Chapter 81 : Servan Came Knocking, Cassius Made a Decisive and Ambitious Deal
Chapter 81: Servan Came Knocking, Cassius Made a Decisive and Ambitious Deal
Outside Lemon Port City, somewhere underground.
In a damp cellar that reeked of an intense, putrid stench—
Cassius was sitting and studying necromantic magic.
His younger brother, Carlisle, sat huddled in a corner with vacant eyes, looking no different from a corpse.
It was a stark contrast to the radiant and powerful second-in-command of Lord Williams he once was.
To be honest—
Carlisle regretted it.
He deeply regretted joining his elder brother in committing such madness.
In the end, he was reduced to this— a wretched worm, driven into a dark, airless corner, struggling merely to survive.
“Wu… wu… wu…”
Carlisle only wanted to cry now…
As for the Heart-Eroding Leech, Glock, across from him— it was working in earnest.
Using its sharp mouthparts, it carefully fiddled with several moldy berries.
Its glossy shell was smeared with thick, greenish sap.
“Damn it! Damn it!”
“These inferior plant fibers can’t possibly sustain the vitality of my larvae!”
Glock hissed in fury, its antennae twitching wildly.
The discovery that eating raw seafood caused strange diseases had already been learned by the two barons, who quietly spread the news.
Those under them who hadn’t yet been infected naturally no longer ate seafood raw.
Even when food grew scarce and they were forced to eat seafood to fill their stomachs,
they would boil it thoroughly before consuming it.
This caused the infection among the last key groups of the population to stagnate, showing little progress.
Cassius glanced coldly at Glock.
“Control your emotions.”
“Lord Melunus wants results, not complaints.”
Glock turned around, its tiny eyes filled with venomous resentment as it glared at Cassius.
“Then tell me how I’m supposed to produce results!”
“The remaining humans in Lemon Port include many of the city’s main fighting force!”
“Magicians, knights, and those bodyguards fat merchant swine keep around!”
“And the personal guards of the two barons! Every one of them is as sly as a ghost!”
“They even boil their water three times before drinking it! How are my larvae supposed to parasitize them?!”
“By sheer willpower?!”
Glock swung its forelimbs, pointing toward the iron cell where several shivering, malnourished prisoners were held.
“Look at these offerings! All useless—old, weak, and sick!”
“The precious larvae in my heart are half-starved!”
“This little energy can’t even fill the gaps between their teeth! How am I to meet Lord Melunus’ quota?!”
Cassius’ soul flame flickered slightly but he didn’t respond.
He knew Glock was right.
The situation in Lemon Port was trickier than expected.
Those who held power—the elite—were all on high alert, making it extremely difficult to make a move.
Glock’s proud parasitic eggs could only prey on the ignorant lower classes at best.
“When you develop a new method of transmission, won’t the problem be solved?”
Cassius forced himself to remain patient. “Water sources, fruits, vegetables… there’s always a way.”
“You make it sound easy!” Glock sneered, its shrill tone dripping with mockery. “Do you think my larvae are weed seeds—able to grow anywhere?”
“They need specific conditions! Specific nutrients! Specific—ugh—!”
Before it could finish speaking—
heavy footsteps echoed from the entrance of the cellar.
Cassius and Glock fell silent immediately, turning warily toward the shadows.
A human figure exuding the aura of a Fourth-tier powerhouse stepped inside.
His face was stern, his eyes carrying a faint trace of concealed disdain.
Without a word, he tossed Cassius a disposable communication crystal.
A refined, aristocratic voice came from within.
It was Servan!
He spoke hurriedly, “Dear Envoy of the Rotting Lord, I require your assistance~!”
At that, the corners of Cassius’ mouth curved into a mocking smile.
Servan, this fool— even now, he still hadn’t realized that this so-called Fourth-tier Lich, the envoy of Melunus, was none other than the man he had met several times before—Lord Williams’ Cassius Morgan!
Of course, Cassius wouldn’t expose that truth.
Bearing the title of Melunus’ envoy made it far easier to extract benefits from this piece of trash.
“Please speak, Lord Servan.”
“Find someone for me—quickly!” Servan’s tone was direct.
At the same time, his captain of the guards produced a sketched portrait.
On it was the likeness of a man bearing a seven- or eight-tenths resemblance to Colin!
“Just locate his hiding place,” Servan said. “I’ll personally send men to capture him.”
He did not disclose who the man in the portrait was.
Or of what use that man might be to him.
After all, the reason he wanted to capture Colin was merely to set up those undead for a fall.
How could he possibly let them know the true purpose behind it?
Upon hearing this,
Cassius’ soul fire flickered slightly.
