Lord of the Myriad Worlds

Chapter 369: The King of Centaurs

This was a genuinely difficult choice.

But Li Wei had his own view. These three options were each tailored for a different profession archetype — none was objectively better than the others.

So don't look at the highlighted numbers. Look at what actually fits you.

If he were a caster, Option 1 was obvious — the flame magic inheritance would give him a foundation, and the deeper secrets were more likely to awaken from that path.

If he were Zhao Xuanxuan or Thomas, Option 3 was the clear pick — double-boosting three key attributes to gain overwhelming dominance in direct combat, especially with allies to cover your back.

But Li Wei was neither. He was a scout-type ranger. Going it alone was his default. He couldn't rely on others, and flashy magic wasn't his style. Comprehensive balance was what he needed.

As Li Wei made his choice, new information appeared.

[You have chosen a new upgrade path. For you, flame is perhaps more of a symbol — it grants you vigorous vitality and well-rounded, balanced capability. You may not excel in any single area, but you will have no weaknesses.]

[Upgraded title effects: Life +150, Stamina +150, Strength +10, Agility +10, Defense +10, Spiritual Power +10, Perception +2.]

[Friendly reminder: you have obtained the rare title Flame Viscount. You may continue upgrading it three more times, all the way to Flame Duke.][Friendly reminder: before upgrading to the next tier, ensure you have a territory befitting a Viscount and have completed the binding. You will likely need two six-star Universal Gold Cards to complete the upgrade.]

[Friendly reminder: since your Perception has already reached its maximum cap, the Perception +2 from Flame Viscount can only apply +1.]

—

The next second, as the new Flame Viscount title was equipped, Li Wei felt a wave of dizziness — a natural response to such a massive attribute surge, like a sudden spike in blood pressure. Always a bit uncomfortable.

Fortunately, Adai was there to keep him steady as he gradually adjusted.

But Adai was anxious. It had spotted enemy reinforcements — a lot of them. On the far side of the river, a centaur force was galloping hard, trying to cut off the bridge. On the north bank, another centaur unit was charging down from over twenty kilometers away. He'd kicked a hornet's nest.

Good thing he still had an enchanted truck.

A few minutes later —

"Thud!"

Li Wei was dropped onto the ground again by Adai, who let out a sharp cry and shot skyward in a hurry — enemy reinforcements had arrived, and fast.

Something that looked like a giant eagle had appeared, and it and Adai were already locked in aerial combat.

Li Wei had no time to look up. He sprinted to the enchanted chariot, fired it up, and floored it onto the road.

He was still slightly dizzy from re-equipping the Flame Viscount title.

"Boom!"

A flame arrow screamed in from the side — fast and vicious.

Li Wei didn't look — he just floored the accelerator and barely dodged it.

"Boom!"

Another flame arrow struck the enchanted chariot directly. The force was nearly equivalent to an RPG rocket. The impact almost tore the steering wheel from his hands.

What in the world?

Fortunately, the dizziness was fading. His connection with Adai finally restored to normal — it had felt like a network dropout and reboot.

Up in the sky, Adai was locked in combat with the giant eagle. The enemy was dominating — in just moments, Adai had taken hits from multiple directions.

Was the opponent a five-star hunting pet too?

No — an Ability User. A half-eagle person?

Where had it come from?

But that didn't matter right now. From upriver, over a hundred centaur cavalry were charging at full speed. Leading them was a centaur of staggering size — nearly five meters tall, built like a tank.

In its hands was a massive bow, wreathed in rolling flames that didn't seem to bother it at all. The bow was two meters long. It needed no arrows — just a full draw, and at the moment the bow reached full moon, a flame arrow materialized from nothing and flew seven or eight hundred meters in an instant.

What the hell!

Li Wei broke into a cold sweat.

That was the King of Centaurs.

It was running at nearly ninety kilometers per hour.

He had really kicked the hornet's nest this time.

He'd never imagined that Frost Duke had deployed such heavy forces in this region.

So — was Frost Duke planning to take Hathaway first with his main army?

Surely not.

"Whoosh-boom!"

Another flame arrow. This time Li Wei dodged it with an S-curve — but the tires took serious strain.

"I have to get across the bridge!"

"Adai — hold on a little longer. But don't go more than ten kilometers from me. Don't worry about injuries — just attack like crazy. Come back to heal when you're hurt!"

Li Wei shouted. He'd calmed down and quickly settled on his plan.

He had to cross the bridge. Otherwise, the King of Centaurs would shoot him to pieces.

In this moment, he was genuinely grateful to the red-robed witch Anna — and glad he'd made that trade.

It had been worth every coin.

Without this enchanted chariot, he'd almost certainly have had his head blown off by now.

Adai wasn't invincible either — this time it had met its match.

But this enchanted chariot could hit ninety kilometers per hour with ease — something no warhorse or his own legs could ever match.

The King of Centaurs seemed to read Li Wei's intent. It stopped shooting and instead tried to cut across to intercept him.

