Chapter 571 - Meeting Rivak
"Stay your hands away from here dirty dragonair."
Just as Arthur went closer to the huge cluster of villages and towns he heard this angry shout from one side before the previous one hundred group of lions appeared once again.
"C'mon," Arthur shook his head before adding, "Believe me I don't want to kill you."
"As if you can!" the leading lion said while the one hundred group was backed up by five hundred coming from different places and it seemed more were about to appear in the near future. "This is my home, my base, scram or else…"
"Or what?" Arthur shouted as his patience was starting to get thin, "I'm here not to kill but to help everyone to thrive. I'm planning to build a mighty city, one that can rival the one your ancestors once had."
"I don't care about all these lies," the leading lion said in an aggressive tone, "I've flown around and heard and seen everything your armies are doing. Death and slavery… just the same old days are looming in the horizon under your wings. Go away, there is nothing for you here."
Arthur took a deep breath and glanced all around. The one hundred lions grew up to exceed one thousand for now and if he waited more he knew this number would increase by folds.
"Don't forget you are the one to ask for this," Arthur roared faintly before he muttered, "bring my boys out, let's crush those weaklings and grab the rest."
The next instant he was surrounded by his army of dragons. Their shape and vibe made the army in front of them be startled. "Last time my friend, I'm not here to kill you but kill my enemies."
"I'm…" the lion glanced all around before shouting at Arthur, "you f*cking enemy… charge!"
"Sigh," Arthur sighed before adding, "go and f*ck him up. Try not to overkill as others seem to be driven by his lunatics.``
Despite the obvious disparity in numbers, Arthur didn't step in as he was pretty confident in his dragons' strength against those hesitant lions.
As Arthur thought, only the first hundred he met before were strong and managed to rival his army for a couple of minutes before that impulsive leader jumped directly towards him.
"Tsk, asking to die on my hands?" he muttered before taking out his spear and the next instant the spear penetrated the leader's body. "Not even taking one hit from me… that's not a good sign."
Arthur thought the lions were strong, so he aimed not to kill all of them but he was surprised to see their weak bodies and low strength compared to his and his dragons.
'Ding! I think they are malnourished.'
'I agree too,' the golden dragon said, 'I believe they lived only on barren lands, exiled from the good food and prosperous lands.'
"I hope you two are right," Arthur had his eyes shine, "If this is true then I should take good care of them."
He didn't mean those lions fighting his army right now and were devastated by the easy kill of their mighty leader, but the villagers on the ground. "This might be a treasure trove, hehehe."
'I can help nourishing the bodies of monsters,' Gege suddenly said, 'but not normal villagers and humans.'
"Don't worry, I can best nourish everyone in my own way."
Arthur wasn't the bit worried about this, as he already knew how to turn a piece of rock into a shining diamond.
He didn't wait for long before all the remaining lions announced their surrender to him. He glanced at the defying leader and the rest of the killed lions of the strongest hundred army. "Let's use the dragomancer on them."
'Ding! There are the bodies of those coming from the outer worlds.'
"Nah, these here are much important to me," he muttered before adding, "I need to kill the rebellion against me and make this rejection turn into a dying loyalty."
Arthur didn't stay there motionless as he went directly towards the bodies of the leading lion and others before turning them into his loyal dragons.
What happened happened in front of everyone's eyes. This made everyone unable to believe themselves and the moment when the dragon who was previously their leader knelt in front of Arthur, a shock wave erupted in everyone's soul.
"Lord," the thirty dragons said as they knelt in front of Arthur.
"Go and stabilize this place. I want all to be my subject, loyal and eager to do his and her best to serve me."
"At once, lord."
They moved instantly towards different directions before they started to talk to the villagers and try to convince them to join Arthur. Arthur watched from the side while his new dragons tried to convince the villagers to follow him.
In less than two hours, some legions already were formed from villagers with some military aspiration. They all went towards Arthur and knelt, asking to be his loyal servants.
"Rise up," he simply said, "gather everyone and let's move. This place isn't suited for your powers."
Arthur then turned into the sky as he shouted: "Follow me and I promise each one of you will have a chance to turn into a mighty lion, like those mighty ancestors of the old times. Follow me and you'll have glory and pride, and above all your ancient hatred will be paid without doubt."
He flew two rounds before leaving the stage for his small army of dragons and surrendered lions to start spreading the promise.
"How can we trust someone resembling the ones who killed our ancients and destroyed our old empire?"
Suddenly a youth moved from the crowd of people and spoke these strong words. Arthur glanced at him before calmly descending in front of him. "What's your name?"
"I'm Rivak," he said, "I'm the acting civilian leader of the combined lions clans."
"You," Arthur didn't speak to convince him as he turned towards one of the surrendered lions and pointed to him to come.