Missed me ?

Before Mooglie and company could fully register what he said, Midrid had already moved.

Mooglie and the rest of Tom's subordinates tried to locate Midrid's position, but encountered a problem: even Tom, their leader and the strongest among them, didn't know when Midrid moved and couldn't track him with his eyes. How could them, who were weaker than Tom, track him as he moved?

A split second after Midrid disappeared, Mooglie could be seen airborne, much like Tom had been sent flying.

However, unlike Tom, Mooglie wasn't struck with enough force to shatter his bones, only with sufficient strength to cause minor injuries.

It couldn't be helped; Midrid wanted them to fight for him, and he couldn't possibly cripple them.

After Mooglie, many of them were sent flying, some crashing into trees, others hitting the ground or even the tents of the tribesmen.

Within a few seconds, only the strongest of Tom's subordinates remained. They stayed standing not because they could track Midrid's movements but by predicting if they were the ones about to be hit based on Midrid's pattern.

However, even they didn't last long before dropping to their knees, coughing blood while holding the parts of their bodies that had been hit.

"King Midrid, please stop!" shouted Midas as the wisemonkies, who were Tom's subordinates, started dropping one by one.

A second after Midas shouted, Midrid finally came to a stop, but it was not because of Midas.

'I can't use my Astralum' remarked Midrid.

While beating those insolent youngsters just now, he tried to activate his astralum, but it didn't respond.

'I guess that's the price to pay, It will take a little while before I can use my Astralum again.I guess I will postpone my attack against the cristallite till I can use my Astralum again' thought Midrid.

Initially, he wanted to launch an attack against the crystallite the moment he awakened, but not being able to use his Astralum posed a serious problem. Unlike perhaps ninety-nine percent of the wisemonkeys who fight with their bodies, Midrid mostly relies on his astralum.

The sole reason he defeated Tom and is now overcoming his subordinates lies in the inherent difference in strength between levels.

"King Midrid, please stop, they are jus-"

" 'King Midrid'? You used to call me 'my king,' Midas," said Midrid with a frown.

"I-It's..." Midas stuttered, not knowing what to say.

"Forget it," said Midrid. "Since you are asking me to stop, then I will leave it to you to convince those kid-"

"Not... necessary. We will...never follow you," said Mooglie, who managed to gather himself and return to where the fight was happening.

His state, although better than Tom's, was still alarming. Blood oozed from his nose, his whole body battered, his breath coming in a ragged manner. However, his gaze remained sharp, showing his refusal to yield in front of Midrid.

Slowly, all the other subordinates of Tom, who were also sprawling on the ground, started to collect themselves and stand side by side with Mooglie. They carried the same intense gaze as him, a gaze showing that they wouldn't yield before strength.

It was at that moment that something unexpected, something that had never happened in the history of the whole wisemonkey race, occurred.

The bodies of Mooglie and the ones standing next to him started to emit a faint golden color. Since they were grouped up, the faint golden hue emanating from each of them fused and created a huge golden haze.

"T-They a-are..." Midas was so shocked that he couldn't even form a cohesive sentence.

While the faces of Midas and the other wisemonkies were marred with shock, Midrid's face became somber.

'They are all becoming royal wisemonkies,' thought Midrid.

Indeed, what was happening right now was that eighty of Tom's subordinates, the ones that had spent the most time with him, were ascending from normal wisemonkies to royal ones.

As a reminder, royal Wisemonkies were those who shattered the weakness of their race trait, those who refused to bend their backs against a stronger foe, those whom even the bond that tied Wisemonkeys to their king couldn't control.

Just a few weeks ago, the Wisemonkey tribesmen lamented the fact that the only royal Wisemonkey was the king who had died moments ago. Now, another royal Wisemonkey appeared, and it wasn't just one but eighty of them at the same moment, something that had never happened in the history of the Wisemonkeys.

'They are dangerous. I can't keep hoping to control them; I need to eliminate them!' thought Midrid.

There was something known only to the royal family of the Wisemonkies, something that made Midrid decide it was better to kill Mooglie and the others instead of making them his underlings. That thing was: the potential of a Wisemonkey who had become royal by themselves transcended the potential of someone who had inherited their royalty, like Midrid.

In fact, when a normal Wisemonkey becomes a royal one, they not only surpass their race's traits but also unlock their full potential.

To maintain themselves as the sole royal family of the Wisemonkirs, Midrid's family had hidden this fact. It was done to prevent other Wisemonkies from attempting to become royal Wisemonkeys.

This was also the reason why Midrid's lineage was always composed of good kings, even if some of them had actually disdained their fellow Wisemonkies. They were obligated to be good kings so that other Wisemonkeys wouldn't feel oppressed and attempt to fight back, potentially becoming royal Wisemonkies and threatening their rulership.

The only one among them who wasn't a 'good king' was Midrid's foolish son, ironically the one partly responsible for this situation.

'I need to kill them before they have time to grow' thought Midrid, but the moment he was about to move, he heard a voice that made him come to a halt.

"Woah, why are you both shining like that ? I only left for a few minutes and I come find you shining like fireflies"

When the Wisemonkies glanced in the direction of the voice, they witnessed a furless creature with hair as black as night walking towards them with a smile.

"Missed me ?"