I reign supreme in the Western fantasy world for eternity.

As soon as Prince George uttered the question, "Can we reconcile?", the sea breeze, carrying the stench of blood, swept across the water between the two men, and dark clouds gradually gathered in the sky.

Of course, almost all of that blood came from sea monsters.

Ji Tian stood on the edge of the broken planks at the bow of the ship, casually catching the holy sword that had fallen from the sky. Upon hearing this, he actually stopped what he was doing.

"Just now you were throwing forbidden spells, sea monsters, and cannon fire, and now you're asking if we can reconcile? Are you kidding me? Did the sacred object you're wearing fry your brain?"

The Golden Crown is considered one of the most powerful of all the sacred objects, possessing the ability to withstand nine fatal attacks in a row, intimidate people, control the actions of living beings, and greatly increase magic levels. Its negative effect is merely that it makes one's mental state and speaking style arrogant and conceited.

Of course, Prince George did not see this as a negative effect; it was simply a way to make him more restrained in his usual behavior.

Faced with this invincible hero, he had to calm down and negotiate with him.

"Your Excellency, do you not know who I am? I am the king's younger brother, a prince of the kingdom. If you wish, I can give you any power, glory, and wealth you desire. After you defeat the Demon King, I can even let you marry a princess, just like in fairy tales."

"I have no interest in princesses."

Ji Tian interrupted him.

Prince George knew the character of the hero who could draw the holy sword quite well, and knew that if they were influenced by these external things, they would not have drawn the holy sword in the first place.

He wasn't annoyed, and was even about to say something.

"and you--"

"You're quite good at stalling for time."

As soon as Ji Tian finished speaking, a deep, humming sound, as if the entire ocean was trembling, came from beneath the surface of the sea.

The seawater began to churn, and waves surged up from all directions.

An island rises out of thin air from the sea.

No, it's not an island!

That's clearly a gigantic sea monster!

Its back, like a continuous mountain ridge, created waves as it broke through the water, causing several nearby pirate ships to drift sideways for several meters.

Its head emerged from the water, its skin covered with layers of dark gold scales, and its eyes were dull and lifeless, as if its will had been forcibly controlled by something.

The sea monster was clearly after Ji Tian.

"You're good at stalling for time, but it's useless."

Ji Tian raised his sword to meet the sea monster.

There were no fancy moves, and the force was no longer released.

The moment the giant beast emerged from the water, the holy sword leaped up, piercing its jaw and emerging from the top of its skull.

Golden light burst forth from the wound, and the sea monster's body convulsed violently. Then, it collapsed forward like a mountain, crashing into the sea and splashing waves in all directions.

Only a few breaths passed between the sea monster's appearance and its collapse.

Although Prince George showed a look of shock on his face, he remained calm and composed.

He never even considered letting the sea monster kill the other party.

Taking advantage of the few moments the sea monster delayed Ji Tian, ​​he had already opened a golden light gate through the [Golden Crown], with leaping arcs of light jumping around its edges.

The reason for stalling for time with the conversation was to summon the sea monster, so that while the sea monster was fighting the hero, he could take the opportunity to open a teleportation channel and leave directly.

It will only take a few breaths!

Haha, didn't expect that, did you? This is my escape route!

Just as he was about to step inside, a burst of silver-white lightning suddenly exploded in the sky and crashed down.

The lightning struck precisely in the center of the portal, shattering the half-open portal into pieces, the golden fragments dissipating in the sea breeze.

Prince George was pale as he looked up at the sky.

The sky had completely darkened sometime during the night. Thick, leaden clouds piled up overhead, and silvery-white lightning flashed constantly in the depths of the clouds, making the entire sea area appear to light up and then dim.

Ji Tian stood on the wreckage of a pirate ship that was being tossed about by the waves, his holy sword hanging casually at his side.

"Guess why I'm stalling for time with you? Why don't you guess why the sky started to darken as we began talking?"

Ji Tian had anticipated that the other party would run away, so he used this method to try to keep them there.

Prince George knew he couldn't escape, but the side effects of the crown itself and his own pride made it impossible for him to surrender easily.

He raised his hand and waved it lightly, drawing a long, silver-white sword from his spatial ring.

The sword's shape was extremely similar to the holy sword, with a pale golden light flowing across its blade, and the royal emblem was faintly visible in the patterns on the hilt.

Once upon a time, royalty also produced heroes.

This was forged from the holy sword of the hero ancestor who defeated the demon king.

"I'm not some useless piece of trash who can't do anything without my crown!"

He stepped forward, sword in hand, and slashed fiercely at Ji Tian.

Prince George's swordsmanship was indeed not bad, even considered excellent among swordsmen, but his movements seemed to be slowed down by half a beat in front of Ji Tian.

Ji Tian turned to the side, the sword blade grazing past his clothes, then stepped forward and swung his sword to meet the attack.

As the two swords clashed, Prince George felt a tingling sensation in his hand, and the sword almost slipped from his grasp.

He gritted his teeth and steadied himself, about to swing his sword in a sweeping motion, when Ji Tian's figure vanished from the spot like a ghost.

The next moment, a cold voice came from behind.

"Too slow."

Prince George felt a chill run down his spine and instinctively parried with his longsword behind him. As the spine of the sword blocked his way, the blade of the holy sword was already falling.

The terrifying impact traveled along the sword to his arms, slamming him to his knees.

Without hesitation, Ji Tian raised his holy sword and slashed down.

The crown's passive effect brought Prince George nearby in an instant.

A gemstone has quietly dimmed.

The second sword followed immediately.

Prince George rolled to dodge, the sword grazing his shoulder and severing a piece of fabric from the hem of his robe.

He was already staggering when he got up, and he barely managed to steady himself by using his longsword to support his body.

Another gem on the crown lost its power.

Four.

Five.

Prince George was panting heavily, and the longsword in his hand was covered with fine cracks, with several chips appearing on the edge of the blade.

He tried to create distance the moment the Golden Crown moved him to another location, but Ji Tian's figure seemed to be stuck to him. No matter which direction he moved, the other party would appear in the path he expected.

The last gem faded.

All nine gems went out, and the Golden Crown could no longer protect the wearer's life.

At this moment, Prince George's body was covered with fine wounds. Every time he parried Ji Tian's sword strike, his body was on the verge of collapse, his muscles trembled violently, and his breathing was disordered.

He leaned against the broken mast, the longsword in his hand covered in cracks, the pale gold patterns on the blade gradually fading.

"You...you can't kill me! If the world finds out that the hero killed the kingdom's regent, the relationship between the kingdom and the church will definitely become tense. Are you sure you want to go that far?!"

Ji Tian chuckled upon hearing this and threw the holy sword down.

Prince George breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the other party was someone who wouldn't listen to reason, or rather, someone who knew how to be pragmatic.

In a daze, he saw Ji Tian's right hand already clenched into a fist, and he cleaved the long sword in the other's hand with his bare hands. The broken blade spun and flew towards the sea.

Before Prince George could even comprehend what had just happened, Ji Tian's left palm had pierced through his chest, his fingers emerging from his back, carrying a few drops of warm blood.

Prince George's pupils dilated suddenly as he stared in disbelief at the brave man before him.

Ji Tian withdrew his hand, and beads of blood slid from between his fingers.

"This manner of death is quite fitting for a prince like you... Oh right, I almost forgot to tell you."

He looked at Prince George's astonished face, as if he still couldn't accept his fate until the very last moment, and sighed:

"My specialty is actually close-quarters combat."