Reborn with Steve Stand

"How do you feel now? Are you more comfortable?"

On the way to the Second Spine, Fang Mo asked Summon while walking.

"Can you not bring up such unpleasant topics?"

Summon's face was gloomy. At the moment, her appearance was somewhat comical: a pink octopus perched askew on her head, two black spiny tentacles draped over her shoulders, and a small octopus clinging to her left calf.

Although she was covered in octopuses, her appearance was not indecent. Instead, there was an inexplicable sense of humor, especially since she was wearing an endearing snowman costume.

She looked as if she were selling seafood.

From Fang Mo's perspective, if she were to change outfits, she might look like a demon or a sea monster.

"Why do you have that look on your face?"

Seeing her expression, Fang Mo teased her, "Didn't I tell you before? If you can't resist, you might as well enjoy it..."

Summon said, rubbing her forehead in frustration, "I feel like cutting my throat. Sooner or later, you'll torment me to death, so I might as well end it quickly..."

"Stop thinking about self-harm!"

Fang Mo immediately advised, "Better to indulge than to suppress! Even temporary happiness is still happiness. If you dive deep enough, you might just achieve a happy life!"

"Yeah, yeah, you're right."

Summon spun a tentacle in her hand and said sarcastically, "Look at all these tentacles. I must be extremely happy, right? I'm about to die from happiness."

"Pfft..."

Even Xiao Yao nearby couldn't help but smile.

"What are you laughing at? You're part of this too." Fang Mo turned to her. "I've saved this big one, Lotus, for you."

"You can keep it for yourself." Xiao Yao was unfazed. "Don't we have the custom Steve mod? Next time, it's my turn to spank you. If you have any special requests, I'll bring the ring along..."

"Oh, and when you're modeling Xiao Yao, make sure you do it right. It should have everything, and take off the healing gear too."

Finally, Xiao Yao added, "I want to see you bleed."

"What kind of wild talk is this?"

Fang Mo was a bit taken aback by his partner's rapid-fire comments. "I'm teasing you to see your shy and angry expression, not to see you looking forward to it like a perverted wolf... Nor to have you teasing me back with interest, understand?"

"Oh, I thought you liked it this way."

Xiao Yao spread her hands. "After all, you Scorpios are all brooding and full of curiosity and lust..."

"I admit I have a bit of curiosity and lust, but can you not bring astrology into this?" Fang Mo argued. "It's not accurate at all, it's just to deceive women like you. How are you like a Libra?"

"You don't understand, astrology is accurate only with a natal chart."

Xiao Yao retorted, hands on her hips.

"You..."

"Alright, alright, you two stop arguing."

Before Fang Mo could speak again, Summon interrupted them, pointing ahead. "Can you see that temple? I think we're there."

"Hmm?"

Hearing this, both of them looked up.

Indeed, a huge temple appeared ahead.

Geographically, this temple was in the central area of the GBL temple complex, built on the second spine of the Behemoth.

The so-called second spine was a term used by the GBL followers. If the Behemoth were a magical whale, the outer temple they had previously entered would be near its forehead.

After passing through the tree spirit forest, purgatory, and the land of eternal daylight, Fang Mo and his group reached the first spine palace, which corresponded to the neck area of the Behemoth.

Now, the second spine would be around the waist area, right in the middle of the giant whale's body, with a relatively gentle mountain range. The second spine temple was built on this mountain range.

Notably, this was where the apostle Lotus was hiding in the original story.

"Did we arrive so soon?"

Looking at the second spine temple, Fang Mo touched his chin. "Hmm... Alright, let's go talk to him."

With that, he motioned for the others to continue forward.

"Apostle..."

Unlike Fang Mo, the little mage was somewhat nervous. In the demon world, everyone knew how terrifying the apostles were.

But the octopuses seemed to sense her fear.

Soon, several tentacles patted her head, shoulders, and back reassuringly.

"I..."

Summon felt their concern and was somewhat moved, but being comforted by a bunch of octopuses when scared... felt a bit strange.

Despite the strangeness, she followed them with gritted teeth.

Unexpectedly, Fang Mo did not enter the temple upon reaching the second spine. Instead, he waved his hand suddenly.

"Shoggoth, go, dismantle the roof."

With a wave of Fang Mo's hand, he ordered the black, amorphous creature beside him.

To Summon's shock, the black, gelatinous mass grew rapidly. It was initially the size of a small airship, but in a blink, it towered over the temple like a colossal giant.

The shapeless black mass enveloped the entire temple roof like dark clouds, then lifted it off with immense force.

Deafening crashes followed as the entire temple roof was forcibly removed.

Without the roof, the temple's structure became unstable. Rocks crumbled, and dust filled the air.

For Fang Mo, the dust was a minor inconvenience.

With a casual wave, a bright light from his magic ring swept the dust away, revealing a giant creature in the temple's center.

It was an orange-red soft-bodied creature.

At first glance, one can see a large mass of continuously writhing tentacles.

At the center of these tentacles is a somewhat menacing head, which does not resemble an octopus but rather some kind of monstrous dragon.

Indeed, although Lotus is a tentacle monster, its head is not like that of an octopus. The mouth is not located beneath the tentacles but is positioned directly on the head. It is a large mouth filled with sharp teeth, reminiscent of some ancient carnivorous dinosaur. Additionally, the top of its head extends backward into a bony plate, which is adorned with numerous hard bony horns.

