Volume 4: People who challenge the light Chapter 13: The New Red Star
Judging from the situation, Skynet's "true confession" has obviously touched the girls in front of him. Although the more innocent Xiao Lajiao and Yue Linglong have not yet opened their mouths to plead for him, they are staring at me with hope in their eyes. Silence is better than words at this time, and it made me feel an invisible pressure .
Although favors are important, when it comes to matters of principle, there is absolutely no room for compromise. I gave a bitter smile and said, "I understand how you feel, Brother Tian. If it only involves my own interests, I will help you without hesitation for the sake of our friendship. But now the struggle between the two major forces of darkness and light has just begun. As the most famous necromancer in "Tianxia", my success or failure may directly affect the morale of the dark players and the confidence of other professions in us. As the saying goes, if you don't advance, you will retreat. What if I am trapped in the 'Valley of the Dark Wind' for a period of time, delaying my development and losing the advantage in the battle with the light players? The consequences..." Although I didn't finish my words, I'm sure they all understood the meaning.
Tianwang smiled slightly, "Although I am eager to escape with Lianhua, I am not an unreasonable person. I am also clear about the stakes involved, so we have considered many issues." He took out two things and placed them on the table, gently pushing them in front of me, "This is a ring with the attribute of 'increase the upper limit of mental power by 5%, and increase the speed of mental power recovery by 5%'. If the rescue is successful, it will be a thank-you gift from your brother. If you are also trapped in the 'Wind Valley' and cannot escape, I will kill you to help you escape. This ring plus the bracelet that Captain Xue gave me, which 'increases the upper limit of mental power by 3%', will be used as compensation for the 5% loss of your upper limit of mental power. What do you think of this arrangement?"
This plan is feasible. If you kill me, I will be reborn in the territory of the skeletons, and of course I will be out of trouble. As for the 5% loss of the upper limit of mental power, these two items can increase the upper limit of mental power by 8% and increase the mental power recovery speed by 5%. Calculated speaking, I am not at a disadvantage.
"In fact, if you were to do it, it might not be as difficult as you imagined. Lotus found a passage inscribed on a stone wall in the valley. It says that if you want to freely enter and exit the 'Valley of Dark Winds', the best way is to subdue a Devouring Ghost King. This will intimidate the Devouring Ghosts guarding the entrance of the valley, and they will no longer be attacked."
"The Devouring Ghost King?" I couldn't help but become interested. I've always been dealing with undead creatures like kings and emperors, and I've always gained a lot of benefits from them. If I don't have to fight with the Devouring Ghosts and forcefully break through the blockade, and instead find a way to subdue a Devouring Ghost King, the difficulty should be much lower. "How strong is he? Have you seen him?"
Skynet shook his head. "I was afraid that too many people would be too conspicuous, so I only brought one dark knight and five black warriors. As a result, all five black warriors died in the 'free territory', leaving only one dark knight. However, physical attacks are not very effective against Devouring Ghosts, and Lotus is surrounded by some weaker Devouring Ghosts that she has subdued. She can't even defeat some powerful Devouring Ghosts, so how can she have the strength to provoke the Ghost King. You have a group of elite soldiers and generals under your command, and you have a magic weapon in your hands. In addition, you have just become the first corpse king. Your strength must have increased a lot, and your chances must be much greater than ours."
The impulsive Little Pepper has already started to intercede for Skynet, and Yue Linglong's eyes are full of pleading. Although Afeng and Xue Wuxia have not yet made a clear statement, it is estimated that they are unlikely to support my ruthless decision to refuse to help. It is not good to go against the will of the people! Besides, Skynet is a friend after all. He has helped the Tongxin League out of righteousness because of me, and proposed an acceptable plan. It would be embarrassing not to agree to help.
"Okay!" I finally nodded and agreed, "But right now, a dark knight I subdued is evolving and has sucked up all my mental power. I don't have the ability to go to the 'Dark Wind Valley' for the time being. Once it's evolved, I'll come find you guys right away."
