This Lich Requests More Remuneration-Chapter 228 - 209 The Plan with No Proof of Death

Chapter 228: Chapter 209: The Plan with No Proof of Death

Chapter 228 -209: The Plan with No Proof of Death

Amberser had not expected to be perceived in this way in Katherine’s heart.

Airel was really just an accident, he hadn’t planned on luring her over at the beginning, just wanted to trick her into leaving. Who knew Airel would stick to him like glue?

As for the Paladin side, that was entirely accidental. Who could have guessed that the Silvermoon Knight would seek out a Lich to help train troops? It was just a coincidence.

But Amberser couldn’t explain; the elf girl already had a stereotypical image of him. Prejudices are like a mountain, not even a Legendary Lich can move them.

“Sigh, if only you could use such vivid imagination all the time.”

Amberser muttered to himself, then transformed back into that Green-skin Thrashtoad appearance he had before, and used an illusion to cover Katherine, making her invisible.

Together, they brazenly made their way deeper into the swamp.

Sure enough, the Green-skin Thrashtoad’s status was higher, and this time there was no one stopping them from entering.

The so-called depths of the swamp turned out to be a wooden fortress built over the water. Although Thrashtoads are amphibious they don’t stay in the water all the time; they had constructed a small palace on the swamp, where the Thrashtoad Lord lived.

According to the memory of this Green Thrashtoad named Shidubi, the Thrashtoad Lord usually stayed in the highest room of the water fortress. Grey Thrashtoads was already in the middle ranks of the Thrashtoad species, and to evolve further, there were two paths.

One was to continue delving into spell casting ability, with the hope of evolving into an Undead Thrashtoad wielding Necromancy Spells one day.

The second method was simpler, find the corpse of an Undead Thrashtoad, eat it, and evolve immediately.

However, it was unlikely to find an Undead Thrashtoad’s corpse in this swamp, so this Thrashtoad Lord named Kakachang liked to retreat to study spells in seclusion. He only emerged when the Thrashtoads needed to breed, calling forth a space portal to allow Thrashtoads to hunt in another dimension.

However, the last space connection ritual had gone wrong.

The swamp was linked to a desolate ruin with nothing in it, Thrashtoads roamed inside for a while, unable even to find a living blade of grass, let alone hunt for prey.

And Amberser and Katherine had wiped out those Thrashtoads, it was believed that the Thrashtoad Lord already knew of this, so the second space connection ritual would likely be performed soon.

When Amberser reached the water fortress, Green Thrashtoads began to surround him in greater numbers, all of them making a “gugu” sound in greeting upon seeing Amberser, evidently familiar faces.

Amberser dared not respond casually.

Although Shidubi’s memory contained information about each companion, in Amberser’s view, these Thrashtoads all looked pretty much alike, and even with the memories, he couldn’t distinguish one from another.

How could he greet them? He could only pretend to be in a bad mood, keep his head down and pass without daring to speak with any of the Green Thrashtoads.

Walking along, he quickly reached the innermost part of the water fortress.

There, Amberser saw the Thrashtoad Lord Kakachang, a Grey Thrashtoad, standing on the railing gazing into the distance.

Upon seeing Amberser, Kakachang sighed and made a series of “gugu” sounds. Amberser quietly cast a telepathic spell to read his thoughts.

Telepathic spell is a type of magic that reads the mind, effective on any species but easily detectable by the subject, which could expose one’s identity. However, Amberser was not worried about failing in his casting because he had the Dice of Destiny to adjust the probabilities in his favor.

Through the influence of telepathic spell, the thoughts of the Lord Kakachang were revealed to Amberser.

The “gugu” sound he had just made was actually a lament.

“Shidubi, there’s been yet another mishap with our hunt. Our group of Thrashtoads is treading on thin ice. Do you think we could really return home?”

Amberser didn’t speak the Thrashtoad language and could not convey such complex sentiments with a few simple “gugu” sounds. He could only let out a deep, short “gug,” which he had just learned.

It meant, “I don’t know.”

Yes, no, I don’t know—these were the three Thrashtoad phrases that Amberser had learned from Shidubi’s memory. Because they were simple, they were easy to learn, but he couldn’t say anything else.

Fortunately, the Lord Kakachang wasn’t genuinely seeking Amberser’s opinion; it was more of a rhetorical musing.

So, he quickly said to Amberser again, “Invaders, have they been found?”

An anomaly occurred with the spatial connection—the invaders had killed the Thrashtoads and then the link closed—Kakachang already knew. Shidubi had been one of the Green-skin Thrashtoads sent to capture the intruders, which is why Kakachang was asking.

Amberser only had to “gug” again, signaling he didn’t know.

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Kakachang, clearly unhappy, said, “You don’t know anything, so why come back? Don’t you have anything to report to me?”

The series of croaking noises were shrill enough to make one’s eardrums ache, and Kakachang was genuinely excited.

Amberser had anticipated this reaction, so he took out an arrow and handed it to Kakachang.

