Chapter 160 Joker
The sound of the violent explosion could be heard for dozens of miles.
At the same time, everyone outside the "Forest of Ashes" discovered something strange deep in the forest.
"Is there a volcano erupting in the forest? That's not right, why is it spewing out black gas..."
"Look, the forest is moving! What the hell is that?"
"It looks like a flower?"
"Have you ever seen a flower as tall as the Alcolon Mountains?"
“…”
At this moment, both the Colemans and the scavengers in the mechanical city were stunned.
Before they could figure out what was going on with the black gas that suddenly rose into the sky, there was a sudden earthquake.
Then, they saw that a large area deep in the forest suddenly turned into a giant carnivorous plant, which slowly closed its petals and swallowed up everything in the center of the forest.
A huge black and red flower bud suddenly appeared in the forest, it was so big that it was jaw-dropping!
At this time, somewhere in the forest, Dale, the "Ghost Mushroom Elder" who controlled the [Wood Totem] of the Coleman clan, was shocked and murmured to himself with a pale face: "It is said that the plant 'Morocad Flower' that grows in hell, how could this thing be in the Courtyard Tribe..."
After a pause, his eyes trembled violently, as if he understood something, and he murmured in despair: "The Black Tide is coming..."
…
The vision is far more than just the "Forest of Ashes".
In the forest, the black tide gushing out of the "Eye of Hell" was like a "flare", triggering a series of chain reactions.
Almost at the same time, black gas columns like blowouts appeared everywhere in the vast wasteland west of the Alcoron Mountains...
The black air covered the sky and the sun, and the whole wasteland seemed like hell, with no sunlight forever.
The moment the black air filled the earth.
Somewhere in the wilderness, in the frozen soil, the ground suddenly swelled and cracked.
In the shallow soil, a highly decayed corpse of a scavenger slowly stood up.
Its eyeballs had rotted away and its arm had been bitten off by some unknown animal.
The corpse staggered to its feet, and the black air in the air seemed to be attracted by a mysterious force in the corpse, absorbing it like a whale...
After a moment, the eye sockets of the rotten corpse condensed into a ball of black flames like a will-o'-the-wisp. Looking closely, the ball of black flames was condensing into black crystals...
This strange scene was happening all over the wasteland.
Even if only the bones were left after decaying, they were "revived" by the black energy...
Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions... the number is innumerable.
Not just humans, but also monsters.
…
This strange scene was also happening on the battlefield.
The scavengers were surprised to find that the enemy they had just killed slowly stood up again after inhaling the black air.
The monster that was just killed has also been resurrected...
Then what was even more horrifying was that they discovered that the resurrected "corpses" could not be killed at all.
Even if they were riddled with bullets, they could still move; even if they were cut in half, they could still drag their bloody internal organs and crawl towards the living with their hands to bite them madly. The higher the level of the corpse, the more terrifying its strength, the more brutal and utterly irrational it was...
Then, after the living person was bitten to death by the corpse, not long after, he absorbed the black air and became a new "zombie", staggering to his feet.
More and more wet corpses, rotten corpses, dried corpses, and white bones crawled out of the mud...
They can’t be killed to death, and they can’t be killed completely.
It was like a scene from hell descending upon the earth.
This is heaven for the dead.
…
In the extraordinary world, corpses do not decay so easily.
But the less easy it is for a corpse to decay, the stronger it was when it was alive.
For countless years, this land has buried one civilization after another, as well as countless powerful beings...
The corpses that had been sleeping for countless years were awakened by the black tide, and the monsters struggled and slowly crawled out from the depths of the soil.
And in those places where the black tide was erupting most intensely, huge figures slowly stood up. It seemed like they had just had a long sleep, and when they woke up, they were going to destroy the world.
These "zombies" seemed to be guided by some mysterious aura. They turned a blind eye to the monsters around them, but instinctively wanted to bite all living humans.
The "City of Glory", located hundreds of miles away from the Forest of Ashes, is the largest human settlement west of the Alcoron Mountains.
Soon, densely packed zombies crawled out of the ground in the wasteland outside the city.
They were attracted by the breath of the living, and gathered towards the City of Glory...
At first, the hunters could easily smash the skeleton monsters that crawled out of the shallow soil. But gradually, some tricky "zombies" that could kill high-level extraordinary beings appeared in the deep soil, and there were more and more of them...
The wasteland hunters retreated into the mechanical city and dared not venture into the wasteland again.
In just half a day, more and more high-level "zombies" gathered outside the Glorious City, densely packed with millions of them. There were skeleton monsters that were so weak that they could be smashed to pieces by muskets, and "giant corpses" that were hundreds of meters tall and difficult to be damaged by artillery...
