Chapter 147: King of the Black Mountain (2)
"This is the Territory of the Count of Mount Heidu. Come to think of it, things haven't been very peaceful around here lately. Many villages on the outskirts have been massacred," Selena said.
"That is truly unfortunate," Lynn said calmly.
Selena gave him a second glance. A faint smile touched her lips, though what she was thinking remained a mystery. "You really have changed. I still remember how guilty you looked when you dragged that experimental subject into the cell."
"People change," Lynn said with a soft chuckle.
"Yes, they do." Selena looked up at the sky, lost in thought.
"Can I call in some help? Say, summon a demon?" Lynn asked.
"Go ahead. You're the help I hired; I don't care what methods you use to deal with the King of the Black Mountain's dependents," Selena said with a nod. "Just make sure whatever you summon doesn't go after the black dragon."
The two of them found an abandoned village to rest in for the night.
Lynn took a room to himself.
Relying on his own strength definitely wouldn't be enough. He had never borrowed power from others before, but that didn't mean he didn't know how.
After a moment of thought, Lynn narrowed his options down to three targets.
Maesys, the God of Tides and Sea Monsters; Shas, the demon he had once spoken with aboard Tutor Harlin's ship; and Dyo, the newly ascended Abyss Lord.
He immediately ruled out Shas—they just didn't know each other well enough.
That left a choice between Maesys and Dyo. Maesys was rather arrogant; back when the deity descended, it hadn't even seemed to take Harlin seriously.
Still, the god wasn't exactly in a great situation right now.
For any deity, spreading their faith was paramount. If he offered to let Maesys's consciousness descend into this world to gather believers, it might just be enough to strike a deal.
Besides, he might just be able to get his good buddy Maesys to invest the divine power he needed for his own advancement!
I am Lynn. I am only ten wisps of divine power away from advancing to an official wizard. Invest just ten wisps of divine power to help me break through, and once I become an official wizard, I will help you escape your seal.
Aside from Maesys, there was Dyo. As a newly ascended Abyss Lord, Dyo naturally needed to launch an invasion of a foreign plane to satisfy her subordinate demons.
Frenzied demons didn't fear death. As long as the scent of fresh meat spurred them on, they would act as the most fiercely loyal soldiers on the front lines.
Lynn only pondered for a moment before making his decision. Only children made choices; adults took everything.
The shadow demon bloodline essence he had extracted from the Fly Demon last time was incredible stuff.
Hongyan, having inherited the shadow demon bloodline, now possessed combat power approaching Tier 4.
If he could obtain more High-Tier Demon bloodline essence, he could cultivate his followers much faster. Beyond that... Lynn actually had another idea in mind.
He remembered a certain wizard advancement ritual known as the Son of the Abyss. It required a total of 999 High-Tier Demon bloodline essences from different races, though bloodline essence from an Abyss Lord or even an Abyss Great Monarch would obviously be optimal.
The lowest-tier version of the ritual only required nine types to complete the initial advancement.
If he could fuse the powers of divinity and abyssal demons together, blending their two advancement rituals into a single, superior one... Combining the cold rationality of divinity with the bloodthirsty madness of a demon—just the thought of it filled Lynn with intoxicating ecstasy.
Taking out the Sea God statue, Lynn called out the deity's true name.
"God of Tides and Sea Monsters, Maesys, my dear friend, do you hear my call?" Lynn gripped the statue's head with both hands, pressing his forehead almost flush against its brow. His dark eyes stared intently at the idol.
The statue gave absolutely no reaction, as if it were dead.
"My dear friend, have you forgotten about me just because we haven't seen each other for a while? Maesys, are you truly willing to slumber forever in the pitch-black depths of the sea?" Lynn cajoled.
Across the boundless chaos, at the bottom of the ocean in some distant, massive plane, an indescribable, gigantic entity slumbering on the seafloor heard a disjointed voice echoing by its ear—like the intermittent buzzing of a mosquito disrupting a sweet sleep.
Its slumbering consciousness shuddered, splitting off a wisp to sense a fresh, massive world.
Hmm? Wait, a completely new plane?!
In the deepest trenches of the sea, the gargantuan creature shuddered sharply, as if an electric current had swept through its body. The resulting ripples spread outward across the seabed, whipping up towering waves on the surface and triggering a minor tsunami.
Slap! Slap! Slap!
Lynn slapped the statue right across the face.
"Hey, my dear Maesys, are you dead? I hand you an opportunity and you just can't take it."
A trace of presence awakened within the idol, and two azure lights flared in its eyes.
The air inside the room was dyed a pale blue, accompanied by the faint crash of tides and the screeching of deep-sea monsters.
"Damned wizard, what are you doing?"
A low, majestic voice rumbled from the statue.
"Do you have bad reception, or just bad reception? I've already finished negotiating with my other partner, and only now do you show up." Unintimidated, Lynn placed the statue on the table and took two steps back, standing behind a stalwart woman in blood-red armor.
As if suddenly feeling secure, Lynn lifted his chin, narrowed his eyes, and smirked. "Since you aren't interested in spreading your faith across a foreign plane, forget it. My new partner can handle the job perfectly anyway," he said dismissively, resting a hand on the armored woman's shoulder.
"An Abyss Lord?" Maesys only seemed to notice the other woman in the room then.
He sensed the thick abyssal aura radiating from her.
"Hmph. It hasn't been long since we last met, yet you've already become just like the rest of those wizards. Speak. What price must I pay for you to spread my faith in this plane?" Maesys asked with practiced ease.
He sounded just like someone lying in bed, skillfully entertaining guests...
"One hundred wisps of divine power," Lynn said.
"Very well, but I can only give you five wisps right now. I have virtually no divine power left. Only after you help me spread my faith can I acquire more," Maesys replied.
Hearing Maesys agree so readily, Lynn suddenly wondered if he had asked for too little.
But he didn't regret it. He had only promised to help spread the god's faith; he had never specified to what extent.
Maesys thought he was binding him with this transaction, little knowing that Lynn also needed this muscl—helper.
Both sides harbored their own ulterior motives.
"Then there's the second transaction: I'm going to sacrifice a kobold tribe of over ten thousand to you. How you actually receive the sacrifice is not my problem."
The statue fell silent for a moment. You certainly know how to run a sacrifice.
Normally, when others offered a sacrifice, they placed helpless victims on an altar, serving them up like an all-you-can-eat buffet.
With this guy, the god was expected to dive into the river, catch the meal himself, and bring it back to cook.
However, Maesys didn't care about a minor issue like that, because he... was indeed quite hungry.