Chapter 417 – Cathulhu Meets Dubious Protagonists
Xiaomao left the gang to get to know each other and returned his attention to Eve. As Eve was a fellow chaos seraphim, he wished to learn more about the race.
After being asked, Eve happily explained.
"Chaos Seraphims are originally the residents of the Samsara River. In ancient times, the chaos seraphims overseered the Samsara River and karma, and Mu-Nyang was their leader. Just in case you don't know, I'm a clone of a chaos seraphim."
Eve paused and pointed at her wings, which slowly turned grey. Countless catterflies migrated from her feathers to Xiaomao's dantian universe in unison, causing her cultivation base to drop at a rapid rate. On the other hand, Xiaomao could sense that more stars were born, and the new immigrants mingled well with the locals.
"As you can see, I'm just a clone. Whenever I meet a chaos seraphim with either black or white wings, my followers naturally migrate to the stronger seraphim."
"Why is that, munya?"
"It's our instinct. We follow the strongest alpha. The females dedicate their bodies to their leader while the males surrender their followers and strength to strengthen the bloodline, allowing the alpha to produce stronger seeds and impregnate the females."
Xiaomao felt bad for Eve, whose dantian residents left her for his universe.
Noticing Xiaomao's look, Eve chortled. She spread her grey wings, and they shone in white light. All feathers were cleansed and became white again.
"Don't feel bad because some children are excited about their new homes. You should know that the butterflies in our wings breed fast when we cultivate karma, especially positive karma. As I've given up my followers to help you, my soul produces many strings of good karma. In no time, the new blood will replace the old, and my cultivation base will bounce back."
Upon confirming that Eve wouldn't lose all her cultivation, Xiaomao was relieved. Then, he turned his gaze to Lilith's spirit.
Lilith shrugged. She also confessed, "I was born a dragon, but I also carried the chaos seraphim bloodline in me. So yeah, I used to have those wings. They were black, though."
"If I revive you, will you share your strength and butterflies with me, munya?"
"Obviously. Even if I don't want to, those butterflies will leave me anyway."
"Cool."
.
After chilling in Xiaomao's dantian for a day inside, the girls decided to come out as they disliked being stranded in a dantian of someone else. Jungwoo and Bianca also came out as they were confident in their abilities to fight. However, Eve remained inside as she could no longer join a fight for the time being.
In the end, Diaochan, Mao Xueyan, Mao Dandan, Jungwoo, Amon, and Bianca accompanied Xiaomao on this journey. They gathered and looked at Xiaomao.
"So, what's the plan?"
Xiaomao didn't hold back his thoughts, "I'm going to farm some lifespan. I need them to revive my friends. Also, Amon, since you're the only insider here, do you know where the dragons gather, munya?"
Amon nudged her eyeglasses, which shone like LED light bulbs.
"The main troops are concentrated on the frozen volcano of doom. It's located on the north-most of the planet."
"North Pole, munya?"
"Yeah, you can say that. But we should be careful, though. There's a dungeon underneath the volcano, and that dungeon's portal connects to the Netherworld. Solomon's demon generals can easily go in and out of the dungeon."
Learning about the enemy's base, Xiaomao was excited. He advised everybody, "Let's go farm the stray dragons outside the dungeon first. When nothing is left to hunt, we'll think of raiding the dungeon later, munya."
Bianca and Jungwoo agreed, but Diaochan pouted, "Boring. I thought you would have dove straight to the enemy's lair and stolen the dungeon core or something."
Bianca coughed, "That's how you got captured, senior."
Diaochan broke a sweat and whistled, feinting ignorance. Everybody ignored the naughty woman and exchanged their opinion.
Jungwoo had some concerns, "Xiaomao, what about the other people on this planet? I sense several life signatures around us, but they keep their distance. But I'm sure they're stalking us."
Xiaomao narrowed his eyes and scanned the surroundings. He instantly found three groups of people. The first one was a half-naked man, leaping from a tree to a tree and getting further away from Xiaomao's current location. However, many drakes accompanied him.
The second group was a team of two – One held a white feather fan and sat on a wheelchair while the other one stood next to the former. As for the last group, Xiaomao was surprised.
That player stood on top of a dragon's head, gazing toward him. He was dressed in black robes, and he had a black feather fan in his hand while the other hand carried a sheathed katana. He had a goatee, a topknot, and a memorable handsome face.
Amon noticed fluctuating pupils of Xiaomao. She followed his gaze and found the guy on a dragon. Upon noticing the person, Amon identified him.
"That's Sima Yi and… one of my colleagues, Paimon."
"Sima Yi? Bianca flinched. As they were acquainted, she knew about his status as a protagonist. Also, her game system already provided a brief detail about him.
