Dungeon of Pride, Laplace



However, before their attacks could hit him, he swiftly turned around using [Flash Steps] and used the queen of harpies as his shield.

The two calamity class harpies widened their eyes in surprise and immediately tried to stop their attacks. Nevertheless, it was too late.

The attacks that were meant to cut the demon to pieces hit Melinda. Two deep gashes formed on the Harpy Queen's armour and reached her body causing blood to flow out.

"Arrghhh!!!" the queen of the harpies screamed in pain. Maybe because her two subordinates had curbed the powers of their attacks at the last second, the gash wasn't able to cut through too deep.

"You bastard!!"

the harpies cursed, they were just about to rush towards Simon in an all out fight when the latter stopped them with his frightening cold words.

"The next person to move will be responsible for their Queen's death"

Those simple words carried a bone chilling coldness and threat. to prove that he was not lying, he even increased the grasping strength he had on the neck of their queen.

As if their bodies have been frozen in ice, none of the harpies dared to move after that warning. They could only watch from the distance as their queen struggled and curse the demon inside their heads.

"Good, now that's more like it"

Simon complimented the harpies who had become docile now that he had their weakness in his grasp.

With the background mobs taken care of, Simon turned his attention to the queen of the harpies who seemed to not understand the meaning of do not struggle.

"It's useless to resist, I have locked your powers using [Chilling Touch] and [Dark Deprivation]. Right now, you are no different than an ordinary person"

Simon slowly enunciated into the ears of the queen of the harpies. [Chilling Touch] was a skill that inserted a dark eerie aura inside the target's body corrupting their mana and slowing down its circulation.

[Dark Deprivation] on the other hand locks down the target's skills and makes them unable to use them for a short period of time.

Of course, both of these skills wouldn't have worked on a target like the queen of harpies if she wasn't in her exhausted state and hadn't let her guard down. Melinda struggled for a while but after seeing that it was futile, she came to a halt.

"Now then, shall we get down to business? Swear loyalty to me or die"

To put more force in his words, he gestured to the Valkyries who immediately understood the meaning behind his words and released their auras. The Bloodthorn Demonic Warhorse did the same and so did the army of Andromeadas.

The meaning behind their action was clear, if the queen of the harpies did not submit to him, he would not hesitate to kill all of her subordinates.

Given the true power of the maids that she witnessed herself, Melinda was sure that none of her subordinates would be able to handle them if they were to go all out. Her options were already sealed before she could even make a choice.

Submit or watch her subordinates be killed, that's what the demon was telling her. And from her understanding of the demon, she knew that he wouldn't hesitate to do so.

However, if she submitted to him, wouldn't it mean that everything that she had worked hard for all these years would be taken away from her? She would no longer be one of the seven kings of the forest.

Seeing the Queen of the Harpies dilly-dally, Simon snapped his fingers and the Andromedas immediately took out their weapons and locked onto their targets. 

The Harpies did not look like they had the state of mind to fight when their queen was captured by the enemy. As such, it would be easy for the Andromedas to sweep the floor with them.

"Alright... I submit" the cannon on the arms of the Andromedas were just about to fire when Melinda spoke in a low dispirited tone.

Clearly, it was difficult for her to arrive at that decision; however, now that she had said it, she weirdly felt relaxed and at peace. As if a huge burden had been lifted from her shoulders.

"My Queen... please don't worry about us. We are willing to lay our lives down if it is for your sake" The harpies hurriedly shouted. It really looked like they were willing to lay their lives down if it meant that their queen wouldn't have to worry about them. 

Looking at that display of loyalty, even Simon was a little impressed. 

"I have already made my decision" Melinda however, rebuked them with a stern tone. She might be a calculating and ambitious woman, but she did indeed care for her subordinates. 

Before the harpies could say anything further, Melinda cut them off and spoke towards the demon who still had a death grip on her.

"There I have submitted. You don't have any reason to kill them anymore right?".

Simon did not reply, he gave a wicked smile made a small cut on his finger and started drawing some cryptic lines on the air. The red lines drawn from his blood quickly formed into some demonic seal and floated in front of Simon.

Once the seal was completed, Simon finally opened his mouth "This is the Blood Demon Contract that only the true Demon Nobles can evoke. Once you make the oath with the blood demon inside this seal, I'll accept your loyalty".

Looking at that seal, Melinda's eyes widened, she felt a strong compelling power from that seal. Although she did not know what a Blood Demon Contract was, she had no doubt in her mind that once she made an oath with this seal she would never be able to scheme against or backstab the demon.

Aldebaran had specifically cautioned him not to let his guard down until she completed the seal as such, Simon was being very thorough. Even if the Queen of Harpies had verbally sworn her loyalty to him, it meant nothing unless enforced by a seal or contract.

The Blood Demon Contract was the stronger and more powerful version of the Blood Contract that he used on the Deep Sea Alligator King. Even for a being like the Queen of Harpies, breaking such a contract would be extremely foolish since she would suffer a severe repercussion from doing so.

Therefore, unless the Queen of Harpies made an oath with the Blood demon contract he had no intention of loosening his grip nor ordering his subordinates to stand down.

As if understanding that, Melinda dejectedly accepted her fate.

"How do I make the oath?" she asked.

"It's simple, extend your hand towards the blood demon in the centre of the seal and feed it some of your blood" Simon answered.

When Melinda did as she was told and extended her hand towards the blood demon who bit her finger and slowly sucked her blood. Next, the Blood Demon Contract started glowing with a glaring crimson light and seeped into the skin of the harpy queen and disappeared.

Only after he saw the contract is completed, did Simon release Melinda who coughed severely trying to catch her breath.

"My queen…" the moment she was released, the nearby harpies flocked to her in concern. Seeing the deep print on her neck, they couldn't help but glare at the demon with hatred.

Simon did not react to their glares and instead declared in a loud stern voice.

"From this day forth, the clan of Harpy is a vessel clan of mine and all of you are my subordinates. If any of you have a problem with that, step forward".

"You…" one of the two calamity class harpy was just about to step forward, when they were stopped by Melinda.

"We the clan of harpies accept your rule from this day forward" She declared bowing her head.

With the Queen of Harpies personally bowing her, even though the Harpy clan looked unwilling, they had no choice but to bow their head too.

"Good, now that the hierarchy has been established, I shall immediately give you your first orders…".

With the queen of the harpies now subdued by him, he told her about his various plans and the future he had in mind for the harpies.

Up until now, he had only shown them the stick, now it was time for him to give them the carrot. If Simon wanted the continued loyalty of the clan of harpies, he had to show them a beautiful future, one that was far more glorious than their current one.

Of course, only a small number of Harpies who were the personal guard of Melinda and Simon's own subordinates had the opportunity to attend the discussion. The rest were sent back to their post.

The discussion took a long time and by the time they cemented out all the details, the sun had already set. Also, it needs to be mentioned that by the time Simon finished telling them about his plans, the attitude of the harpies towards him had also changed.

Although they did not completely trust everything that he said, they were at least satisfied by the fact that Simon did not have any intention of ruling them instead of their queen. He did not impose any new rules or regulations on them and allowed them to live just like they have been up until now.

Basically, Simon had given them a free rein to govern themselves. Of course, he made sure that they aided him whenever he required their help.

Other than that fact, he had strained on one particular condition.

"You want me to allow these golems to mine in some areas of my territory?" Melinda asked pointing her finger at the Andromedas who were waiting on standby on the mountaintop.