Chapter 446. Subduing Barbarians - 2

Chapter 446: 446. Subduing Barbarians - 2

William had somehow managed to provoke the entire barbarian tribe within the span of a few sentences.

To Dereck and Helios, the development was certainly dramatic, but it was hardly unexpected.

Neither of them understood the barbarian language, yet the reaction surrounding them spoke louder than any translation ever could. Every warrior had risen from their seat. Weapons were unsheathed one after another as furious shouts echoed throughout the plaza. The atmosphere transformed from tense to murderous in an instant, and dozens of bloodthirsty gazes locked onto William and his companions.

William, meanwhile, remained perfectly composed.

The barbarian chief slowly rose from his throne, his enormous frame towering over everyone else present. He stared at William with a deeply furrowed brow, as though attempting to understand whether the young man before him was truly insane or simply fearless.

After several long moments, the chief’s expression suddenly changed. The frown disappeared and a cruel smirk spread across his face.

He spoke loudly in the barbarian tongue, making sure everyone present could hear him.

"Bring forward the dog." His smile widened.

"Let this kid see what happens to those who challenge the barbarians. I want to watch him lose that confidence." he spoke popointing at William.

"I want to him to see how those who defy us crawl after we are done with them."

Only William understood those words.

At first, he remained indifferent. However, the moment he heard the words of the barbarian chief, an uneasy feeling surfaced within him.

His expression did not change, but a faint sense of foreboding quietly settled in his heart. A few moments later, the sound of heavy chains echoed across the gathering grounds.

Clank.

Clank.

Clank.

The rhythmic noise gradually grew louder as someone was dragged toward the center of the ice laden plaza. William slowly turned around.

The instant he saw the figure being brought forward, his expression turned cold. Even Dereck and Helios, who knew nothing about the situation, felt anger rising within them.

"how dare they!!" helios shouted in rage.

The person being dragged across the frozen ground was the imperial messenger William had personally dispatched to negotiate with the barbarian tribe.

He had been nothing extraordinary. Simply one of William’s slaves who also happened to be a half dragin kin.

William had never even bothered asking for the man’s real name before assigning him the mission. To William, he had merely been another capable subordinate entrusted with carrying out his orders.

Yet seeing him now...

Something inside William quietly snapped.

When William had communicated with the messenger through their mental connection several days earlier, the man had so deliberately concealed the severity of his condition.

William had assumed that this guy was just imprisoned and that he would gradually free him from the binds of the barbarians.

He had never imagined that the barbarians would stoop so low as to torture an official messenger from the empire. It seemes they were too confident of themselves.

The Dragonkin no longer resembled the proud warrior who had departed from the Eternal Sun Empire. He was barely recognizable.

His body bore unmistakable signs of prolonged torture. The limbs were absent, the eyes and the touge was nowhere to be seen, the guy was covered in blood more than in skin.

He had clearly been subjected to cruelty far beyond simple imprisonment, yet somehow he continued clinging to life through sheer determination.

William’s gaze slowly swept across the Dragonkin’s condition.His breathing remained steady.

His face remained expressionless.

Yet the silence surrounding him felt colder than the mountain winds.

This slave belonged to him. Not because William viewed him as property.

But because that slave had sworn himself beneath William’s authority.

He carried William’s mark. He represented William’s will.

No outsider possessed the right to treat one of William’s subordinates in such a manner.

The barbarian chief had not merely harmed a prisoner. He had openly challenged William himself.

"Orion."

William’s voice remained unusually calm.

"I want an explanation."

The System immediately responded.

[There was never a distress request from Bob.]

[He chose not to summon you.]

William frowned.

"He bears the Mark of the slave. He shouldn’t have the authority to hide something like this."

A brief silence followed before Orion answered again.

[I agreed with his decision more than yours.]

William’s eyebrow twitched.

"I reject that reasoning, also you cannot decided what i want and what i don’t that’s not your decision to make."

His voice grew slightly colder.

"From now on, I want to know the condition of every subordinate under my authority."

"We’ll discuss this later." His eyes shifted toward the barbarian chief.

