Xuan Ye's Bitter Smile, A Waste Without the System, That's Me Exactly

The seemingly heavy Molten Giant Axe was split down the middle as if it were made of paper.

The golden blade's remaining momentum did not falter, slicing the towering Molten Fire Demon clean in half at the waist.

From start to finish, it took no more than three seconds.

Two Fifth Tier Devil Race creatures had crashed to the ground, not even given a decent chance to fight back.

As for the remaining two...

They were also heavily wounded by the shockwave of the attack!

Xuan Ye's eyes turned red as he forcibly activated a Fifth Tier technique once more!

The two Devil Race creatures wailed, desperate to flee...

But it was too late.

In an instant, they were reduced to solid matter by the violent energy.

Had it been three days ago, facing four Fifth Tier Devil Race creatures would have required Xuan Ye to put in some effort and maneuver carefully.

But now, with the augmentation of the Glorious Grade "Vengeance," his damage output had surged. Combined with the strength forcibly accelerated by the system and a Fifth Tier Knight technique rewarded just yesterday, killing a Fifth Tier enemy was now as easy as drinking water.

After taking out two opponents by surprise, the remaining two Devil Race creatures were naturally even easier to handle.

However, the sensation of emptiness in his Inner Spiritual Power after unleashing a Fifth Tier technique made Xuan Ye's entire body tremble.

If not for the system's overbearing nature, which had just issued a wave of rewards, Xuan Ye felt he might have been killed by the backlash!

In truth... Xuan Ye knew that the Devil Race surrounding him were not stupid enough to throw away a pile of Fifth Tier lives just to set a trap.

But the speed at which Xuan Ye's strength was skyrocketing far exceeded their imagination.

However, before he could even catch his breath, the system's notification chime rang in his mind once again.

A new light screen popped up.

[New threat detected, Divine Choice has been updated]

[Option 1: Kill the incoming Sixth Tier Undead Race Count Valen and all his guards. Completion Reward: Innate Dark Inner Spiritual Power +5, Vengeance evolution progress +30%, one random Glorious Grade Equipment, proficiency of all skills increased.]

[Option 2: Give up resistance and be captured alive by Valen. Completion Reward: Vengeance evolution progress +1%.] (Warning: This option may lead to huge subsequent dangers!)

Xuan Ye fell silent.

A deep blue light screen hovered before his eyes, presenting two options that were starkly different. One offered a reward so generous it was clearly "hush money" for his life, while the other was marked with a bright red warning.

A dead end, or another dead end.

A few seconds later.

He suddenly let out a scoff.

He wasn't laughing at anyone else; he was laughing at himself.

Did he really not know that he had been led by the nose the entire time?

No, he knew.

From the "perfectly timed" appearance of those Devil Race squads, to the encirclement tightening step by step, and finally to the system repeatedly forcing a single mandatory choice.

Behind all of this, there was an invisible hand pulling the strings.

Yet, the anger and hatred in his heart had overridden all reason.

Relying on the system's buffs and his own rapid growth in strength, he had acted like an enraged beast, charging headlong into a trap meticulously laid by a hunter.

Until today, when there was nowhere left to retreat.

The rewards offered by this system were abnormally high.

Once "Revenge" evolved to the Glorious tier, the acquisition of evolution points should have been significantly reduced.

The same went for Innate Dark Inner Spiritual Power.

One had to understand that the closer one's Innate Inner Spiritual Power got to the two-hundred-point cap, the harder it became to gain even a single point.

His current Innate Light Attribute was as high as one hundred points, and his Innate Dark Attribute had accumulated to fifty-seven points, for a total of one hundred and fifty-seven points.

Yet this time, it offered five points of darkness all at once—generous, like the handout of a last meal.

The system had clearly determined that this was a situation with zero chance of survival.

As for that single seemingly safe option, "Give up resistance"...

The blood-red warning behind it said everything.

That was no path to survival; it was a gateway to a deeper hell.

"I really am a bit stupid."

Xuan Ye pulled at the corners of his mouth in self-mockery.

Back when he read novels in his past life, he used to mock those protagonists who were nothing without their systems.

To think that he was also such a piece of trash.

He wanted to find Long Xingyu to take revenge, wanted to return to that world to resolve all threats, wanted to... go find Cai'er.

But looking back, what had he actually done?

From beginning to end, he had been reckless and lacking in wisdom, relying solely on a burst of impulsive energy to charge blindly through this Demon Realm.

He finally understood.

Reality was not a novel; there were not that many "lucky escapes" waiting for him.

Frustration, regret.

But thinking about these things now was completely useless.

Xuan Ye gritted his teeth. Instead of looking at that sole option again, he slowly sat down cross-legged.

He knew there was no need to run anymore.

The enemy would come to him on their own.

The most urgent priority was to recover the Inner Spiritual Power he had consumed while instantly killing the four Fifth Tier Devils just moments ago.

Even if he could recover just a sliver more, it would be for the best.

He raised his hand, and a ring, pitch-black throughout and carved with exquisite patterns, appeared at his fingertip.

It was the Forget-Me-Not Space Ring that Cai'er had left for him.

With a thought, a few pieces of compressed rations and a waterskin appeared in his hands.

He did not hesitate and immediately began to eat, replenishing his physical strength.

As his gaze swept through the storage space of the ring, his movements paused slightly.

In the corner of that pile of miscellaneous items, a few brand-new parchment scrolls lay quietly.

Those were the materials for the subsequent stages of Knight cultivation.

These things clearly were not originally in Cai'er's possession.

Given her status and background, it was impossible for her to have come into contact with these.

The only possibility was that after Cai'er left, the people from the Assassin's Sanctuary had secretly placed these items into the ring.

It was an additional investment in him.

"What a pity..."

Xuan Ye rubbed the scroll in his hands, a trace of guilt welling up in his heart.

"I'm afraid I'll have to let your investment go to waste."

What made him feel even worse than that was Cai'er.

He didn't dare to imagine if the news of his death here were to reach her...

How heartbroken that girl, who always called him "Xuan Ye" with such tenderness and occasionally referred to herself as "Mom," would be.

His heart felt as if it were being tightly gripped by a hand, pulsing with sharp, rhythmic pain.

Just then.

"Snap."

In the distance, a faint sound of a dry branch being stepped on echoed.

Xuan Ye jerked his head up.

The figure of the first member of the Devil Race appeared at the edge of his vision.

It was a devil wrapped in filthy burial shrouds, with only a pair of eyes flickering with ghostly green Soul Fire visible.

In its hand, it gripped a staff fashioned from a polished spine.

An Undead Demon Race.

Xuan Ye's pupils constricted slightly.

He recognized this type of devil; they were subordinates of the Fourth Pillar Demon God, the Death Spirit Demon God Vornus.

They were adept at controlling the undead and were natural Undead Mages, extremely rare in the border regions of the Devil Race.

Now, even this rare unit had been deployed.

The final encirclement was about to begin.

According to the system notification, that Tier 6 Undead Noble was coming.

Xuan Ye took a deep breath and tucked the food and the scroll back into his ring.

A desperate, all-or-nothing plan formed in his mind in an instant.

His strength had been increasing at an unimaginable speed; that Tier 6 Count Valen might not be aware of all his trump cards.

His Tier 4 aura was the perfect disguise.

Why not... feign surrender?

If he could use the opportunity to get close and launch a surprise sneak attack...

Even if he couldn't take the other's life, he would still tear a massive chunk of flesh off him!