Chapter 58: Don't have a choice

'Etherium technique' thought excitedly after hearing what the elder wisemonkey had just said.

'Plus one of the techniques he knows is able to heal, that's exactly what I need!'

The more he thought about it, the more the offer seemed tempting, but he quickly calmed himself and asked Midas with an inquisitive tone:

"What is the catch ?"

"You are fast to catch on, huh?" Replied Midas with a chuckle, then continued by saying, "The catch is that you are the one who is going to kill the king"

"What? " Exclaimed Tom with a disbelieving tone, "how am I supposed to fight a level 3 alone".

"I don't know what is a "level 3", but I suppose you are talking about the king, so, yeah, you will be the one to kill him"

"Why do you keep saying that I need to kill him, I can just defeat him like the other, and he will become my subordinate, your race respects the strong, right ?"

At his question, Midas shook his head and replied "That won't work, why do you think he is the king, the royal family don't have that race trait, if one member of the royal family becomes someone else subordinate, then it's most likely that he had chosen to do it willingly and not because he was compelled to do it because of a race trait, so, even if you were to beat the king if he doesn't want to become your underling then it won't happen, and knowing that arrogant brat, he will most likely refuse to become your underling, so yeah, you have to kill him".

Midas took some time to let what he had just said sink in his mind before continuing:

"As for the reason why you will have to be the one fighting the king , its because of the fact that no wisemonkey can disobey him"

"Come again ?"

Midas sighed and replied "the fact that we can't disobey him is actually the reason why we are in a pinch right now, you see, each time that there is a new king, we hold a ritual during which the new king places some of his blood in a mixture and others wisemonkies drink it, the moment we drink that stuff we are bound to him, and he can actually do whatever he wants with us"

"Can't you refuse to drink it ?"

"Those who don't drink that mixture are expelled from the tribute"

"What happens if you decide to not obey him after drinking the mixture ?"

"The moment we drink the mixture, it's as if we have a dagger at our hearts; if we disobey, we die. It's as simple as that"

'That's quite harsh, but then again, they will be fine as long as they don't betray the king' reasoned Tom.

"You don't know what this mixture is made of?" Tom asked curiously. He knew that having information like that might come in handy in the future.

Unfortunately, Midas shook his head and replied, "I don't know what it's made of. Only the one in charge of the coronation knows, and she only responds to the king. If you want to know, you'll need to become the king," finished Midas with a grin.

"So, it always comes back to killing the king, huh?"

"Yes"

As Tom's face grew increasingly somber while contemplating the fact that he needed to fight a level 3 being as a level 2, Midas reassured him:

"Don't worry about facing the king; I'll be by your side."

"But didn't you just mention that you can't disobey him? How can you fight someone you're not allowed to disobey? The last thing I want is to be stabbed In the back because your king ordered you to do so."

"Midas smiled and replied, "Don't fret. As I mentioned, we can't disobey him only if we hear his orders." With that, Midas transformed himself into a shadow and reemerged a moment later, explaining further:

"My control over my powers only lets me see when I'm in the shadows; I can't hear anything. I can assist you in dealing with him from the shadows, but remember, it's only assistance. You'll still be the one that have to face the brunt of his attacks."

Hearing him, Tom felt a little relieved, Midas could only provide him assistance, but it was much better than having to fight all alone.

Midas's expression turned serious as he issued a warning, "Since I'm the only one who can defy his orders, I'm the only one who can assist you. You can't bring your subordinates with you because the chief can control them. So, for their safety and ours, they can't accompany us."

Tom inquired, "What do you mean by their safety? I understand that we might be in danger, but why would they be at risk?"

Midas explained, "Because the moment they attack the tribute, they'll be branded as traitors."

Tom countered, "That doesn't make sense. They lost to me and had no choice but to become my subordinates. If I order them to attack the tribute, it's on me, not them. Besides, what will happen to them if they're branded as traitors?"

Midas slowly shook his head and replied while sighing deeply "that kind of logic will only work against someone who can think reasonably, as for our current chief, the least we can say is that he is far from being reasonable, as for what will happen if they are branded as traitor, that's quite simple...they will be executed"

"What ? I thought that the wisemonkies don't kill their kin"

"That's the case, however with that degenerate being the chief it would surely happen, contrary to the rest of wisemonkies that abhor killing other wisemonkies, it's not the case for him, why do you think that all your subordinates are young ?"

Hearing his question, Tom fell silent as the answer he came to was chilling.

Midas face got somber as he confirmed what he was thinking about, "It's as you think, he killed all the elder that opposed some of his absurd orders, and do you know what is the funny thing about this ?"

Tom slowly shook his head.

Midas released a soft bitter laugh as he said "he funny thing was that these elder wisemonkies were the backbone of our tribute in terms of strength, so the moment he killed them the strength of our tribute plummeted to the point that we started to lose every fight against the cristallite, knowing all this, do you still think that he will spare your subordinates?"

Tom face got somber as he realized the seriousness of the situation, he needed to kill the king of the wisemonkies who was a level 3 while being in the level 2, if he couldn't, him and all his subordinates will die.

Tom released a heavy sigh and thought :

'It's mean that I don't really have a choice, I need to win'