Although I agreed to help, I didn't accept Skynet's ring and bracelet. I'm not the kind of person who only cares about money. If I fail, it's understandable to get some compensation for my losses. If I can successfully rescue them, I will definitely subdue the Ghost King, and then this should be considered an expedition to expand the Undead Army. It would be unreasonable . After several refusals, I refused to accept it, and he firmly refused to take it back. Finally, after negotiation, it was temporarily handed over to Xue Wuxia for safekeeping, and everything would be decided after the rescue operation was over.
After spending half a month, Black Star finally completed its evolution and was about to break out of its cocoon. It had stopped absorbing spiritual energy from me, and its black ovaries were flashing with red light, flickering on and off, as if it could explode at any time.
I have finally waited for this moment. Previously, I was worried that the black star would hatch when I was offline, which would lead to a great opportunity being missed. I also have a "Pet Contract" scroll that I got when I was promoted to the third-level thief profession. If I can seize the moment when the black star hatches and successfully sign the "Pet Contract", it will become one of my pets. Not to mention how much its strength will be improved after evolution, just from the consumption of mental power, summoning a pet only requires 10% of mental power, while summoning a dark knight consumes about 40% of mental power. If three dark knights or above can appear at the same time, my strength will be greatly improved. And I don't have to fear death in the human world anymore. I will only return to the "Dead Spirit Space" for six hours and cannot be summoned, but I will not disappear permanently.
Although Black Star has signed a "Soul Contract" with me and will definitely not have any resistance to my actions, the "Pet Contract" scroll obtained by the third-level profession is, after all, a relatively low-level one, and it can only be signed when Black Star breaks out of the cocoon. There should only be one chance. I am not sure whether I can use this only chance to break through the instinctive resistance of powerful creatures above the level of Dark Knight. Tianxing's pet is just a low-level Skeleton King, and there is no relevant experience for me to learn from.
He stayed beside the ovary, remained calm and focused, and instructed Black Star to give up all resistance through the "Soul Contract", while holding the "Pet Contract" scroll in his hand, waiting for Black Star to break out of the cocoon.
The red light from the ovary became brighter and brighter, and the frequency became faster and faster. The inside seemed to be inflated, slowly expanding, and the outer shell became thinner and thinner. Suddenly, with a loud bang, the ovary finally exploded. For a moment, there was a red light in front of my eyes, and it was almost impossible to distinguish objects. This sudden change was beyond my imagination before, but with the spiritual induction of Black Star, I immediately determined its position. I remained in the same place and did not move with the explosion of the ovary. Almost out of instinct, I quickly launched the "Pet Contract" against Black Star. Of course, I also did not forget to use the solidification ability of "Attack Acceleration" to act as quickly as possible and seize this fleeting opportunity.
Oops, I failed. I had already used the "Pet Contract", but the magic scroll was still in my hand. Was my only chance wasted? I was unwilling to accept this. Almost as soon as I realized the failure, I had no time to think. I used the "Pet Contract" on Black Star again as a conditioned reflex, relying on the effect of "Attack Acceleration", hoping for a miracle.
Although my eyes were filled with red light and I couldn't see any changes, the scroll in my hand had disappeared, which meant that the "Pet Contract" had been successfully signed. From this moment on, Black Star became my second pet.
The red light soon faded away, and Black Star finally revealed his true form. Logically, he should have evolved into a higher level Terror Knight, but was this really Black Star? I was stunned by his new look. I had been hanging out in the High-level Undead Creatures Zone for so long, and I had seen many types of Terror Knights, such as Giant Bear Knights, Tiger Knights, Wild Lion Knights, and Earth Dragon Knights... But I had never seen such a weird guy. Could it be that he had taken too much tonic and had mutated?
Black Star himself didn't change much, except that his body became more sturdy. His black armor and helmet turned blood red, and he held a huge blood red horse-slaying sword in both hands. His image was not much different from the other Terror Knights. What really surprised me was his mount. It was not big but had eight legs, and its whole body was blood red. Unlike those mounts such as tigers and ground dragons, which were all made of skeletons, it should be a mummy-like undead animal. The front and back halves of its body were relatively thick and broad, and only the waist was thin for Black Star to ride. It looked more like a spider.
