The black-haired boy sat quietly at the desk and lifted his deep, pitch-black eyes.

Across from him stood a blonde girl in silver armor.

Beneath her short silver skirt were long, shapely legs wrapped in black stockings so thin they seemed almost transparent. Her soft, slender body leaned forward. Both hands pressed hard against the desk. She glared down at the boy opposite her, fury filling that stunning face marked by a tiny tear mole.

“Li Wei, I’ve already made myself very clear.”

“I have to join Gu Shan’s team and begin the assault on the Demon King Citadel! They need me!”

The girl tried hard to suppress her anger. Above her head floated a golden title.

Lv 65

Vivian, only eighteen years old, was already the Sword Saint crowned with the name Veiled Moon.

In this world, everyone received the blessing of the gods and gained a power similar to a game status panel. By fighting through the Demon King Citadel, they accumulated experience and combat skill, raising their level again and again.

For Vivian to have reached level 65 at her age, and become a titled Chosen Hero of the sixth rank, she more than deserved the name of genius.

Yet when Li Wei looked at her, there was only confusion and incomprehension in his eyes.

“Aren’t you just fooling around at this point?”

“With only the power of your current Miracles and divine artifacts, you want to fight the Demon Lord? Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

“When you went to subjugate the Demon Lord of Annihilation back then, you were weaker than I am now!”

Vivian bit down on her silver-white teeth and stared at this man who looked strong on the outside but was hollow within. Her eyes were just as full of disappointment.

She couldn’t understand it.

Why had the strongest Chosen Hero of the past, the man who led the human armies to break through the Demon Lord army’s blockade for the first time, who marched all the way to the foot of the Demon King Citadel, and who had made immense contributions to slaying Annihilation, become like this?

Arrogant on the surface. Cowardly underneath.

Could time really change a person this much?

“You can’t judge strength by level alone.” Li Wei shook his head. “When I truly began the campaign against Annihilation, my level was lower than yours. But in actual combat, I could’ve handled several of you without a problem.”

Vivian: “?”

“And subjugating the Demon Lord of Annihilation and subjugating the Demon Lord of Immovable are two completely different things,” Li Wei said. “How can you use experience from dealing with Annihilation to deal with Immovable?”

“What does experience matter? Plenty of people in their sixties have already entered Immovable’s deep zone to fight!” Vivian said coldly.

Li Wei looked at her strangely. “Why do you have to compare yourself to other people? When other people were in their sixties, some of them died too.”

“???”

Ignoring the irritation on Vivian’s face, Li Wei said calmly, “I’m not trying to scare you. You have no idea how dangerous the deep zone really is.”

This wasn’t Li Wei being pessimistic.

It was an accurate judgment based on fact.

Between humans and demons lay a gap that could not be erased.

Especially when it came to the seven crowned Demon Lords.

They stood in a realm above humanity’s ninth rank, the very limit of human potential. Every one of them possessed a terrifying power beyond human reach—

Authority.

It was a power that stood at the summit of all others, something close to law itself. It carried absolute priority and effects so absurd that humans could hardly imagine them.

Throughout all of human history, no one had ever defeated a Demon Lord alone.

Even reaching one required countless hardships and rivers of blood.

And the one standing before Li Wei and the others now was one of the Seven Crowned Demon Lords, the mighty existence known as Immovable. Its powerful Authority, Immovable, covered the entire deep zone of the Demon King Citadel.

Under that Authority, every demon in the deep zone enjoyed the terrifying defensive effect of Immovable’s lesser form.

Just that lesser effect alone was enough to make countless Chosen Heroes struggle for every step in the deep zone, let alone face the Demon Lord who wielded the complete Authority.

Before they found the proper way to break through Immovable’s Authority, charging rashly into the deep zone of the Demon King Citadel was nothing but meaningless suicide.

“You’re not a child anymore. Don’t treat subjugating the Demon King Citadel like it’s something simple. Do you know how many lives were spent to clear the first Demon King Citadel?”

Li Wei spoke seriously.

“How far do you think you can go relying on Miracle alone? Your own will is the weapon that decides whether you can make it to the end!”

“But your training still isn’t enough…”

As he spoke, Li Wei shook his head slightly.

Miracles were powerful talents or specialties granted by the gods to every Chosen Hero with potential.

