90: Chapter 90: You think your drop rate is too low? Then I'll just have to manually level you up.

Scalding magma bubbles burst, exploding into plumes of red mist smelling of sulfur.

Qin Ji's footsteps did not pause in the slightest, his boots clicking rhythmically against the obsidian path. However, the moment he was about to take his third step, the previously suppressed chill behind him erupted like a flood breaching a dam.

“Lowly Mortal, you think you can just take the benefits and leave?”

The voice of the Goddess of Ice and Snow was no longer ethereal; instead, it held a hysterical sharpness.

“Boom—”

The Void Realm trembled as countless crystal-clear ice spears, shimmering with a deathly gray light, condensed out of thin air above the sea of magma. Ignoring the Laws of physics, they did not melt in the extreme heat; instead, the convection between hot and cold triggered ear-piercing sonic booms, turning into a rain of death that covered a hundred-meter radius, indiscriminately carpet-bombing Qin Ji's back.

This single strike was enough to instantly wipe out a fully equipped, hundred-man max-level raid team.

However, Qin Ji didn't even turn his head.

He simply raised his left hand lazily and snapped his fingers.

“Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang—”

The dense sounds of impact were like rain hitting plantain leaves. Those ice spears, sharp enough to pierce Dragon scales, shattered into a cloud of ice powder the moment they touched an invisible absolute barrier three inches from Qin Ji's body.

【Immune】

【Immune】

【Absorb (HP +2333)】

A dazzling string of white characters floated above Qin Ji's head.

Combined with the [Frost Affinity (80% Resistance)] he had just extorted, his already insane magic defense, and the natural suppression of Divine Power by the [God Slayer Mark], this so-called wrath of a goddess was, in his eyes, weaker than a showerhead in a bathhouse.

Qin Ji stopped and slowly turned around.

He looked at the goddess in mid-air, whose face was distorted with rage, and his lips curled into a playful arc. His gaze was like that of someone looking at a teacup poodle trying to bite.

“I've given you enough face, haven't I?”

Qin Ji patted the non-existent ice shards off his shoulder, his tone disturbingly calm. “I originally wanted to keep you as a background element, but since you're in such a hurry to die, I'll just pad my stats while I'm at it.”

As he spoke, he didn't rush to attack. Instead, he narrowed his Purple-gold pupils slightly, scanning the status panel of the Goddess of Ice and Snow.

【Goddess of Ice and Snow (Remnant Soul · Weakened)】

【Grade: epic rank (Suppressed by World Laws)】

【Status: Divine Power Depleted】

“Only epic rank?”

Qin Ji's brow furrowed, his face showing unmasked disdain. “These drops are a bit shabby. Killing you will give a few hundred points of Intelligence at most; you won't even drop a mythic-grade affix.”

If an ordinary player heard this, they would probably have a brain hemorrhage on the spot. An epic rank BOSS was already the power ceiling of the current version; dropping a single piece of orange gear was enough to brag about for a year, yet this guy was complaining about her grade being too low?

But in Qin Ji's logic, killing monsters had a cost.

Taking action consumed calories, weapons suffered wear and tear, and most importantly—it was a waste of time.

“Since you want to fight, then we have to do it by my rules.”

A flash of madness crossed Qin Ji's eyes. As his gaze swept over something in his inventory, a bold idea instantly took shape.

Since the monster was too weak, he would manually “level her up”!

“Buzz—”

Qin Ji reached into his bag and pulled out that incredibly heavy [epoch cauldron fragment].

The moment this bronze fragment appeared, the boiling sea of magma instantly went silent, as if even the high temperatures were forcibly frozen by the pressure radiating from this ancient vessel.

“Recognize this?”

Qin Ji held the massive cauldron fragment in one hand as if showing off a new toy. “There's a trace of 'Primordial' aura lingering inside. If I throw it to you, what do you think will happen?”

The pupils of the Goddess of Ice and Snow constricted violently, her angry expression instantly replaced by terror.

“That is... the National Divine Artifact of the Ancient Eastern Kingdom?! How could you have such a thing!!”

“Don't worry about how I got it.”

Qin Ji grinned, revealing a row of stark white teeth. “Right now, you're like a starving ghost. The energy in this fragment is enough to let you briefly return to your Peak, or even... achieve a Breakthrough beyond your limits.”

Before he had even finished speaking, he actually tossed the [epoch cauldron fragment] directly toward the Goddess of Ice and Snow like he was throwing away trash!

“Catch! Don't waste it!”

If any other top-tier players in the God Domain saw this scene, they would absolutely lose their minds.

That was a fragment of a Divine Artifact capable of suppressing national luck! And he was just using it to feed a BOSS?!

The Goddess of Ice and Snow subconsciously caught the fragment.

At the moment of contact, a vast, ancient, and overbearingly peerless power surged through her arm and into her spirit form. It was a supply of Laws from a higher dimension; for someone who had been depleted for thousands of years, it was both a deadly poison and an irresistible delicacy.

“Aaaaahhh—!!”

A shrill scream echoed throughout the entire underground space.