"If I remember correctly, Sima Yi's body houses two souls since he was born. One is Sima Yi's true self while the other is a mortal warlord by the name of Oda Nobunaga."
Jungwoo and Xiaomao, who had studied the history of China and Japan, broke a cold sweat. They didn't like the combination of the legendary strategist and the demon lord of the sixth heaven.
Sarcastically, Jungwoo pointed toward the direction of the player in a wheelchair, "If one of Sima Yi, is the other guy Zhuge Liang?"
"You guess it right. Also, the guy next to Zhuge Liang should be Lee Jinyong."
"Hmm?"
Hearing the Korean name, Jungwoo was interested in the guy. He looked at Xiaomao, "Boss, can I go talk to Lee Jinyong? Since we're both from Korea, we might be able to convince him to join us."
"It's not hurt to try. Go ahead."
Jungwoo smiled and kicked the ground. He flew a hundred kilometers south, heading toward the duo.
.
.
Zhuge Liang and Lee Jinyong had been together since they were teleported to this world. Both of them came from W-2 like Bianca, Sima Yi, Zhou Yu, and James Huntsman. They all were swooped into Devil's faction when they first started the game, and they all knew each other. However, minor factions were born within Devil's country as these protagonists expanded their influence.
Zhou Yu hated Devil and Mao Miaomiao's tyranny while Sima Yi, Zhuge Liang, and James Huntsman had a dubious motive for joining them. Only Jinyong and Bianca sincerely served the faction.
Lee Jinyong wore a white long coat, chainmail, leather pants, and combat boots. He hoisted a short spear behind his back while he traveled. Because of his clothes, his tall and toned physique was highlighted. Combined with his idol-like face and curly hair, he could easily be popular among women.
Despite his appearance, Lee Jinyong reluctantly accompanied Zhuge Liang, who dressed in ancient Chinese robes. Although Zhuge Liang could walk, he persisted in sitting there, using it as a flying vehicle. He sometimes lifted the chair with his Qi and flew a few kilometers at a time to avoid detection.
After the commotion and the fight between Xiaomao and Huntsman, Zhuge Liang asked Lee to come here to check the aftermath.
While getting closer, they sensed the life signatures of Xiaomao and others from 500 kilometers away, but the previous nuclear explosion and blasts leveled the tall forest to ash. Now, everything before them was a wasteland full of polluted Qi.
"Should we get closer?" Lee Jinyong clicked his tongue.
Zhuge Liang closed his eyes and flapped his feather fan, "No need. One of them should be approaching us soon."
"How do you know? Did you detect them?"
"No. I calculated the future from our karma."
"Your calculation again, huh?"
Lee disliked this part of Zhuge Liang. He never spoke out about what he found. Only when they were about to encounter something, Zhuge Liang told him.
WHOOSH
A minute later, Jungwoo landed on the ground, standing 100 meters away from Lee and Zhuge Liang. The weretiger waved his hand at Lee.
"Bro! What's up?"
Lee slightly nodded, "Hello."
"…"
The greetings were awkward. They stared at each other for a few seconds.
Jungwoo was taken aback when he noticed how handsome Lee Jinyong was. Also, Zhuge Liang looked exactly like how a certain hack-and-slash game depicted their historical characters. While admiring their look, Jungwoo managed to read their names and levels.
Zhuge Liang, the Hidden Dragon, Level 9,999 (35,000)
Lee Jinyong, the Dreamer, Level 9,999 (18,000)
They were a dangerous duo! Moreover, Zhuge Liang's title was suspicious!
Zhuge Liang put away his fan and stood up. He stored the wheelchair in his inventory and approached the tigerman.
"Should I call you Seo Jungwoo or should I call you by your in-game name, mister."
Jungwoo was surprised when Zhuge Liang knew his true name, "Do I know you? Are you a player?"
"No. I was born here, so you can consider me an NPC."
"…"
"So, what should I call you, sir?"
"Since you know me, call me by my real name."
"Very well, Mr. Seo Jungwoo. Could you inform your friends that we've come in peace? We have no intention of backstabbing you whatsoever. After all, the dragons want us dead."
Jungwoo frowned at Zhuge Liang and glanced at Lee. The latter gave Jungwoo an apologetic look and slightly nodded.
"Alright."
The tigerman obediently headed back. Then, Zhuge Liang turned to Lee Jinyong, "Let's follow them. It's better to stick together when we're in deep trouble."
"Trouble my ass. Had they known what you did earlier, they might have killed us all."
"Everything I did was calculated. Don't worry about it."
Lee pursed his lips and glanced at the spatial rings on his fingers. Inside the rings were countless corpses of level-9999 dragons that he had killed. Moreover, Lee knew that over a thousand drakes and dragons now lived inside the strategist's dantian universe as his followers.