Compared to ordinary talent skills, Miracles often had the power to sway a battle and overturn the balance of strength. They were also what allowed top-tier heroes to stand against a Demon Lord’s Authority.

With every sentence Li Wei spoke, Vivian’s fists clenched a little tighter.

At last, she exploded and cut him off outright.

“Stop talking. I’ve had enough of this!! It’s always this won’t do, that won’t do, you’re still too weak, too weak!!”

“Do you even know how hard I’ve worked?! Is that training plan of yours even humanly possible? With a Miracle this strong, with a growth panel this strong, why would I need that much training?!”

“And stop acting like you’re always doing this for my own good, like you’re so devoted to raising me. I’m nothing but a tool to you. The honor of the first Demon Lord kill was stolen from you, and the name Dawn is the last scrap of pride you have left. You just want me to help you win your honor back!”

“I can’t reach the standard you want, fine. But all you really want is for me to reclaim your glory for you, right? I can do that now. I’ll just pay back what I owe you!”

Faced with that accusation, Li Wei’s gaze finally trembled.

He looked at the girl, who now felt strangely unfamiliar, and let out a soft sigh.

“I’ve never thought that way. I’m only doing this for your safety.”

“You don’t understand how terrifying the Demon King Citadel really is.”

“Hmph, don’t understand? You’re the one who’s never even entered Immovable’s Demon King Citadel, yet you talk like this. You’re the one who understands nothing. Or what, are you scared that after losing the first kill, you’ll also lose the record for youngest leader to break a Demon King Citadel, so you don’t want me to try?”

Li Wei lowered his eyes slightly and sighed softly.

“I don’t care about empty titles like that.”

Vivian said coldly, “If that’s true, then why have you kept holding me back and refusing to let me join the subjugation?”

“Even without your so-called power of will, even without your so-called strategy guides, haven’t the others still pushed all the way to the rear defense line just fine?”

“And even back when you fought Annihilation, didn’t you just crush everything with a pile of Miracles? What a joke.”

“And weren’t those Miracles of yours all things you seized through your own powerful Miracle anyway? And now you’re telling me to chase some vague, nonexistent power of will? I don’t need something like that. That’s just a disguise for someone like you, someone who’s even lost his status panel!”

“Face reality, Li Wei. You stopped being that strongest hero everyone admired a long time ago!”

Vivian spat out that final sentence in one breath. Her chest rose and fell violently. Her eyes were red as she stared at the young man.

That youthful face of his, unchanged for so many years, suddenly seemed different to her for the first time.

There was a kind of weathered exhaustion there. An oldness born of fatigue.

She had finally said what was in her heart. She should’ve felt relieved.

But for some reason, her chest still felt tight.

Even so, she kept her face cold and continued.

“I’ll help you take back the honor you want and return it to you. But from now on… my team doesn’t need someone like you anymore. Even without you, we can keep going just fine!”

“Someone like me isn’t needed anymore?”

Li Wei froze again.

Words like that—

this was the first time he had ever heard them.

In the past, what he always heard was—

“Li Wei, we need you. We can’t do this without you.”

“Thank goodness. It’s a relief you’re here at a time like this, Li Wei.”

“Lord Li Wei is here. Then we’ve already won. Just hold on, and victory will be ours soon…”

Even when he lost his power and left the core zone of the Demon Lord campaign, those people still said, at least on the surface—

“Li Wei, are you really unwilling to stay?”

“Maybe we can still try.”

“Why not stay after all… we might still need you.”

“We don’t need you.”

Li Wei, who had always been needed, always been crushed beneath duty and responsibility until he could barely breathe, heard that expectation for the first time.

And what rose in his heart at that moment was not loss, not confusion, not regret, but…

relief?

So I can finally stop being needed?

Without me leading the way, you really can walk this road on your own now?

“Good.”

Li Wei nodded.

It was as if a heavy set of shackles had been stripped away. For the first time, he felt a lightness that spread from the inside out.

When he left the core zone back then and entrusted those matters to others, he really should’ve retired and gone to live his own life.

The only reason he had dragged Vivian and the others this far was because he had accepted the heavy trust of teachers and friends. And if Vivian had said all this, then it surely wasn’t just her own opinion.

It probably represented what all of them thought.

If they were all willing to stand on their own, then he could finally free himself from these crushing responsibilities too.

