The moment Hardy attacked Tang Shaoyang in the middle of transformation was a gamble. He thought it was a gamble he could take even though the man summoned some creatures. The thought was that there was no way that the man could summon a creature that was stronger than the summoner. But it proved him wrong as the summon nullified his swordplay, and the second summon caught him.
His ears buzzed as his vision blurred. It was just simply a physical attack, and yet it affected him to this degree. Before he could regain his composure, something sharp pierced through the back of his thighs. He groaned in pain, but he kept his voice low.
'I have to do something!' That was what was in his mind. He must do something or else he might die here. He was about to activate his skill, the skill that helped him to escape from the dragon. But then he realized something was wrong with him, not the skill. He could not use the skill. The skill just did not go off as he pictured.
It was a short teleportation skill with a maximum range of one thousand meters. It was short for teleportation because it took a few seconds for a Demi-God Rank to go through a thousand meters. Some even did not take a second to go through one thousand meters. The importance of the skill was that it was hard to predict where he would teleport to.
Hardy used the teleportation once more, imagining his destination which was just outside the city. However, again, the skill did go off. He could not use the skill, and he was sure it was not the skill's fault because this never happened before. There must be something wrong with him, not the skill.
'I can't gather my mana to use the skill!' On his third try, he realized that his mana could not come out of his Mana Whirlpool. The mana dissipated as soon as his mana tried to activate the skill. He soon found out the cause, the sword in his thighs.
"You have sobered up?" The familiar voice entered his ears. Hardy looked up and saw a different figure. The face was familiar, but his body was completely different. The dark scale, the horns, and the wings made the difference.
Armano and Kali scanned the surroundings. There were at least four Demi-God Ranks former adventurers, added with Ladirma, Tang Shaoyang, and his summons. They realized their chance to escape was zero. They realized why Black Iron Ladirma would submit because they also would submit in this situation.
They gave up without putting up resistance, "I surrender!" Kali, a man with short brown hair and light armor, is the first to step out with his hands in the air.
Following Kali, the other sixteen adventurers excluding Armano also surrendered. If someone like Kali surrendered, they saw no chance of them escaping as well.
"What about you, big guy? You are the last one who hasn't made the decision yet," Everyone's eyes were on him.
"I want to see the contract's condition before I make the decision. If you are going to treat me like trash, then I'd rather die than surrender!" Armano showed his intention to surrender. If the condition of being a slave was too harsh, then he would rather die trying.
"A slave can't be chooser, but I will give you an exception since you are a precious slave," Tang Shaoyang motioned to Worm1 to take out the contract scroll. He asked Worm1 to make more slave contracts for the future.
Ladirma happily took out the contract and handed it to Armano. He was happy because two Black Iron would join him in the Worm Alliance. He no longer felt humiliated by more Black Iron adventurers. In fact, he felt more confident in his Master now.
'Maybe Maru is not lying about Master killing God Rank,' If five Demi-God Ranks were so helpless in front of Tang Shaoyang, then maybe only The God Rank could fight tow-in-tow against His Master.
Armano read the contract, and he had to reread it again because he felt like it was not a slave contract. He got paid, lodging and food provided, and they had more freedom because he was given free time once they joined the so-called Tang Empire. It was more like he joined the military instead of becoming a slaves. Soldiers must accept the draft call and order from the superior, something common in the military. The contract was too good for a slave contract.