This was one of Katherine’s arrows, with a specially crafted anti-magic arrowhead that made Kakachang’s eyes bulge.

“What in the world is this weapon? It gives me the chills, as if it has a great restraining effect on spells. Did you find it on the invader?”

Amberser hastily shook his head and then feigned a sigh.

Understanding, Kakachang patted Amberser on the shoulder and said, “I get it now. You found it on the body of your descendant, didn’t you? Never mind, I can understand why you’re silent. It seems that this invader is indeed a great trouble. Shidubi, prepare yourself. We must find the invader before the next ritual begins!”

Amberser quickly answered, “Yes.”

Kakachang didn’t notice anything amiss and waved for Amberser to leave before diving back into the Lord’s chamber.

Amberser hesitated for a moment and did not pursue Kakachang to continue croaking at him, but turned and left the water fortress.

Katherine had been following the whole way, and when they were alone, she couldn’t help expressing her astonishment to Amberser, “Are you really not the God of Deception? How can you communicate with the Thrashtoads in croaks? What on earth did you two discuss?”

Katherine was genuinely amazed. How could Amberser have learned an entirely new language in just ten minutes or so?

It didn’t make sense. The croaks all sounded the same—how could they convey complex meanings? Amberser managed to converse with that Thrashtoad Lord convincingly, even getting a pat on the shoulder. They seemed to have had a good talk.

Amberser didn’t answer her subjective question, but simply said to Katherine, “To use their space-connection ritual to leave this place, I have two plans I want to discuss with you.”

“What plans?” Katherine asked curiously, intrigued that there were suddenly two options available.

Amberser suggested, “The Thrashtoad Lord just told me they would only conduct the next space-connection ritual after capturing the invader. However, they don’t know there are two invaders. So, how about you sacrifice yourself and let them capture you, while I steal knowledge of their ritual?”

Katherine said angrily, “Impossible, I’ll take the second option.”

The Thrashtoads looked too disgusting. Even if it was just pretense, Katherine didn’t want to be captured by these toads, as it would give her nightmares for an entire year.

“The second plan is for you to act as a Thrashtoad, and I allow them to capture me. Are you confident you can perform well?” Amberser asked.

Laila’s True Illusion could indeed be used on a group, not necessarily requiring Amberser to pretend to be a Thrashtoad. Amberser could pretend to be captured; after all, as a Lich, he had many means of escape at his disposal.

But Katherine didn’t have the skill to deceive the Thrashtoad Lord. If they relied on her, the plan’s chance of success would be very low.

As expected, Katherine didn’t have confidence in herself and murmured softly, “Can’t we just use an illusion to create a fake capture by them?”

Amberser could only explain, “It’s not that we can’t, but the chance of failure is high. I was able to fool others in the Emerald Dream Forest because I was a guest there, and no one would lay hands on me. An illusion is still an illusion, after all. Once these Thrashtoads attack, it would be easy to detect something wrong.”

An illusion will always be an illusion. If Laila were that powerful, she wouldn’t have been stripped of her divine position, her body taken by the Druids to create a magic barrier.

“Are there really only these two methods?” Katherine asked sadly.

“The third method is to burst in, capture this Thrashtoad Lord, and hope to force the ritual out of him. But don’t expect me to read his soul; this guy might just ascend to the Thrashtoad Divine Realm upon death.”

The real issue was that Amberser didn’t understand the Thrashtoad language. If someone could teach him in detail over the course of ten days to half a month, Amberser was confident he could bamboozle all the Thrashtoads to the point of skinning themselves to sell their hides to him.

A language barrier is the biggest obstacle for a swindler.

After thinking it over, Katherine said determinedly, “Fine then, sacrifice me. But you have to promise not to let those toads… well, never mind, arrange it however you see fit. I trust you won’t harm me—I still have to work for you until I collapse in tears, don’t I?”

Katherine still remembered the last time Amberser persuaded her to enter the Giant Dragon’s belly to place a seal, using the same reason. Before Katherine reaches that painful future, she won’t have any safety issues.

Amberser, hearing Katherine speak like this, showed a satisfied smile.

But he quickly told Katherine, “Heh, I was just seeing if you had the determination. Actually, it’s not necessary for you to sacrifice yourself.”

A bewildered Katherine looked at Amberser and asked, “Apart from you and me, are you planning on using Naomi as a captive? I can’t agree to that!”

Amberser replied, “What are you thinking? Which Ranger would sacrifice their beast companion, huh? Am I that kind of person?”

Katherine looked at Amberser dubiously, as if he was exactly that kind of person.

Helplessly, Amberser opened his private space and moved out an odd, cobbled-together Magipuppet Automaton, then said to Katherine, “We killed all the witnesses, and they have no idea what the invaders look like. Just use this thing to trick them. Next, we’ll lure the Thrashtoads to the edge of this swamp and toss the Magipuppet Automaton out. Then won’t it be a dead body without witnesses?”