Chapter 423 – Cathulhu Doesn't Believe in Prophesies
Nero glared at Sima Yi. The latter nodded at him.
"I remember you. You're the brat that Miaomiao took in when you were at Siren City," muttered Nero.
Sima Yi snickered while Paimon looked surprised. The former greeted his senior.
"It has been a long time, senior. I'm glad you still remember me. I thought you didn't take the memory-retaining item from the Beta Test period."
"I sure didn't. I recover my memory by just growing stronger. In fact, most of us don't need it since we can just read our existence karma to learn about our past lives."
"True. I'm sure Pangu didn't see this coming."
After a brief friendly chat, Nero's expression changed. He solemnly stared at Sima Yi and Paimon.
"Solomon and Belial want you dead. Did you know that, brat?"
Sima Yi snickered, "I know. That's why I'm taking the initiative to talk to you. I'll be direct. Please betray Solomon and join me."
"I refuse!" Nero opened his mouth and roared at Sima Yi. He also activated his domain, preparing to kill both Sima Yi and Paimon.
Paimon sweated profusely. He knew that he wasn't Nero's opponent. On the other hand, Sima Yi's smile never faded from his face.
"I know that Solomon is using your family as hostages! I promise that I'll save them all!"
Nero maintained his domain, but his red eyes glared into Sima Yi's soul, "With just you two? I can't even defeat Belial or Solomon. How are you going to help me with your puny strength?"
"I've learned a skill that Zhuge Liang and Mao Miaomiao couldn't learn! It's the power of Enslavement! I can enslave even sages as long as I get my hands on their karma strings!"
Nero frowned. He didn't believe in Sima Yi. However, Paimon repeatedly nodded to confirm this information.
"He's speaking the truth, sir. He and I fought, and he's enslaved me. I can't disobey his orders."
"…"
Nero raised his eyebrows. He was impressed.
"You're just an immortal, but you've managed to enslave a dragon deity. You're quite skilled."
"Thanks for your praise, but we don't have much time. We need to go back to your dungeon and enslave Belial. Then, we can rescue your family together."
Nero gave Sima Yi a meaningful look. He slowly nodded and turned around.
"Follow me."
"Yes, senior."
Nero disappeared into the portal while Paimon and Sima Yi followed after him.
Meanwhile, the other dragons that had been trailing the group remained around the portal, looking at each other in confusion.
"You heard that?"
"W-What should we do?"
"L-Lord Paimon and Lord Nero are planning to rebel. S-Should we inform Lord Solomon?"
"And get ourselves entangled in their fight? We're just quasi-deities, but those guys are either quasi-sages or deities. I ain't joining their fight and dying in vain. Uh-uh!"
In the end, the bystanding dragons stayed outside.
.
.
Netherworld Realm
Solomon suddenly snapped open his eyes during the meditation session. He sensed multiple protagonists gathering in one place.
He tracked their location right away. Instantly, he found Xiaomao, Jungwoo, Bianca, and the heavenly fate crystal of Caesar.
Solomon then searched for other protagonists. Ma Moxi and Chase were nowhere to be found. Sima Yi was at the Volcano Dungeon's deepest floor while Mao Miaomiao continued to blast through the upper levels.
"Caesar is dead. Sima Yi and Nero are doing something suspicious. Mao Miaomiao will soon reach here. Huntsman and Zhou Yu will end up running into Mao Miaomiao first, but they have no idea that I sent Explorer and others to Nero. That means…"
Solomon closed his eyes and observed the situation in the dungeon core's room. He found Nero, Sima Yi, and Paimon together. However, Belial confronted them.
"Interesting."
.
.
Sima Yi, Nero, and Paimon stumbled upon Belial in his dragon form when they returned. Behind Belial, Explorer, Liu Bei, Wei Yan, Jiang Wei, and countless players followed their leader, planning to cross the portal behind Nero to go outside.
Belial glanced at Sima Yi. He scoffed, "What are you doing, Nero? Kill that protagonist right now, so we can give his fate crystal to Lord Solomon."
Nero took several deep breaths. He had expected this, "Aren't the people behind you [Heroes], too? They have similar traits to protagonists, no?"
"They're different. They're Dark Heroes. They're our saviors, not one of those Mu-Nyang's fake heroes."
Explorer was elated. He stepped forward and brought out his shotgun, "Sir, please let me convince Lord Nero to hand that criminal over."
Belial dully glanced at Explorer for a moment. Then, he let the pawns show their strength.
"Go, then. Show me what you can do."
"You won't be disappointed, sir!" Explorer laughed and pointed the shotgun muzzles at Sima Yi, "Get down here or I'll blast your head off!"
Sima Yi, who was still riding on Paimon's head, flapped his black feather fan and sneered, "You're no match for me, weaklings."