"Right now I have my hands full"

Without another word, William calmly walked toward the mutilated Dragonkin. The barbarian warriors escorting the prisoner instinctively attempted to block his path.

They never reached him. An invisible pressure descended upon them.

There was no explosion and neither dramatic clash and yet heir bodies simply collapsed lifelessly before they could take another step.

The entire gathering froze. Not a single barbarian understood what had just happened.

By the time they recovered from their shock, William had already reached his subordinate while the dead bodies had turned to ashes.

He gently knelt beside him. For the first time since arriving, genuine concern appeared within William’s eyes.

"You’ve done well." His voice had softened considerably.

"I’m here now."

The Dragonkin could not respond since his touge and eyes had been gouged out. Even so, William could feel the faint relief flowing through the soul connection linking them together.

Without hesitation, William activated Blessing of the King.

Golden radiance quietly spread from his palm.

The surrounding mana responded immediately. What happened next surpassed the understanding of nearly everyone present.

The Dragonkin’s shattered body slowly began restoring itself. Wounds that should never have healed started closing. Damaged flesh recovered at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Even injuries long believed to be irreversible gradually disappeared beneath the warm golden light. The blessing did not merely heal.

It restored.

Every trace of the torture inflicted upon the Dragonkin was steadily erased as though time itself had begun flowing backward. Silence engulfed the gathering.

Every barbarian stared with widened eyes.

No one moved. No one even dared to breathe too loudly.

Even the barbarian chief unconsciously stepped down from his throne. His confident smile had vanished entirely.

Instead, disbelief filled his face as he watched the impossible miracle unfold before his eyes.

His heartbeat gradually accelerated. As the leader of a tribe that had survived countless generations, he understood better than anyone the significance of what he was witnessing.

Healing severe injuries was already considered miraculous. Completely restoring someone from such a condition... That bordered on the divine.

For the first time since William’s arrival doubt entered the barbarian chief’s heart. Had he made the wrong decision?

Until today, he had never regretted resisting the Eternal Sun Empire. The mountainous terrain overwhelmingly favored the barbarians, making any invasion extremely costly.

Successive emperors had never considered the tribe worth such an enormous investment.

Combined with the ancient heirloom that had elevated his cultivation into the Godhood Realm, the chief had believed his tribe possessed enough strength to remain independent indefinitely.

That confidence was beginning to crumble. His eyes instinctively drifted toward his trusted tribal elders.

One glance was enough. Sweat had already begun forming across several of their foreheads.

Although they tried to maintain composed expressions, the fear hidden within their eyes could not escape the chief’s notice.

The confidence they had possessed only moments earlier had quietly disappeared.

Meanwhile, William finally completed the healing. The Dragonkin slowly stood on his own feet. His body had been completely restored.

He immediately knelt before William without saying a single word. William looked down at him.

"You’ve fulfilled your duty."

His tone remained calm. "When we return you will be rewarded according to your merits."

The Dragonkin lowered his head even further.

"My life belongs to my lord."

William simply nodded before turning around. His gaze settled upon the barbarian chief once again.

He began walking towards him. His pace was neither hurried nor slow.

Each step echoed softly across the frozen ground.

No one dared to stop him.

Within seconds, William stood directly before the towering barbarian leader. Compared to the giant’s enormous physique, William appeared almost insignificant.

Yet no one present believed the larger man held the advantage anymore.

The barbarian chief instinctively took a step backward.

"Wait."

His voice had completely changed. q"I apologize for my actions."

His breathing remained uneven. "We can negotiate."

"We are willing to talk."

William quietly looked at him. Several long seconds passed. Soon a faint chuckle escaped his lips.

"That won’t be necessary."

The chief’s pupils contracted.

Before anyone could react his body suddenly froze.

A heartbeat later...

Blood spilled out from every orifice of the barbarian chief, with a swipe of william;s hands, sovreign sword intent sliced off the every limb that the chief possessed.

"arghhhhhhhhhh" a shrill scream left his mouth but william had just started. a second later the chiefs subordinates collapsed the same way as their leader, without any limbs to stand on.