Not far away, Udi watched indifferently as Barlo's flame demon's aura soared.

The scars from the fight on the dragon's body recovered quickly, even if the wound was still covered by the powerful abyss energy of the Barlow Flame Demon, hindering the recovery of the injury, but under the effect of reaching the third-order [Overspeed Recovery], it was still recovering at a stable speed.

"Black Dragon, prepare to die."

Yarrow's palms had turned into a pair of huge crimson claws, and around the claws, there was a terrifying aura that made people's hearts palpitate.

Silently, Yarrow approached Udi with a cruel look on his face.

In this regard, Wu Di just looked at it calmly, and as soon as his thoughts moved, dozens of water dragons of more than ten meters condensed around him, and then the dragon roared and hit the Baro Flame Demon.

Arro sneered and waved a claw, and the huge blood-colored claw directly tore more than a dozen water dragons, and another claw, and the remaining water dragons also collapsed directly.

The True-level Six-Ring Water Dragon Technique is blessed by the massive magic power of Wu Di, and the power of each water dragon is completely capable of threatening the powerhouses of the pseudo-legendary level.

Dozens of water dragons surged out, and the legendary first rank of average strength had to dodge in embarrassment, otherwise it would be able to completely endanger their lives.

However, in front of the Barlow Flame Demon, who is ranked second in strength and also uses legendary equipment, these water dragons, like water splashes, are impossible to be injured even if they are allowed to bombard themselves.

Dozens of water dragons shattered and collapsed, leaving a radius of more than ten kilometers covered with a large amount of water vapor.

Black dragon spell ability - cloud and mist

Silently, a large amount of thick fog rose from the vapor, obscuring Yarrow's vision.

It snorted coldly, and a powerful legendary perception emanated, but what made its face change slightly was that in this mist, its perception was severely weakened, and it could only probe a few kilometers.

Outside, with a massive amount of magical power, the water mist expanded rapidly, enveloping a range of hundreds of kilometers almost instantly.

"Fool, I'm too lazy to play with you."

Udi was suspended outside the mist, and his eyes seemed to see through the mist to see the Barlow Flame Demon scurrying around in the thick mist, and the corners of his mouth grinned.

The black dragon's quasi-magic, the cloud and mist technique, can not only obscure the physical vision, but also seriously interfere with perception and mental power, in this case, the living beings enter the cloud and mist, and it is easy to get lost in it.

Of course, this Barlow Flame Demon is very strong, and Udi's cloud and mist technique can't make it lose in it, and at most trap it for some time.

But that's enough.

Udi turned his head to look at the battlefield led by the ghost king and the demon in the distance, and smiled cruelly.

Teleportation.

Click-click-a large amount of deep cold ice condensed on the body of the three-headed dog leader of the abyss, trying to freeze it, the three-headed dog roared, and the huge energy armor formed by the legendary armor on his body shook slightly, and shattered those cold ice, but before the three-headed dog could breathe, countless vines broke through the earth, enveloping the three-headed dog like a huge hill.

Rich black abyssal energy poured out from the cracks in the vines, and the three-headed dog leader broke through the vine cage and escaped from it, gasping for air with a tired expression.

From the beginning of the battle to the present, most of its energy has been consumed.

Although the legendary equipment is powerful, the speed at which it consumes energy is also proportionally increased.

"Damn Yarrow, haven't you dealt with that black dragon yet?!" The three-headed dog was a little anxious in his heart. Baro Flame Demon Yaluo is the strongest of the four demon commanders, when Yaluo is there, although the four demon commanders are slightly inferior to the five ghost kings, but they can still support it overall, and now without Yaluo, the three demon commanders will have to face the five ghost kings

Once again, it dodged the onslaught of vines and ice, barely trying to draw any attention to the battlefield.

The battlefield where Yarrow and the Black Dragon were located was obscured by a thick water mist, and it was impossible to see the situation.

The other two demon leaders, the four-armed sword demon was entangled by the Red Ghost King alone, even if the four-armed sword demon used a legendary knife weapon, it could only leave deep traces on the Red Ghost King's body, and could not cut the latter in two, and the high-density strong body of the Red Ghost Clan was undoubtedly revealed at this moment.

The Horned Demon Commander was pressed and beaten by the White Ghost King and the Purple Demon Ghost King.

