Your Majesty's money, why don't you engrave my name on it?

Daisy seemed to have cheered Zhengling up a bit. She straightened her expression and looked at everyone: "Of course I'm here to help you, as always. I have some news for you, which I'm sure you'll find very interesting."

"First and foremost: you should understand that although the Grand Duke of Afonas is Zariel, she does not rule the entire realm. Tiamat and her court have always been isolated there. Unless the demons are forgetful and launch another attack, she and her retinue will never set foot there. But recently, there have been signs of activity there. Someone is preparing to summon the Dragon Queen's reign in the material plane."

"According to the calculations of mages and scholars, the landing point is your world, Western Inasas. Dragonfinger Fidel's plan is about to succeed, and for this, many beings will come to participate. What you will face is far more than just 'Five Fingers'; you must gather manpower in advance."

"And the second point, which also leads to this point, is that it is not the best strategy to fight against a Dragon Finger who is fully prepared. You would be better off breaking a few of his fingers beforehand, such as the longest one. After all, you just banished him from this plane, so this is a good opportunity."

Chapter 665 To defeat magic with magic

“Dealing with him won’t be easy,” Leslaufer said without reservation. “The key is that we can’t get close to him; his fleshy tentacles are as difficult to break through as a mage tower.”

The mages who occupy the mage tower are completely different from the mages outside. A mage whose mage tower is only made of earth and stone is on a different level than a mage whose living tower is made of flesh and blood.

Being able to expel him is already a great achievement.

“That alone won’t do. He won’t let you succeed a second time,” Zheng Ling glanced at the unicorn, her meaning obvious. “Undead creatures, humph. It’s a pity that the god who governs the realm of the dead here doesn’t have much of a problem with undead creatures, otherwise we should be able to get his priests here by now. But it doesn’t matter. Bael said he got some information from Grand Duke Mammon that he can destroy them.”

“Mammon?” Daisy’s face immediately scrunched up. That Grand Duke was probably one of the few in Hell who accepted money rather than souls in exchange, but the problem was, how could they afford such a price?

“The price Mammon needs is paid by Bael, and what you need to do is pay the price he demands,” Zheng Ling said, looking at Leslaufer. “To be precise, it is you who need to pay that price.”

“Me?” Leslaufer paused for a moment, then chuckled and waved his hand. “You can’t expect me to become a common soldier under him, can you?”

"You guessed right, he wants you to work under him as a common soldier."

Leslaufer was truly dumbfounded this time. He tried to read the joke on Zhengling's face, but found nothing.

"Please... can't you find someone else?" Even Dople has things he doesn't want to face. "I have no objection to going to hell, but Bael, I just slapped his avatar not long ago. You don't even need to think about whether he wants me to go and die!"

As a mercenary, hadn't he seen enough of this kind of sham revenge? A mortal superior could simply fight him to the death, but was he really going to go to hell and demand a scene from a demon in real life? While it wasn't impossible, the problem was that he wasn't even in the right!

The charge would be disobeying military orders, with absolutely no room for accusation!

"Don't worry, the Bronze Commander is one of the most outstanding generals, how could he be so unscrupulous?" Zheng Ling shrugged, but a mocking look appeared on her face. "It's just that I heard he's very good at using cannon fodder as bait..."

Zheng Ling wasn't lying. This is a very effective strategy for dealing with demons. Not only Bael, but other demon commanders also like this tactic. However, only Bael has mastered it to a high degree.

Zheng Ling waited leisurely. According to the mistress's instructions, if Leslaufer refused, she could take the opportunity to ask Daisy to sign a contract with her. This was perfectly legitimate and legal, and there was nothing against her conscience.

Justice comes without a price, but it is always late or absent; the devil may even arrive early, so it is reasonable to ask for a price, isn't it?

Daisy glanced at Raslaw, then at Zhengling, as if she understood something: "Um... could you not let Raslaw go? I'm willing to sign a contract with you. Given our relationship..."

“No, Daisy, don’t be silly,” Leslaufer reached out and pressed her down. “I’ll take care of it. You can tell them that I’ll be going to serve in the military after things are over here.”

A bloody battle is still a battle, killing demons is still killing; to put it bluntly, it's all warfare, so what's the difference?

