Amelia's face turned red from anger and shame. For all of the Empire of Light's talk of purity and holiness, they did not do as they spoke. Their words and actions were very different most of the time. However, as someone who had been indoctrinated all her life before growing into the pillar of such a nation, even though she knew the truth, she did not like it when someone threw shade at her empire!
"Take back those words, vile creature! Or I will smite you, the consequences be damned!" She growled and leaned forward, her right hand resting on the hilt of her longsword.
"You speak too much. All bark and no bite." Leon said and waved his hand, indicating that he did not want to waste time on her. He turned back to Leonidas, wanting to know what the man thought of his earlier suggestion.
"DON'T IGNORE ME!!!" Amelia, much to the surprise of everyone present, burst out with holy power! Her sword blazed with white light as she drew it out of its sheath and held it forward. She did not try to stab Leon, however, as a hand had stopped her from moving forward.
"Amelia. Step out of the room." The blond man beside Amelia had a firm tone that brooked no argument. His hand firmly gripped her wrist while a small dagger was pressed against her neck. He meant her no harm, and even if he cut her with the dagger, such an injury was nothing to an A rank. The dagger to her neck was just a sign of how serious he was.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtBam!
Amelia slammed the the table and put away her sword before briskly walking out of the meeting room. Everyone silently watched her leave. There were several representatives that had been sent from other kingdoms that were friendly with the Empire of Light present, but none of them made a move to support Amelia. This was because of the other man. If it were someone else who sent Amelia out, they would most likely speak up as a sort of symbolic sign of support, but seeing as the one who had done it was Amelia's own superior, then there was nothing they could do but turn their faces away when she walked by.
The room was silent for a few moments before the blond man cleared his throat.
"Ahem, forgive her, Your Excellency, Leon. She carries a heavy burden on her shoulders that constantly makes her irritable. I hope you can forgive her actions." The man said apologetically. He was a High A rank, but before Leon, he had to lower his head and try to mend things.
"We shall see." Leon made a non-committal response and turned back to Leonidas.
"..." The emperor let out a sigh as he watched everything happen. He was quite tired of handling all this. "Leon, you understand that for us to push the Demons back and destroy their forces on land, we need to have sufficient manpower, yes? And to carry out such a forceful action, we will suffer great losses." He asked.
"Yes, I am aware. That is why I can provide the bulk of the forces that will spearhead the operation." Leon nodded.
"Do you have that many undead soldiers? We don't need weaklings. We need high end combat power." Someone suddenly spoke up. It was one of the representatives of a medium sized kingdom close to the Gublin Empire.
"Yes. Like I said, I will provide the bulk of the soldiers. I do not speak without knowing what I am saying." Leon said, turning to the woman with an indifferent gaze. The woman felt a chill run down her spine and she quickly sat back and shut up.
"How many soldiers can you provide, then?" Leonidas took the reigns back and asked. "Preferably C rank and above."
Leon thought for a moment before speaking up.
"Roughly thirty five thousand B ranks of various strengths. Maybe more. I have not counted my soldiers in a while. I should have about double of that in C rank soldiers. As for A rank soldiers, I have close to twenty ready to fight." Leon said.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmThe room instantly fell silent as everyone stared at Leon. They were all doubting whether they had heard the right words come out of his mouth.
"E-excuse me. Did you say thirty five THOUSAND B ranks?!" Someone slammed their fist on the table in shock and amazement.
"Yes, I did." Leon nodded without wasting a beat. In the past few months, whenever he fought, he made sure to store the souls of the dead in the Abyss of the Undead. He usually did not bother summoning them most of the time, as that would be quite taxing on his mana reserves to do so every time. Because of this, the full depth of his undead army had never been revealed.
In fact, not only his undead army, but also the army he had gained from subverting various dungeons. The Dark Abyss Dungeon, the Despair Dungeon, and the Labyrinth of Madness.
All of these dungeons could summon a varying amount of monsters. The Dark Abyss Dungeon had reached High B rank after a long time. Abyssus was constantly growing strong under Leon's care. Because of that, the strongest monsters the dungeon could spawn had risen to High B rank. As for the boss of the dungeon, it was a Pseudo A rank boss! Not to mention Abyssus' own personal combat power as a dungeon butler! Leon was sure the dungeon butler could beat some weaker Low A ranks!
The Despair Dungeon had not spent a lot of time in Leon's care, compared to the Dark Abyss Dungeon. However, the strength of Ugar, the dungeon butler there, had also grown, allowing the dungeon to spawn more consistent Low A rank monsters, although they were still few.
As for the Labyrinth of Madness, Leon could control it to spawn the weaker A rank monsters within it, but as the dungeon butler there was badly injured and still recovering, he had been unable to get it to form a new dungeon boss.
However, that did not matter! With this strength, Leon would be able to summon and effectively control at least thirty A ranks on his own! This strength was sure to shake any battlefield!