Volume 6: Fighting for the World Chapter 93 Houston's Challenge
Through Khufu's narration, I finally got a general understanding of the "Dragon Bone Mountain" which has been famous for a long time but I have never set foot in it. The outermost area is relatively safe. No bone dragons live or move here. They are usually just passing by. There are no too powerful undead animals. They are generally below level 7 and are scattered. The mount of the "Acquired Knight" was captured in this area. The area between the outer and core areas is full of various undead animals between level 7 and 8. Although there are not many bone dragons living here, they have entered their sphere of influence. You can see them frequently, patrolling everywhere, hunting or stretching, so you need to be extra careful.
As for the deeper core area, it is the most dangerous place. Basically, there is no trace of undead animals. All living here are various bone dragons. Green bone dragons between the eighth upper level and the ninth lower level are everywhere. The ninth lower level bone dragons can be seen everywhere. There are also many white bone dragons at the ninth middle level. Occasionally, you can see black bone dragons at the ninth upper level. Being in it, you may encounter danger at any time. Fortunately, as a top undead race, bone dragons are arrogant by nature. Generally, as long as the scale of the battle is not too large, that is, the number of people involved in the battle cannot be too large, or if they have nothing to do with the target being attacked, they don't like to meddle in other people's affairs and rashly intervene in other people's battles. The reason why Khufu was able to escape death from the pursuit of the new white bone dragon was because other bone dragons did not participate in the battle between them. Otherwise, as long as any bone dragon stretched out his hand, Khufu would have died in regret.
With my ability and the "Blood Bat Transformation", as long as I am careful, I believe it is not too difficult to reach the "Bone Dragon Cemetery". However, staying in the "Bone Dragon Cemetery" and concentrating on holding the "Dead Spirit Scepter" to absorb the extremely yin energy is a dangerous and extremely troublesome task - new bone dragons may be born in the "Bone Dragon Cemetery" at any time. According to Khufu's personal experience, the new bone dragons seem to appear out of thin air without any signs, making it impossible to guard against them. They may appear nearby at any time. Not only will it interrupt my work of absorbing the extremely yin energy, but I am afraid that I will be chased by them. Even if I can get away, it will inevitably delay a lot of time, which will greatly affect the progress of the unsealing task and my development. It is not only useless, but also a burden. Unsealing the artifact is really a double-edged sword. If there is a slight mistake, it may become a trap that drags me down.
Therefore, in order to smoothly absorb the extremely yin energy in the "Bone Dragon Cemetery", there must be several powerful guards around, so that they will not have to flee in panic when encountering any bone dragon. Even if they are defeated, they can try their best to buy more time for me, so that they can absorb more extremely yin energy, in order to unlock the second seal of the "Dead Scepter" as soon as possible. Looking at all the subordinates, Taotao and Qitlei are still far behind the lowest-level green bone dragons, and they are not very useful at all. The only one who can help is Khufu, who is at the lower level of level nine, but it still needs to be soaked in the "Hell Magma Pool" to further enhance its strength, and it is at most equivalent to a bone dragon, which cannot bring me too much protection. It's a pity that I don't have the ability to subdue bone dragons at present, otherwise I can subdue a few bone dragons first and then enter the "Bone Dragon Cemetery" to absorb the extremely yin energy, and I will have a much better chance. It seems that I can only try to unlock the second seal of the "Dead Scepter" after I am promoted to the eighth level profession. Now I do not have the corresponding strength, and I will get half the result with twice the effort. It is impossible to achieve much effect. It is just a waste of time.
The matter of the "Bone Dragon Cemetery" can only be put on hold for now, but the plan to attack the Blood Emperor Vincent has to be slowed down. The most urgent thing is the "Hell Magma Pool" immersion qualification challenge that will be held in a few days on September 15th. During this period of time, I have been ordering my subordinates on the "Hell Volcano" to search as hard as they can, but there is still no news about the Lava Fire Bat Houston. Compared with the volcanic undead of other races, it is really "talented" in hiding. As long as it is willing to wrong itself and hide in a small cave in the form of a bat all day, it will be impossible to search for it with my current strength. If it is unwilling to be my subordinate, it can only be my enemy. Houston has declared its determination to stand on the opposite side of me with its actions - Hades has already issued a notice, and Houston has applied to challenge Hader, the necromancer, on September 15th. If it is just to gain a immersion qualification to enhance its own strength, as long as it has a little IQ, it is impossible to choose my subordinates as the object of challenge. This is the result I least want to see. I cannot escape and have to fight. I can only hope that Had and I can work together to create a miracle. I have never thought of sacrificing Had. On the one hand, I am determined not to compromise and surrender to the "evil forces". On the other hand, from Had's vague impression, the necromancer seems to have a little relationship with the trolls. Maybe when it undergoes another evolution, it may get a clearer memory. Think about the strength of Aristotle, the troll mage. Even if the strength of an ordinary individual is discounted, it is still a great temptation and I can't give up easily.
