Lord of War

The news that Stuart and Elom, the two truly well-deserved masters of the underground world gathered at the portal quickly spread like wildfire in the underground world.

All ethnic groups in the entire underground world, no matter whether they are the six major ethnic groups or other order races, no matter whether they are intentional or not, and no matter what their true thoughts are, everyone's eyes can't help looking at this very A place that may change the future of the entire underground world.

Surrounding the entire portal, the Void Empire has built a simple defense base in the past seven days.

Although it is just a simple defense base, there are still a series of facilities that should be there, but they are relatively simple.

But if you look carefully, you can see that all the related facilities of the entire defense base are built with unique molds. This mold building method is an architectural idea proposed by Sean five years ago. It was not built until the establishment of the Void Empire after the unremitting efforts of William and the craftsmen who developed the shock shield back then, and now It has been officially sent to the assembly line industry.

Although the assembly line manufacturing of these molds must have a high-power magical power engine to complete, but in a real sense, it can be regarded as the first real local industry of the Void Empire-in the entire Miracle Continent, there is currently only Only the military factories of the Void Empire can produce these molds. And as long as the correct construction method is adopted, these molds can be assembled into corresponding fortifications in a very short period of time.

Compared with the traditional fortification construction mode, this new fortification construction mode has the characteristics of fast construction speed, strong sturdiness, high construction concealment, and low manpower consumption. But the disadvantages are also obvious, the first one is the high cost - the same basic fortification building, the cost of this mold is twice that of the traditional model, and the second is the transportation cost - short-distance transportation It's okay, but if long-distance transportation is required, the cost consumption will not be as convenient as local materials.

Therefore, the new fortification construction model can only be applied to relatively special environments-for example, it is used to establish outposts when raiding enemy countries, or it is used to establish emergency frontline positions when encountering raids, etc.

This time, the purpose of invading the underground world through the portal is not only to find Sean, but also to test this new mode of fortification construction. ,

As far as the current information feedback is concerned, the effect is obviously surprisingly good.

It's just that the cost is a bit high.

At this moment, in the center of the base—about 30 meters away from the portal, there is a huge tent.

Currently the entire base,

Only the relevant fortification buildings are built with unique and strong molds, but the soldiers' barracks and other places are still built in conventional tents and other methods. And this huge tent, which can accommodate twenty people together, is the temporary command center and commander's resting place of the entire base—Kozilek, Emrakul, and Shawn temporarily live here.

Now, however, there are two new guests in the tent.

Stewart and Elom.

Elom arrived here yesterday, and he was in a state of depression. Although after a night's rest, his mental state improved slightly, but he still looked bruised and swollen - the place where Alexis beat him obviously didn't heal so quickly, but compared to the road behind Stuart With terrifying and hideous scars, Elom is undoubtedly lucky.

At least, he wasn't beaten so badly by Alexis, and the fight only lasted five short days.

Today is the eighth day since the underground world was invaded by the Void Empire.

Unlike Elom who just arrived here yesterday, Stuart has been in this base for six days. It can be said that except for the initial transportation part that he did not see, the construction of the entire defense base was witnessed by him. Expanded below. For this "neighbor" who has completely controlled the only regular entrance and exit channel in the entire underground world, it is impossible for Stewart to say that he is not vigilant, but the situation is stronger than others, no matter how dissatisfied he is, there is nothing he can do about it What toss.

At this time, there is more than one army stationed in the underground world.

Except for the Wings of Condemnation who were trained by William at the level of the ace troops of other empires from the beginning, the Steel Wings known as the Shield of the Void and the Cecilia Guards, now known as the Queen's Guards, have all entered Underworld. And in order to welcome Sean's return, even the Black Swan Guards originally stationed in Black Swan Castle—that is, the current Void Crusaders, also entered the underground world at the same time.

Although the title of the Void Crusade has the word "Legion", in fact, this force is far from the size of a legion. The predecessor of this force was the Black Swan Guard. During the three years when Sean disappeared, William expanded and reorganized the entire force. Then there was the original guard stationed at Black Swan Castle.

But in contrast, this legion is also the only legion in the entire void empire that has reached the eighth level of combat power.

