Chapter 584
"IMPUDENT BRUTE!"
"DESPICABLE BEAST!"
"MONGREL, YOU DARE?!'
The other captains roared with anger, wanting to attack Gunner immediately, but were stopped by the man in the lead who looked buff and strong. He wore a well-decorated military officer's attire with various medals and lapels placed on him.
He had a gruff mustache that covered the entirety of his upper lip, with his sharp buttchin remaining beardless. He had powerful blue eyes and a well-ridged face that spoke of age, looking to be in his early fifties.
He stopped his horse a little bit away from Gunner, his eyes exuding coldness and confidence. Gunner also quietly sized him up and inspected him to see what gave this fellow such confidence.
[Bastian Davis - Level 82 Juggernaut
HP: 259,228/259,228 MP: 6,560/6,560 STA: 46,412/46,412]
Gunner's eyes narrowed. Well, that explained a lot. The leader of this army was surprisingly an early-stage Grandmaster! Since this was exceedingly rare for northern kingdoms, it meant that he must've broken through relatively recently, likely when they were fighting the insects on Pokterr.
A Grandmaster changed the stats of any kingdom or empire, giving it the right to stand on the top of the continent - and even stand tall in the entire world - as a hegemon.
Bastian seemed to notice something about Gunner as his breath hitched slightly. He made a snap decision at that moment that was backed by his years of warfare and tactical planning.
"Fellow Grandmaster, forgive my subordinates. They simply do not have the ability to sense true power. Rather, since we are of the same level, may we sit down and discuss various terms and decide what we would do next?"
The captains behind him had their faces change greatly once Bastian revealed that Gunner was a Grandmaster. Their teeth couldn't help but chatter at the thought of having offended a legitimate Grandmaster.
Even if they were killed, the Kingdom wouldn't pursue the matter against a genuine Grandmaster for a were them. Couldn't you see that the fellow who had his head exploded was lying in the ditch with his butt up and his blood leaking into the grass, completely ignored by the two Grandmasters?
Gunner agreed readily to Bastian's terms. It had to do with giving respect to a fellow Grandmaster, not to mention that Gunner saw a chance to legitimately take over.
Apart from that, every day spent in parlay between them meant another 17.2k troops would be sent over, drastically reduced the survival rate of this kingdom and all others after it.
A tent was formed where Gunner and Bastian entered, discussing various terms. Bastian first asked about Fraterina and its status, which Gunner confirmed was now a subsidiary kingdom of Safemoon.
This disheartened Bastian, as it made their march towards Fraterina partly a waste since they were not as stupid as Fraterina to try and mess with Safemoon.
He then asked Gunner's purpose for coming here, hoping it was to intercept them, but it was much worse. Gunner was here to conquer the Derna kingdom in the name of the Safemoon.
Bastian tried to inquire if there was a chance that Derna could avoid being taken over using his name, or something of value to trade. Gunner shook his head and directly revealed that Safemoon was directly taking over the entire Fallon in order to improve its standard.
Hearing this, Bastian was stunned. Then he jumped in his seat as he understood what Darius was trying to do through Gunner's words. He then directly told Gunner that on his authority, Derna Kingdom would submit to Safemoon.
Gunner was surprised by this, not understanding how this fellow caught on quickly but then didn't care anyway. After all, it simply made his job easier, which he was certainly thankful for.
However, Bastian made another proposal. Because he was not sure how the people would receive their new suzerain, he decided to put on a show. He would challenge Gunner to a duel for the rights over Derna.
If Gunner won, Derna would submit, but if Bastian won, Fraterina would be given to Derna. This would legitimatize Gunner's conquest of both Fraterina and Derna completely and prevent all later troubles.
Gunner thought about it and agreed. His chances of losing were 0% in all alternate realties and especially this one, so it was just as Bastian said, a show. He was also interested in throwing down with the Juggernaut.
Currently, Gunner's stats were like this:
[Name: Gunner || Race: Half-Human, Half-Giant (Royal Blood) || Stage: Adept || Jobs: Vanguard, Anti-mage.
HP: 2,362,173/2,362,173 (2,250,000) || MP: 5,125/5,125 (4,592) || STA: 63,591/63,591 (61,500)
Level: 41 || Experience: 2%
Power: 1523 (1500) || Speed: 841 (800) || Constitution: 1551 (1500)
Magic: 125 (112) || Will: 2,322 (2,300) || Luck: 100
AP: 0 || SP: 0.]
His stats had grown organically since the last allocation as was expected since he was practically fighting and gulping Lunar Dew on a daily. It should be known that at his current level of stats, it was hard to get even 1 extra point compared to the lower levels.
However, drinking Lunar Dew would certainly do the magic in terms of bumping one up.
As for Bastian, Gunner estimated he had 458 Power, 556 Constitution, and 80 Magic. With such stats, he was qualified to even fight him head to head in his base form.
Bastian would still lose for sure, but not as pathetically as Fergie.
The two left the tent and relayed their choices to their respective armies, forming an arena in the center so both of them could witness it. This would also help with the legitimization of the outcome.
Gunner and Bastian soon clashed atop the stage, their punches sending shockwaves down onto the army below, making their faces change with horror. They had a newfound respect for their military leaders, watching this brutal display of physical might.
Bastian was a Juggernaut, so his skills were geared towards thanking hits, so his damage reduction made Gunner's power which was 3x his Constitution not as deadly as it should be, which was why Gunner initially felt like Bastian would be a worthy foe.
It was just like how Gunner could tank Lord Darm back then when Lord Darm had 3x of his stats. He had so many defensive skills giving him protection as well as the old Supreme System's redundant battle calculations.
Bastian and Gunner were like mirages on the arena, clashing all over the place. Bastian gritted his teeth as he could feel his entire body tremble with each strike, like Gunner was penetrating his body with his blows that landed on all his soft spots.
Bastian was the first between them to cough blood while Gunner remained unscathed. The Army on his side saw this and were downcast, knowing that they were likely to lose.
Due to the nature of the agreement, they couldn't renege on it. They sincerely prayed to whatever God they believed in to give their general strength, but it was useless.
Besides, your General himself is putting up an Oscar-worthy performance up there, enough to get him his own name, on the red carpet. Tsk, tsk, that was why it was imperative to accrue power for yourself, otherwise, someone may decide your fate and you wouldn't even know.
Soon, Bastian fell gracefully, making those on his side have ugly expressions, but they didn't look unwilling. The battle was fierce and intense right from the get-go and there was no foul play involved.
It was a good, clean, and manly brawl that they could all put their backing behind, and so it was decided. Gunner marched towards the capital of Derna with Bastian's army as the fellow introduced his Kingdom, its strengths, the royal family, and many other things to their new suzerain.
This allowed Gunner to know what to do when he reached the capital. Bastian had already communicated his decision to the royal family, so they could only accept it even if they didn't like it.
After all, Bastian was the top fighter and even he lost whole-heatedly to Gunner, so what else could they do? Fight back foolishly and be killed, then replaced?
At least in this situation, they retrained their right to rule as their new suzerain, Safemoon, would prefer to maintain a working system to avoid wasting time and money suppressing chaos as well as uncertainty.
Like that, Derna was also given HoloBraces, mostly the top echelon first, and given their instructions before Gunner left and headed right for the next kingdom on the list, which was the Riaslin Kingdom!
While Gunner moved out to conquer the rest of Faust one kingdom at a time, the war preparations had finally begun to start on the side of Pokterr and Elysium.
This was preceded by a large-scale meeting by the Gods of Elysium to discuss the recent odyssey they chartered in response to the Insect threat which led to this current disaster.