Volume 5: Protracted War Chapter 76: The Insidious Hades
"I surrender!" The sudden shouting made me stunned for a moment. I had never seen a sneak attacker surrender at the beginning of the fight. It was incredible. According to the attacker's speed, he should be able to escape even if he was injured. Why would he surrender? This means giving up on himself and leaving his fate to me. It is hard to imagine that someone would do this on his own initiative unless they have no other choice.
I came to my senses in a flash. Although the other party had claimed to surrender, I dared not be careless. Who knows if the NPC monster that simulates human thinking will play a trick of "fake surrender"? First adjust the position and block in front of Daxiu who was seriously injured and had no ability to protect himself. "Mental Attack" and "Touch of Death" are ready and can be used at any time. Judging from the situation just now, the sneak attacker should be targeting Daxiu. It was not easy to persuade it to become my subordinate. I don't want to be plotted against without any success. That would be too cowardly for both it and me. Of course, Taotao and Hongxing must be guarding in front of me, clamping the sneak attacker thirty or forty meters away in the air, preventing it from suddenly attacking and hurting people again.
Everything was arranged properly. I just concentrated and carefully looked at this strange attacker. Hey, he looks so familiar, how come he is also a flying fire ghost? Before I could figure it out, Daxiu behind me roared, "It turned out to be you, Guben! I am really mad at you, you damned little brat, you are so despicable and shameless. Not only did you betray me, you even dared to assassinate me yourself. Hurting the undead who have not yet recovered from the qualification challenge is a serious violation of the rules of the 'Hell Volcano'. Aren't you afraid of being punished by Lord Hades for doing this?"
Guben? So, the flying fire ghost in front of me is the rival of the same race that Daxiu hates the most, Guben who ranks 12th in the qualification for immersion. I met him once when Taotao challenged him. At that time, I didn't pay much attention to him because his fighting style was not suitable. I didn't expect him to be such a treacherous and cunning guy. Looking at his actions, he is indeed much more insidious than the honest Daxiu. Not only did he sell out the information of the most threatening competitor, but he also sneaked over to watch the battle and waited for an opportunity to plot against him. If Taotao and Hongxing hadn't faithfully carried out my orders and never let down their guard, they would have been almost attacked by him.
"Afraid, of course I am afraid. Lord Hades is the supreme existence of the 'Hell Volcano', and I am just a humble flying fire ghost. How dare I violate the rules set by him? But you originally only accepted the rule of Lord Hades, but now you have surrendered to Lord A-Dai and regard him as your master. In a sense, it is a betrayal of Lord Hades. My attack is a just act to clean up the mess. Even if Lord Hades finds out, I will not be punished too severely." Facing Dashu's accusation , Gu Ben felt no guilt and answered with confidence.
Daxiu paused for a moment, then hurriedly explained: "Don't talk nonsense there. There is no rule set by Lord Hades that prohibits us from serving others as our master. I am a free person and have the right to decide where I belong."
Gu Ben burst into a cold laugh, "Dashiu, don't be so naive. We are all native volcanic spirits who have been blessed by Lord Hades. It can be said that he is half our master. You have changed your allegiance without permission. Even if the rules do not explicitly prohibit it, it is still a disgrace to Lord Hades. He may not say anything on the surface, but he may have some grudges in his heart. You are willing to surrender to Lord Ah Dai just to get the qualification to soak in the 'Hell Magma Pool'. You still have to make a living within the sphere of influence of Lord Hades. There are plenty of opportunities and means to make things difficult for you."
Dashu was speechless, and couldn't think of any suitable words to refute it. It turned out that he was not smart enough and was no match for Guben in terms of wits. After all, we are one of us now, so I naturally can't let Dashu be bullied by Guben and affect its confidence. I immediately stepped forward to uphold justice for it, "Guben, don't make empty threats there. If the matter is really as you said, why do you still claim to surrender to me? Isn't such an act also a betrayal of the honorable Lord Hades, and you did it on your own initiative, which is even worse than Dashu's."
"Well..." Gu Ben turned around and looked around, "Master Ah Dai, this is the sphere of influence of Master Hades. Some things are not so convenient to talk about. Can we talk somewhere else?"
