"Why can't I kill you?"

Sophie said calmly, "Give me a suitable reason, and I may consider sparing your life. But if you fail, then I can only send you down to true h.e.l.l! Back then, you and I both belonged to the Ten Heroes, but not only did you, a border general, refuse to perform your responsibility and protect your country, you turned traitor and killed multiple Ten Heroes including my mentor, Herrero. I have borne this grudge for a thousand years, but I wasn't able to claim vengeance due to the various nuisances hindering me… until now, that is!"

b.l.o.o.d.y Finger shuddered as he pushed himself up to full length. "You cannot kill me, because… you were half the reason I decided to turn my back on the empire!"

"Me?"

Sophie exclaimed in puzzlement, "You did it for me? But why? My father was a famous general of the empire, but he pa.s.sed away a long time ago. As for my mentor, he was killed by your own hand. What role could I possibly play in your betrayal?"

b.l.o.o.d.y Finger replied while panting heavily, "The emperor, Liulin, gave you a secret order to hunt down the undead at Yellowstone Desert, right? But did you know that Liulin and your mentor, Herrero, were conspiring to force you into a grand wedding the moment you returned to the country?"

"Wedding?" Sophie's puzzlement only grew with the revelation.

b.l.o.o.d.y Finger nodded. "That's right. Our emperor, Liulin, desired you for a long time now, but he never dared to bring it up because he was well aware that your martial prowess was unequaled. Therefore, he went to your mentor instead and promised him command over the garrison army. And so, your beloved mentor betrayed you and agreed to the engagement without your consent. Had you returned from Yellowstone Desert, you would've been forced to marry that old man!"

Sophie's mouth was agape in shock. She murmured, "How could this be… Why did my mentor never tell me about this?"

Ovia the b.l.o.o.d.y Finger raised his purple blade and declared in a determined voice, "Sophie, we grew up and partic.i.p.ated in many adventures and training together. I've loved you since the very beginning, but I never pursued it because you had always been too prideful to accept anyone, and, to be honest, I didn't think I was worthy of you anyway. The only thing I could do for you at the time was to betray the empire and save you from the clutches of that despicable, dying old man!"

Sophie watched her former comrade calmly with her sword pointed toward the ground.

Ovia the b.l.o.o.d.y Finger dropped to one knee and bowed his head reverently. "Sophie, I love you, I've always loved you. I pray that you will appreciate the millennium-long love that remained unbroken even to this day!"

……

Sophie pressed her purple red lips together when suddenly, killing intent flared brightly in her eyes. Her sword swept across Ovia's neck like lightning, and...

Crack!

A b.l.o.o.d.y head flew into the air for a time before landing next to its headless corpse.

Chiang!

Finally, Sophie sheathed her sword and said indifferently, "Love? I don't need such a thing!"

……

The slab beneath Sophie split in half when the Purgatory Sovereign launched herself into the sky and stayed there. Looking at us with indifferent eyes, she said, "Think it through, Xinran. We will meet again, and next time, I may have to kill you. I would rather not do that if at all possible. The power of the Purgatory is calling out to me, so I have to return now. Goodbye!"

A burst of light later, Sophie disappeared into the horizon like a meteor. No wonder she was able to fly over from Seven Star City as quickly as she did.

It was only then that Ovia the b.l.o.o.d.y Finger's soul dissipated completely.

Ding~!

System Announcement: Congratulations to player "Beiming Xue" for killing one of the Nine Sovereigns of the Purgatory, "Ovia the b.l.o.o.d.y Finger”. Player "Beiming Xue" has gained 5 Luck, Level +5, and all base stats +5%. Ovia the b.l.o.o.d.y Finger is officially dead!

……

Pop pop pop...

At the same time, countless items and equipment burst out of Ovia the b.l.o.o.d.y Finger and gave both Lin Yixin and I a pleasant surprise. It didn't take a genius to know that the equipment dropped by a Purgatory Sovereign could only be G.o.dlike!

I ran to the boss rapturously while praising Beiming Xue, "Thank the heavens! I thought for sure that Sophie would be identified as the one to kill Ovia! How on earth did you do it, Beiming?"

Beiming Xue blinked at me before answering, "Big bro, I never stopped attacking Ovia since you ran off on your own and challenged Sophie to a mano a mano. In fact, I planted three arrows at the back of his head when he was kneeling on the floor and begging Sophie for love. How on earth did you miss that?"

I felt like time stopped for me until Lin Yixin came to my rescue. "Shall we see what the loot is now?"

"Mn!"

Blood boiling with antic.i.p.ation, I stopped in front of the boss, bent down and picked up all the items he had dropped. There were four pieces of equipment in total. The first item was a glowing silver armor. The second, a silver s.h.i.+eld with glowing runes on it. The third was a lightning scepter, and lastly, a sword with a translucent blade exuding purple light. It was none other than the weapon Ovia the b.l.o.o.d.y Finger was using to whoop our a.s.s earlier!

My heart nearly stopped there and then, but I forced myself to calm down and put the items next to one another on the ground. Then, I shared their stats screen in the party channel one by one—

Dharan Battle Armor (Immortal-grade, Outstanding★★★★★)

Defense: 2950

Magic Resist: 2800

Strength: +820

Stamina: +790

Agility: +720

Tactics: +70

Pa.s.sive: Increases user's Defense by 60%

Pa.s.sive: Increases user's max HP by 32000

Pa.s.sive: Increases user's Magic Resist by 60%

Outstanding Property: Protection of the Ten Heroes. Damage taken is reduced by 12%.

