Chapter 110: Reclaimed Mythological Assets
Gunfire rattled off the chamber walls as Wang Liang charged. An operative swung his rifle toward him, but a shadowy blur knocked the barrel aside. Wang Liang drove forward, forcing the operative to stumble back.
Su Yao stepped in behind him, one hand raised. “Surrender now and be spared, or face destruction.”
The lead PMC operative shouted back, still firing at the dragon. “The terms are unacceptable. Failure isn’t an option.”
Wang Liang snorted. “Then let’s make failure inevitable!” He twisted past the nearest operative and swept his leg toward another man's knees. His shadowy form flickered as the operative leaped aside, avoiding the strike. Wang Liang spun with the momentum, driving his elbow toward the man's ribs.
The dragon roared. Its tail slammed into the ground, cracking the stone floor. “You insects dare defy me? My hoard will be restored!”
Su Yao phased behind the lead operative. She caught his wrist before he could turn and twisted his arm behind his back, driving him to the ground. “Your resilience is commendable but futile.”
Another operative fired a burst of enchanted rounds at Su Yao. She deflected them with a wave of spiritual energy. The bullets ricocheted off the walls. “Wang Liang, focus on the artifacts. Secure the gold they’ve taken.”
Wang Liang grinned, dodging a talisman thrown by a second operative. “Gladly! But these guys are tougher than they look!” He kicked a bag of gold away from an operative, sending it skidding toward the dragon.
The lead operative rose to his feet. “We aren’t leaving without the hoard. Iron Spear does not retreat.” He activated a device on his wrist. The other operatives formed a defensive perimeter. Their weapons glowed with intensified energy.
Su Yao deflected another volley of fire. “Who hired you? Was it the British Museum? They do have a noted history of acquiring foreign artifacts.”
The lead operative nodded. “Affirmative. Our client is the British Museum’s Acquisitions Department. The hoard is designated for a new exhibit on ‘Reclaimed Mythological Assets’.”
A beat of silence fell over the chamber, broken only by the dragon’s steaming growl.
Wang Liang stared. “You’re joking.”
“I’m not in the habit of joking,” Su Yao said.
“The British Museum?” the Jiao Long roared. “They dare to label my treasures as ‘reclaimed assets’? I will reclaim their entire island and sink it beneath the waves!”
Wang Liang looked from the dragon to the PMC. “Well, this just got significantly more complicated.”
The lead operative braced against the dragon’s oppressive aura. “You are welcome to try. But to do that, you would have to defeat Albion first. The white dragon guards the British Isles.”
The Jiao Long’s eyes narrowed. “Another dragon? They have a dragon?”
Wang Liang burst out laughing. “A dragon versus dragon showdown? Now that’s a business opportunity! We could sell tickets!”
Su Yao shifted her gaze from the PMC to the Jiao Long. “This complicates your vengeance. Engaging another primordial being would be resource-intensive and likely draw unwanted celestial attention.”
“I don’t care!” The Jiao Long snarled, steam rising from its scales. “No one steals from me! I will crush this Albion worm and then their museum!”
The PMC operative shook his head. “Albion is under contract with the Crown. It won’t be easily moved. Stand down and surrender the artifacts.”
Su Yao phased closer to the operative. “Your contract is void here. Leave now, or we will add your bodies to the dragon’s hoard as compensation.”
“The terms are unacceptable,” the lead operative repeated. “The mission parameters are absolute. We will secure the assets.”
Su Yao stared at them. Why am I being so merciful? I have obliterated beings for far lesser insults. Her eyes tracked their movements.
Is it because they wear human faces? But they are machines following code. They can’t act outside their programming. Offering them surrender is like offering a rock the choice to be a bird.
“You are functionally incapable of accepting mercy,” Su Yao said. “You are tools. And tools that can’t be repurposed must be discarded.”
The lead operative raised his weapon. “Our programming is our strength. We don’t deviate.”
A massive claw slammed down, crushing two operatives into the stone floor. The Jiao Long loomed over them. “Enough talk! They are insects! Crush them all!”
Su Yao phased aside as the dragon’s tail swept through the space. How troublesome. I was overcomplicating it. They are just obstacles. She summoned her Void-Severing Glaive. The time for offers was over.
Her Void-Severing Glaive sliced through the air, cleaving an operative in two. The body dissipated into a burst of static and synthetic fluids, but no spiritual echo remained. She pivoted, deflecting a volley of enchanted rounds with a flick of her wrist.
They dodge in predictable patterns and attack in set sequences. It’s the same as the programmed enemies in that arcade game.
Wang Liang laughed as he shattered another operative’s armor with a shadowy blast. “They break so easily! Like toys!”
