Strongest Hammer God

Chapter 1077: Diplomacy

Swamp Dragon's words unsettled the Overseer. She hadn't known about the shadow's existence before it had appeared. Yet, not only had Swamp Dragon known about the Gate of Death and the shadow, but he had also known that the shadow had convinced her to stop.

It was difficult for the Overseer to admit that it had been the shadow that had convinced her not to go in. She believed that she had control over her own actions. After all, the shadow had not directly stopped her. It had just talked to her.

Sadly, as hard as it was to admit, she couldn't ignore the facts any longer. If the shadow hadn't appeared, she would have immediately charged into the Gate of Death. There was no doubt about it. Back then, she hadn't even been thinking. She had just been moving.

The shadow had only done one thing. It had slowed her down and made her think, and that was all it needed to do to stop her. If the shadow had simply closed the gate when the timer had run out, she could have still blamed it.

But it didn't. It had kept the gate open.

She had left the gate of her own volition.

Freedom and control...

She had believed that she knew what freedom and control represented, but now, she was no longer certain.

"Was this all part of your plan?" she asked with narrowed eyes.

"You were supposed to enter the Gate of Death," Swamp Dragon said. "There is no doubt in my mind that you would have charged in without even thinking about it. That means somebody else must have gotten involved, and the only being that could talk you out of going into it is the shadow."

"You wouldn't have stopped. As long as you had still been you, you would have entered. Since you have not entered, you are no longer you. My plans revolved around your past you, not your present you. Variables have changed. Plans can no longer be forged. Creating further plots has become meaningless."

"I want to know if we can try diplomacy," Swamp Dragon said. "We both want something, and our goals are not mutually exclusive. If we can reach your goal, we will also reach our goal."

"Talk to me. That's all I am asking for."

The Overseer just glared at Swamp Dragon with narrowed eyes. Hearing his words confirmed once again that she would have died if she had entered the Gate of Death. Even more, it had been Swamp Dragon who had guided her to the gate's creation.

Deep inside, the Overseer felt a disgusting realization.

She should have lost. She should be dead. Nothing in the world could have stopped Swamp Dragon's plan from succeeding.

She was only alive due to the interference of an outside force that wasn't supposed to be part of the game board.

For the first time in a long while, the Overseer felt a genuine feeling of mortal danger from another living being. This Swamp Dragon might not be powerful, but the way he had manipulated the circumstances had nearly led to her death.

This feeling of danger immediately woke her desire to kill Swamp Dragon. If this had been in the past, she wouldn't have even hesitated.

But now, she wasn't that sure anymore. After her conversation with the shadow, the different options it had named wouldn't leave her mind.

There were ways with which she could escape, but they didn't lie with this group.

"There's nothing to talk about," the Overseer said coldly. "Your schemes have aimed for my throat time and time again. Conversing with you will only grant you another opportunity."

"What do I have left?" Swamp Dragon asked, gesturing to his surroundings. "Only the defensive mechanism and the Gate of Death can kill you. Both of them have failed. There's nothing left."

"I can not know what I do not know," the Overseer answered coldly. "You say these are the only two ways, but that might just be another scheme. How could I possibly trust someone that has tried to kill me again and again?"

"How could I trust you?" Swamp Dragon asked. "You've kept us suppressed and imprisoned. You are the one in power. You can go back on your words, while we can't. You are not even bound by any oaths since you're unaffected by Karmic Luck, while we are."

"And yet, here I am. I am revealing myself as a show of trust. I am handing my life to you. I want to stop this eternal cycle of destruction and suppression. I want to open up the sky for everyone who's trapped in this world!"

The Overseer didn't seem convinced at all. "Trusting a human is the most foolish thing a beast can do. The suppression you feel is but a small glimpse of what beastkind feels as a whole in this Cosmos. In every other world, humanity enjoys a position of power and privilege. This is the only world in which this is not the case, and you immediately protest."

"Are beasts less capable than humans?" Swamp Dragon suddenly asked.

"No," the Overseer answered.

"Then, why are they always in a suppressed position?" Swamp Dragon asked.

"Because they can not ascend and because they can not become Overseers. A human will always be in charge."

"These reasons are not connected to the beasts' position," Swamp Dragon answered. "An Overseer is affected by the rules of Karmic Luck like any other human. If they kill great numbers of beasts, their Karmic Luck will quickly drop until they suffer from Sin Flames, and the vast majority of Overseers don't have the mental fortitude to survive Sin Flames. The rules of the world do not want the Overseer to suppress beasts."

"Your argument regarding ascension is even more incorrect. Ascension means the most powerful being is leaving the world. Ascension weakens the world. Peak Ascendant humans will not remain in this world, while Peak Ascendant beasts stay for a long time. These are not the reasons why beasts are in a less favorable position in most worlds. In fact, the rules of Karmic Luck don't even affect beasts. A human can't kill legions of beasts without paying a tremendous price, while one beast can kill infinite humans without a detriment."

The Overseer felt frustrated, insulted, and angry when she heard Swamp Dragon's rebuttals.

"Then, you tell me," she said with cold annoyance. "What is the reason?"

"Unity," Swamp Dragon answered. "Beasts only care about themselves, while humans care about each other. When there's a dangerous enemy that could kill all of humanity, all of humanity will unite to save itself. If humans wanted to eradicate all beasts, the beasts wouldn't stand united and fight back. They would be picked off, one by one."

"You know this," Swamp Dragon answered. "That's why you created the root network. You forcefully united the beasts so that they could resist humanity."

"That is the reason. Humans might be just as violent and brutal to each other as beasts, but when there is an existential threat, they unite."

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