Supreme Monarch

Although it didn't seem like Loriel and Tarka could get along. Tyler still needed them to work together so he had Gerl mediate their affair on his behalf. 

He would have Z take Loriel to the Darkin mountain range in the future so she could also transport the materials from the mine there before he would be able to establish a teleportation Gate on all the key locations in the continent. 

He had also thought of constructing roads and maybe creating a sort of transport train but the latter was a stupid idea. Flying was a lot faster even though it was a little more dangerous. However, there were ways to avoid those powerful flying creatures. 

'Hmm, I should probably handle those creatures before sending the Azure Dragonflies to the Darkin Mountain Range. Besides, taming more flying creatures would also increase his transport efficiency.'

After what felt like hours of sorting out certain details with Gerl, Tarka, and Loriel. He had Zelda mark Loriel's soul so he could keep track of her in case of emergencies. With the soul's marker, he could teleport himself and anyone directly to her side.

This was something he had thought of when he had wanted to send Kali to Jarret's side.

With that done, Tyler finally concluded his task here and teleported himself and Erin to the Farbelt pass to retrieve Mike.

Although he had been to the Farbelt pass a couple of times now. Tyler couldn't clearly picture the cave he had left Mike and the magic carriage in so he had teleported to the hill next to the Grade 3 Gold Mine. 

He remembered there might still be Hunters there so he had teleported a little further away. He probably would've been able to get Uriel to teleport him directly to his desired cave but he had failed to consider that possibility at the time. 

In an instant, two figures appeared atop the snowy hill above the underground labyrinth that doubles as a gold mine. Tyler and Erin had both sensed several presences in the mine below them and had immediately hidden their presence. 

Using Erin's divination, they were able to view the situation in the cave below them and Tyler comprehended the situation immediately. From what he could see, the ones in the cave were not Hunters but some of them looked similar to the Knight guards he had spotted in winged city. 

The only differences were their far better equipment and stronger auras. These knights were surely a notch above the ones in the city, and he could tell that they were all at the Tier 3 standards or above. 

'Hmm... are they royal knights?'

{Confirmed, these are essentially royal knights directly under the lord of Winged city.}

"I see..."

"Is something wrong lord Ty?"

Having audibly let out his response to Uriel unconsciously, Erin had assumed he was talking to her which had almost thrown him off but he quickly recovered and composed himself.

"These Knights seems to be stronger than the ones I encountered in the city. This means they are royal Knight directly under the city lord. Judging by the outfit and equipment of the others in the cave. I'll reckon they are all professional miners."

"So that's it. These must be the ones sent by the city to mine the Underground Mine you had gotten the Runite from."

"Indeed they are. From the looks of it, they have been camping in the cave for a few days now. This means they had also hired Hunters who are currently clearing out the monster nest in the mines."

"It is just as you predicted Lord Ty. But..."

"What's wrong?"

"With the average strength of these knights, I don't think the Hunters will be able to handle the creature you left behind."

"Oh." Tyler chuckled as he heard that which made Erin flustered and she retreated behind him. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to laugh. Are you worried about the Hunters' lives?"

"Uh? N-no that's not it. I-I just mean, if they all died, won't the Knights go in after them and meet the same fate. If that happens, your plans would be hampered as I don't think the miners can survive a day on their own."

"Oh, so you were just worried about my plans huh? How nice of you."

Erin's face was flushed at this point and she seems to shrink back into herself.

"—Well, you don't have to worry about my plans. I indeed ordered that summon to kill everyone that steps into that cavern. However, Hunters aren't as fragile as you may think. If I remember correctly you were part of the Hunting team in your time in the Red Ogre settlement right?"

"Y-yes."

"And what do your team usually do when you encounter a monster you can't handle?"

"We usually retreat. If we can't afford a complete retreat we lead the monster into a trap."

"Indeed... Still. There is a fundamental difference between these Hunters and your hunting party."

"What's that?"

"While your party's main aim was to track monsters for food. A Hunter's entire purpose is the extermination of monsters. This means they would venture into very dangerous regions to eliminate a single monster. This allows them to be fully prepared for anything, including coming face to face with a monster that completely outclasses them."

"Oh, I see... due to the information about the Green-eyed devil the city received, they will, in turn, send their most capable Hunters. Hunters of that level would be able to instantly recognize the danger and initiate an immediate retreat. They should also be able to afford various escape tools that should allow their survival."

"Exactly. Well, I doubt there would be that many survivors, the chances a few of them would make it back to report this is 100%"

"Wow, that's amazing Lord Ty."

'Frankly speaking, the fact that Mammon was a reincarnate made me believe there are more reincarnations from the earth here in the demon continent so the chances that one of the top-tier Hunters would be one is very high. Knowing the nature of reincarnates, surviving even a more powerful monster that is bound to a limited space should be easy.'