Furthermore, it has a total of five vertical, enormous eyes.

The largest eye is in the center, with the remaining four arranged around it.

The creature's body is quite large, and with all those tentacles, it appears like a moving mountain of tentacles, indeed quite frightening.

Yet, this terrifying creature is none other than Lotus, one of the thirteen apostles of the demon world and the ruler of the ocean.

At this moment, as the temple was opened, the large vertical pupils of Lotus revealed a human-like astonishment and shock as it stared blankly at the group of monsters not far away.

A giant flaming figure burning with intense flames, a thorn monster twisted from countless thorns, a terrifying white light ball that sent chills down one's spine, and most frighteningly, an amorphous pitch-black cloud in the sky, so vast that it was impossible to see its edges.

"This..."

Honestly, Lotus was completely bewildered at this moment.

However, it was at this time that Fang Mo slowly walked over from the ruins.

"Hey, isn't this Mr. Lo?"

Fang Mo walked, raising his hand towards the sky. The Tidal Orb flew straight up, and suddenly, a flash of lightning passed, causing a torrential downpour. In the blink of an eye, it started raining heavily near the second vertebra.

"What... is this?"

Lotus was once again stunned by this sight.

Although the back of the Sky Behemoth is rich in water resources, due to the continuous movement of this magical whale, it was almost impossible for it to rain here.

Because of this, Lotus had to control the followers here to build a temple to block the sunlight and to keep dousing itself with water buckets to stay moist, but even so, it had become extremely weak.

Yet, this man merely waved his hand, and it started pouring rain. Honestly, even Lotus was puzzled by this.

However, the pouring rain did indeed make Lotus feel much more comfortable.

The parched and cracked skin was moistened by the rain, and even the intense burning pain seemed to ease significantly.

"What are you..."

Lotus looked at Fang Mo curiously, "…Why are you doing this?"

"It's nothing, just making up for past mistakes."

Fang Mo casually waved his hand. After all, he had personally killed Lotus back then, "So, can we talk properly now?"

"You said you want to talk to me?"

Lotus' large vertical pupil shifted, sneaking a glance at the monsters behind Fang Mo.

Honestly, even in its prime, it might not have been able to defeat any of those monsters, and the monster in front of it was even more unfathomable... so if he wanted to kill Lotus, he could have just done it without needing to talk.

Thinking about this, Lotus had a rough idea.

The opponent was probably not here to kill it; after all, he had just helped it by making it rain to ease its pain.

"What do you want to talk about?"

Lotus' tone improved significantly.

"I know your situation."

Fang Mo got straight to the point, "You were tricked by Hilder during your hibernation, right? I know what she is up to. The prophecy of the New Century states that the death of the other apostles can lead to the rebirth of the demon world, so that b**** wants to kill all of you to revive the demon world..."

"I've heard of this prophecy too."

Lotus's tone became noticeably complicated as it continued after a brief silence, "…It predicts that I will die here, just as Sirocco died in the Cave of Mourning."

"To be precise."

Fang Mo recalled the plot, "You will be killed by a group of foolish adventurers who believe they are eradicating evil."

"Eradicating evil, such a foolish notion."

Lotus sneered, though there was a hint of resignation in its tone, "So in your eyes, I am the evil one, right? I just want to survive... I could have directly controlled the Sky Behemoth to crash into the Western Coast, but I didn't. What more do they want? Must I die here to be considered good?"

"So you want to survive, don't you?"

Hearing this, Fang Mo suddenly asked.

"I am the ruler of the demon world's oceans. Of course, I don't want to die here due to someone else's scheme. I even want to return to the demon world and take revenge on Hilder," Lotus said, "But you... I've never seen someone as strange as you. Who are you?"

"If you want, you can call me Mr. Crab."

Fang Mo spread his hands, "Of course, who I am doesn't really matter. What's important is that you want to survive, and I can give you a chance to choose."

"You..."

Lotus seemed to hesitate but still asked, "What choice?"

"Oh, it's like this."

Fang Mo held up two fingers, "I can help you get revenge on Hilder and save your life, but in return, you must work for me."

"And the other choice?"

Lotus asked.

"It's simple, look."

Fang Mo suddenly summoned a large pile of iron blocks with a wave of his hand. He then pressed a single hand, and the gravitational field instantly compressed these iron ingots into a massive iron plate, which then flew to the top of Surtur, heating up to a dark red color.

"Are you afraid of this iron plate?"

Fang Mo took out a brush from somewhere, which seemed to have some chili sauce on it, "If you don't agree, I can replicate a classic night market snack... grilled squid on an iron plate."

"..."

Lotus fell silent for a moment but soon made the right choice, "I want to live."

"Mm-hmm, that's the spirit."

Fang Mo was quite pleased and then magically pulled out three weapons, "Now, you're too big for me to take you back. Choose one of these weapons to stay in for a while. I'll release you into the sea when I find one."

"Weapons? Stay for a while?"

Clearly, Lotus did not quite understand Fang Mo's meaning.

"Oh, it's like this. These three weapons contain an independent space where creatures can temporarily reside."

Fang Mo explained as he placed the Ender Broadsword, the Ender Greatsword, and the Ender Dagger in front of Lotus, "Alright, Mr. Luo, hurry up and choose one."

"Do these three weapons have any differences?"

"Oh, yes. These three are the medium sword, the greatsword, and the ultra-greatsword…"

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