The White Ghost King, who was 100 meters tall and looked like a fat white giant, chased after the Horned Demon Commander like a fly, but was always dodged by the nimble Horned Demon Commander, which made the White Ghost King annoyed.

However, at the critical moment, the Purple Demon Ghost King on the side will send out a spiritual attack, control the Horned Demon Commander, and make his dodging action stiffen slightly, and then be hit hard by the White Ghost King.

But with the help of the legendary gauntlet, the Horned Demon Commander's defensive ability has been greatly improved, even if the White Ghost King's strength is terrifying, and even surpasses the Red Ghost King, the Horned Demon Commander is only a little embarrassed to spit out a few mouthfuls of blood every time he is attacked, and it is not a big problem in the short term.

However, the three-headed dog saw it in his eyes, but his heart sank.

Legendary equipment consumes a lot of energy to use, and every time it is hit, it fends off attacks, and this cost increases in a straight line. The Horned Demon Commander can't last as long as it does.

Just when the three-headed dog was anxious, it suddenly noticed that a huge black dragon claw suddenly poked out of the space not far from the four-armed sword demon, and it suddenly exclaimed,

"Sword Demon, be careful!"

The four-armed sword demon noticed the sneak attack of the black dragon before the three-headed dog spoke, but if he noticed it, it didn't mean that he could dodge the attack, because it was too sudden, and the four-armed sword demon didn't think that Yarrow would let the black dragon leave, and in shock and panic, the four-armed sword demon only had time to use his energy to form a layer of protection for himself, and then he was pinched by the dragon's claws.

With a click, the energy protection was shattered almost instantly, the four-armed sword demon felt the danger of death, his eyes were red, and one of the knife arms fused with the magic knife slashed towards the dragon claw, tearing and pulling, the dragon claw dragon scales and flesh broke under the amazing edge of the knife arm, and finally fell deep into the bones, almost wanting to cut the huge dragon claw in two.

Udi was a little painful, but he was also quite ruthless to himself, completely ignoring the dragon claw that wanted to break, the strong and pure psionic energy desperately gathered on the dragon claw, and then used it with the technique of the psionic martial art Hundred Split Fist.

In an instant, the pitch-black dragon claw burst out with three spiral spiritual energy, and then intertwined and fused like three swimming dragons, slamming into the four-armed sword demon trapped by the dragon claw.

The spiritual energy exploded, blowing up the four-armed sword demon all over the body and drenching in blood, one arm was directly broken, and the four-armed sword demon who was hit hard resisted weakly, and was pinched by the huge pitch-black dragon claw, and the sound of bone explosion came out.

On the battlefield, the five ghost kings and the other two demon leaders were all shocked and a little stunned when they noticed this scene.

The closed pitch-black dragon claws opened, and a four-armed sword demon corpse several meters high lay on it, and at this moment, a long black knife more than two meters long broke through the body of the four-armed sword demon, turning into a black light and wanted to escape.

Udi was prepared, and the other dragon claw broke through the air and grabbed it.

The black knife frantically struggled in the dragon's claws, cutting the dragon scales into blood, Wu Di snorted coldly, and the powerful spiritual power and spiritual energy exploded at the same time, suppressing the black knife.

Although legendary weapons can also spontaneously stimulate some power, but in the case of having an owner to use it, they are all trapped by Udi for a short time, not to mention that there is no master to use it now.

Among the suppressed black knives, a black qi emerged, which was the soul of the four-armed sword demon leader.

This guy saw that the black knife was suppressed, and he had no choice but to escape from the black knife.

However, Udi, who has hunted legendary creatures many times, has long been quite familiar with dealing with legendary souls, and as soon as the black jar comes out, coupled with the talent he has just obtained - [Soul Swallowing], he can easily include the soul of the four-armed sword demon.

When the five ghost kings saw that the four-armed sword demon commander was solved by the black dragon, they reacted extremely quickly, surrounding the abyss three-headed dog commander and the horned demon commander who wanted to escape when they saw the bad opportunity.

The extremely tough vines, the extremely cold frost, the powerful spiritual attack, and the long-range attack from the three ghost kings directly made the scalp of the horned demon leader and the three-headed dog numb, and they were trapped to death.

