"What’s going on? Let’s walk and talk." Ethan asked as he started moving forward.
"Ugh, don’t even get started. The mission difficulty just got bumped up! It was originally an A-rank mission, but now even A might not cut it!" Emily said, looking frustrated.
"Even A isn’t enough? What happened?" Ethan’s curiosity was piqued.
Emily sighed. "My original mission was to assist a 9-Tier Radiant Spirit hero, Seymour, from the Unicorn Duchy in hunting down an 8-Tier Two-Horned Demon King hero. But when that guy fled to so strange place, a 13-Tier Legendary Unit—an Inferno Devil—suddenly appeared!"
Ethan froze for a second. "A Legendary Unit from Inferno? A Devil?"
"Yeah." Emily nodded. "That thing was insanely strong! Seymour, the 9-Tier Radiant Spirit hero, barely lasted a mont before getting killed on the spot. I had to suicide-teleport back to town just to save my troops. When I reported back, the Unicorn Duchy imdiately changed the mission difficulty to ’???’!"
"Now they want to send in stronger heroes to take down that Inferno Devil, but they said I’m too weak to go unless I have a powerful enough ally with ."
Emily looked at Ethan with teary eyes, her face full of frustration. "Bro, you gotta help ! Otherwise, they’ll just kick out halfway through, and all my effort will have been for nothing!"
Ethan sighed. "Alright, alright. No big deal. Where are they? Lead the way."
Emily’s face lit up. "Hehe, follow !"
...
Before long, they arrived at the Unicorn Duchy’s military camp outside Dunmire City.
A heavily armored man stepped forward, his expression filled with excitent. "Honorable Count Valkarion, it is a great honor to et you. And an even greater honor to fight alongside you!"
This was Gideon, an 8-Tier Holy Crusader hero. His face clearly showed deep respect for Ethan.
It was obvious—Ethan’s title as a Count of the Light Alliance carried significant weight among the heroes under its banner.
Standing beside Gideon were several other heroes:
Liora, a 6-Tier Vestal hero.
Griffith, a 6-Tier Royal Griffin hero.
Ignatius, an 8-Tier special hidden unit—Blazing Griffin Knight.
And leading this operation was Paladin Helena.
Paladins were a 10-Tier special hidden unit from the Castle faction, possessing both offensive and healing abilities—an incredibly powerful class.
More importantly, Helena wasn’t just any Paladin hero—she was an orange-tier Legendary hero, just like Eldorin!
But unlike Eldorin, Helena was young—barely twenty, just recently coming of age.
In terms of raw power, she wasn’t necessarily stronger than the others, maybe even slightly weaker. But her imnse potential had earned her a special promotion from Grand Duke Theodore himself.
He was grooming her to beco his most powerful champion.
And just as Ethan had suspected, the two strongest orange-tier Legendary heroes under the Unicorn Duchy weren’t actually theirs. They had been sent by the Castle faction.
In other words, these two Legendary heroes didn’t truly belong to the Unicorn Duchy at all.
But Paladin Helena was different.
She was personally trained by Grand Duke Theodore—a true, hogrown orange-tier Legendary hero of the Unicorn Duchy.
The problem? She was still too young.
Her skills weren’t fully developed.
Her level wasn’t high enough.
Because of that, Grand Duke Theodore had to carefully create opportunities for her to gain experience and grow—while also making sure she didn’t get herself killed.
In fact, he hadn’t wanted her to co on this mission at all. It was too dangerous.
The 9-Tier Radiant Spirit hero who had died? She wasn’t just any hero—she was an A-rank purple-tier Epic hero, one of Grand Duke Theodore’s most trusted lieutenants. She was incredibly strong, nearly level 50.
And a nearly level 50 A-rank purple-tier Epic hero was no joke.
She was far stronger than Helena at this stage.
Yet even she had been cut down in an instant by the Inferno Devil’s scythe. That alone spoke volus about how terrifying the enemy was.
But when Helena sohow got wind of the mission, she imdiately confronted Grand Duke Theodore and insisted on joining.
And the way she acted? It was clear—if Theodore refused, she would march off on her own and take on the mission solo.
That was just how Paladins were.
Put nicely, they had an unyielding sense of justice.
Put bluntly? They were stubborn, reckless, and completely ignored authority.
But that was just the nature of a Paladin.
Paladins were followers of the Holy Dragon Elrath.
Their power ca directly from Elrath, making them incredibly strong.
And Elrath represented the sun and light—which, in human terms, ant morality, virtue, justice, and peace.
In other words, faith was a Paladin’s highest priority.
Their lord or ruler? That ca second.
If you, as their leader, shared their faith in Elrath, upheld justice, and fought for virtue and peace, then a Paladin hero would be your most loyal and powerful ally.
But if you didn’t...
Well, then you were in for a world of trouble.
No exaggeration—Grand Duke Theodore had lost count of how many tis Helena’s reckless behavior had driven him up the wall.
There were monts when he was so furious that he wanted to banish her from the duchy entirely.
But that was never an option.
With Helena’s talent, she didn’t need the Unicorn Duchy.
Hell, even the strongest nations would gladly welco her with open arms.
If she left, she wouldn’t just survive—she’d thrive.
But if Theodore lost Helena?
Then he’d be stuck in the sa hopeless, powerless position—just another puppet ruler, a tool for others to use.
