Under the darkness and shadows of the night, magical lamps worked to push the darkness away and bring a sense of security to humans.

Within the large estates in the kingdom of Shiarus, directly south of east eshen, rich nobles finished his work and stretched.

A butler was behind him and prepared a cup of tea for him and he happily drank it.

“Sir, there is some news that has been going around the past two weeks.” the butler said.

“Oh?” the noble said.

“Apparently there are some hidden assassins going around noble lands and freeing the slaves and vanishing like shadows.” the butler said.

“What use is there? Our slave seals work as trackers and outside a certain range, the slave is zapped with magic through their bodies. This is ludacris news, tell me about our work here. How is this year's production? Has it gone up since those Eshen scum had reached mature age?” he asked.

“The magic trained by the Eshen born slaves do have a better effect compared to our own people. They are clearly better than our own.” the butler said.

The noble scowled and spat to the side, “Fucking pigs deserve being reduced to livestock. They dare assume themselves better and serve a more noble cause for our growth.” he said.

The butler could not say anything as the production had not risen due to the magic of the Eshen slaves but because their mothers taught the children agriculture tricks when they went to meet them.

“There are about 300 Eshen slave children who have reached the age 12 this month.” the butler said.

The noble grinned at the news, almost all the slaves had similar birthdays due to mass breeding done to their mothers.

“Good, the more slaves we have, the more we can breed and the more land we can develop. Continue this good work.” the noble said.

The noble got up after that and walked out of the office and with the butler, they headed to the room of the noble. It was separate from that of his wife for when he desired peace and quiet instead of sleep with his wife.

The butler helped his lord get into more casual clothing and then left at his command leaving himself in a quiet room alone.

He sighed and sat down on a comfortable chair and reached for an electrical device but suddenly the lights shut off.

“Huh?!” he said.

As soon as he tried to get up, the darkness morphed and grabbed him. Almost a dozen hands grabbed out from the very darkness around him and most importantly is the hand over his mouth. The power he felt gripping him and nearly breaking his body felt immensely painful and he knew this was not some weak people.

Footsteps came from behind and the device he was reaching for got picked up and lit up.

A man stood there, the shadows cast from the light naturally blurred his body and didn’t reveal his face entirely “Hello sir, sorry about the treatment but we aren’t here for a courtesy visit.” the man said.

His hand began to shine a golden light that filled the room with light but the curtains were covered and a cloak of darkness covered the bodies of them all.

The noble was fearing for his life as he thought he was going to die but the hand of the man just reached over and touched his hand.

He felt an immense burning sensation but the next second, his entire arm lit up with over a dozen master seals and control seals for all the slaves.

When the seal was revealed, the hands gripping that arm came off except the hands pinning the noble’s hand and shoulders but he could still struggle and tried to instantly. That ended quickly as the hand covering his mouth came off and suddenly slapped him causing teeth to fly out, leaving him dizzy. The hand came down again sealing his mouth.

“If you do not want to die a painful death, you will sit quietly.” A hissing voice from one of the shadow men.

Next the glowing hand moved and the sleeve of the man was ripped off and with a single finger, he put it on the first seal.

Golden mana began to flow through it and to the shock of the noble, he watched as the red slave seal turned golden before it evaporated. Next the command seals were taken out one by one and then he continued on the slave seals until the last one on that arm was removed.

He then began on the rest of the body. His body was injected with small bits all over revealing all the different seals and backup seals so that others would not kill him if they wanted his slaves but they each were revealed one by one and were undone by simply injecting this golden mana he had never seen before.

When his entire body was cleared, they finally injected into his head and as expected, the original seal was there and it was far more complex than any other and would kill all the slaves if it was carelessly tampered with but the man did not care and just injected mana and to the horror of the noble, he felt all control of the tens of thousands of slaves suddenly evaporate with the extremely complex slavery magic.

“It is done. Finish him.” the one injecting mana said as the glow vanished and darkness filled the room once more.

That was the last thing he saw before several cracks came and a sound of slicing was heard as the neck was broken and then the head chopped.

The dozen men melted into the darkness. In the house, one by one the rooms turned off and the process repeated as the subordinates, family and anyone with any command seals over the slaves were trapped, the seal erased and then killed in the silence of the darkness until the very last. This happened in all the nearby houses of all the subordinates and it was a silent massacre.