“You are absolutely the number one hero I have ever seen, Lord Raslaufer,” Zheng Ling nodded. “Alright, then I will tell you: the power in the bloodline of the Popenos family, or rather the Popazobote family, is like this: magic is unevenly distributed among everyone, and the older the generation, the more advantageous they are, while the new generation will gradually wither away, unless the descendants absorb the power of their ancestors to have a comparable level.”

She pointed at Edward: "You killed your previous generation in the beginning, and then killed several of your ancestors, so you have the highest 'level' in the Popenos family now, but you are nothing in the face of an extinct heir."

“You’re suggesting we find someone older than him? Where are we supposed to find that?” Daisy said with a pained expression. “Please, what kind of good person would seal themselves in a coffin underground for hundreds or thousands of years and refuse to die?”

The devil gave Daisy a half-smile. She could read Daisy's mind, which was filled with strange creatures flying around on swords: "What you're thinking is definitely not there, but just because good people are unwilling doesn't mean others are unwilling. Rather, it's more like... demons."

“The sorcerer Chargigi!” Angelita exclaimed. “Wasn’t he supposed to have died even before Emperor Richard the Great?”

“Dying young doesn’t mean dying completely,” Zheng Ling smiled slightly and tossed a map to everyone. “This is the location of his grave. Emperor Richard was worried about this, so he took precautions to prevent Chargigi from resurfacing and causing trouble in the world. The long-standing seal should have almost extinguished his spirit, but isn’t this just what was prepared for you?”

“Obtain this power, then destroy Joki before the first day of Imperial Month (April), or force him to start the prophetic ritual ahead of schedule. In this way, their power will be weakened.”

"In addition, I suggest that you gather your forces at the same time. After all, when Joki suffers a setback, Fidel will definitely notice. It will be too late to seek help by then."

"Too late...?" Leslaufer took the map and opened it. When he saw the mark of the mausoleum on it, he understood why Zhengling said that. "The Kingdom of Latour."

After crossing the Corin Otto Mountains with Angelita and the others, they arrived in the town of Jofrey, where they encountered members of a family from that kingdom.

“Their ancestors may have been appointed to guard the tomb, but like the Popenos family, they forgot their original duties and treated them as legends of the old days, retaining only traditions and customs,” the devil said before disappearing into thin air. “You had better act quickly. If you drag this out until Joki returns from the Fallen Underworld, you’re probably in for a tough fight.”

In the Ninth Prison, Zheng Ling stood up on the stage and bowed to the hostess below the stage.

"Successful?" Philna smiled faintly. "However, I don't seem to see any transformation in you."

“Leslaufer has agreed, Master,” Zhengling sighed softly, “I’m sorry, I…”

The Grand Duke interrupted her: "It doesn't matter, you'll get what you want, there's no need to worry. As for Raslaufer, since he's willing to come, it won't be easy for him to leave, hehe."

“Peer, Peer, do you really think you've seen through all my plans? I'll see what makes you think you're worthy of being my equal…”

Please take one day off.

Please take one day off.

Chapter 666 What is buried underground

The Kingdom of Latour is very different from Pope, yet in some ways quite similar.

They were all extremely wary of the Dragonborn. In fact, if we were to discuss the order of their arrival, they were actually the earlier ones.

However, what puzzled the dragonborn was that, even though they knew that Fidel's plan was about to enter its final stage, the area around where he first started was peaceful, without any riots, turmoil, or even dragonborn—at least the dragonborn clans that followed Fidel were not nearby.

“This is really strange,” Frostbone said, his face not looking too good after returning from visiting his own clan. “They moved away last winter, which means Felix had probably just ascended the throne at that time.”

What does this have to do with the Dragonborn? Even if Felix became king in Middle Inaths, or even in the Kingdom of Latour, he shouldn't have to relocate, right?

“None of them said where they went?” Mary frowned. “I heard you don’t place much importance on clans…”

“Not all clans are the same,” Jinmian shrugged. “Take me for example, if I go back to my own clan, I’ll definitely receive a warm welcome, but if I go to Shuanghai’s clan, I might get beaten half to death and thrown out, because their chieftain thinks I kidnapped them…”

The fact that the other three dragonborn did not refute this meant they tacitly agreed.

"Alright, let them go wherever they want. Wouldn't it be even better if their whole family moved to the Astral Plane and never bothered us again?" Leslaufer waved his hand. "Never mind them. Just tell them you've notified all your clans."

