Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

Kukenan Plateau.

A newly constructed facility that was placed further away from the White Raven guild building. It was underground and didn't have any conventional entrances or exits.

There were various spatial arrays placed at one corner of this large facility that served as the entrances or exits. This large hall held nothing but what seemed to be raw ingredients for alchemy and potioning.

This hall was also used as a facility for monster taming. Monsters that were captured from Minerva's Utopia by Levine and other B-Rankers who were onboard with White Raven City's construction plan.

Load. Aim. Shoot.

A ranger-class ranker shot a syringe of potion on a plant-type monster using a runic blowgun. The plant-type monster was trapped in an array as if it had been waiting to get shot at.

The plant-type monster was known as Mega Mandrake. It was a 14 feet tall monster made of roots when it was in its Monster Soldier rank. These monsters wouldn't have fixed shapes. So their evolution would be different from each other.

The Mega Mandrake trapped inside the array was of Monster Lord rank. It had a humanoid body from its waist up. But it seemed like his torso was stuck inside a gigantic blue flower. The various thick roots below the flower served as the monster's legs.

"Aaargh!

Seref likes to be freeeeeee. Why bother Seraf? Leave… Me… free."

Seref the Mega Mandrake spoke his words in human language with some difficulty. It was obvious that he didn't like getting trapped inside an array. He was personally captured by Levine and was brought here to be tamed.

But in the next moment, the Monster Lord stopped speaking and his eyes got diluted. The syringe had injected a very potent concoction that served as a way to control the monster.

The one who had shot the syringe at the monster was also special. His name was Will Evan. And he was not a normal human.

Will belonged to a race of humans known as mini giants. Will himself was 12 feet tall; an average stature for the mini giant race. He belonged to Levine's faction and was brought here to aid in the city's construction matters.

Will's father was a Montmorency clan member. Therefore, he was considered a descendant of the House Montmorency. This 12 feet mini giant was an Adept ranked ranger who was tasked with handling these plant-type monsters.

Will had shoulder-length hair that cascaded down his long face. He had black eyes and a square-cut face. He didn't have any stubble showing. Plus, he had a cleft chin that gave him distinct looks.

Will was wearing a typical adventurer outfit with an overcoat made of bear-type mana beast. He also had a necklace that featured a monster nail as its pendant. He also had a long knife attached to his belt.

"Adept Will, is it done?"

While looking closely at Seref, Renar, who was standing behind Will, asked the ranger. They said that Mega Mandrakes were not aggressive monsters. But Renar didn't like to take chances.

"Um… in about a minute."

Will said, after gauging the potion's effects by wrapping the monster up with his mana sense. Only when he confirmed that the potion had worked did he respond to Renar.

"Yeah, it's done. Take this array disk. Imbue it with your mana sense while giving orders to Seref. He should listen to you just fine. The effects of the potion will last for three days. You would have plenty of time to complete your tasks."

Will replied and gave Renar the array disk. The eye of the array disk contained the same green potion that was in the syringe. The array disk served as the way to give the tamed-by-potion monster commands.

Renar imbued his mana sense into the array disk and felt a connection getting established with Seref. He smiled before addressing Seref.

"Don't worry, Veggie Man. You don't have to do much. Help us make this barren land not seem barren and I'll treat you to plenty of water. Haha."

Renar chuckled before nodding at Will. The latter nodded back before dispelling the array trap, letting the tamed monster free.

"Call… call me Seraf."

While still feeling delirious due to the potion's effects, Seref said. Renar pursed his lips before responding.

"Aaah! I'm sorry. You are a Monster Lord. I haven't dealt with monsters of your caliber. So I get shocked whenever you guys start talking.

Seref. I'll remember that. Let's go outside. I'm sure we can manage to find common ground by the end of the third day."

Renar said as he led the Mega Mandrake towards the array serving as the exit.

Renar was tasked with creating habitable land nearby the under-construction city that would soon be named White Raven city. And so far, his project was progressing nicely thanks to these plant-type monsters.

Forests and vegetation were the foundation of ecosystems. Every successful city needs this ecosystem to keep prospering.

The Mega Mandrake only had one spell in their arsenal which couldn't technically be called something offensive. It was an earth-element spell that created dense vegetation around it. It was almost like permanent summoning magic that was restricted to only trees and plants.

The vegetation created by the Mana Mandrake was ideal for the soil on which it had cast its spell. The plant-type monster was like a forest-making factory, enabling the rankers controlling it to raise dense forests out of nowhere.

Slowly but surely, the lands surrounding the upcoming White Raven city were changing. Renar was doing his darnedest to control these monsters and employ them the right way.

But too quick a prosperity almost always brought troubles with it.

This time, it was no different.

Rankers from House Derringer and House Montmorency heavily protected the soon-to-be-built city. But that didn't mean the guild land would be completely free of intruders.

"Such a frightening pace and progress. It's almost like somebody predicted the whole thing."

The lady ranker, who stood at the edge of the mountain platform surrounded by newly created dense vegetation, commented after seeing the progress of the city for herself. She couldn't see the city construction itself because she hadn't penetrated deep into the White Raven lands.

However, she didn't have to. The area she was surrounded by spoke volumes about the city's construction progress.

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AN: Mega Mandrakes were first mentioned in chapter 466.