Supreme Monarch

Inside the large cave that was connected to a Grade 3 Gold mine. Tyler stared at the party of five slightly perplexed.

Tyler couldn't understand why this group of supposedly experienced Hunters suddenly looked panicked and frustrated even if it was just slightly. He found it odd that they would consider this group of ant workers as more of a threat than the group of mutated hoppers that had greatly outnumbered them last night.

Not wanting to be kept in the dark about such an important issue, he decided to ask the reason for this. Turning his head slightly to the side, he spoke to Dohel in a low voice.

"Is there a problem with those monsters?"

Dohel also turned his head around to face Tyler and although he could not see his face, he could tell by his voice that he did not understand why the group looked slightly panicked right now, and on further considerations, he understood why that was the case.

They had never discussed anything about the monsters they would meet in this cave with Lix so it was only natural that he would be unaware that the appearance of the Ant Giants meant that this mine did not contain only a single monster nest as they had assumed.

"Well Mr. Lix, I'm afraid these are not the monsters we encountered here on our first arrival."

"I see... So you're bothered by the lack of information on what other types of monsters could be lurking in here."

"I'm afraid so. We knew it was impossible to be fully prepared on what we would encounter here as this is an unexpected mine but, we still had hoped there would only be a single monster nest here even though that may have been naive, to begin with."

"I see... So what's the problem?"

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"Huh..." A dumbfounded experience swept access Dohel's face as he stared blankly at Tyler before he managed to speak again. "Excuse me?" 

"Why is the existence of a variety of monsters a problem?"

"..."

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"..."

"..."

"Isn't it an Hunter's job to hunt down different monsters?"

"Well that's technically correct but—"

"Then there's no problem. Several monsters nest just means different monsters to hunt, and probably more valuable cores and better profits, isn't that right?"

"That's... That may be so but... we don't have the manpower and resources to defend ourselves while also mining for gold and we won't be able to go deeper into the mine where purer and even rarer metals are most likely going to be."

"Like I Said, why is that a problem?"

"Hmm—" Dohel was about to fumble a response when Tyler suddenly cut him off.

"After all, you have me do you not?" 

Dohel's eyes widened... That may have been the most arrogant statement he had ever heard and if it had come from anyone else but Lix, he would've rolled his eyes but... They were all fully aware of how strong he was even if they didn't know much about his abilities and specialties.

With his physical strength alone he could probably take on an advanced class monster all by himself and if they add his magic to the mix, they could only imagine how strong he actually was. 

Although they had made a deal which entails them sharing the profits of a monster's loot 50/50 with Lix if ever they were to come across a situation in which they were unable to handle the monsters themselves. While it had only been for an instance, Dohel had completely forgotten about that.

However, now that he thought about it, this was probably a good chance for them to learn more about the mysterious merchant known only by the name Lix, and about his abilities and magic potential.

Dohel turned his head around to take a look at his comrades and saw them give him a look of approval, the nervousness slightly fading away from their faces. He then sighed inwardly to slightly losing his nerves and then nodded at Lix.

"You're right, we do. Please forgive me for not considering that myself and do lend us your strength in dealing with the monster that comes while we're busy

mining the minerals in this mine."

He said the last few words while lowering his head in a respectful bow and remained like that until Tyler finally replied.

"I don't see any reason why you should be asking me that. Didn't we already have a deal?"

"Haha you're right, I apologize if I sounded weird."

"Don't bother with it."

"Alright let's move, we'll advance in the usual formation and Mr. Lix will back us up from behind if need be."

"Ai ai."

"Roger."

"Let's make quick work of these overgrown insects, I'm getting hungry."

Saying that the group quickly drew their weapons and Aine and Aine prepared their spells with Anne promptly casting the silent spell on them as they slowly approached the hard-working monsters who were still busy digging a tunnel through the hard rocky cave wall with their large claws and mandibles. It was as though the rocks were made of nothing but mud or something soft as they tore through it with little resistance.

As they silently approached the busy ants, whose objectives in digging another tunnel were still unknown. It was safe to assume that this mine would be a vast labyrinth of tunnels that could span several hundred meters maybe even miles. 

This would greatly increase the difficulty of this mission as they would now have to spend a large amount of time searching for where in the labyrinth was rich in rare minerals, making it impossible to fully explore this mine in a day or two.

However, the group was just a few meters away from the monsters when they noticed something inside the tunnel the monsters were digging. There appeared to be some gently glittering rocks at the side of the walls and scattered all around the tunnel. It appears to rock with streaks of yellow running through them.

