Chapter 95 Strength Test
Kellam and Marvin were puzzled by this answer. However, remembering the emissary's irreverent attitude, they thought they could guess why. But contrary to what they had in mind, Liam immediately denied their assumption.
"I know your Lord has a Stele in his possession as well as a Tartarus Enforcer under his command." The Alpha Werewolf put his cards on the table. "We've been lucky to raid your village while the Lord was away, but one Tartarus Enforcer is more than enough to take out a pack of emaciated lycans like mine. If either of you had been the Lord, I could have indirectly taken control of this village by securing his allegiance, but I failed.
"As long as my village's location was kept hidden, I could have slowly weakened them with guerrilla tactics by abducting their women and contaminating the men summoned by the Stele, but the unforeseen escape of a prisoner last night ruined my plans. The presence of your two companions confirmed this. I think that boy is your Lord and that fox-woman his mate. I have, of course, thought of killing them, but although I am confident I can prevail against them, I do not believe I can prevent their escape."
Kellam became more and more puzzled as he heard his explanation. At one point, unable to take it anymore, he sneezed,
"Why are you telling us all this?"
Liam's face clouded over, but after a short silence he confessed in a gloomy tone,
"I don't want my daughters to end up in the hands of that emissary. I don't want my pack to starve either, and I'm tired of complying with every excessive and outrageous request from Onyxcrest Pride. A life like that isn't worth it."
"Then, what do you want from us?" Marvin asked with an expression brimming with loyalty. Unlike Kellam, he was clearly influenced by his Alpha's words.
The Dwilde pursed his lips in disapproval when he saw the zeal in his comrade's eyes, but he wisely chose to remain silent. The Alpha Werewolf stared at them both with a wavering look, then made up his mind and growled,
"I am willing to swear allegiance to your Lord under certain conditions. But first..."
*****
"What?!"
Ikaris and Malia found themselves speechless following Plume's clarification. Even more scandalized than they were by their ignorance, the young Fae clicked her tongue in exasperation and insisted,
"I told you, a Fae cannot lie. What I said is the absolute truth. With this Tartarus Enforcer you can easily flatten a village like the Hellhound Pack. No need to hesitate."
"What guarantee do I have that my Enforcer is as powerful as you claim?" Ikaris retorted cautiously. "I'll take your word for it that you're telling the truth, but that doesn't mean you're right, right? When was the last time anyone on this island actually saw one of these monsters?"
Right on the money. Plume had no evidence to present against his rebuttal. Nevertheless, that didn't mean she didn't have a solution to suggest.
"He obeys you at the drop of a hat, doesn't he?" She interjected.
"I guess so..." Ikaris grudgingly acknowledged. He himself wasn't sure how much he could trust his precious bodyguard.
"In that case test his performance in the field." Plume shrugged confidently.
Right! The teenager had become so accustomed to relying on his System that he had forgotten about conventional methods. It hadn't been a priority before so he hadn't considered it, but he didn't need magic to gauge the Tartarus Enforcer's strength. He could just ask him to lift as much weight as possible.
Ikaris was not one to dither, and he decided to verify the Fae's claims right away. Using the weight of everything he could get his hands on as a reference, he ordered the armored giant to lift heavier and heavier until he found his limit.
It soon became clear that Plume was right and that he had greatly underestimated the physical capabilities of this evil thing. To determine its real strength, they eventually had to go back into the forest to cut down another giant chestnut tree. It was timely, the village was running out of wood.
After crafting a handmade barbell the width of a pole, they prepared wooden weights that looked like huge discs with holes in the middle and finally tested the Tartarus Enforcer in the bench press and leg press. But before that, they made more dumbbells and smaller weight bars that a human would be able to use.
Ikaris then tested his own strength on these two exercises and came up with the impressive result of 351.9 kg for the bench press and 637 kg for the leg press. Currently having 5.1 Strength and weighing 69kg, it allowed him to establish that one point of strength corresponded to lifting his own weight in the bench press and a little less than double in the leg press.
This was consistent with the results of strength tests that sedentary men had been subjected to in his old world over the course of several studies. In general, at equal weight, sedentary women had a significantly lower strength output of only 57%, but this varied greatly depending on age, body type and fitness level.
Seeing his Lord show his strength, how could Ezrog not participate? After a few whims and pleas, he lifted the barbells as well, becoming the first ogre in history to perform a weightlifting routine.
The brute proved to be as strong as his towering height and bulky build suggested, lifting over 800 kilos in the bench press. His Strength being 11.6, Ikaris got the confirmation that the unit of strength was based on his own weight and was not a volatile value unique to each individual.
This made his System much more reliable. Otherwise, he could have made some pretty unfortunate mistakes if he underestimated a giant monster because it only had a strength of 1.
It was then the turn of the Tartarus Enforcer and the result shook them to their core. Almost 6 tons in the bench press.
"So the strength of my bodyguard is about 87. Indeed, with such strength I doubt any of these lycans would stand a chance." Ikaris admitted. "Whether he's that fast remains to be seen."
It was a fair point. The Tartarus Enforcer was awfully strong, but because of his build and heavy armor he also weighed a lot, almost two tons. The sprint test convinced him he was worrying for nothing. With a time of 3.8 seconds in 100 meters, his bodyguard was definitely a killing machine.
Still, as Magnus telepathically reminded him, that was its default speed without the use of any techniques or spells. Such a creature was a war machine bred to kill and therefore had all sorts of abilities that enhanced its lethality in battle. If its enemies could so easily outrun them, their reputation as enforcers would never have withstood the test of time.
The Alpha Werewolf and his finest lycans might stand a chance of losing him by making use of the complexity of their environment, but the rest would be doomed.
It didn't take long for Ikaris to make his final decision. Plume had persuaded him. They brought the wood back to the village for Nardor, and then he ordered his Tartarus Enforcer to accompany him for a short stroll through the forest. Malia, Ezrog and Horny also tagged along.
It took Ikaris only a few minutes to find the burrow entrance they had snuck into earlier, but just as they were about to crawl inside a familiar figure peeked out.
"Kellam?" The youngster called out in disbelief with a raised eyebrow.
"My Lord!" The Dwilde perked up as he recognized the boy. Remembering what Liam had disclosed to him, he bluntly declared. "We need to talk."