Surrender

"Pfft..." Three razor-sharp claws pierced Yarman through the back and out the chest. Ye Luo stood behind him, her left arm wrapped around his neck from the front in an almost intimate embrace.

Yarman's pupils kept dilating. The pain in his heart soon gave way to a fatal feeling of suffocation. His lungs seemed to have stopped working. No matter how wide he opened his mouth, he could no longer draw in even a wisp of the air he so missed.

Though Ye Luo had him by the throat, Yarman's gaze slowly swept across the Six Kingdoms' mages!

Thomas was pinned to the ground by a red Zergling, its claws tearing into him again and again. Gilbert had been brutally pierced through the chest by a three-meter Earth Spike, his arms hanging limp as his body dangled three meters above the ground. He had been the first to die. Yaheng had now been frozen into an ice statue by the Magic Ice Arrow embedded in his chest. Regret and fury filled his face as he died...

"You... how did you... persuade humans... to help you..." Even without air, Yarman clung to the last breath in his chest and forced out the words.

Ye Luo smiled charmingly, though Yarman couldn't see her. "You really thought Ye Yan was human? Oh, right. The name he used to disguise himself was Ulysses..."

Yarman's vision swam. As his organs failed, everything grew blurry. Suddenly, he understood that their defeat today had not been a fluke!

They had lost. Some might say they had fallen because of Ulysses's surprise attack: the Demon Beasts had struck the mages at their most vulnerable, while they were casting spells, despite the heavy protection around them, and that had caused their entire front to collapse. But if Yarman had been able to leave alive, he would have said that even without Ulysses, they would have been utterly defeated!

Tier 6! Ye Luo and her Demon Beast commanders had all reached Tier 6 combat strength. That was the real reason their army had crumbled! Without Ulysses, they would merely have had to sacrifice tens of thousands more ordinary Demon Beasts...

The moment Ye Luo and the others advanced to Tier 6, the outcome of the battle had already been clear...

"Thud..." Yarman's body hit the ground. Looking at the commander who had been so full of himself moments ago, Ye Luo couldn't help sighing. So what if he was a Tier 6 Diamond? He might have seemed like the strongest person in the kingdom, but when ambushed by someone else at the same tier, he had still died without a burial place.

Likewise, Ye Luo might have inherited the Imperial Inheritance, and his future might seem boundless. But in the vast sea of stars, who could say he wouldn't become the next Yarman?

For a moment, Ye Luo's thoughts shifted... He had always liked to lead the charge, rushing headlong into battle. He had never listened to Ye You and the others when they tried to talk him out of it. Thinking about it now, perhaps it was because of the heroes he'd seen charging into battle in movies and television back on Earth. Heroism was something every young man grappled with.

"Looks like I really do need to change my thinking. Heroes always seem to go hand in hand with glorious deaths. Unless you're the true protagonist, the heroes around the protagonist might survive the first season, but they're bound to have a rough time in the second..."

"Whoosh!" A sudden whistle cut short Ye Luo's brief reflection. Without turning, he could clearly see an arrow trailing a long streak across the sky through the image sent by Ye Wang!

The arrow was moving incredibly fast, aimed straight at the back of his head!

"Clang!" The enemy's ambush had been well concealed, but the Zerg heroes had kept watch over their surroundings, devoting half their attention to their Overmind. They reacted in time!

Ye Zhang burst out of the ground, raising his shield to intercept the arrow. It struck with a sharp crack, and the force sent Ye Zhang staggering back two steps.

Ye Zhang's sudden appearance only reinforced Ye Luo's decision. Setting aside his own importance, his charge into battle had only added one Tier 6 hero to the Zerg army. But because Ye You and the others had to divide their attention to protect him, they couldn't even fight at eighty percent of their strength. By charging in, he had effectively reduced the fighting strength of two heroes!

"My Emperor, you just told Yarman not to let himself get distracted. How come you're the one getting distracted?" Ye You gave Ye Luo a deeply aggrieved look and stayed close by his side, guarding him.

Ye Luo took a deep breath and patted Ye You on the shoulder. "You're right. This time, it was my fault. Ye You, you don't need to protect me..."

"No, My Emperor. You're the heart of the Zerg. If you're in danger, the Zerg will be doomed!" Ye You's face was solemn and grave, without a trace of his usual playful antics.

Ye Luo nodded, then shot off toward the distance. "Don't worry. From now on, I'll command the battle from the rear. You just give it everything you've got!"

Ye You stared in bewilderment. They had tried to persuade their Overmind more than once or twice, but he had never listened. Who knew what had gotten into him today, but he was finally thinking about his own safety... Still, this was for the best!

"Whoosh!" Seeing Ye Luo flee so uncharacteristically, Swadi immediately drew his bow again. But two sharp Earth Spikes had already burst from the ground. If he didn't dodge at once, one of them would pierce straight through his heart!

A fierce glint flashed in Swadi's eyes. He glanced at Yarman's corpse, and Meng gritted her teeth. "Whoosh!" She didn't dodge. Instead, she nocked an arrow and drew her bow in one smooth motion, pouring all her battle energy into it. The arrow shot toward Ye Luo like a shooting star!

"Pfft! Pfft!" One Earth Spike pierced his calf and broke through his thigh bone, emerging through his upper leg. The other pierced straight through his heart!

Even as she died, Swadi didn't look down at the Earth Spikes beneath her. Her gaze remained fixed on the shooting-star arrow, full of hope.

"Whoosh!" Just as the arrow was about to pierce Ye Luo, a spike hurtled up from below at even greater speed and slammed into it!

"Boom!" The spike collided precisely with the shooting-star arrow. The battle energy within the arrow erupted, shaking the air in a three-meter radius. But Ye Luo, ten meters away, was completely unharmed...

Hope turned to despair. Swadi's head slowly drooped...

"I surrender! Don't kill us! We surrender!" The vice president of the Nicia Magic Guild stared in despair at the dwindling number of First Legion soldiers around him and the ever-growing swarm of Zerglings and Iron-Armored Cockroaches. Suddenly, he dropped his staff at his feet and shouted.

Ye You, transformed into a red Zergling, was about to tackle him to the ground. At the sound of his shout, she immediately turned around and looked up at the Overlord in the sky!

Of course, she wasn't asking the Overlord's permission!

Through the Overlord's vision, Ye Luo saw the mage kneeling on the ground and smiled faintly. "I've always liked making friends with wealthy people. They say every mage is a little treasure trove. If they're willing to surrender, of course I'll accept!"