"Rest assured, Lord Raslaufer, the Dragonborn will certainly not neglect their own affairs," Poisonwing replied softly. "However, the Dragonborn are ultimately outnumbered and lack sufficient numbers, strength, and weaponry. If we rely on them alone, the results will likely be ineffective."

“Don’t worry about that,” Dople waved his hand. “My messengers will fly across most of Inasas as soon as possible to ask my friends for help. They won’t be too late.”

The messenger that Raslaufer referred to was of course Barbasabalone. The little devil who could travel between the Nine Hells and the material plane would undoubtedly be adept at doing this, and there was no need to worry that the person Raslaufer requested would refuse to come or deliberately delay the process.

Without Raslaufer, there would be no them. This statement can be expressed not only in the past tense but also in the future tense. If Raslaufer had truly died here, their newly established rule and status would inevitably face challenges they had never faced before.

Of course, some people would come to help even if they had to give up everything else; Reislaufer has lived for so many years, at least that much can be guaranteed. Besides, it's unlikely he would actually "die" here.

There's that damned "Bronze Commander" waiting for this common soldier!

“Come on, let’s see how we get in,” Raslaufer spread out the map. “The location that Zhengling gave us shows that the tomb we need to excavate is under the palace of the La Tour royal family. It’s not an easy place to go—at least not if we don’t want to attract attention.”

But it's not that there are no solutions.

In order to infiltrate undetected, Raslaufer and his group rented a house near the palace that included a cellar, intending to sneak in from below. Although they had several spellcasters, it was still not easy to dig a tunnel in a short time, especially when they discovered that there was an ancient magical barrier beneath the palace. It took them nearly a month to open a small opening without triggering the seal alarm.

“Although the members of the Latour royal family have most likely forgotten about this, we can’t take that risk,” said Frostskeletal, the member who strongly advocated keeping a low profile. Shard and Mary shared her view. “Dragonfinger Fidel has been active around the Kingdom of Latour for so long, I absolutely do not believe that he has not exerted any influence on it.”

“Even if he exerted influence now, it would be useless,” Raslaufer said, crawling into the hole first. “Come on, let me see how the Swampthroat’s ancestors were buried.”

“I’d rather not have had such an ancestor…” Edward murmured, but his body betrayed him as he followed Raslauver inside. The sorcerer Chargigi, the court mage serving Emperor Richard the Great, stirred up astonishing waves throughout Inasas during his lifetime, notorious for his massacres in the central and eastern regions and his cruelty towards his family and descendants. Outsiders were unaware of his motives, but Raslauver and the others understood that, like Joki, he desired to gather the power of his entire family’s bloodline into himself.

But Chargigi did not do so in the end. He left behind descendants, and more than one. There is a legend that it was his children who assassinated this powerful mage, so much so that he even died before Emperor Richard the Great. Although there is no basis for this claim, at least from the situation here, Chargigi's relationship with his children was definitely not harmonious.

“I feel like we’ve come to the wrong place…” Daisy looked around. This place could hardly be called a mausoleum, or even a tomb—it was just a stone chamber buried deep underground with a stone coffin in the middle, and nothing else.

Fortunately, they did not look for the entrance from inside the palace, because they soon discovered that the stone chamber was a completely independent space, and apart from their tunnel, there was no way to connect it to the outside world!

“But the magical barrier outside can’t be fake,” Swampthroat frowned. He walked to the sarcophagus, and after confirming there were no traps, he reached out and brushed away the dust, revealing an inscription carved in the corner: “'Here lies the great emperor, the court mage of Richard I, Lord Chargigi Popazobote.' I’m sure this is his coffin.”

"Just based on these few lines?" Angelita held her longsword, ready to deal with any potential risks.

Swampthroat shook his head and looked up, as if trying to sniff out some scent in the moldy, dark, and damp cave: "More than that, I think I smell something, something very familiar and sweet... I think it's the scent in my blood."

"This feeling is mutual."

Suddenly, a harsh sound, like fingernails scraping stone, rang out from beneath the sarcophagus. It was without warning and without any kindness. The heavy sarcophagus lid slid horizontally under the pull of magic, kicking up a cloud of smoke. And within that swirling smoke, a pair of scarlet lights stared intently at Edward.

