Supreme Monarch



 Bam was silent and he did not carry a magic lamp as he walked down the quiet and dark stairway. The fact that he could see while moving in the darkness was thanks to a magical effect in his helmet which made it function like a set of night vision goggles.

 As he did not possess the DarkVision skill, this was the best way he could attain a similar effect. While he could only see up to 10 meters in front of him, combined with his magic sense, what he could see was not only as bright as day but in a much wider radius than what he could achieve with his eyes alone. 

 In addition, the enchantment on the armor meant that there were no sounds of metallic rustling when in motion. Unless they had an exceptional hearing or were a skilled thief, not even someone standing beside him would be able to pick up on the sounds of him walking.

That was why he had joined the advance investigations unit with Blane who was more of a rogue than a warrior. While scouting and Investigating may not have been his specialty, he was provided with the right equipment for this mission. 

After walking down the stairs for a while, their target came into view.

it was a large wooden door engraved with magic runes and gave off a sturdy feel. This door appeared even more sturdy than a heavy metal door made from adamantine and it would be almost impossible for them to break if it wasn't already slightly opened.

According to their maps, this place should not exist and the only thing this door should lead to was the city's long-forgotten underground tunnel system.

"This really shouldn't be here," Bam muttered as he readied his weapon. A voice answered from the empty air beside him.

"Agreed, leader. Judging by the feel of this place, I think this might have some connections with underground organizations. That's the only way such a thing could be built unnoticed. Allow me to go first."

The person who replied was a former Duranium-ranked Hunter who possessed thief-type skills and was a master at infiltration, even more so than Blane. After he was done, Blane — who was also with them — added:

"Be careful. If you notice anyone hiding their presence from you, retreat immediately."

 "Understood."

With that, the presence beside Bam began fading away. While he could not hear anything even while craning his neck to listen, perhaps a thief on par with him might be able to hear soft footsteps drawing away, heading towards the door.

 The door moved slightly, opening slightly not even large enough for a small rodent to pass through yet did not open any further. Somehow, it seems he had managed to enter the room through such a tight opening. 

This left Bam, Blane, and Kate.

 She was a female lesser demon that had also accompanied them. A mage that was also a Duranium-ranked Hunter in the past. While she was a skilled elemental magic caster, she also had some talent in concealment magic which was why she was brought along with them. 

They had left the others behind because they did not possess any stealth skills as knights were generally only trained to be warriors and magic swordsmen. Hence why their unit included former Hunters to expand their versatility. 

 The Jaxith family had begun hiring retired Hunters ever since the 1st prince had gone missing in battle. The second prince seems to value their versatility and strength rather than their bloodline but faced resistance from the elders so he could not officially make them part of the knight core. 

 However, he was still actively recruiting Hunters into a brand new Legion that would report personally to him. Bam guessed he was trying to solidify his claim to the throne by increasing his backing now that his mistress had the support of the people and the Quantinum ranked Hunter party, Evident. 

 Naturally, both Kate and the thief earlier were part of the newly formed Legion but according to what he heard, their numbers were still lacking which was why they had assigned two of their best to accompany Bam. 

 He wasn't well versed in noble politics but he assumed there was another reason why they were sent along other than the issue of versatility. 

 Bam turned his gaze to the mysterious Blane beside him before glancing at the older Kate, they were both perfectly calm at this moment and Bam could only blame his lack of experience for his current unease. 

 Bam grew even more nervous with each passing second, despite his experience on the battlefield, he still felt tension from situations like this. 

 He did not know how long they had waited when the door suddenly opened with a loud squeaking sound. 

 Bam immediately tightened the grip of his drawn weapon, when the no longer invisible figure of a second lesser demon appeared from behind the door. 

 "Relax, it's just me. I've confirmed, there are no living bodies here."

 Bam subconsciously let out a sigh of relief before realizing there was an anomaly in the thief's sentence. 

 'Living bodies?'

 Although he questioned why the Hunter had phrased his words like that, Bam decided it was best not to ask such an unnecessary question as they followed the lead of the thief into the room behind the door.

 The place was dark and the walls were cracked seemingly affected by the destruction of the mansion above. 

 There was a table at one corner of the room, a few empty crates but nothing else. Blane walked over to the desk and went through the documents on the table but none of them appeared to be anything important. 

 On the other side of the room was a second door. Its design was similar to the one they had just come through but it lacked the design of the magic runes, making this one seem more ordinary. 

 "Shall we?"

 Bam asked and Blane responded with a simple nod as the two walked in towards the door and opened it. Rows and rows of cells appeared before their eyes and a foul stench of blood, burnt flesh, and more assaulted their noses. 

 "What is this?"

