The Red King's rage returned as he heard Gravis' words. "What do you mean with no?" he asked in an annoyed tone.
"I won't remain on top of this mountain," Gravis answered.
The Red King looked with burning eyes at Gravis. "Are you saying that you intend to flee!?" he asked with a threatening voice.
"No, but I will wander around. I want to look around and gather some ore," Gravis said.
The Red King wanted to just say no, but a word caught his attention. "What's ore?" he asked.
"Very hard stones in the earth," Gravis answered. "You've seen how I have used the Golden Dragon's body to make weapons and armor. Having a full set of these things will make my Battle-Strength even more powerful. Isn't that what you want?" Gravis asked.
The Red King thought about this for a bit. His Kingdom used these powerful stones as fortifications, but that was it. They never made these things into weapons or armor. To beasts, using something that wasn't their own body kind of felt a bit dirty. Some beasts, like the ape with the tree-trunk from earlier, had no such reservations, but most others did.
Yet, Gravis was right. The Red King had seen what difference the shield had made in the battle. Having more of that stuff would surely make Gravis more powerful.
"Fine," the Red King said after some seconds, "but a King of my choosing will follow you to keep you from escaping. Additionally, to keep your Battle-Strength as strong as possible in relation to your level, you are not allowed to kill or eat any other beasts."
"I have no problem with someone following me, but I still need to eat the corpse of the Golden Dragon," Gravis said.
"Eating the Golden Dragon is fine, but I don't want you to eat any other beasts. Having you on the level of a level three Lord is perfect," the Red King said.
"Then I have to disappoint you," Gravis answered.
The Red King grew annoyed again. "What? You're not fine with that either?" the Red King asked.
Gravis shook his head. "That's not it. The point is that I won't be able to reach the level of a level three Lord like this."
The Red King furrowed his brows. "What do you mean? Yes, the Golden Dragon has fallen a level, but the corpse of a Divine Beast gives double the power."
"Yes, but that still won't be enough for me to become a level three Lord. I need more food than that," Gravis said.
The Red King was taken aback. "Are you serious?" he asked.
Gravis nodded. "Yes. I need around five times the food that normal beasts need."
"Fi-Five times?" the Red King asked in shock. "Why do you need so much food?"
"As I said, advantages often bring disadvantages with them. In exchange for my powers, I need more food," Gravis said.
The Red King thought about these words for a while. Then, he nodded. "Alright. You're allowed to kill and eat beasts until you become a level three Lord."
Gravis shook his head. "I have a better idea," he said.
The Red King furrowed his brows. "What?"
"You have seen my fight, and you have seen that I have comprehended a new Law during that fight," Gravis said. "Comprehending a new Law increases my Battle-Strength. Yet, in the last fight, I wasn't able to fully make use of this Law. Give me some time to gather some ore, and I will create a full set of armor and a weapon."
The Red King's eyes shone. "And by doing that, your Battle-Strength will be even more powerful than before, right?" the Red King asked in some excitement. The more powerful Gravis was, the better.
Gravis nodded. "As soon as everything is ready, I can fight, kill, and eat a level five Lord. Like this, I won't waste an opportunity to temper myself."
The Red King laughed loudly. "Good, good! I agree," he shouted with a smirk. "Tell me when you're ready, and I will choose an opponent for you."
"My King," a new voice suddenly said.
Gravis hadn't even noticed the new arrival. It was almost like this new beast had been here all this time without him noticing. Gravis looked over and saw a small, black cat standing in front of the Red King. He was sure that cat hadn't been there before.
"Kara, keep watch over this beast," the Red King said to the black cat. "He is not allowed to kill, fight, or eat any beasts. He is my present to the Empress in the meeting five years from now. You should know what that means."
"Yes, my King," Kara said obediently. "I won't let any harm come to him," she said.
The Red King nodded. "He can be very annoying and infuriating. Try to keep him from running into trouble. As far as I see, he will probably infuriate more than one beast while he's here."
"Yes, my King," Kara said.
The Red King nodded again. "Good. You," the Red King said as he turned to Gravis, "go get the ore you need. I'm looking forward to your performance."
Gravis didn't answer at all.
SHING!
Suddenly, one of Gravis' arms was cut off. His legs had only started to regrow, but he had already lost another limb. "Insolence! Your King has spoken to you!" Kara said with rage.
Gravis didn't react when his arm got cut off. Instead, he simply looked at his bare shoulder now. "Now I need to wait even longer to fight," he commented.
Kara was taken aback by how well Gravis took the situation. She had just cut off his arm. How was it possible that he didn't even react to that?
Meanwhile, the Red King simply sighed. "This is what I meant. He knows that his life is important. That's why he dares to do anything. Just try to keep him in check," the Red King said.
Meanwhile, Kara regained her bearings and glared at Gravis with icy eyes. "You better behave," she threatened.
Gravis slowly turned his head to her. "Or what?" he asked.
Kara only grinned maliciously. "Or your other arm will be next," she said.
"Okay, go ahead," Gravis said.
SHING!
And the second arm was gone. "Do you think I make empty threats?" she asked coldly.
Now, Gravis was only a hovering head on a torso with a tail. It looked kind of strange. "Hm," Gravis commented. "I'm losing quite some blood, and my Life Force is draining away. Would be a shame if I died right now," he said.
The Red King sighed again. Meanwhile, Kara was taken aback again. Gravis appeared like he didn't care about his life at all.
While Kara just looked on, Gravis slowly floated higher into the sky. After he reached a height of around 200 meters, he simply put all his power into his body and started plummeting towards the mountain, head first.
One had to know that these mountains were made of incredibly tough ore. Gravis' body wasn't nearly as hard as this ore. Kara looked on in shock while the Red King frowned.
Whooop!
A split second before Gravis hit the mountain, the Red King enlarged one of his wings and caught him. If he hadn't, Gravis would have died.
Meanwhile, Kara was incredibly shocked. She had expected that Gravis was bluffing, but he had actually gone through with it. If her King hadn't caught him, he would be dead right now.
The Red King looked at Kara with disregard. "Leave. You are obviously not suitable for this task," the Red King commanded.
Kara's insides shook as she realized her blunder. Right, if the Red King hadn't intervened, she would have failed at her task. She knew how highly the Red King valued his meeting with the Empress, and she knew that he would probably kill her out of rage if she failed to protect his present for her.
She wanted to protest and say that no one would have expected something like this. This beast was as abnormal as it got. Which beast would try to kill themselves just to spite someone!? Yet, Kara knew that her King would only get angrier.
"Yes, my King," Kara said weakly as she left dejectedly. She had failed one of her tasks, and she was about to become a joke among her peers.
Meanwhile, Gravis hovered in place again with his usual, even expression. When the Red King saw that, he sighed again.
'I swear, this beast is going to be the death of me,' he thought.