, he had essentially completely speedrun and shattered an unconquerable "nail house" world on his first try, and he considered his execution to be highly efficient.
[Initiating Settlement for the Derivative World...]
Derivative World: Kengan Ashura (Mutated)
Difficulty Level: Lv. 3 → 8 (Normal → Nightmare)
World Exploration Rate: 73.8%
[Initiating Evaluation for Pioneer #008's Mission Objectives...]
[Main Mission completely fulfilled. Reward: 10,000 Terminus Coins, Core of the World.]
[Hunt Mission completely fulfilled. Reward: Bronze Pioneer Badge x1.]
[Pioneer Mission completely fulfilled. Origin Seed Ability Integration is ready. Please proceed with the integration process at your earliest convenience.]
[The Pioneer's execution of the Main Mission was exceptionally outstanding. The Comprehensive World Rating has been significantly elevated.]
[Calculating the Pioneer's final Comprehensive Rating for this Mission World...]
[Detected that the Explorer's Brand Level was vastly inferior to the World's Maximum Difficulty Ceiling. Rating significantly boosted. Explorer Experience significantly boosted.]
Comprehensive Rating: S
(Note: Ratings range from E- to S+. The Comprehensive Rating is primarily calculated based on the World Exploration Rate and Objective Completion parameters, heavily weighted against the discrepancy between the Explorer's Level and the World's Difficulty.)
[Reward: S-Rank Medal of Honor x1. This Medal can be utilized to exchange for highly exclusive, restricted System Privileges.]
[Explorer Level has increased. Current Level: Lv. 7]
[Based on the Explorer's S-Rank Comprehensive Rating, you may select four (4) of the following seven (7) premium rewards:]
A. 13 Free Attribute Points
B. 30,000 Terminus Coins
C. Random Purple-Grade Equipment Chest
D. Random Purple-Grade Item Chest
E. Inheritance Crystal (Small) ×10
F. Title Upgrade Permission (Rare)
G. Random Rare Bloodline Chest
The rewards this time were exponentially richer than his first Trial World. Not only were there significantly more premium options to choose from, but he was also granted more selection slots.
Lu Li pondered the list carefully. Although he considered his innate luck to be relatively decent, he strongly disliked gambling his hard-earned success on RNG loot boxes. He immediately eliminated all the random chest options.
Ultimately, he selected A, B, E, and F. This combination guaranteed the most stable, high-yield progression for his build.
30,000 Terminus Coins was an absolutely massive sum. He was currently feeling incredibly wealthy.
Because the female Explorer, Tuantuan, had tactfully paid him a hefty sum of 'protection money' earlier, and accounting for the mandatory medical deductions, his total liquid asset balance now sat at a very comfortable 41,000 Terminus Coins. This was more than enough capital to purchase some premium, high-end gear from the Player Trade Market.
Because his innate talent allowed him to rapidly level up his own Combat Proficiencies through intense sparring and life-or-death combat, he didn't intend to waste the highly valuable Inheritance Crystals on upgrading his core martial arts skills.
As for whether he would sell the crystals on the market or save them to forcefully upgrade a specialized magical skill later... he would make that decision after he finally integrated the Origin Seed and reviewed its granted ability.
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