Chapter 301: The meeting

The other group leaders heard Casten Tarr's words and expressed their views on them.

The leader of the Brown Boar Crew, Claus Behr, banged his palm on the table to gather everyone's attention.

The leaders of other gangs stared at him with a slightly dissatisfied expression. This was a roguish method to force everyone to focus on himself.

Claus Behr ignored those dissatisfied looks and spoke, "I accepted the invitation for this meeting to check out my opponents. I am not that interested in the Heretical Paladins. Unlike all of you, I do not fear them. I am confident in defeating their so-called invincible leader."

The dissatisfied looks on everyone's face converted into looks of disgust.

The leader of the Night Mountain Sect's gang was a woman named Luna Backhaus, "…And just that's why brutes shouldn't hold speaking rights."

"What did you say, woman?!" Claus Behr became incensed and angrily questioned her.

"Exactly what you heard. Brute," Luna Backhaus calmly responded while staring in his direction.

One would notice that she was even looking down on Claus Behr.

This sort of gaze especially irritated Claus Behr. However, before he could take any action, a suppressive aura acted on the two.

Luna and Claus both felt that suppressive aura and then turned their head towards the source of that aura.

They noticed it was radiating from Casten Tarr. Even though he appeared calm on the surface, they understood he must be furious due to this dispute.

"This meeting was called by me to discuss how we should handle the Heretical Paladins. Not to allow you to take personal digs at each other. If you want to continue this dispute, then feel free to leave. But if this occurs another time, you will be answering to me," His calm voice sounded pretty intimidating.

Luna snorted in response while Claus responded, "Whatever." Claus fell silent, knowing that irritating this man any further would be a horrible idea.

The silence returned to this meeting room. Casten Tarr began speaking calmly, "Let's talk about the first issue. The size of the Heretical Paladins. It has surpassed 240 warriors. In terms of pure numbers, they are nearly double the size of my gang."

Casten Tarr's words reminded everyone of how much of a threat the Heretical Paladins were to them.

"Moreover, the Black Lake Sect's representative, Aria, has surrendered to him and is assisting him in hunting other groups. If we don't find a solution soon, their numbers will increase even more. Unlike us, the leader of this Heretical Paladins doesn't seem to care about facing this Draconic Pressure," Casten Tarr informed them calmly.

"Hmph. The Black Lake Sect deserves to be applauded. They act all high and mighty, but their disciples are merely cowards who fear death," Luna spoke with a voice full of malice.

None of the heads spoke anything at those words. They were well aware of the friction between the Black Lake Sect and the Night Mountain Sect.

Moreover, Luna and Aria knew each other personally. The two were rivals and hated each other down to their bones.

If Luna sighted Aira, she would do her best to kill her, ignoring the consequences. Meanwhile, Aria was slightly calmer when facing Luna.

However, she was quite irritated by the fact that she was constantly targeted by Luna. Thus, she had given up on all pretense and would attack her when she saw her.

She had already realized that there was no point in acting nicely to Luna.

"Whatever the case may be. It's a fact that with her presence, our enemy has become even stronger. They have two top geniuses in a single group," The Origin Sect's group leader spoke. This was Sakis Melelis.

"…I met with the group leader of the Heretical Paladins before this tournament commenced. From what I know, they belong to the Origin Sect Branch in Veninza City," He revealed this information while maintaining a calm expression.

"And? What is your opinion of him?" The Stony Rock Sect's representative inquired curiously.

Casten Tarr and the others exchanged glances with Sakis. It appeared as if they were pressuring him to talk.

Sakis soon began to speak with a solemn and grave voice, "He is a little kid who doesn't seem to be over 10 years old. Typically, there is no special aura around him. When I first saw him, I thought the Heretical Paladins were messing with me by telling me that he was their leader."

"However, his aura transforms when he grabs his sword. His sharp aura just floods the area. I admit I even trembled in fear when I first sensed that aura," Sakis spoke.

"If that was your entire aura, Casten Tarr, I can fairly say you don't stand a chance against him in terms of aura. It was far more terrifying than yours," Sakis spoke while staring at Casten Tarr.

Casten Tarr's eyes narrowed slightly. He understood what Sakis wanted to say.

Sakis wanted to suggest that Casten Tarr would definitely lose to Noah in a battle against him.

Aura was a mixture of ability, confidence, and experience.

Considering Noah's young age, it was impossible for him to be more experienced in battles than them. However, this just demonstrated how confident he was in his abilities.

Since it completely overpowered Casten Tarr's aura, their abilities were probably worlds apart.

Casten Tarr didn't get angry even at this revelation from Sakis. Instead, he smiled and responded calmly, "Personally, this was half of my aura. But if the difference between our aura's strength was so great, then I might lose to him in terms of aura. However, I won't lose so easily in a battle."

Claus added at this moment with an arrogant voice, "Hmph. Even if Casten can't deal with him, I can."

No one gave those words a second thought and ignored them right away.

"But it's interesting, isn't it? To know that this young man is from an Origin Sect Branch. Since he is so amazing, he should have been leading the Origin Sect's representatives," It was the Stony Rock Sect's representative who spoke those words.

Naturally, these words could be considered incredibly disrespectful towards Sakis. It seemed to suggest that he didn't deserve this spot. Which was true in a way.

"Due to some reason, he didn't participate in the competition we held to choose our representatives," Sakis responded with a monotonous tone.

The Stony Rock Sect attempted to rile up Sakis, but he didn't expect him to respond calmly.

He knew he shouldn't taunt him any further lest Casten Tarr would become irritated.

"Our enemy is strong. Both in terms of individual strength and his numbers. We need to join hands to deal with him," Casten Tarr spoke with a serious expression.

Claus responded almost immediately, "My group won't be joining any group. As I said earlier, I am here to gauge my opponents. I am not scared of Heretical Paladins. If they get in my way, I will extinguish them!"

Casten Tarr didn't mind that response. All these were group leaders. They were naturally going to choose the option they felt was best for their group.

"My group will have a temporary alliance with yours, Casten Tarr. But only because I want to deal with this Heretical Paladins and that hateful Aria," Luna responded.

Casten Tarr happily responded, "You won't regret this decision. Anyone else?" He questioned while looking around and staring at the faces of other group leaders.

"I am willing to forge a temporary alliance with your group, Casten Tarr," Sakis spoke.

In this manner, out of seven individuals here, two had already joined Casten Tarr.

One was dead set on not making any alliance so he could be considered neutral.

The final three group leaders belonged to the Red Crown Sect, Vermillion Jade Sect, and the Stony Rock Sect.

The Red Crown Sect's group leader, Karsten Wenzel, spoke up at this moment, "Just forming an alliance with a single group won't be a good idea."

"Since the Night Mountain Sect and the Origin Sect's groups have already joined Casten Tarr's group, your combined group is strong enough to deal with the Heretical Paladins."

"My group will form a temporary alliance with the Stony Rock Sect and the Vermillion Jade Sect. In this manner, we won't just focus on the Heretical Paladins and can still battle against each other. After all, we are ultimately rivals, not allies, and we should keep such difference between us," Karsten Wenzel spoke.

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