Read Novel Full Chapter 1009: Pressure
Chapter 1009: Pressure
They had previously interacted with the king.
Back then, he was nothing like the man standing before them.
The memory flashed across Quinlan’s mind. His random decision to give Felicity a sudden call. Her flustered expression, the king’s calm voice from beside her. That man had seemed warm. Patient. Almost too gentle for someone of his status. A father doting on his daughter, not a ruler staring down a continent.
But the man before them now...
Was something else entirely.
The pressure rolled off his body like heat off the desert sand. Subtle, invisible, and overwhelming. His back remained turned to them, posture unchanging, arms still calmly clasped behind him. Not a single word was spoken. And yet, Quinlan’s throat tightened, his heartbeat already pulsing in his ears before he caught himself.
He had met strong people before.
Black Fang, whose gaze could strip a man of all courage and a robotic tone that made her seem more of a perfect construct than a flawed human.
Yoruha, whose presence bent the will of entire rooms, and whose existence seemed to ignore the very rules of reality.
They were powerhouses. Monsters.
But Alexios Valorian was something different.
Yoruha, despite her myths and mystery, gave you the sense that as long as you didn’t disturb her slumber, you were safe. A crocodile lounging in the sun.
Black Fang was a wildfire who sometimes felt like she had no clear direction: unpredictable, unstable, and always moments away from consuming everything around her. One conversation could be met with silence, the next with blood.
But Alexios wasn’t like that.
There was no madness. No chaos.
He wasn’t a blaze or a beast or a shadow in the fog.
He was a mountain. A monolith planted in the middle of the country, immovable and impossibly tall. You didn’t disturb him. You didn’t challenge him. You simply adjusted to his presence...
Or broke beneath it.
For the first time in a long time... Quinlan gulped.
He hadn’t done that in forever.
Yet here he was again, feeling small. Like the level 5 Quinlan Noir who held his steel spear as he faced a level 20 War Troll back during the goblin raid.
It was a reality check of the rawest kind. He was not the top dog of the continent. Not even close.
His party felt it too.
Ayame had gone still like a statue.
Aurora’s usual sparkle had dulled behind sheer anxiety.
Seraphiel stood stiff.
Even Feng, normally quick to open her mouth even when she shouldn’t, had fallen quiet.
No one moved.
The breeze gently stirred the flower petals. A butterfly landed on a nearby stem. And still, the king said nothing.
His silence wasn’t a threat.
There was no killing intent.
No flare of mana. No show of force. He simply stood there, quiet and thoughtful, and yet the pressure he exerted was absolute.
A presence that declared: "I have stood at the top for nearly a thousand years, and no one has managed to pull me down."
A full minute passed.
Then the king finally spoke.
"I wasn’t sure you’d come."
His voice was calm. Unhurried.
And yet every word felt like it had weight, real weight, that pressed into the bones and demanded attention.
Quinlan straightened and cleared his throat before replying.
"You invited me and my family personally. How could we possibly stay at home?"
Alexios turned his head just enough for the sun to catch the edge of his profile.
"Your mere presence here is a great risk you took. Everyone will want to know who you are. My royal edict can only do so much to prevent probing."
The wind stirred the flower petals again.
Then, at last, the king turned fully to face them.
His gaze locked with Quinlan’s. No warmth. No curiosity. No veiled humor. Just cold calculation behind those timeless eyes.
When he spoke next, the words hit Quinlan’s group harder than anything ever did before.
"Have you considered this possibility?"
"That I myself might be curious?"
Quinlan’s heartbeat picked up.
"What if I choose to unearth everything about you?"
"To turn over every stone, call upon every seer, press every noble, perhaps even bring in my most talented torturers until your secrets bleed into the light?" R̃ἁ₦Ȏ₿Ëṥ
There was no outburst of mana. No physical escalation. But the threat in those simple words was suffocating.
Quinlan wanted to leave the palace, the capital, perhaps even the country itself. Go anywhere this creature can’t find him. .
Not by walking away, neither by excusing himself. His heart told him to just make a mad dash for the exit and not look back.
The pressure in the room had become unbearable.
A gasp sounded.
Feng collapsed to her knees, her small frame trembling as she clutched her chest and tried to breathe. Her limbs refused to cooperate under the king’s sheer presence.
"W-what is this..." she wheezed.
Before she could fall completely, Serika and Vex stepped in at once, each flanking her and channeling their strength outward, forming an invisible barrier of sheer will. The crushing weight on Feng lessened, just enough for her to breathe, but they were visibly straining.
Then it got worse.
A new presence joined the suffocating air; this one was a coiled thunderstorm waiting to explode.
Stormlord had taken a single step forward, positioning himself behind the group. And with it, the serene flower garden became a cage. One sealed tight with death.
Cornered.
The king had said they would not be harmed. He made a promise, gave his word.
Quinlan stared him down, managing to speak through a clenched jaw.
"You promised in front of Felicity. What would she think if you hurt us?"
Alexios’s expression was unreadable.
Then he chuckled.
"Do you know who you’re speaking to, boy?"
He slowly raised one hand and stared at his palm as though it were coated in an impossible amount of blood. Blood of innocents.
Then, with a weight that seemed to be outright crippling in its nature, he placed it on his chest.
"I am Alexios Valorian."
"A tyrant, born of a line of tyrants who shattered kingdoms and turned their kings into dukes serving their ambitions."
"My ancestors wrote laws that stole the freedom of entire races simply because they hated how they looked."
"And I, too, have issued orders that were soaked in needless cruelty."
His voice lowered.
"Do you take me for a saint?"