Gravis readied himself to leave, but he got interrupted by another question from the badger before he could.
"You're from the Icy Pride Empire, right?" the badger asked.
Gravis didn't want to talk right now, but the badger and the mantis have helped him, even if it was in a way that he didn't like. "Yes," Gravis answered.
"Hmm," the badger hummed. "According to your level and Battle-Strength, you're probably a mate to the Icy Pride Empress, correct?"
"My status says I'm a mate, yes," Gravis answered.
"Interesting," the badger answered. "Who knows, maybe we will see each other again." Then, the badger gestured towards the north with his head. "Go to the northern front line, and don't worry. If some sea beast tries to ambush you, I will kill them before they can react."
Gravis nodded and flew towards the north without saying anything. Meanwhile, the badger just rubbed his chin with a smirk. "Meeting one of the Empress' mates is rare indeed. What a nice day," the badger mumbled to himself.
Gravis didn't hear anything of the badger's mumblings as he flew to the north. The distance from here to the other defensive line was probably around 2000 kilometers, but that was nothing he couldn't clear in a couple of minutes.
A minute later, Gravis saw someone else enter into his Spirit Sense's range. It was a level two King, and by the looks of their body, it was a sea beast. Gravis narrowed his eyes and looked at the incoming beast.
CRR!
Suddenly, the earth beneath the King moved with insane speeds, and spikes of hardened earth penetrated the entire beast. The King was dead in less than a second. 'Sure enough, the badger wasn't lying,' Gravis thought.
BRRRR!
Then, the earth beneath the corpse rose and carried the corpse to the south. Gravis hadn't killed that beast, so he had no claim to the corpse.
Gravis stopped and looked towards the south. Then, he turned to the east, towards the territories of the sea beasts. 'They're really dead set on killing me. They have sent so many Kings to their deaths just for a chance of ending my life.'
Gravis sighed. 'Though, I guess it makes some sense. According to logic, there should be over 10,000 level one Emperors in this world, but beasts that can kill three levels above themselves are probably only in the single digits. In their eyes, killing me is probably worth more than killing an Emperor.'
Gravis shook his head slightly and left towards the north again. Thinking about this didn't change reality. Right now, he needed to become more powerful and get back to the Empire. Additionally, the whole thing with the rule weighed heavier on his mind than some enemies coming his way.
Nothing of note happened until Gravis finally arrived at the defensive line. As soon as he approached the forest, a level two King cat contacted him. "Welcome back," she transmitted with excitement. "You have done a great service to the land beasts. Please return to your comrades and wait for further instruction. I will escort you back to the Icy Price Empire in a couple of hours."
Gravis sighed. Surprisingly, he felt rather relieved that his comrades had survived. He didn't know the name of any of the beasts that had fought alongside him in the invasion, but for some reason, he felt some connection with them.
Such a feeling was new to Gravis, but it wasn't something unusual. The only time Gravis could remember when he fought together with someone against a common enemy had been with Old Man Lightning and Lasar in the Darkness Sect. Even in the Heaven's Trial, Gravis had been more of an onlooker and coach to the group instead of a participant.
Yet, Gravis also remembered the time when two level three Lords had invaded the River Tribe's territory. Back then, the situation could be described as Gravis fighting together against a common enemy with Morn, Orthar, and Silva. Of course, it was still different in the sense that those three beasts had been his friends even before the battle happened.
'Is this a feeling of belonging?' Gravis thought. 'We are all under the same banner, and because of that, I feel for my companions? Could be possible.'
Gravis shook his head slightly to refocus. The cat was already looking at him weirdly since he had remained silent for several seconds now. "Thank you," Gravis said. "Where are my companions?"
The cat smiled. "Slightly to the west from here. You can't miss them," she said. "Wait for my signal, and we will return. The battlefield is still unstable right now, and we need to search for any stragglers."
"I guess our side has won the war?" Gravis asked.
