Volume 6: Fighting for the World Chapter 279: The beginning of chaos
The Church of Light may launch an offensive in the southern continent at any time, and the anti-La alliance will also inevitably launch the "Northern Strategy" plan to raid the Cathedral of Light. I didn't have much time to decide on my own countermeasures. As soon as I returned to the "Dead Space", I immediately rushed to the first forbidden area, the "Lost Kingdom", and tried to use the "Zhongji Puppetry" magic to forcibly subdue the new type of soldiers, the Fiery Bone Snakes, and organize a "Self-Destruction Legion" to help me fight, so as to strive to grab more results in the melee.
Except for me who was equipped with the "Fire Kirin Soft Armor Cape", and Taotao who acted as a mount and helped fight and attract the Explosive Bone Snake, I did not bring more men with me. After all, the environment of the "Lost Kingdom" was too complicated. The four attribute control areas of wind, fire, water, and earth changed in turn. It was difficult for foreign undead creatures to adapt, and it was not possible to gain an advantage by relying on the human wave tactics. Ebola and Wuma, who often went in and out and were familiar with the geographical environment and related changes of the "Lost Kingdom", had wind and earth attributes. Entering the fire attribute area would seriously weaken their combat effectiveness. They were also the "undead public enemy" Destruction Knight, and would attract active attacks from other undead creatures. Once they appeared in front of the Explosive Bone Snake, I was afraid that they would not have to wait until I forced them to sign the "Soul Contract". They had a strong tendency to self-destruct and would have rushed forward fearlessly and died heroically. It would not be helpful for the conquest operation. Anyway, my goal is not to forcefully defeat the Explosive Bone Snakes. The "self-destruction" ability makes it impossible for me to capture them. I just want to rely on my high success rate of signing "soul contracts" and the "intermediate puppetry" magic that can disrupt the actions of the Explosive Bone Snakes to strive for "one-pointed universe" and forcibly subdue the Explosive Bone Snakes in an almost intact state. I don't need too many subordinates to help in the battle, so as not to bring too much pressure to the Explosive Bone Snakes and make them "self-destruct" in advance. For this reason, I also specially transferred Gu Ben from the "Hell Volcano" of the native continent and is heading towards the "Lost Kingdom" of the Lost Continent at full speed, just in case. After all, compared with most of the Explosive Bone Snakes, which are only upper-level ninth-level. The strength of the tenth-level middle-level Taotao is still too strong. If those Explosive Bone Snakes are unwilling to deal with it more. Once they are attacked, they will launch "self-destruction". I also have no chance to forcefully subdue them. At that time, I will use the weaker Gu Ben, who is only at the ninth-level middle-level, to replace Taotao to take the task of luring the enemy, relying on its speed advantage. He should be more capable of doing this job than Taotao.
The first forbidden area, the "Lost Kingdom", is a very dangerous area. It is not only because of its unique environmental changes. Wind, fire, water, and earth change alternately. If you are not a native undead, you can't figure out the rules at all. In addition, there are many special types of highly dangerous undead races living in the forbidden area, such as the "self-destructing" fiery bone snake, the earth giant with the ability to "shatter into pieces", the wind killer Shadowless Flash, etc., each with its own special abilities, which are extremely difficult for us undead wizards to defeat and subdue under normal circumstances. It is too dangerous. I have also suffered a lot of losses. Every invasion operation in the past basically ended in failure. I was not able to subdue any valuable undead soldiers from the "Lost Kingdom". There were several times when I almost lost my life. Later, I didn't dare to try it easily. I temporarily gave up the idea of attacking the "Lost Kingdom". I just let Ibola and Wu Ma take the opportunity to break in and hunt the wind and earth attribute undead, and try to familiarize themselves with the basic situation of the wind and earth attribute areas. At the same time, I also constantly arranged for the undead under my command to explore the situation in the fire and water attribute areas at the cost of their own sacrifice, and send back some useful information before dying, so as to gradually increase my understanding of the "Lost Kingdom", waiting for the opportunity to be able to get involved in and develop in it.