One glance told Li Wei the centaur would be about ten seconds too late. But ahead was the bridge fortress, still burning fiercely. Could he charge through?

He had to.

Li Wei quickly assessed the chariot's condition. Three flame arrow hits, but the four-star enchanted timber armor was extraordinarily tough — even powerful flame arrows could only ignite a small patch before the fire died out. And except for the front windshield, the entire vehicle was covered in four-star enchanted timber, including the outer tires.

That red-robed witch had truly put her heart into it.

There was a real chance of breaking through.

"Rumble!"

Thunder roared overhead as if cheering him on.

Adai and the giant eagle were fighting and chasing after Li Wei simultaneously — Adai was terrified too.

Li Wei pushed the truck to nearly a hundred kilometers per hour. The King of Centaurs accelerated as well — fueled by something unknown, its body blazing with a bloody red glow, its speed actually exceeding the enchanted chariot by a margin.

Surely it didn't actually want to ram head-on into an enchanted truck?

In that instant, something stirred in Li Wei — a reckless impulse rising from his gut.

You think I can't run you over?

"Come on then!"

In that moment, Li Wei's eyes turned blood-red without him noticing, his expression ferocious. The King of Centaurs had drawn a long lance — it was about to reenact a classic spear-versus-chariot showdown. If Li Wei held his course, a collision was inevitable.

But the next second, Li Wei let out a cold laugh, smoothly flicked the wheel just slightly, and slid past the King of Centaurs with centimeters to spare.

No collision. Only a fool would actually crash.

And almost simultaneously, a line of dark purple text with what seemed like a foul odor appeared abruptly:

[You have been affected by a caster's spell interference. Your Perception is forcibly reduced by 1 for thirty minutes. Your current Perception remains +7.]

Oh — a forced -1?

That had nearly affected his judgment just now.

Good thing he had Perception to spare.

Otherwise this could have gone very wrong. In the normal world, ramming head-on would mean instant death. But in this world, when an enemy had already demonstrated superhuman ability, charging straight in anyway would make any sane person suspicious. Something was wrong.

But this kind of silent, invisible spell interference — it was genuinely insidious.

A split-second brush past, and the difference between life and death.

Li Wei floored it straight into the inferno.

He crashed through the half-collapsed gate, roared across the road bridge, and was gone.

The King of Centaurs was forced to slow — by the time it caught up, it was too late.

And besides — it apparently didn't dare enter the fire?

What Li Wei hadn't noticed: the King of Centaurs' four legs were trembling violently. Sweat poured from its body like blood — even the rain couldn't wash it away fast enough, and a pool of crimson was already forming beneath it.

Suddenly it let out a wretched cry. Its entire body deflated like a punctured balloon, shrinking down until it was barely two meters tall — and then even the centaur form was gone. What remained was a pale middle-aged man, his vitality utterly drained, his eyes vacant, collapsing into death.

At that moment, the giant eagle in the sky broke off from combat. Adai didn't dare pursue — it fled in a panic, chasing after Li Wei.

The giant eagle transformed into a Barbarian man, landed, put away the flame longbow and lance, and reached into the dead man's chest, retrieving a strange and mysterious magical seal.

If Li Wei had actually rammed the chariot into the King of Centaurs, that seal would have activated instantly — releasing a full unit of magical power, enough to reduce him and the vehicle to dust.

But it had all come to nothing.

A fortress destroyed for nothing. A satyr super-caster lost. And a five-star magical enhancement scroll wasted.

"Li Wei... Li Wei."

The Barbarian man murmured the name twice, then turned and leapt into the river, dissolving into a fish and vanishing without a trace.

Moments later, the hundred-plus centaur cavalry caught up — and found their centurion dead, expression peaceful.

By then, Li Wei had already crossed the river bridge — only to run straight into an Ability User relief squad charging to intercept him. They even had armored half-pig and half-bull fighters in the formation, and they immediately spread out to block the road.

Li Wei couldn't have been happier. He didn't slow down at all — he drove straight through them, sending bodies flying in every direction. The only cost was a few layers of magical resonance shaking loose from the four-star timber at the front of the chariot.

"Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!"

A dense volley of arrows rained down, including explosive-tipped ones — completely useless.

Adai caught up and dove, popping the eyes out of two centaur archers in a single pass. Then it unleashed a barrage of ice arrows, occasionally throwing in a death spiral.

It was as if Adai had been nursing a grievance from earlier and was now taking out every bit of it on these hapless centaurs.

Li Wei paid none of it any mind. Eyes forward, hands on the wheel, foot on the gas.

Even if these small fry were easy kills and there were Gold Cards scattered all over the ground — no. Speed was everything right now.

That five-star giant eagle had appeared far too quickly — less than five minutes after the territory-wide announcement, it had arrived at the battlefield and locked onto Li Wei. That was terrifying.

And Adai's report said the five-star eagle had vanished.

Had it truly disappeared?

More likely it was another Druid.

Which meant time was critical. He couldn't let the enemy coordinate and close in on him from all sides. If that happened, it was over.