"We'll see about that."
Suddenly, Explorer's shotgun transformed into a sci-fi material rifle. He pulled the trigger and fired an energy bullet at Sima Yi's face.
Sima Yi snorted and flapped his fan, blocking the shot with the feathers. Then, he looked into Explorer's eyes.
Enslavement Domain!
Explorer's pupils dimmed. He lowered his weapon and walked two steps forward. However, the next moment, a wide grin appeared on Explorer's face before he raised his gun again. This time, he used the exclusive ultimate skill that he got from Bathin and Solomon.
Gun Domain, True Penetration!
BANG!
Another shot was fired. Again, Sima Yi flapped his fan to block it.
[Oda Nobunaga]: "Idiot! Switch with me!"
"!!?"
The bullet punctured through Sima Yi's fan and came for his head. Sima Yi's body, controlled by Nobunaga, tilted his head and narrowly dodged the bullet.
BOOM
The bullet hit the dungeon's ceiling and created a long hole. The sunlight from the surface shone through the gap as the bullet dug through the underground dungeon and left to space.
Sima Yi's expression changed. As his personality switched, his hairstyle and clothes transformed. Now, he looked like a middle-aged handsome samurai.
Nobunaga put the broken feather fan away. He pulled out a long katana from his spatial ring and unsheathed it.
"Ha! Phase 2? I only need one shot to kill you! My ultimate skill has no cooldown!"
Nobunaga snorted and activated the regular sword domain. However, before he could chop Explorer, Belial lightly snorted and destroyed Nobunaga's domain. The backlash damage hit the warlord.
Nobunaga spat a mouthful of blood, but his expression didn't change. He activated Sima Yi's domain.
Enslavement!
The target was Belial!
Belial's pupils dulled, and he stopped moving. It worked.
However, Liu Bei, Jiang Wei, and Wei Yan jumped at Nobunaga. They used their domains as well.
Seeing the incoming attackers, Nero and Paimon opened their mouths and fired two dark energy balls at them. One directly hit Liu Bei and turned him to ash! The other one missed, but it hit the group of players behind Belial, killing a dozen men.
"TRAITORS!"
The dragons in the dungeon yelled. Then, everybody roared and used their abilities.
Nobunaga clicked his tongue. He pointed at the dungeon core, "PAIMON! DESTROY THE CORE, AND NERO'S FAMILY WILL BE FREED!"
Paimon stopped paying attention to the players and NPCs. He turned to the dungeon core at the end of the boss room behind the throne. However, Jiang Wei and Wei Yan latched on his back and charged at Nobunaga on his head.
Nobunaga snorted and sank into his shadow. He vanished and reappeared behind Nero, using the latter's shadow as a teleportation destination.
Meanwhile, Belial suddenly broke the Enslavement skill. He roared in anger, "That's it! I'll kill you all!"
The squabble turned into a battlefield.
.
.
Zhuge Liang managed to convince another batch of 1,000 black dragons to join his dantian universe while Xiaomao dealt with Caesar. When Zhuge Liang finished, he looked below and found that Caesar was already dead, which was not within his calculation.
"Already?! As expected of his son. He's a variable for sure."
Zhuge Liang reverted to his human form. He calculated the future again. Then, he had a new vision.
He saw the bitter fight between Nero and Belial.
The result was disastrous. Nero would lose the fight and be killed along with Sima Yi and Paimon! Solomon would get the twin soul of Sima Yi and Nobunaga. Then, he would get a new power-up, which would bring trouble to Mao Miaomiao and Xiaomao.
However, that future was not certain. Another variable appeared.
Chase Sheffield
Zhuge Liang collected the information with his karma reading technique. After gaining enough intel, he opened his eyes and informed his master.
"Lord Xiaomao, Sima Yi and Paimon are trying to rescue Lord Nero before us, but Belial has intercepted them. If we leave them alone, they will die!"
Xiaomao didn't bother looking at the strategist. He continued chewing the dantian crystal of Caesar and gathered the other crystals from his mothers. He replied, "Let them die, munya."
"But lord! Solomon will get major power-ups if he acquires the twin souls! Even your father won't be Solomon's opponent if that happens!"
Xiaomao nonchalantly rubbed the heavenly fate crystal of Caesar. He injected half of his lifespan into the ball and the fishing rod. Then, he hurled them into a distance. The fishing line and the bait vanished into a crack of dimension.
He closed his eyes. He took a deep breath as a portion of muscle memory slowly came back to him.
Not only Zhuge Liang had a vision, but Xiaomao also had his. His version was related to his memory as Lord Xiao, the fisherman entity of the higher dimension.
While holding the fishing rod, Xiaomao had a short dream.
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