The entire Void Crusade is composed of all gold-level powerhouses, and two of the deputy commanders of the legion are legendary powerhouses—and because of this, this troop of only 500 people can reach the level of an eighth-level legion . In the case of facing sixth-level legions such as Condemned Wings, Steel Wings, Black Wings, and Queen's Guards head-on, the Void Crusaders can achieve ten A very high winning rate of eight wins.

Of course, even if the commander participates in the battle, if the hostile scale does not exceed 10,000 people, it can still maintain a nearly 70% winning rate.

But in fact, everyone in the Void Empire knows that the formation of this army is actually more of a spiritual symbol. After all, the Void Empire has now reached the imperial level, and it cannot be justified without an army with high-end combat power. And in view of Sean's frequent disappearances, having such an army to accompany him can also reassure many people.

"I didn't expect that there was such a powerful empire on the surface world." Elom rubbed Wuqing's left eye, and then sighed, "I don't die, do you have any ideas?"

"No." Stewart was so straightforward that he could even be said to be free and easy, "If these people really want to unify the entire underground world, you and I have nothing to do."

Hearing Stuart's words, Elom couldn't help but shudder when he thought of the black-haired woman who had a pretty smile but was as violent as thunder when she shot. It is true what Stuart said, if this Void Empire really wants to unify the entire underground world, even if he and Stuart join forces, they will never be opponents of each other, and the opponent only needs to last until After the fall of these two ancestors, no one in the entire underground world could stop the soldiers of this empire.

It can be said that it is only a matter of time before the other party wants to take down the entire underground world.

And unlike the Void Empire, once the battle in the underground world is defeated, the opponent can still withdraw to the surface. The underground world is already the last habitat of all of them. Once the battle is lost, they will have no way out. Especially now that the two races of dark elves and blood elves have apparently defected to each other, the entire underground world can no longer unite.

"Guess what that man...their emperor wants to do?" Elom asked again.

Stuart didn't answer, but squinted at the ancestor of the werewolf who had fought with him all his life but was still tied. In a sense, Stewart is very envious of this stupid big man-Elom's figure is bigger and stronger than Stewart, and he is also nearly 40 centimeters taller than Stewart.

"This kind of juggling and trickery is your field of expertise, okay?" Elom knew the meaning of Stewart's eyes, but he is already in a broken state, so he despises his own IQ for Stewart Insufficient problems are completely ignored.

"Oh." Stewart sighed, "I don't know either....To be honest, I don't even know what the other party wants, and I can't speculate on the logic of the other party's behavior. Many times, the other party's behavior seems It's pointless and pointless, but my gut tells me that if I think that way, then in the end I don't even know how I died."

Elom seemed to want to say something, but after his ears trembled a few times, he changed the topic: "Someone is here."

There was a sound of light footsteps.

Then, a black-haired young man lifted the curtain of the cloak and stepped in hastily.

Elom and Stuart looked at each other, their eyes were bright for a moment, but they quickly calmed down.

The person who walked into the tent was none other than Xiao En, who had been wandering in the underground world for three years.

Elom and Stewart can feel that Sean's strength is not strong, at least there is a very obvious absolute gap with them. No matter which one of the two of them is, they can easily take down the black-haired young man in front of them, let alone the two of them are gathered here now.

However, Xiao En's majestic and unique temperament also made them understand that even if they could subdue the young man in front of them, it would be meaningless to the current situation of the entire underground world. That's why the light in the eyes of the two of them was fleeting, and they gave up this tempting idea at the same time. Of course, a bigger reason is that neither Stuart nor Elom can guarantee that when they do it themselves, Will the other one make a move to stop it.

"Very good, I'm glad you two didn't attack me rashly." Sitting at the side of the round table in the tent, Sean had a smile on his face. His smile was sunny and sincere, at least it seemed to be full of friendliness. "Because I'm short on time, I'll make a long story short. ...Oh, yes, as a courtesy, let me introduce myself first. I'm Sean, Sean Connery, from the Void Empire on the surface. Uh ...for the time being, he can be regarded as the emperor."

"For now?" Stewart raised his eyebrows, keenly grasping the subtext in Sean's words.

"Well, the Void Empire was only established three years ago, but I was with you at that time, so the one who has been in charge of all affairs of the empire for the past few years is my...sister." Xiao En thought about himself and Sisi Liya’s relationship, and then said, “In a sense, the Void Empire can continue to operate without me. It’s just that, just a few days ago, my sister… took care of all empire management affairs All authority has been returned to me."

