Chapter 210: Dormammu, I've Come to Bargain

In the world of Dark Souls, the war continues.

High in the sky, Artorias thrust his Sword into the chest of Thor, who had lost both arms; in truth, Thor could still have dodged this strike, but there was no longer any need.

"I have lost, but we have not lost," Thor said, staring at Artorias, enunciating every word.

Having said this, a mass of lightning exploded from his body, engulfing Artorias; the next second, Thor also exploded into a pile of ash, completely logging off.

When Artorias emerged from the lightning, countless charred lines appeared on his body; the damage brought by Thor's final strike could not be ignored.

Even more serious than this injury was the current situation; on the ground, Frank and all the players had already gained an overwhelming advantage, and he alone had killed hundreds of Undead Legion soldiers, acting as the straw that broke the camel's back.

The scales of victory had tilted completely; this situation was not something the severely wounded Artorias could reverse. The light radiating from the Bonfire was dazzlingly bright, beginning to push the black clouds back steadily and reclaiming the areas lost in the war.

"You've lost!" Frank pointed his gun at Artorias.

Artorias raised his greatsword and launched a charge toward Frank.

【Holy Light Baptism】

Countless bullets filled Artorias's path of advance, and Artorias, contrary to his usual behavior, did not dodge, but instead met them head-on.

The greatsword in his hand danced so tightly that not a drop of water could pass through; every Holy Light Bullet was either slashed away or deflected—in short, not a single one could strike his body.

Charging forward all the way, Artorias's speed grew slower and slower; by the time he was less than a hundred meters from Frank, he was basically walking.

Seeing this, Frank decisively pulled back to increase the distance; he didn't care if Artorias was showing signs of exhaustion—at times like this, being steady was paramount.

If he were to ruin a great situation due to a misjudgment in charging, Frank wouldn't know how to face his comrades who had given their all.

Watching Frank's choice, a hint of inexplicable appreciation projected from Artorias's eyes, and the sword dance in his hands gradually came to a stop.

Continuous Holy Light Bullets broke through the barrier formed by the sword light and struck his body, blasting out bloody holes. Within the holes, the power of the Abyss surged rapidly, attempting to repair Artorias's wounds; however, with Artorias having abandoned his defense, no matter how it repaired, it could not keep up with Frank's output.

"We were destined to win after all," Artorias said, the only sentence he had spoken since the war began.

While Frank was stunned, Artorias uncharacteristically closed his eyes, letting the Holy Light Bullets shatter his skull; the hero of this world could finally rest in peace.

When Artorias's body fell, Frank still found it hard to believe; after all, Artorias had died a bit too easily, as if he were seeking his own death.

Not until the advancing firelight swept over Artorias's corpse and forced out the power of the Abyss did Frank truly confirm that this Knight, who had forced him and Thor into a dead end single-handedly, was finally dead.

The restoration of the firelight suppressed the power of the Abyss within the bodies of all the remaining Undead Legion soldiers on the field; their mobility began to decline, and their consciousness even began to recover. Upon confirming the current situation, these warriors who had already sacrificed themselves calmly welcomed their second death.

The World Consciousness watched the retreating black clouds nervously; if the opponent still had a trump card, this was their only chance to turn the tables. If they were still hiding something at this point, they might as well take it to their next life.

Within the black clouds, Baron Stara looked at the complete corruption of the Secret Prayer Church players around him, not knowing what to do. He did not have the ample preparations the World Consciousness imagined.

After all, the sneak attack on Thor and the others was a whim, and the subsequent retaliation led by Kingpin came too fast; the situation had reached a fever pitch in an instant. Baron Stara still wasn't sure if those incompetent players had really held off the Undead Legion's offensive for long.

Where are the people?! Where are the people I told to pull the network cables?!

Baron Stara looked at the number of players below, which had barely decreased, his heart full of dissatisfaction. If those two guys had cut the power and internet fast enough, there would clearly have been hope to reverse the situation.

"Great Lord, I chant your honorable name..."

At this desperate moment, Baron Stara had no choice but to chant the name of his worshipped Lord, seeking the descent of Dormammu's power; in any case, he had no way to resolve this situation.