"After all this time, someone has finally come to see me... Come, come to Grandpa, and I will grant you three wishes..."

Chapter 667 A Gift from a Younger Generation

"Swampthroat, your grandfather must be a genie."

In that instant, Swampthroat felt as if his body no longer belonged to him, and even his soul was not spared. He blankly agreed and prepared to step forward and merge into the cloud of smoke, but before he could get really close, Daisy's shout made him shudder and wake up in surprise.

"Playing tricks!" Now everyone noticed Swampthroat's earlier anomaly. Flashstone snorted coldly and chanted a spell. A whirlwind suddenly swirled in the enclosed space, blowing away the smoke swirling around the stone coffin and revealing the core inside—a small, thin human skeleton with only bones.

It was completely naked, and the coffin beneath it was also empty. It's likely that any burial items were long ago, but they have long since been absorbed into the dust that was blown into the corner.

"Is this kind of trick out of fashion now?" Crimson will-o'-the-wisps flickered in the skull's eye sockets, their frequency and intensity indicating that this undead was still incredibly powerful. It looked at its hands, then its entire body, and finally chose to remain seated in the coffin rather than step out. "Honestly, I even promised two more extras. You know, Richard only got one back then."

“Emperor Richard?” Angelita’s heart skipped a beat. “What did he wish for?”

“How would I know!” The flame in the skull’s eyes vanished for a moment, as if he were rolling his eyes. “That giant noble is very tight-lipped about such things—alright, you called me, old Chargigi, up, certainly not for such trivial matters. Where are my descendants? Come forward, let me have a good look at you.”

Although that dominating feeling no longer arose despite Edward's careful vigilance, he dared not gamble. He stood there, bowing slightly to his ancestor in the coffin: "Ancestor, I am your descendant, the one with whom you share blood..."

“A Dragonborn?! Are you kidding me—” Before Swampthroat could continue, the skeleton screamed, “Are you out of your minds or what? Why are you getting involved with Dragonborn—wait, this isn’t your true form.”

The flames in the skull's eyes suddenly intensified, as if they had burned away Edward's disguise out of thin air, turning him back into that innocent human boy: "Ah, I knew it. This is the only thing I can't accept, but you are a real human, just disguised as a dragonborn... then I'm relieved."

"What do you mean by this?!" Jinmian was clearly dissatisfied with this obvious prejudice and immediately expressed it, but unfortunately the undead who called himself Chargigi ignored him.

“Go on, what are you doing here with such a large group of people? You can’t possibly be looking to borrow some money from Grandpa, can you? Unfortunately, as you can see, the only valuable thing here is my skeleton. Why don’t you grind it up and sell it as spirit bone powder? That would be a kind of… ancestral legacy.”

“I didn’t come for that,” Edward said, wary of this theoretical ancestor. The more “amiable” the other man seemed, the more wary he became, to the point that he took two steps back. “I came today to obtain your power. Perhaps you don’t know, but one of your descendants was resurrected even before you, and he—”

"The one who has no descendants intends to repeat my prophecy, is that right?" Dealing with an ancestor who is many generations above you is not an easy task. The other party may not care about a single word you say, but is instead focused on immersing themselves in their own world. "Has it come to this point? Yes, don't look at me like that. I am a great mage and I am very proficient in prophecy. This is nothing special—I am much better than this."

Perhaps Chargigi couldn't predict the exact name of the descendant who nearly wiped out his entire family line, but just knowing that this person existed was enough.

"So I guess you're planning to use my power against him?" A chilling laugh emanated from the empty skull of Chargigi. "Alright, alright, of course I can grant your wish. After all, I'm already dead. My era has long passed, everything is meaningless, what use is it to keep it? If you hadn't opened a tunnel, not even an ant could have come in to keep me company. But, as is customary, you have to prove yourself first. You have to prove that you are the one worthy of me entrusting my power to you, otherwise I'd rather keep it."

"Since you've come to me, it means you should be aware of the magical power within our family's bloodline. Therefore, you should also know that 'family,' 'clan,' and 'descendants' mean nothing to me. If you feel the same way, then I'd rather keep it, or..."

The skeleton continued to mutter, but just as he was about to say something, a strange change suddenly occurred in the entire stone chamber!

