Online Game: Starting With SSS-Ranked Summons-Chapter 455: Broken Will

A lion who could no longer lift his head, who had tasted defeat so bitter it hollowed him out, would be seen as tainted.

Even if Arthur spared the creature’s life, the damage had been done. His humiliation was complete and irreversible under ordinary circumstances.

The Golden Beetle knew there would be no forgiveness. Whether the golden mane lived or died here mattered little. The rest of the pack would not overlook this. They would see it as a direct challenge, a mark of dishonour upon their kind that demanded retribution. Arthur had stepped beyond the boundary of simple conflict. He had struck at something deeper, the soul of their pride.

And once that line was crossed, there was no turning back.

Arthur caught the spinning Golden Mane with another carefully calculated strike, this time sending the beast straight upward with enough force to clear the forest canopy. For several seconds, the golden predator disappeared entirely from view, becoming a glinting speck against the blue sky.

"WHIMPER!"

The sound that drifted down from above was pure distress. There was no longer any trace of anger or defiance in the Golden Mane’s voice. He had been reduced from proud apex predator to terrified victim in the span of minutes, his worldview shattered as completely as his physical dignity.

Arthur positioned himself directly beneath the falling creature, his reflexes calculating the timing for maximum dramatic effect. When the Golden Mane finally descended back into visual range, Arthur delivered a perfectly horizontal strike that sent the beast sailing across the clearing once more.

WHOOSH!

The Golden Mane’s flight path carried him through a cluster of low-hanging branches, leaves and twigs becoming entangled in his once proud mane as he crashed through the forest’s natural obstacles. His landing was particularly ungrateful.

A tumbling, rolling impact that left him disoriented and dizzy.

"mew... whimper... mew..."

Fear and confusion had reduced his communication to something resembling the distress calls of much smaller, weaker creatures.

Arthur approached the crumpled body with slow steps. The Golden Mane’s transformation from arrogant challenger to broken victim had been thorough and complete.

"I believe our conversation is concluded. You wanted to know who I was. Now you do." Arthur spoke

The Golden Mane lay curled in a fetus position, the defiance had long since drained from his massive body.

What remained was a broken shell of what had once been a superior-rank predator. His body was cracked like shattered glass, deep fissures running through his golden hide where Arthur’s strikes had left irreparable damage. Many pieces of flesh were missing entirely from his neck and various parts of his body, torn away by strikes that had treated him nothing more than brittle parchment.

His once-angry amber eyes, which had blazed with arrogant superiority mere minutes ago, were now dim and glassy. The light of consciousness had flickered and died, leaving behind only empty orbs that reflected the forest canopy above without recognition or awareness.

The Golden Mane was dead.

Arthur stood above its corpse with the calm satisfaction of someone who had successfully resolved a minor inconvenience. To him, this creature represented nothing more than another stepping stone in his journey toward greater power, just like all the others who had dared to stare him down as if he were an insect that should be crushed beneath their feet.

The Golden Mane had looked at Arthur with the same dismissive contempt that Arthur had once received from those who believed themselves superior. Now, the beast’s broken body was all that was left.

The Golden Beetle, which had observed this one-sided massacre with growing unease, finally found its voice. Its eyes reflected concern that went beyond mere worry for its master’s safety.

"Master..." the beetle’s mental voice carried an ominous warning, "the golden manes won’t let you go. The king must have been notified."

The creature’s understanding of the Golden Mane pack made its concern entirely justified. These weren’t solitary predators who operated independently, they were a coordinated pack with strong familial bonds and territorial instincts that demanded immediate retribution for any attack on their members.

...

Deeper inside the Golden Mane territory, in a cave system that served as the pack’s primary den, the Mane King raised his massive head from his resting position.

The creature was a magnificent specimen even among his kin, standing nearly six feet at the shoulder, with a mane that seemed forged from gold and muscles that contained his immense power. His eyes held intelligence that exceeded even that of his proud kin, reflecting the wisdom and cunning that had allowed him to maintain dominance over one of the most dangerous predator packs in the region.

He felt it immediately, the sudden absence where one of his pack members had existed moments before. The mystical bond that connected all Golden Manes to their king carried information that normal sensory input couldn’t provide at range. One of his pack was dead, killed by an intruder who had dared to enter their sacred territory.

The Mane King’s throat swelled as he unleashed a roar that shook the very foundations of his den. The sound carried enough force to crack stone and send smaller creatures fleeing in terror from caves throughout the mountain system. This wasn’t merely a roar—it was a declaration of war that resonated through the mystical bonds connecting every member of his pack.

The roar served multiple purposes, alerting his scattered forces to immediate danger, calling them to assembly for coordinated response, and warning any potential threats that they had just awakened something far more dangerous than a simple territorial dispute. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

He roared once again, his voice carrying the fury of a legendary-rank creature whose authority had been challenged in the most direct way possible. The audacity of whoever had killed his subordinate demanded immediate and overwhelming retaliation.

The second roar shook trees miles away, its supernatural force rippling through the forest like an earthquake made of sound. Every Golden Mane within the territory heard their king’s call and understood its meaning without need for additional communication.