At this time, the Red Ghost King and the White Ghost King also rushed over, and the two power-type players burst out with a terrifying wave-like force, directly cracking the defense formed by the Horned Demon Commander Gauntlet, but although the energy armor on the Abyss Three-Headed Dog was a little shaky, it still didn't even have a trace of cracks.

However, the crack did not appear, but the Abyssal Three-Headed Dog was extremely frightened, because half of the energy in its body was absorbed by the legendary armor in an instant, which made it panic when it did not have much energy.

Seeing this, the five ghost kings were even more excited, chasing the two demon leaders and bombing wildly, wanting to take advantage of the great opportunity to kill them.

Udi was suspended in the air, watching this scene with cold eyes, and there was no help.

The injuries of the dragon claw are still recovering, and the injuries caused by the legendary weapon combined with the legendary second-order powerhouse, the remaining energy is quite difficult, greatly slowing down the effect of overspeed recovery.

However, Udi didn't come forward to help the five ghost kings, not because of injuries.

The reason is simple, he wants to maintain a relative balance.

Now is not the time for the devil to rout.

"It should be almost." The black dragon muttered to himself in a deep voice.

Before his thoughts could fall, a red light rushed out of the mist area in the distance, and it was none other than the Barlow Flame Demon Commander who was trapped in it.

Yaluo's eyes were full of anger, and as soon as he came out, he stared at the black dragon lord who was not moving in mid-air, and was about to kill him, but soon he saw that the horned demon and the three-headed dog were being chased and killed by the five ghost kings, and the four-armed sword demon commander disappeared, and his face changed slightly, and the Baro Flame Demon let out an angry roar, and then turned his head and chased after the five ghost kings.

There was still an echo of Barlo's anger in the air, "Black Dragon, prepare to meet the wrath of Lord Moko!" ”

"Oh? Ben Wang waited. Udi replied with a sneer.

At this time, the dragon's claw injury had also recovered.

Udi sensed the amazing battle fluctuations coming from some surrounding areas, and didn't care about the outcome of the battle between the ghost king and the demon leader, grinning, and the dragon shadow disappeared.

When it reappeared, the giant black dragon was already in the middle of a desert.

A nine-meter-tall Legendary Fire Demon is engaged in a fierce battle with a Legendary Frost Ghost.

The sudden appearance of the black dragon surprised both sides.

Moments later, Udi left the place in a wandering manner, and at the same time, two more corpses and two legendary souls in the black jar were in his spell storage space.

"You have to hurry, otherwise you won't have such a good chance if you are discovered." Udi muttered to herself.

Next, several areas in the Silvermoon Desert where the Legendary Ghost Clan and the Legendary Demon were at war became calmer.

The strange changes made the legendary powerhouses on both sides become vigilant, stop fighting, and quickly assemble.

Tens of thousands of meters in the sky, the black dragon hidden in the clouds and mist shook his head with some pity as he looked at the legendary aura that disappeared everywhere.

However, at the thought of the four extra legendary corpses in the spell storage space, as well as the four black jars, the black dragon's eyes couldn't help but flash a hint of smile and satisfaction.

The rules of tacit understanding between the ghost clan and the demons, the top powerhouses restrain each other and do not act easily, only letting the powerhouses of the first rank of the legend and the army below the legend fight fiercely.

This kind of default rule has also made Udi, an outsider, reap huge benefits.

But there's only one chance.

"It's time to go back, when I finish devouring these legends, my strength will go further, if I succeed in refining that legendary weapon, the black knife" The black dragon's mind continued.

The next moment, the huge black dragon shuttled through any gate and returned to the forest base.

In the forest base.

In the form of a three-meter-tall dragon, Udi stood on the teleportation altar along with the shrunken six-armed snake demon Ochie, the fallen evil giant Nurraf, the Baroryan demon Barrow, and Roy and Brian.

With a glimmer of light, Udi and the others left the ghost plane.

And after they left, the remaining more than 2,000 demons in the forest base had no rulers, and soon dispersed, some hiding, and some couldn't bear the desire to kill in their hearts, and began to wander away from other places, slaughtering the ghost clan, devouring flesh and soul to strengthen themselves.

To the west, the thousands of Blackwing warriors who first descended began to spread towards the huge ghost plane in a team of ten people without the two leaders of Roy and Brian.

Udi had violently offended both the ghost clan and the black smoke city demon at the same time this time, so it was naturally impossible for him to continue to stay in the ghost clan's plane.