Elom and Stewart looked at each other again.

This time, even if Stuart didn't say it, Elom understood what it meant. Of course, he also understood the crucial point: he couldn't understand the behavioral logic and patterns of this empire. Because according to the normal form, if a person like Xiao En who has the status of the orthodox emperor of the empire disappears, his successor will definitely not want to find him back. Of course, if it is a relative, he may try to find him, but It is also absolutely impossible to hand over all the power.

unless……

Stuart looked Sean up and down, and from his undisguised look, all Stuart could see was exhaustion and anxiety. The other party seemed to be forcibly suppressing a certain emotion in his heart, trying his best to maintain a certain calm state and emotion to communicate with them—or to negotiate.

"There is one thing that I can't understand." Stewart said, "Why did you have such a face-to-face meeting with us?... If you wiped us out, wouldn't the entire underground world become yours?" Is it the back garden?"

"In terms of short-term benefits, it is indeed a great gain." Sean avoided this question in a more ingenious way.

He can't say that unifying the entire underground world is against the dominant spirit of the world's will, right?

The underground world is part of the plane of miracles, so it is actually a part of the world's will.

As a person involved in the world, Sean can interfere with some changes in the world's processes, but on the whole, he must guide the entire world to a thriving and colorful process, instead of bringing the entire world into his own control among. Of course, if he can ensure that the whole world is under his control and can make the whole world more colorful, then the will of the world will allow Sean to do so.

Only in this way, Sean's identity will change from a person involved in the world to a monitor.

Just like when Jibril liberated the whole world from the hands of the gods back then, her identity suddenly changed from being a person involved in the world to being a watcher - this is what Sean heard from Jibril. The biggest difference between a monitor and a person involved in the world is that the monitor can no longer interfere with the operation of the entire world. He must remove his own existence from the world, and can only watch the world as a bystander.

Stewart doesn't quite understand the meaning of Sean's words. After all, in his opinion, there is no difference between long-term and short-term benefits in unifying the entire underground world? However, he will not continue to ask this question, because it will appear that he is a bit ignorant-especially in front of Elom, Stuart is more unwilling to show ignorance, so he chose to remain silent, and also showed A thoughtful look.

In terms of force alone, Stewart is indeed much better than Elom, because after hearing Sean's words, Elom showed a look of bewilderment.

"What do you need?" Stewart asked.

"Well, Serena... do you know?" Sean asked, watching Stuart shaking his head blankly, Sean sighed helplessly: "This is the direct blood after you don't know how many generations When I was in trouble, I made an agreement with her, and I am very committed to promises, so Serena Le Sumba will become the new Patriarch of your Le Sumba clan."

"No problem." Stewart nodded without hesitation.

A direct descendant of his own clan, the so-called pure blood, was no loss to Stewart. After all, with his current status, it is impossible for him to continue to manage the entire clan, so no matter who is the head of the Lesemba clan, it is not a problem, let alone one of his own.

"Well, there is another person named Kane. He recently absorbed the pure blood of the Giovanni clan. If there is no accident, he should officially become a blood member of the Giovanni clan in a few days." Sean After thinking for a while, he said again, "The Giovanni clan has no one to back it up now. I know that although you are not a member of the Giovanni clan, your influence is still a deterrent to the Giovanni clan. I hope this A man can be the head of the Giovanni clan."

This time, Stuart didn't agree so readily, but after pondering for a moment, he still nodded and said, "Yes."

"Very good, you see, we have now established a very friendly foundation." Sean smiled, "Then, next, we can talk about a... more grandiose blueprint plan."

"A more grand...blueprint plan?" Elom frowned, "What do you mean?"

"I need you to admit that our Void Empire's legal status in your underground world."

"Hmph, is it meaningful for us to admit it or not?" Elom sneered, "Your Excellency has the strength to occupy a territory here."

"Whether you admit it or not is still very important to me." Sean doesn't mind Elom's hostility. On the contrary, Sean prefers fighting with Elom compared to Stuart's calm attitude. Pie to communicate, because this kind of people often don't like to use their brains very much, so the topic of negotiation is more likely to be controlled by Sean.

"It's because of the whitewashing of identity." Stewart said, although he used interrogative sentences, his words were full of affirmative statements.

