Evil Red Dragon

Chapter 83 Cooperation

Alecto and his group charged recklessly through the crowd.

The low-level ghouls were generally no match for them, and the occasional high-level ghoul lord who appeared was immediately and accurately killed by Alector, causing no trouble at all.

This underground cave was ridiculously large; the group walked along it for most of the day without reaching the end.

After annihilating another wave of ghouls, Alector raised his hand to signal the team to stop, and the golden flames slowly died down.

"Rest where you are."

They were in a huge cave, with stalactites hanging upside down from the ceiling and the ground covered with slippery moss and a faint glow.

But after a short while, Alecto's dragon eyes narrowed slightly.

He heard some kind of vibration, like—

"Footsteps."

Cyril suddenly spoke, his eyes shining: "The sound of many footsteps is coming from directly ahead; they are also heading in this direction."

Gru grabbed his spiked club: "Shall we fight back?"

"No."

Alecto waved his hand.

There were many, at least several hundred people, and they were imbued with a sacred aura.

"interesting."

Alecto opened his eyes, a smile spreading across his face.

No wonder there was a faint, sacred aura emanating from the depths of the cave; it wasn't a desecrated temple, but rather the Church of Light entering.

"Master, what have you found?"

Goron asked in a low voice.

"We have guests."

Alecto stood up, golden flames rising from his body.

He looked at Cyril: "They're from the Church; they're supposed to be the ones clearing out the ghouls."

Cyril's face darkened: "Then we—"

"Let's take a look first."

The vibrations grew closer, and a pure white light illuminated the end of the passage.

A figure appeared first, clad in heavy armor, wielding a two-handed greatsword whose blade shone with holy light, illuminating the surroundings as bright as day.

Andrei.

Behind him, the Holy Knights filed in.

A hundred heavily armored knights unfurled, their armor rumbling in the cavern.

Next came the church's armed forces, and finally the adventurer team.

Marcus walked at the front, his battle axe dripping with dark green slime, clearly indicating he had just been in battle.

When they saw the view on the other side of the cave, all the humans were stunned.

A person stands in the center of the cave, golden flames flowing over his body, turning half of the cave into a crimson gold.

Behind him, more than 30 soldiers of various appearances stood at attention.

Trolls and orcs, each exuding a powerful aura.

Beside him stood a tall man, but he was not human.

Andrei quietly opened his true vision and saw the real body on the other side clearly, his face immediately turning ugly.

"Red dragon, bronze dragon, and 30 high-level magical beasts."

Andre relayed the message to Linus: "This is a huge problem."

Marcus swallowed.

Some of the adventurers behind him had already begun to retreat.

Dealing with ghouls is one thing, but adding two formidable-looking big shots and a group of dragonborn is another.

The cave suddenly fell into a deathly silence.

"Oh."

Alecto was the first to break the silence.

"No wonder I always felt there was a sacred aura here. It was you, my friends from the church."

Andrei gripped his sword tightly with both hands: "Red Dragon, state your name."

"Alector".

The red dragon tilted its head, a mocking glint in its dragon eyes: "As for this one—Cyril, my vassal."

Linus stepped out from the ranks of knights, his scepter tapping lightly on the ground.

The holy light spread like ripples, slightly boosting the morale of the church.

"Lord Alecto."

Linus maintained a polite and restrained tone: "We are carrying out the God of Light's purification mission. This underground area is infested with a large number of undead and must be completely eradicated. We hope you will not interfere with us."

"Obstacles?"

Alecto said as if he had heard a funny joke: "Your Excellency, you've got one thing wrong. This is my territory."

First, we'll claim this place as our territory and firmly grasp ownership. As for whether it's real or not, who cares? As long as the other side doesn't know it's fake, that's all that matters.

He pointed to the ground: "You have trespassed into my territory without permission, and now you say I am in your way."

Andrei made no attempt to hide his disgust: "You're raising these ghouls in your territory?"

"No, my retinue consists of kobolds who mine here, and I'm also clearing out these ghouls that keep popping up—"

A mocking glint appeared in Alecto's eyes: "So, who's really getting in whose way?"

The atmosphere instantly became tense.

The Holy Knights stepped forward in unison, lowered their lances, and aimed the tips at Alecto.