The party's eyes went wide as they gulped a mouthful of saliva. The last time they were here, they had only spotted the gold ore deeper inside the cave but now, it appears that there was gold inside this tunnel as well, at least if they dug deeper into the rocks the Giant Ants were already digging, they would probably come across actual pure gold or even other rare metals and minerals.

This revelation meant that they did not have to go any deeper into the dungeon where the chances of encountering extremely dangerous monsters were very high.

Perhaps letting the ants do the work for them would make things easier for them but monsters were very unpredictable and they could not be sure why these monsters were digging a tunnel. There was a chance they would summon more ants as time went on or even attract more dangerous monsters with the amount of sound they were making. So they needed to take them all out quickly before that happens.

"Dark Vine Hostage."

Aine cast her spell and thanks to the silence spell that was still active, her voice had not alerted the ants that were still busy working when suddenly, black vines sprout out from the hard ground around all ten Giant Ants and wrapped tightly around them, binding them all firmly in place.

The startled ants waved their mandibles around and squeaked loudly trying hard to break free from the magic vines that bound them. However, the party would not let them off that easily.

°Breaking Arrow Shower°

Larut quickly aimed his crossbow and fired a barrage of arrows that whooshed through the air with a silver glim as they shattered the heads of several of the Giant Ants and Dohel quickly charged in to finish off the rest.

The Giant Ants were only Basic class monsters but their basic strength was still impressive. While about six of them had lost their lives to Larut's attack, the others were able to shatter the vines that bound them and blocked the barrage of arrows aimed at their heads with their massive claws. 

They opened their mandibles wide and charge at the incoming Dohel as Anne boosted his physical abilities with an enhancement spell. Dohel did not use a skill as they would most likely damage the structural integrity of the narrowed tunnel.

He was already having trouble swinging his large Greatsword in such a narrow pathway. However, he was experienced enough to find ways around such limitations.

As he appeared before the four Ant Giants that had also charged at him. They swung their large claws at his head and he quickly moved to the side and thrust his weapon straight at the monster before him.

The greatsword tore through the Giant Ant's tough exoskeleton like it was nothing. Dohel then raised his sword with the monster still lodged in it and slammed it into the second ant behind it with all his might. 

Both monsters had been impaled by his large blade and he quickly pulled his weapon out of their bodies while kicking them off. The time it took him to do that allowed the remaining two Giant Ants to appear by his side though as he turned to face one of them.

The monsters had attacked him from both sides so he could not face them both at the same time but there were no worries in his mind as he only focused on blocking the attack from one of them. The reason he could do this was simply because he knew his team would have his back.

"Fireball."

Anne cast the Tier 1 fire spell as it was one of the few attack spells she was able to cast but this time, it did what it was supposed to do perfectly. The ball of flames burst in the head of one of the Ant Giants and it staggered back having taken a lot of damage since it had very little magic resistance.

Dohel deflected the claw attack from the monster in front of him and immediately thrust his greatsword straight at the Ant Giant's chest. He quickly pulled it out as he spun around and in a smooth motion, he swung the large weapon at the staggered Ant's waist, cleaving it in half in one fell swoop.

"Phew... That took more out of me than I expected."

Dohel said as he wiped the sweat off his forehead while gently panting. The others laughed dryly as they walked into the tunnel to take a better look at the situation in there.

"You should work on your stamina Mr. Dohel, you shouldn't be tired after something like this."

"..." 

Dohel was shocked.

He stared at Tyler blankly and even his other party members seemed a bit surprised. Tyler wasn't sure why they had all frozen in place but he thought he might have offended them by making such a comment.

Perhaps that was not something that should be said to a Hunter or something. He quickly tried to think of a way to rectify the situation when Dohel suddenly laughed.

"Haha Mr. Lix, I did not expect someone like you to also give me a hard time about this, that's unfair."

"Yeah right, our boorish leader has lousy stamina and is always getting us in trouble because of that, you can tell him off harsher Mr. Lix."

"Please do, maybe he'll try harder next time."

"Yes, please do."

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"He probably also has no stamina in bed as well, definitely can't provide me with any nutrients, what a waste of a man."

"Oh come on guys give me a break, I'm really trying I swear."

Tyler was stunned.

He was completely taken aback by this sudden change in the situation as he had not expected it to turn out to be a running gag or something. He suddenly felt the energy drain from his body as he wondered why he had worried about that, to begin with.

'These guys are just... All over the place.'