The Goddess of Ice and Snow's body began to expand rapidly, her previously illusory spirit form instantly solidifying as countless eerie ice-blue runes covered her entire body. The magma sea behind her was instantly frozen into a black ice field, and her terrifying aura exploded exponentially!

【Warning! Target is undergoing mutation!】

【Warning! Target is ascending...】

【Goddess of Ice and Snow (mythic rank · Berserk)】

【Rank: ???】

【All attributes increased by 300%!】

“Hahaha! Power! This is power!!”

Feeling the surging Divine Power within her, the Goddess of Ice and Snow's reason was completely replaced by madness. She glared at Qin Ji, her voice like rolling thunder: “Foolish Mortal! You actually aided your enemy?! To thank you for your gift, I will pull out your Soul and turn it into an eternal ice lamp!!”

“That's more like it.”

Facing this terrifying pressure capable of destroying the dungeon, Qin Ji showed no fear. Instead, he nodded in satisfaction and casually opened his attribute panel, looking at the attack power value that was already overflowing the screen.

“A mythic rank BOSS... now the drops should be worth looking at.”

“As for killing me?”

Qin Ji's right hand grasped the empty air, and the ink-black Greedy Longbow appeared out of nowhere.

“Do you have some misunderstanding of the term 'aiding the enemy'? In my eyes, this is called 'fattening the pig'.”

“Die!!”

The berserk Goddess of Ice and Snow wasted no words, her hands slamming downward.

“Crack, crack—”

The entire space instantly collapsed as countless ice pillars, a hundred meters thick, fell from the sky like divine punishment, crushing toward that tiny figure. This was the grandeur of a mythic rank BOSS; every gesture was a world-ending Forbidden Spell.

However.

“Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish!!”

Just as the ice pillars were about to hit the ground, a Purple-gold afterimage carved a straight vacuum channel through the obsidian path.

Qin Ji's attack speed was pushed to the absolute limit at this moment.

Twelve arrows per second!

Each arrow was entwined with black destructive lightning—the exclusive 'True Damage' effect of the [God Slayer] class.

The first arrow shattered the foremost ice pillar.

The second arrow pierced through the divine protective light the goddess was so proud of.

The third arrow nailed itself directly into the center of her brow!

-105,025!

-210,050! (Critical Hit)

-420,100! (Weakness Judgment)

A string of crimson damage numbers erupted from the goddess's head like a fountain.

The Goddess of Ice and Snow, who had been laughing wildly just a moment ago, suddenly stopped.

She watched in disbelief as her HP bar evaporated instantly. It felt like a max-level character who had just put on god-tier gear and was ready to slaughter everyone, only to have their throat bitten out by a stray dog on the side of the road.

“How... is this possible...”

She wanted to counterattack, to mobilize the infinite Divine Power within her.

But Qin Ji didn't give her a single chance to cast.

“Too slow.”

Qin Ji's figure had appeared directly above her at some unknown point. The longbow vanished, replaced by a heavy greatsword with a ferocious design.

He gripped the hilt with both hands, his body coiled like a tight bow, and used the momentum of his fall to slash down fiercely!

“As a god, your HP bar is too short.”

“Boom—!!!”

The greatsword slammed into the ice shield the goddess had just condensed; there was no resistance, like a hot knife cutting through butter.

Violent kinetic energy was released instantly, and the Goddess of Ice and Snow's massive divine body shattered like porcelain struck by a meteorite.

The shockwave swept out, once again shattering the frozen magma field below. Countless shards of ice and magma mixed together, exploding into a brilliant yet cruel firework of death.

【Killed "Goddess of Ice and Snow (mythic rank · Berserk)"!】

【Triggered talent "Greedy Grasp"!】

【Plunder Successful: Obtained passive "Absolute Zero" (Your attacks will ignore Ice resistance, and there is a 10% chance to directly freeze the target's Soul)!】

【Plunder Successful: Divinity +10!】

【Obtained Item: Shattered Divinity (Quest Item)】

Qin Ji landed steadily, holding the greatsword in one hand.

Around him, shimmering points of light drifted through the air—the afterglow of a fallen deity.

He casually caught a blue crystal emitting a cold aura from the air; it was the [Shattered Divinity], the key to opening the door ahead. As for the [epoch cauldron fragment], after completing its mission as a 'catalyst,' it automatically flew back into his palm. The rust on its surface seemed slightly reduced, faintly giving off a sense of satisfaction as if it had just eaten its fill.

“So this is the loot from a mythic rank? It's so-so.”

Qin Ji blew the dust off the fragment and tucked it back into his bag.

He looked up, his gaze passing over the ruins toward the still-closed door at the end of the path.

Behind that door lay the secret the Goddess of Ice and Snow had wanted to protect—or rather, conceal—even unto death: the entrance to the Ancient Eastern Kingdom.

“I originally just wanted to complete a quest, but since you insisted on giving me a Divine-Grade passive, I won't be polite.”

A hot wind blew past, fluttering the hem of Qin Ji's black trench coat. He stepped over the scattered ice and embers, walking toward the depths of the darkness. His silhouette looked exceptionally lonely and dangerous in the flickering firelight, as if the one who had just slaughtered a god was not a man, but a terrifying Primordial Vicious Beast wearing human skin.