If you continue to stay in the ghost plane, you may be attacked by both sides, although this possibility is not great, the ghost clan may forcibly endure it, and then think about continuing to use Udi's power to deal a blow to the demons of Black Smoky City.

However, Udi's idea is very simple, the gains obtained in the ghost plane are enough, wait for the results of the battle to improve, and then enter the ghost plane as appropriate, or simply enter the ghost plane after being promoted to a legend, and directly dominate the plane with absolute strength.

Now, let the ghost clan and the demon of Smoky City eat dog and dog.

On the Tarr plane, after several months, Udi has finally returned.

He turned his head to look at Ochie and the other demons, and after thinking for a while, he made a decision,

"You go to the sea to help the fish-man Fiz and them expand the territory of the sea."

Rather than let them go back to the abyss and do nothing, they should stay in the Tarr plane and expand the territory of the Blackwing Lair.

And there is enough food in the sea to supply them with these big stomachs.

"Yes." Aoqi and the other three demons nodded, and disappeared into the sky in three black and red streamers.

Udi, on the other hand, returned to the Black Castle Dragon Pool, practicing spells and psionic martial arts, while waiting for the feast to cool down and devour the legends hunted in the ghost plane.

Time passed slowly, and in the blink of an eye, months passed.

Since the return of the Barbarian allies led by the Kingdom of Yarbit and the migration of the frost elves here, the situation in the southern region of the continent has become very calm, and the major forces are watching, and no one dares to act rashly.

Soon, though, the barbarians couldn't take it anymore.

"We need more territory!"

In the royal court of the barbarians, which was expanded from a kingdom city, the king of the barbarians, 'Victor', sat on the throne, and below him were two rows of barbarian powerhouses sitting on the ground.

In the hall at this moment, the barbarians were discussing an important matter.

Discussion on whether or not to expel the Centaur Clan.

As tens of millions of barbarians gradually migrated to the kingdom area during the year, the territory divided by the kingdom of Yarbit for the barbarians to live and survive gradually became somewhat crowded, leading to a series of contradictions.

Now, it is to solve this contradiction.

"We are now a member of the Pan-Continental Alliance Army, and if this kind of behavior of forcing other races to leave the territory is known, if the races of the good camp of the Alliance Army know about it, it will definitely reduce our favor, and it may even affect the friendship with some strong people in the good camp." There was a barbarian, and the strong man frowned and thought about it.

His words gave most of the barbarian powerhouses present a little headache.

If they hadn't joined the Alliance Army, they now represent the forces of justice against the Crimson Nest, and according to the previous situation, what would it be to occupy some territories?

Although the barbarians are not murderous, they are definitely not good people, and the general camp tendency is between neutral evil and absolute neutrality, and the camp is vague and not specific.

It's the kind of people who can communicate and trade normally in most cases, but when they are mixed with things related to interests, they may also turn into murderous bandits.

Similar to humans, but generally more affectionate and straightforward than humans.

"According to the information I have gathered, the centaur clan slaughtered a large number of the people of the kingdom many years ago, causing a series of terrible tragedies, and they even abducted human women to use as a tool for reproduction due to the sharp decline in population, and every human woman who gave birth to a centaur cub would eventually die of hemorrhage."

Just as everyone was frowning in silence, a young barbarian suddenly spoke.

Because many years have passed, and they barbarians have just arrived here, and there is no news channel, so this matter has not been known to the barbarians.

The royal family of the Yarbit Kingdom knows about it, but where can such a shameful thing be said?

"Is the news true?"

Victor, the barbarian king on the throne, cast his gaze.

The aura of the legendary powerhouse was so overwhelming that at least all the barbarians present were master-level strength, and the powerhouse was a little breathless.

The young barbarian powerhouse nodded affirmatively, "Chief, the news can be 100% confirmed. ”

There was one thing he didn't say, and that was that the reason why centaurs were so cruel to the people of the kingdom was because the kingdom invaded the centaurs' homeland more than ten years ago and implemented a policy of extermination of the centaurs.

This kind of hatred, it's normal for centaurs to fight back.

Even the elves of the good camp don't have a good opinion of this kind of thing. It's true that they're kind, but they're not without logic.

Wolves eat people, people eat wolves, and it is right to look at it from any side.