The dragonborn gripped their weapons tightly, dragon scales began to appear on the surface of the Gronn's body, and flames wrapped around Gru's spiked club.

With just one spark, this cavern could turn into a bloody battlefield.

Linus's mind was racing.

This is terrible; not only are there ghouls here, but we've also encountered red dragons and copper dragons.

"Your Mightiness."

Linus spoke slowly: "The undead are the enemies of all living beings. Regardless of who owns this place, clearing away the undead is a righteous act. We can apologize for trespassing into your territory, but the purification must continue."

"continue?"

Alector scoffed, "And then? After you've wiped out the undead, won't I be your next target? After all, in your eyes, even red dragons are evil that needs to be purified."

According to the doctrines of the Church of Light, the five-colored dragons are indeed evil beings that need to be eliminated.

The veins on Andrei's forehead bulged immediately.

They were actually apologizing to a red dragon, and the dragon wouldn't accept it!

"but----"

Alecto suddenly changed the subject.

He looked around, scanning the dark passageways: "I have a suggestion."

Linus narrowed his eyes: "What suggestion?"

"Let's work together."

Cooperation?

This word stunned everyone.

Alector pointed deeper into the cave: "You've all felt it, haven't you? The number of undead down here is abnormal. I fought my way in, clearing out at least a thousand ghouls, but they're still pouring out."

"There's either a huge undead lair down there, or—a powerful necromancer is controlling all of this."

He looked at Linus, his gaze deep: "Your church has a strong ability to purify ghouls, but dealing with thousands upon thousands of ghouls must have consumed a lot of magic, right?"

"How about this, let's put aside our grudges for now, work together to clear out what's below, and once the undead problem is solved, we can talk about—the Witch's Guild?"

"absurd!"

Andrei vehemently refused: "To cooperate with evil is itself a desecration of the light!"

"Yeah?"

Alecto wasn't angry; instead, he laughed. "Then let me ask you, why do you think our two groups met at this time and in this place?"

Andrei frowned: "What are you trying to say?"

"Isn't it a coincidence? My men were digging in the mine when the rock suddenly collapsed, revealing this underground cave. Ghouls poured out, and I had to bring people down to clean it up."

"And you just happened to stumble into this cave."

"And that's how we met here."

He stared intently at Andrei: "Don't you think this looks like something someone deliberately orchestrated?"

Linus's heart skipped a beat.

Indeed—it's too much of a coincidence.

The movement trajectories of the two sides converged perfectly in this underground cave.

"You mean—"

Linus's voice trailed off.

"There's a mastermind behind this."

Alecto voiced his speculation: "Someone is manipulating all of this. Maybe it's that necromancer, maybe it's something else. His goal is simple: to make us both suffer heavy losses."

"If we start a war now, whoever wins will suffer heavy losses. And when we're exhausted, he'll come out to clean up the mess and turn us all into his undead servants."

He paused, letting the idea ferment in everyone's minds: "Just imagine, if we could obtain both the corpse of a red dragon and the corpse of a bronze dragon, plus hundreds of paladins—what a perfect undead army that would be!"

Cold sweat trickled down Linus's forehead.

This idea is terrifying, but—it's not impossible.

He had witnessed the necromancer's madness more than once.

Andrei remained silent.

As a paladin, he abhorred evil, but he was not without brains.

Alector's analysis is indeed reasonable; the coincidence of this encounter is unsettling.

What evidence do you have?

"Andrei asked in a deep voice."

"The evidence is below."

Alecto pointed deeper into the cave: "If I'm not mistaken, the mastermind is definitely waiting for us to start a war. Once we fight, he'll reap the benefits."

"On the contrary, if we cooperate, we can find him first—then you can purify the dead, and I'll take the reward; it's a win-win situation."

Linus and Andre exchanged a glance.

The bishop quickly weighed the options in his mind.

The risks of cooperation are enormous, but Alector's point is valid. If there really is a necromancer pulling the strings behind the scenes, then starting a war now would be exactly what they want.

More importantly—the Holy Knights cannot afford to suffer too many losses here.

They also needed to rush back to Twin Moons to support Bishop Raphael.

"We can cooperate."

Linus finally spoke, but with a condition: "But only for the cleansing of the undead. Once the undead threat is eliminated, we can discuss the witch council you mentioned."