What kind of thing is this, a Horror Spider Knight? I quickly checked its properties. It's called the Horror Red Spider Knight, and has three skills: sprint, double slash, and flash combo, with the additional ability: intimidation; the mount is a red poisonous spider, which also has the skill: poison web. It looks like it should be a very powerful mount.
The "Sprint" skill allows you to use normal attacks while colliding, while the "Double Slash" is an extremely fast and continuous attack twice. As for the "Flash Combo", it should be an enhanced version of the "Flash Assault". Not only is the assault distance farther, but the direction and target can be changed arbitrarily in the middle, making it more threatening to use. The attached "Intimidation" is a higher-level ability than "Intimidation". It has a more obvious deterrent effect on low-level undead creatures. Even the Dark Knight behaves a little unnatural in front of it, with more or less a hint of fear. The "Poison Web" skill of the red poisonous spider refers to the ability to quickly eject a green spider web with an area of about one square meter from its mouth. It is not only poisonous, but also has strong viscosity. Once it sticks to the body, it can also slow down the target's movement while poisoning. Moreover, its shell is hard, and its protective ability is much stronger than the Dark Knight's skeleton horse. It moves very fast, and is not much worse than Taotao. Its eight thick long legs are also very flexible, and it has considerable power when waving, and can attack freely.
The evolution is finally completed, and the result is quite satisfactory to me. I also got Black Star as my pet, which is double happiness. However, looking at Black Star's new image, it is blood red, even its mount is red. It is obviously not appropriate to call it Black Star anymore. At the same time, in order to celebrate its rebirth and a brand new future, from now on, it will be named "Red Star".
After finishing all this, it's time to prepare to rescue Skynet. He and Red Lotus are still waiting for me in the "Valley of the Wind"! Although I have a lot of people under my command, including the Dark Knight, the Black Warrior, and the three zombie kings... I can also recruit hundreds of thousand-year-old zombie kings and mobilize a large number of ordinary zombies at any time. If I can mobilize all of them and devote the power of the entire zombie world, I will definitely have the confidence to break through the blockade of the valley entrance. However, to go to the "Valley of the Wind" to enter the high-level undead creature area, those low-level undead creatures may be slaughtered halfway, and it is impossible to reach the destination safely. Moreover, we have to cross the "free territory". If there are too many people, the commotion will be great, and it is easy to attract attacks. Therefore, I can't bring too many followers. Too few is unsafe, and too many is dangerous. It's really hard to decide!
After thinking about it, I realized that it was dangerous to go there. I couldn't bring Taotao and Hongxing with me. Although they had undergone qualitative changes, they had just completed their evolution and were still relatively fragile. They couldn't fully exert their abilities. It would take some time for them to get familiar with and adapt to their new identities. Moreover, they were both pets. If I couldn't defeat the Devouring Ghost King and couldn't get out of the "Valley of the Wind", I couldn't abandon them. If I took a "dead end" to escape, each of them would cost me 3% of my mental power limit before they could be resurrected. Undead pets have their pros and cons. Although they could help me fight in the "Dead Space", they also had to bear certain risks. I had to be careful to protect them. I couldn't ask them to do anything too dangerous.
According to Skynet, the Devouring Ghost is a non-entity, a kind of undead creature that lives directly as a soul. It is not afraid of physical attacks. The role of this dark knight is probably not great. It just acts as a bodyguard on the road to escort me to the "Valley of the Wind". However, the three corpse kings can be brought with them. Anyway, even if they die, the "Corpse King Crown" will not disappear. After three days, it will automatically choose the guy with the closest qualifications to succeed. At that time, I can subdue them again with my identity as the first corpse king. Even if their strength is a little worse, I can slowly cultivate them and let them take more supplements. The "Supreme Corpse Crown" comes with the "mental attack" ability that can directly attack the target's soul. It should have great lethality to the pure spiritual body of the Devouring Ghost. Coupled with the artifact "Touch of Death" in my hand, it may be possible to break the restriction of "Valley of the Wind".
I summoned the three corpse kings and selected five dark knights of average strength to accompany me, so that I would not feel too sad if I was forced to abandon them. Together, we stepped into the "free territory" and headed towards the direction of the "Valley of the Dark Wind" that Skynet told me.
