Chat group, if you have anything to say to my Holy Sword,

......

Above the world.

In a space that belongs only to one person.

On the throne

As if sensing something, a black-haired man opened his eyes and looked down at a shooting star that streaked across the darkness.

Seeing this, a smile slowly crept onto the man's face, as if there was something to be happy about:

"You're here..."

"...The last hero."

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Tips:

No hero ever leaves the Forest of Heroes after awakening their true heroic nature.

No other hero has faced such a difficult journey as Xiling.

Chapter Sixty-Eight: An Encounter with the Lord of War? It was no accident!

Xiling felt as if she had been shoved into a runaway rapids slide, not the gentle plunge of a water slide, but a crazy spinning motion like a washing machine, before being violently spat out and slammed to the ground.

Under the night.

In the grassland.

Xiling struggled to support herself on the ground with both hands, feeling the cold and tough grass blades. She struggled to lift her head, her vision blurry for a while before she could barely focus.

"Didn't any of the seniors give any feedback... This teleportation experience is too bizarre..." Xiling struggled to sit up, took a few deep breaths, and the cold air rushed into her lungs, finally calming the intense dizziness.

After catching her breath, Xiling finally turned her gaze to her surroundings.

Grass.

The grass stretched as far as the eye could see.

As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but grass beneath my feet, stretching to the horizon where it met the dark sky. There were no rolling hills, no dense forests, not even a single solitary tree.

The horizon was as flat as if it had been drawn by a giant ruler, and only this silent and vast grassland stretched out silently under the moonlight, swallowing up all sense of direction.

"What's going on with this world?" Xiling murmured to herself, trying to find any point of reference to break the monotony.

However, there was nothing but grass. It was only slightly taller than knee-high, swaying gently in the wind. The sky was eerily clear, and apart from the moon, even the stars were almost nonexistent.

"Is the altitude very high? Or..." Xiling was a little confused, but after all, this was a new world, so maybe it was like this.

"Let's... take a thorough look around first."

Xiling lifted her foot to take the first step.

"Let's take a thorough look around first," Xiling thought to himself. Just as he took a step, a voice appeared beside his ear.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Hero!"

A light, slightly mischievous voice suddenly rang out in Xiling's ear, as if the speaker were right next to him.

"Also, a friendly reminder: you'd better not wander around," the voice continued, its tone relaxed, yet carrying an undeniable warning, "unless... you're already prepared~"

Xiling stopped what he was doing, frowning. His intuition told him that he had better listen to the other person.

"Who are you?!" Xiling didn't speak, her will following some trace of the voice as she tried to establish a connection.

"Wow~ As expected of a hero, you can actually link with the thoughts I left behind, amazing!" The owner of the voice seemed somewhat surprised, yet also praised with a hint of teasing.

"Well, I guess you could say I'm here to help you? If I hadn't caught you in time, you might have been torn to shreds the moment you landed~" The voice said the chilling truth in a light tone.

“…What do you mean?” Xiling’s expression turned serious.

Will we really run into people camping out the newbie village this time?

"It means exactly what it says. The moment you landed, I hid you. Pretty clever, right?"

“You’ve been too vague,” Xiling concluded. “There’s something outside waiting to kill me, and you… helped me for the time being, right? Anyway, thanks.”

Regardless of whether it's true or not, in this bizarre environment, we should first accept the status quo and express goodwill, even if it's just superficial.

"Hehe, no need to be so polite~ After all, you bear the heavy responsibility of saving this world." The voice carried a strange sense of solemnity.

"You seem to know... a lot?"

This mysterious entity seemed to know not only his identity and the danger he was in, but also his purpose in coming here.

The information gap is too large, and this is by no means accidental.

"It's alright, it's alright~" Her voice returned to its relaxed and casual tone. "I only know what I know, and... what I can know."

Sudden--

"Huh?!!" A short, surprised scream rang out, the ease vanishing instantly, leaving only disbelief and a hint of fear.

"Oh dear! We've been discovered! How annoying... As expected of the Lord of War, his perception is ridiculously high, like he's cheating! Alright, alright, no time to waste! Hero, listen up!"

"This is the only crucial information I, as your guide, can give you right now—no matter what you see, hear, or feel in this world, no matter how absurd, beautiful, or perfect it may seem, remember this well: this world is on the verge of collapse! Everything that exists—the earth, living beings, the rules, even time itself—is being forcibly dragged down by an invisible 'string'! And this string…"

"He's reached his limit! He could snap at any moment!!"

"The hero shall find the right way to save the world!"

"Only by finding the right way!"

"Only you have a chance to defeat the Demon King!"

