Chapter 22: Submit, or Die

Submit.

Or die.

That aggressive momentum made Jia Qi's gasping freeze for two seconds involuntarily.

However, it was only two seconds.

After just a moment, the bloated mouse let out a wild, unbridled shrill laugh.

"Submit?! Just by you?! You don't even have as much deterrence as the Death Cavalry under Demon King De La Gong! Why should Lord Jia Qi submit to you!"

"This is the order of Hell." Bond looked at him unmoved and said in a cold and hoarse voice.

"Hell?! That Hell that is I don't know how far away from here?! Hahahaha! You want to laugh Jia Qi to death! Let me tell you, we rat-men have never believed in your Demon God for a second! The only ones worthy of our faith are the three supreme true gods! Lord Si Wei Er Te, Hael Geer Luo, Rui Fen Da!!!"

Those so-called three true gods were the Rat of Trickery, the Rat of Gluttony, and the Rat of Abundance worshipped by the rat-men.

Luo Yan had accidentally learned about those three Rat Gods in academic readings; he could only say that they were more abstract than the next.

In a sense, the reason rat-men were not accepted by the mainstream society of Hell was precisely because of their rebellious nature.

Although there were rat-man clans attached to Hell, he had hardly seen a few rats in the Demon Capital.

However, this was not what he cared about.

What he really wanted to ask about was another matter.

"Why did you betray Hell."

"Betray? I didn't betray. As for those things in the labyrinth, how could Lord Jia Qi know? Before the great Lord Ge Erluo bestowed power upon Jia Qi, Jia Qi was just a weak slave rat... a rat that you had never looked at straight!"

Jia Qi let out a shrill laugh, his whole body's fat trembling, as if mocking the stupidity of this Demon King.

In just a few sentences, he had already tested that this Demon King was pitifully weak and had no threat to him at all.

So, he didn't hesitate and immediately turned his face.

"Since you delivered yourself to the door... then go die!"

The sweeping rat tail was like a whip, and in just an instant, it whipped "Bond" away against the wall ten meters away.

The dust of the collision swayed in all directions, and that huge impact almost shook the remaining flesh and blood on Bond's body even more fragmented!

"Die! Die! Hahahaha!" Jia Qi screamed excitedly, unconsciously relaxing his guard.

Not missing this fleeting opportunity, Luo Yan, who had finished chanting the spell, stood out from behind the protruding rock holding the magic wand, and a dark yellow light was released from the tip of the wand!

"Earth Collapse!"

This time, he wasn't aiming at the floor, but the ceiling directly above Jia Qi's head! In just an instant, the originally sturdy rock cave dome shattered into several sections as if hit by a naval gun!

"Boom—!"

Large chunks of rock fell from the air, smashing toward the unprepared Jia Qi like a barrage of bullets.

That bloated mouse was suddenly startled, just wanting to turn around to face Luo Yan, but was hit squarely in the forehead by a giant rock, and his bloated body stiffened for an instant.

And this moment of dullness had already decided the outcome of the battle!

Large swaths of rubble pressed this bloated mouse to the ground in just an instant.

Even with hundreds of tons of fat as a buffer, Jia Qi was smashed and bruised, buried under the rubble, unable to move.

Looking at the human mage standing in front of him in panic, those amber pupils printed deep-seated horror for the first time.

It screamed in panic.

"You! You are the Demon King!"

This guy, although his volume had expanded hundreds of times, his true colors of being fierce in appearance but cowardly in reality, bullying the weak and fearing the strong, were still the same as when he was at his smallest.

Luo Yan smiled faintly, looking down at that panicked gaze and said.

"That's right, I wanted to give you a chance, but your stupidity tells me you don't deserve it."

Looking at those gradually cold eyes, Jia Qi trembled, his body pressed by the giant rock struggling with all his might.

"No! Lord Demon King! Jia Qi... Jia Qi was just blinded by desire for a moment! Please give me another chance! I I I will lead my clan to be loyal to you! Help you recover the labyrinth! Be your fiercest claws!"

Afraid that Luo Yan would be soft-hearted and let this guy go, You You hurriedly said in his ear.

"Lord Demon King, don't believe him! I can't feel any faith from him! He must be deceiving you!"

"I know, I'm not a fool."

After dropping this sentence, Luo Yan looked at the eager players behind him, and this time said in a language the players could understand.

