Chapter 1208
The Bet
Chapter 1208 The Bet
Mortalius paused slightly, finally turning his head to glance at him.
"bet?"
Seeing that he was finally willing to stop and listen to him, Xia Xiu stopped beating around the bush.
"You child, you actually understand everything in your heart."
He stood there with his arms crossed, his tone not harsh, but he showed no intention of going along with Lao Ba's temper.
“You know that since I’m standing here, I can’t just stand by and watch you keep ruining yourself; you also know that if you speak up now, I will personally take care of your biggest problem and smooth out the mess behind this world.”
"But you didn't choose that."
"You know perfectly well that there is a more stable, more direct, and more effective path to save the world, yet you still choose to pick up the scythe and walk forward yourself, insisting on taking on all the burdens yourself, insisting on fighting your way to the highest peak, and insisting on turning the 'liberation of the world' into personal heroism."
At this point, Xia Xiu looked at Mortalius, his gaze becoming more serious.
"Your obsession is too strong."
"With your personality, you can definitely accomplish many things that others can't."
"The problem is, once an obsession goes too far, it can start to devour you."
"I'd rather miss out on a better opportunity than take the most arduous, dangerous, and potentially fatal path."
"The opportunity to save the world is right in front of you. All you have to do is ask, and I will take over. But you refuse. You still prefer to engage in that kind of individual heroism where one person carries a sickle and charges forward."
"To put it nicely, this is called taking responsibility; to put it bluntly, it's just that you're too eager to prove yourself and too used to risking your life for the outcome."
After listening, Mortalius did not reply immediately.
He simply stood there, his grip on the sickle tightening slightly. Clearly, Xia Xiu's words hadn't gone astray; in fact, they had struck a chord deep within him.
He knew Xia Xiu was right, and that's why he didn't remain silent.
After the old father pointed out his eighth son, his tone softened a bit, and he slowly recounted his bet.
"How about we make a bet?"
"If you can climb the highest peak alone and kill Nikel with your own hands, then I will leave Abalus immediately and never interfere in the affairs of this world again."
"How you want to save this world and rebuild order here is up to you. I will not interfere in the slightest."
"But what if you fail—"
Xia Xiu looked at him, his voice calm yet steady.
"Then I'll cover for you. By then... you should know what you need to do, right?"
The choice was laid out before him, and Mortarius remained silent for a long time.
He originally wanted to refuse outright, because that's more like him, and that's how he's gotten to where he is today.
But when the word "refusal" was about to come out of his throat, he thought of the dead, the patients in the valley, the children in the lowlands, the rebels who had fought their way up with him, and the eyes that had placed their hopes on him.
A person who relies solely on courage may not actually reach the end.
And he finally had to admit one thing—if you only trust your own hands, you can easily be trapped by your own shadow in the end.
At that time, one's blade will become sharper and sharper, but the road ahead will become narrower and narrower.
Thinking of this, Mortalius's expression gradually darkened, but finally he slowly regained his composure.
When he spoke again, his voice had returned to its usual coldness and restraint, but it carried a weight of genuine thought.
"can."
Upon hearing this, Xia Xiu smiled slightly, as if he had known all along that Lao Ba would eventually figure it out. However, he wasn't in a hurry to be happy; instead, he first brought up the more practical issues.
"Since you've agreed, let me give you a heads-up."
He raised his head, his gaze passing through the ruins, the poisonous fog, and the distant, layered mountain ridges, landing directly on the highest point of Abalus.
“I have already explored the Pale Peak where Nikel is using my spirituality. The concentration of toxins there is at least several times higher than the environment you remember.”
"And it continues to accumulate. This is no longer a simple case of ordinary poisonous fog rising up; rather, it is Nikel actively expanding his domain."
Xia Xiu paused for a moment, then provided Mortalius with more detailed information.
"The sulfides, neurotoxins, and highly active necromantic particles in the air above the summit are no longer naturally dispersed, but have formed a high-density suspension layer in his domain."