"Washing white?" Elom was stunned for a moment, but soon understood the meaning, "It's really easy to calculate from the status of an intruder to the status of a legal resident."

"You don't suffer, do you?" Sean continued to keep a smile on his face, and he didn't show any dissatisfaction because of it, "First of all, I can assure you that our Void Empire will never be in the underground world. Launch any aggressive actions, what is the old pattern of your underground world, and what is still the same, we will not interfere in any way, the only thing we need is a territory, a... legal territory."

"What price do we have to pay?" Stewart continued to ask.

"You don't need to pay anything, as long as you recognize our legal status." Sean continued, but his tone was full of inflammatory tone, "As long as you don't offend my territory and authority, then neither will I." Will challenge your authority. . . . You see, we can coexist peacefully with each other."

"What about the allocation of resources?"

"In the form of trade." Sean obviously had everything considered and perfected, so he was not troubled by Elom's question, "Your underground world also has a fully mature trade mechanism, whether it is currency trade or barter. We can all follow the established rules of your underground world."

"I'm afraid it's more than that." Stewart was shocked in his heart, because he had already realized what Sean said at the beginning, "In terms of short-term benefits, it is indeed a huge gain." "Your Excellency It’s really a good plan....As expected of the emperor of an empire, no...it should be said, as expected of a person who can regain the decision-making power of the empire as soon as he appears after disappearing for three years."

"What do you mean?" This time, Elom was really impatient.

"If our black-haired emperor unified the entire underground world, he could indeed plunder a large amount of resources in a short period of time, but the harvesting method of these resources is one-off, because he has no way to reclaim the entire underground world. It is impossible for the residents of our entire underground world to completely obey his rule." Stewart did not mock Elom's wisdom, but explained, "But once we recognize his legal resident status, Then the residents of the underground world will lessen their rejection of him a lot, and through this he can obtain a large amount of resources in our underground world...by means of trade, so as to obtain a long-term and stable resource chain."

"You have nothing to lose, right?" Sean was not dissatisfied with Stuart's easy debunking of his true purpose. The wasteland that took hundreds of years to reclaim may be amazing enough in terms of returns, but this is not in my interest... But if I form a cooperative relationship with you, or a business partner, then I will You can quickly exploit the resources of your underground world. Similarly, your underground world can also achieve a period of rapid development, and its achievements and development will definitely not be limited to the current situation."

"Sounds...it seems pretty good?" Elom frowned, "But I always feel...something seems wrong."

"Because of the lack of intelligence." Stewart said in a deep voice, "Trade is based on demand. We don't know what the prices of these resources are in the surface world, so the pricing of resource trade is completely determined by the other party. Forget it, so we are at a disadvantage no matter what.”

Sean narrowed his eyes slightly, but soon laughed again: "You are a very qualified politician, very sharp."

Stewart didn't answer, in fact, he also had a doubt in his heart.

Intuition told him that what Sean wanted was not such a simple thing, and it could even be said that this trade negotiation was just a foreshadowing, a prelude. What the man in front of him wants should be the deeper meaning hidden behind it.

Only, Stewart couldn't figure out what it was.

"Okay then, I'll take a step back." Sean shrugged, "I allow you to have free trade authority, how about it?"

"Free trade?" Elom glanced at Stewart.

"It means that we can freely choose our trading partner, not just the other party's family." Stewart explained, "This method is indeed more fair, but the portal is in your hands..."

"You know, I can't give up the portal to others." Sean smiled, and his stance on this issue was particularly firm, "I allow anyone who wants to trade with me to freely pass through The portal, conduct a price survey, and then determine the price of your resources...But as a price, I will charge a certain handling fee for any materials that pass through the portal, and the transportation service is not included."

"So what if the trade is done in the underground world?" Stewart asked.

"Then the ones I want to kill are naturally not you." Sean shrugged, "However, I will also charge customs duties for any goods that enter my territory."

Stuart didn't speak, he just glanced at Elom, and then Sean felt a burst of spiritual power.

He knew that this was a spiritual exchange between Stuart and Elom, and out of politeness, Sean did not touch the mental fluctuations of the two, he just patiently waited for the other party's reply.

After a while, Elom spoke first: "Your Excellency, I'm curious, what will happen if we don't agree?"