…
In an inn in the City of Glory.
At a seat by the window, a young man in a black suit was leisurely drinking coffee.
He looked at the black gas column rising into the sky from the wasteland in the distance, as if he had expected it, and muttered to himself: "The 'Black Tide' has erupted..."
This person was none other than "Clemens F. Metternich", the landlord who had fought with Ryan.
The black gas gushing out shocked everyone in the city, but he took a sip of coffee leisurely, his eyes gradually becoming deeper as he looked into the distance.
A dense army of "zombies" began to appear outside the city, and everyone in Liushou City entered a state of combat readiness.
The Glorious City changed its defensive posture, and the artillery and magic towers also showed their ferocious fangs.
There was a scene of urgency and panic in the city.
Metternich's leisure was incompatible with the busyness. He drank the whole cup of coffee slowly.
He then used the sugar spoon to rhythmically tap the rim of the cup, making a crisp sound.
Ding, ding, ding...
After pondering for a long while, he finally seemed to have made a decision and muttered to himself: "Now, it's time to end that gambling game..."
After thinking about it, he stood up.
Metternich suddenly had a very strange aura. He picked up the silver-handled cane beside the table and, like a magician, made a dazzling flower in the air.
"Duk!"
When the cane was hit heavily on the ground, there was a clear sound, and a puff of smoke rose from under his feet and instantly covered his whole body.
When the smoke clears, take another look.
His originally neatly ironed black suit, which looked extremely gentlemanly, suddenly became colorful as if by magic, looking like a clown costume in a circus to make people laugh, which was very eye-catching.
And that originally handsome face was suddenly covered with heavy makeup, a frighteningly thick white foundation, a red nose, funny eyebrows, and exaggerated blue and red eyeshadow, and of course, that terrible grass-green short hair and red and green sheepskin hat...
He went from being a gentlemanly court aide to a clownish clown in the blink of an eye.
As his attire changed, Metternich's temperament also changed drastically, and a fake smile appeared on his face.
He looked at his clown costume and said with satisfaction, "Tsk tsk, I still like this outfit better..."
Without looking back, he flicked out a gold coin and left it on the table to pay the bill.
When I looked again, people had already stepped onto the street, walking happily towards the beautiful glass building in the city that looked like a pyramid.
As he walked, the clown took out a small mirror and looked at himself in the mirror with a conceited look.
Sudden,
He stopped, looked at his makeup in the mirror, and pursed his lips as if he was not satisfied.
Then, he tilted his head and thought for a while, and as if he remembered something, he snapped his fingers excitedly, "Click~".
He flicked his wrist and pulled out a flying knife like a magician. Facing himself in the mirror, he twisted his mouth and without hesitation used the sharp knife to cut open both sides of his mouth, leaving a bloody wound.
Then he held a small mirror in one hand and dipped his other hand in blood to touch up his makeup, applying blush and creating a big crescent-shaped smiling face...
When he looked again, in the mirror, he saw a bloody clown with a very creepy grin, and a violent smile in his eyes.
"This is perfect~"
He seemed very satisfied. He threw away the mirror and walked into the library.
…
The Joker walked in and shouted at the top of his voice, "Hey, Master Kavo, I'm here to play cards with you!"
The surrounding scenery changed, and everything in the library suddenly became illusory, with books floating everywhere in the air...
Even the clown's own body seemed to be weightless, appearing on an illusory black and white checkered chessboard.
"Hehe, I'm lucky enough to play a game with Master Kavo. I'll be proud of it if I tell everyone about it~"
The clown didn't care about the strange environment, and the smile in his eyes became more arrogant.
Without any hesitation, he stepped on the squares of the chessboard and walked towards the white-bearded old man wearing glasses and reading a book not far away.
Cavo did not seem at all surprised that Metternich was coming.
He was just surprised that such a big commotion had occurred, so he asked, "Did you cause the commotion outside the city?"
"yes."
The clown didn't hide it and smiled with his head tilted.
"I first got the information about the 'Morogos Temple' from an ancient document I found in the Royal Treasury of Omar..."
Black blood clots solidified at the corners of his mouth, and a mouthful of white teeth could be seen when he grinned. "Then, just as that group of old nobles were preparing to swallow up the Black Gold Chamber of Commerce, I gave it to the 'Black Gold People'. Of course, the two empires and the five major families of your Glory City naturally got the news and joined in..."
After hearing the whole story, Kavo did not comment much, but said calmly: "Many people will die in this unrest in the wilderness."
Joker: "Yeah, a lot of people will die... But that's not bad. On the contrary, it's a 'good thing' for this era."
