Pov: Ryuk
The entire valley fell dead silent.
Garrick, the one-armed chief, and all the surviving villagers stared with their jaws dropped to the ground, watching a four-armed youth hold back a giant Grade 2 monster with raw physical strength!
However, only I knew how much pressure my body was actually taking right now.
My legs were sunk knee-deep into the hard ground, and my bones were letting out low creaking sounds. Even though Morven's Asura body gave me the base strength of forty adult men, this Mutated Blood-Armor Rhino was a true Grade 2 Corrupted Beast! Its raw physical strength was easily over a hundred adult men, plus its thick hide was reinforced by wild martial energy.
If I only had two hands like a normal human, its charge would have broken my arms in the first second. Only by locking my upper two hands onto its giant horn and my lower two hands under its heavy jaw was I able to barely stop its forward momentum!
ROOOOOAAAR!!
Seeing that its charge was blocked by a small creature much tinier than itself, the giant Blood-Armor Rhino went completely berserk. Dark red martial energy flared around its four-meter-tall body as it pushed forward with all four of its massive legs, trying to crush me into the dirt!
At the same time, the six smaller Grade 1 corrupted rhinos behind it also roared and charged toward the gap in the broken fence!
"Don't just stand there in a daze! Stop those six Grade 1 beasts! Don't let them interfere with our benefactor!" the one-armed village chief suddenly roared, waking the stunned guards up from their shock.
"Yes, Chief!"
Garrick and the twenty scarred village guards immediately gritted their teeth and rushed forward with their spears and heavy shields, blocking the six smaller rhinos away from me so I could focus completely on the giant leader.
Seeing the villagers hold back the smaller beasts, I focused all my mind on the giant monster in front of me.
"You have strength of a hundred men, right?! Let's see how sturdy your internal organs are!" I growled through clenched teeth.
In my mind, the Beacon of Truth blazed brightly, projecting dozens of golden threads of light across the giant rhino's body. With my Eye of the Sovereign active at the same time, I could clearly see the flow of dark red martial energy moving under the beast's thick armor plates.
Every creature had a weak spot. Even though the dark red armor plates on its back and head were as hard as steel, right underneath its throat—where the head connected to the neck—the armor was much thinner so it could move its head!
There!
Instead of continuing to push back against the rhino's strongest forward force, I suddenly twisted my waist and released the grip of my lower two hands!
Using my upper two hands that were still holding its giant horn as leverage, I pulled myself forward and slid right underneath the giant rhino's massive chin!
The rhino didn't expect its prey to voluntarily jump underneath its belly. Its horn stabbed into the empty air behind me, making its heavy body stumble forward half a step.
Now standing directly beneath its exposed neck, the vortex of dark-gold martial energy in my lower abdomen spun like a hurricane, pouring every single drop of power into all four of my arms!
"FOUR-ARMED ASURA COMBAT TECHNIQUE: QUAD-METEOR BREAKER!"
My upper two fists and lower two fists pulled back like four heavy bows drawn to the absolute limit, and then slammed upward into the exact same spot under the rhino's throat!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Four punches landed within a tenth of a second, stacking their explosive force together at a single point!
The first punch cracked the thin scale armor under its throat. The second punch tore through its tough skin and muscle. The third punch shattered its thick neck bone with a loud CRACK! And on the fourth punch, my sharp, blade-like dark nails pierced straight through its throat, ripping open its main artery and windpipe!
SPLATTER—!!
A fountain of scorching, dark red blood erupted from the bottom of the giant rhino's neck, drenching the ground around us like heavy rain!
Grrr... Roar...
The four-meter-tall Grade 2 monster let out a choked, gurgling sound from its crushed throat. It tried to raise its front hooves to stomp me, but with its neck bone broken and blood pouring out like a waterfall, its massive body swayed twice and crashed heavily onto its side with an earth-shaking thud!
BOOM!
The giant rhino twitched violently on the ground for half a minute, kicking up clouds of dust, before the bloodshot light in its eyes finally faded away completely.
As the Grade 2 beast died, a string of golden notifications chimed inside my head:
"HOST HAS EXECUTED FOUR-ARMED ASURA COMBAT TECHNIQUE TO SLAY AN ENEMY ABOVE HIS REALM!" "PROFICIENCY INCREASED BY +600!" "CURRENT MASTERY: FOUR-ARMED ASURA COMBAT TECHNIQUE {PRO} (600/2000)."
Stepping out from beneath the giant corpse, my whole body was covered in steaming red beast blood, making me look like a real demon god walking out of a sea of blood.
Without resting, I turned my golden-ringed eyes toward the six remaining Grade 1 rhinos that were currently injuring several village guards.
Seeing their Grade 2 leader killed, the six smaller rhinos were already terrified and trying to turn around to run back into the forest.
"None of you are leaving! Your beast cores belong to me!"
I kicked off the ground, charging into the herd like a tiger entering a flock of sheep. Compared to the Grade 2 rhino, these Grade 1 beasts felt like toys in front of my four arms. With two punches and a heavy kick for each one, I snapped the spines of all six Grade 1 rhinos in less than two minutes!