"Furthermore, any attempt to harm our personnel during the cooperation period will result in immediate termination of the cooperation."

Alecto grinned: "Sure, after all, I'm a good dragon who yearns for the light."

"But I also have a condition: during the cleansing of the dead, my family and your people must be separated."

"This will avoid unnecessary misunderstandings."

Linus pondered for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

He also didn't want paladins and dragonborn to mix together, as their power attributes were completely opposite, and getting too close would only cause them to interfere with each other.

"Then it's settled."

Alecto turned to his retinue: "We'll go to the left."

He paused, then added, "Remember, our goal is to find the mastermind, not to fight the church. If danger arises, prioritize your own safety."

"Yes, Master!"

The soldiers responded in unison, but their eyes remained warily fixed on the humans opposite them.

Andrei also gave the order: "First and second squads, follow me to the right. Third and fourth squads, follow Bishop Linus. Adventurer group—Marcus, you and your men will be responsible for guarding the rear."

"Yes, Commander!"

The order was quickly relayed.

The two groups of people began to act separately.

The paladins moved to the right, while the dragonborn warriors moved to the left.

Andrei and Alekto's eyes met for a fleeting moment in mid-air.

They all knew that this cooperation was only temporary.

Once the threat of the undead is eliminated, the blade will immediately turn.

But now—they have a common enemy.

Linus whispered to Andrei, "Be careful, that red dragon is not simple."

"I know."

Andrei gripped his greatsword tightly: "But he's right. If there really is a necromancer behind this, we must deal with him first."

"As for the Red Dragon—we'll talk about it after we've cleared out the undead."

The rustling sounds came from all directions.

"Prepare for battle."

Andrei snorted softly.

As soon as he finished speaking, ghouls poured out from the cracks in the rock wall.

This time there are more of them, and they are smarter.

They no longer charged blindly, but formed a simple formation, with the ghouls in the front row holding iron shields and those in the back row wielding bone spears.

Although their equipment was tattered and worn out, their organized actions far exceeded the scope of wild undead.

"As expected, there was a manipulator."

A fierce glint flashed in Andrei's eyes.

He raised his greatsword high, holy light gathering on the blade to form a beam of light: "Holy Impact!"

The beam of light blasted into the ghoul formation, instantly clearing out a section.

But the ghouls behind immediately filled the gap, their spears thrusting in like a forest.

"Shield Wall!"

The paladins quickly formed a defensive formation.

The towers and shields fit together to form a steel wall.

The spears struck the shields with a series of clanging sounds, but could not break through the defenses.

Just then, chanting came from deep within the passage.

The sound was ancient and distorted, as if countless spirits were wailing at the same time.

The rock face began to tremble, and gravel fell in a flurry. The moss on the ground withered rapidly, turning into grayish-white powder.

"Necromantic magic!"

Andrei's expression changed: "Everyone, Holy Light Shield!"

The paladins chanted in unison, and holy light surged from their bodies, forming a protective shield around the formation.

Almost simultaneously, pitch-black mist surged from the depths of the passage.

Wherever the mist passed, rock walls corroded and the ground melted, but it was powerless against the Holy Light Shield.

The ghoul was swallowed by the mist, exploded instantly, and then turned into bones and stood up again, its eyes burning with ghostly green soul fire.

"Corpse Explosion — then Undead Resurrection."

Andrei gritted his teeth.

This is the signature combination of a high-level necromancer.

First, use Corpse Explosion to create a large number of deaths, then use Undead Resurrection to transform the corpses into new undead soldiers.

"That necromancer is deep inside."

Ignoring Andrei's grim expression, Alekto pointed ahead into the passage: "I vaguely sensed his magical energy fluctuations—level seven, at least peak level seven, possibly higher."

Level 7 Necromancer.

This level of risk made everyone's hearts sink.

Level 7 is already considered a high-level professional, and necromancers are often more troublesome among those of the same level.

They don't fight you head-on; instead, they wear you down with an endless sea of ​​undead and weaken you with all sorts of vicious curses, only to deliver a fatal blow when you're exhausted.

"We must find and eliminate it as soon as possible."

Andrei said in a deep voice, "Necromancers are best at protracted battles; the longer it drags on, the more disadvantageous it will be for us."

"agree."