On the outskirts of Star City, Romero along with the rest of the party walked out of the old observatory where they were greeted by an army of monsters growling at them.
Under the ferocious gaze of the monsters, everyone was frightened as they wondered what was going to happen to them. Romero was the only one among the group that managed to hold himself together as he walked forward against the looming threat of the 2 Rank Two monsters that stood behind them.
Soon, Romero and the rest found themselves standing before a mound of rumble. Atop the mound lay the Wolf King who was looking down upon the approaching hunters.
As the group stood before the Wolf King, cold sweat was running down their backs as they still remembered the scene of this wolf suppressing all of them with one move.
Suddenly, Romero and the rest could feel a heavy force press down on them, forcing them to kneel to the ground.
Romero immediately knew what this crushing force was, a unique ability that only hunters of the Martial Master Realm, or Third Rank Beasts could utilize, Mana Field. This was the main separating factor between a Martial Warrior and Martial Master.
A Martial Apprentice can use mana to strengthen their body, allowing them to perform superhuman feats and upon reaching the Martial Warrior Realm, can manipulate the mana inside their bodies to unleash devastating martial abilities. A Martial Master on the other hand can directly release the mana in their body, creating a field of mana restriction around them within which anyone in a lower Martial rank than them will have their ability to use mana attacks or augments restricted.
The field emitted by the Wolf King was extremely strong and forced Romero and his group to kneel on the ground with their heads pressed against the coarse dirt.
It was at that point that a small white bird flew in from the sky, landing beside the Wolf King's head.
The small white bird took a glance at the humans on the ground as a look of disgust flashed through its eyes.
"Your Majesty, I have returned after sending your message to the Empress."
The Wolf King's sharp blue eyes that were staring at the group of humans turned slightly to its left as it watched the little white bird beside it.
"Her choice?"
"The Empress didn't immediately make a choice, so I gave her the ultimatum that your Majesty had proposed but judging from her reaction..." The little white bird's words trailed off towards the end.
When the Wolf King heard the little bird's words, he snorted in derision as he spoke in an arrogant tone.
"There's no need to be worried. I have given that spider more than enough chances to work with me to create our Kingdom yet she rejected my proposal time and time again. Even though I have a bottom line and after today, she has finally crossed it."
"After we have settled the matter of the central area, I will personally pay a visit to the Empress' Kingdom to settle this debt." As the Wolf King spoke, he slowly turned his gaze back to the humans that were bowing at the bottom of the mound.
The Wolf King still remembers a few weeks ago when he found the secret to enter the central area and couldn't help giving a light smirk as he looked at the weak humans before it.
…
Deep within the spider nest, far underground in the pond of the Spider Empress' Throne room, below the pond's crystal clear water surface lay various strange glowing crystals that emitted blue light, casting an icy glow into the large throne room, akin to that of the Empress who resided in it.
Lake's bare chested body floated atop the water's surface, soaking in the water with the brilliant light from the crystals softly glowing around him.
The wounds that Lake had sustained from the Spider Empress' attack had previously left him greatly wounded, but looking at his body now, beside a few light scars which were also slowly fading away, there was not a single injury on his body.
Lake's eyes slowly twitched open as he stared at the ceiling of the cave in a daze.
"What happened…?" Lake slowly muttered as he tried to remember his last memories.
It didn't take long for him to remember what had happened as he calmly gazed at the surroundings.
"I'm either dead or my gamble paid off…"
Turning his head while still afloat, Lake observed his surroundings. He was currently afloat in what seemed to be an underground pond with the sounds of a rushing waterfall filling the entire cavern.
As he looked around, he could see various rocks extending from the water's surface with bridges that seem to be made out of a silk like material connecting them. At the center of the pond Lake could see a platform made from this silk like material.
On top of the platform, Lake's calm eyes met a pair of icy yet inquisitive eyes. Even if Lake didn't see anything but the eyes, he could still recognize the pair of eyes that belonged to the Spider Empress who had heavily injured him.
Slowly flipping himself over, Lake began to swim to the center of the pond before climbing onto the platform.
As he emerged from the water, the Spider Empress' looked on in wonder at the physique of Lake which had been enhanced greatly after reaching the Steel Body level two. However the Spider Empress wasn't amazed by Lake's gorgeous body, but by his swift recovery speed.
"I'm surprised you awoke so soon, not to mention so unfazed as if you expected this."
"Hmm~ I can't say I expected it, but I see no need to be flustered considering your Majesty hasn't killed me yet. By the way, how long have I been asleep for?" Lake said as he stretched his stiff body, causing loud cracking sounds to sound out.
"Around sixteen hours. I threw you into my mana imbued pond to speed up your recovery process which should normally take at least two days to recover to the extent you did. I must say you seem to have a high affinity for mana." The Empress spoke as she placed her chin on her hand which rested on a table made out of silk.
Lake was slightly surprised to hear the Empress' words as he had thought a few days must have passed due to his own observation of his body's condition. However he didn't pay too much mind as he continued his conversation with the Empress, taking each chance he got to observe her fate.