I thought about it for a moment, but I really couldn't figure out what this ancient book was up to. Could it be that he was still not giving up, and wanted to take advantage of the fact that the defense might be a little lax during the movement to sneak attack Daxiu? It's always necessary to be on guard against others, and this possibility also exists. "Okay, I can promise you to change places to talk, but before I figure out your true intentions, because of our hostile positions, out of consideration for the safety of Daxiu who temporarily has no ability to protect himself, I have to take some precautions in advance. You slowly lower your altitude, fly close to the ground, and keep a distance of 40 meters from us, so as to avoid any misunderstandings during the movement." The flying evil ghost lost its altitude, and its flexibility was greatly limited. It could only exert 30% of its 100% combat power at most, and the threat to us would be greatly reduced.
"No problem, I surrender sincerely. I will do whatever Master A-Dai says." Gu Ben agreed to my conditions without hesitation, and then he followed my request obediently, slowly lowering his altitude, getting closer to the ground, and keeping a distance of about 40 meters from me.
Even so, I still did not relax my vigilance. I arranged Taotao and Hongxing to closely monitor Guben's actions and attack him immediately if he made any unusual movements. I transformed into a bat and flew in front with Daxiu, heading towards the direction of the Undead Army. On the one hand, we followed Guben's request and left the territory of the "Hell Volcano". On the other hand, as long as we joined the army of corpse witches, under the "thousands of people pointing fingers", it would be impossible for a small flying fire ghost to come up with any tricks, even if it had all kinds of tricks.
Guben behaved very honestly along the way, without any transgression. We left the "Hell Volcano" area smoothly and arrived at the gathering place of the Undead Army. Guben fell directly to the ground. More than a thousand corpse wizards surrounded it in the middle. Without my permission, it could not get away. The strange thing is that Guben did not argue at all, and did whatever I told him to do, showing an attitude of letting me do whatever I wanted. I was really puzzled. I couldn't understand why he was so sure, as if I would definitely accept him. With Daxiu, the value of his surrender has been much smaller. Daxiu hated him to the core. Isn't he worried that I would take this opportunity to deal with him and do Daxiu a favor? Anyway, Taotao helped with the vacant soaking qualification, and it would still be in Daxiu's pocket in a month.
"Tell me, Gu Ben, what are your reasons and purposes for surrendering voluntarily?"
Facing the threat of the undead army, Gu Ben did not show too much nervousness. Of course, it was normal for his body to tremble slightly when surrounded by the army. After all, these were powerful forces that could completely destroy him in one encounter. "Master Ah Dai, please believe that I sincerely want to surrender to you, and I have no intention of deceiving you. The most direct reason is that although Lord Hades would be a little dissatisfied with such a behavior that is close to "betrayal", our strength is really too weak. For the time being, we will not take it into his eyes. Gains and losses are insignificant and do not affect his direct interests. It is not worth dealing with personally. At most, it will just set up some more obstacles to increase the difficulty of development and growth. It will not endanger survival in a short time. And my situation is already very bad. With Daxiu If it surrenders, once its wounds are healed, it will definitely challenge me next month. With Taotao's support, I have no hope of winning. Because of the extremely bad relationship between Daxiu and I, it hates me to the core. Not only will it lose its qualification to soak, but even its life will be difficult to save. If I can't kill Daxiu, I definitely don't want to be killed, so the only choice is to surrender to Master A-Dai and get your protection. Even if it makes future development more difficult, at least I still have a chance to live. If I lose my life too early, everything else will be meaningless."
Well, although the idea is a bit shameless, it cannot be denied that it sounds reasonable. Choosing to surrender is indeed the only way for Gu Ben to survive. Although it promised Daxiu to help kill Gu Ben, it has signed a "soul contract" with me and can only obey any decision I make. A flying fire ghost with the qualification to soak is delivered to my door for free. There is no reason not to accept it. The more useful subordinates, the better. Of course, it cannot be too obvious. It is also necessary to take care of Daxiu's emotions appropriately, so as not to make it feel resentful and not work hard in future battles. Besides, I promised it to kill Gu Ben anyway. I can't help but feel embarrassed to break the promise I just made.