“You know you were wrong— wait, what did you say?”

Vivian had her chin raised, thinking she had Li Wei cornered. But when she suddenly heard that answer, she couldn’t process it for a moment.

Huh???

“G-good?”

Vivian was completely thrown off.

What was good about this?

Wasn’t the next step supposed to be Li Wei lowering his head and admitting he was wrong?

Her resentment came from the way Li Wei always faced her with that same lofty attitude. He had clearly already been abandoned. He had clearly lost the things he once relied on. And yet he still carried that air that made her look up at him.

But if Li Wei had been willing to lower his head to her, willing to give in, willing to listen to her, then maybe their relationship could still have gone back to how it used to be…

“You’re right. I really should face reality.”

Li Wei spoke with feeling.

He had already done too much for this world. It was time to go after a life of his own.

These past years, even when he offered advice to others, the replies had gradually grown fewer and fewer. Thinking about it carefully now, those people had simply never said “we don’t need you” out loud. But hadn’t they already made their attitude clear?

There had even been signs in the rumors.

Things like, “The strongest of the past probably just wants to come back and ride the hype,” or, “He’s probably scared people will forget him.”

He just hadn’t taken them to heart before.

Now, looking back on it, he only felt relieved.

This was good.

Some knots really had been untied all at once.

And he truly had already done all he could.

Once a bird’s wings were fully grown, it was only natural for it to have a sky of its own.

He could see Vivian’s longing for freedom.

Even if he kept pouring himself out for them, how much would that ever be worth in their eyes?

He might as well put down these burdens. Stop thinking about saving the world every day. Just tease his daughter, bicker with his wife, and live a life that belonged to him.

Oh.

He didn’t have a daughter.

He didn’t even have a wife.

Well, never mind that.

Then—

primitive man mode, activate!

He could go fishing every day, tease some birds, and that would work just fine too.

Li Wei began imagining his retired life. Only when the word wife crossed his mind did a trace of indescribable complexity pass through his heart, as if he had forgotten something.

Vivian stared at him in utter confusion.

The heaviness and exhaustion on Li Wei’s face visibly faded at a speed the naked eye could catch, as if he had suddenly become radiant again.

If any other holy-light class users had been here, they probably would’ve dropped to their knees in awe of Vivian’s miraculous healing touch.

“Li Wei, do you know what you’re saying?”

Vivian was bewildered and lost. Deep down, there was even a faint trace of fear.

For some reason, she suddenly felt like she was about to lose something important.

“I do. Since I’m not needed anymore, then I’ll leave Dawn.”

Vivian hadn’t expected him to jump straight to that point so decisively. Wasn’t there supposed to be some back-and-forth after she threatened to leave the team?

Shocked and furious, the girl gritted her teeth.

“If you leave Dawn… then the businesses that used to look after you won’t come to you anymore either.”

“A double blessing.”

Li Wei let out another breath.

“???”

Vivian’s chest heaved with anger.

At that moment, Li Wei had already taken out a golden scroll.

Li Wei gave that brilliant, dazzling scroll one last look.

Light swirled around the scroll. Blurred words flashed across it, then turned into names he knew all too well, flowing through Li Wei's heart.

Dawn.

A simple, plain name, carved with the hopes of an entire generation.

Those two words had once been written in blood.

This scroll bore their names. It had carried the devotion of his friends, his teacher, and far too many others.

But now, of all those familiar names... only his remained.

Everyone else had died long ago, on the road they had forged together against the darkness.

He should've died on that road too.

I'm sorry.

I can only go with you this far.

"You really still can't bear to let it go..."

Seeing Li Wei gently stroke the scroll with obvious reluctance, Vivian let out a slight breath of relief. But before she could finish, Li Wei moved like lightning and shoved the scroll into her palm.

"This was something Teacher left to me. It's time I returned it to you."

"..."

"One last warning, Vivian. Don't go after Immovable. Otherwise, you'll regret it."

As he spoke, Li Wei had already reached the door. With his back to the girl, he lightly waved a hand.

That line only enraged Vivian again.

Forcing down the panic in her heart, she decisively erased Li Wei's name from the scroll.

"Li Wei, I'm Dawn's captain now! You don't get to make decisions for me!"

Her voice rang out, but Li Wei had already closed the door.

It was as if he had shut away her whole world with it.