Learning and mastering the magic of "Puppetry" brought me a glimmer of hope for the "Lost Kingdom". Relying on its unique ability to disrupt the normal behavior of the target undead, it provided me with the opportunity to forcibly subdue it - "Soul Contract" has a special nature, which is the most basic ability of every undead wizard. It does not belong to normal undead magic, does not conflict with "Puppetry" magic, is not within the scope of restrictions, and will not hinder my signing and subduing actions. Although I have already come to this understanding, the effectiveness of "Primary Puppetry" is still a little poor. After practicing to a five-star proficiency, I once tried to challenge the 9th-level upper-level Fiery Bone Snake, but I still could not effectively disrupt its consciousness and prevent its "self-explosion" behavior, giving me the opportunity to forcefully sign the "Soul Contract" successfully. Originally, after mastering the more powerful "Intermediate Puppetry", I wanted to practice it to a five-star proficiency before going to the "Lost Kingdom" to try it out. That should be safer. However, seeing that the war is imminent, in order to increase the combat power, I have to take the risk and start the forced conquest operation in advance. Unfortunately, I have been busy transforming and cultivating the giant magician dragon knight in the past few days, and I don’t have much spare time to practice "Intermediate Puppetry". Now my proficiency has just reached one star. I don’t know what kind of actual combat effect it will have against the Explosive Bone Snake. Fortunately, I have the highest resistance to fire attributes, and I am in the "Dead Spirit Space". Even if I am "self-destructed", three or two Explosive Bone Snakes will not kill me. As long as I deal with it carefully and don’t cause any big trouble, even if I encounter any danger, it should not be easy to take my life.
Although it is also a fire attribute area, the "Lost Kingdom" is not like the "Hell Volcano" that has obtained free entry and exit qualifications. There is no preferential treatment for me. Entering it will inevitably suffer fire attribute damage. Not only will the physical strength be lost, but the mental strength is also constantly being consumed. It is difficult for aliens who are not fire attribute to last too long. Fortunately, I have the high-level holy artifact "Fire Kirin Soft Armor Cloak" to protect my body. Apart from the artifact, this is already the best fire-avoiding equipment in "Tianxia". It greatly slows down the loss of my physical and mental strength, allowing me to stay longer.
Walking in the fire attribute area in the "Lost Kingdom", I rode Taotao, trying to save energy, carefully observing the movements around, looking for the figure of the Exploding Bone Snake. In the outer area, the Exploding Bone Snakes mostly acted in a scattered manner. Even if they were not alone, they would only be in groups of three or five at most, and they were slightly closer. Only when they went deep into the center would they be densely distributed. Dozens of them gathered in a relatively small area. At the slightest sign of trouble, they would move in groups like a bomb. They swarmed up, as if they were rushing to commit suicide, making people even more afraid to harass them casually. I don't have the ability to provoke multiple Exploding Bone Snakes at once, so I can only patrol the outer area. I wanted to take advantage of those who were alone and try to subdue them one by one.
I avoided the harassment of some fire-attributed undead that I encountered. Most of the undead in the "Lost Kingdom" are extremely aggressive. The more I fight, the more excited they are. Once they get entangled, it is usually a fight to the death. I don't want to waste too much energy on them. After searching for a while, I found a lone flaming bone snake. I will use it as my first "practice" object to try out the practical effect of the newly learned "Intermediate Puppetry" magic.
The effective range of the "Intermediate Puppetry" magic has been extended to 50 meters, but in order to seize the little time that disturbed the consciousness of the Exploding Bone Snake and successfully sign a "Soul Contract" with it. And let the "Soul Contract" work to prevent the "self-explosion" of the Exploding Bone Snake, I can't be too far away from the Exploding Bone Snake. Fortunately, I am still a part-time thief, my agility value is not too low, and my speed is not very slow. I should be able to rush to the Exploding Bone Snake in time to fight for "a designated world". At worst, I will be blown up again. With the "Touch of Death" to replenish my mental strength, my life should not be in danger. It's just that the loss of physical strength is more troublesome, and there is no way to effectively replenish it. Once it consumes too much, I have to exit the "Lost Kingdom" and wait for recovery before breaking in again.
After leaving Taotao, I let it lure the Explosive Bone Snake that was flying slowly in the air. Of course, I had to show weakness to the enemy and not show my strength of the middle level of level 10. Otherwise, the Explosive Bone Snake, which was only the upper level of level 9, would know that it could not defeat the enemy and would usually have a high chance of launching a "self-destruction". With a little provocation, the fiery Explosive Bone Snake rushed straight towards Taotao and launched an attack. Its physical attack ability was weak, and its main means of attack was to spit out a flame from its mouth. The direct damage it could bring was really limited. Normal fighting did not show much effect at all. The only thing I could show that made me afraid was the "self-destruction" ability, which seemed to be designed for this attack method, as a "blasting tube". Not only was it severely injured, but even if it was killed in one blow, it would not die quietly, but end its life in the form of "self-destruction". At most, it did not contain much mental power and was a little less powerful.
