Global Game: Developing a Knight Clan

Chapter 509: Chapter 99: The Three Gods of the Cosmos Join the Fray, a New Contract

"Although we’ve acquired most of the Black Prison Race’s outer worlds, the gains have been negligible."

"The Titan Race actually has four Ancient Gods. But it’s good news that none of them are like the Lord of the Black Prison, who was in the process of breaking through to the Pillar God level."

"If that’s the case, they probably won’t retreat to their main world and concentrate their defenses like the Black Prison Race did. This means our odds of successfully hunting them down should be quite high."

’Hunting them down?’

The God of Thousand Faces laughed.

"Even for Authority beings at the Clan Level, hunting them is not that simple."

"Their Power may be far inferior to ours, but if they’re determined to escape, they’ll surely have plenty of tricks up their sleeves."

"Besides, even if we manage to hunt down and devour a few of their Clan’s Authority Users, do you think the others won’t grow wary? Won’t they just band together to fight us, just like the Black Prison Race did?"

"That line of thinking is fundamentally flawed."

"If you ask me, we should take advantage of their unpreparedness. With Nidhogg’s two Authority Level kin, we should launch a direct sneak attack on their main world and try to hunt down those four Authority Level Ancient Gods first."

"Even if we can’t annihilate them all, taking out one or two is far more worthwhile than hunting down their Clan members."

The God of All Machines was slightly taken aback by the God of Thousand Faces’ words.

Then, for once, He actually agreed with the God of Thousand Faces’ suggestion.

"Thousand Faces, that’s not a bad idea."

"As long as we can eliminate one or two Titan Ancient Gods in a single battle, the remaining ones and their Clan will be left with no choice but to be hunted down by us."

"However, this all hinges on one condition. Nigredo, do you know the coordinates of the Titan Main World?"

’Lince knew jack shit.’

Forget Lince; even the Earth Giant Dragon and the others likely didn’t know.

It had been over thirty thousand years. As long as the Titan Race wasn’t stupid, they would have moved their home world’s location long ago.

If they didn’t move it, were they just going to wait for the Earth Giant Dragon to come back and wreck their headquarters?

The Titan Race had already suffered a major loss over thirty thousand years ago.

Under these circumstances, a race with such a vast territory would certainly have found a way to conceal the location of their main world.

They might have even followed the Black Prison Race’s example and completely enveloped the Fixed Star System containing their main world with the power of certain rules.

In short, it was definitely not a place that outsiders could easily infiltrate.

Fortunately, however, Lince already had a plan.

"Why go to all that trouble?"

Lince just smiled.

He then explained his plan: to lie in wait, let the Titan Race come looking for trouble with the Dragon Race, and then hit them with a massive counterattack.

As soon as Lince finished explaining, even the eyes of the hesitant God of Thousand Faces lit up, to say nothing of the others.

"Excellent!"

"What a brilliant idea!"

"The Titan Race thinks that with you, Nidhogg, the Dragon Race only has three Authority Level beings."

"In that case, their first move probably won’t be an all-out assault. After all, they’ll need to probe the situation first, won’t they?"

"However, we can’t expect their Ancient Gods to be fools."

"Since they know about your Dragon Race’s Fire Seed Project, then upon your return, Nigredo, they’ll surely suspect that you might have other Authority Level kin who have also returned and are hiding in the shadows."

"That being said, we can’t rule out the possibility of them launching a full-scale invasion with their entire race."

"After all, your two races are mortal enemies with no room for reconciliation. If they don’t try to annihilate you now, regardless of the cost, they’ll never be able to rest easy. Even I wouldn’t, if I were in their position."

Although the God of Thousand Faces was swayed, he also considered the worst-case scenario.

"So, it’s six against four... no, they also have over thirty Authority Users in their Clan."

"Honestly, we don’t exactly have the upper hand."

"We, of course, can afford to die once. After all, we can all rely on the ’Game’ Authority to resurrect at least once within a short period."

"But, Nigredo, your two kin don’t have that luxury."

