This Lich Requests More Remuneration
Chapter 450 - 422 Specialization in Skill

Chapter 450: Chapter 422 Specialization in Skill

Aeolus could only recognize Airel’s face, and the girl in front of him, with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a lobster, looked exactly like Airel in his memory.

Not only that, but her upper body was clad in a carapace-like heavy armor. Aeolus remembered the Airel he saw was also wearing heavy armor. If she had a warhammer in her hand, it would be perfect.

But, was this really his Airel?

The Koutao Mermaid Goddess extended one semi-tentacled palm, caressing the head of the lobster girl, and said to Aeolus, "You see, the Airel you’re looking for is right here. So, who exactly did that so-called friend of yours find for you?"

Aeolus frowned. In that case, was the Lich deceiving him all along?

No, something definitely wasn’t right.

Aeolus’s intuition told him that the events of the day were too bizarre, but he couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong at the moment.

Brivodoup didn’t care about that much. He grabbed Aeolus’s arm with his pincers and said, "This is your Airel. Can you prove she isn’t?"

Aeolus struggled to break free from Brivodoup’s pincers but found the water, which usually obeyed his call, unresponsive, and his body was not strong enough to contend with a Goddess.

Aeolus exclaimed agitatedly, "I will confirm with the great Talos, let me go!"

"Stop struggling. The only Deity Position Talos has that is related to the sea is the vortex. He is very powerful, but this is the sea! I am the Goddess of the sea!"

Indeed, Brivodoup was no match for Talos in a fight, but as one of the Ocean Deities, it was not difficult for her to block the blessings Talos had given Aeolus.

Aeolus, seeing that the situation was dire, hastily called out to his father in his heart.

The prayer of the Son of God could reach directly to Talos’s ears, and even Aeolus’s expression at the moment would be seen by Talos.

But in that ruined Divine Realm, Talos merely said coldly, "What a waste."

Talos had always been watching Aeolus’s actions, not as a father, but from the vantage point of the Lord of the Storm, overlooking the actions of mortals.

Even though Aeolus had his bloodline, to Talos, Aeolus was just a plaything he had created on a whim, much like many years ago when he divided his Divine Power to give to the Lich, Vishalon.

It was purely for entertainment.

To Talos, that power was insignificant, but it did provide him with an amusing toy.

Unfortunately, Vishalon could not bear it in the end and chose to flee.

And now, Aeolus was even more disappointing to Talos, failing to bring him any pleasure.

Talos watched indifferently as Aeolus struggled helplessly, but this was already his most merciful behavior. If Talos were to act, it would mean tormenting his immortal son with endless Lightning, making him realize how much his actions had disappointed his father.

Talos was truly a deity who regarded all living beings as insignificant. If Aio allowed it, he would not hesitate to turn Lightning into boiling water to fill the entire Prime Material Plane, to see which particular "ant" could swim through the Lightning, at which point he would applaud and then bestow some favors on those survivors.

So, Talos merely watched as Aeolus kept praying in despair, without giving him the slightest response.

If this son couldn’t solve such a minor problem, then he was destined not to become the type of "hero" Talos wanted, and the story of Aeolus would become quite boring.

As for the actions of the Koutoa Mermaid Goddess, Talos had no intention of stopping her.

At the beginning, Talos had purposely granted Aeolus the power of the sea to draw out these Ocean Deities, to see if Aeolus could be as adept at dealing among deities as that Lich, and best of all, trick one or two Goddesses into losing their Deity Position. Talos would have laughed heartily, brought Aeolus back, and praised him properly.

But now it seemed... this kid just didn’t have what it takes.

Aeolus, because he hadn’t received a response to his prayers from Talos, and with the Koutoa Mermaid Goddess keeping on emphasizing that the person in front of him was the Airel he was looking for, Talos’s lack of response was an implicit agreement.

Brivodoup rarely found a bit of logic that gradually made Aeolus’s eyes turn bewildered. He was starting to believe what Brivodoup said. And as he looked at the half-human, half-lobster "Airel," Aeolus’s gaze softened considerably.

"Sigh, if he can’t react in his entire life, then he might as well be a waste for a lifetime," Talos closed his eyes and disconnected from Aeolus completely. When he opened his eyes again, Amberser’s figure appeared before him.

Apart from Aio, the other deities were not omniscient and omnipotent. The reason Talos could locate Amberser was that Amberser had with him a conch shell that Aeolus had given to him.

Aeolus’s power came from Talos, and this shell, which was blessed with Divine Power, became Talos’s Divine Artifact. Although not very useful, it was simple enough to use it to locate someone.

Meanwhile, Amberser was dispatching members of the Silent Night Pirate Group to explore the Volcanic Ocean Region and was in close contact with the Mermaid High Priestess to confirm the movements of the various marine races.

Many races were given this new maritime territory, not just the Yixi Manta Rays.

The numerous weaker tribes can be ignored, those small tribes that can’t even bring forth a Legendary are merely scrounging for leftovers, and after the situation stabilizes, they will inevitably pledge allegiance to the victor.

Only five races truly have the ability to compete for the ownership of this ocean region: Mermaids, Yixi Manta Rays, Sharkwa Fishmen, Kuotuo Murlocs, and Naga.

