The wind howled across the wasteland, whipping up clouds of sand and dust that shrouded the world in a murky yellow haze.
Cui Ciyou pressed his hand against the sword hilt at his waist, his knuckles whitening slightly under the strain.
His gaze was as keen as a hawk's, fixed on the black-haired, baby-faced young man ahead.
The young man looked no older than seventeen or eighteen, his face still bearing a trace of boyishness. A massive, heavy sword hung across his back.
The greatsword was broad and blunt-edged, its pitch-black blade reaching nearly half a head taller than its wielder. Rather than a sword, it looked more like a terrifying iron monument.
Only moments earlier, that mountain-sized beast-the S-Rank monster Behemoth-had lasted just one strike against this young man before being cleaved in half at the waist.
The towering spray of blood had yet to fully disperse. Its thick, bloody stench mingled with the windblown sand, setting everyone's nerves on edge.
North God III-Alexander Kalman Rekubei.
The name surfaced quietly in Cui Ciyou's mind, bringing with it a mountain's worth of oppressive weight.
His eyes involuntarily swept over the greatsword. Some invisible presence seemed to coil around it, as though it were alive, radiating a heart-pounding Pressure.
The Dragon King Sword? The legendary sword that grants control over Gravity Magic? The sword hailed as the strongest in the world?
Records of that deadly weapon flashed through Cui Ciyou's mind.
Legend had it that the previous North God, North God II, possessed extraordinary talent and had single-handedly slain the Dragon King of Kings, Kasha Zanku, who dwelled atop the highest peak in the world.
He had then taken the dragon's bones and soul, combining them with dozens of legendary metals to forge this peerless divine weapon.
The sword was said