Just call me Thor

Watching the flames spread, Mike didn't stay idle.

High-tier demon creatures had various perks to resist damage or save their lives.

There were countless ways to stay alive.

But in the face of Mike's lightning, all those methods were futile!

"Boom—"

Terrifying red lightning leaped across the battlefield. Even though each jump reduced the damage by 50%, it was still enough to one-shot 99.99% of the demon creatures.

That 0.01% only survived because they happened to have lightning immunity. Without it, no one could withstand Mike's damage.

At that moment, Mike suddenly remembered something else.

"Damn, I forgot to ask Maxen if he has lightning resistance!"

Mike wasn't worried about Maxen's safety.

Even if a Thunderclap Strike hit him, Maxen had Fate's Reversal. It would make him look bad, but at least he wouldn't die.

What pained Mike was that he forgot to sell Maxen the Lightning Abyssal Pearl shards!

Meteor Fire Rain and Thunderclap Strike were unleashed in succession.

Standing on the hillside, surrounded by the Shadow Sea and ready with Ghostly Mirage, Mike raised his staff and began chanting.

"Wind Fury!"

"Sea Fury!"

One minute later, countless waves surged forward, layer upon layer, causing endless damage to the demon creatures.

Sea Fury's damage wasn't high. Even with Mike's nearly 100,000 Intelligence attribute, it wasn't much against Chief tier demon creatures.

But!

Thousands of layers of Sea Fury were an apocalyptic disaster for demon creatures below Chief tier!

With such a vast casting range, almost no creature could escape!

After casting, Mike moved quickly along the battlefield's edge.

Despite his high health and shield from continuous damage, he was still only level 200 and had to be cautious in this place.

After three successive attacks, Mike had killed over 10,000 demon creatures.

But from a bird's-eye view, the area Mike covered was less than a thousandth of the plane!

This battle was destined to be longer than he imagined!

"Meteor Fire Rain!"

"Star Pluck!"

"Wind's Reach!"

"..."

Mike kept attacking at the battlefield's edge, but he seemed relaxed, even chatting with Amari.

"Amari, if you don't mind me asking, you were Shadow Seven before, now Shadow Ten. Why is your level lower than the current Shadow Seven, and even Shadow Eight?"

Mike didn't compare Amari to Shadow Nine.

Anyone familiar with the Guardian Shadow's power dynamics knew: Shadow Nine, despite being ranked ninth, was undoubtedly the strongest.

Mike suspected that even Shadow One, Shadow Two, and Shadow Three combined couldn't match Shadow Nine.

"That's not hard to explain. There are two types of existences within the Guardian Shadow. One is the Shadow element Class holders. The other is like me... but it's better if Shadow Nine explains it to you."

Amari skipped the topic and continued,

"For the former, their level is based on their strength, unrelated to their rank. For the latter, the level is fixed by rank. If the rank changes, the level changes accordingly."

Amari added,

"By the way, Shadow One, Ares, and Shadow Two, Apollo, are the former.

They are nominally nine-tier Lords and the top three in the Guardian Shadow, but their true strength is known only to themselves and Shadow Nine."

Mike: ???

The top three in the Guardian Shadow have four people?

It sounded as absurd as "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse actually having five riders!"

Since they were already talking, Amari decided to explain everything in one go,

"In the top ten of the Guardian Shadow, ranks four, five, six, seven, eight, ten, and eleven belong to the latter."

Within the Guardian Shadow, the last of the top ten was Shadow Eleven, with everyone actively excluding Shadow Nine.

It made sense.

Listening to Amari's explanation, Mike nodded, getting a rough idea.

"So, their ranks are closely tied to their levels."

Mike immediately thought of another question.

"Amari, is there room for your level to increase?"

If the level was fixed, didn't that mean the top combat power of the Guardian Shadow couldn't get stronger?

"It can increase, but it requires ten times the effort..."

Amari didn't want to continue this topic, sensing an ominous feeling.

Having spent so much time with Thor, he could somewhat predict his actions.

Thor spoke up.

"Uh... I'm just curious... asking for a friend..."

Mike said seriously,

"If I raise your level from 980 to 981, how many Lord merits would I get?"

Faced with Thor's question, Amari was in a dilemma.

He knew that even if he didn't say it, Thor would find a way to know.

But if he did say it, Thor would definitely get excited.

Amari revealed the answer: "200,000 Lord merits."

Before Thor could speak, Amari quickly added, "After this mission, I'll challenge again. Whether Shadow Ten's rank increases has little to do with me."

Amari was confident in defeating Shadow Seven, even Shadow Six. His rank would rise, and Shadow Ten might soon be irrelevant to him.

Listening to Amari, Mike said, "But money matters to me!"

He had a Thor's Sea at home, a money pit.

How much did it cost to maintain that thing?

Thor's Sea had already cost Mike 6,000 Lord merits!

Don't forget, Mike also had [Sea God's Curse 2.0].

Any upgrade for Thor required double the materials, and Thor's Sea's limit increased by 100%.

So, Mike's expenses were four times the original!

This Suture Abyss trip, including various kill rewards, Abyssal Pearl shard sales, and transactions with Maxen, had earned Mike nearly 70,000 Lord merits. Plus, there were 10,000 Lord merits pending from Shadow Nine.

80,000 Lord merits, plus the 20,000 Mike had saved from frugal living, barely broke 100,000.

This amount was insignificant compared to Mike's need to build a top-tier Thor's Sea.

Not to mention, Mike also needed to forge an SSS-tier armor, which was hugely expensive!

Right now, Mike had a perfect opportunity to make money!

Helping Amari level up would earn him 200,000 Lord merits.

How could Mike miss such a good deal?!

He eagerly asked, "Shadow Ten, tell me your upgrade conditions!"

The strong in the Guardian Shadow had some things the Eye of Truth couldn't see, likely hidden by Supreme Being Morpheus.

Amari had anticipated Thor's reaction and said helplessly,

"I can't enter the Tower of Truth, so I have to level up by killing demon creatures, and it's ten times harder.

A typical level 980 strong person needs to kill one same-level demon creature to level up. I need to kill ten level 980 demon creatures to level up. Previous Shadow Tens have killed seven level 980 demon creatures."

The Shadow Ten position allowed cumulative kills of demon creatures.

Otherwise, Amari wouldn't have a chance to level up in his lifetime.

Including the nine-tier Lord Ice Spike, only two more level 980 demon creatures were needed for Amari to level up!

Mike keenly caught a piece of information: Amari couldn't enter the Tower of Truth?

The more he learned, the stranger the Guardian Shadow seemed.

First, the number of Lone Wolves exceeded ten million, but each Lone Wolf had a Guardian Shadow.

This was the scariest part of the Guardian Shadow. Even the weakest Lone Wolf had a Guardian Shadow!

Because of this, the Guardian Shadow was considered the strongest faction among the Supreme forces!

Second, the Eye of Truth once said that Shadow Nine was in a half-dead state.

Finally, Amari said he couldn't enter the Tower of Truth.

Considering that the strong in the Guardian Shadow funded Soul Element research, including many Soul Element experts,

Mike felt he was starting to understand something, and the truth might be heavy.