"That stuff has a penetrability and adhesion that is several times stronger than usual. Normal flesh and blood will quickly die upon contact. The gaps in armor, the respiratory system, eyes, ears, nose and throat, and even the sweat pores on the skin will become entry points for the toxin."
"What's more troublesome is that after the domain is covered, the way the toxin spreads also changes. It no longer simply pours into the lungs, but will drill in along the spiritual and etheric circuits."
"In other words, in your current state, let alone going up to fight Nikel, just walking a little further in his territory will gradually wear down your physical strength, spirituality, and armor circulation. By the time you see him, you'll be collapsing before you even get close to him."
After listening, Mortalius did not respond immediately.
He stood there, holding the [Silent Scythe], silent for a moment, as if quickly processing this information, or as if re-analyzing his original route straight to Pale Peak, before finally speaking slowly.
"I will rest for one night."
"Tonight, I will stabilize the situation in Ash Slope City, reorganize the resistance's wounded, supplies, and subsequent deployments, explain any potential developments, and make arrangements for our escape route."
"If I could climb Pale Peak, these arrangements might not be necessary; if I couldn't, this army wouldn't have perished here with me."
At this point, he slightly raised his eyes and looked at Xia Xiu.
"Thank you for telling me all this, and thank you for pulling me back from the brink of death."
After saying this, Mortarius did not linger.
Carrying his sickle, he dragged his still heavy but now steady body and turned to walk step by step toward the rebel army that had already stormed into the city.
The wind behind the ruins continued to blow over Ash Slope, carrying his tall, thin, silent, yet still upright figure all the way to the deeper battlefield.
Xia Xiu watched him leave silently, without interfering further. After all, some harsh realities of society are unavoidable no matter what.
……
……
Mortalius quickly returned to his army.
Ashhill City had been completely captured by the rebels. Fires and smoke from the fighting still lingered throughout the city, and the streets were filled with people moving the wounded, collecting the remains of the dead, inventorying supplies, and rebuilding the perimeter. Amidst this chaos, his deputy, Carax, was leading several officers and elite troops in a search for their commander.
Seeing that Mortalius was alive, the rebel soldiers finally breathed a sigh of relief and strode forward to meet him.
"Commander!"
Mortalius nodded to them, without saying anything unnecessary in front of everyone. He simply explained that he had killed the Archmage Uz and that the high-ranking undead elites in Ashhill City, including Tachi, had all been dealt with.
As for how he survived and how he escaped from a seemingly hopeless situation, he glossed over it in a single sentence, clearly not intending to elaborate.
After hearing this, Carax was quite shaken, but he quickly brought his focus back to the current reality:
"Ashhill City has been captured. The resistance in the outer and middle cities has been largely cleared out. The remaining undead remnants are being eliminated in batches. The city defense nodes, the poison fog towers, and the three supply depots have also been brought under control."
"Our most important task now is to stabilize this city as soon as possible, and then set up the supply depots and the evacuation lines for the wounded. Once Ash Slope City is secured, half of the mountain road ahead will be open."
Upon hearing this, Mortarius remained silent for a moment before slowly speaking:
"Carax, you will be in charge of the resistance from now on."
The deputy was taken aback at first, then instinctively realized something was wrong.
Because he knew Mortalius too well, whenever his commander spoke in such a flat and even tone, it meant that what followed was most likely not a discussion, but a decision that had already been made in his mind.
Sure enough, what Mortalius said next caused the expressions of the surrounding officers to change.
"The rebels will stay here and continue to take over Ashhill, reorganize supplies, wounded and defenses. I will continue the advance early tomorrow morning."
"I will go to Pale Peak alone to challenge Nikel."
After those words were spoken, not only Carax, but even the soldiers and officers who had been whispering to each other fell silent.
Then, the first one to explode was naturally the Plague Lord's deputy.
"That won't do!"
His deputy, Carax, almost immediately stepped forward, his voice rising sharply—not just emotional opposition, but genuine urgency.