When it was done, the men slowly came out in front of one particular slave house.

Even without entering, a putrid smell could be sensed which made them scowl.

Soon several other groups appeared from the shadows as the lamps all over were going out improving their field of work.

Among them, two young people stood near the front.

These were Logan and Olivia and in front of them, leading this was Maxwell.

The capability of erasing slavery magic isn’t some technique or magic, there is a reason why the Golden Lion was the biggest anti-slavery organization. In fact, every organization in every human occupied continent was the same and their mana had this same effect. Their very mana erased slavery magic. They were the people most resistant to this type of corruptive magic as well as the people who could remove it without any care for the consequences but it naturally had to follow a process.

For instance, freeing a slave would alert the master and he could instantly kill them so they naturally had to take out every head before taking the slaves but this is where the dark magic of the Golden Lion’s come into play.

They entered the very shadows around them and it meant they had no obstacles as long as there was darkness in the surroundings. The darker the environment, the more effective it is to the point that it could make them one of the best assassin organizations if they desired.

However, what had begun as a simple tradition to help fulfill their new leader’s grudges had filled them all with immense disgust. This was a natural reaction of their mana but they were utterly disgusted. The slaves of other places were treated like monster workers at best, they still got somewhat good conditions but Eshens were treated worse than dogs. The women were treated as pigs and bred like cattle. All girls reaching 12 would also be put to ‘work’ and allowed to do with the subordinates of the nobles as long as they were not killed or crippled.

They had gone through nearly 10 nobles already but this is the first time they actually killed people and that is because both Logan’s mom and his sister were here.

How did he know? The previous nights he had Jade use sleeping magic and using a type of magic tool to find that. He put his blood into the center and then compared it to a drop retrieved from the slaves.

What was horrible though was that he found not only his sister and his mother but all the siblings, nieces and nephews forcefully bred from them.

The condition of the two weren’t any better than the boys and young men who were put to work in the field. There were already people 14 and 15 years old born into slavery from all these women and this disgusting place filled the entirety of the Golden Lion’s with a savage desire to burn this entire nation to ashes.

That desire was suppressed though, they could not fight the royal knights who were usually A and in stronger nations, S rank. Shiarus had a royal guard with nearly 1,000 men and not one weaker than B rank while the Golden Lions only had around 50 who were above B rank.

Max opened the door and they could hear the disgusting sounds of some men enjoying themselves.

“Kill the remaining guards, this place doesn’t need to remain standing.” Max said.

“Dad…” Olivia said.

“I know, this is barely enough for you to consider revenge since your parents were killed during the war but Logan’s…” Max said.

Logan’s eyes were red as he walked through holding Arashi. Each and every guard caught was pinned and Logan released all his anger upon them, years of anger and even more resentment from seeing this kind of treatment, he unloaded this by torturing them one by one and giving each of them a painful death. He didn’t know which ones had done what to his family but he would leave none alive.

When he was done, everyone was silent as he was covered in blood but his body was trembling as if he would go on a murder spree.

At that moment, Max walked in with two women. Their bodies were disproportional, their bellies were flacid from 15 years of giving birth but their bodies were skinny. They had already met him and they had cried the entire day together even with the smell and unclean environment they were reunited.

When they saw his anger causing his mana to burn around him, his mother didn’t think twice and walked over, weak as she might be and pulled him into a hug.

His body trembled but with her rough hoarse voice, she lightly hummed a lullaby and his hand that held Arashi slowly loosened and she felt to the ground as he started to cry. He hugged her and cried silently but didn’t put force in his arms, he was gentle like no other. His sister soon joined.

“I’m so glad… that I didn’t lose everyone.” Logan said through his sobs.

“We are happy that you came back.” his sister said but soon felt weak.

Logan grabbed her and looked at Jade. She quickly came and examined her. “It is just malnutrition but it has lasted for too long. Muscle weakening, bone deficiency and a host of diseases thanks to the environment and likely from the men who…” Jade stopped.

