Supreme Monarch

"Hey, what's your name?"

[...]

"Do you not have a name?"

[...I... I am... I'm— I'm called... Loriel.]

Her intentions were never to answer, but for some reason, her mouth had moved on its own. It was as though she could no longer give commands to her body. She had tried to retreat but couldn't feel her arms or legs.

Her head felt like it had been submerged underwater and her vision was hazy. She felt she might've lost a lot of blood in her encounter with those demon Hunters but that shouldn't be enough to put her in this state.

During her time living in the Western parts of the Darknar forest, she had never encountered intelligent creatures like those before. Although she was aware of their existence, she had no reason to engage them and had only kept to herself.

Unaware of their strength and cunning, she tried to overwhelm them with sheer numbers while she stayed behind and used her spells in supporting her troops. However, the Demons had ignored most of her servants' Dragonflies and launched a powerful strike at her.

They seemed to be well informed about the habits of Azure Dragonflies and instantly realized that someone was controlling them.

Since Azure Dragonflies we're not aggressive creatures by nature that only attack when they felt threatened, they decided it was best to take her out first and once she died, the swarm of the Azure Dragonflies would surely ignore them and scatter in a general direction.

well, she had to admit they have had the right idea but they had miscalculated her ability. She could establish a hive mind with an entire swarm of Dragonflies but she could not mentally control them with her ability.

All she did was instill a seed of extreme loyalty in all insect-type monsters and not just Dragonflies. However, she would have to nurture that seed until it blooms else the chance of betrayer increases.

Choosing to control only Azure Dragonflies was her attempt at being with her own kind. However, her ability was still more powerful than she thought as there were no limits on how many insects she could control as long as she took the time to nurture the loyalty seed in all of them.

This ability had caught the eyes of the undead king who had been ruling the Borth Part of the Darknar forest king before she was born. She had then been invited to serve under him but she refused.

However, up until recently, the undead king had never tried to force her into serving him and had just ordered her to stay out of his way while keeping tabs on her to make Shute she did not join forces with any of the other Four Kings.

From what she gathered he had amassed a surprising amount of strength and had begun to suppress the entire forest completely. Forcing all the powerful monsters in the western parts of the darknar forest like herself to submit to him.

Feeling the threat of losing her freedom to the lord of death. Loriel panicked and ran away in haste. She would rather find a new home than become a slave to a skeleton.

However, her luck outside the forest had been horrendous so far. First, it was the Hunters who were skilled and cunning. Now, however, was even worse. It was only a single individual but she had felt like they were doomed. However, a retreat was not an option.

It was clear that he intended to fight them and wouldn't let them just leave. He killed several of her precious Dragonflies in seconds but then made the mistake of using fire against them.

'A chance.'

Or so she thought. In the end, their attempt at intimidating him had only served to piss him off and she had to halt their progress. It was painful but she needed to sacrifice a few of her flies in distracting him while she and the others ran away.

But again, it had failed. An even stronger presence had interfered and she knew she was doomed. However, when she finally came face to face with the man in question, her mind had been suppressed and she now found herself on the ground answering his questions without hesitation.

'why... why I'm I remembering this right now? I'm I about to die?'

"Oh, that's my bad. I wanted to see if I would be able to read and guide the mind of a monster if it had a sufficient level of intelligence. Don't worry, I don't plan on dominating your mind further."

Hearing the words that came out of the demon's mouth as though she wasn't even worthy of being considered a threat to him. Her heart tightened at the thought of losing her free will. She didn't know what else to do but stared dumbly at him as he stood above her lying body.

"That's weird, your thoughts seem to be getting more chaotic even though I could've sworn I told you I have no intentions of dominating your mind any longer."

He mumbled to himself with little interest in his voice as he moved closer to her and continued.

"From my analysis, It seems you can control the swarm of Azure Dragonflies with your innate ability. So compromising your mind would hamper the effectiveness of that ability which is very useful to me right now."

Innate Abilities were very rare and even more complex. If it was as easy as mind-controlling someone to gain access to their innate ability. The Great Five would not need to spend an absurd amount of money in their research in gaining other useful innate abilities.

"Anywho, it seems I was mistaken and you guys had no intentions of attacking this place, to begin with. For that, have decided to let the rest of you live."

"No please Lord Ty, there's no way you would be mistaken. They were the ones flying suspiciously. I'm sure they would've attacked us if you weren't here."

[Flying suspiciously? How the hell were we flying suspiciously you insect!]

"Look who's calling someone an insect. I'm a Dragonwrought Kobold, a true descendant from the legendary dragon race. You're nothing but a bug that was named after us, INSECT!"