"What are you still waiting for? He is the culprit who started this disturbance, tear him to pieces!"

Hearing the Demon King's order, the group of skeleton soldiers rushed up excitedly.

Some carried short knives, some held long spears, and some held dynamite that didn't know if it could be lit...

Except for those holding dynamite who were stopped by Luo Yan, all other skeletons rushed up and greeted Jia Qi's eyes, nose, ears, and other vital parts with the things in their hands.

Blood plasma and fat sprayed all over the ground, and that scene could only be described as unsuitable for children.

A dignified God-Chosen Rat with Steel-tier or even Gold-tier combat power was thus alive and A-ed to death under the rubble by a group of unranked skeleton soldiers.

In this world, level is indeed not absolute...

【Faith Value +11000】

Just when Jia Qi took his last breath, Luo Yan suddenly found in surprise that a line of ink-green pop-ups flashed in front of him.

This time, it wasn't experience points that increased, but faith?

"You You, what's the situation?"

As the roundworm in Luo Yan's stomach, You You naturally knew what he was surprised about.

"Ah! That might be the faith contributed by the slave rats to that big mouse. You and your players killed him, so his faith value naturally transferred to you."

Luo Yan froze.

"Faith value can also be transferred??"

You You explained.

"To be precise, what transferred is actually the godhead... If you didn't have an independent godhead, of course it wouldn't transfer to you, but since you have one, you can naturally absorb it."

Luo Yan pondered with his head down.

"Godhead... I always thought he was something like a God-Chosen, or is God-Chosen actually a kind of deity."

You You: "Hard to say, by the way, the Demon King is actually a similar existence, right? The Demon King's territory core clearly has the characteristics of a godhead, it's just incomplete."

It seems that what can be divided in this world is not just the power on the ground.

Silently noting this clue, Luo Yan checked his spoils of war by the way.

Besides boxes and bundles of wheat, dried meat of chickens, ducks, cows, and sheep, and dairy products, there were also some strange goods, and coins that were probably scraped from merchants.

Luo Yan was also seeing human world money for the first time.

Those were a few stacks of paper vouchers with faint sacred aura, and some silver and copper coins with various badges printed on them.

I don't know what this fat mouse intended to do by collecting these things, does he also plan to buy a house in the Holy City? In any case, these things are all his now.

Just when Luo Yan was thinking about whether to move these spoils to the Demon King's territory or leave them here for the time being, the early warning magic array he had deployed at the entrance of the cave in the morning was suddenly triggered.

Noticing the situation at the entrance of the cave, Luo Yan's eyebrows lifted slightly. "It's quite lively today, guests have come again."

Having said that, he wasn't surprised at all.

After all, the Beifeng Mine was originally one of the entrances to the Lei Ming City underground labyrinth.

It was just because the location was too remote that adventurers didn't come often.

"Do you want to capture them! Lock them up and save faith points!" You You instigated excitedly, looking more like a Demon King than himself, which was clearly influenced by the Demon King's territory core.

"Let's see the situation first."

Luo Yan waved his hand, and "Bond," who was lying on the ground, picked up the great sword again and stood up from the ground, swaying.

Then, he shouted to the players behind him.

"Except for equipment, don't touch the spoils here! This King has his own arrangements!"

Actually, "Catastrophe OL" didn't have a built-in storage space; even if the players wanted to touch it, they only had two hands to hold it, so Luo Yan wasn't worried about them rummaging through boxes and cabinets in his territory.

After dropping this last sentence, he took Bond and left Jia Qi's "palace," walking toward the entrance of the mine tunnel.

Because he wasn't sure of the opponent's identity, this time he didn't take the players with him, but quickened his pace and disappeared around the corner.

Although the entire Beifeng Mine had complex branches, there was only one exit, so it wasn't difficult to find a few intruders.

As for the situation of brushing past, Luo Yan wasn't worried at all.

Those adventurers had already been stained with the aura of the undead after triggering the early warning magic array; as long as it wasn't too far away, he could vaguely sense it.

Clearly, this was still a team that couldn't afford a mage and a priest.

However, for the sake of insurance, Luo Yan still chose to let "Bond" walk in the front, You You float forward as much as possible, and he himself walked in the back.

Moving forward along the mine tunnel for a distance, Luo Yan soon caught a glimpse of the light emitted by the torch at the corner of the cave.

Listening to the conversation of those adventurers, they seemed to be already retreating...

