Lord of the Myriad Worlds

Chapter 209: Lone Star of Misfortune

George ran several hundred meters before stopping to catch his breath.

He looked back. The Four-Star Mutant Rat King had also stopped, about fifty meters behind him, visibly winded. Its golden fur-spikes — the ones it had been launching as projectiles — had been entirely depleted. None left.

Something to be glad about. The creature deserved its reputation.

The problem was that George's Stamina had dropped to 110.

There was one piece of good news: the mutant rat horde had been essentially wiped out. The wheat field was safe.

Both of them were now completely alone.

George let out a quiet laugh. This was actually funny.

"Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!"

The Rat King apparently felt mocked. It charged again with a screech.

Fine. Running it was.George refused to give it any opportunity for close combat. He looped around the building, weaving through the first-floor layout — ducking through gaps, scaling walls, slipping past obstacles — moving with a fluidity that made him look like the rat and the pursuing creature the clumsy one.

Threading through terrain this way, George found he wasn't dropping Stamina further — he was actually recovering it slowly. That was the advantage of his Level 1 Awakening on the Stamina attribute.

The problem was the Four-Star Mutant Rat King also seemed to be recovering continuously, and this creature had the unmistakable aura of something armored all the way through — something that hit like a tank and shook like one too.

Were you trained on vehicles, by any chance?

BOOM.

A heavy wooden door exploded into splinters. The thin wall section behind it followed. The massive, bull-like Rat King had punched through both and was right there, somehow more powerful than before — and accelerating.

George was starting to feel the strain.

Behind him, familiar terrain was dissolving into a trail of wreckage as the Rat King demolished everything in its path in what appeared to be a scorched-earth doctrine.

This wasn't good.

Even the iron-plated door Liang Yuzhi had built wouldn't hold up against this at full charge.

He couldn't let it dismantle the camp.

George broke for open ground — and in the open, the Rat King was faster. Not ideal.

He'd left too quickly and hadn't grabbed the Bloodthirsty Spear. Now he had a Heavy Wooden Sword and a Three-Star Dagger.

Who could have anticipated this creature's recovery capacity? Spinal column destroyed, and it walks it off? Truly a Magic Zombie.

So where was its actual vital point?

After looping around a ruin once, George understood: continuing to run was pointless. This wasn't kiting — this was the dog walking him.

Two choices. One: get back into camp, retrieve the Bloodthirsty Spear and Three-Star War Bow — but that would give the Rat King one minute to rip the door open, and the camp being breached was a scenario he couldn't afford. He had no spare rivets or expansion bolts for reinstalling it. A Level 1 Scavenger Camp broken through would also mean no Head of Household could be established at month-end — which meant the four incoming replacements would spend the next month in the same internal chaos as this one. Unacceptable.

So the only other choice was to fight it now.

He would have one chance.

George let out a long, controlled breath and stopped running.

No third option existed. Running into the open field would just mean exhaustion followed by death.

The Rat King caught up like an armored column.

George activated the Tracker Title. Perception +1.

Instantly, the world sharpened. Everything became transparent — even the charging Four-Star Mutant Rat King seemed to slow. He could read the trajectory of its next strike. He could sense the surging vitality inside its body — and a heart, burning like a reactor.

There. The vital point.

The creature's life force was staggering. No comparison.

But finding the target changed everything. George gripped the Heavy Wooden Sword double-handed and launched a countercharge — directly into the creature's path, sword tip aimed at its forehead.

The Rat King was fast. So was George. The creature probably carried forty in Strength and five hundred kilograms of momentum.

George loaded every point of Strength he had into the wooden sword blade. He was going to crack a stone with an egg.

The difference: this particular egg was somewhat reinforced.

Point against mass. That was all.

For a fraction of a second, George and the Four-Star Mutant Rat King collided.

The creature's eyes were savage and cold. George's eyes were steady and clear. Neither gave a centimeter.

The Rat King believed in its Strength, its speed, its defense, its durability — it believed it could bite through George's neck just as it had once bitten through Li Guilin's.

George believed in his Perception, in his control of the wooden sword, in his read of the Rat King's weak point, in his Noble Crest Armor.

They were both completely confident.

Which was why, in those last fragments of a second, George's sword tip shifted. First aimed at the forehead. Then the right eye. Then — at the very last moment — angled slightly away, past the skull, aimed at the right side of the neck.

Perfect misdirection.

THUD.

The Heavy Wooden Sword drove into the Rat King's neck and pushed forward, all the way through — punching into the heart, roaring and burning behind its ribcage.

In that same instant, the Rat King's mouth opened and two boar-tusk-like fangs shot out — impacting George squarely in the left chest, over the heart.

Mutations rendered it unrecognizable, but the instinct was absolutely there. That move was genuinely treacherous.