He and Glock had been hiding in this cellar lately, busy with the modification of parasitic insects.
They knew almost nothing about what was happening outside.
And had no idea that one of the very culprits behind his disastrous defeat in Oak Town
was now right here in Lemon Port!
“You want me to find someone?”
Cassius let out a sneer, tinged with disdain.
“Lord Servan, are your elite guards so useless that you have to rely on me to use necromancy to find a man?”
“If you can’t even handle such a trivial matter, Lord Melunus will surely be… quite displeased~”
On the other side of the crystal—
Servan, seated on a luxurious sofa, darkened in expression.
A trace of anger flashed in his eyes but he quickly suppressed it.
He was the one asking for help now.
And with the Rotting Lord behind the envoy, this was someone he couldn’t afford to offend.
“Please rest assured, Envoy.”
“Once it’s done, I’ll offer one hundred living humans as payment.”
Servan named his price directly.
After all, sacrifices were the least scarce thing in Lemon Port now.
He could send his men out for a short walk and easily capture plenty of powerless, low-born wretches!
One hundred lives—
just to locate a single man.
A profitable deal indeed!
Cassius was immediately tempted.
Although he was still far from breaking through the bottleneck to the Fifth-tier, a mosquito’s leg was still meat after all!
“Deal,” Cassius said crisply.
“But the portrait is useless to me. Give me something that belonged to him, or anything carrying his aura.”
“You’ll have your answer by tomorrow night at the latest.”
Servan finally nodded in satisfaction.
His captain of the guards then unfastened a small bloodstained cloth scrap from his belt and tossed it over.
“This came from his robe—found at the capture site.”
When he finished,
the communication crystal dimmed.
The captain wasted no time, turning to leave the cellar immediately.
Cassius quietly turned the bloodied cloth in his hand.
Judging by the strong aura it carried, locating the man’s exact position shouldn’t be difficult.
But then suddenly—
“Cassius——!!!”
Glock’s shrill screech nearly pierced the eardrums!
It shot forward like a cannonball, its glossy carapace trembling with rage.
“Are you out of your damned mind?!”
“The human sacrifices that fat swine of a baron sent over—those are all hosts for my larvae! They’re the result of my painstaking cultivation!”
“Do you have any idea how much energy it takes to hatch a single larva?! Or how long before they mature?!”
Glock was so furious that its words became incoherent, its mouthparts snapping open and shut in fury.
“The last time—and the time before that—you did the same thing!”
“Lord Melunus wants the entire Lemon Port turned into a hatchery!”
“Not for you to burn my half-finished specimens like firewood!!”
Faced with Glock’s rage, Cassius remained unusually calm.
Because he knew the creature wasn’t very intelligent—easy enough to fool.
“Glock, calm yourself.”
Cassius’ tone carried a false sense of reassurance.
“The sacrifices Servan caught are worthless wretches who can’t even afford food. The larvae in their hearts are half-dead already.”
“Instead of letting them rot away, why not put them to good use and gain something real in return…”
Before long,
Glock was pacified by the grand promises Cassius painted.
It muttered a few times, then crawled back beside a pile of rotten vegetable leaves, resuming its work on the modification experiments.
Cassius watched Glock’s hunched back.
A cold trace of mockery flickered within his hollow eye sockets.
Fool.
Once I break through to the Fifth-tier, the first thing I’ll do is crush you, you noisy bug.
Cassius Morgan had never been the kind to live beneath another.
Williams was gone, and Oak Town and Maple Leaf Town were lost as well.
Now this last piece of fat meat—Lemon Port—he had to devour it!
And devour it alone!
By using the human sacrifices provided by that fool Servan, he would break through to the Fifth-tier.
Before Melunus could even react, he would forcibly absorb the vast flesh and blood energy of Lemon Port!
Thereby completely stabilizing his Fifth-tier realm!
When that time came, the sky would be vast, free for him to soar.
He could pledge allegiance to any undead lord and still earn a high position.
Why should he care about Melunus, that pile of rotting mud?
Cassius immersed himself in the blissful fantasy.
A twisted smile seemed to stretch across his gaunt face.
However—
this so-called ambitious traitor lord never knew—
that a treaty named “The Violet Armistice” would soon crush every part of his beautiful dream!
It was a secret known only to those of the Fifth-tier and above, and a few high-ranking nobles.
If Cassius dared to unleash a massacre in Lemon Port with Fifth-tier strength—
what awaited him
would not only be the wrath of Melunus, but also the thunderous hunt from the powerhouses of the Human Empire!
And, within the Undead Council itself,
the rightful purge from other lords in the name of internal cleansing!