"Boss, I feel something is wrong here... I've been to the Beifeng Mine, it wasn't like this before."

"This sword mark... should be left by Lei Kesen. Can't be wrong! And this is the mark left by an axe, should be A Mu!"

"But where did they go? Could it be in the labyrinth?"

"Hmm... I can guess what Ke Lisi is planning, but if that's the case, they don't need to enter the labyrinth; near the entrance is fine."

Hearing familiar names from the conversation of the group, Luo Yan's eyes narrowed slightly.

It seems they came to save their companions.

Then there's nothing more to say.

He gave Bond beside him a look, and the latter silently set up the great sword in his hand, and with a stride, rushed toward the light source not far away.

"Dim Light!"

At the same time, Luo Yan raised the magic wand in his hand and pointed toward the cave ahead.

This was a Black Iron-tier undead spell, which could extinguish fire sources that weren't too hot and illumination spells of the same Black Iron tier.

When he was at the Demon King Academy, he generally used it to extinguish oil lamps or candles.

The torch in the adventurers' hands extinguished in an instant, and the entire mine tunnel fell into darkness in an instant. And falling into darkness with it were their eyes.

Eyes pitch black, a hair-raising feeling crawled all over Jie Ke's body.

He almost subconsciously raised the sword blade in his hand, and then a huge force knocked on the side of his sword, making his tiger's mouth ache.

Meeting the gaze of the attacker, his heart almost jumped to his throat! "Bond?!"

Not right—

This guy had already become undead! And was awakened by at least Bronze-tier or higher undead magic!

"Wait!"

Barely parrying the fierce attack of the great sword, Jie Ke took a jump back to pull away the distance, and at the same time raised his left hand.

"Please wait! Respected Mage! We have no grievances, there's actually no need to fight at all!"

"No grievances?"

Luo Yan, standing in the darkness, smiled lightly and said slowly, "You have already seen my magic, do you think I will let you go?"

A drop of cold sweat crossed Jie Ke's forehead.

From the other party's words, he heard absolute confidence—this guy had full certainty of keeping them all here!

Driven by the desire to survive, his brain turned fast, suddenly his eyes moved, and he opened his mouth to say.

"Why not? This is the Kingdom of Lei En, our faith in Shengxisi is actually not that pious..."

"And then?" Luo Yan said unmoved, manipulating Bond to continue moving forward.

At the same time, the chain of soul extraction had been firmly put on the man who looked the strongest.

"We can cooperate!" Feeling the approach of death, Jie Ke screamed. "Damn, you are a Necromancer, not undead! You always have things you need!"

Luo Yan stopped his hand, staring with interest at the group of people standing in the darkness.

"You want to make a deal with me?"

Jie Ke raised his head to look at the pitch-black cave, bit the bullet and said.

"Yes... many of my friends are actually doing jobs that would cost their heads if known; think about it, it doesn't seem any different from a Necromancer... I mean! I don't exclude you! And I can't report you! You have things you need, I can help you get them!"

"What if I want a sharp-eared slave?"

Hearing this, Jie Ke's breathing stagnated, but he didn't say the word "no."

"That would cost a lot of money... a lot, a lot; elves are, after all, allies of the Aosi Empire."

Looking at Jie Ke, who was sweating profusely, Luo Yan smiled faintly and said in a casual tone.

"I was just asking casually, it seems you do have unusual channels."

This guy is clearly not a good person, but his speech and promises would at least go through his brain, rather than just being like that little mouse, seeing the wind and steering the rudder.

Seeing that the mage master hiding in the dark was finally interested in him, Jie Ke finally breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his palms on his pants.

"That's for sure! You will find me useful! I swear to you! Also, my name is Jie Ke... can you tell me your name?"

Luo Yan had intended to make up a name on the spot, but he soon remembered that he could no longer sponge off the faith of His Majesty the Demon God.

He would sooner or later develop his own faith, letting his name resound throughout Lei Ming City, and even the Kingdom of Lei En...

"My name is Luo Yan. Also, swearing to me is useless, I want you to swear to it."

Just as this sentence fell, a grey crystal ball rolled to Jie Ke's feet.

Staring at the man who was at a loss, Luo Yan said in a light tone.

"This is a recording crystal."

"I want you and your companions to swear to it, saying Long live the Demon God Majesty, Long live the Demon King, Long live You You..."

"And, Shengxisi is a piece of shit."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 23 =====