Kavo raised his eyebrows, showing some interest: "Oh?"
The Joker continued, "'The Black Tide is coming, and Hell will descend upon the world', that's what the document says. But I read it and it's only to scare those ancient people. The current Steam City is enough to handle everything... After all, you know, no matter how powerful those underground beings are, this world will not allow the existence of forces beyond your level."
Hearing this, Kavo looked up at Metternich with a hint of surprise.
He seemed to agree with the clown's statement and asked, "And then?"
“Then, it’s a new era.”
The clown became more and more excited as he spoke, like a salesman promoting his own products. He spoke in a clear and sharp tone: "Although the living environment in the wasteland will be very harsh after the [Black Tide], this place will become a real hunting holy land. The zombies crawling out of the ground will bring out countless relics of ancient civilizations. And the 'devil energy of the abyss' will also turn this wasteland into a holy land for the cultivation of extraordinary people! By then, a large number of hunters from the two empires will flock in, and there will be a large-scale migration of population. The nobles will be panic-stricken, and a new order will be established. Of course, before that, I will also make Omar completely collapse. Although the regime controlled by Sid's group of vampires relying on their blood descendants is not easy to deal with, the tide of the times will sooner or later eliminate those guys who should have been lying in the coffin..."
After hearing everything, Kavo calmly closed the book in his hand and asked, "So?"
The clown narrowed his eyes into slits, "So I want to make a bet with you."
Cavo remained silent, as if he already knew the result, and waited for what would happen next.
At this time, the clown's expression became more and more excited, and he said again: "I lost, and I lost my life; you lost, so give up the Glorious City! Even if you still force it in your hands, it is no longer the 'Free City' you imagined..."
Cavo did not deny it, but asked, "Do you think I would bet with you?"
The clown was confident: "I have already placed all my chips on the gambling table. You and I are both in this game . If we don't decide the winner, who do you think is qualified to leave the table?"
Kavo glanced at him and said, "Oh? Are you going to play the Joker card?"
"Yeah ! After all, this round... is a gamble on your life!"
As he spoke, the clown's personality changed, and violence surged out.
He took out a deck of pure gold playing cards and threw them into the sky. At that moment, the illusory chessboard around him was actually forced back.
One side has 9, 10, J, Q, K, A...
The other side has the king, queen, bishop, knight, chariot and pawn on the chessboard.
Golden playing cards of various points and colors confronted the black and white chess pieces on the opposite side.
"It's an interesting ability..."
Kavo's expression didn't change at all as he gave a word of approval.
He looked at the poker cards unmoved and asked calmly, "Is it worth it?"
The clown narrowed his eyes, patiently watching Cavo flipping through the book, and responded: "If the solidified soil barrier is not broken, the new buds will never be able to grow. If you don't have the courage to break it, I will help you..."
Kavo: "You want to pave the way for that Princess Omar?"
"No. I want to give this era some hope..."
The Joker shook his head, his eyes flashing with rationality and madness.
After a pause, he continued, "Originally, that...that eldest princess was just a seed, who helped out. Of course, now it seems that she is the one that people are most looking forward to."
Kavo raised his eyebrows and said nothing.
The Joker narrowed his eyes and asked, "When we went to the plague base before, the doctor named Ryan made a statement that made me feel like I saw more new things. Don't you think that what he said meant that this era could have been better?"
Kavo nodded in approval, which was rare. "I agree with the theory that young man said, but there is still a long way to go. And you are too radical."
Being rejected again, the violence in the clown's eyes had reached its extreme, and his rational personality had been completely suppressed.
He said in a ferocious tone, "Master Kavo, don't you want to give this era a little hope?"
Kavo shook his head. “I see hatred and bigotry in your eyes. So, even if I agree with some of your views… I won’t let you do whatever you want.”
"So there's nothing to talk about?"
As soon as these words came out, the clown laughed crazily, and the light in his eyes became more and more violent, "Hahahaha... then let's make a bet, Master Kavo!"
His violent personality had long made him unable to hold back, and he wanted to have a game of chance with Master Kavo, the number one of the "Ten Legends"...
Even if it means risking my life!
This is the return of the gambler sequence!
…
An hour later, Metternich vomited blood and walked out of the library door in a somewhat embarrassed manner.
He looked back into the depths of the library with a complicated look.
Not far from the library, the eldest prince Quentin had been waiting for a long time. When he saw Metternich coming out alive, his face lit up with joy, but at the same time, a hint of coldness appeared in his eyes.
Seeing this uninvited prince, Metternich seemed to have expected it. He walked over with a horrible grin and said with a sly smile, "Your Highness, I have fulfilled your mission."