While trying my best to subdue more alien undead on the "Hell Volcano", I was practicing coordination techniques with Had, and at the same time deploying manpower and placing them in many areas to assist me in the battle. Although the rules stipulate that no fourth party is allowed to intervene except the parties involved and me, the master, I don't need them to directly participate in the battle, and indirect assistance to me can also play a significant role.
As for Silando, Dizang and Gonzalez, they all naturally submitted a challenge to Hades. This was also the condition I promised them. With their strength, they could challenge any of the other seven alien undead spirits who had obtained the qualification to immerse. As long as Hades did not make trouble, they would have no problem winning even without my intervention. Maybe I could even subdue the three losers as my subordinates. In any case, the qualification to immerse in the edge areas of the twelve "Hell Magma Pools" must be in my hands.
I received several depressing news in the "Dead Space", but fortunately, before the immersion qualification challenge, the "Resistance Alliance" finally brought me good news that cheered me up - the merit reward applied for our United Alliance has been approved, and I obtained two "pseudo-artifacts": one is the "Soul Sealing Plate" most commonly used by Undead Wizards, and the other is called "Soul Collecting Finger", which looks like a white bone finger without flesh and skin, and can increase the success rate of "Soul Contract" by 25%, and the effective time is also fifteen minutes.
This "Soul-collecting Finger" is a very rare "pseudo-artifact", and it has the same purpose as the "Soul-sealing Card". With it, I should be able to subdue the flame bone demon Kekexili who is still sealed in the "Soul-sealing Card". Perhaps when accepting Houston's challenge, there will be another choice - if you can create an opportunity to release Kekexili to hit Houston hard, Had will be able to win this challenge. Because the auxiliary prop "Soul-sealing Card" is used, it is not a violation of the regulations, and I immediately use the "Soul-collecting Finger" to subdue Kekexili, and I have not violated my promise to it, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone. Of course, if the "Soul-collecting Finger" is used in this way, only Kekexili can be subdued in the effective time of fifteen minutes, which is a bit too wasteful. If the undead creatures to be subdued can be gathered in one place, and then used to sign a "soul contract", it should be able to play a greater role. I am so worried about the outcome that I can't make up my mind. I don't know whether I should ensure that Had is not lost, or focus on the future and use the "Soul-Harvesting Finger" more effectively to gain greater benefits. I can only take one step at a time and see how the situation will be when Had and I join forces to fight Houston, and then make a decision.
A few days passed in a flash, and soon it was September 15, the "legal" challenge day on the "Hell Volcano". When I arrived at the top of the mountain, Houston, who had not been seen for a long time, suddenly appeared beside the "Hell Magma Pool". I tried to communicate with it to see if we could "peacefully" resolve the dispute, but it flatly refused. It seemed that it was willing to be Hades' loyal lackey and was determined to be hostile to me.
With Had's current strength, at best he is only at the seventh intermediate level, one level lower than Houston, who is at the eighth intermediate level. In addition, a mage fighting an assassin-type warrior, the races are mutually exclusive, and he is definitely going to die. Fortunately, looking at Houston's appearance at this time, although he is still holding on, he still looks a little listless, which can't cover up the fact that he is strong on the outside but weak on the inside. In the past three months, especially after I almost caught him that time, he probably dared not show up in front of people again, and probably even gave up normal "foraging". He can neither absorb energy from the "Hell Magma Pool" nor absorb the soul energy of other volcanic undead. His own information has not been replenished, so he will inevitably be a little "malnourished", which will definitely affect his state, and his combat effectiveness should be a little discounted. In addition, I have just obtained a "Blood Emperor Robe", which has increased the upper limit of his mental power by 400%. Even if it is weakened by the volcanic barrier, the "mental attack" that condenses 30% of his mental power will be much more powerful. As one rises and the other falls, it should have a certain restraining effect on Houston.
Of course, even if Had and I join forces, we still won't be Houston's opponent, especially Had, who is the challenge target, is far inferior to his opponent in strength and speed. The early stage of the war is the most dangerous stage. If there is a slight mistake in coordination, Houston may kill him. However, as long as Had and I cooperate well and can persist, I can activate the "Touch of Death" to continuously replenish my mental power, and continuously use "mental attacks" to consume Houston's strength. Maybe it can persist for three or five times, but after ten or eight times, it may not be able to chase Had.
I don't expect to completely defeat or even subdue Houston. Such a stubborn enemy will definitely not surrender to me. Even if the situation is not favorable to it, it can just run away. Neither Hader nor I can catch up with it. After careful consideration, I have given up the plan to try my best to keep Hader's immersion qualification. Instead, I will just make sure that he will not be killed by Houston in the challenge if things are impossible. As long as the green mountains are there, there is no need to worry about firewood. As long as life is still alive, it will not be too late to help him get the immersion qualification again when I have full control of the situation. Moreover, I can use the immersion qualification to trap Houston - if it fails this time, it is likely to continue to hide and wait for the next month to challenge again. It is even more troublesome to hide in the dark. It is better to give it the immersion qualification and stabilize it for the time being. When my power expands to the entire "Hell Volcano" and there are spies everywhere, it will be impossible for it to find a bat cave to hide. At that time, I will challenge it again. Whether to kill or subdue it, it will be at my mercy.