Following my instructions, Taotao patiently entangled with the Explosive Bone Snake, paying special attention to hiding his strength, and dared not have any "excessive" performance, so as not to disturb the opponent and let it realize the huge gap in strength between the two sides. I have had several experiences before, and Taotao's performance of showing weakness to lure the enemy is really not flattering to me. He always inadvertently showed his strength, making the Explosive Bone Snake angry and "exploding". The success rate of one-on-one is basically less than 50%. After so long, I let him summarize his experience and lessons and improve it. I don't know if there is any progress now. This is also the main reason why I urgently transferred Guben from the "Hell Volcano". I was really worried about Taotao's performance in luring the enemy, and worried that the action of subduing the Explosive Bone Snake was too inefficient. I brought Taotao here mainly to serve as my mount to effectively save physical energy consumption. Now I will use it for now. If its performance of luring the enemy still cannot satisfy me, when Guben arrives, I will give the task of showing weakness to Guben to complete.
Under Taotao's strong control, it did not show too much strength, and took a defensive stance everywhere. Its performance was still inferior to that of the Explosive Bone Snake, and gradually lured it to the ground. Seeing that the Explosive Bone Snake was determined to fight with Taotao and had no signs of "self-destruction", I quickly used the "Stealth" skill, leaned close to the ground, hid behind a flint pillar, and let Taotao lead the Explosive Bone Snake to approach it. It was about four or five meters away. I didn't dare to get closer, otherwise the Explosive Bone Snake might detect my presence at any time. At that moment, I quickly lifted the "Stealth" state, cast the "Intermediate Puppetry" magic, and concentrated on reciting the eight-character spell "The sun rises in the east, only I am invincible", which immediately made the Explosive Bone Snake stunned in place for a while, and stopped attacking in a trance. Taotao had already retreated to the side, so as not to hinder my actions. I didn't dare to neglect it. I immediately rushed forward at full speed, crossed the distance of four or five meters, and ran to the still confused Exploding Bone Snake. I jumped up. I used the "Soul Contract" and pointed at the head of the Exploding Bone Snake. Fortunately, the Exploding Bone Snake was not the type that was tall and strong. Otherwise, I really couldn't reach its head. If I didn't knock it down, I would have to ride on Taotao's back to enlighten it.
As both are upper level nine, the mental resistance of the Explosive Bone Snake is one level lower than that of the Black Bone Dragon. I was able to subdue them before I was promoted to the ninth level of the profession. Even if they are in good condition now, with the basic mental power reaching the first level of Super Silver, I should be able to subdue them by force. This was tested on the White Bone Dragon. The only worry is whether I can exert the effect of the "Soul Contract" in time to control the consciousness of the Explosive Bone Snake and prevent them from "self-destructing" when they realize that the situation is not good. Feeling that the "Soul Contract" has been successfully performed, I dare not stay any longer. Quickly move away from the Explosive Bone Snake to reduce the damage it may cause to me once it "self-destructs", so that I can retain more physical strength to persist longer in the "Lost Kingdom".
Fortunately, nothing unusual happened. Everything was just as I expected. The "Intermediate Puppetry" combined with the "Soul Contract" successfully subdued the intact Explosive Bone Snake and prevented it from "self-destructing". I checked the basic attributes of the Explosive Bone Snake, which were basically the same as what I had learned. They were bred directly from the underground magma, grew very fast, and were relatively numerous. However, apart from the "self-destruction" ability, they had no other advantages and died relatively quickly. Except for a few individuals with slightly higher IQs and better control of their self-destructive tendencies, the vast majority of Explosive Bone Snakes had very short lives. As they grew, their self-destructive tendencies would be further strengthened. They lacked the basic desire to survive of normal undead. They came from where they came from and went back to where they were going. Constantly experiencing rebirth can be said to be the fate of the Explosive Bone Snake clan. Because of this characteristic, the Exploding Bone Snake can only survive in the fire attribute area in the "Lost Kingdom". Whether in other areas of the "Dead Soul Space" or summoned to the human world, they can survive for a maximum of fifteen minutes. By then, even with the power of my "Soul Contract", they will be unable to suppress their instincts and will explode and die. This should be regarded as an indirect restriction on the "self-destruction" ability of the Exploding Bone Snake. Otherwise, they will definitely become a nightmare for other undead creatures with their high level and fertility rate.
