Lightning Is the Only Way

The Matriarch continued laying on the ground for over 20 seconds. She required a lot of time to process what had just happened, and Gravis gave her that time. Meanwhile, Orthar floated over to Gravis with a sigh.

"I've underestimated your power," Orthar admitted. "I apologize."

Gravis just waved him off. "It doesn't matter. It's normal that you wouldn't believe something like this without seeing it yourself. After all, if you believed everything you heard, you would only be naive."

"What was that?" the Matriarch asked in shock as she regained some control over her mind. The only thing on her mind right now was to understand what had just happened.

"That's a third of my power, Matriarch," Gravis said, shocking her again. "I currently have a technique active that lowers my power to a third of its peak, but I can deactivate it whenever I want. When I'm at my peak, I'm even confident in killing level three Lords."

First, the Matriarch didn't believe that. After all, the concept that a level one Lord could kill a level three Lord didn't even exist in legends. Something like that just seemed impossible.

Yet, as she remembered the frightening pressure and the powerful lightning, she started believing him. Gravis could probably also kill a level two Lord with these two things, and that was considering the power he had shown just now. If he were able to triple his power, it wouldn't be impossible that he could kill a level three Lord. It would not be easy but possible.

The Matriarch sighed. "I don't deserve to be called Matriarch by you, Leader," the Matriarch said in a conceding tone. "Please call me Liza, Leader."

Gravis nodded. The fact that she called him Leader meant that she had accepted to join the River Tribe. Even though one could say that Gravis was the reason why 90% of her children had died, he never doubted her word. Beasts were different from humans.

If a human killed the children of another human, the other human would never rest until the first human was dead. Yet, for beasts, it was different. Skye had also accepted her parent's death without any problem. As long as beasts strived for power, it was normal for them to die. All beasts accepted that and didn't hold a grudge. In this sense, beasts had a simpler mindset than humans.

"What is your goal?" Gravis asked.

"Excuse me?" Liza asked in confusion. What did he mean with goal?

"Do you want to reach supreme power? Do you want to take revenge? Do you want authority? Do you want a powerful family? I'm asking you what your reason for becoming stronger is," Gravis asked.

Liza sighed as she thought about her past. "My main reason is revenge, but I also dream about becoming the strongest. Yet, my revenge takes precedence right now."

Gravis nodded. "I have expected something like that. Your approach to power didn't have a long-term goal in mind. I expected that you noticed that but chose that approach anyway."

nodded. "Yes. I want to become a level three Lord. Only then will I be able to take

scratched his chin. "If you don't mind, could you tell

If she told him who her enemy was, Gravis might think that the risk of offending such a power was worse than what she brought to the table.

was part of a Tribe with a level three Lord as a leader. When I was young,

immediately after the demotion, and, if I'm honest, I only won by luck. After that, I fled the Tribe and never returned. Ever since then, I have fought many dangerous

Clap!

searching for powerful enemies to increase mine and the Tribe's power. This comes just at the right

Gravis' previous words. He had said that his Tribe wasn't about becoming bigger but about becoming more powerful. If that were truly his goal,

nervousness vanished as Liza sighed again. She had been worried over

positions in mind, but

don't want to die before I

the Tribe were to annihilate

don't think so. I can already kill the officer that was responsible for my demotion. As long as I can see her die, I'm fine with not being part of

an eyebrow. "Then why didn't you return

Had Gravis never been part of a Tribe? That question just seemed stupid in her mind. Yet, she decided to answer anyway. "Because I can't just

Then, he looked at

way more experience in these sorts of things. "Yes. Normally, it's not allowed for Tribesmen to fight

by that answer. "But that's so stupid!"

I know," Orthar answered

mindset of the River Tribe. It wasn't that Gravis felt that it was beneath him to explain that, but that Orthar had much more experience in explaining the Tribe's rules. After all, he

on her face. "Wait. That means that I can just

would suck to find a new Commander, Elder, or Oracle, but nothing speaks against

"So, I could directly challenge and kill him, and you would do

friend in this world. Yet, Gravis sighed. "Orthar is my closest friend, but no one will stop or go against you if you decide to do that. Yet, you would need to fight him in an equally advantageous terrain to both of you. Water doesn't make much difference at your levels, but, at

bad, Gravis. These are the rules, and I have accepted them. If I die by

rules, and he couldn't

to kill his closest companion. She had never seen a Lord that was