The one who had spoken up for Tyler and engaged in an argument with the one— I mean Dragonfly girl was Tarka. For some reason, she didn't seem to like the entire species of dragonflies even though they were both considered descendants of actual dragons.

[Don't you dare call me an insect you disgusting Lizard! I am the Lord of— ow ow...]

Being agitated by Tarka's taunts, Loriel tried to move having completely forgotten about her injuries, and aggregated it. Seeing this unfold before his eyes, Tyler couldn't help but laugh.

He had hoped to appear more commanding and authoritative when talking with this girl so he could recruit her and her useful workers but her bickering with Tarka had completely spoiled the mood.

"Ha ahahahaha... well I guess there's no point in that anymore. You said your name was Loriel right?"

[...Uh No, sorry I mean yeah...]

Seeing her stumble through her words at his gaze, Tyler chuckled lightly and crouched next to the injured monster girl.

"No need to be flustered, I have a proposal for you. It's pretty simple really."

[...]

"There's no need to be so apprehensive. If I wanted to take away your freedom, it is an easy feat. However, that would only render you useless to me. Ummm... wait, I guess that may not be as comforting as I thought."

[...]

"Well whatever, I just get straight to the point. I currently require the means to transport large quantities of raw materials from across the region and I think you can help me with that."

Having made that statement, Tyler crouched beside Loriel and snapped his fingers. Immediately, the thousands of Asure Dragonflies on the ground were lifted in the air as though the laws of gravity did not apply to them.

Returning his hands to his sides the swarm of Dragonflies then regained their mobility. Of cause, those that were dead still dropped down to the ground lifelessly but Tyler chose to ignore that.

He was aware that the Giant Dragonflies species could use optical illusion skills that help them fly freely in dangerous air space without attracting unwanted attention from monsters which were perfect for this.

Loriel who was now barely able to sit upright had finally regained control of the swarm and questions began to flood her head. She didn't understand what the demon beside her had done.

Frankly speaking, she had been trying to call her minions for help ever since she awoke but none of them could move even an inch. To singlehandedly stop, the movements of more than a thousand Giant monsters was no easy feat and it just showed that she had no hope of winning even at her peak.

The man was even more terrifying than the Undead King who now commanded an army of 20,000 strong. Not to mention the other races in the West forest that he had forced to serve him.

[What do you want from me?]

"Hmm... was I not being clear?"

[Uh no, I'm sorry, I just mean... My Dragonflies aren't fighters. I don't like seeing them die but I can't fight myself either so I have to use them to protect me. Please, I don't want any of them to die in battle.]

Tyler didn't understand what this creature had meant for a moment there. He soon realized why she had hesitated in sending a large number of Dragonflies at him when she was trying to escape.

She was an evolved version of an Azure Damselfly which was why she saw the dragonflies as a family instead of just pawns to be used for her protection. That was probably the reason why she had refused an invitation from the Undead king, to begin with.

Also, her innate ability was called Insect Queen. It did more than sow seeds of loyalty into insect-type monsters, it also gave her and her subordinates a hive mind that allowed her to know and see everything her minions did.

In a war, her ability was truly invaluably for surveillance purposes and Tyler was glad he hadn't killed her outright.

"Very well. You have my word I will not use your troops for battle. Your only job would be to transport and defend materials gotten from across the continent until I'm able to find a better alternative. You will also fall under my protection and thus, you won't have to live in hiding anymore. As a bonus, I don't mind healing you."

Tyler didn't even wait for her response as he gave a signal to Erin who just casually tossed a ball of pure water on the girl as those disinterested in her existence.

The moment the ball of pure water touched her skin, the previously grievous wounds she had sustained instantly disappeared. This was something that even a high-tier healing spell would take time healing yet it now meant little to Erin.

A look of amazement was written across Loriel's face and she finally stood up and moved around a bit. She instantly agreed to Tyler's request even though Tyler didn't plan to give her any other options.

He then used the demon's pact on her. Her job would be the transportation of raw materials for the foreseeable future. And of course, she would occasionally run surveillance for him.

Among the 2,213 Azure Dragonflies that flew this way today, Tyler had killed only 361 of them which had strangely disappointed him even though he needed every single one of them now. He just felt like he needed a spell of skill that could eliminate thousands of opponents in a single attack.

'Hmm, now that I think about it. I still have warp control don't I. Using a black or white hole is more than enough to destroy this galaxy so what am I worried about. Hmm, frankly I just want a technique that can do the same without the use of magic or skills. I guess I should learn so Secret Techniques.'