Logan carefully lifted them as Olivia took out a door. He opened it and with Olivia supporting his mother, they went inside. He placed them in his room, used magic to clean them as best he could and had Jade stay. “Start treating any disease and injury you can. Just like with the other slaves, they need to be properly examined by professional doctors.” he said.

Jade sighed and had his mother lay down and put her to sleep with some magic so she would not stop him from doing anything more. She had no strength to resist and he walked on.

His entire face was frigid as he watched Olivia open her own door and not only the Eshen slaves but other nation’s humans slaves and monsters were taken into her Micro World. It was a huge world with 100 km, the original intent of the first mercenary leader of his time was to prepare for the future should they resolve their problems. This was enough land to be their own small nation itself. Filling it with people and more would allow them to house, train and recruit from the people here. A power to cover the entire continent was not built in a day so that was natural.

When this farm was finished, they used magic to raise walls within the entire property of the nobles and released powerful fire magic.

Some of them burned the houses that even had people still living and some went into the house of the noble and into the surrounding forest within the walls.

They turned this entire settlement that sustained this treatment to ash. It was the only time they touched innocents.

On the wall, watching it burn, Max looked at Logan. “After this, it will not be as easy to attack you know.” he said.

“Yeah, i know.” Logan replied.

“I know this isn’t even close to enough, strangling all the nobility might still not be enough but it is what we can do for now. Until we have the military power stronger than Shiarus, we cannot force them and we still have to watch out for alliances.” He said.

“I know, my dream has always been to get strong fast to save my family. Although it was through cruelty, I now have my mom and sister and close to 30 blood related siblings and nephews. I’ll do as I said before, my Micro world will be my hometown but I won’t stop them if they want to see the world.” He said.

Max smiled and patted his shoulder.

Logan looked at Max and just stayed quiet as he watched the burning. The screaming of those alive asking for help only made him more resolved that strength was most important to protect his family.

After a bit, they turned and jumped into the darkness, vanishing from the area leaving only the walls that trapped everyone within this burning hell land.

The next day, this news swept Shiarus as the entire capital of that lord’s territory was fully destroyed leaving no one alive, reminiscent of the old eras when plagues were dealt with in similar manners.

There were absolutely no traces as all houses, bodies and information were burnt to ash. The only thing off was that all the slaves were gone. The place where slaves should be was empty of the huge number of bodies that should have littered the place but only ash remains suggesting few bodies. The higher the body count, the higher the chance of buried corpses being more preserved. There was none meaning they were gone and only possibly the guards were left to be burned.

An immediate investigation began and even trying to figure out the specific traces of mana showed nothing except a faint trail of dark mana that was denser in some areas as it ran away but the trace vanished after a while.

Ironically, Shiarus instantly began to blame the Dark Empire for attacking them. Demons were the best dark magic users without question and humans were enslaved while monsters were useful as civilians and soldiers.

It also connected all the other recent attacks on the slave supplies of the nation to them.

The King of Shiarus instantly stepped up but a lazy reply came from the Dark Empire saying it does not need to entertain the thought of going to the north east to look for slaves from a deadbeat nation. They didn’t even hide the disdain for the pathetic nation with even an extremely poor agricultural development despite the farming guild existing and constantly trying to improve that but their political structure being pathetic and resisting a lot of it.

The nobles were enraged and the leader of the Dark empire came out to say that if they had a strong enough nation then it might have interested them since it would mean stronger slaves to make from their people but it was a hopeless stupidity that reigned over the nation like no other.

After that he turned down any further communication.

It became a laughable joke in Eshen that all the slaves, including Eshen, were taken away from those scum but they worried about where they were. If they had stayed then they could be saved but now they were gone making it impossible to track.

Many people were extremely sad because Shiarus were the first and biggest kidnappers so more than 60% of the enslaved were there.

The Golden Lions didn’t release them, first they needed them to recover and regain their strength.

Naturally they had to locate a huge number of doctors to heal the thousands upon thousands of slaves, both human and monster, and during that same process they needed to identify all the slaves who were directly captured before having all the newborn children be registered officially.

What was horrible but made it a bit easier was that the Shiaruian’s made it systematic in how they ‘bred’ the Eshen women. They force fed ovulation medicine and would impregnate them all at once and the babies would be born all in the same month and the women given about 3 months to recover before the process repeated. In other words, every last child was born in the same month depending on which noble got them and during which month's.