The Mermaids had already become allies of Amberser, uninterested in expanding new territories; they simply could not allow the Yixi Manta Rays to increase their numbers, as these monsters with demon blood running through their veins could summon the projection of Dimogorgen if their numbers swelled.

If that Demon Prince appeared in the ocean, it was feared no one could withstand him.

The Ocean Deities would have to pay a corresponding price to intervene, and the result would be Dimogorgen achieving the chaos and slaughter he desired, while the Ocean Deities would be severely weakened in their effort to repel the projection of Dimogorgen.

Such an outcome would be a great victory for the demons, and a disastrous defeat for the other Deities.

Therefore, when Amberser declared to the Mermaids that he too held a grudge against the Yixi Manta Rays, the Mermaid High Priestess immediately regarded him as an ally.

There was nothing much to say about the Sharkwa Fishmen and the Kuotuo Murlocs; the Sharkwa Fishmen worshipped the Deep Sea Queen Ambori, who was also known by another name—the Shrewish Queen.

More importantly, despite calling herself a goddess of the sea, Ambori was not a member of the Ocean Deities because She had joined the deity faction of the Furious Gods, openly allying with Talos.

But the relations among the members of this deity faction were hardly harmonious, and Ambori didn’t have a particularly deep bond with Talos, only sharing a temperament of volatility and the occasional impulse to destroy the world.

Therefore, the Sharkwa Fishmen who worship Ambori were also of a belligerent and aggressive nature; a new ocean region represented new hunting grounds they would never give up.

According to Mermaid Clan intelligence, tens of thousands of elite Sharkwa Fishmen had already entered the Volcanic Ocean Region, looking for suitable areas to establish their homes. Once successful, they would use Ambori’s Divine Power to breed Giant Sharks, filling the nearby waters with a formidable presence.

As for the Kuotuo Murlocs, there was no need to say; foolish, clumsy, but numerous, these insensible lunatics were capable of anything unpredictable, and Amberser couldn’t be bothered to guess the actions of these Kuotuo Murlocs; it was meaningless.

As for the Yixi Manta Rays, these creatures shared many characteristics with Abyssal Demons: an especially strong Life Force. Yixi Manta Rays had short lives, but their vitality was robust, with rapid reproduction and growth rates and a formidable self-healing ability after injury. According to the intelligence provided by the Mermaids, the Yixi Manta Rays had already taken over several trenches in the Volcanic Ocean Region and were spawning in large numbers.

With no enemies of the Yixi Manta Rays in the new region, they would hatch new Yixi Manta Rays at the fastest rate possible, a situation that had to be dealt with immediately. Give them a few more days, and the Volcanic Ocean Region would be theirs.

As for the last race, the Naga, Amberser truly found it difficult to make a judgment.

From what he understood, the Naga worshipped the Tri-faced Goddess, Shelginestad, a deity of the lawful good alignment. Her followers would subconsciously gravitate towards the deity, and their actions would adhere to the deity’s teachings, meaning these Naga were, theoretically, good-natured.

The only problem was... this Tri-faced Goddess had some connection to the Dragon Race.

According to the Book of Creation, the first dragon across many planes was Asgras, the creator of all dragons, the Nine-faced Dragon God, and shaper of many planes.

This Major-Dragon-Deity had another name—Aio.

The pronunciation was very similar to Aeo, and His authority was similar to that of Aeo’s; in some non-Prime Material Plane worlds, Aio’s authority even surpassed that of Aeo’s.

Of course, the aforementioned details were self-aggrandized by the Dragon Race themselves, and Amberser couldn’t discern the truth because the God Above Gods Aio never cared who boasted about equating themselves to Him.

But whether true or false, the Nine-faced Dragon God created the Dragon Race, the Great Dragon Divines, and the deity faction of the Scaled Kin; all of them were His offspring or avatars. Among them, the Naga had a Queen, the Tri-faced Goddess, one of His kind with an unclear relationship with the Dragon Race.

Based on current intelligence, the deities of the Dragon Race have yet to settle their bet with the Lord of the Dawn, so they would not intervene, but strictly speaking, the Naga Queen wasn’t part of the Great Dragon Divines... so what’s Her view of the current Overseas Dragon Clan?

Amberser had just recently hammered the Overseas Dragon Clan, virtually turning all those Giant Dragons into beasts he had under his care.

Would the Naga Queen have an opinion on this?

Despite being lawful good, deities also have moments of anger, and at such times, it’s the mood that matters, not the alignment.

Talos, too, saw the problem Amberser was contemplating, and the Lord of the Storm was curious about how Amberser would act.

Rubbing his hands together, Talos caused thunder to crackle from his palms, he couldn’t help but think, "This Lich possesses vast power; will he directly wage war against the Naga Tribe? Let there be battle, it’s time for this ocean to liven up!"

Amberser was marking various lines and notes on a crude sea chart, mainly to record all major powers’ intelligence of the ocean; then, he opened the Magic Mirror, sending the information of this sea chart to several "friends."

The retired Old Elf King of Silvermoon Tribunal, the retired Supreme Decree of the Laine Empire, the Chairman of the Alchemist Council exiled to the Land of Chaos... Despite these three old men being retired, they had many under their command who were well-versed in military strategy.

Amberser was well aware of where his strengths lay; warfare was absolutely not his forte.

With that in mind, he decided to let those experts devise plans for him; whoever’s plan was chosen would later receive a discount on some business platform transaction fees.