A powerful magical force suddenly swept through the space. Behind the stone coffin, arcane energy, dark as the shadow itself, rose from the ground and gathered into a humanoid figure that seemed to have countless fleshy tentacles growing on it. As soon as it appeared, it immediately reached out and transformed into an enormous claw, which crushed the skeleton in front of it in an instant!

"Joki!" Poison Wing's expression changed instantly. She hurriedly cast a spell, unleashing a deadly venomous ray, but it was easily intercepted by the hand. "How could he be here?!"

The dark magic gradually receded from the entity it had enveloped, revealing Joki's face: "Tracing the family bloodline is not difficult for us—am I right, 'Swampthroat'?"

The Extinction Man dismantled the Dragonborn's offensive as if toying with children. Compared to before, his power was not weakened but rather enhanced: "I truly did not expect that one of my people was hidden among you. Compared to our ancestors, the connection between us is too fragile. And what I did not expect even more was that you have a unicorn by your side capable of exorcising good and evil."

"But do you really think you can get rid of me, or even defeat me, with just this? I should even thank you for your gift!" Countless pieces of flesh and shadows transformed into a weapon on his arm, no less powerful than a sword or axe, using only brute force to withstand Raslaufer's thunderous attack. With another wave of Joki's hand, Doppler stumbled back several steps, standing in front of Angrita with a look of surprise and uncertainty. While blocking a dark ray for Angrita, he gave Daisy the opportunity to call out Joki's name, which coalesced into a psionic spear that pierced through Joki's forehead.

This attack, once invincible, failed to achieve its intended effect against Joki at this moment. The brief mental shock was insufficient to expose a significant enough opening for the Five Friends of the Law to gain magical dominance. The Extinction One regained his footing almost immediately, the earth trembled, and the unstoppable force sent the Crimson Crown and the others flying.

However, the fact that the Dragonborn cannot exploit the gaps does not mean that there are no gaps that can be exploited.

After forcing the crowd back, the Extinct One immediately prepared to press his advantage, but his body suddenly stiffened. He looked down in astonishment and saw a gray-black hand bone piercing his chest from behind. And beside his ear, the thin skeleton was blowing a cold wind from the realm of the dead:

"No, I should be thanking you for your gift... grandson."

Chapter 668 The End of the Road for Joker

"You, you are not..."

Although Joki was utterly astonished, his words carried a subtle, incomprehensible undertone.

He incorporated a spell into it, attempting to conceal his intention to retaliate. This move would be easily defended against by ordinary people, but unfortunately, he was facing his own ancestor.

The nickname "Chalkigi the Demon" may not actually be related to the person in question, but it is definitely accurate.

“I haven’t used such tricks since I was twenty, and you’ve been using them all this time?” The skeleton shook its head, but inserted its hand bone deeper while slowly rotating it. “If this is all you’ve got, then I’m very disappointed.”

Joki's voice trailed off, his magic nipped in the bud, and at the same time he was surprised to find that his power was rapidly dissipating and instead gathering into the skeleton's body!

"Surprised?" Chargigi mocked his descendant's naiveté. "Why do you think I left behind descendants? Because of my great mercy? Or because the gods of Paradise Mountain gave me divine revelation and salvation? Heh, actually it's because of this:"

“I don’t need to kill anyone. I just need to give each of them this treatment, and they will be cut off from the family’s bloodline. Even if the magic power surging in their bloodline is ten times stronger, it will not flow into the body of someone who is not considered a family member.”

The surrounding tentacles lashed out at the skeleton almost frantically, leaving trails of whip-like shadows in the air. However, Chargigi was practically drawing on Joki's power to build his own defensive system. Although he was still just a skeleton, he stood firm against the onslaught, even appearing relaxed and at ease.

If that acacia wand hadn't come crashing down on him, he probably would have drained Joki dry before he'd stopped.

"Tsk," the skeleton disappeared from the spot, leaving the wand to swing in vain. When it reappeared, it was already in a corner far away from the crowd. "You only remembered now, grandson? It seems that it was right for me to hold these magic powers for you. With your level, you can't do anything at all—you can't even protect your own power, hehe."

Joki's body swayed, and as he used his wand for support, he felt at least 60% of his magic power being depleted—in other words, the skeleton opposite him had also gained the same amount of power.

"How...how did you do that?" He looked incredulous. "And what do you plan to do with it? According to your prophecy..."