CHAPTER 461: CHAPTER 36: DIVERGENCE (4)

Jones walked out of that small underground room.

The makeshift wooden door slammed shut.

The two brothers stood silently, back to back, separated by a door.

The soul fire in Richie’s eye sockets crackled and flickered.

Jones slowly widened his eyes.

The flames inside and outside illuminated their figures.

Time ticked by.

Moments later, Jones stepped forward and left through the long tunnel.

Richie slowly turned his face and looked through the cracks in the wooden door from afar.

...

"Dora—!" Jones called out as he walked through the narrow passage.

"Lord Jones, what happened?" Dora hurriedly ran over.

"Notify everyone, we need to leave here immediately."

"Leave here?" Dora was stunned.

"Yes, we are returning to Giant Snake City."

Silver Hammer, standing on the other side, was dumbfounded, "City Lord, I’m worried the goblins won’t want to leave. After all, Giant Snake City doesn’t have chickens."

"Tell them there won’t be any chickens here soon either, the Demon Army is on its way. This place will soon become a battlefield."

"The Demon Army?"

Jones quickly started packing his things.

Before long, the goblins began to stir. The excavation work was completely halted, and the commotion quickly attracted the attention of the liches.

A lich came over and asked, "Jones, what are you doing? Aren’t you staying with us?"

"No, Richie has already reached an agreement with the demons. I feel I no longer belong here."

"Richie reached an agreement with the demons?"

Suddenly, the commotion spread among the liches, and they began to discuss fervently.

"We are allying with the demons? That must be a joke, right?"

"Something must have gone wrong. Did we misunderstand?"

"No, we didn’t misunderstand. The Angel Army is about to descend. Forming an alliance with the demons is the only way we can directly confront the Angel Army and continue to settle scores with the Black Dragons."

"But we have to ally with the demons! Aren’t we supposed to be agents of justice?"

The entire White Bone Holy Light Court was in turmoil, and the liches had differing opinions about the alliance with the demons.

A lich ran up to Richie to confirm, "Excuse me... honorable Lich King, are we really sure about allying with the demons?"

"Yes, the agreement has been signed. This is the only way we can defeat the Black Dragons and Heaven at the same time," Richie answered simply, standing on the edge of a cliff.

The liches were immediately in an uproar.

*"No, this isn’t what we envisioned at the start. Our goal wasn’t just to avenge Gray. More importantly, we wanted to achieve justice in Keltos! How can we ally with Hell? If we ally with Hell, how can we uphold justice?"*

*"But we must win the war first, right?"*

*"Is winning the war really that important? Liches never fear defeat. We’ve fought a thousand-year-long war with the Dragon Clan; now, just as it begins, we’re already abandoning our beliefs?"*

*"This is just a temporary compromise! After winning the war, anything is possible!"*

*"So after the war, we have to betray our allies? My God, I cannot agree with that. This isn’t the justice Gray taught us!"*

"I support Richie’s decision. Winning the war and avenging Gray is the most important."

"Sorry, I don’t support it. I believe faith is the most important. Gray would agree."

"I support."

"I oppose."

"Now that the agreement has been signed, what is the point of supporting or opposing?"

"So we should just accept it? No, I think at least you should have discussed it with us first."

The first outbreak of dissent came from the liches. Clearly, it wasn’t just humans; even liches were unprepared for this alliance.

Richie said, "The situation is urgent, I didn’t have the time to persuade each of you individually. Please forgive my unilateral decision!"

Suddenly, all the liches fell silent.

They all looked at Richie in a daze.

Richie also stood high up, gripping his sword hilt, and looking at them, he said loudly, "We have no retreat. We’ve come this far, and our only choice is to win the final victory!"

His voice echoed through the massive underground space.

In Richie’s estimation, things should end here. The whole White Bone Holy Light Court would be swept along with him into a new war. Politically, this was a fast-paced maneuver.

However, someone presented them with a second option.

"No, we have a second option," a lich said, "Jones said those unwilling to ally with the demons can choose to leave. Just like him."

Richie froze.

Another lich said, "Jones is right. If we cannot prevent it, we at least shouldn’t make White Bone Holy Light Court sound like it has only one voice."

"Richie," a lich said, "as Lich King, you are great. You led us to defeat the Black Dragons splendidly. But in another aspect... maybe my understanding of justice isn’t deep, and I often caused trouble for Gray, but I at least know Gray would never ally with Hell. Fighting Heaven shouldn’t be a reason to ally with Hell. This goes against what we initially advocated."

"I’d rather fight Heaven for ten thousand years than agree to ally with Hell."

In small groups, some liches withdrew and left the underground gathering space. But most of the liches, about three-quarters, stayed.