Chapter 522: Defection

"Drag it out, Del."

Li Mochen, once again holding the chainsword 'Demon Slayer', said with great interest: "You should be able to do it with your current abilities, right?"

Mainly in terms of magical power, the Void Nightlord, now possessing the Demon Sea Holy Ring, was no longer what he used to be.

"I can drag it out of the temporal freeze, but it will take some effort."

Delfinia squinted as she spoke: "This time, the price for the job will be one billion gold shields."

The battle just now had given Li Mochen three legendary liches as subordinates—though they were only at legendary second level, at most legendary third level, the strength and utility of any legendary mage could not be underestimated. They not only possessed formidable combat power but were also usually the best researchers.

This guy had earned far too much, yet he had only given her one billion, plus half the spoils—which amounted to just three and a half mage towers.

Even so, this gain still delighted her.

The Heteromorphs also had legendary mages, but only four of them owned magic towers. This was partly due to a lack of sufficient funds and materials, and partly due to insufficient knowledge to build such structures.

She, Delfinia, also held a level 19 mage class and was a legendary second-level arcane technician—by rights, with her status as clan leader, it should not have been difficult to gather resources to build a magic tower. The problem was that she was unwilling to compromise. Delfinia's current magical knowledge was still insufficient to establish the foundation of a Magus within her own magic tower.

Just like the Douglas Duncan's mage tower before them, which was only eight stories high, merely one or two stories taller than the seven towers outside, yet they were not at all on the same level.

These three mage towers, though not built by their own mages, might not be easy to use. However, if the nature of the magical power matched, they could still be made to function.

"One billion is impossible, Delfinia."

Li Mochen sneered: "Do you think there's any chance of war this year? Philip I even endured this time; how likely is he to act in the remaining months? I'll offer you at most one hundred million. Otherwise, I'd rather leave it here and deal with it after the little dragon vein grows up."

Delfinia frowned, feeling that this little darkfire dragon might affect her income.

At this thought, she couldn't help but cast a murderous glare at the little dragon vein. The latter, bewildered, instinctively shrank back, but then, remembering its master was nearby, glared back fiercely, its face twisted in aggression.

In the end, the two sides settled on a price of one hundred million gold shields, plus the half of the ownerless mage tower that should have belonged to Li Mochen.

Delfinia also extracted from Li Mochen a promise to help her build two more stories on her mage tower—at the Magus level.

Although this guy was only a level 15 magic swordsman兼术师, since he could master so many divine authorities, his talent and skill in magic were beyond doubt.

An hour later, Delfinia's void power had preliminarily broken the freeze on the 'Gate of Forbidden Magic' tower. After a massive temporal disturbance, the surrounding time force returned to normal.

Li Mochen locked his killing intent onto the two people inside the tower. Just as he used the little dragon vein's ability to effortlessly tear apart the outer spatial membrane,

he found Douglas Duncan, the legendary fifth-level mage, appearing before them with one hand holding the unconscious Richard Medici.

Li Mochen's heart stirred; he guessed what might happen next and temporarily held back. With Delfinia and the little dragon vein present, he wasn't worried about this man escaping.

Douglas Duncan also visibly relaxed: "I am willing to serve you, Mr. Wiltonstein. We can sign a contract."

Saying this, Douglas Duncan took a deep breath before making up his mind: "I can even help you kill him."

"But that would be an act of betrayal, Mr. Duncan."

Li Mochen asked with a smile: "Killing the man in your hands for me—do you know what that means?"

"Of course I do—endless pursuit by the Medici family in the future. But I believe that since you, Mr. Wiltonstein, could defeat them once, you can defeat them a second time."

Douglas said with extreme calm: "As for betrayal, it is they who abandoned me first, not the other way around. They had the ability to rescue us or trade something else for the lives of me and this little one, but they chose not to."

Li Mochen thought that this man must have witnessed the battle outside from within the temporal freeze. Being able to do that showed he was quite powerful.

He had also guessed correctly: if the Medici family were willing to pay a price, Li Mochen could have let them go. After all, he hadn't suffered any loss in this conflict, so there was no real enmity. His main reason for insisting on keeping Douglas was to weaken the Medici family.

Thus, to let go of a demigod-level combatant and potential future Magus, the Medici family would have to offer at least a minor mythical artifact.

The lich Magus had apparently realized this and made no effort, perhaps thinking that a mythical artifact was more valuable than Douglas Duncan.

But in truth, the Medici family had treated him fairly, having sacrificed seven legendary mages for him—though they could never have foreseen that outcome.

After thinking it over seriously, Li Mochen smiled and replied: "I can accept you, Mr. Duncan. But what about your contract with the Medici family? Let me say in advance: my spiritual contract will be very harsh. So I suggest that rather than face the cruel penalties for breach of contract, you might as well die now."

"Rest assured, sir. I was merely a magical advisor to the Medici family, paid for my services. Beyond that, I signed no harsh contracts. Thanks to my teacher, I retained some personal freedom. Now that the Medici family has abandoned me, the basis for that contract no longer exists."

As he spoke these words, Richard Medici in Douglas Duncan's hand exploded entirely, flesh and blood scattering, then quickly turning to dust—in fact, under the endless starlight, his body and soul had already mutated, and he wouldn't have lived much longer.

Douglas Duncan's tone remained calm and flat: "However, Boss, I hope that our employment contract can be harsh in terms of conditions but as short as possible in duration. You are also an excellent capitalist; you should know that a good employment contract can make your employees more willing to contribute all their strength. I can dedicate all my wisdom and knowledge to you, Boss."

Delfinia raised an eyebrow, thinking that this man was truly ruthless. If it were her, she might not dare to employ him. Even if she did, she would need to be on guard.

But Li Mochen smiled without any reservation: "As you wish, Mr. Duncan. How about a contract term of two hundred years?"