At twelve o'clock, all the people who participated in the challenge had arrived. There were four pairs in total, and one of my men participated in each pair. Hades then flew out of the "Hell Magma Pool" and announced the start of the September immersion qualification challenge. According to the rules, the two sides were 300 meters apart, and Hades gave the order and the battle officially began.
I first cast a "Hellfire Shield" on myself, just in case. Then Had turned around and ran away, not daring to confront Houston head-on. I fell behind, retreating while keeping a close eye on Houston, ready to give him a "mental attack" at any time . Houston immediately turned into a bat and chased after me. Looking at its flight path, it was obvious that it was going to bypass me and directly attack Had who was running back. Of course, I would not let it break through easily. With my current strength, the attack radius of "mental attack" has been further improved. I concentrated 30% of my mental power and hit it, which immediately interrupted its flight. Its body rotated several times in the air, but it could not keep steady. It fell headfirst to the ground. With Houston's strength, if he was in human form, he might only stumble a few times, but flying in bat form requires a higher balance. Once he loses control of his body, it is natural for him to fall from the air.
While continuing to retreat, I activated the "Touch of Death" to entangle a subordinate who was arranged not far away to replenish the consumed mental power. Houston flew up from the ground and continued to chase Hader, but was hit by my "mental attack" again and was knocked to the ground. After suffering two consecutive losses, he dared not rely on his strength to fly in bat form again, and honestly transformed into a human form and chased after him on foot.
When it got close to Had, I launched another "mental attack". This time, my body just faltered and stumbled a few steps. Soon I stabilized my body and continued to chase it. It was all because of this damn volcanic barrier. Otherwise, the power of my "mental attack" would be much greater, and Houston would not have been able to withstand it so easily.
Although I couldn't absorb too much spiritual energy in such a short time, I still had another way to stop Houston's pursuit. I activated the "Chaos Ball" to release a "fog of blindness" to trap it again, which could buy me some time. Had's only task was to escape, and try to keep a distance from Houston, and never give it a chance to attack me in close.
When Houston rushed out of the "blinding fog", what was waiting for it was a large cloud of blood fog, which was used to delay time. Although I was very close to it, and I even deliberately gave it the opportunity to attack me many times, it seemed that after experiencing the team challenge, it knew that it had no ability to kill me, and Houston was not moved by my "temptation". It has always focused on Hard as its main target, which made it very difficult for me to deal with it. I dared not relax for a moment.
However, it is difficult to win. If you just want to save your life, the difficulty is relatively much smaller. Probably due to the growth of mental power, the effects of "mental attack" and "blood mist" are much stronger than before, and Houston is not in the strongest state. After a struggle, the three "eye fog" were used up. I frequently cast "blood mist" to buy time for Hades to escape further. Then I let Houston go to find it, and I went to the side to replenish my mental power, and at the same time used my men everywhere to monitor Houston's movements. Once it approaches Hades, I will rush over immediately, and "mental attack" and "blood mist" will continue to entangle with it. Unfortunately, Hades used the excuse of cultivating the "tenacious fighting will" of the volcanic undead to not allow the challengers to voluntarily admit defeat when they are still able to resist, nor to find a place to hide. There will be some mental induction between the two challenging undead, which is convenient for finding, otherwise things will be much simpler, and there is no need to fight so hard to save life.
After a long time of attack, as the number of "mental attacks" he endured increased, Houston finally couldn't hold on anymore and lingered on the periphery, no longer easily entering my attack range, and even killed some weak volcanic undead nearby, absorbing their soul energy to replenish his own losses. I had no right to stop it. While replenishing my own mental strength, I was also happy to see it delaying time like this. Anyway, because Hades had been running away, unless he could completely defeat Houston, it could be said that the defeat was already decided, and it was impossible to keep the qualification for immersion. The most important thing was to safely survive the 24-hour challenge time limit. However, Houston didn't seem to give up. As long as he found a little opportunity, he was eager to rush forward to try it out. I guess it must be at the instruction of Hades, not only to win a qualification for immersion, but also to try his best to clip my wings.
The challenges of Silando, Dizang and Gonzalez had already ended, and they were naturally victorious. However, after I forcibly subdued the three defeated warriors who were only at the upper level of level seven, I did not let Silando and the other three take their place, but retained the original soaking qualifications of the three defeated warriors. After all, the more dangerous "Nether Dragon Challenge" will be next month, and they will have to go through it every month in the future. In order to preserve the backbone forces, under the circumstances of last resort, I can only select those who have no great prospects to make sacrifices.