"One last thing to tell you—"

"run!!!"

Almost at the same instant the word "run" was uttered—

"Click——!!!"

It was as if the entire sky had been violently torn apart by an invisible giant claw! The night was ripped apart from the middle like a rotten curtain!

The intense, suffocating stench of blood and the chilling, metallic aura of killing intent instantly filled every inch of space, replacing the original scent of grass and trees on the grassland.

The originally cool moonlight was completely swallowed up by a more dazzling, dark red light.

A figure replaced the enormous bright moon in the night sky, hanging in the shattered part of the firmament.

heavy!

The weight is unimaginable!

This is not a metaphor! The air really solidified into a tangible substance, and a hundred times the force of gravity crushed down without warning!

Xiling's expression became extremely solemn, and the ground beneath her feet was cracked like a spiderweb as it groaned.

The entire grassland as far as the eye could see faded and distorted in an instant! The boundless dark green was dyed scorched black and rust red in the blink of an eye!

Beneath their feet lay no more mud and grass, but cold, scorched earth, stained with dried blood and broken weapons! The sky was ablaze with dark red clouds! The sound of wind was no longer in their ears, but the faint, mournful cries of countless battlefield dead!

Night falls, the grasslands vanish. This is—the final battlefield of iron and blood!

Xiling raised her head and looked at the terrifying figure in the sky that seemed to rule over everything.

With hair the color of blood and eyes like a bottleneck, he was an extremely handsome man, holding a dark red spear in his hand.

The moment Xiling's eyes met the other person's.

The red-haired man's voice rang out:

“You should not have set foot here, brave warrior.”

Xiling took a deep breath and forced a smile. "How come everyone knows who I am? I remember our race of heroes didn't save the same world."

"You don't need to know," the man said calmly. "You only need to know one thing."

He slightly raised the dark red spear in his hand, its tip pointing at Xiling. "Your journey ends here."

Normally, Xiling might have made some lighthearted remarks, but now he really couldn't bring himself to say anything.

He was suppressed.

He was completely overwhelmed by his opponent in terms of strength, will, and momentum.

Xiling's will roared and surged, trying to break free of the restraints, but the feeling of being shackled only grew stronger, as if the weight of the entire battlefield had been placed on his body!

Just then, that mysterious voice, like a pre-recorded tape, carrying a hint of urgency before fleeing for its life, rang in Xiling's mind once more.

"He is the ruler of war!"

"He is the embodiment of the will of countless soldiers!"

"He is the absolute unifier of the torrent of will!"

His name: Phil!

"Lord of War!"

"Remember! You are not fighting against one person..."

"You are fighting against an entire war legion forged from countless dead souls and the will to fight!"

"Introduction complete! If you think you can handle it, go for it! He's definitely noticed me! I'm off now!"

"...Holy crap!!!" Xiling's expression was solemn on the surface, but inwardly she was screaming, "This isn't some mini-boss blocking the door! This is the final boss, the Demon God of Annihilation! Is this how the tutorial is designed?!"

However, the Lord of War gave him no time to complain or think about tactics.

The moment the echo of "I'm outta here first!" still reverberated in Xiling's mind—

The view disappeared.

Hearing disappeared.

Thoughts... also froze.

Xiling only saw a dark red line of absolute death, seemingly piercing through time and space, ignoring all concepts of distance and defense, flashing past the world before his eyes.

There was no earth-shattering roar, no dazzling burst of energy.

There is only a cold, sharp, and instantaneous sense of closure.

Xiling looked down at her chest—a fist-sized hole with smooth, mirror-like edges was clearly visible there.

Through the hole, you can see the scorched earth and dark red sky behind it.

No excruciating pain came, because the nerves and flesh were instantly annihilated by the gun intent that contained the rules of war.

Death? No... it's existence itself that has been erased.

But there was no time for Xiling to fantasize; Xiling looked at her body, which had been pierced through.

There was only one thought in my mind.

The chat group time-travel system has been activated!!

Phil hovered in the air, his brow furrowing almost imperceptibly. He had only destroyed the other party's body; the other party couldn't possibly have died like that.

It would be a joke if a hero died like that.

Is it spatial transfer? Time jump? Or some deeper conceptual escape?

"They got away?" Phil murmured to himself, his tone devoid of anger or frustration.

As he whispered, the terrifying pressure that had enveloped the heavens and earth dissipated rapidly, like the receding tide.

The crimson sky, the scorched earth, the pervasive stench of rust and blood, the mournful cries of the dead… all these scenes of the war zone began to distort, dissolve, and fade violently.

Like a pencil drawing erased by an eraser, the bloody battlefield vanished without a trace in a few breaths.