"You wanted to see us?" Hastings' voice sounded strange. It was like a babe who had just learned how to speak. His tone was still a little rough.
Merlin did not reply. The scalpel spun around his fingertip and finally cut off one of Hastings' toes. However, the latter's expression did not change. His eyes were indifferent as if he could not feel the pain.
"I'm sorry, I have to confirm your identities first in case something goes wrong." Merlin chuckled and put down the scalpel. "When we do business, we are always used to talking to the boss, not some nameless pawn, right?"
"How dare you! You're just a mere mortal …"
Merlin did not wait for the other party to finish and interrupted him. "I'm not a mere mortal. If you don't admit this, I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to proceed."
Hastings seemed to have fallen into silence.
Merlin continued, "Since we have reached a consensus now, then we can talk business. You have always had what I want in your hands. This is without a doubt. And now, I have what you urgently need in my hands …"
"We don't fear a mortal," Hastings said expressionlessly.
Merlin chuckled when he heard that. "Do you know, the thing I like about you the most is that you are always so arrogant and stubborn? Pargos was still immersed in this self-satisfaction until the very last moment before he died, until the poison eroded the godly body that he was so proud of. By the way, how does it feel to watch your companion die in the hands of an ant?"
Hastings raised his head and looked straight ahead. "Are you trying to provoke us?"
"No, I'm just stating a fact." Merlin shook his head. "That child, Rob, he is stronger than you think. You know what kind of power he will wield once he succeeds in becoming a god. It's just that your inherent arrogance and sense of superiority made you not pay attention to this hidden danger earlier."
Merlin pointed at Hastings' chest. "Even this idiot has a sharper sense of danger than you. And now, I'm providing you with an opportunity — to make up for the mistake you made before and eliminate this potential danger."
"But as far as we know, you had a lot to do with this mistake," Hastings said coldly.
Merlin shrugged. "I did push them a few times in the process, but I'm a businessman. Everything I did was to facilitate this transaction. Now, we're all sitting here, actively looking for a solution."
"Do you really think you can threaten us with such a dirty and despicable method?"
"You guys don't seem to understand one thing." Merlin stopped smiling. "Now, you're the ones begging me, not the other way around. Perhaps I need to remind you that in less than half a day, that child will successfully be apotheosized."
"The prerequisite is that you have a way to bypass the Soul Flower and successfully ascend to godhood."
"Alright, then we're back to square one." Merlin sneered. "If you're not in a hurry, we can start discussing the color of my underwear."
The other side was silent again. Blood flowed out of Hastings' stomach and dripped onto the ground along his calf, but he didn't care. At this moment, he was like a puppet, lying there in a daze. He didn't even blink his eyes.
Merlin knew that the other party must have temporarily left this body, and was probably discussing his request.
A mortal's body couldn't withstand the descent of such a powerful will. Hastings' soul had turned into ashes during the descent, and he would probably spend the rest of his life in such a demented state.
As the master of the Matthews family, he was once an all-powerful existence in the Dawn Continent. It was a tragic end for him. However, Merlin didn't have time to care about the spiritual development of Hastings. After about six or seven minutes, Hastings raised his head again and said, "We can accept your request. We'll provide you with the remaining half of the Soul Flower so that you can enter the holy kingdom and become one of us. However, in return, you have to stop the apotheosized ritual that's going on now."
"Sounds fair." Merlin nodded. "As long as I don't tell him the last step, the apotheosized ritual will automatically fail, and you won't have to worry about this trouble anymore."
"We've never worried about it. We're just trying to minimize the risk," Hastings said.
"I understand, I understand." Merlin rubbed his nose. "After all, I've lived for more than nine hundred years. Although I'm a little tired of living for such a long time, who doesn't want to continue living?"
"Here's what you want." Hastings obviously didn't want to continue the conversation with Merlin. He dipped his finger in his blood and wrote a location on the bedside. "Remember to keep your promise." Hastings paused and said in an emotionless tone, "Also, welcome to us. This is the first time in two hundred thousand years that we have a new companion."
"You happen to have two empty spots recently, don't you?" Merlin smiled and glanced at the address on the bedside. Then, he wiped it off with his hand.
"We'll be waiting for you," Hastings said and hung his head.
Merlin stabbed the scalpel into Hastings' throat and ended his pain. He then stood up and took off his leather skirt. He hummed a tune and seemed to be in a good mood.
After planning for more than nine hundred years, he was just one step away from success. He had a reason to celebrate. Unfortunately, he couldn't find any red wine in this safe base.
Merlin summoned a golem and asked it to help clean up Hastings' corpse and the mess in the basement. He picked up his staff and put on his coat.
The address was not far from where he was now. He still had time to buy something to drink before he left.
Merlin remembered the last time he came to this town more than a hundred years ago. There seemed to be a decent tavern on the west side of the town, but he didn't know if it still existed. Since it was on the way, he decided to check it out.
Unfortunately, he was the only one left in the dark night. There was no one to celebrate the upcoming victory with him. Who said that the winner was always lonely? Fortunately, he had already gotten used to this loneliness over the long years. Hundreds of years had not left any trace on his body.
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