"But I have already promised Dashu that I must help it obtain the qualification for immersion and kill you. You suddenly want to surrender, which really makes me feel embarrassed. I don't want to break my promise."
"Master Ah Dai, in fact, I did this not only to protect my own rights and interests, but also to benefit Daxiu, and even to you, Master. It is a hundred benefits and no harm. The 'Hell Volcano' is an extremely complex existence. It is certainly difficult for the weak to survive, but becoming a tyrannical existence does not mean that it will be safer. Master Hades is high above and has absolute authority, but in order to maintain the ruling status of the Nether Dragon Clan, he has always firmly controlled the right to soak in the 'Hell Magma Pool' and secretly suppressed the development of other volcanic undead creatures. Even if they have obtained the qualification for soaking, unless they are very few individuals who may evolve into Nether Dragons, once they grow too powerful, most of them will die due to some accidents. To this day, there are very few undead creatures of other races on the 'Hell Volcano' that have evolved to the strength close to the Nether Dragon. The number of strong ones is getting smaller and smaller, and even our flying Even a relatively weak being like the Fire Ghost can qualify to soak in the 'Hell Magma Pool'. The gap in strength is really too great. It is impossible for Daxiu and I to evolve into Hades Dragons. The ultimate goal of competing for the qualification to soak is to evolve into a Ghost King or even a Ghost Emperor. That is a kind of tyrannical existence that is qualified to compete with Hades Dragons. In the end, it will definitely not be tolerated by Lord Hades, and you may encounter a conspiracy at any time. Moreover, as your subordinate, you are not under the control of Lord Hades. Because of your special identity, once you grow up, you will definitely threaten the safety and status of the Nether Dragon Clan and even Lord Hades. Even if it is possible to evolve into a Nether Dragon, Lord Hades may not let you do so. As the saying goes, unity makes strength stronger. If Lord Ah Dai is unwilling to give up developing in the 'Hell Volcano', then you must do your best to expand your power in order to protect yourself so that you can compete with Lord Hades in the future."
Listening to Gu Ben's words, it seems that Hades, the Nether Dragon King, has a mentality of "If you are not of my kind, your heart must be different." But can a small person like Gu Ben have such a deep understanding of the lofty Nether Dragon King? But looking at its confident and eloquent words, it doesn't seem like it is making things up. "These should be beyond your cognition. How do you know? Are you guessing?"
"I once met a flying fire ghost king, who was ranked first in the immersion qualification ranking at that time, and had a close relationship with me. I am not as old as Daxiu, and the reason why I can achieve today's achievements is largely due to the guidance of the ghost king. Daxiu also knows this. It already has the strength comparable , and it is very likely to evolve into a ghost king, but it found that Lord Hades was secretly curbing its growth and setting up many obstacles, so it became suspicious and conducted a private investigation. These speculations were all told to me by it. Not long after that, it encountered a "violent period" of the "hell volcano" that came suddenly and without any signs, and it never came out again. I am of humble status and powerless to do anything. I can only try my best to use every opportunity to improve my strength and strive to evolve into a ghost king as soon as possible."
Daxiu also confirmed that the ghost king did have a good relationship with Guben, but unfortunately died later. It seems that his words are not groundless. If Hades really has ulterior motives, if he secretly does something bad at the critical moment of Taotao's evolution, the consequences will be serious. Moreover, the Nether Dragon King is so insidious. Once he knows that I have the ability to subdue other undead creatures as my subordinates, in order to protect the Nether Dragon clan and even protect himself, he will definitely do something. Unless I am willing to stay away from the "Hell Volcano" and give up the opportunity to let Taotao evolve into a Hell Nether Dragon and subdue the Nether Dragon, I will inevitably conflict with Hades in the future.
"Although Daxiu and I have had many personal grudges before, those were all measures that we had to take for survival and development. We didn't mean to make things difficult for each other. Now that we have Master Ah Dai as our backer, if we can put aside the past and re-establish a friendly relationship, relying on each other and supporting each other, we should be able to grow faster together."
