Hellhound

"Ask him one last time: is he signing the Indenture Contract or not?!"

Supreme Heaven's voice echoed beside Dior's ears. The referee robot picked at its ear and let out an electronic sigh.

"How could he possibly sign it..."

Complaints aside, a working robot still had work to do.

Dior shuffled over to Lu Li and helplessly repeated Supreme Heaven's question.

Lu Li gave the answer Dior had expected—

No.

Just as Dior was about to report this to Supreme Heaven and announce the start of the final duel, Lu Li made another request.

In exchange for one ton of Adamantine, he asked Dior to delay things for ten minutes.

The final duel would begin after ten minutes.

"Is he trying to recover some stamina?"

Dior guessed inwardly.

Bribed with a ton of Adamantine, he tacitly agreed to Lu Li's request.

Dior had long since decided that Lu Li would die in the hundredth duel.

The promised ton of Adamantine would never reach his hands.

But that did not affect Dior's decision.

Because he was curious too—curious about what preparations Lu Li intended to make to deal with the dead end ahead.

Still, to avoid arousing Supreme Heaven's suspicion, Dior deliberately stayed by Lu Li's side, pretending that he was still trying to persuade him.

Yet as he followed along, Dior gradually sensed that something was off.

Lu Li did not seem to be resting at all. He seemed to be using his talent!

The corpses scattered throughout the Arena rapidly shrank and condensed under Lu Li's touch, turning into crystal-clear Mana Crystals.

There were not only orange Third-Order Mana Crystals, but even yellow and green Fourth- and Fifth-Order Mana Crystals!

The final batch of Defender corpses above Lv.20 even condensed into cyan Sixth-Order Mana Crystals!

No wonder Lu Li had asked him not to clear away the corpses in the Arena before entering.

So the corpses could condense into Mana Crystals.

But what was the use of that?

Was he planning to level up before the final match?

But Lu Li had clearly already reached his Mana Crystal absorption limit. He would have to wait at least three days before he could absorb them again!

What exactly was he planning to do by collecting so many high-order Mana Crystals?

Under Dior's puzzled gaze, Lu Li piled the Mana Crystals before him, sat down cross-legged, and began picking them up one by one with his right hand to absorb them.

As the brightly colored Mana Crystals rapidly turned gray and shattered, Dior's jaw nearly hit the floor.

He felt like even his central processor was not enough anymore!

What the hell was going on?

Lu Li could actually break the limit and forcibly absorb Mana Crystals?!

"No! After absorbing so many Mana Crystals, why hasn't Lu Li's level changed at all?"

"Is it some kind of overdraft-type talent?!"

"This kid actually has multiple talents?!!"

Overdraft-type talents allowed Players to temporarily ignore the absorption limits of Mana Crystals, at the cost of being unable to gain levels.

However, as long as their experience exceeded the level cap, they could still obtain Free Attribute Points.

But what was the point?

There were rules in the Arena—

[After the duel begins, the Player's Data Panel will be temporarily locked. The Player may not use the panel to allocate points to their Four-Dimensional Attributes.]

Even if he obtained Free Attribute Points, Lu Li's strength would not increase in the slightest!

What exactly was he trying to do?!

By now, Dior had completely forgotten his identity as a referee.

He only wanted to find out what Lu Li would do next as soon as possible.

After absorbing all the Mana Crystals, Lu Li took something out of his pocket and swiftly tossed it into his mouth.

Then, under Dior's utterly shocked gaze, he opened the Data Panel and began allocating points.

"I really didn't expect Huang Bin's useless talent to help me out at such a critical moment. Absorbing so many Mana Crystals actually gave me 10 Free Attribute Points."

Quietly marveling at his good fortune, Lu Li put all his Free Attribute Points into [Luck].

At this moment, his base Luck had reached 25.8.

Combined with Alisa's [Goddess of Fortune's Favor], his total Luck had risen to an astonishing 85.8!

"We can start the match now."

Satisfied, Lu Li stretched lazily, climbed to his feet, and spoke.

"Y-you, how can you break the rules..."

Dior sounded like a rusted machine, his entire body making the grinding noise of jammed parts.

This was how he reacted only when he was utterly shocked.

Afraid that the referee might crash from being unable to process it, Lu Li hurriedly urged him, "Hurry up and start."

"Uh, okay."

Dior nodded dumbly and reported Lu Li's refusal to sign the Indenture Contract to Supreme Heaven.

"Useless trash! You can't even handle something this simple! Since Lu Li doesn't know what's good for him, let him die!"

The Final Duel began!

This time, the iron gates of the passageway did not even have time to open before they were melted by the searing heat!

When the Final Defender stepped into the arena, the entire audience fell silent!

Only after a long while did someone ask in a trembling voice, "Th-this... could that monster down there be a Hellhound?"

"It really is a Hellhound... and an adult one at that!"

"Why is there something like this in the Hub Arena?! Has the administrator gone insane?!"

"The demonic energy around that thing can greatly weaken most talents! No matter how strong Lu Li is, more than half his strength will be suppressed. How is he supposed to fight this?!"

"Heh, I knew the arena would never let a newcomer achieve a hundred consecutive wins. You should've bet with me back then. Regretting it now, aren't you..."

"Is winning or losing even the issue right now...? The arena can actually release a Hellhound. What the hell is that administrator?"

"Who cares what he is? The arena itself is absolutely neutral, bound by rules. Even if that administrator is a demon spy, it won't affect us in the slightest."

"That's true, but doesn't that mean Lu Li is doomed?"

"Sigh, then all we can say is that he's unlucky..."

Amid the sighs and murmurs, the Final Duel began.

Looking at the Hellhound in the distance, its body the size of a small hill, Lu Li's heart sank to the bottom.

He had not expected the arena's administrator to send out a demon just to stop someone from achieving a hundred consecutive wins!

Although it was only a low-level demon, it was still extremely troublesome for the current Lu Li.

Because he had yet to Plunder a Holy talent!

The Hellhound's talent, [Spellbreak Domain], could render ineffective all talents below its own level.

Only Holy talents could counter it.

In other words, if Lu Li wanted to fight the Hellhound now, he could only rely on items.

But up until now, Lu Li had only used [Blade Arm] and did not possess any suitable weapon.

"Wait, a weapon?"

Lu Li froze, then suddenly remembered that he still had a Treasure Chest he had not claimed.

Three days ago, when the apocalypse had just descended, he had killed a Mantis Queen and become the first Player in the world to kill a Lord-Class Creature.

But in order to keep a low profile, Lu Li had not made an announcement immediately and had chosen to postpone the reward.

Then, with so many things happening afterward, he had forgotten all about it.

With a thought, Lu Li immediately chose to make a Global Announcement.

A brilliantly colored Treasure Chest materialized out of thin air and landed before Lu Li.

At the same time, the Hellhound launched its attack!