God's Atlantis

I opened the wooden door.

Dozens of armed men had formed a tight ring around the entrance. Most of them had black hair; a few wore cheongsams. At their center stood a Chinese man with short black hair, narrow slit-like eyes, and a black cheongsam of his own.

He looked like a snake. The man glared not at me, but at Li Mei.

“Zhang Chao. I never expected you to move this quickly. Quite the surprise.”

Li Mei’s voice was hard.

“One of our cash cows—Area 4,344—just got cleared out of nowhere. The Black Pillar Alliance is in an uproar thanks to that.”

“Well, at least you’re here now. The one who cleared the Black Pillar Alliance’s territory is this man. Take him down.”

Li Mei betrayed me on the spot. I’d expected it, but it still left a bitter taste. I tightened my grip on her breast.

“Ugh…! Let go! Zhang Chao! What are you waiting for?! Kill this man already!”

“This is so pathetic it’s almost funny.”

Zhang Chao let out a snort of laughter.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

“Li Mei. Do you really think the Black Pillar Alliance and I are that stupid? Area 4,344 brings in serious profit, which is exactly why it’s a special zone. Even the Alliance tried to clear it once and failed. And now, out of the blue, it gets cleared—right after its manager wandered into the Forest of Living Things. And what do you know? You stroll out side by side with the clearer?”

Li Mei’s expression hardened to stone. Even with me still kneading her breast, she barely reacted. Her face was rigid, but the flesh under my hand remained incredibly soft.

“Only a handful of people know the exact method to clear Area 4,344. Five, including you. The other four are off on different assignments… Think about it with common sense. A zone that suddenly gets cleared. A manager who vanishes for over twelve hours.”

“You’re misunderstanding. I haven’t betrayed the Black Pillar Alliance. Use your head. I have no reason to, and there’s no way the two of us alone could have beaten the Rag King.”

“But you did beat him. And the dominion rights are in that man’s hands, aren’t they? The others either died in the fight or you killed them yourselves. Throwing people away once you’ve squeezed every last drop of value out of them is pretty common, right?”

Zhang Chao sneered. The smirk was so irritating I wanted to punch it off his face just from watching.

“No! This man killed the Rag King by himself and took the dominion! I saw it with my own eyes!”

“We’ve coddled you so much you’re actually trying to sell us this nonsense. Fine. I’ve got time, and I’m curious what you’ll come up with next, so I’ll play along. How exactly did that man kill the Rag King alone?”

“That’s… The Rag King appeared suddenly… and it was already weakened ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠because it had been poisoned by its own tail…”

Li Mei’s voice grew weaker with every word. She knew it too. Even the person who had witnessed it firsthand could barely believe it—how absurd must it sound to someone just listening?

“…The Rag King’s feet got tangled and it just… fell over… got poisoned again… and then lightning…”

“And I’m supposed to believe that?”

“I know it sounds impossible! But that’s the truth!”

“Let’s pretend I believe you. But the proof that you betrayed us is already crystal clear, isn’t it? Anyone looking at you right now would think the same.”

Li Mei bit her lip. She tried to slap my hand away from her breast. I only pressed closer, caressing not just her chest but her thighs and ass as well.

“Must feel nice, getting spoiled by that man. Li Mei, do you know what that smell coming off you is? It’s the same smell you get walking through a brothel district. That thick, mixed scent of all those sticky fluids. And look—your hair, your thighs, your arms… they’ve got dried cum stuck to them. Oh my. There’s even a red kiss mark on the back of your neck. You two really enjoyed yourselves, didn’t you?”

“I was raped by this man! Raped!”

“I’ve seen a woman who was raped for over twelve hours. She was a wreck. Her skin didn’t have that healthy glow like yours.”

“Th-that’s because of my trait…”

Li Mei froze.

She had finally realized that no excuse would work.

“…So the Black Pillar Alliance already ordered you to dispose of me.”

“The end for anyone who betrays the Black Pillar Alliance is miserable, but yours is going to be especially miserable. From now on you’ll live as a whore. And for the next month, you’ll be my personal toy. Honestly… after how well I treated you just hoping to get you into bed once… who would’ve thought it would end up like this. If you’d just given me your body, you never would’ve had to live as a whore.”

Li Mei glared at Zhang Chao.

“You crazy bastard. Even if I die, I’m not giving my body to you. You know what? The rumor that you’ve got a tiny dick has already spread through the entire Black Pillar Alliance.”

Zhang Chao’s face stiffened for a split second.

“Ha… haha. What an amusing rumor.”

The awkward laugh told me the rumor was probably true. Then, suddenly, Zhang Chao’s narrow eyes went wide.

“Oh, you just tried to use Charm on me? That’s betrayal confirmed.”

“…How did you not fall for it?!”

“I know your ability. You think I wouldn’t prepare? The Black Pillar Alliance has been worried about you turning for a while now. You know how many men in the Alliance have their eyes on you? Every single one of them has imagined holding you at least once.”

Zhang Chao grinned and stepped closer. He wore black gloves, and sharp blades were fixed to the fingertips.

“…Yujin. Close the door.”

Li Mei spoke to me in a low voice. There was no hostility in it.

“Why the sudden obedience?”

“I’ve been obedient from the start. I’m your cock sleeve, after all.”

Li Mei looked up at me and smiled sweetly. I smiled back.

“Close it quickly. That door can’t be opened easily by anyone except the Dominator or a manager chosen by the Dominator. There are conditions. Closing it will buy us time.”

The time it would buy us wouldn’t even last a full day. Zhang Chao’s leisurely attitude made that clear.

Things are going well.