After learning this, I immediately used the power of "Soul Contract" to issue a ban on the already subdued Fiery Bone Snake. Without my permission, unless it was injured to the point where its mental power was only 10% and it triggered a "self-explosion" on its own, it would never self-destruct and must survive well to more effectively fight against its instinctive self-destructive tendency. Fortunately, this guy was born not long ago and his self-destructive tendency was not very strong. In the absence of a life threat, he could temporarily suppress Tao Tao's provocation and deal with it with some patience, and was lured to me. If it were an old guy, if it was provoked a little, I'm afraid it would be so angry that it would choose to launch a "self-explosion" that hurt others and itself, and would not give me the opportunity to use the means of luring the enemy and forcibly subdue it using the "Soul Contract".
Sure enough, the plan of using Taotao to show weakness to lure the enemy did not go smoothly. Some of the Explosive Bone Snakes with particularly severe world-weariness did not fight with Taotao for long, and resolutely chose to "self-destruct". Moreover, Taotao's strength was obviously much higher than that of the Explosive Bone Snake. Even if it tried its best to suppress it, it would often be discovered by the more experienced Explosive Bone Snake and would not be fooled. If the Explosive Bone Snake was not too irritable by nature and not so sensitive, with a strength two levels higher and the same attributes, it would be impossible for it to deceive. Some of them were not well controlled by the effect of "Intermediate Puppetry", and they were a little nervous. They realized my existence, or felt the threat of the "Soul Contract" I had tapped on their heads, and immediately launched a "self-explosion", blowing me up and covering my body with wounds. The effect of forcibly subduing them was not good. After being busy for a long time, my physical strength was almost exhausted. When I had to leave the "Lost Kingdom" to recuperate, I only successfully subdued five or six upper-level ninth-level Explosive Bone Snakes. With my current strength, I can summon fourteen Explosive Bone Snakes at a time by performing "Undead Summoning" in the "Blood Transformation" state. This amount is less than half of my summoning capacity, which is not enough.
After being hit by "self-explosion" many times, through Taotao and my personal experience, and careful observation, I have roughly judged the basic power of the "self-explosion" ability of the Fire Bone Snake. According to the distance affected by the "self-explosion" and the mental power contained in the "self-explosion", the power of the "self-explosion" of the Fire Bone Snake is also different. Taking the most common level of the ninth upper level, if you are affected by the "self-explosion" with the least power when the Fire Bone Snake dies at a close distance of one or two meters, it is equivalent to being attacked by the full force of the tenth-level lower-level fire attribute undead. If the Fire Bone Snake is in good condition and "self-explodes" at close range, the power is even more comparable to the tenth-level middle-level fire attribute undead, and it will last for a short period of time. As long as it is within the effective range, it will continue to suffer damage. In addition to relying on its own defense ability to withstand it, the only way is to dodge as soon as possible. Unlike other magic beasts such as the Xiaoyue Wind Unicorn, which only "self-explodes" when they die, they can choose to end their lives at any time. It is hard to guard against. For players or NPCs, such "desperadoes" are the most frightening, and this is also the main reason why I am optimistic about them and am willing to take the risk to forcibly subdue them before the war. Perhaps the "self-destruction" ability of the Explosive Bone Snake alone is not enough to kill those Level 9 NPCs stationed in the Cathedral of Light, but if they cooperate with other undead minions such as Ebola to launch a surprise attack during the chaos, they should be able to achieve greater results.