 "Seems like this was where they had brought the emissary to. It seems she had taken care of her kidnappers single-handedly."

 "No... no wonder she didn't care for our help earlier."

 "I'm more surprised they were able to kidnap her in the first place. Did she allow it?"

 "Huh? Why would she allow herself to be kidnapped."

 "Oh don't mind me. I was just thinking aloud."

 From what they could see from here, there were two dead bodies here. One of them had been burnt to a crisp and they could see the head of another smashed up against a wall. 

 "Geez... this is brutal. I wouldn't have expected the emissary to be capable of such violence."

 Blane turned to look at Bam and then chuckled, he could understand where his thoughts were headed. What a naive kid he was, no wonder the princess has a thing for him. 

 "There's another door up ahead, let's go."

 Bam and the Hunters nodded their head simultaneously as they hurriedly walked ahead, each cell they pass seemed to have housed somebody until very recently. It was safe to say this place was being used for slavery. 

 They soon came in front of the third door and attempted to open it. It seemed to have been locked but fortunately, this door did not possess the same magic runes as the first else this would've been a problem. 

 Blane simply kicked the door and the thing shattered like dried wood. Revealing the interior of the room to them which was slightly similar to the previous hall full of cells.

 However, instead of a cell, to their left were rows and rows and large crates stacked upon each other and gave off a cold feeling that drastically reduced the temperature of the room and made them feel as though they had just walked into a freezer. 

 As it was currently still the middle of winter, all of them had on equipment to fight off the cold either utilizing magic or wearing extra layers so they shouldn't have sensed the changes in the room's temperature as the other rooms had also been as cold as the outside yet this feeling was different. 

 Blane ignored the dumbstruck three and walked into the hall he walked over to the first open crate he saw and took a look at the content stored within. 

What he saw next made his eyes widen in disbelief. 

 Bam and the other two, noticing this quickly snapped out of their daze and jogged over to where he was standing to take a look at the contents of the crates as well. Their eyes also went wide as soft blue light illuminated their dumbstruck faces. 

 "Wh-what in the world?"

 "Is this what I think it is?" 

 "Is this... Blue powder? The drug that has been spreading across the continent like wildfire?"

 "Don't tell me, this place... Are all these crates filled with this?—"

 Bam and the two experience Hunters were all at a loss for words as they stared dumbly at the contents of the half-opened create in disbelief. They've all heard countless stories of the terrible effects of the extremely addictive drug that was completely indetectable by magic. 

 To think a massive supply of such a drug was being stored right underneath their city was insane. However...

 "No."

 "Huh?"

 "Look closely. This is not the final form of the drug you're talking about. I'm guessing this is merely one of the main ingredients." 

 Bam and the Hunter quickly observed the contents of the box closer and immediately noticed what Blane was talking about. They had received a description of the drug a while back when it had first invaded the underground market and one of the characteristics of the drug was that it was a powder. 

 However, the current contents of the crate were in the form of shards of crystals that gave off the faint air of undiluted Mana essence. 

 "Are these, Magic crystals?"

 That was a good guess, the abnormal coldness in the air that disregarded the presence of winter could only be the result of one of the effects of a concentrated amount of magic crystals from magic beasts.

 "That can't be. Magic crystals retain their form unless they're being melted to infuse in forging items. Even then, they lose most of their Mana so I don't think shattered crystals like these could retain so much Mana if they were broken magic crystals."

 Kate suddenly chimed in. As a former Hunter, he knew more about magic crystals from fighting monsters than any of them and had dealt with the consequences of using them in an attempt to forge weapons. 

 "Indeed. I believe these are Mana shards."

 "Mana shards?"

 "They are similar to magic crystals but are not formed within monsters, rather they are formed in areas with high magic concentration."

 "High magic concentration. If that's the case then that means..."

 "—This is the main ingredient being used for the production of Blue and it's being mined somewhere within the Floato region."

 "You're kidding. To think the Jaxith family was housing such a massive treasure within their territory. Is this the reason for the war?"

 Blane ignored the shocked gazes of the three as he walked over to the last door in the hall and opened it. This door had the same magic runes as the first but unlocks easily from the inside so there was no issue in opening it. 

 Behind the door was the darkness of an abandoned tunnel. His eyes sharpened as he extended his senses to his limit before turning to address the two Hunters.

 "This tunnel might lead to the enemy base, me and Bam will investigate further along with Kate. So Freos, please return to the others and report this place back to the palace. Have the Knights discreetly confiscate these crates and send them to the Emerald Palace." 

 Giving as he was the weakest one here despite his superior infiltration prowess, Freos did not object to Blane's directive as he promptly nodded his head and answered.

 "Understood."