"Then I have no choice but to get rid of both of you." Sean said half-jokingly and half helplessly, "But in this way, I'm afraid it will take longer for me to stabilize the entire underground world...so you See, you two still have great importance."

"How much territory do you want?" Stewart said.

"With the portal as the center, within a radius of 500 kilometers." Sean knew that when Stewart asked this question, it meant that they had reached a consensus, and the rest were some side branches of the contract. It's the last quarter, but Sean doesn't plan to participate in this point. He decided to let Diana take charge of this issue.

After temporarily reaching a consensus, Stewart and Elom left first, and they needed to convey the news of the decision to other residents of the underground world.

After Elom and Stuart left, Alexis walked into the tent.

"I didn't realize before that you have such a cunning side." Looking at Sean, Alexis began to look up and down as if she had never known Sean before, "If you can dig the trap so well deep."

"It's just a trick to distract attention." Sean said.

"Those two guys... Well, let's not talk about that old wolf, but that vampire, who actually made such a careless mistake, I'm afraid it will become his lifelong shame." Alexis curled her lips, " I really wonder what kind of face that guy will show when he knows the decree you are about to promulgate in the underground world."

"I can arrange for you to deliver the letter at that time, so you can appreciate it up close." Sean said.

"Good idea!" Alexis's eyes lit up suddenly, and she nodded excitedly.

As one of the closest people to Sean, Alexis naturally knew what Sean's real plans were.

Fair trade with the entire underground world is just a bait. Sean's real purpose is to completely open the entire underground world, so that people in the entire underground world will no longer hate surface residents. After that, Xiao En intends to use the residents of the underground world as the reserve forces of the Void Empire. He will carry out a series of conscription measures here, so that the militants in the entire underground world—especially the spiders The army of demons has all joined the Void Empire.

And as long as those sent to the surface world to investigate prices come back and describe the beauty of the surface world, Xiao En believes that there are absolutely not many people who can resist the temptation of "going to the surface world". At that time, it will only be more convenient for Sean's conscription plan, and it will be limited by "not offending the ruling authority of the Void Empire", even if Stewart and Elom know the news, it will not help.

As for whether people from other countries on the surface will imitate this system after the Void Empire activates this new type of legion, that is beyond Sean's control. But one thing Xiao En can be sure of is that the portal is controlled by the Void Empire after all, so the Void Empire naturally has this huge advantage-other countries want to form an army composed entirely of residents of the underground world. More than ten years is simply not possible.

This is the huge advantage Sean has.

Even in the blueprint for the future, Sean has already thought about the aspects that the five major ethnic groups in the underground world can be responsible for: the demons can obviously arrange to enter the void; the nerubian army can be used as an attacking force; Elves can be used as highly mobile troops; werewolves are very suitable for fighting in terrains such as mountains and jungles.

This huge gain is far greater than Sean's complete conquest of the entire underground world.

This is the long-term benefit Sean desires.

"Diana will be here in a few days, and I need you to stay here." Sean looked at Alexis, and then said, "Only you can suppress those two guys. "

"I see." Alexis nodded, "Then when are you going to go back?"

"Right now," Sean said, "Heytley told me that she has stopped Cecilia from forcing her way through the portal almost a hundred times."

"Okay, then I will take care of the rest of the work." Alexis nodded, "You can go back first."

"Then I'll leave it to you." Sean said something, then got up and left immediately.

Beside the portal, Kozilek and Emrakul were already waiting here, and apart from these two, the Void Crusaders and Cecilia's Guards had also assembled. The defense base of this underground world was officially handed over to Levi for overall management yesterday, while Abaza was the deputy commander of the base, and all related defense work was handed over to the Wings of Conviction and Steel Wings. .

After completing the expansion of the city in this underground base, the management of the entire underground city will be handed over to Alyssa. Levi and Wings of Condemnation will continue to stay in this underground world, responsible for the defense and security of the entire underground city, and Abaza and his steel wings will also return to the surface world at that time.

It's not that Sean doesn't trust steel wings, but that Abaza is really not suitable for managing a city, especially a trading city that is destined to occupy an extremely important position in the Void Empire in the future. Moreover, throwing the steel wings known as the Void Shield in the underground world made Xiao En feel somewhat wasteful.

Standing at the portal, Sean took a deep breath: "We... go home!"

Then, he stepped into the path of the abyss that has now been completely stabilized. (To be continued.)