Boom—

Sounds came from within the black clouds, and the cloud layer surged and heaved like the surface of the sea in a storm. Within these black clouds, a power of a higher level was gradually descending.

Seeing the situation, the World Consciousness stopped waiting immediately; the Civilization Flame began to leap, spread, and attach itself to the three-headed dog.

The three-headed dog twitched its nose; it smelled a scent that disgusted it. Originally intending only to help the World Consciousness, it now set its target directly on the fellow about to appear.

Woof!

The lead head of the three-headed dog opened its mouth, and a stream of green acid sprayed directly into the sky. The rules represented by the Cosmic Demon God meant that nothing could withstand the corrosion before this acid, including the black clouds filling the sky.

In the blink of an eye, the thick black clouds were like a meadow plowed by a tractor; an unhealable gully broke open its secrecy.

At the end of this acid attack, Baron Stara ignored everything and continued to chant the honorable name they had compiled for Dormammu. When the acid sprayed in front of Baron Stara, the Dark Ring in his hand floated up.

Another kind of rule distorted the space around Baron Stara; the highly corrosive acid fell into silence under the influence of this rule, just like everything else swallowed by darkness, not even a ripple was splashed.

The three-headed dog landed on the ground, its body burning with the flames added by the World Consciousness. Its three ferocious mouths roared continuously at the sky. As the descent process accelerated, the three-headed dog could feel a bone-chilling crisis.

Suddenly, the world lost its color and its light; only the faint flames near the Bonfire on the ground were flickering. A huge black hole centered on the Dark Ring opened in front of Baron Stara, and a black arm reached out from within.

The ruler of the Dark Dimension, the world-swallowing king famous throughout the multiverse, Dormammu had descended upon this tiny planet.

After Dormammu appeared, he first glanced at the three-headed dog roaring on the ground, then waved his right hand, and a huge cluster-like Energy Entity stabbed straight down.

The three-headed dog appeared in the sky in a flash, its size rapidly expanding. The second head opened its mouth, its sharp teeth projecting a daunting light, and *Crack! * it bit down on the energy crystal. Wisps of cracks spread all the way up the surface of the crystal.

Madness flashed in the second head's eyes, and it exerted a bit more force. After a *Crunch, crunch* sound, the entire crystal shattered into pieces and scattered into the air.

The third head inhaled, and all these crystal fragments went into its stomach. The moment its mouth closed, even Dormammu could not perceive the existence of these energy fragments.

This situation made Dormammu feel a bit surprised. The energy reaction and rule manifestation intensity displayed by the three-headed dog, all things considered, in his view, had only just crossed the line of a Cosmic Demon God—the kind of level that was hard to escape once targeted by the Ancient One—but the current performance was a bit beyond expectations.

Three different rules were perfectly fused in the three-headed dog; the conflict between the rules seemed non-existent. This superposition of rules allowed the three-headed dog's power to exert an effect of one plus one plus one being far greater than three.

"Pah, not tasty at all." The second head spat, its tongue licking its slightly loose teeth.

"Meaningless struggle." Dormammu raised his hand and pressed it straight down.

As the palm descended, the three-headed dog only felt as if it were surrounded by darkness; enemies were on all sides, its perception was suppressed between its fur, unable to project even a tiny bit outward.

Just then, the flames attached to the three-headed dog burned up; the World Consciousness replaced the three-headed dog's suppressed perception, providing it with direction and guiding its next actions.

With a flick of its tail, the three-headed dog took the initiative and pounced toward the palm.

A mouthful of acid sprayed out, corroding a layer of energy and causing the solidified rules to begin to loosen.

The second head opened its mouth again and bit onto the palm; accompanied by the appearance of a faint mark on the palm, several teeth shattered and flew out.

The third head tried hard to extract the surrounding energy, but the current situation was like a vacuum cleaner pressed against an alloy—it couldn't extract anything at all.

Watching the three-headed dog's futile struggle, Dormammu slowly closed his arm. The Civilization Flame and the rules around the three-headed dog were gradually squeezed into a ball together, tightened to the extreme, looking as if they were about to shatter completely.

In an instant, all energy suddenly stopped flowing; everything around seemed to have been pressed with a pause button, becoming a still photograph.