But

Now that the barbarians and the kingdom of Yarbit are standing together, it is natural that what the centaurs are doing is wrong and brutal.

"Then expel the centaurs." Victor made a decision.

With this excuse, even if the Alliance Army knew about it, there was nothing to say.

After all, the centaur clan is a small race, and there are no legendary powerhouses, so on today's continent, it obviously has no right to speak.

After making a decision, Viktor sent three powerful barbarian generals to lead a legion of 10,000 mid-level barbarian berserkers.

This still knows that the Centaur King is not bad, and he once defeated and killed a human knight at the peak of the nineteenth level, otherwise it would be enough to send a barbarian general.

Those who can hold the position of general in the Barbarian Royal Court must have a record of killing nineteenth-level monsters, and the strong people of this level can also be counted in the Barbarian Royal Court.

Barbarians have always respected strength, and the strongest is the king of barbarians, followed by the general, and then the general, the captain, and the captain.

In the northern part of the wasteland, among the largest garrisons of the Centaurs.

The Centaur King Mohamderson held a cyan sword, knelt down on all four hooves, and closed his eyes in a sense of something.

Suddenly, there was a panic outside, and a centaur guard shouted outside.

Murhandsen frowned slightly, opened his eyes, and a breeze swept in the centaur guards outside.

"What's going on to be so alarming?" Mohamderson looked at the guards in a serious tone.

If it weren't for something important, this guard of his wouldn't look like this.

"King, an army of barbarians has appeared in the north, sweeping all the way to our side, and now two small tribes have been wiped out by the barbarian army."

Before the guards could finish speaking, they were so frightened by Mohamdesen's blue pupils that he couldn't speak.

The Centaur King got up from the ground with an indifferent expression, and said calmly to the guards, "Let the clansmen retreat towards the territory of the Dark Lair in the middle of the wasteland. ”

The guard bowed his head and replied yes, only to feel a gust of wind blowing, and when he looked up, he saw that the king had disappeared from here, without a trace.

To the north of the northern region of the wasteland is the southern territory of the kingdom of Yarbit.

It had been conquered by the Centaur Clan a few years earlier, but with the arrival of the barbarians last year, Mohamdesen consciously continued to shrink the territory occupied by the kingdom of Yarbit to avoid conflict with the barbarians.

Anyway, for centaurs, there are only about 100,000 races, and they don't need that much territory.

Even the resources and territory of the northern region of the wasteland alone are enough for the entire centaur clan to survive.

"Forbearance is exchanged for invasion, barbarians" Mohamdersen's eyes were indifferent.

But if the barbarian royal court is polite and gives some resources in exchange for the right to use the territory in the south of the kingdom, Mohamdesen can also endure it.

After all, he was not sure to deal with the king of barbarians.

It has been several years since he was promoted to legend, and of course, if you count the true meaning of comprehending legend, it will be more than ten years.

In the past ten years, most of the time because of the influence of the spell Death Finger, the progress and transformation of the body and energy have been slow, and the cultivation profession is not a very powerful profession, so now in terms of body strength and energy purity, Mohamdersen is almost the same as an ordinary first-order legendary powerhouse, and it is still far from the second-order.

Only in the comprehension of the true meaning of the legend, because of his outstanding understanding, the king of centaurs has made rapid progress, and he even developed a unique move two years ago.

At that time, the demon dragon Diaharut came to harass Mohamdersen, and at that time, the king of centaurs had not yet developed a special trick, and every time he only injured the demon dragon and drove it away.

But now, if the demon dragon with ordinary legendary strength came over again, Mohandesen was absolutely sure and killed it.

This kind of strength is also a strong one in the first rank of the legend.

However, in the face of the king of barbarians who has been promoted to the legendary for hundreds of years and is suspected of breaking through to the second rank of the legend, Mohamdesen has no certainty that he will be able to win.

So Mohamdesen has always been reluctant to clash with the barbarians.

But now, he does not think of the conflict, and the barbarians have to invade instead.

"Things and ideas are always opposites, and the world has to speak with strength after all." After Mohamderson made his decision, his mood became very calm.

The breeze blows through the meadows, setting off bursts of blue waves.

The earth shook slightly.

In the distance, the barbarians marched towards the prairie like black clouds.

The three barbarian generals rode domesticated high-level lion and tiger monsters, talking and laughing along the way.

