Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis remained completely silent and motionless for two weeks. More beasts gathered around the mountains as time passed, but none of them had any interest in getting to know such an unstable beast. Gravis' aura made it very unpleasant for the other beasts to be around.

In these two weeks, Gravis hadn't been able to focus on anything other than his current situation. He tried to calm himself down and forget the whole issue, but that also didn't work. Right now, he felt like he was wasting his entire time since he wasn't able to comprehend Laws at all in his state. Of course, this made Gravis even more frustrated.

"All members of the Empire willing to go to war, gather on the right mountain!" a voice echoed throughout the surroundings.

Gravis' opened his eyes and immediately charged to the right mountain. He had waited arduously for two entire weeks for this announcement, and he didn't want to waste another second. The feeling of not being able to do anything was driving him insane!

BANG!

Gravis violently landed on the right mountain, right in front of a small cheetah. Yet, like every other King, this wasn't the real size of the cheetah. Surprisingly, the cheetah was only a level one King. Gravis had expected a more powerful beast to lead the charge.

The cheetah looked at the 100-meter-tall Gravis. This beast seemed to be quite eager to go to war.

After some more seconds, the other beasts also gathered on the mountain. Only a select few fit on the mountain due to the mountain being so thin and the beasts being so massive. Due to that, a kind of unspoken agreement formed.

Only level five Lords were allowed to set foot upon the mountain while the other Lords kept hovering around it. The only exception to this rule was Gravis.

Most of the level five Lords didn't bother Gravis since they had no interest in coming into contact with such an obviously unstable beast. If they said the wrong thing, he might go crazy and attack them. Of course, that was only how most of the beast thought. There were some exceptions.

"Hey, leave!" an elephant said from beside Gravis with disdain.

Gravis turned his head and looked the elephant in the eyes, and when the elephant saw Gravis' eyes, it felt a cold shudder go across its body. Beasts had very honed instincts, and the elephant felt like it had made a mistake.

"Sorry," the elephant said as it took a step to the side, away from Gravis.

Gravis had already realized that beating up some beasts wouldn't help with his frustration and rage. Therefore, he ignored the elephant after it stepped away and turned back to the cheetah.

The cheetah looked around at the gathered beasts. There were around 70 Lords present, with around ten of them being level five Lords. The majority were level four Lords, and only a small minority were level three beasts.

The cheetah hummed for a bit as she looked at the present beasts. "We need a couple more level five Lords," she said.

The gathered beasts understood why the cheetah said that. Before nearly every invasion, a powerful King would scout out the forces of their target. Due to that, they knew exactly how powerful their opponents were. Obviously, the cheetah judged that they needed some more level five Lords to stand a chance.

"No, we don't," Gravis said as he looked at the cheetah with cold eyes.

The gathered beasts were surprised that Gravis dared to talk back to their future commander. Was Gravis tired of living?

The Cheetah looked with furrowed brows at Gravis. "You have nothing to say here, soldier," the cheetah said.

"Yes, I do," Gravis answered immediately.

The cheetah narrowed her eyes.

WHOOOOOM!

Suddenly, a powerful, suppressive aura appeared around all the beasts. The level five Lords nearly couldn't move anymore while even the cheetah felt a small bit of suppression. Gravis had activated his Will-Aura.

"I can suppress level five Lords," Gravis said coldly.

BZZZZZZZ!

An unreal amount of lightning gathered around Gravis, and the beasts felt the power of the lightning. This lightning was no joke! If it hit them, they might die.

One had to remember that there were no Divine Beasts among these soldiers. Gravis had met one Divine Beast after the other in the last couple of weeks, but that was only because he was in a place where they all gathered.

Divine Beasts were still considered very rare. A Divine Beast might have some resistance to the lightning due to its powerful body, but these beasts didn't have such a resistance.

"I can annihilate level five Lords," Gravis said after that as the lightning returned to his body.

"We don't need more level five Lords," Gravis stated with his cold and aggressive voice.

The cheetah was surprised by Gravis' display, but Gravis still wasn't a danger to her. Yet, she acknowledged Gravis' power and thought about his words for a bit.

"Okay," the cheetah said after some seconds with a casual tone. "If you're fine with dealing with about ten level five Lords, I see no problem in going."

The cheetah sounded surprisingly calm. It was almost like she didn't care about Gravis' disrespectful attitude. Of course, the main reason for that was that she was a King of the Icy Pride Empire.

The members of the Icy Pride Empire often came into contact with the Law of Pride, and some beasts had even comprehended parts of the Law. Due to that, experienced members of the Icy Pride Empire didn't mind when someone showed arrogance, disdain, or pride. After all, if the beast was powerful enough to back-up their boast, they were allowed to boast. Due to that, the cheetah didn't mind Gravis' attitude.

Gravis nodded. "No problem. I need a lot of food anyway," Gravis said. Right now, there was a huge open space between Gravis and the other beasts. They had felt the lightning and retreated to the side to not get hit accidentally.

The cheetah nodded again with a smile. "Good," she commented. Then, she turned to the other beasts. "We will move out soon. As per the usual procedures during invasions, if you manage to kill a beast, you get to keep and eat the entire corpse. If another beast made a major contribution to the fight, you need to share with that beast."

The beasts looked back at the cheetah and nodded with fighting spirit. These were the usual rules.

"We have a little more level three Lords than the enemy," the cheetah said. "Level three Lords, search for your targets and kill them as quickly as possible. Then, fall back for further orders. Of course, if you want, you can try to band together to kill a level four Lord, but you don't have to. It's up to you."

The level three Lords nodded in excitement. Less level three Lords meant that they could quickly take out their targets and retreat. In this war, they would be surrounded by many more powerful beasts than them, and every second spent in this war would endanger their lives.

"Our count regarding level four Lords is around the same as the enemy's," the cheetah said. "Remember that this is not some casual tempering or a one-on-one duel. You must use everything in your power to kill as many enemies as possible. The fact that we don't use any tactics and that our power is about equal to the enemy is tempering enough."

The level four Lords also nodded to show that they've understood the command.

"As for level five Lords, we are outnumbered two-to-one. Level five Lords, try to distract as many level five Lords as possible to give our black lizard some time to deal with them," the cheetah said as she motioned to Gravis with her head.

The level five Lords nodded. Then, the cheetah turned to Gravis. "Black lizard, if you manage to decimate the enemy's level five Lords to a number which is equal to or lower than our level five Lords, I would ask you to leave the remaining enemies for your comrades."

Gravis nodded. Ten level five Lords would already be enough for Gravis to become a level five Lord himself. With that, he would have achieved his goal.

The cheetah nodded back. "The enemy has one level one King, and I will be dealing with that one. In the event that I die, act according to circumstance. If the level one King is majorly injured, try to overwhelm them with numbers. If you see no way to win, retreat back to our lands. Help will arrive quickly."

"Any questions?" the cheetah asked as she looked at the gathered beasts.

The beasts remained silent for a couple of seconds.

Then, the cheetah nodded again. "Alright. Then we will set off now. Follow me!"

The cheetah turned around and flew to the east. The other beasts also took to the sky and followed her.

Unknowingly, the beasts all remained behind Gravis during the flight. They had already accepted him as their superior.