This registration, healing and more was done in secret, Maxwell had to go directly to the government of Eshen and secretly revealed what had happened alongside revealing the specific rule that led to this.

They could not really say it was the proper action but also thanked them for saving their people. Maxwell had captured images and showed them the treatment of slaves, especially the difference between Eshen and other slaves.

This infuriated the Eshen government but they were still stuck on going to war. The army was honestly equal to the other nations.

“I had wanted to talk about this, the Golden Lion’s in the past have usually been separate from political intrigue, usually forming something akin to a city state around a stronghold of our own for the HQ. At least this is what historical records suggest.” Max said.

“You want some land to form a stronghold?” the king said.

“Times change, we may not be as powerful as in the past but we have surpassed the B rank limit after the accumulation of over 700 years. We can create a mercenary army and in times of danger, become a secondary force for Eshen. We both are in a precarious position where neither of us have strength to deal with the total dangers around us.” Max said.

“Golden Lions, the Knight Order created by the ancient hero who made the adventurers guild. The Order had once spread throughout the continent but barely count more than a thousand now. You seem confident in building your own army now.” the king of Eshen said.

“We aren’t but this breakthrough in redeveloping the A rank mana development allows us to go up a step, at this very moment, I can even say that it might even be divine work considering that demons have a firm foothold and are growing rapidly in the west and sentient monsters are rampaging in pretty much every dungeon with large numbers of their kind. We might even see the collapse of some kingdoms who can’t suppress this and the appearance of monster kingdoms. I have no desire to pressure the government to do this, it is merely my own suggestion as it benefits us both to support each other.” Maxwell said.

“Where will you find the personal to fill your ranks?” the king asked.

“For the most part, we will fill a great part with humanoid monsters found in the wilderness, not dungeons. For humans, well that is up to them if they wish to join.” Max said.

“With the current condition, having a literal monster army that isn’t fully controlled by humans would instead put fear in the population.” The king said.

Max frowned as he knew the King’s condition would come soon and it did. “I do not care how you actually run your own army and structure. What I do care about is that at least 50% of your command are human and that at least 10% of your army is made of humans. With this, the number of different monster races will balance the structure out.” the King said.

Max was shocked by the condition and sighed and even smiled, he honestly liked the idea, human strength was hard to develop quickly but it was always the most skillful compared to monsters who evolved with the will of the world.

Maxwell agreed to that condition.

“Alright, now for the land, this is indeed a predicament.” the king said.

“My king, are we truly going to give such a large piece of land to a mercenary army?” one of the legislative politics asked.

The system of Eshen had a royal family but laws were made by a legislative branch but they still answered to the king.

“The archipelago is a good, safe location but that will be for our civilians.” the king said. Instantly everyone realized what he was going to say, “As such, the currently untamed western Eshen is open to your pick. Among that land, you have the option of building a dungeon city meant to withstand the dungeon monster waves from the thunder mountain dungeon that remained there.”

Maxwell heard that and knew it wasn’t a suggestion but an order. He would need to pick a geographical vantage point and the current Golden Lions would have to act as a wave breaker for the Thunder Mountain Dungeon.

The completely cleared out west had basically no development after the war destroyed it all so it wasn’t buying a castle, it was getting land to build a castle as well as a settlement that could help form a trade hub in the future as well as protect eastern half of that territory possibly pushing the waves south or west.

Maxwell had to relent to this, they were not equal powers to begin with and this audience came to be only because they had saved a chunk of Eshen people and needed the nation’s help to get them completely back on their feet and cure the innumerable diseases infesting them. They didn’t have that much influence.

“Are the western lands completely clear?” Max asked.

The king waved his hand, “Just about, every anomaly is gone and there is only a bit of wild mana remaining that is naturally calming down through natural process. Most of the borrowed dungeons have already been returned as well.” the king said.

Max nodded and thought for a while, “The current map is likely quite different, taking the conditions your highness gave, it would take a while with a proper map to pinpoint a location proper for us to build on.” Max said.