After waiting for Gu Ben to arrive at the "Lost Kingdom", I finally freed Tao Tao from the task of luring the enemy. It became my full-time mount, reducing my physical consumption as much as possible. I only used it temporarily when I encountered a few Fiery Bone Snakes that were relatively close to me, and pinned down a few guys to cover Gu Ben, so that I could try to subdue them one by one. I no longer had to pretend to be a low-handed person with the strength of a level 10 intermediate. It was really difficult for it. Gu Ben is only at the middle level of level nine, so there is no need to hide his strength when facing an upper level nine Explosive Bone Snake. Although its lower defense makes the damage caused by the Explosive Bone Snake's "self-detonation" to it much greater than that of the middle level ten Tao Tao, he casts the "Sacrifice" magic to let Tao Tao share 80% of its damage, and he continuously casts the "Soul of the Undead" to heal it. Moreover, he has a fire-attributed physique and a strong ability to resist fire-attributed damage. His speed is only slightly slower than that of Ibola, so he can quickly retreat when encountering a "self-detonation", effectively reducing some of the damage. Even if he is unfortunately attacked by the "self-detonation" of the Explosive Bone Snake in good condition, his life will not be in danger, and he can boldly rush forward to take on the task of luring the enemy.
Compared with Taotao, using the ancient book to lure the Explosive Bone Snake close to me and forcibly subdue it is obviously more efficient. Unless I encounter an extremely world-weary old guy, the general Explosive Bone Snake will not take the ancient book of only level nine intermediate seriously, and will not easily choose to use extreme means such as "self-destruction". However, my danger has increased a little. I cast the "Sacrifice" magic on the ancient book as a protection. I only have the "Unparalleled Ninghu" magic to protect my body. Being "self-destructed" once will consume more mental power. Fortunately, it is not so fragile that it will be blown to death. I also have the "Touch of Death" and can get replenishment from the Explosive Bone Snakes who have been subdued at any time. As long as I don't provoke a few Explosive Bone Snakes to trouble me at once, I will act as carefully as possible, pay attention to the timing of casting the "Intermediate Puppetry" magic, take action at the right time, retreat immediately after casting the "Soul Contract", and don't bear the attack for too long, so there will be no worries about my life.
I was busy in the "Dead Soul Space" to subdue the Fiery Bone Snake and form a "Self-Defense Corps" to prepare for a surprise victory. The Church of Light did not give me too much time. Just three days after our Dark Council held an emergency meeting, they brazenly launched the "Southern Expedition" offensive and invaded the southern continent. As we expected, we did not plan to attack the two main cities controlled by our resistance alliance through "peaceful seizure of power" for the time being. Attacking a city is a super-large-scale operation that requires a lot of manpower and financial resources. The result is even more difficult to judge and full of too many variables. No matter the attacker or the defender, no one dares to say that they will win. Unless they have no choice, the Senate of Light will not confront us like this. After all, the control of the main city is the main source of funds for any force, and it must not be lost. If the Church of Light chooses the main city under our control as the target of attack, it will have to shelve the "Northern Raiders" plan and go all out to protect the control of the main city. This is also a supplementary resolution made in the meeting a few days ago.
The Church of Light did not deliberately hide its purpose and act low-key. It chose to invade openly with great fanfare, creating momentum and showing its intention to suppress the dark forces in the southern continent. Perhaps, as Long Xingtianxia was worried, the Council of Light might also want to use this action to disrupt the normal strategic planning of our resistance alliance, forcing us to temporarily change our plans and follow their pace. It is easier for them to take the initiative by confronting them head-on in the southern continent. First, several local light forces will declare war on several small and medium-sized mercenary groups affiliated with our resistance alliance, backed by top light players such as Supreme Rong Transcription. Unless our resistance alliance also uses all its elite forces to support them, the strength of those mercenary groups and the support of the local dark forces in the southern continent will not be able to confront the main force of the Church of Light and will be doomed to perish. Our Dark Council has already made a resolution to avoid a full-scale conflict with the Church of Light, especially the light players, at this stage. We cannot fully support those mercenary groups. After a resolute resistance, several mercenary groups were tragically destroyed and became the first victims of the Church of Light in order to consolidate its position in the southern continent and establish its prestige.
After the initial victory and in coordination with their iron-blooded actions, the Church of Light quickly sent out a message, claiming that this was the prelude to the inevitable decisive battle between the Church of Light and the resistance alliance, and demanded that all mercenary groups in the southern continent must sever their ties with the resistance alliance. Even if they are not inclined towards the Church of Light, they must choose to strictly maintain neutrality and not take any side or assist any behavior that is equivalent to cooperating with the resistance alliance. Otherwise, they will be regarded as enemies of light and become targets of attack. The several mercenary groups affiliated with the resistance alliance that were tragically destroyed are examples. Those who are stubborn and refuse to reform will surely suffer a disaster!