“Commander, you’ve been fighting all day, from the siege to the death battle with the Archmage, and then to the fighting in the city. It’s a miracle that you’re still standing here.”
"You're abandoning the entire resistance here under these circumstances and going to Pale Peak all by yourself. That's suicide!"
As he spoke, he became faster and louder, clearly unable to hold back any longer.
"We fought our way to this point not so that you could be the only one risking your life with a sickle!"
"The reason why Ash Slope City was captured was to provide a foothold for the subsequent advance, and to transport troops, supplies, wounded soldiers and reinforcements up there."
"If you leave the team now, all the gains we've made at such a high cost will be wasted!"
"Not to mention that your opponent is now Nikel, not Uz, not Taqi, and not one of those mid-altitude lords. He is the Lord of Pale Peak, the overlord of the highest peak in the entire plane!"
"You're in this state when you go to see him..."
"Commander, please reconsider!!!"
Carax took a breath, his eyes reddening, but he still forced himself to continue speaking:
“Even if you really insist on going up, it shouldn’t be now, and it certainly shouldn’t be by yourself.”
"We should wait until we have completely stabilized Ash Slope, reorganized our follow-up troops, and obtained complete intelligence on the path of the poisonous fog and the Peak Mountain line before we can make further plans."
“Commander, we’ve followed you all the way to this day, not to see you take this final step and die alone.”
As soon as he said this, the soldiers nearby who had already heard the order could no longer contain themselves.
Some people directly said that the commander-in-chief should not be sent alone, some said that Pale Peak is not Ash Slope City and should not be stormed like this, and some even said that even if they really wanted to fight Nikel, the whole army should push forward together instead of letting Mortalius fight that front line alone.
For a time, the area around the temporary command post was even more chaotic than during the battle just now.
These people were genuinely desperate. They weren't afraid of death; if they were, they wouldn't have rebelled with Mortalius. They were simply acting from a practical standpoint.
But Mortalius was not swayed by these voices from beginning to end. He simply listened quietly to Carax's objections and the advice of the soldiers and officers around him before finally raising his eyes and looking at everyone.
As soon as that gaze fell upon him, the surrounding sounds gradually subsided.
"Are you done talking?"
Mortalius's voice was not loud, but very steady.
Carax gritted his teeth and didn't back down:
"Commander-in-Chief—"
Mortalius immediately refuted the question.
"Ashhill City has just been captured, and the situation has not yet truly stabilized. The troops, the wounded, the supplies, and the city's defenses all need to be managed. Therefore, your staying here is an order, not a choice."
"As for Pale Peak, I'm going there alone not to show off my personal bravery, but because I have my own trump cards."
"Moreover, the road ahead is not suitable for a large-scale military advance."
“If you really follow me and charge up, you will only drag the situation we just won today back into the quagmire. When the resistance forces are cut off, that will truly drag everyone down with them.”
He stopped there, his tone completely still, leaving no room for anyone to interrupt.
"I have made up my mind about this."
"Ash Slope City is under the control of Carax. Tonight, we will reorganize our troops, rest, gather the wounded, rebuild our defenses, inventory our supplies, and prepare for any subsequent counterattacks from the direction of Gao Feng."
"I will personally head to Pale Peak tomorrow morning to challenge Nikel."
Those around him wanted to say something more, but Mortarius no longer looked at them. He simply uttered his last sentence, silencing the soldiers from any further comment.
"I'm tired and need to rest. Now, all military operations will proceed as ordered just now."
“And tomorrow morning, I will set off to face Nikel in person.”
After saying this, Mortarius turned and left the temporary command post, leaving behind a tense and anxious silence.
Carax stood there, his fists clenched so tightly they turned white, but he ultimately did not chase after them.
Because he knew that once his commander made a decision in this manner, it meant that there was no room for further negotiation.
They could only sigh and silently pray that the trump card their commander had mentioned was real, and hoped that a miracle would happen.
(End of this chapter)