“Toys are for children,” Su Yao replied. She phased through a trio of operatives, her glaive reducing them to scrap metal and faux flesh. “They are appliances.”
The lead operative continued his advance despite losing half his squad. “Mission priority unchanged. Secure the assets.”
Su Yao disarmed him with a swift strike, sending his weapon clattering across the stone floor. “You aren’t even alive enough to fear death. This is a waste of my time.” She kicked him back into a wall, but he immediately began to rise. His movements were jerky but determined.
Crushing another group under its tail, the Jiao Long roared. “Why do you hesitate, fox? Eliminate them!”
Why am I holding back? Su Yao wondered, watching the operative reset his stance. Because destroying them provides no satisfaction.
“Enough of this farce!” The Jiao Long roared. “Guards! Attend me!”
The air in the chamber shimmered. Figures emerged From the shadows of the vast sewer tunnels, dressed in the elaborate silken garbs of ancient palace servants. They formed a perimeter around the remaining PMC operatives, cutting off their retreat.
Su Yao watched as a woman in a flowing hanfu, disarmed a PMC operative with a precise joint-locking maneuver.
The lead PMC operative stared as the well-dressed zombies overwhelmed his remaining men. “What are these? New hostiles?”
“They are my household,” the dragon rumbled. “The staff of my palace, risen to defend their master’s domain. They will not tire or surrender. And they remember their duties well.”
Su Yao watched a zombie in a minister’s robe snap an operative’s neck. So even the dragon relies on puppets. This entire conflict is devoid of worthy opposition.
She dismissed her Void-Severing Glaive. The machines would be dismantled by the dead. A fitting end.
A PMC operative managed to blast the head off a zombie servant in a scholar’s robe. The corpse crumpled to the ground. But before the operative could re-target, a figure stepped forward.
It was a palace maid. Her silken robes were of a finer cut and deeper hue than the others. She raised a hand, forming a complex pattern in the air.
Green-gold light emanated from her fingertips and settled over the fallen scholar. Its body twitched. The headless neck bubbled as a featureless head of packed earth and moss rapidly formed. The zombie scholar stood, resuming its duty.
“They have a combat necromancer?” The lead PMC operative stared. “That’s not in the brief!”
The palace maid turned towards the commotion. “This one humbly requests you cease desecrating the household.” She gestured again. The stone floor beneath two other downed zombies glowed. Their bodies reassembled themselves.
She is using magic, Su Yao observed. There is a consciousness there, however faded.
Wang Liang blinked. “Since when do the special zombies talk?”
The Jiao Long rumbled. “My head maid has always been exceptionally devoted. She maintained the palace accounts in life. Now she maintains its defenses.”
The head maid continued her rhythmic spellcasting, reinforcing the line of zombie servants. “It’s this one’s duty to manage the household resources, be they silverware or security.”
Su Yao smiled. How ironic. The most ‘human’ person here is a talking corpse.
Wang Liang cracked his neck. A wide grin split his face. “Enough! I can’t challenge the big lizard until this clutter is cleared away!” He raised both hands. Dark energy swirled around him as he began to chant.
“Seeping crest of turbidity. Arrogant vessel of lunacy. Boil forth and deny. Grow numb and flicker. Disrupt sleep. Crawling queen of iron. Eternally self-destructing doll of mud. Unite. Repulse. Fill with soil and know your own powerlessness!”
The air itself screamed. A massive rectangular construct of swirling black and purple energy materialized around the remaining PMC operatives.
Inside, crushing pressure and countless spiritual lacerations tore through the operatives. Their armored suits buckled and their weapons shattered. The violent torrent compressed their bodies into nothingness, silencing the last of their gunfire.
The black energy dissipated, leaving only scorch marks on the stone where the squad had been.
Wang Liang lowered his hands, puffing out his chest. “Hah! See that? That’s the power of a true Demon King!”
Su Yao observed the aftermath. “A derivative technique. The spatial compression is inefficient, wasting nearly forty percent of the expended energy. And your incantation was unnecessarily verbose.”
“This one thanks you for the pest control.” The palace maid bowed. “However, this one must note that the structural integrity of the ceiling has been compromised by that display.” She pointed a finger upwards, where several cracks now spiderwebbed across the roof.
The dust from Wang Liang’s spell hadn’t yet settled when a new group of figures emerged from a side tunnel. These zombies dressed in the robes of court officials and military guards. Each carried a severed PMC head by the hair. They placed the grisly trophies in a neat row on the ground.
Behind them, other zombie servants carried chests and sacks that glowed with a familiar golden light. They began unpacking the stolen artifacts, adding them back to the main hoard.
