Chapter 395: The Final Countdown [Part 2]

After a brief silence, Duncan continued Oswald’s report.

"Godwin also nominated himself to be the next Barbarian King," Duncan added. "Malik supported him, so the vote ended in a tie. Since they couldn’t come to a conclusion, they decided to ask us to vote as well."

Leone was genuinely surprised about this development. Usually, the middle-ranked tribes were excluded from voting. They must be desperate, seeing that an exception was made.

"So what happened?" Leone asked, unable to contain his curiosity. He wanted to know how the three middle-ranked Chieftains handled this matter.

"We voted, of course." Duncan chuckled. "We voted for you to become the next Barbarian King."

Oswald and Garen also laughed. They could still recall the sour look on Hagen’s face when they voted for Leone.

"That is also why they took your earlier declaration about becoming the next Barbarian King seriously," Garen said. "With our support, you now have the qualifications to challenge them."

"I see." Leone narrowed his eyes. "Does that mean there will be no more Tribal Gatherings, then?"

Oswald smirked. "Of course there will still be a Tribal Gathering. Since they didn’t manage to get enough votes, they will definitely push for some conditions every tribe must agree to."

"Actually, we’ve just received a notice before we came here that the meeting will be held tomorrow at noon," Duncan explained. "This is just a guess, but we’ll probably hear proposals about how we’ll decide the next Barbarian King.

"Leone, as one of the chieftains of the Borderlands, you now have a say on whether the proposals shall be accepted or not."

After a few more hours of casual talk, the three chieftains eventually bade Leone good night and returned to their lodgings.

"It’s getting more and more interesting," Daedalus said as he hovered beside Leone. "It seems like you can’t afford to miss tomorrow’s meeting."

The grimoire had created a replica that the clone carried all the time.

This was a safety measure it had made that would allow Daedalus to instantly teleport Leone’s clone back to the Aslan Tribe if his life was in danger.

The materials used to create the clone were nothing to scoff at. It was even powered by the core of the Monster King, allowing it to act independently without worrying about running out of magical power.

They simply couldn’t allow it to be destroyed or fall into the wrong hands.

Soon, Leone stood up from his seat and stepped outside his carriage.

A few torches were placed around his house-like carriage, where several warriors stood guard for the night.

The city was dark, and only a few places still had some lights flickering in the distance.

The young chieftain had asked Daedalus to scan the surroundings earlier and see if anyone from the other tribes was present.

"There are a handful of people keeping watch around us," Daedalus reported. "They might be the lookouts that Godwin and Hagen had assigned to monitor our movements."

Leone smiled evilly at those words as he gave Hassan an order.

"Knock them out," Leone ordered. "Make sure they will not make a sound."

A moment later, Leone’s shadow moved and merged with the darkness.

Aside from the crackling of the torches around him, no other sound reached his ears.

"Mission accomplished, Young Master," Hassan reported as soon as he returned to Leone’s shadow. "They are now all out like a light."

"Kael, Ulric, Jason, guard me," Leone ordered. "Hassan, pay close attention to the surroundings. If someone comes near the plaza, knock them out as well."

"""Yes!"""

Hassan once again merged with the darkness, while Kael, Ulric, and Jason spread out with Leone at the center.

The warriors of the Aslan Tribe had also formed a stronger defensive perimeter in response, ready to act at a moment’s notice.

Leone raised his hand, prompting the banner of the Aslan Tribe to appear in his hand.

"Ten minutes..." Leone said softly. "No matter what happens, we must hold on for ten minutes."

Everyone nodded at the same time.

The young man then stabbed the end of the pole into the ground, making sure that it was firmly planted.

A second later, the banner began to glow faintly. It sent faint ripples of power across the ground that swiftly expanded outwards, covering the entire city and the land beyond its borders.

On the surface, everything looked calm.

However, that didn’t mean Leone’s action went unnoticed.

Gundar opened his eyes and frowned. He was in deep meditation and felt the faint ripples of power that washed over his body.

He slowly rose from the floor and moved closer toward the window. His heightened senses were able to pinpoint the location where the power was coming from.

"At the plaza?" Gundar’s frown deepened at the thought. "Don’t tell me..."

It was not only the great shaman who felt it.

Those who had a high affinity for ‌spirits and magical powers also sensed the disturbance.

Jafar, as well as the other powerful shamans of each tribe, stirred from their slumber and moved to investigate what they felt a moment ago.

All of them also came to the same conclusion as Gundar.

"Something is happening at the plaza." Jafar narrowed his eyes. "Leone must be doing something."

To his surprise, Jafar saw Troy walking out of the residence, holding an axe in his hand.

"Did you feel it too?" Jafar asked.

"Yes," Troy replied. "Come with me. If I was able to sense it, then others did as well."

Jafar agreed with Troy’s statement.

The two then hurried towards the plaza, only to sense several individuals doing the same.

At that moment, dozens of people moved from all over the city. All of them were headed to the same place.

Daedalus, who had been scanning the surroundings, immediately informed Leone of what was happening.

The young man was shocked. He thought there was no chance for the plan to fail since it was already late at night.

Hassan was also at a loss as to what to do since he couldn’t possibly knock out so many people.

In the end, he decided to hide the bodies of the lookouts he had knocked out earlier so no one would suspect a thing.

While all of this was happening, Leone looked at the blue window screen in front of him.

The final countdown was ticking, and there were only five minutes left before the mission succeeded.

Suddenly, the sound of whistling wind reached his ears.

A moment later, a man with a pair of wings landed a few meters away from Leone.

"What are you doing, Leone?" Godwin asked, his gaze cold and calculating.

"I’m not doing anything suspicious," Leone replied innocently.

"That’s what all suspicious people say." Hagen also arrived at the plaza while riding on a flying carpet. "Speak. What do you think you’re doing?"

"I simply wanted to put up the Aslan Tribe’s banner here," Leone answered back with a face filled with injustice. "Is that against the rules?"

Hagen’s expression darkened after hearing Leone’s reply.

Godwin’s expression had also turned solemn. Placing a banner shouldn’t have this kind of effect.

He also noticed that Leone’s vassals, as well as the warriors of the Aslan Tribe, had taken up a defensive formation as if they were prepared to attack if someone were to put a stop to whatever their Great Chieftain was doing right now.

At that moment, Gundar and the other shamans also arrived at the plaza.

A glance was enough for them to know that Leone was doing something. However, for the time being, no one moved to stop him.

Troy and Jafar had also arrived while riding on the back of a black manticore.

The Chieftain of the Darkmane Tribe stared long and hard at Leone with a smirk on his face.

"I will not ask you again, Leone," Hagen said, his voice now tinged with killing intent. "Tell us what you’re doing, while we are still being nice."

The tension in the air was as thick as the darkness of the night.

Leone secretly glanced at the blue window floating before him.

[02:53]

He only needed to hold on for a few more minutes to complete his mission.

Unfortunately, before he could even give a reply, Hagen had already made a move to put a stop to whatever the young chieftain was doing.