When he weighed his options, there was only one choice.
He had to grit his teeth and endure.
Endure Helena’s constant defiance.
And this ti was no different...
Grand Duke Theodore had no way to deal with Paladin Helena’s stubbornness and determination—so in the end, he had no choice but to hand this matter over to her.
But just in case, he practically emptied his personal reserves to support her.
A Tier 6 Vestal hero, Liora.
A Tier 6 Royal Griffin hero, Griffith.
A Tier 8 Blazing Griffin Knight, Ignatius.
A Tier 8 Holy Crusader, Gideon.
These were all his most trusted elites—his direct subordinates.
In fact, he had committed more than two-thirds of his entire personal forces to this mission!
Now, it was important to clarify: this was Grand Duke Theodore’s personal power, not the full military strength of the Unicorn Duchy. The two were very different.
Yes, Grand Duke Theodore was indeed the ruler of the Unicorn Duchy.
But that didn’t an he was the Unicorn Duchy.
First, the duchy itself was far from a unified entity. Its internal factions were tangled in a web of rivalries, with the four great marquises constantly at odds with one another. So of them didn’t even acknowledge Theodore’s authority, let alone allow him to command their elite unit heroes.
They simply wouldn’t take orders from him.
Second, there was the ever-present sword hanging over their heads—the Castle faction.
The Unicorn Duchy’s top-tier military power—its Legendary Units and orange-tier Legendary heroes—didn’t actually belong to the duchy itself. They were under the control of the Castle faction.
This ant that Theodore’s authority wasn’t as absolute as outsiders might assu.
More often than not, he couldn’t command those forces at all.
Otherwise, he would’ve just assigned an orange-tier Legendary hero to accompany Helena, and that would’ve been the end of it. No need for all this elaborate planning and massive mobilization.
"Count Valkarion, it’s an honor to see you again. May the Holy Dragon Elrath be with you."
Vestal hero Liora was visibly surprised, her expression filled with shock.
If she rembered correctly, the last ti she had t Ethan, he had only been a baron of the Light Alliance.
And now?
In such a short ti, he was already a count?!
That was insanely fast!
"Liora, long ti no see!" Ethan greeted her with a smile.
"Enough talk! We need to act now! Justice cannot allow the filth of Inferno’s Devils to exist!" Paladin Helena declared, her face full of righteous determination.
Ethan raised an eyebrow. "No problem, Paladin. But do you have any specific intel on these Inferno Devils?"
"We’ll find out when we get there, won’t we?" Helena replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Then she frowned at Ethan. "What, are you scared? If you’re afraid, you can leave. A brave Paladin has no need for a coward’s help!"
Ethan’s expression darkened.
Without a word, he activated Holy Armant and Celestial Fire simultaneously.
BOOM!
A terrifying surge of holy energy gathered around him, instantly forming a radiant suit of armor that wrapped around his body, exuding an overwhelming aura.
With a sharp whoosh, Celestial Fire materialized into a blazing longsword, its flas flickering vividly as it slashed straight at Paladin Helena!
It all happened in an instant.
By the ti Helena realized what was happening, the sword had already slamd into her chest plate—hard.
BANG!
Like a cannonball, she was sent flying backward, crashing into the ground with a deafening impact. The sheer force of the blow sent cracks spiderwebbing across the earth, the ground splitting apart in jagged lines that spread outward in every direction. The scene was nothing short of devastating.
"V-Val... Count Valkarion..."
Even the Tier 8 Holy Crusader, Gideon, stamred at the sight.
"Relax, she’s not dead."
Ethan shook his head, his gaze fixed on the rubble. His voice was calm, almost indifferent.
"Now, can we talk properly? I didn’t even use half my strength just now. If I had, you’d be seriously injured already. Believe ?"
He wasn’t bluffing.
Sure, he wasn’t an orange-tier Legendary hero, but his level was far higher—Level 34, while Helena was barely in her twenties.
On top of that, his Strategic Artifacts were ridiculously powerful—a mix of Tier 3 and Tier 2 artifacts, giving him a massive edge.
And then there were his Holy Armant and Celestial Fire—both Tier 3 magic.
In the world of Glory Lords X, Tier 3 magic was strong enough to rival the power of high-tier purple Epic heroes.
And Ethan himself was a purple Epic hero.
With all these advantages stacked together, he was easily on par with a low-tier orange Legendary hero of the sa level.
And considering Helena’s level was way lower than his? The gap was huge.
From within the rubble, Paladin Helena slowly got up, her chest plate half-destroyed, her expression dark and stormy as she glared at Ethan.
"Attacking by surprise? That’s a cheap move." Her voice was ice-cold.
Ethan smirked. "Then I’ll give you a fair chance to challenge . Let’s take this outside."
With that, he turned and walked toward an open area.
Helena, furious, stord after him.
"Ethan, take it easy! She’s an orange-tier Legendary hero..." Emily followed behind him, her voice filled with concern.
Ethan scoffed. "So what? Watch closely—I’m about to show you how to completely wreck an orange Legendary hero."
In Glory Lords X, raw stats were just the foundation. Hero tier was crucial.
But that wasn’t everything.
Level, Strategic Artifacts, combat tactics, elental counters, innate abilities, magic— all of these factors could determine the outco of a fight.
And Ethan? He had all of them.
Especially with the level gap in his favor—there was no way he was losing this fight.
...
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