“See to it that he has the most up to day map from the military. Also begin preparing large scale resources and tools for next year, we will reopen the west and begin rebuilding roads and major cities. Begin planning all farming village areas and inform the adventurers guild that danger levels have to be dropped extensively in those areas for them to be reopened for farm lands.” The king said.

The direct subordinates of the king called Max out while the military and legislative advisors began a long talk of more in depth planning.

Max was eventually given the most up to date map which included the location of the highest danger zones and their ranking. It was a three dimensional map and it had an old archive with the old Eshen before the war.

Max returned to the micro world where he had rented a full inn for themselves and informed all the leaders and they all looked at the two maps comparing everything including the present movement of monsters.

Considering the king wanted to make the waves go west or south while protecting the east from the waves, they had to think hard as the land wasn’t exactly mountainous and instead was more forest with elevations. It wasn’t high enough elevations to build a fort that would block all traffic, that is the truly proper military fort.

“Don’t we also have to account for the long range weapons we have nowadays?” Logan said. “If we count the magic cannons, rockets and other ranged weapons, not to mention military class flying ships, we can expand the field of war.” Logan said.

“Yeah but where will we get those?” one of the A ranks asked.

“Our present rank is an army, as our numbers grow, we can also be among those who do missions for the guild all over the west as well as sending people out or to the archipelago to deal with the continued expansion there. That will generate a huge amount of income, eventually we can hire our own smiths, mages and magic smiths who can build those or buy them. At barely 1,000 people, I get that you are thinking where we are now but instead, you have to think, within the next 10 years, will a newly placed dungeon produce any monster waves?” Logan asked.

When he said that, it actually did click in their heads that it was true. The current Thunder mountain dungeon had at most 10 floors, underground dungeons made a safe zone every 15 floors but due to their relatively quick growth in early floors, there is actually a lack of monsters to completely fill it. This requires years to fully achieve and even more to fill dungeons so much that it erupts.

“Also, the first waves are never strong, only numerous. If they have C ranks, that is already pretty good. I’ve read up on dungeons and it is quite obvious that it isn’t that easy to breed those creatures.” Logan said.

“He is right, if we expand the ‘reach’ of the strong hold, let’s see…” Olivia said as she manipulated the maps and a circle appeared and the map quickly scanned and pointed out three circles that actually worked on the western side of the current thunder forest that was back to its natural size.

“Three holes.” Max said.

“We can use magic to make them harder.” one A rank said.

“HUH!” Logan and Olivia exclaimed.

All the men laughed.

“That is true, if we all channel mana into a mountain raiser, we can definitely close those gaps.” Max said

“What is a mountain raiser?” Olivia asked.

“It is a special kind of spirit as well as a tool. They have a limited number of uses before they go dormant for a number of years and require a large amount of mana or very pure mana and can change entire landscapes and raise mountains. But we need to see with the government because it could cause a climate shift as well. Anyways, these are all quite valid areas and it puts us close to the dungeon which can eventually be used for training.” Max said.

They all nodded, at the present time, the most important is reaching the proper status of an army, gathering money, getting more trained troops, recruiting humans to maintain the 10% balance and more. As for weapons, all the men have their own primary weapon and secondaries they wield, without the true Golden Lion swords, it will be hard to achieve the grand peak of their ancient counterparts who had them in spades.

“Alright, let’s wait a few days and we will return to the king and see about the future plans. They should also have the medical and government staff required to properly identify and register everyone we saved. We can only go with the flow for now under the thought that we only just achieved A rank with no S rank limit. Remember, we are still not what we once were and time isn’t our friend with the Dark Empire preparing itself likely for expansion. We need to be ready for any and all attacks.” Max said.

Everyone shouted in unison as they agreed and finished the meeting.

***

Deep in the castle of the Dark Empire’s capital, a laugh came as a bright light was filling a room as the ancient demon general finally felt his form solidify.

In his stomach, five large horns from adult C rank Ogres vanished and the small horns on his head began to grow. Mana was connecting between the mana pool and horns while from both, mana leaked causing a big change as his body filled up.

In the evolutionary glow, the demon core shined and turned into mana and suddenly began to spin like the technique the general followed and finally fused with the proto mana pool transforming into the real thing. Instantly all that immense store of mana erupted out.

