"The Knulls that came out this time were too powerful."
"In the last war with the Knulls, pseudo-Eternal Grade Knulls only appeared during the 7th Entrance. But this time, three of them had already appeared right at the second."
"This is why we suffered such damages, even though it wasn't really that bad. Just beyond our expectations of an easy win," the Nagas Queen said, yet Ryuk remained silent.
'Seven thousand lives ripped apart, fourteen thousand more forced to the bed! Damn the Knulls. Truly, damn the Knulls!' Ryuk thought silently.
It was easy for the Ten Family leaders, like the Nagas Queen, to shrug off such a loss as something not too big because they hadn't deployed their main force.
But to Ryuk, that was 7,000 lives gone.
They were people just like him.
With goals and dreams, just like him. Some of them even had parents and loved ones, children waiting for them at home.
Yet now, they were either dead or crippled.
And it was all thanks to those bastards who had ripped away everything from him.
It was always those bastards!
"Huuuuu." A deep inhale barely left Ryuk's lip.
As much as he wanted to do nothing but rush into Knull territory and go on a killing spree, he knew he needed a calm head to think through this.
"The third Knull attack hasn't been confirmed yet, has it?" he asked.
The Nagas Queen shook her head.
"In the past, there's always been at least a monthly interval before the Knulls re-arrive again. But now that our analyses have been proven quite badly wrong, we can't say for sure what may happen again."
"But at least we'll be seeing a minimum of two weeks from now before we know exactly when the third Knull attack will take place. And even after that, there will be two to three more weeks before the Knulls actually descend."
"And that gives us more than enough time to prepare for what's coming..." the Nagas Queen said as Ryuk nodded his head.
Now that the Ten Families had seen that their analysis was a bit off, they would obviously prepare even more for the Third Knull War and they had three weeks to gather their armies and do a thorough preparation.
That brought a slightly hopeful situation.
And to top it all off, humanity had survived the Second Knull War, just as he had wanted.
Even though many deaths had happened, and even he himself had lost half his life, humanity had survived, and 60% of humanity's population had been preserved.
Losing half his life for humanity's sake—having 60% of its population survive—a total number that could very well range in the hundreds of millions.
Ryuk would say it was a worthy exchange.
"Some people have been asking for you recently..." The Nagas Queen suddenly called Ryuk's brows forward.
"Now that humanity has survived the ordeal, with the last amount of casualties, and the Ten Families have truly banded together to face the Knulls just like you wished, they now want their side of the deal."
"They want to see the Eternal Grade Expert you brought and ask her about the Knulls."
"The news that you have been in slumber has kept them at bay, but now that you're awake, it's only a matter of time before they're right in front of my door for you..." The Nagas Queen said as Ryuk furrowed his brows before he replied.
"Ask the Ten Leaders where they want the meeting to take place. I'll be there with the Eternal Grade Expert in at most a week," he said as the Nagas Queen responded.
"After all, we leaders don't need to go down with our main bodies. We can just send our projections elsewhere and convene anywhere in the world."
"You can do the meeting right here in this throne room by my side, and I'm sure if you want it to be done right now, the leaders have more than enough time for an audience with you."
"The only thing that might halt the process is the Eternal Guard Expert that possesses the answers," she explained to Ryuk, who furrowed his brows before nodding.
'Seems like I'll have to reach Asterlaxia. It's been quite a while since I last saw her. What could she be even doing now?...' He thought to himself before returning his attention to the Nagas Queen.
"Thank you, Queen of the Nagas, for your help. It really did well in calming my heart," Ryuk said as she waved him off before replying with a small grin.
"It's fine. We've done nothing but offer you a bed and some couple potions after all. And also, you can call me Queen Snowarnda or Queen Snow."
"'The Queen of the Nagas' seemed a bit too long and cringe, don't you think?" she said with a slight smile as Ryuk nodded his head before he could take another sip of his coffee.
But then, he turned his gaze toward the back of the Nagas Queen and noticed Seraphis, who was bowed silently just like how a maid would.
"Should I be worried about a potential child abuse?" Ryuk asked Queen Snow, who raised an eyebrow.
"If I didn't hear wrong, Seraphis referred to you as her mother, and I can see the familiarity in both your features. But ever since she addressed you, she has been reduced to a position seeming more of a maid than a daughter."
"Is such a change something I should be worried about?" Ryuk asked.
Ever since he had stepped into the room with Seraphis, even though she called Queen Snow her mother, she had done nothing but behave like a maid ever since.
Standing behind her silently, serving them coffees, wiping away the splashes on the table, and refiling her mother's cup.
That was something really suspicious.
Even Morgain and the Half-Fallen one who had a skirmish bond at least related to one another very well.
This looked like Queen Snow was forcing her daughter to be a maid, something that was very possible based on the cultivation gap between both of them.
A giggle suddenly rang out, but it didn't come from Queen Snow. It came from none other than Seraphis behind her.