Although Erin seems to be impressed by his plan, Tyler wasn't really confident in it himself. He had just wanted to seem sure and not look pathetic. He needed to find a suitable method in asking Z for his opinion on this matter. 

Having gotten all they could from watching the ones below, they concluded their observation and Tyler teleported them to the entrance of the cave where he had kept Mike. 

However, something strange had happened as thanks to Spatial Awareness, his teleportation destination was adjusted and they had appeared a few feet outside the cave.

Upon arriving a few feet from the entrance of the cave. He noticed there was no longer an entrance to a cave in that location which was why his destination had been altered. 

Of course, he wasn't in the wrong location and that thought didn't even cross his mind even once. There were just rocks and snow covering the former entrance to the cave.

"What the hell, was there a cave in there, or was this done by a rock slide?"

There were countless amounts of caves in the Farbelt pass and every single one of them was underneath a hill or a small mountain and after visiting this place twice already, Tyler was sure a natural cave in or rock slide do not occur.

Using Magic sense, he was unable to penetrate inside the cave. It was as though the rocks were blocking his senses but this was his first time experiencing this so he turned to Erin and asked her if she could sense the interior of the cave. 

"I'm sorry I Can't, there appears to be strong interference coming from those rocks or maybe something had put up a barrier around the entire hill."

"I see... Well, no point in wasting any more time making assumptions out here. Let's just head in."

Tyler immediately started walking towards the blocked entrance to the cave and Erin follows behind him without hesitation. As he got closer to the cave entrance, the hills began vibrating for a moment when all the rocks suddenly flew out of the entrance and hung in the air around them.

Walking to the entrance of the cave, Tyler noticed a barrier had been placed around it. He touched the almost invisible barrier and felt his energy being drained. This was most likely a magic absorbing barrier that would absorb most magic attacks and use it to power itself. 

The skill was probably a mid-tier one that could get infinitely stronger the more it absorbs but there was also a chance it would have a limit. However, taking the risk wasn't worth it.

While there were countless ways to dispel such barriers. Tyler didn't bother with any of them and went with the simplest method. Brute strength.

As his hand was still placed on the barrier, it felt like he was touching an invisible glass so Tyler applied pressure from his fingertips into the barrier that felt as though it could withstand an atomic bomb. However, it had shattered under in the next moment as though it was just made of glass.

Walking inside the cave, the stench of blood suddenly assaulted his nose and Tyler frowned. His steps had come to a halt as stared furiously at the sight before him. 

Deep within this cave, was a massive lizard-like creature curled up by the walls as it glared at the pair that had just intruded on its lair. There was a half-destroyed carriage by the side of the cave but that was not what had pissed Tyler off.

Next to the recovering Dragon-like creature was the half-eaten body of a certain six-eyed bull that had only recently received the name, Mike.

"This cave doesn't seem large enough to be the lair of such a massive creature so why is it living here. Its lifeforce also seems to be weak."

Erin asked an obvious question but even Tyler could tell she was right to wonder such. He had left Mike here after confirming that there were no monsters within a 1000 meter radius. There was only one reason why this would have happened and Tyler was aware of it. 

"I miscalculated."

{Master's conjecture is accurate. There is a connection between this incident and the group of Hunters. The only possibility involves the ColdFire Drake encountering the Hunters and being severely wounded. It then retreated randomly into this cave to hide and ate the Six eyed bull to recover its energy and heal itself. However, its lifeforce is yet to be recovered and it is still in a weakened state.}

'I'm aware.'

Without Tyler having to spell it out for Erin, she was able to connect the dots and understood the connections between what Tyler had said and the Drake. She wanted to say something but decided against it.

The ColdFire Drake who was just glaring at them from the end of the cave suddenly sensed a dangerous aura from the male that had disturbed its rest and opened its Maw. A massive ball of white flames gathered there and it condensed it with all its remaining energy as the temperature of the Cold flames rapidly approached Absolute Zero.

•ZeroBolt•

Launching the attack that froze the air it flew by and even froze space itself, it crossed the short distance in an instant and swallowed up its enemies. The strength of that attack could even wipe out an entire region so the drake believe no demon could stop that.

He was about to shut his eyes when the ball of absolute power suddenly began to shrink as though it was being absorbed.

In only a matter of seconds, his most powerful skill using all of its remaining energy and a bit of his already weak lifeforce had completely disappeared into the creepy mouth that appeared on the gloved palm of the male demon that stared coldly at it.

A drake could not sweat yet that was the only way to describe what was happening to him as the demon's eyes glowed red and everything went dark.

•Dark Lightning•