The head palace maid surveyed the returning items. “This one reports that the surface incursion has been neutralized. Our pilfered assets have been fully recovered. The household accounts are returning to equilibrium.”
Su Yao watched the operation, arms crossed. “It seems your staff is more competent than your security. The gold has returned itself.”
“As it should be. The balance is restored.” The Jiao Long’s massive head turned. Its gaze now fell on Wang Liang and the single bag he still clutched. “All but one final item.”
Wang Liang hefted his bag of gold. “I challenge you for it, lizard! By the right of conquest, the winner takes the hoard!”
The Jiao Long laughed. “You? Challenge me? You are a gnat who stumbled into a treasury. I don’t accept challenges from gnats.”
Its horned head tilted toward the head palace maid. “However, you have disturbed my household and forced my staff to work overtime. Therefore, you will be challenging my head maid for your life.”
Wang Liang stared. “The maid? You want me to fight her?”
The head maid stepped forward. “This one accepts the responsibility of pest disposal. The Master’s time is valuable.”
She gave a shallow bow. “Please endeavor to provide adequate entertainment.”
Su Yao watched. How utterly demeaning. The dragon refused to even grant him the dignity of a direct defeat. This is a more exquisite punishment than any I could have devised.
Wang Liang sputtered. “This is an insult!”
“The insult,” the Jiao Long rumbled, “was your existence in my sanctum. My maid will now see to its correction.”
Wang Liang threw his hands up. “I will not fight her! She is a woman! I have standards!”
A rumbling chuckle vibrated through the chamber.
“A quaint and outdated notion,” the dragon replied. “But if your fragile masculinity forbids you from fighting women, then you can’t fight me either. I identify as female. Your own rules have disarmed you entirely.”
“That... that’s not... you can’t just...”
“I think your attempted deflection has backfired,” Su Yao said. “Your ‘standards’ have rendered you incapable of challenging either opponent. You are left with no one to fight but your own absurd hypocrisy.”
The head maid bowed. “The logical conclusion is that you must surrender the gold and depart. Unless you wish to re-evaluate your terms?”
Wang Liang’s shoulders slumped. “Fine! Fine! What if I just borrow the gold? I’ll return it with interest! A substantial return on investment! You’d be profiting from this!”
“Foolish mortal. This gold is the crystallized essence of fallen kingdoms, the condensed sorrow of forgotten dynasties. Each coin is a weight upon the soul,” the Jiao Long said.
“Its cursed nature bleeds into the world when removed, stirring the dead and corrupting the living. That is why it must never leave this place. Your ‘interest’ would be paid in the currency of madness and decay.”
Su Yao’s lips curved into a smile. “Your business acumen fails to account for metaphysical liabilities. You sought to profit from a toxic asset without understanding its inherent volatility.”
The head maid nodded. “The Master speaks truly. The account books clearly state the hoard’s nature as a non-performing asset with catastrophic externalities. Its removal triggers write-offs in the form of societal collapse. This one must insist on its immediate return to the vault.”
Wang Liang stared at the bag in his hands. “So I can’t fight for it. I can’t even borrow it... what am I supposed to do?”
“Leave,” the dragon said. “And be grateful I don’t decide to add your soul to my collection. It would likely depreciate the value. I just purchased the soul of a Lithuanian man from Temu, and even that bargain-bin relic possesses more dignity than you do.”
Su Yao watched Wang Liang leave the sewer tunnels, the bag of gold relinquished. She turned her gaze to the Jiao Long and the head maid.
“You are fortunate Wang Liang is currently so invested in securing employment or launching a business venture. The thought of proposing to either of you didn’t cross his mind. It would have been a complication.”
The Jiao Long laughed. “I was once the wife of a magistrate. Why would I entertain the confession of a rootless nobody?”
The head maid bowed. “This one is flattered by the implied consideration, but such matters are long settled. This one was married in life and raised three children. One of my descendants still resides in this city, managing a tea shop near the harbor. It would be improper to entertain such offers.”
“I see. Your personal histories are unexpectedly mundane.” Su Yao glanced toward the tunnel where Wang Liang had disappeared. “His fixation on economic ventures has spared us all a great deal of awkwardness.”
“Now, you should leave,” the Jiao Long said. “I must prepare for my… discussion with Albion. Unless you’re here to assist with the preparations?”
Su Yao’s eyes narrowed. “You aren’t seriously considering that. A direct conflict would be geopolitically messy. And physically destructive.”
The dragon sighed. “You misunderstand. When one dragon challenges another, it’s a protracted exchange of historical grievances and territorial claims. I must consult my archives to make sure my grievances are properly cited.”