"Are you sure you want to take such a risk?"

the God of Thousand Faces said meaningfully.

At this, the God of All Machines heard his words and gave a slight nod.

"Thousand Faces has a point."

"Nigredo, those two kin of yours are not part of our group. If they die, they won’t be able to revive so quickly."

"Have you truly thought this through?"

How rare. The Three Gods of the Cosmos, including the God of Thousand Faces, were actually considering Lince’s interests.

’But then again, wasn’t this just their way of deliberately testing him?’

’Perhaps these three were testing the relationship between me and my two kin.’

’If our relationship was poor...’

’...perhaps these three wouldn’t mind ’scavenging’ the heavily wounded Earth Giant Dragon and Dawn Giant Dragon on the battlefield.’

’After all, devouring one Ancient God is as good as devouring any other, isn’t it?’

’They’re the most premium fuel for growth, after all.’

Besides, Lince had already put the plan on the table. The battle was definitely going to happen.

Those three knew this perfectly well.

So, it was highly likely that this was a test.

’Then again, those three probably also worried that I might try to scavenge one of them on the battlefield, or simply take them all out in one fell swoop.’

’Even if all three of them could revive quickly...’

’...dying once meant that all their Authority Level flesh and blood would fall into my hands.’

’And that would be a disaster for them.’

’The boon from three Authority Level Ancient Gods would allow my Power to take another great leap forward.’

After all, the original contract was a promise from the Three Gods *to* Lince.

They had promised not to initiate war against him for ten thousand years.

Lince, however, had made no such promise to them.

Thus, their suspicion was inevitable.

Furthermore, Lin An now had two powerful Authority Level kin.

The situation was completely different now.

Subtly, Lince had even become the most powerful of the Four Gods.

So, without a doubt, both the God of All Machines and the Mother of All Things had become warier of Lince.

Lince felt a sense of helplessness about this.

But in the end, he just gave a nonchalant smile.

"I have to say, you three are really something else..."

"Alright, you three. Like All Machines, I don’t like beating around the bush."

"So I’ll be blunt."

"My two kin are determined to fight this battle."

"So naturally, I have no objections."

"Furthermore, for the sake of our internal harmony, how about this: we can sign another contract right now, right here, under the rules of the True Cosmos, specifically for this battle."

"The contract’s main clause will be that under no circumstances are the three of you to act against my two kin."

"And, of course, my two kin and I will not act against the three of you."

"If the contract is breached, the penalty will be the stripping of some, or even all, of our privileges. How does that sound?"

As soon as Lince said this, the expressions of the God of All Machines and the Mother of All Things visibly relaxed.

The God of Thousand Faces, after a moment of surprise, immediately broke into another laugh.

"Dealing with you, Nigredo, is so straightforward."

"Since you’ve already thought of all this, for us to refuse would only harm our current partnership."

"So, I have no objections."

The God of All Machines said, "I have no objections either. I like Nidhogg’s character; it’s just like my own."

The Mother of All Things chuckled. "Like you? You’re a product of mechanical flesh and blood. I think he’s more likely to *melt* you down, don’t you?"

"Alright, since you’ve made everything so clear, Nigredo, then I naturally have no objections either."

"It’s not often we get a worthy opponent. Let’s all have some fun this time. We can consider it a dress rehearsal for when we join forces to hunt the Lord of the Black Prison."

Lince wasn’t the least bit surprised by this.

Lince had a decent understanding of their personalities by now.

Now that Lince had laid everything out on the table, there was no way they would refuse this operation.

The positions of Pillar God were limited.

If they didn’t fight with all they had, if they didn’t seize every opportunity to accelerate their growth, were they just going to stand by and watch those positions be taken by other Deities?

Every time an Authority Level Ancient God was eliminated, forget the personal benefits it would bring...

...just forcing an Ancient God into a resurrection period, thereby reducing a competitor for the rank of Pillar God, was enough to motivate them to act.

"Good!"

"In that case, let’s discuss the details of the contract first!"

"The point is that we must all be satisfied with the terms."

"..."