The impact force sent George instantly coughing blood, losing his grip on the sword, flying backward twenty to thirty meters before landing heavily.

He did not die.

Of course not.

Those fangs had looked like they'd punched through his chest. In that instant, an invisible magical pulse deflected the killing blow. His Noble Crest Armor held.

George had calculated for this.

His sword would hit the heart first. That damage would prevent the Rat King from aiming for his neck — its only option at that point was raw momentum, which would almost certainly be absorbed by the Noble Crest Armor.

It was that simple.

His ribs — at least three broken. Internal organs badly concussed. Life dropped by half.

But he had won.

Even a Four-Star Rat King could be decided in one round.

The creature squealed and lurched forward anyway, still trying to close the distance and finish him. It was banking on its monstrous recovery to heal the wound just as it had healed its spine. It had earned that confidence. It had believed it could recover from brain damage.

Not this time.

Though the Heavy Wooden Sword had only pierced the heart — not destroyed it — the fundamental damage was done. Strength fading, life dissipating. The Rat King managed less than ten meters more before its legs buckled, crashing down, twitching, screaming, struggling, finally going still.

From its body, wisps of dark energy rose and scattered — twisting, clawing at the air — and vanished instantly. As if something had escaped.

Then the immense corpse began rotting at speed, collapsing into a pool of foul dark liquid — with one golden card floating pristine on the surface, untouched.

It looked like a game boss dropping loot.

George understood what had actually happened: the Rat King had been dead for a long time. It had died when magical radiation first flooded its body and reanimated it as a Magic Zombie — not powerful enough to keep its form, just powerful enough to keep moving. Now that it was destroyed, its real body rotted away, and the raw magical force that had been sustaining it — without intelligence of its own — escaped to find a new host. To make something else stronger, somewhere else.

Something like that.

The golden card was probably a profession card stolen from Li Guilin, Li Jiao, or one of its earlier victims.

George coughed up another mouthful of blood, forced himself upright, walked painfully to the card, and grabbed it.

A wave of warmth passed through him immediately. Something wrapped around him — a mysterious flow of magical energy — and all internal damage cleared at once. His condition restored to peak.

The golden card dimmed as it did, becoming a pale gold.

Then the notifications arrived:

【You identified the Four-Star Mutant Rat King's fatal weak point and slew it successfully.】

【You have eliminated the mutant rat colony occupying the area around the Level 1 Scavenger Camp. Within twenty li in all directions, no organized mutant creature groups remain. The camp itself is unchanged, but the transformation of the external environment is significant. As a result, the Scavenger Camp upgrades to Level 2. Maximum family population +1. Maximum earnable Contribution raised to 1,600 points.】

【You have earned 1,000 Family Contribution. However, due to insufficient family fixed assets, you cannot receive the full amount. Current cumulative total: 1,110 points. Note: The shares reserved for Family Members Liang Yuzhi and Li Yue will be reset at the start of next month.】

【For nearly single-handedly eliminating a Two-Star Mutant Colony, you have earned a new Title — Rat Exterminator: When worn, grants +20 Life. Grants immunity to Level 1 Blood Plague infection. Provides solid resistance to most parasites, contaminated food, and polluted water.】

【For losing all four teammates in the first month, you have earned a special Title — Lone Star of Misfortune: This title is valid only while worn during a mission and disappears upon leaving. While wearing the Lone Star of Misfortune title, all impeachment actions taken against you by any Family Member carry a 100% rebound effect — meaning if you commit a serious error, the impeaching party must spend 500 Contribution to initiate impeachment, and upon success, must pay a further 500 Contribution penalty.】

【Congratulations. You have obtained a degraded Magic Crystal Card — commonly known as a Universal Gold Card. Its quality is slightly reduced because some energy was used to heal your injuries. You may now use this Universal Gold Card. Its available functions are as follows:】

【Option 1: Sell directly to the All-Heavens Lord Alliance for 1,000 standard Gold Coins.】

【Option 2: In place of a Black Iron Clearance Token, you may directly upgrade your First Profession at any time, at any location.】

【Option 3: Enhance one piece of equipment. Maximum enhancement ceiling: Four-Star quality. Effect is random.】

【Option 4: Enhance one Title. Maximum enhancement: one level. Special Titles can only be enhanced by half a level. Effect is random.】

【Note: Unless you select Option 1, any choice you make will increase the difficulty of subsequent Pioneering Mission content by 30%. Each additional similar decision thereafter increases difficulty further. Choose carefully.】

【Note: You cannot carry this Universal Gold Card for an extended period. It is fatally attractive to native Ability Users and powerful mutant creatures alike. It cannot be stored inside a Resource Card.】

【Warning: You must make your selection within one minute.】