*Snap! *

Dormammu grabbed at empty air; the three-headed dog took advantage of the sudden environmental change and managed to escape from Dormammu's palm. The solidified time mainly affected Dormammu, not it, though even so, the fur on the three-headed dog had lost its former luster, becoming a bit blackened and curled.

Dormammu looked in one direction; this feeling—that guy holding the administrator permissions had arrived.

The Ancient One walked out from the air step by step with her hands behind her back, looked up at Dormammu, and said, "Long time no see."

Without a word, Dormammu invoked all the power of the rules; the Dark Dimension descended upon this area, and everything around began to change toward its most primitive and chaotic state.

If it could be said that Dormammu had only used fifty percent of his power when dealing with the three-headed dog, preparing to kill it in one blow, then he was now exerting his full strength.

Snap!

The energy, carrying the force of ten thousand jun, directly crushed the Ancient One into a small pancake.

The three-headed dog's eyes were practically popping out; this situation was a bit wrong, wasn't it?

Just as the three-headed dog was astonished, Dormammu had no intention of relaxing at all; for so many years, he had killed the Ancient One more times than he could count, but it was of no use, or rather, the Ancient One had been letting him kill her all along.

Time began to move, but instead of continuing forward, it began to flow backward.

Amidst the fluctuations of time, the third head of the three-headed dog opened its mouth and spat out a mass of void power, wrapping itself in it to shield itself from some of the effects caused by the time reversal, preserving its memories of this period.

The Ancient One stepped out from the side once again, the situation identical to the one just moments ago; if the three-headed dog hadn't already been mentally prepared, it would have thought it was just a sudden sense of déjà vu.

"Dormammu, long time no see," the Ancient One said, looking at Dormammu calmly.

"Ancient One, you have crossed the line!" Dormammu roared; this was a double standard—he could go to Earth, but the Ancient One could not come to wander around his territory, even if it was currently just a disputed area.

However, this double standard had been tacitly accepted by both Dormammu and the Ancient One in the past; after all, for the Ancient One, there was no point in coming to provoke Dormammu in his territory, and if it caused Dormammu to increase the frequency of his invasions of Earth, it would only be more troublesome.

Correspondingly, back then, Dormammu wouldn't go to Earth to wander around for no reason; every time he went, it was because some problem had arisen on Earth and he felt there was an opportunity.

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"Yes, I have crossed the line," the Ancient One admitted very straightforwardly, "but you can also go to Earth. I invite you to go to Earth, provided you have the ability to do so."

Hearing this from the Ancient One, Dormammu was furious; if I could still go to Earth now, would I be here arguing with you?

"It seems you cannot go, so would you like to hear my terms?" the Ancient One continued, looking at Dormammu.

Dormammu was enraged and launched an attack directly; you call this negotiating terms?!

The Ancient One frowned; Dormammu was refusing to show respect.

As her figure flickered, the Ancient One escaped from Dormammu's attack, and countless magical lights emerged in the surrounding space; one super-level spell after another skipped the chanting time and the condensation time, smashing directly toward Dormammu.

This forced Dormammu to draw in the Dark Dimension to defend himself.

Even without the Eye of Agamotto, the Ancient One could fight Dormammu for quite a while relying on her own power; she was not like some people who relied entirely on the Time Stone and could only force Dormammu to the negotiating table by dragging things out.

"Today, you will discuss these terms whether you want to or not!" The Ancient One accelerated the local flow of time, directly multiplying the number of spells by several times.

A single person casting tens of thousands of super-level spells in a few seconds—if all these spells were thrown at some low-level civilization, it would be enough to wipe that civilization out.

That's right, I'm talking about Earth; excluding its hidden powers, Earth is just that vulnerable in the universe, though it can't be calculated that way either, since the Ancient One is firmly in the first tier in this universe.

The three-headed dog on the side remained silent, merely hiding its body; in times like this, in disputes like this, it was better not to show one's face.

"I said I won't talk, so I won't talk! Who do you think you are!"

Dormammu left behind these words and departed from this world directly, and the Ancient One did not use the Time Stone to stop his departure.

After Dormammu disappeared, Baron Strucker was also nowhere to be seen.

The Ancient One shook her head; so stubborn. Negotiations don't necessarily have to be spoken out loud; actions are more effective than words.