My relationship with the Black Pillar Alliance was already the worst it could be. What was going well was my relationship with Li Mei. She had been abandoned by the Black Pillar Alliance. No—they had simply decided she was a traitor. Misunderstandings form easily, but clearing them up is more than twice as hard. Especially when the other side has no intention of listening to any explanation at all.

Li Mei has nowhere left to go. Even if she still has a few trustworthy comrades, standing against the Black Pillar Alliance would be nearly impossible.

In other words, the only person she could rely on now was me.

“What are you doing?! Hurry! Close the door!”

“You close it!”

“After you became the Dominator I lost my manager privileges! I can’t even close the door anymore!”

Still holding Li Mei, I stepped back. Zhang Chao and the rest of the Black Pillar Alliance men poured into the Forest of Living Things.

“Keep Li Mei alive. That man dies no matter what.”

The killing intent in Zhang Chao’s voice dropped the temperature of the air. That familiar atmosphere right before a fight.

“…We’re fucked.”

Li Mei muttered in despair.

There were more than fifty of them, and every single one looked like a seasoned fighter. A dedicated combat unit. Zhang Chao in particular was strong enough that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠even I couldn’t take him lightly. I could feel it in his presence.

“…Yujin. Can you give me a dagger?”

“You’re going to fight too?”

“No. I’m going to kill myself. The only future left for me is living as a sex slave for the Black Pillar Alliance. Death is better.”

“Haha. Suicide? Then I’ll just fuck the corpse. A body like yours is still worth the time.”

Zhang Chao mocked her. Li Mei bit down hard on her lip until blood welled up. I wiped the blood from her mouth with my thumb.

“Don’t bite your lip. And don’t even think about biting your tongue.”

“…You could abandon me and run… but you’re not. You actually love me, don’t you, Yujin?”

“Those lips and that tongue of yours are for sucking my cock.”

“Of course they are.”

Zhang Chao’s face twisted. He clearly hated watching me chat so comfortably with Li Mei.

“Change of plans. Don’t kill that bastard cleanly. He touched the Black Pillar Alliance, so he’s going to pay the price.”

The way he fixated on Li Mei made it obvious he’d been nursing a one-sided crush on her for a long time.

He set his eyes on my woman. That means he dies.

I wasn’t going to run.

But taking all of them alone would be rough. Even with Complete Recovery, the numbers were against me. Having to protect Li Mei at the same time only made it harder.

“Lord of the Sky. A little help, if you please.”

I had expected that reaction.

Contracted gods weren’t the type to jump in just because their contractor was in danger, and the system made it nearly impossible for any god to intervene without a proper price. In situations like this the cost a god had to pay skyrocketed to astronomical levels.

But if you asked for help the legitimate way, the story changed.

“I offer three hundred thousand AP to the Lord of the Sky.”

AP.

This wasn’t a temple, so the efficiency was a little lower, but it still let me request a god’s help through legitimate channels.

You could receive a skill or an item from a god, or you could borrow a portion of their power. In this situation the latter was far more cost-effective.

Power surged through me.

The overwhelming force made my mind race with exhilaration. I released a fraction of that power into the air. Lightning soaked into the atmosphere. You couldn’t see it with the naked eye, but the space around me was saturated with thunder.

“The Lord of the Sky…?! You crazy bastard! You’re Zeus’s contractor?! Kill him! Kill him now!!”

Zhang Chao screamed in pure shock. They charged at me. But they were far too slow. It was almost enough to make me yawn.

…I haven’t even used Charna or Flash Thunder… Is this really just a portion of a top-tier god’s power?

Thirty seconds.

At first it had felt far too short, but this was more than enough. Ten thousand AP per second still felt like daylight robbery, though.

I resonated with the lightning filling the air around me.

A storm of thunder erupted. Centered on me, a massive whirlwind of wind and blue lightning spun outward, wiping everything clean. The only things left unharmed were me and Li Mei in my arms. Her face—eyes and mouth wide open in pure shock—was actually pretty cute.

The storm reduced everything within a hundred meters to ash in five seconds, then vanished.

What surprised me was that Zhang Chao had survived the lightning storm. His subordinates hadn’t even left corpses. Of course, Zhang Chao wasn’t unscathed either. His entire body was charred black, and he didn’t look fully conscious. Just staying on his feet seemed to be the limit.

Since this wasn’t a challenge period, I received AP instead of Life Points. All together it came to roughly thirty thousand AP.

“Zhang Chao. Why isn’t that one dead?”

“…Zhang Chao’s unique trait is Half-Jiangshi.”

“Half-Jiangshi?”

“A living jiangshi. Once he dies, he revives as a jiangshi. After spending a hundred days as a jiangshi, he returns to being human.”

“So I just have to kill him one more time while he’s a jiangshi.”

Zhang Chao seemed to be coming back to his senses; his body began to twitch.

“It won’t be that easy. I heard that once he becomes a jiangshi, all his stats rise by fifty percent. The only real downside is that his intelligence drops a bit.”

“Watch closely. Astrape.”

BOOM!

A single bolt of lightning dropped from the sky onto Zhang Chao. It didn’t just split his body cleanly in half—it drove deep into the earth. The ground shook and cracked open. Lightning erupted upward through the fissures.

Astrape was discharging lightning from underground. The range was only about thirty meters, but pure destructive power made it even more intense than the earlier storm. The underground lightning discharge fired five times in succession. The earth itself looked like a thundercloud packed with lightning.

Li Mei swallowed hard as she stared at the blue lightning flowing through the cracked ground. Then she turned to me and gave me a coquettish little smile.

“Yujin. I’ll forever be your cock sleeve.”

I smiled back at her.

“I know.”