Chapter 480 - 319: His Majesty Harland

Levi strode into the hall, his piercing gaze sweeping across the room. Prince Filo, sitting in the main seat, held a glass of red wine and offered an awkward smile, waving his hands placatingly.

He was all too familiar with the temperament of the Lord of High Cliff Castle. The man would actually dare to beat up a Prince of Debei in the middle of the street.

With Martial Arts skills barely enough to fell a barefoot farmer, he would be nothing but a wooden target to be toyed with at will in the other man’s hands.

The Royal Court emissary standing nearby, however, appeared rather anxious, clearly made awkward by Filo’s remarks.

"Lord Levi, you’ve returned at last." Fortunately, the emissary was a perceptive man. He hurried forward and bowed respectfully. "His Majesty the King has sent me to invite you to the Royal Palace. The delegation from Talisi has arrived."

After what felt like an eternity, with sweat beading on the mustachioed emissary’s forehead and his heart pounding in trepidation, the voice that brought him immense relief finally sounded.

"Lead the way," Levi said calmly.

"The carriages outside are all prepared. However, my Lord, because your men are so... powerfully built, they can only ride the Monte Giant Beasts individually," the mustachioed emissary continued, inwardly sighing with admiration. ’He truly is the Lion Hunter Knight who went south to quell the unrest, just overflowing with a domineering aura.’

The Monte Giant Beast was a semi-Magical Creature standing three tri-blades tall at the shoulder, its body covered in tough, horn-like skin. It had a broad head with a single, curved horn whose surface was covered in spiral grooves.

Their eyes were large and round, with pupils of a deep blue. Their limbs were thick and powerful, and their hooves were as wide as platters. When they walked, they made almost no sound, as if treading weightlessly on clouds.

These Giant Beasts had a docile nature and were rarely angered. They always maintained a peaceful demeanor, even when faced with unfamiliar humans or other creatures.

Thanks to their gentle nature and outstanding stamina, they were the preferred mount for many merchant caravans.

The Beastman Barbarians climbed onto the Giant Beasts with great curiosity, grinning from ear to ear, as happy as children.

These were brutes who weighed nearly a thousand pounds each; an ordinary warhorse could never support their weight.

As a result, they had never known what it felt like to be cavalrymen. Riding atop the Giant Beasts now, they were bound to get excited and do something incomprehensible.

For instance, after getting his fill of riding, Zamanzi decided the Giant Beast was moving too slowly. He jumped off its back, rolled up his sleeves, and spat into his palms.

He wrapped his arms, which were as thick as Roman columns, around the Monte Giant Beast with its innocently stupid gaze and, with sheer force, lifted the nearly ten-thousand-pound creature clean off the ground.

Then, grinning broadly, he began to sprint forward.

This sent the commoners on both sides of the street scattering in terror, afraid of being run over by the big oaf. Becoming a meat pancake was the only possible outcome, and there would be no one to complain to.

"My Lord, your men are truly... unconventional." The mustachioed emissary struggled for a long moment before forcing out the remark.

"When these guys aren’t fighting, they have too much energy to be managed," the Lord said casually. "It’s good to let them burn some of it off."

As their Levels increased, the Barbarians’ stamina grew more and more profound. Combined with the buffs from their System Skills, each one of them possessed an inhuman level of energy.

Ever since this dozen or so Barbarians had reached the "Berserker" level, Levi had been researching how to unlock the top-tier soldier: the "Dragon Vein Berserker."

’According to what he believed was the most likely theory, to unlock this top-tier unit, he first had to make the Barbarians possess a Dragon Vein.’

’The most reliable method known for acquiring a Dragon Vein was through bloodline inheritance. If he could find a Giant Dragon to produce offspring with a Barbarian, the descendant would undoubtedly be a Dragon Vein Orc.’

’It would be just like that Dragon Vein Dog-man from the Wilderness. But that was impossible to even consider.’

’Another theory, though equally difficult to put into practice, was the common scholarly belief that nearly all races on the Middle Ages Continent possessed the bloodline of Giant Dragons.’

’It had simply been diluted to minuscule amounts over the long course of time.’

’Simply put, the Barbarians must also possess a latent Dragon Vein bloodline; it just needed to be awakened.’

’The last two methods were the ones I consider most feasible. The first is consuming Dragon’s Blood Grass. This type of Magic Plant typically only grows in places like the lairs of Giant Dragons.’

’I’ve heard there’s a Black Dragon Queen in her prime in the Dark Forest of the Holy Sith Kingdom, but I have no desire to provoke a war between the two kingdoms just yet.’

’The final method is to bathe in Dragon Blood to gain a Dragon Vein. However, this is only a common rumor, and its effectiveness is unproven.’

’Fortunately, there’s a ready-made Giant Dragon at High Cliff Castle. She freeloads there every day, so asking for a pound or two of her blood shouldn’t be a big deal.’

’After all, when Sophia undoes her Transformation Technique, she is a genuine Giant Beast dozens of meters long. To her, a pound or two of blood is no more than a nosebleed to a human.’

’I’ll test this out when I get back to High Cliff Castle after things are settled here,’ Levi thought.

On this southern campaign, the Beastman Barbarians had all reached the rank of Tier Five Soldier, "Giant Axe Guard." They were now just one step away from becoming Berserkers, and the Dragon Vein Berserker upgrade was within reach. This was a development he could not afford to ignore.

...

The banquet was to be held in the most famous hall of the Debei Palace: Saint Peter’s Griffin Round Hall.

Legend had it that this hall was where the Twelve Saints met with the successive kings of humanity from ages past.

The ceiling dome was a full twelve tri-blades high. Massive, crystal-like chandeliers hung in nine cascading tiers, growing larger from top to bottom and bathing the entire hall in a brilliant white light. Rumor had it this was in honor of the Holy Light Goddess, who had nine wings upon her back with which she brought light to the world.