“After a few minutes of looking for the queen, Nvili sighed, “The Queen isn’t here. My life detection magic has a range of two kilometers. Even if she realized we were here and hid, I’d know where.”

Canta put her hand through the wall again, gesturing the others to follow. “It was wishful thinking that she’d be at the palace when we arrived. A queen has a lot of responsibilities, and she’s probably out taking care of them. We should prolong the three-hour time limit and spend a day gathering intel.”

“Let’s not. The longer we wait, the closer it’ll be to when she’s expecting us to arrive. If she doesn’t have already have the Chimera ready, she might do it tonight.”

“Sure, that’s a possibility. But at the same time but rushing to find her without any clues will make our actions less calculated. Plus, we even if we wanted to rush in and get it done, we don’t know where we’d need to go.”

“True. Well how about we find a middle ground then: Saul and I will search for the queen while you two gather information about her whereabouts.”

“That’s acceptable. But if the Chimera is already active, come back to us before trying to kill the queen. Don’t overextend.”

“Very well. In two hours, we’ll meet in front of this city’s Guild Hall. More likely than not, the queen will be dead by then. If not, she’s either more elusive than we thought, or the Chimera is active.”

Without another word, Canta opened up a passageway leading back to the alleyway they’d come from and the group split.

After they were gone, Canta said, “You think they’ll find her?”

“It would be good if they did, but It’s better not to assume anything. I’ve never worked with them before.” He paused, “It doesn’t matter who finds her. If we find her first, we kill her. If they find her first, they killer her.”

“I suppose that’s true. Let’s get started then.” They found the stairs and left the cellar. Staying hidden was easy when they could hide in the walls. It didn’t take long for them to find the library Madison used as her base of operations.

The queen wasn’t there at that moment, but Risitro was. Because he was a magic user and because he was very much on edge those days, he was constantly using his life detection magic. His proficiency was weak, with a range of only fifty meters, but when the Mythrills stepped into it, he nearly fell from his chair.

The amount of mana he sensed was incomprehensible. It was almost on par with Alice. Immediately, he knew what was happening. Despite fearing for his life, he sent used his magic to send a warning to Madison before doing anything else.

“Show yourself!” He frantically drew his sword, “I know who you are!” His gazed bounced around the room as he searched for the invaders.

Rivv and Canta nonchalantly stepped out the wall. It was clear from the way Risitro’s response that he was in the know. Canta smiled at him, “Hello. I’m guessing you’re considered important around here. A general, perhaps?”

Risitro responded by throwing a knife at her. Rivv stepped out in front of her before it hit her. The knife’s sharp blade crushed itself on his chest like chalk on concrete. Amused, Rivv reached down and picked up the weapon, “Not a bad throw, Demon. If you were human, you’d be on the cusp of Mythrill. Unfortunately, that isn’t good enough. My ally and I are both a good deal above that.”

Risitro panicked. He knew what they wanted. Madison’s location. The only reason they hadn’t killed him yet was because they thought he knew, and they were right about that. He seriously considered killing himself to prevent them from getting the information but couldn’t bring himself to. He wanted to live.

Just a glance was all it took to realize that fighting wasn’t an option. He nervously took a few steps back, but as he turned to run, he tripped and fell. Risitro down to see what he’d tripped on and was horrified to find that his body from the waist down, was under the floor.

“W-what is this!?” He struggled to get out, but even with his herculean strength, all he could do was squirm. The layered bricks that the floor was made shouldn’t have been hard to escape, he was someone who could cut a man in two with just a chop of the hand. Despite that, he was helpless.

Rivv chuckled, “There’s no point in struggling. My ability lets me reinforce anything. The floor you find yourself in is strong enough to survive just about anything right now. So, now that we’ve got you where we want, how about you start talking?”

The prince couldn’t believe it. They’d completely defeated him already, and it had only been a few seconds since the fight began, “So this is Mythrill. How scary.” His mind desperately raced with ideas for how he could get out the situation. He knew a lot of magic, but in the situation he found himself in, most of it was useless. Without thinking, he used a spell called Fire Breath.

The spell hit the Mythrills directly. It was effective enough to destroy most of the room, which was quite huge. A dozen row of bookshelves were turned to char in an instant. The ones that remained were set violently ablaze.

The blast was more powerful than he’d expected it to be, and Risitro genuinely hoped he’d that the ones who’d taken it head on were dead—or at least injured. His hope turned to despair seconds later. As the smoke cleared, it revealed two uninjured, unimpressed adventurers.

Rivv was simply durable enough to take the hit. He didn’t even need his ability to tank an attack like that, “I like your determination, Demon. If you cooperate, I’ll spare your life.” Canta had survived by using her ability to make herself incorporeal.

“Why are you two here? Are there more of you elsewhere?”

Canta handled the inquiry, “I think you know the answer to the first question. As for the second, that’s none of your business,” she went on, “Let’s focus on you. Based on the fact that you were actively using life detection, I think it’s safe to say that you were expecting us. Who are you?”

“A soldier.” He made direct eye contact.

Rivv smirked, “A soldier, huh? With those red-ringed horns of yours? You should know that I’ve made a fortune in hunting your brethren in various places around the world. I find it hard to believe that a member of the royalty would be a mere soldier. Who are you really?”

Risitro decided not to respond.

“Don’t be like that, buddy. I don’t mind torturing you to death if I have to. You should know that I’ve got magic besides my ability. Some of the spells I’ve mastered are specifically designed for situations like this.”

The Prince remained silent. In his mind, all he needed to do was buy time.

Rivv shook his head in disapproval, “Let’s see if this gets you talking.”

♦

Madison got her ally’s message while she was adding people to the Blight Lord.

She didn’t flinch, “They’re here earlier than I thought. Looks like I’ll have to resort to Plan B. How unfortunate…”

She glanced at the people she was using as sacrifices. They were all homeless people she’d gotten from The Warrens. Drug addicts mostly. She hoped they wouldn’t be missed. All of them were terrified, but Madison had cut all the tendons in their legs, so running wasn’t an option.

“Alright people. Something unexpected came up, so we’re going to speed things up.” She snapped her fingers, and the crowd burst into flames. After they were dead, she used her ability to reanimate the corpses, “Blight Lord. Absorb them.”

The monster did as it was told, adding a slew of faces to its body in the process.

“Good. It’s time to leave for the surface. We need to boost your strength before The Mythrills find us. Destroy the ceiling.”

The Warrens were right above them. If the ceiling was destroyed, the ground above would collapse and hundreds of innocent people that lived in the area would die in the destruction, but that was the what she wanted.