"Well then your Majesty, since you haven't killed me and even healed me, I assume that you must have come to some sort of decision regarding my worth?"
"Indeed. I decided to keep you alive for now after you have proved your worth."
"I wonder then, what is my worth to your Majesty?"
Hearing this, the Empress smiled coldly, "Seeing that you have been addressing me as "your Majesty" this entire time, I think you already understand the situation, but I will still say it to confirm your suspicions."
"I have decided to employ your skills in an upcoming battle, but before that, I wonder what I should call you? Should I call you "General", or should I perhaps call you by what your abilities suggest, your "Majesty"." The Empress tone turned sarcastic towards the end forcing Lake to smile wryly.
As Lake looked on, a glint of light flashed past his eyes as his wry smile turned into a light one as he finally found out what he needed to know from the Empress' fate.
With a small chuckle, Lake responded, "Surely you jest your Majesty, although I may have the power of a King, I am simply one without a Kingdom, so General is a much more fitting title."
As Lake spoke he consolidated the information that he had gained from the Empress' fate which had left him greatly shocked internally, but he managed to keep a calm face on the outside.
From her Fate, Lake was able to find out some stunning information in regards to both the Empress and himself.
First, It seems that the King's Aura he had gained from the King's Demeanor was something of great importance and renown to creatures like the Empress who creates and controls factions. To Lake's surprise, it seems that the system explanation of the King's Demeanor was rather vague, making him not realize the true potential of the skill.
The King's Aura that stemmed from the King's Demeanor skill was something that could not only directly suppress the enemy, it also had the miraculous effect of boosting allies abilities. Although this feature of the skill may not be so obvious in use for someone like Lake who hunted alone, it can be a huge game changer for someone like the Empress who had an entire army under her to command.
The Empress also seems to have an ability similar to King's Aura, however, it seems that the Empress doesn't have the ability to boost allies like Lake. From what Lake inferred, it seemed that each King had their own unique King's Aura based on their "royal" temperament.
In the case of the Empress, her temperament wass cold and harsh, ruling with an intimidating aura and an iron fist. This had made her King's Aura have the boosted effect of increased dominance, allowing her to apply far more pressure than a typical King's aura but have far less ally boosting capabilities.
In Lake's case however, he had never even properly participated in team based exercise back in school, much less ruled a kingdom making his temperament as a royalty extremely pure. This was also the reason why the Empress had called him a newborn king when she first sensed his King's Aura.
Since his aura was so pure, his King's Aura effect was fairly even in terms of boosting and suppressing making him a balanced king.
As Lake looked at the Empress, he slowly smiled as he remembered the other pieces of information that had shocked him.
"Alright, that's enough with the pleasantries. We both know that two Kings cannot rule over the same kingdom. You could never be something as simple as just my general." The Empress spoke as her face slowly turned serious.
"Even if you submit to me, our Auras would eventually clash and lead to the destruction and splitting of my Kingdom's power."
As the Empress spoke, Lake nodded in understanding.
"However, since we're both Kings there is another method that can be used for us to work together in this war, The King's Pact."
When Lake heard this, he recalled the information he had just received from the Empress' fate. The King's Pact was a sort of ritualistic oath that two kings could make between each other that cannot be broken, else the King's Aura inside the offending King will rampage inside their body, eventually destroying it from the inside.
If the King was strong enough however, they could easily resist the rampage and forcefully bring the King's Aura under control. However the power of the King will forever be uncontrollable at that point and the King will lose his "qualification to rule", a term the Empress uses to distinguish between a true King like Lake and herself, and a false King like the Wolf King who was merely masquerading as a king, and was more similar to a true general, as he was leading an army using his strength without actually possessing a King's Aura.
When Lake heard the Empress proposal he smiled simply as he lightly nodded in agreement.
After a short round of negotiation with the Empress, Lake managed to come to a satisfactory agreement with the Empress.
"I, The Empress of the Spider Nation, swear upon my authority as King to honor the pact to never harm The Lone King so long as he upholds his end of the pact and supports me in the battle to come."
As the Empress spoke, she bit one of her fingers allowing for a drop of blood to flow up before fusing with her King's Aura, slowly levitating into the air.
As Lake watched on, he also bit his thumb and used his King's Aura to imbue his blood with it, causing it to slowly float upwards as he declared his agreement to the pact.
Although the conditions the Empress gave only guaranteed his life if he helped her, that was enough for Lake as he had not forgotten that his life was still in her hands.
"I, The Lone King without a Kingdom, swear upon my authority to rule to honor the pact to never harm a member of the Spider Empress' Nation, including herself and to support her in the upcoming battle so long as she upholds her end of the pact."
As Lake finished his end of the pact, the two drops of blood hovering in the air quickly rushed into each other as they fused together before a large shockwave was sent out, causing countless waves to rise and fall in the large pond.
After a few seconds, the pact had been officially and completely formed.