The body began to evolve and solidify completely as that immense mana left his mana pool and filled his body.

The thin weak body began to fill up with rippling muscles before compressing and becoming slimmer. Sculpted steel hard muscles like that from a master sculptor who made an opus magnum formed under night black skin and a bloody red eye shined in the dark.

“I have only reached D rank but my body finally solidified and my entire capacity of mana is free and filling my body. My strength is only rising as my mana fills my body with what is equal to the current SS monsters. I will become the ultimate demon lord with the greatest strength and mana. There is no one in this era who can rival me when I have successfully restored my power.” He said and grabbed his legend sword.

It vibrated excitedly and he channeled his mana through it. More and more mana gathered until the sword’s limit and slowly leaked into the sword’s body. This was done as naturally as breathing, the immense capacity and strength of his mana quickly improved the condition.

He looked to the side where an enslaved creature stood. Horns on the head showed that it had eaten similar horns to grow them. This was the lizard that contained the technique.

“Pathetic thing, are you still resisting, you are a horned lizard and I’ve seen the next conditions requiring Drake bloodlines. You have resisted your evolution through the entire E rank but your heart is near bursting point.” He grinned.

A huge black scale appeared in his hand while the large lizard could barely move and knew that it couldn’t move while maintaining the capacity to instantly become a Drake, it was the peak of D rank already forced by the demon and he could not stop as the reversed scale was put on him and that limit was broken.

Instantly he evolved and he roared as his power and bloodline began to grow immensely. A heavy pressure fell into the room and the grinning demon looked as he saw the lizard grow drake wing spikes to develop and the scale formed the reverse plates on the underside.

Immense power flowed while the slave seal formed over the heart on the chest plate before vanishing.

The limit finally broke and he reached C rank just like the demon and instantly became an adult drake and now had to develop his wings and body. As soon as he broke the barrier of C rank he would become a young dragon and would have regained at least 70% of his bloodline. The true limit is SSS as the previous but only reaching that level will that bloodline peak be reached.

“A good mount for carrying me has appeared. It is a pain how i need to share my mana as you are lacking already.” he cursed at it.

With a snort, he forced the demon drake to a reduced size through shrinking magic and began to scan his soul.

Every layer he did this and each layer did indeed contain more knowledge but each layer, it became a bigger burden to be constantly probed like this and the demon general wasn’t kind in doing this process and it left injuries on his soul which were very hard to heal. Only when he finished copying everything that had changed from start to finish and sent it away to train so that it could keep up with his growth.

As he prepared to continue assimilating more of his stored mana to grow stronger, a message arrived.

He read it and suddenly smashed the messenger, “What kind of shit is this Golden Lion shit! Do you really think i have time to respond to a piece of shit B rank Mercenary group. Even an army means nothing! I’ve single handedly destroyed hundreds of human armies far greater with actual S ranks and higher!” he roared.

He burned the message without reading entirely. The message had also contained information of the group’s origins but the demon general only wished to surpass its ancient lord and replace him in history. The poor messenger barely stood up and vomited blood before being able to drink an elixir before he walked out to try and reach the one who sent it in case he died.

The old leader was naturally the one who had been ordered to follow all relative groups that are dangerous to demons but sadly, the demon general did not take most warnings seriously.

When the messenger finally fainted after passing the message, they just looked stone faced and could do nothing if their master did not want this information, they could only monitor their movements as it was created by the ancient hero and they didn’t know if it still maintained any anti-demon abilities.

“Send spies and watch their movements. Even with one million demon hybrids and even more human slaves alongside monster races, expansion is not going to be fast even if we want to. The army has barely been enslaved properly and now we need to build order and strengthen our borders until it is time to finally start expanding over the nearest nations and achieve the proper size of an empire.” the ex leader said.

They all nodded but hidden resentment filled their eyes but could not show under the immensely powerful slavery magic. They could only do what they needed for his safety and goals. They couldn’t even reduce how much they did and took them as proper threats but it also followed their master’s thought process and they only sent three spies so they would not waste extra resources on the more immediate threats from much more dangerous groups.

Like that, the silent war continued as Nuntip was embroiled in more and more trouble from both the dungeons and the demons.