"That's . A centaur? ”

One of the barbarian generals was several kilometers away, and he noticed a centaur standing on the steppe in front of the barbarian legion.

Looking at it like this, it is estimated that they are waiting for their arrival.

The three barbarian generals looked at each other and couldn't help laughing.

"Courage is commendable, this centaur is probably the king of the centaur clan." One of the barbarian generals laughed, and then said to his two companions,

"Don't fight with me, I'll be the first to find out, and this guy's head will be mine!"

"Hmph, this guy is so lucky." The barbarian general to his left shook his head helplessly.

"Be careful, this guy also has a record of killing a level nineteen professional, don't overturn." Another barbarian general reminded him, and for some reason, he felt a little uneasy in his heart.

How could a nineteenth-level centaur dare to stand in front of their barbarian army?

Is it just courage?

At this time, the barbarian legion, under the command of the three generals, stopped its pace at the same time and stood still.

The barbarian general who was the first to speak got down from the domesticated high-level lion and tiger monster, took off the big sword he was carrying on his back, looked at the figure of the centaur visible in the distance in front of him, and as soon as he stepped on it, his figure turned into a red streamer and killed the latter.

The distance between the two sides was rapidly approaching.

"The Centaur King, give it to me." Before the confident barbarian general could finish his sentence, a breeze blew, and his strong body, which was two and a half meters tall, split in half from the middle.

The blood and internal organs did not even leak out in the first place, but were as smooth as a flat mirror.

It lasted for a few seconds before the guts and blood gushed out and splashed the grass.

The two barbarian generals a few kilometers away were dumbfounded when they saw this scene, and then they were terrified.

The strength of the three of them is almost at the peak of the nineteenth level, and below the same level, the only ones who can be stronger than them are those perverts who have pseudo-legendary strength.

But this number of perverts is still rare.

Even among the dragons, not all dragons can have the strength of pseudo-legends at level nineteen, and generally only the golden dragon and the red dragon can reach it, and the silver dragon is difficult to achieve if it is not counted as the caster class.

Other blue dragons, green dragons, black dragons, bronze dragons, brass dragons or something, not to mention, generally only those who work hard to cultivate the second profession and cultivate the second profession to an extremely high level can have the strength of pseudo-legends.

It is conceivable that the strength threshold of pseudo-legend is a difficult target for most of the nineteenth-level dragons, let alone other ordinary intelligent races. Like the three barbarian generals, they are already geniuses who stand out from tens of millions of barbarians, but there is still a long way to go from the threshold of pseudo-legendary strength.

"This guy."

The two barbarian generals were a little frightened and at the same time angry, angry at the death of their comrades.

If they died in a fierce battle, they wouldn't be so angry, but this is a pointless instant kill!

"Inform the king of this news, this is not something we can handle."

The two barbarian generals had made a decision, and one of them took out a bone bead from his bosom, and was about to deliver the message when a breeze blew by.

The barbarian general was halved in half along with the bone orb.

The last barbarian general reacted quickly, roared and swung his long sword, his skin was red, and he instantly entered a high-level madness state, and his strength increased greatly and then

The sword he swung wildly only slashed into the air, and he himself was reduced to two pieces in the breeze.

At some point, Mohandesen stood on the corpses of the two barbarian generals, the blue sword in his hand was not stained with blood, his expression did not change in the slightest, but he said calmly,

"My people haven't finished retreating yet, so how can the news get out of here."

The 10,000 mid-level barbarian berserkers were at the front, and the hundreds of berserkers who witnessed all this happened only then woke up as if they had just woken up from a dream.

The three generals who led them, dead and dead?

Shocked, horrified.

Mohamdesen looked at them, his blue sword in his hand pointed at the ten thousand barbarian berserkers.

"It's an honor to die in a hurricane."

After the Centaur King finished speaking calmly, a bit of blue light flew out from the long sword, and in an instant, it flew above the center of the barbarian legion.

In the eyes of most barbarians, who were still a little dazed, a miniature tornado suddenly appeared, and then in the blink of an eye, it spread and swelled into a super tornado that was thousands of meters high, almost heavens and earth.

After a few moments, there was not a single barbarian in place, and not even half of the wreckage was visible.

Only the bloody wind between heaven and earth confirmed the cruelty that had just happened.

(End of chapter)