Slots: 12

Introduction: The Dharan Empire was a great empire that stood strong for countless years before its demise. Countless heroes were born during this period, and among them were the outstanding Ten Heroes. These human heroes were obsessed with forging weapons and armor, and the G.o.dlike Dharan Battle Armor was forged by a hero and a divine smith called Gelert.

Level Requirement: 175

Reputation Requirement: 300000

……

My surprise lasted for an instant before I said, "This Dharan Battle Armor is an excellent Immortal-grade item and at about the same level as my Heaven-burning Armor. Yiyi, you're still wearing the Dark Prison chest armor, aren't you? You should take this then. It's high time you replaced it anyway."

Lin Yixin nodded but said, "I can't wear it though. I'm still lacking around 30k Reputation…"

"It's fine. When we return to Sky City and show Princess Karinshan b.l.o.o.d.y Finger's head, the reward should give you the Reputation you need…"

"Mn mn."

And so it was decided that the Dharan Battle Armor would go to Lin Yixin. With the Devil Bell, the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword and now the Dharan Battle Armor, our Fruit Knife G.o.ddess had undoubtedly become a lot stronger!

Next, I moved onto the s.h.i.+eld—

Dharan Ruins Barrier (Immortal-grade, Outstanding★★★)

Defense: 6000

Magic Resist: 5100

Stamina: +620

Strength: +600

Agility: +550

Tactics: +50

Parry Chance: +39%

Pa.s.sive: Increases user's Defense by 40%

Pa.s.sive: Increases user's max HP by 20000

Outstanding Property: Protection of the Ten Heroes. Damage taken is reduced by 15%.

Introduction: The Dharan Empire was a great empire that stood strong for countless years before its demise. Countless heroes were born during this period, and among them were the outstanding Ten Heroes. These human heroes were obsessed with forging weapons and armor, and the G.o.dlike Dharan Battle Armor was forged by a hero and a divine smith called Gelert.

Slots: 11

Level Requirement: 175

Reputation Requirement: 150000

……

It was yet another Dharan City ruins exclusive equipment and a s.h.i.+eld, but it was a lot lousier than my Dragon G.o.d s.h.i.+eld. It was understandable though. There was a 3-star difference between the two, so naturally, the Dragon G.o.d s.h.i.+eld was a lot stronger.

"Babe!" I said while looking at Lin Yixin.

Lin Yixin pressed her lips into a smile. "What is it, Little Cheat?"

I raised the Dharan City Ruins Barrier and said, "You can't equip this Immortal-grade s.h.i.+eld anyway, so why don't you give it to us as per our agreement? We promised Eve that we would give her excellent equipment for giving up her slot to Lian Xin anyway, so this is just perfect!"

Lin Yixin nodded. "Sure, no problem. Now let's check out the next item already!"

"Yeah!"

The third equipment was the lightning scepter. The way lightning cycled around it looked pretty impressive—

Thunder G.o.d Scepter (Immortal-grade, Outstanding★★★★★★)

Magic Attack: 1900~2550

Intelligence: +850

Stamina: +800

Agility: +795

Tactics: +95

Pa.s.sive: Increase user's Magic Attack by 70%

Pa.s.sive: Decreases user's spell cast time by 25%

Outstanding Property: Thunder G.o.d's Rage. When waving the scepter, 1% chance to trigger Thunder G.o.d's Rage and strike a specific zone with countless lightning bolts.

Slots: 12

Level Requirement: 175

Reputation Requirement: 320000

……

I broke into a grin when I finished reading the Thunder G.o.d Scepter's stats. "G.o.d d.a.m.n! A Level 175 Immortal-grade scepter? Tsk tsk! Looks like Lian Xin's trip to b.l.o.o.d.y s.h.i.+eld Domain isn't wasted after all! I'll hold onto this for now and give it to her later!"

The other two girls nodded and replied in unison, "Sure, whatever you say!"

Finally, we moved onto the center of attention we had purposely ignored until now. The sword with a translucent blade was surrounded by a halo of purple energy, and runes were swimming inside its grooves. Anyone could see that this sword was unlike anything we had ever seen before.

Purple Ying Sword (Archean Immortal-grade, Outstanding★★★★★★★)

Attack: 3700~4450

Strength: +1250

Stamina: +1200

Agility: +1150

Tactics: +145

Pa.s.sive: Increases user's attack power by 105%

Pa.s.sive: Increases user's splash damage by 50%

Pa.s.sive: When swinging the Purple Ying Sword, chance to deal 500% damage. The effect stacks with critical hits.

Slots: 15

Outstanding Property: Mountain Crush. When attacking a target, has a small chance to destroy the opponent's equipment durability and render it useless. When attacking a building or a mine, greatly increase the demolition effect.

Property 1: Proficiency. Level Requirement is lowered by 30

Property 2: Evolvable

Property 3: Lifesteal. 15% of the damage dealt is converted into HP

Introduction: According to the legends of the ancient times, during the conception of the world, an ancient G.o.d transformed their body into hills, rivers and forests. Their bones however were used to forge the ancient Purple Ying Sword. The character "Ying" symbolizes the monarch, which is why the sword is also known as the Sword of Kings. Back in the day, wielded by divine kings, it was used to slay countless devils. Today, for unknown reason, most of its power has been sealed away. Perhaps it can evolve into something stronger.

Level Requirement: 200

Reputation Requirement: 350000