Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

He had been neglecting his gale magic because he was more fond of the destructive attributes but now that he knew how useful the other attributes can be in different situations, his thinking changed.

Because of his affinity with the gale magic, he was able to silently dispose of these goons without anyone noticing.

"Found you" Simon who had been keeping his eyes closed all this while, suddenly opened them and conjured a gale blade that had enough mana imbued in it to be able to easily pierce a thick steel plate.

The gale blade that was half a meter long flew at an extreme speed on the rooftop of a nearby building.

THUK… a noise sounded out and a body with a huge gaping hole on its stomach fell down. The last person who was tailing him, was successfully dealt with before they even had the chance to run away.

After finishing off his pursuers, Simon burned their bodies with his flame magic and hurriedly left the scene. Killing inside the city was prohibited and strictly dealt with when found. He had to get away from here before the soldier arrives and investigate the scene.

Fortunately, Simon was careful enough to bring these people to a secluded place where nobody could see him.

                                                                        -----

The time was of night, inside one of the lavish buildings that was specifically booked for a group of people, Oman was seated on his couch listening to the report of his subordinate. 

At this moment, his expression was extremely unsightly as he kicked the subordinate who had come up with the report.

"You people are all useless. There were six of you and you couldn't even handle a single person. What's the point of even keeping you around if you can't even accomplish a single task of mine?".

The subordinate writhed around the floor before mustering up his energy to speak in a faint tone "Your Highness, that person was extremely peculiar, his aura was bizarre and his strength was difficult to measure. He might have some skill like your Highness that blocked all attempts of analysis. Also… he could use multiple attributes of magic".

The people who went after Simon were not five but actually six, one of them was tasked with monitoring the situation from a distant place and report everything back.

Oman had a pondering face just as he was about to say something, he felt a sudden presence from the balcony of his room and hurriedly dismissed the subordinate.

The beautiful moonlight of the moons hanging high up in the sky, cast a shadow on the being. Yes, the being who had entered Oman's room was not human, it had a wide pair of bat-like wings, glaring crimson eyes and jagged horns that protruded from his head.

The being was tall enough to dwarf most humans.

"You were listening to our conversation all along huh?" Oman said looking at the demon who had appeared in his place at an unknown time.

Avrox smiled and lazily lounged on the sofa, an eerie presence radiated off of him.

Seeing that the demon had no intention of answering his question, he brought out a different topic.

"Did my father inform you about the plan?".

Avrox suddenly got up from his seat and approached Oman, he only stopped when he was a few inches away from him. The sharp claws of the Demon Earl threatened to tear apart the neck of the latter.

"It seems that you don't know who you are talking to boy. Let me remind you of the hierarchy once again" his words just fell when Oman felt a strong clench in his neck and before he knew it, he was suspended in the air.

"Ugh" the crown prince struggled, his entire face was red but no matter what he did, he felt powerless in front of the being whose power was beyond his imagination.

"If you think a Demon Earl is the same as those Demon Baron subordinates that contacted you, then you are sorely mistaken. If I want to, I can decimate your entire capital in a single day and nothing can be more enjoyable for me than this".

"Me not doing so is simply because your father, the king of Ingolf kingdom and we Demon nobles are on the same side. If you understand that then be careful how you address me" Avrox whispered into the latter's ear in a coarse husky voice.

BAM…

Cough..cough… Oman was slammed into the ground and coughed repeatedly. Only after taking a few long breaths was he able to compose himself. There was no longer any haughtiness in his behaviour nor was he acting like a prince anymore.

"Your Lordship" Oman after that experience, got on one knee and bowed.

Seemingly finding his current behaviour much more pleasant, Avrox smiled and nodded "That's more like it, remember to address me like that from now on. As for the thing, WE agreed with your father, will be done. You just need to keep your end of the bargain. Oh right, here is a little present from our side, use it wisely".

Avrox tossed something towards Oman and was just about to leave through the balcony when his crimson eyes suddenly widened.

"Hmm? That's weird this aura is not something that I recognise yet why does it feel so familiar?".

Seeing the demon earl who was about to leave, stop so suddenly made Oman anxious and he hurriedly asked "Is there something wrong your lordship?".

"Did you recently meet with someone?" Avrox questioned without turning around.

"Eh? Ah… if your lordship means those Demon Noble subordinates of yours then no. I was attending the auction before this" Oman replied after pondering for a while.

Avrox flashed a wicked smile when he heard those words "Auction huh… interesting".

Right after he said that, his body was covered in a black haze and the person disappeared just like he appeared.

Now left all alone, Oman punched the floor hard causing crisscrossing cracks to appear on it.

"Dammit" as he cursed, he looked at the item tossed by the Demon Noble and his eye immediately became wide.

                                                                      -----

In another part of the city, located at the heart of the commercial district was a huge building that out shadowed all the other ones around it whether it be in magnificence or importance.

Placed in front of the building was a signboard that read Adventurer's Association Main Branch. Inside one of the rooms of the building, was an old man seated at his desk glossing through a document.

Knock…Knock… suddenly, the door was knocked and a beautiful girl probably in her twenties, came inside.

"Father you called me?".

The old man put down the documents and removed his glasses before smiling adoringly towards his daughter.

"Can a father not see his daughter? Ah that's right, now that you are engaged with that man, you don't have any need for your father anymore is that right?" the old man teased.

"Father!" the girl shouted bashfully.

"Haha, this old man is just kidding. Indeed I called you Lisa" the old man picked up the document from his table and passed it to her.

"Here is the document pertaining to the thing you asked me to investigate. The messenger Krowl brought it just a few hours ago". Krooo… the old man caressed a bird that resembled an owl.

Lisa read the contents of the documents and her expression was immediately masked with surprise.

"You have already investigated that dungeon?".

"Yeah, it was a request from my darling daughter, how could I ignore it? I employed every means possible in my power as the Branch President of the Adventurer's Association. However, even I was surprised by the contents of the message".

The old man looked wearingly at the ceiling and sighed:

"To be honest, when you said that demon helped you and your fiancé, I couldn't believe it so I used everything I had to investigate the case. The result I got was surprising to say no less".

"A Demon Noble helping humans, powerful subordinates and a dungeon that is rising in rank too fast. All of it sounds so absurd that I would discard it as some joke had it not been for the authenticity of the message".

Dungeon Name-Laplace

Possible floors-Above twenty

Discoveries:-Disaster class subordinates, Powerful monsters, Rich rewards, Dense mana

Exploration party-Burning Arrow guild

Average guild level-300,

Numbers-Upper 30

Exploring members:-Blake Gunvald, Frida Braun, Kody Barton…

Floors Explored-Twentieth floor

Exploration status-Failed (forced retreat), reason- appearance of disaster class monster

Casualty-4 dead, 11 injured, guild master rendered unconscious,

Approximate threat level of the dungeon-Abvoe C or C+

Lisa had a serious expression on her face as she read the contents of the message. She who had experienced the dungeon first-hand and had seen the Demon noble and his subordinate with her own eyes, was not surprised by the result of the investigation.

Though the answer she wanted to know was still a mystery to her… why did the demon noble help them?

"Do you still resent them?" the old man asked. 

"How can I not resent them who took all of it from me, my friends, my guild, even the condition Chuck is in currently is because of them. Do you think I can take this pathetic excuse that they escape?"

"Is the great name of Godwin just for show, a hoax only to scare the enemies? Wasn't he at the city of Mountmend at that time? To think that he wouldn't even be able to capture a single high ranking member of the Seven Swords Guild".

Lisa spoke in a dispirited but more so in a frustrated tone.

The branch president of the adventurer's association looked at her and sighed.