Finally, the battle ended.
In the middle of the ruined valley gate, seven giant rhino corpses lay on the ground.
I stood in the center, breathing heavily as the dark-gold martial energy around my four arms slowly retracted back into my body.
All around me, the eighty-five villagers—including the women and children who had poked their heads out from the back cave—stared at me in complete silence. There was shock, fear, and immense awe in their eyes as they looked at my four blood-stained arms.
Slowly, the one-armed old village chief walked forward over the broken wood of the fence. Despite his pale face and injuries, he dropped straight down to both knees on the blood-stained dirt in front of me!
Seeing their chief kneel, Garrick, Marcus, and all the other guards and villagers immediately dropped to their knees behind him!
"Thank you, My Lord, for saving our Exile Village from total destruction!" the old chief said with a trembling, respectful voice, pressing his forehead to the ground. "Regardless of who My Lord is or why you possess such a divine form, our lives today were saved by your hands!"
Looking at the eighty-five people kneeling in front of me, I activated my Eye of the Sovereign to check the floating text above their heads.
[Elder Harlan (Village Chief) — Loyalty: 75 (Grateful/Reverent).] [Garrick — Loyalty: 72 (Awe/Respect).] [Marcus — Loyalty: 68 (Grateful).]
Because I had just saved their entire village from a certain wipeout against a Grade 2 monster, their loyalty toward me had jumped straight past 65 and 70!
I looked down at the kneeling old man and spoke in a calm, authoritative voice, "Stand up, old man. Tell me your name and the situation of this village."
The one-armed old man stood up respectfully and bowed. "Replying to My Lord, this old man is called Harlan. Everyone living in this valley is either a crippled martial artist framed by enemies in the federation, or the innocent family members of banished criminals who fled into the Fallen Heartlands to survive. However, our wooden walls are too weak, and the beasts from the Middle Ring are getting more aggressive every month. Without a true powerhouse to lead and protect us, our village will sooner or later be wiped out."
Elder Harlan looked at me with pleading eyes and said, "My Lord, I can see that you are an extraordinary figure with unmatched strength. Although our village is poor and we are only crippled exiles, if My Lord is willing to shelter us and become the Lord of our village, all eighty-five of us are willing to swear our lives to serve you and build whatever you command!"
As soon as Elder Harlan finished speaking and the villagers behind him nodded in earnest agreement, my system screen suddenly flashed with bright golden light!
"DETECTING 85 HUMANS WILLING TO SUBMIT TO HOST'S RULE." "SUBJECT COUNT UPDATED: (95/100)."
Only five more people left to complete the fourth quest!
Looking at the broken wooden fence, the shabby stone huts of this valley, and the earnest eyes of Elder Harlan, a smile formed on my face.
"You want me to be your Lord and shelter you?" I asked, looking out over the wide, open valley. "Very well. From today onward, all of you belong to me, Ryuk. As my subjects, you will no longer live behind rotten wooden fences waiting to be eaten by beasts."
Elder Harlan and the villagers looked at me in confusion, wondering what I meant since there were no stones or builders here to make a real city wall.
I didn't explain with words. Instead, I walked to the center of the open valley, raised my upper right hand, and spoke directly to my system in my mind:
"System! Fuse the two Fragments of a Fallen Kingdom and deploy them right here across this valley!"
"COMMAND RECEIVED." "FUSING FRAGMENT OF A FALLEN KINGDOM (2/2)... FUSION COMPLETE!" "DEPLOYING LOST TERRITORY OF THE FALLEN KINGDOM!"
RUMBLE————!!
The moment the system notification sounded, the entire valley began to shake violently like an earthquake!
Before the shocked eyes of Elder Harlan and the eighty-five villagers, a blinding golden light erupted from beneath my feet and spread across the entire two-kilometer valley!
Within that golden light, the broken wooden fences and shabby mud huts were pushed aside as the ground itself rose up! Massive, ten-meter-high walls made of ancient black obsidian stone emerged from the earth, surrounding the entire valley like an impenetrable fortress!
Inside the walls, dozens of sturdy stone houses, a grand training ground, an ancient smithy, and a towering central keep with a vast hall materialized out of thin air, replacing the barren dirt with paved stone streets!
When the golden light finally faded after a full minute, the poor, shabby Exile Village was completely gone. In its place stood a majestic, ancient stone citadel standing tall in the middle of the savage Blackwood Forest!
"CONGRATULATIONS, YOUR MAJESTY!" "MAIN QUEST COMPLETED: ESTABLISH YOUR FIRST SETTLEMENT IN THE FALLEN HEARTLANDS (1/1)." "QUEST COMPLETION: (3/5)." "REWARD AVAILABLE!"
Behind me, Elder Harlan, Garrick, and all eighty-five villagers stared at the towering black stone walls and the grand fortress keep with trembling lips, dropping back to their knees as if they were witnessing a true god descending to earth!