The cat laughed a bit and nodded. "Yes. Their commander had personally tried to kill you, which had forced him to move out of the defensive line. Our two level four Kings have then engaged him together and killed him rather quickly. As soon as that happened, the battle was already won."
'Was it, though?' Gravis thought with skepticism. 'There were still a couple of powerful Kings that tried to kill me. Even two traitors have exposed themselves in the battle.'
Two traitors?
Gravis was right. There had been two traitors. One obviously had been the hippo, while the other traitor had been the beast that had shot the fire beam at him. Sea beasts with an affinity for fire were extremely rare. The chances of the attacker being a traitor was higher than a sea beast having a fire attribute.
Gravis nodded once more to the cat and then flew to the west. The cat flew to the north to do whatever she had to deal with.
Some seconds later, Gravis found his companions sitting in a forest. As soon as he approached, the beasts became excited and cheered for him.
"You're alive!" many of them shouted in joy.
Gravis could only smile bitterly when he heard these cheers. He felt a bit embarrassed and also felt a bit distant from them. Obviously, they felt more for him than he felt for them.
Whoop!
The gigantic corpse of the manta ray appeared in front of the beasts, surprising them.
"As I've promised, this corpse is yours," Gravis said.
Instead of being happy, the beasts felt a bit apprehensive. "Are you sure you want to give us the whole corpse?" one of them asked. "This corpse is worth more than the entire enemy army that we have killed."
The beast was right. Even though Gravis had already used parts of the corpse, it still had around 50 times the power of a level five Lord remaining. With the remaining circa 50 beasts, every beast would get the equivalent of one corpse of a level five Lord.
Gravis nodded. "I have eaten my fair share in the war, and I have said that I will repay you. I won't go back on my word," he said. Even if Gravis wanted to go back on his word, his lightning would disagree vehemently.
The beasts were still a bit unsure. "Hey!" the elephant from before shouted aggressively at the group. "This is the repayment we earned! Don't forget that it wasn't only the black lizard that risked his life. We have also risked our lives!"
Then, the elephant moved forward and tried vehemently to bite something off the corpse. It wasn't easy, but he managed it eventually.
The concept of herbivores and carnivores stopped being relevant as soon as a beast became an Energy Beast. At that point, every beast could eat whatever they wanted, as long as it was something living. Due to that, even sheep and cows started eating meat.
Slowly, more and more of the beasts walked forward to grab a bite. The stronger Lords helped the weaker Lords to cut off some pieces of the corpse. If the manta ray had still been alive, this would have been impossible, but the hardness and resistance of the body became weaker as soon as it died.
After around an hour, the entire corpse had vanished. Not even the bones had been spared. The beasts weren't powerful enough to break the bones, but the bigger beasts could just swallow them whole and slowly grind them down in their stomachs.
After they had finished eating, a lot of beasts wanted to strike up a conversation with Gravis, but he politely declined. He was not in the mood for talking right now since the whole thing with the rule still hung above his head.
'My Will-Aura has become even more powerful,' Gravis thought. 'Judging by its compression, its power should be equivalent to the later Stages of the Nascent Nourishing Realm. Yet, it probably still needs quite a bit to become equal to the Law Comprehension Realm.'
The fight with the moray eel hadn't done much for Gravis' Will-Aura, but the subsequent ambushes had been excellent tempering for it. 'All in all, I think the war has given me quite some benefits. I'm very close to my answer, and my Will-Aura has increased tremendously. Soon, I will know my answer.'
Half an hour later, the cat appeared before them with a smile.
"Alright, everything is dealt with. I will escort you all back to the Icy Pride Empire and inform the relevant commanders and elders of your contributions. Along the way, I will also inform the Kingdoms we pass through. The movement of a defensive line is big news."
All the beasts stood up and readied themselves for travel. The cat looked at the gathered beasts and nodded.
"Alright, let's go!" she said as she flew towards the north-west while all the beasts followed behind her.
